A Clean Stable

I was reading Proverbs this morning when I  came across 14:4- Without oxen a stable stays clean,  but you need a strong oxen for a large harvest.

I LOVE Proverbs!   I find it humorous, and it cuts to the chase.  I love things that are straight forward,  but this morning I saw this verse as an analogy for the church.   The stable being (the church and leaders) and the oxen (lay people).

A lot of times I have seen leaders lose focus and make an idol out of their church, the church members can as well.  I have done it myself.  We slowly begin to believe that God resides inside the four walls of our building and begin to turn our focus inward.  Looking at each other, instead of looking at Jesus. We become proud and develop a sense of dominion, which makes us territorial.

 Then, self righteousness reigns.  We focus on those around us who we have decided aren’t measuring up to God’s image and are “messing up” our church- Those who “don’t belong”.  We become hard and unmerciful,  and begin to believe our church would be better without the “fake” Christians.  Our desire becomes exposing their hypocrisy.  We decide not to trust that God is in control and will deal with every heart, and that we are commanded to love, not judge.  We think it is our job to defend His church.   But we do judge their situations and are unsympathetic to their pain,  they “deserve” it after all.   We wish they would keep their “crap” at home until they become “serious” about God.

Eventually we hurt those we have focused on but tell ourselves it is okay,  we were just being honest.  Bold.  If “so and so” can’t handle “the truth” it is their own fault!  God will deal with them! They are just following the devil and they will “get what’s coming to then”!  Some will even call on karma….

There is no grace in our spotless churches.  No wisdom, no faith, no joy, no love, no spirit.  Our stables are clean when we run all the oxen and sheep off.  Unfortunately,  when our focus gets skewed,  we forget we are oxen too.  Leadership is hard.   Frankly, you deal with a lot of crap.   When you get tired,  you wish there was less to shovel. You can’t seem to see beyond the mounds at times!   In those times, the servants forget that the harvest is great,  we know the workers are few (Matt. -9:37)  

  Burn out happens, especially when we take on tasks we were never meant to do.  The ability to nurture the oxen and sheep is lost, because we are too tired from playing God.  When we keep focus and remember who is in control that helps us continue to strive to be like Jesus.  To have compassion for the confused, helpless sheep wandering around lost (Matt-9:36).  To raise up strong oxen for the work ahead, and guide the sheep entrusted to us by God.  If we can’t do that, we need to spend some time out in the pasture.  I would rather be a stinky old stable preparing for the harvest than a pristine, white washed tomb any day!   (Matt-23:27)

 

Tunnels, Valleys and Mountains

When it comes to our spiritual walk on this earth, there is one thing that I have certainly learned, and it is this- there is no way out!  Even if we throw our hands up in defeat and make the conscious decision to walk away from God because “this is not what Christianity is supposed to be”, our exit is still a path we choose to walk. And as I have walked out a very long, lonely and isolated season I have come to realize that sometimes, there is no rescue, the storm doesn’t pass and even if it does pass, there is another one coming right behind it! Sounds encouraging, doesn’t it? The truth is, we can’t get to the light at the end of the tunnel without going through the tunnel.  In that deep, dark, cold damp tunnel with a mountain weighing down on top of us, it is isolated, lonely, scary, and maddeningly quiet. Doubt and confusion creep into your mind.  You have plenty of time to question why…. It can feel like punishment.  When you finally do make it through that tunnel, your excitement is suddenly crushed because you find yourself in a valley!  Even though we all know you can’t get from one mountain to another without walking through a valley.  But during the disappointment of where you thought you were going and where you suddenly find yourself it is so tempting to take control and try to find another way! Or just quit walking all together.  Especially when you aren’t hearing from God.  After all, we must have made a wrong turn somewhere to be here.  Or we begin to believe that God has turned his back on us because he is angry with us for not being good enough and this is punishment. Or we blame the enemy.  No matter the “why”, the reality is God has every detail in the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16).  Unlike us, he is never surprised.  When we forget this, we prolong our journey through the tunnels and the valleys by getting lost in the hunt for a reason, we don’t even realize that we still have a mountain to climb to get to that mountain top! It's during the climb that we begin to hear those around us urging us to press in.  For a long time, I didn’t understand that term, what was everyone telling me to press in to? One day when I was hiking a particularly difficult hill I began to have a hard time breathing, my legs burned, my back hurt.  Normally, I would stop and catch my breath.  But that always makes it so much harder to start again because you lose momentum.  Instead, I leaned forward, lengthened my stride and made it to the top.  My breathing even leveled out.  It was then that God showed me, this is what it means to press in, and I finally got it! Press into the fear, uncertainty, grief, pain, anger, and surrender like the woman with the issue of blood pressed in through the crowd that was pressing in on Jesus, just to touch the hem of his garment.  The crowd around him that posed such a threat to her was just an obstacle to the one she knew held her healing. Even in the pressure from the mob of people all around him, He noticed her, felt her touch the hem, went looking for her in the crowd and confirmed her belief. (Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 9:22-56, Luke 8:42-48)

