Simplicity

Our life is frittered away by detail...simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.
~ Henry David Thoreau


Speaking to the people, he [Jesus] went on, "Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot."


Then he told them this story: "The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: 'What can I do? My barn isn't big enough for this harvest.' Then he said, 'Here's what I'll do: I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll gather in all my grain and goods, and I'll say to myself, Self, you've done well! You've got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!'


"Just then God showed up and said, 'Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?'


"That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God."
~ Luke 12:15-21 (The Message)

Results Are God's

Duty is ours; results are God's.
~ John Adams

So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, "We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty."
~ Luke 17:10


So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
~ 1 Corinthians 3:7

Go Where the Grace Is

I used to think that Jesus could heal anybody at anytime.  Luke 5:17 implies that there were times for healing.  In other words, there were times when grace was available for healing.  Jesus learned obedience to the Father's will by constantly maintaining an open ear to the Father's voice through the Holy Spirit (see Hebrews 5 & 8).


As disciples we must learn the same thing--how to manage the pouring out of His grace; learning to go where the grace is.  If we do not acquire this discernment, we find ourselves striving in limited human energy to serve God.  If we are praying when we should be serving or serving when we should be praying, we do so with minimal favor.  Disciples learn to pursue favor (a "grace" related word).  This process of learning can be frustrating because we often stumble.  Yet we learn valuable lessons when we make mistakes.  Ecclesiastes 3 shows that there are times and seasons for all of the activities of life.
~ John Elliott,
in a recent email devotional

...And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.
~ Luke 5:17

Every Link that Dropped Away

Recently, in the spare moments that come my way here and there throughout the day, I have really been enjoying reading Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss. So many golden nuggets in it! Like this conversation between Mrs. Campbell and Katy...

Mrs. Campbell says:

"I was bound to my God and Savior before I knew a sorrow, it is true. But it was by a chain of many links; and every link that dropped away brought me to Him till at last, having nothing left, I was shut up to Him and learned fully what I had only learned partially, how soul-satisfying He is."

"You think then," I said while my heart died within me, "that husband and children are obstacles in our way and hinder our getting near to Christ?"

"Oh, no!" she cried. "God never gives us hindrances. On the contrary, He means, in making us wives and mothers, to put us into the very conditions of holy living. But if we abuse His gifts by letting them take His place in our hearts, it is an act of love on His part to take them away or to destroy our pleasure in them. It is delightful," she added after a pause, "to know that there are some generous souls on earth who love their dear ones with all their hearts yet give those hearts unreservedly to Christ. Mine was not one of them."

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple...Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

~ Luke 14:26,27,33

I Will Never Turn

What is God asking of you? Is it impossible? Do you feel arrows attacking from the left and right? So what! Keep working. Keep walking. Walk straight. Remember when Joan of Arc was asked, "What will you do if no one follows you?" Joan of Arc answered, "I'll never know, because I will never turn to see." God is asking you to walk the line. Keep your head up, focused straight ahead, and see the One who loves to do the impossible for you.

~ Jeanne DeTellis,

in the July 1, 2010, newsletter for New Missions

Anyone who starts plowing and keeps looking back isn't worth a thing to God's kingdom!

~ Luke 9:62 (CEV)

Am I Willing to Do Whatever It Takes to Know God?

At the homeschool conference we recently attended, we were given a copy of the magazine Home Educating Family; and in it, there was an article by Stuart McAllister; and in it, there was this quote:

I'm afraid that in our day, we often live with a glaring contradiction. We want to know God. We want God to be real and we want life to have deep meaning. And yet we want all this without any serious cost or effort.

~ Stuart McAllister

Tonight at our fellowship potluck, we will sing "In the Secret" per Josiah's request, since he is the birthday boy and got to choose all the songs. I love that song and haven't gotten tired of it; but I've come to realize that it's a lot easier to sing, "I want to know you, I want to hear your voice, I want to touch you, I want to see your face," than it is to actually know, hear, touch, and see God.

Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). That is no easy call. So why do I keep trying to make my life easy?

I wrestle with this even in relation to my daily times with God and specifically this manna blog. Most of the time, I prepare these posts the night before and then auto-post them at 7:00 AM the next morning. The reason is simple: by nature, I am decidedly a night person. The house is quiet at night after the boys are in bed, I can think, I can take my time reading and writing and meditating, I don't have the deadlines that come in the morning ("four boys will be rolling out of bed in 15 minutes, and I need to grab some spiritual food before then! come on, manna!!"). It very naturally falls into my daily schedule and my body rhythms to spend this time at night with God, and then, during the day, to reflect on what I've written or what I'm planning to write. But it's easy (relatively). It is SO MUCH harder for me to force myself to go to bed early and to wake up early, and I'm left wondering: is that what I need to do? Or is this habit of daily time with God at night just as beneficial?

