Pink Princess Medicine

No, I'm not blogging about some new fringe drug making its debut on our streets. As you may recall, a few weeks ago Avari had strep throat. Her doctor, who is just wonderful in my book, prescribed an antibiotic for her to take. She told Avari that she was giving her "Pink Princess Medicine." Now, the medicine has been gone for over a week, but Avari still asks occasionally about "Pink Princess Medicine." You're wondering, so, what does that have to do with me?

Well, let me answer your question with a question. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was some sort of medicine we could take that tasted good going down and worked with no side effects whatsoever - a cure-all, if you will? I know I sound like one of those side-show people in the old westerns - "Come one, come all and try the miracle of the century. It'll cure whatever ails ya!"

No, really, there is something that is that good - joy. The scripture says in Proverbs 17:22, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." I know quite a bit about crushed spirits. The kind of debt we are in could be a real spirit crusher if we allowed it to be.

But I know that Papa has my life in His hands, so instead of worrying, which incidentally, is hazardous to our health, I am going to proceed on in joy. I gain a lot of impetous for joy from what Jesus says in Matthew 6:27-34:

²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?²⁸And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. ³⁴Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

So, instead of worrying, let's rejoice in our Papa. Today, I did a little rejoicing in the blessings Father has given me. It's so easy that you can do it too. Here's the recipe . . .

Just take a big, heaping dose of family (you can choose the flavor - you know, the ones you were born with or the ones you picked out for yourself).

Mix in a little water or whatever medium works for you (bowling, picnics, movies, games).

Stir vigorously with laughter, and enjoy!

Now, you can mix up a batch of joy that will cure the worst case of crushed spirit you've ever seen. Come on, open up and take your medicine; you know you like it!

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10 Signs That You Are A Pharisee

As promised, we are continuing our look at the pharisees. If you read my previous post and came back for more, you must be serious about a relationship with Father. That's perfect because confronting our pharasaic tendencies takes sincerity, as well as humility.

I've always believed in the axiom given us by Mary Poppins: "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, medicine go down, medicine go down" - sorry I got a little caught up there. So, we'll use a little humor to help this "medicine" go down as we look at 10 ways to know if you are a pharisee:

You know you're a pharisee if. . . (to be read with Jeff Foxworthy's accent)

1. You ask a friend over to help you move some furniture, and you sit on the porch drinking a lemonade while they do all the work. (Matt 23:4)

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

2. You rent out a billboard on the highway to make sure everybody hears that you left a $1 tip for the server at Billy Bob's Ribs 'N More after dinner on Sunday (and it wasn't in pennies). (Matt 23:5)

They do all their deeds to be seen by others.

3. You use your pocket knife to carve your name into the pew at church, and you'll knock out the three teeth Jimmy has left if he sits in it. (Matt 23:6)

And they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues

4. You invite people over, put up "Do Not Enter" signs, and then stand at the front gate with your shotgun to make sure no one gets in, includin' you! (Matt 23:13)

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

5. You offer to teach someone how to work on their car and then make them twice as bad a mechanic as you are (maybe the 3 cars up on blocks in your front yard should have been a clue!). (Matt 23:15)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

6. You go to the White House to meet with the President, and you get so distracted by the big screen TV that you don't even hear him offer to buy you a brand new double-wide trailer. (Matt 23:16-22)

¹⁶Woe to you, blind guides, who say, "If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath." ¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸And you say, "If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath." ¹⁹You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. ²²And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

7. You are always careful to use your blinker when you change lanes on the highway, but the fact that you're goin' 120 mph and all your tail lights are busted out escapes your notice. (Matt 23:23-24)

²³Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ²⁴You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

8. You spend 2 hours washing and waxing your 1983 El Camino, but you forget to clean the two week old fried chicken out from under the front seat. (Matt 23:25-28)

²⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

²⁷ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

9. You figure you're doin' alright 'cause you've only got one busted refrigerator sittin' on your front porch and you finally got satellite TV - not like the poor sap down the street that has two rusted out Frigidaires and a Kenmore and still watches TV with rabbit ears. (Luke 18:10-14)

¹⁰Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' ¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

10. You tell your wife whatever she wants to hear just to get her to pipe down while you watch the Dallas Cowboys playing the Washington Redskins. (Mark 7:6-8)

⁶And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

"'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; ⁷in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'

⁸You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."