God never promised us that life would be easy.  If that is the lie you believed at the beginning of your Christian walk, the enemy was trying to prune you before you had a chance to take root.  Just look at the disciples, why would he bless us above his disciples? Jesus plainly tells us in John 16:33 that we will have troubles, but we will never be alone and we can be assured that He has overcome the world. 

Three things can extend our stay in the tunnel or the valley.  First, many people walk away from their faith because of the mistaken belief that once they become a Christian everything will be good!  Roses, rainbows and all your wishes come true!   But God isn’t a genie in a bottle, He is sovereign. For those who think He is, when tribulation comes they eventually walk away because they feel like they were deceived.  Sometimes that’s just immaturity.  How do you explain joy to a non-believer for them to truly understand it? I don’t think you can. What they don’t understand (and we sometimes forget) is that our salvation doesn’t change the world, it just changes us.  When we don’t lose touch with our gratitude,  faithfully follow the Lord and don’t quench the Holy Spirit, people begin to see the change in us.  That leads to God being able to use us to change the small corner of our world and expand His kingdom. In order to be transformed in this way, we must constantly renew our mind (Romans 12:2).  Choosing to walk away from your faith doesn’t end the path you are walking on, it just takes a lot longer to get to where you need to be. 

Another misconception is that we find ourselves in the tunnel or the valley because God is angry with us and punishing us.  But his wrath was poured out on Jesus as he hung on the cross for our sins (Galatians 3:13).  As a result, we no longer live under the law, we live in the gift of grace.  

And finally, we give all the credit to Satan, believing we are only in a dark place because of the enemy.  And make no mistake, he takes every opportunity to twist our thoughts and hearts, but we often give him way too much credit and power.  He is not the one in control.  He may have this world, but he does not have us.  When we get stuck in the pattern of rebuking Satan for everything we see as bad and blame him for causing our troubles and only blaming him for where we are, we miss the point of our journey.  We fail to grow and we stay in the valley.  We miss the lesson.

What we are supposed to do is keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).  When we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, surrender our expectations and control and trust in our creator (in spite of our discomfort, uncertainty and pain) we can make it through our difficult journey to that mountain top view.  These journeys, if done right,  will discipline us, refine us, and build our endurance to finish the race.  (Hebrews 12)  And we need that endurance, because if you live on the mountain top, you aren’t spreading the good news to a lost world.  (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19-20) 

ENOUGH

 I saw a painting going around on social media, called the four. It struck something in me. In the very beginning of my walk with Christ,  a verse was given to me. It was;

Isaiah 61:1-3; The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoner to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

At that time in my life, I was struggling with reconciling bad things that happened in my past, with a good God, who was supposed to love me. I did not feel lovable. I felt unworthy, damaged and too far gone to be accepted by a holy God. I still had a lot of hurt and pain in my heart. I was mourning the life that I had grown up with and what it should have been. I created my own hurt as a result of my constant inner turmoil. I had piles of bad choices on top of unhealed hurts and was numb to all feelings but anger. This verse was perfect for me. I was broken hearted. I was captive in my own mind, a prisoner in the darkness of my despair. I needed His favor and wanted someone to take vengeance. I felt like no one had ever fought for me.  I think it goes without saying that as a young woman with some heavy issues, I never felt beautiful, much less joyful. But then, that verse said I would be called an oak of righteousness, planted to display God's splendor! All of that sounded good to me. I wanted to be planted for His splendor. It was a promise for me to try to hold on to. The pastor had explained what Jesus could do for me, and that I need to overcome my past, to have victory and be planted for His splendor.  But I didn't know how to overcome who and what I was.  A couple of days later, I forgave so many things, and people. I realized the love my Heavenly Father has for me and I was humbled, healed and set free. The love and joy that flooded into me overwhelmed me to the point of hyperventilation. I had to breathe out of a paper bag and all! I realized at the age of 24, if I began thanking God for all that he had done for me and thanked him continually until I died of old age, it would STILL never be enough. I would NEVER be able to thank Him enough.