Before we resume our normal homeschooling schedule this fall, I do want to train myself to have an earlier-to-bed, earlier-to-rise schedule so that I can have at least a little time to myself in the morning before the boys get up. I don't want my baby's cries to be my alarm clock; I'd rather be up and dressed and past the first stage of morning grogginess before I need to attend to my boys. But should I realistically aim for 6:45, or for 6:00? Is 6:45 sacrificial enough? Does the cross I need to carry daily look like an alarm clock set for 6:00--with no snooze button to offer reprieve? :)

I don't know the answers yet; but I do know that I don't want to fall into that "glaring contradiction" that Stuart McAllister pointed out. When I say I want to know God, I want to be willing to go to any lengths to develop that intimacy, even if it demands "serious cost or effort."

Obedience Is Not Contingent

One of the places where I find manna is a daily email devotional from Elisabeth Elliot, sent out by Back to the Bible. I appreciate the fact that every morning, as I sleepily nurse Shav, a piece of manna is waiting for me in my email inbox; and I can turn on my laptop and gather it as easy as anything.

I really liked the one for today. (I feel that way almost every day!) Elisabeth writes:

Obedience Is Not Contingent

The making of comparisons is a dangerous business for a Christian. Each of us must give account, not of his neighbor, but of himself to God. To the workers who, under the guise of a concern for fairness, objected to an equal wage being paid to those who began the job at different hours of the day, the owner said, "Why be jealous because I am kind?" (Mt. 20:15 NEB).

To the brother of the prodigal son, put out because this wastrel was being wined and dined, the father said, "My boy, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. How could we help celebrating this happy day?" (Lk. 15:31,32 NEB).

To Peter, hesitant to follow the Lord until he found out what was going to be required of the other disciple, Jesus said, "If it should be my will that he wait until I come, what is it to you? Follow me" (Jn. 21:22 NEB).

The spirit of godly obedience is not in us; our wills have not been unconditionally turned over to the Master, as long as we determine our own action by what others do. To husbands God says (unconditionally), "Love your wives." To wives he says (unconditionally), "Submit to your husbands."* If each lets his obedience be contingent upon the other's, there is a standoff. The command to husbands is the business of husbands. The command to wives is the business of wives. Let each "mind his own"--direct his attention to the thing required of him--and harmony will be the result.

"There must be no limit to your goodness, as your heavenly Father's goodness knows no bounds" (Mt. 5:48 NEB).

* Many wives consider their own cases exceptional. Since no exceptions are mentioned in this passage, I conclude that a wife must be very sure she has a scriptural warrant before disobeying, e.g., if her husband desires her to act in a way clearly forbidden by scripture.

I'm quite familiar with all of the verses Elisabeth uses, but I've never grouped them together in such a way as to see their common theme. It reminds me, however, of how Jeff and I talk when we're counseling couples about the way in which some people think a relationship should be 50/50. "I'll meet you halfway, and then we'll have peace." But what happens when one spouse only gives 45 percent? And who in the world is the judge to say when I've reached 50 percent anyway?

A much more effective--not to mention, Biblical--way to approach relationships is 100/100. "I'll give you 100 percent. I'll be willing to do anything. I'll pour out my all so that, wherever you are, we'll meet in the middle. If you're at 30 percent, I'll give 70. If you're at 2 percent, I'll give 98. Maybe next week, I'll be struggling along at 19 percent, and you can give 81."

May I be willing to give 100 percent. May I not wait until someone else obeys before I follow suit. May there be no limit to my goodness.

Oswald Chambers and Bold Conversions

In The One Year Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten, there is a wonderful devotional about Oswald Chambers. It says in part:

As a teenager he accompanied his father to hear the famous Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon. Afterward, young Oswald told his father that if there had been an opportunity at the service, he would have given himself to the Lord. His father quickly answered, "You can do it now, my boy." And there on a London street with his father, Oswald Chambers quietly surrendered his life to Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord...

[World War I broke out, and so...] Chambers then joined the staff of the YMCA and with his wife, Gertrude, known to all as Biddy, was sent to Egypt to minister to the English and Australian troops stationed in Zeitoun and Ismailia...

In 1916 the YMCA planned evangelistic crusades throughout all the Egyptian military camps with Chambers as the evangelist. Chambers wrote in his diary of the meeting at the Ismailia camp: "We had some magnificent decisions, and I would not allow any singing or even bowing of heads but just told them to come out before all their comrades if they meant business, and out they came."

Just another reason to admire this mighty man of God. Thank you, Oswald, for your example of not using emotionalism or manipulation to drive people to convert, and for helping them make a firm, bold commitment. If people can't even stand up and acknowledge their love for God at the moment they're making the decision to allow Him to be Lord of their life, how in the world are they ever going to be courageous about it later?

I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

~ Luke 12:8-9

What Does It Take to Be a Servant?

Make us masters of ourselves that we may be the servants of others.

~ Sir Alexander Patterson

So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, "We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty."

~ Luke 17:10