Seriously though, nobody could get Jesus going like the Pharisees. He ranted and raved at them trying to show them how foolish and arrogant they were.

It all boils down to this: the Pharisees wanted to see themselves as righteous without ever confronting their issues. Their goal was to be superior and with that superiority to gain power and influence. They wanted a shortcut to holiness. Well, I'll let you in on a secret - there are no shortcuts.

I think Jesus summed up the Pharisees' issues pretty concisely when He said, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Wow, that is . . .wow. How can you walk away from that one? Just sit a minute and think on that. Could that be said of you?

Do you say all the "right" things and do all the "right" things but still feel empty? Are you a dirty cup or a pretty tomb? Too often we become obsessed with being "perfect." Father is not looking for you to be perfect. If He was looking for perfection, He would have vaporized every one of us and started over a long time ago. He wants relationship!!

I know that I am beating a dead horse at this point, and I risk alienating those of you who are tired of hearing it. But Papa will not allow me to stop talking about this yet. His very heart beats for us. Why else would he have sent his only Son to die for us? I mean, He said it right there in scripture - they give me lip-service, but not their hearts. Isn't that what Jesus is saying in Mark 7:6-8?

Jesus summarizes it for us in Matthew 22:37-40:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Relationship: relationship with Papa and relationship with each other. So simple, so full of life and love - that is what our life with Him should be.

I'm tired, and I'm sure you are too, at this point. I hope that in some way you have been inspired to Fathom Deep. Go deeper with Father - as deep as you can go. And when you think you are as close to Him as you can possibly get, draw closer!

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Identity Crisis - Luke 12:1-7

I tend to be a straightforward person. What you see is pretty much what you get with me. I have never been very good at "going with the flow." I never conquered the art of changing my persona based on the group of people present at the time. I suppose that is why I was never the popular kid in school and why I have always been the type of person to have a few close friends rather than legions of acquaintances.

So, I do not know how else to approach this topic other than just to say what is on my mind. I want to talk to you today about pharisees. You may be thinking, "What, are you talking about? The Pharisees were those dudes in the Bible with bells on their robes that Jesus was always going on about." Well, you would be right, in a sense. However, there are plenty of pharisees roaming the halls in our places of assembly today (Remember, the church is not a building; we are the church).

"Shock and horror. Whatever do you mean by saying there are pharisees in our places of worship?" Think about it. The Pharisees were the religious elite who tried to live for God by fulfilling the letter of the law. Which, if they had been paying attention, they would have realized was impossible.

I have witnessed much of this same approach in other believers today. They believe that by discovering every "rule" in scripture and following it to the letter, they can be holy. What they fail to recognize is that their goal is an impossible one to reach. However, they continue on in a vain effort to attain their brand of righteousness. In the process, they drag many other poor, unsuspecting souls into their dead-end pursuit.

As I have said before, the law was a tool to show us that we are incapable of righteousness without Jesus. As a result, the Pharisees of the Bible and the pharisees today have something in common. They live one life in public and another in private.

There is an amazing passage of scripture in Luke (it is repeated in Matthew 10:26-33) where Jesus talks to the disciples about the Pharisees. Let's look together at Luke 12:1-7

¹In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ²Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ³Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁴"I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. ⁵But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! ⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God ⁷Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows."

In other words, Jesus is saying that we should not be pulled into this trap of hypocrisy. We should live our lives openly and honestly. The pharisees that we encounter have no lasting power over our lives. Father's is the only opinion with which we should be concerned because His is the only one that truly matters. Besides, as the scripture says, He loves us so much that He's numbered every hair on our heads. Shouldn't we be seeking Him instead of seeking perfection through rules?