Isaiah 61 is actually written to the Jewish people, pointing to Christ. It is prophesying the first coming of Jesus, and He fulfilled it. He was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. He came to proclaim the good news. He died for the ungodly, healed the broken, set those bound in sin free.

He picks up the broken pieces of our hearts and binds them together with truth, forgiveness and love. I have studied these verses and believe what they say. I have experienced his love and freedom and deliverance. I wish I could say that I lived happily ever after, but I can't. Life happens.  Mistakes happen. Hurts happen. If you aren't careful, like me, you will find yourself struggling again. Wrestling  with fear, rejection, unworthiness, disappointment, regret, you name it. You fill in the blank. Life just happens.

Back to the painting of the four. The day I saw it, I was feeling like I would never be enough. The caption said the four grandmothers of Christ. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Immediately, the verse from Isaiah popped into my head.

TAMAR: Desperate acts and broken hopes. (loss, lies and prostitution)

Tamar means hope. She was the daughter-in-law of Judah. She married his oldest son Er. Er died because he was displeasing to the Lord. Judah’s second son, Onan, then marries Tamar (per the rules of Levirate marriage.) These rules required a family member to produce an heir for the deceased. But Onan spilled his seed instead of trying to impregnate Tamar. He knew any child conceived would not be his. So God killed him too. Shelah was another son. Jude tells Tamar that she will have to wait for him to grow up. After a period of time, Shelah grows up. Judah's wife dies. When it becomes apparent that Judah was not going to give Shelah to Tamar, she disguises herself as a prostitute, sleeps with her father-in-law and bore twins, Perez and Zerah. Perez (was in the lineage of Jesus) (Genesis 38, Chronicle 2:4, Matthew 1:3)

RAHAB:Peace with God is available even in the face of certain judgement (outsider, bravery and lies)

Rahab means peace. Rahab was considered by many to be a prostitute. She was a Canaanite in Jericho. Jericho was marked by God for judgement. But Rahab recognized the sovereignty of God. She provided shelter for the Israelite spies, lied to protect them. Helped them escape and asked that her family be spared in return. She hung a scarlet cord outside her window, which spared her household. Rahab then married into the royal tribe of Judah and bore Boaz. (Joshua 2)

RUTH: Kindness (outsider)

Ruth means Joy. Ruth was a Moabite widow. She was an outsider in a foreign land, but she became a woman of God. Ruth was faithful to her mother in law, Naomi. Ruth followed Naomi back to her home land after Naomi lost her husband and both sons in Moab. Ruth's sister in law returned to her family. Ruth tried to find work to provide for her and her mother in law, and met Boaz. They married and she bore Obed. Ruth was kind to Naomi, Boaz was kind to Ruth, God was kind to them all. Joy was the constant. (Ruth 3 and 4)

BATHSHEBA: Unequaled power. Tainted love redeemed and restored in the true love and freedom of God. (Royal power, betrayal, loss, restoration in Solomon after David repented)

Bathsheba means love. King David impregnated Bathsheba. She was the wife of his most loyal military officer. He had her husband killed. And their baby died. I think what is missed so often in her story is this, she could not refuse the advances of a King. She was not doing anything wrong. David was to blame in this situation. And she suffered the consequences. She eventually becomes one of David's wives and bore Solomon, David's chosen heir. (2 Samuel 11:1-27)

Those are the four. The "grandmothers" of Christ. Talk about a family tree! Not one had it easy. In the stories we see loss, rejection, fear, deception, tragedy, sadness, uncertainty, poor choices, regret, unfairness and so much more. These women were not perfect. They all spent more of their time covered in ashes (ashes symbolize destruction and represent mourning). They were broken. God saw fit to use them, anyway. Not only that, He names them. Isaiah 61 was a prophecy predicting the coming of Jesus, and what he would do. These women represented the broken hearted, the poor, those who needed freedom (and maybe vengeance), and me. Maybe they represent you, too? Even in their brokenness, they were enough. And so are we. God has never expected perfection from us, in fact, He knows it is not possible. That is the whole reason Christ came, to right the wrongs, heal the hurt, clear the way by paying our ransom, and place our crowns.  

MORE THAN A SWORD

 I originally wrote this on March 10, 2011.

I read a few verses in my bible study the other day that really struck me and weighed on my mind. I really liked them for reasons I was not sure of… yet. They are currently my favorite verses. Then a friend on facebook posted her status today “God always fulfills His promises, just not always the way we imagine.” There again, the nudging sensation started. Her status, those verses….
Basically anyone who knows me knows that in one week it will be 9 months since my husband was miraculously healed of his seizures. It took me six months to believe that he was healed. It is still unbelievable!  I had resigned myself to hoping healing would come through doctors helping us manage the seizures.

For five years these seizures afflicted our whole family. Temporal Lobe seizures are different from convulsive seizures in many ways. One of the most devastating things about these particular seizures is that they steal the memories and personality of the person you love. I have described it as if something came in and snatched Jason out of his body and replaced him with a stranger. It took two years for us to even get a diagnosis, then the doctors started to medicate him… which brought on more personality changes….

The aura of these seizures could be intense feelings of sadness, doom, dread, fear and rage… and yes, I generally was the focus of his rage. When he was sick, a lot of times he could not walk. I would have to help him, and when our oldest son became big enough, he would help him because I was exhausted. 

When his seizures were active, I didn’t sleep because they (the seizures) didn’t. Through all of this, if he was able, Jason worked and went to church. Our routine didn’t stop. Throughout this time, I prayed. Everyone prayed, my husband, the kids, friends, churches, you name it they were praying. The medicine did not help.  Every three months we would have to readjust because the seizures returned.

One year later, God had not healed him, so I grieved my husband, because I did not think that “he” would return. People then began asking “have you prayed?”  When I said yes they would reply “well, you just have to believe.  You aren’t praying hard enough”. I know they meant well, but I would become so angry at that question and those statements… and God. Which brings me to my verses, and what my friend posted…

So here is David, fleeing from Saul to stay alive. No clothes, no food, no weapons, just him on the run from the king who wanted him dead. A king that he loved, and was committed to. Talk about an intimidating enemy, and a heartbreak. I can imagine a warrior like David must have been pretty attached to his sword and armor. I know people who like guns today get attached to their weapons. He also had to leave his wife and children. So he goes to find refuge in the “city of priests” Nob. Most likely he was looking for comfort and rest if he was going to a bunch of priests. Right?

When he gets there he asks for bread.  All they have is five loaves of the bread of the presence, their holy sacrament. But then…
1 Samuel 21:8-10 – David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t even bring my sword or my weapons since the king’s mission was urgent.” The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.”
“There’s none like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”
Wow! I just love that! After David defeated Goliath, he took his sword and armor and gave it to the Lord. In one of his most desperate times, God gave it back. Talk about knocking your socks off! We know that he had slain “tens of thousands” (with God on his side) by his sword. Imagine how he felt…to be weaponless, fleeing in fear, alone, only to be given the sword of Goliath! What a reminder of who God is that must have been for David! Not only that, but what a reminder it must have been of who God said David was, and the anointing that had been placed on him.  It is so easy to lose focus and be afraid. I imagine David’s faith increased again that day. 

As for me, through the five years of my husband’s sickness, the fruit produced  (dare I say it)….is patience and faith. I was looking for God to answer on my time-table. In my control. When he didn’t I gave up.  I assumed it was a no, and I did what I could to reconcile myself to His no. I thought I was being obedient. But my “obedience” bred resentment and anger, those old deadly bitter roots. Nasty little weeds that if not uprooted will choke out any fruit the spirit is trying to cultivate in our lives. I am sure David never imagined Goliath’s sword would be there. I had gotten to a point where I could not imagine God would completely heal my husband. At best I was hoping he would use the doctors to do it. But he did so much better than I thought possible.. He reminded me of who He is, the good of the impossible. Our good,good Father.