So, you see, it really is simple to live for God as long as we don't complicate matters. What Papa wants from us is relationship. He wants living, breathing sons and daughters adopted into His family, not rule-quoting automatons trying to achieve superiority over everyone else with their perfection. Rules bring condemnation and death; relationship brings grace and life. Do not cling to a quantifiable existence in the law; release your inhibitions regarding how close you can draw to our Father. You will find that you can be much more alive in Him than you ever dreamed.

If we stop trying to be religious and start trying to have a relationship with Father, we will find that we are no longer living a life of rules but a life of love and grace. And when those pharisees do stick their noses up in the air at our living relationship, we will not be concerned about their opinions anymore.

Tune in next time to find out how to know if You are a Pharisee.

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Are You a Christian?

OK, I promised in my last post that I would devote some time to discussing why I tend to avoid the term Christian. My husband and I have been discussing this question a lot lately - Are you a Christian? I have to tell you that I have come to prefer the title Jesus-lover over the title of Christian. Blasphemy!!!

I'm really not trying to be inventive or trendy by shedding the traditional title. I have just come to realize in recent months that the term Christian carries a lot of baggage with it, and it no longer means to people what it once did. Besides, IMHO, Jesus-lover is much more descriptive of who I am as a person.

How can I explain without offending? The title of Christian now carries with it the stigma of religion. And as one of my faithful readers, you well know that I am not a proponent of religion. I am, however, a huge fan of relationship with Father. Here's the thing, if someone on the street asked me the question, "Are you a Christian?," I would have to ask them, "What do you mean by 'Christian'?" People associate a myriad of meanings with the label, most of which are not complimentary in nature. And many of them have nothing to do with real life in Jesus.

So, at the risk of insulting the sensibilities of some, I am opting for the term Jesus-lover. If using this description does nothing else, I hope it strips away the religiosity from my life. It causes me to think more deeply about who I am as I live outside the confines of ritual and religion and seek to find a deeper walk with my Papa!

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Same Song, Second Verse - or was it Third?

Well, here we are again. Sitting down for a quiet evening together, just the two of us, since Avari is in bed (I've got my fingers crossed that she'll stay there). Like I said, a nice, relaxing evening together - no, not my husband and I. I sent him to do the grocery shopping this evening. I figured it was a fair trade since I mowed the yard this morning. I'm talking about you and me. I thought we could spend a little time discussing a topic close to my heart - relationship. Oh, I know, I talk about it a lot. It really borders on obsession, but in a good way, I think. Hang in there though, I think you'll like this one.

I'm not sure how you grew up in the faith. From the time I was a newborn Jesus-lover (Please excuse me for not using the term Christian - we'll get into my reasons for that in another post), I was raised to think that if you stuck your pinkie toe out of line, you better repent fast, or you could die suddenly and go to hell. I'm serious - no, really, quit laughing, it's not funny. There is a whole segment of our brothers and sisters our there who believe that very thing.

When I started driving, I lived in fear that I would get in a car wreck, curse by accident, and then die. I was sure if it happened and I didn't have time to repent before I stepped up to the pearly gates, I would be sent suddenly southward into a pit of fire and brimstone courtesy of St. Pete's secret trapdoor for sinners. I grew up thinking that my life as lived for Christ up to the point of death counted for nothing if I committed the slightest sin prior to "meeting my Maker."

In order to save myself from hellfire and damnation, I "rededicated" my life to Jesus every time there was an altar call. I thought I had lost my salvation each time I sinned. Now, I am not going to get into the whole issue of once saved, always saved. I have said before that I am not and do not claim to be a theologian. I will say this, I don't think you can lose your salvation like you lose your keys. You'd have to be working pretty hard at it to misplace it.