~Just a woman.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

 Do you keep your witness at home? Do you minister to and pray for those at home like you do at church? Are you as kind and polite to your family as you are the people you meet out on the street? Do you keep a servant's heart behind closed doors?

To be honest, I can't always answer those questions with a yes. There are a lot of pastor's I have personally known that don't believe they are to minister to, or witness to their own family. You may too.  When Jesus sent the Legion of demons into the herd of pigs and healed the demon possessed man, that man wanted to follow him, begged to! But Jesus said no! I never understood why Jesus would let the disciples follow him, but not this man that he he freed. It seemed like a contradiction.

But as I read it again today, I realized something. Maybe the point was, this once demon possessed man didn't need to follow Jesus to learn who he was, because he already understood everything he needed to know about his Lord? (Like Luke 7:47 says, those who are forgiven much, love much.) And since he understood deep in his spirit who Jesus was, he needed to go tell others. And Jesus told him to start at home.

Mark 5:18-20

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

Accepted

The day we accepted Christ into our lives is the day we received God’s unconditional love and acceptance. Notice I said it is the day we received His love and acceptance, not the day He began to love and accept us. He pursues us. He wants us. His desire is for us to know Him! 
Unfortunately, we don’t realize the depth of His love, and we don’t realize what it means to us.

We were created for Him, and Him alone. His approval and acceptance is the ONLY thing we need. All too often though, we look to others for that approval and acceptance. Often, we try to earn people’s love, approval and acceptance. And of course we fall short because we are imperfect people trying to please imperfect people. So we get hurt and allow that rejection to grow into bitterness. We walk around defeated feeling unwanted.
If we could ever truly understand this, it would change everything about us! We were created for His love and acceptance! He approves us! That is it! That means NO ONE ELSE has the power to reject us as human beings. We are loved and desired by our creator.  He saw enough worth in us to form us in our mother’s womb.  To give us the gift of grace.  And if that weren’t enough, He blesses us daily! People can love you, hate you, dislike you- it doesn’t matter! You are accepted and approved of by the one true God, NO ONE can change that! The one who made you to be loved, loves you. Stop looking to everyone else to fulfill that need inside of you, He is the only one who can. And before you think this doesn’t apply to you…. People who know they are loved, have nothing to prove and nothing to lose. There is no fight in them because they know the one who fights for them. Is that you?

Galatians 1:10
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Not That Kind Of Salt

But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt. ~ Genesis 19:26

Matthew 5:13 says “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall it’s saltiness be restored? It is no longer to be good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

Salt domes, or evaporites basically form when a body of salt water is not being fed with enough fresh water.  As the water evaporates, salt is left behind and the remaining water becomes super saturated with salt. Carbonates (carbonic acid salt) begin to form, then gypsum (soft mineral) then halite (rock salt).  As this process happens, the crystals form together because they are attracted to each other.  After a while, you have a hard rock formation.  While I was thinking about this process, God told me that is how our hearts work, too.  When we take our focus off of Christ and place it on our selves or our past, we go from being Christ centered, to self centered. When we are self centered, we tend to study less, we don’t really pay attention to the message that we hear because we become complacent in our walk. We would rather feel good, than feel conviction, because we lack joy.  We don’t pray like we should. We are more easily offended and less willing to forgive.  We eventually stop extending grace to others.  Little things that hurt us grow into big things. We become discouraged, then angry. We completely cut ourselves off from people that hurt us (or might hurt us) and from God. Our soured, acidic hearts now have a soft outer shell, a wall-  It’s soft, but it is still a wall. The longer we look back at the source of our pain, our past, the less we drink from the fountain that never runs dry, the harder our hearts become. Eventually, without living water, we become frozen in our walk, frozen in time, and frozen in our growth. Like Lot’s wife we become hardened pillars of salt. 