That said, we, as Papa's children, need to realize that we do not have to "rededicate" ourselves every time we sin. We should repent, we should ask for forgiveness, we should turn away from the sin, intent on not succumbing to it again. We do not, however, need to start all over.

Aha, now we're getting to the heart of the matter. We tend to think to ourselves, "Oh, man, I managed to mess up again. Now, I'll have to start from the beginning so I can get it right." God is screaming - No, No, No! That would be like getting remarried every time you get into a fight with your spouse. Wow, that would get expensive. Let's see, I've been married 10 years, so that would add up to . . . wow, yeah, very expensive.

Wait, an even better example is this: Say you are going on a cross-country road trip. You know your starting point, you can see your destination on the map, but you do not have the complete route marked out yet. It's like using one of those nifty navigational systems that give you step-by-step directions. So, you begin your journey, and you do your best to follow the directions as they are given, but let's face it, sometimes, you make a wrong turn. I don't know about you, but if I'm 700 miles from home, and I miss an exit, I am SO not driving 700 miles back to where I started just to retrace my steps all over again, especially with gas at $4.00/gallon. I'm going to get that computer to tell me the quickest way to get back on track.

Father desires us to do the same in our journey with Him. He has no desire for us to start all over. That's like saying His work up to that point was worthless, and He should start from scratch. He also gets no satisfaction out of our wallowing in guilt and condemnation. Those two treats are gift-wrapped curses from the enemy. When we stumble and fall, as we are all wont to do at times, He wants us to turn, repent and continue on.

So, next time you make a wrong turn on this journey, please refrain from going back to the beginning. Turn your ear to Papa, so He can give you directions to the quickest way back to where He wants you to be.

Blessings!

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Freedom!

I've been thinking quite a bit the past couple of days about freedom. To be completely truthful, it has been something that I have been mulling over for a couple of months, but over the past couple of days it has been strong on my heart. It is something that we, as Americans, take for granted so often. It is the subject of freedom.

I believe that we really have very little concept of what true freedom is in our lives. We tend to live under the shadow of obligations, responsibilities, and requirements. Too often we lose perspective on why we really do all the things we do on a daily basis. We forget that we are free.

I am not simply discussing with you the freedom that we enjoy here in this country. The freedoms to which I refer run deeper, much deeper than those. We are freed by the love of our Father. We are freed by the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross.

I know a lot of times we focus on the sin aspect of this freedom - we are freed from the slavery that sin places upon us (see John 8:34-35). And that is most certainly a truth that I treasure. However, most of the time we stop there. We think, "Whew! I'm free from sin," but we never take that next step in the relationship process with Father.

We forget to remember that because we are free from that sin, we are also free to partake in a rich, deep, unfathomable relationship with the Creator of the universe. We fail to take advantage of the freedoms that are available to us. We neglect the opportunity to commune with our Father. No, that sounds too "religious" to say it that way.

What I mean to say is this: Stop, and think about it just for a moment. You have the ear of God, the one and only God. Not only that, He wants to spend time with you - not in some "run down a shopping list of prayer needs" kind of way, but in a real, honest dialogue. He cares about what you have to say. He wants to speak to you. Man, I feel like I'm really not getting this across strongly enough. God, please help me to convey Your truth.

This whole thing is not about religion it is about relationship. It is about knowing - Father knowing you and you knowing Father. It is not and never has been about a list of rules. You can go to a building to worship every Sunday, you can pray every morning or every night, you can take Communion, you can read your Bible, but you still may never know your Father. Oh, you may know something about Him, but you will not know Him. Just like you can read this blog, sit next to me in a service, hear me preach or lead worship and never know me. You may have some information about me, but in order to know me, you must have a relationship with me.

That, my friends, is the purpose of the Law, the purpose of Christ's crucifixion, the purpose of scripture. Relationship, it all boils down to that. We are free to have relationship with Him. I pray that you can really grasp that concept. If you do, it will revolutionize your walk with Father.

Until next time, grace and freedom to you!

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