On the flip side of that, table salt, a.k.a. sodium chloride (NaCl) has a good, strong bond. Just like our heart does with the Holy Spirt at the joy of our salvation.  For salt, the only way to break that bond is to dilute it with water to the point of dissolution and allow contaminates to be mixed in destroying the good bond between Sodium and chloride.  Kind of like NOT holding fast to the truth of the gospel dissolves the bond that our hearts have with the Holy Spirit.  When we allow our bond to weaken, we allow contaminates (sin) to be mixed into our lives. We allow distance and disconnect to form between us and our Heavenly Father.  And we lose our saltiness.  

We must always guard our hearts (Proberbs 4:23).  Be aware of where we are spiritually and why.  God does not condemn us, He forgives us.  Guilt and shame are tools that the enemy uses to try to separate us from the love of God.  Don’t allow the crystals to be formed on your heart or the bond to be weakened with our Father.  Know his word, and be vigilant against diluting the truth.

DIGNIFIED. WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

Ashes and sackcloth represent mourning, repentance and a prayer for deliverance.  They were an outward expression of an inner condition.   (Some examples are found in Ezekiel 27: 30-32, Job 42:6, Daniel 9:3, Esther 4:1 and 4:3, and Jeremiah 6:26.)
So, when did we become so dignified and controlled that we can't even allow the expressions on our faces to be an outward sign of our inner condition?  When did being strong become more important than being humble, obedient, trusting or in love with our Lord and Savor? It is a lie from Satan that Christians are strong, and we have swallowed it hook, line and sinker! We are weak, He is strong!  When did we forget love is not what you say, it is what you do? As a result we say we love Him with our lips but keep our hearts to ourselves.  (Mark 7:6)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death. —Elizabeth Barrett Browning

What passion and devotion we have for a lover or a friend.  We will do just about anything to please ourselves and/or our new love interest.  But what about God?  Where is our passion for Him?  What are we willing to do to show our love for Him?  What about our need for Him? 

We know how much Jesus loved us.  He loved us to the point of death.  We can count the ways He loved, and continues to love us. Can we do the same with our love for Him?  How do we love Him, can we count the ways? 

The truth is, without great passion there will not be great change.  Where has our passion gone?  We say "we are human, only Jesus was perfect" to cover our shortcomings all the time.  And that's true.  But in the words of Tina Turner,  "what's that got to do with love" and our willingness and desire to show it to our Lord? 

HOW CLEAN IS YOUR CUP?

 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” – John 8:31-32

The word abide means to accept or bear. To stay or live. To remain or continue. It’s synonyms are; tarry, live, persevere, endure.

In Matthew 23:27, Jesus calls the Pharisees white washed tombs. He said they are beautiful on the outside but the insides are full of the bones of the dead and filth. In Luke 11:39, he tells them they are careful to clean the outside of the cup and dish but the inside is filthy.
So the question is… Are you living your life as a Pharisees or a disciple? Do you praise God with your mouth and serve hell with your thoughts and your body? People always say “Our bodies are our temple”, but the truth is, our bodies are HIS temple. (1 Corinthians 6:19).
We have such a watered down view of what it means to be a Christian today. Those who truly live in persecution know, but we don’t face true persecution in the United States.  Yet we still walk around defeated and offended. We say we know it’s not about us, it is all about Him, but do we live that way? Are the decisions we make and the actions we take based on what makes us happy, or are they based on eternity? Do we really get that someone is always watching, and the wrong decisions on our part in the name of Jesus could cost them their eternity? Even the small things we think don’t matter? Does our world revolve around Jesus, or do we think he revolves around us? Do we take the example of Him washing the disciples feet in humbleness and meekness, see it as weakness, and mistake Him as our footstool?
He is the spotless lamb of God. Willingly, meekly and obediently led to slaughter for the salvation of our souls. Our propitiation, once and for all.  (John 1:29) But make no mistake, He is coming back.  He will be riding a white horse, the Lion of Judah with eyes like blazing fire, and a sword for a tongue in a robe dipped in blood. (Rev. 5:5 and 19: 11-21). Does the thought of the rider on the white horse scare you or excite you? Where is your heart, really? Have you made an idol of yourself and your happiness? Who or what comes between you and God? Who are you keeping from God? You can only hide the stench of a tomb for so long. This is personal. No one will know the depths of your heart except the one who created it, and you. We can fool man. We can wear the beautiful mask, the “Christian” mask, we can run when the mask begins to slip. But we can’t fool God