A Renovation Project

 

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

—2 Corinthians 3:18

No one was surprised that my elementary school, the oldest in town, needed renovation. No other option existed. We had to go through this process over the course of a school year and two summers. What a mess this made of our schedules, our classrooms, our special events, and our programs.

One winter’s day before Christmas, we even had to take the entire student population on a “field trip,” visiting other buildings in town for special programs. The students came to school in the morning, were sent onto another bus with their fellow class members for the “field trip,” and at the end of the day came back to school, where they then got on their regular buses for the trip home.

During this time of renovation, we tolerated a long year of sacrifices. But, once renovations were finally completed, the building became the boast of the town. We had new windows, new heating and air conditioning, a new roof, new carpeting, new counters, a new fire alarm system, and even new furniture. The changes ensured more comfort, safety, and productivity. We had a like-new, attractive place to teach and learn. As another September came around, once the renovations were completed, what a fun school year opening it was!

At some point in our lives, we may find that the Lord wants to take us through a renovation process. We should likely be prepared for a messy job. We’ll probably find things in “closets” that we had forgotten we had stored there, and see “dust” that embarrasses us. We may find that our lives will get disrupted and become uncomfortable. No longer will God accept the old sins we’ve lived with for so long.

The Lord needs us for more productive, and even more attractive, work for His Kingdom. Maybe He wants new “windows” from which we can view the world more like He does. God wants to clean up our inner persons and rebuild us to serve His purposes in the world. In response to God’s renovation plan, we need to trust ourselves into the wise and loving hands of the Master Builder. He does everything well! As a result of His work on us, we will experience a new usefulness and a new joy.

When God was about to begin a major renovation on their hearts and on their culture, God gave the Prophet Isaiah words that he might tell the City of Jerusalem. Please read these words from Isaiah 54:11-12:

O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.

Oh what a beautiful prospect for a ruined and torn down city. A renovation project indeed! God always sees the renovation project to the final completion of its glorious end. We can surely count on Him.

 

 

Out of Ashes

 

“[The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord] has anointed me… to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness 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.”

—Isaiah 61:3

Sometimes it feels like all we have left to give the Lord are ashes. That which we had—that which seemed to be the best offering we could produce—has been burned and now gone. All we have to offer our God is brokenness and the burned up remains of a well-intentioned life.

We can find various stories about the lives of people who thought their world had ended, but then went on to do amazing things despite the burned out remnants of something seemingly lost.

Consider Beethoven, a man with the keenest sense of hearing, who composed exquisite music, but suffered complete deafness when he had so many songs yet to give the world. Despite the extreme loss, he composed the most well known and loved symphony, his Ninth, while totally deaf.

Think of Joni Earecksen Tada, a young girl with a promising knack for painting, who loved sitting next to her artist father with her crayons and imagination, dreaming of producing wonderful pictures. Then, she experienced a horrible diving accident, spent months in the hospital, and ended up a quadriplegic. She could have never known what God saw in her future, of the magnificent works of art created by colored pencils held between her teeth.

To Joni, and many others with severe limitations, these verses from 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 must ring very true:

“But he [God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Maybe something you depended on to give you the means to serve God has been taken from you. Maybe the dreams you had have vanished like smoke. Even so, be aware that God’s plan never gets thwarted. He wants to give you beauty for ashes, and hope where you have despair. He is always able to produce in you something of His design.

Stay faithful, and you will soon see the beauty from God develop in ways you never imagined!

 

 

Nothing Left

 

“And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.”

—Mark 5:25-26

These two sentences say it all. She was “subject to bleeding”—that was her condition. She “suffered a great deal”—that was her disposition. She “grew worse”—that was the conclusion of the matter.

Chronic pain, or illness, financial ruin, long-term job loss, unrelenting grief—all these leave the person carrying the burden with both a weakness and helplessness that are often too heavy to bear. Millions of hours of tests, of doctor’s appointments, of careful home care, of searching employment lists, of hopeful highs leading to devastating lows—these all become a part of the long-term sufferer’s daily walk.

The primary ordeal makes life hard enough. But, the added secondary effects weigh down with such pressure, making the burden even more dreadful. This woman “spent all she had.” Also, in those times, another person having contact with such a woman would become considered ceremonially unclean. So, she had to live like an outcast. In addition, she would have been childless and spurned even more by society.

I can imagine that, as with most of us, when a trial begins in our lives, we gather our strength and even sense God’s hand on us. But, as time goes on, the fear and dread and hopelessness become heavier and heavier because we have “spent all” we had of our emotional bank account, as well as of our physical energy. We begin to wonder if God really cares at all about us.

What do we do in these kind of circumstances? We do exactly what this woman did. We desperately come to Jesus, and boldly beg His mercy, realizing that He is our only hope.

If we come to Jesus—and we may have to come again and again for new outpourings of His grace—we will hear Jesus speak to us according to His will. In the case of this woman, we find, recorded in Mark 5:34, that Jesus not only told her to go in peace, but that she was healed from her suffering.

Does that mean Jesus will heal all of our physical and emotional problems? Will He restore our loss of employment and bring us financial prosperity? Not necessarily. But, we can have the strength to carry the burden, knowing that God owns us as daughters and sons and has plenty of His peace to give us, as well.

Isaiah 42:3 shows us the character of God who sees our weakness and our needs:

A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

Yes! He has stores of grace to lovingly give us when we have nothing left! We can absolutely count on His overwhelming love and care for us.

 

 

Occupational Privilege

 

“Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep.”

—Psalm 107:23-24

The word “privilege” has taken on a negative connotation in recent days. But, privilege does not really connote something that’s negative. For example, what parts of your job give you a sense of privilege—a sense that you have insights into matters that others who do not perform the tasks of your job may not have?

Maybe you hadn’t considered that before. But, in the passage of Scripture at the beginning of this blog post, we read about sea-faring merchants who saw things the average person would never have the opportunity to observe about God. Does the work you do afford you special ways of seeing God that others, who do not undertake the tasks you perform in your job, will never know?

Let’s say you stay home to raise children. Almost no one ever sees all of your hard work and sacrifice, expecially your patience and devotion to those little ones. Yet, you have the privilege of catching the first word from a baby’s mouth, or to observe a funny never-to-be-repeated expression that passed so quickly you couldn’t even get your cell phone camera out fast enough to capture it. You may hear your child’s first prayer, or notice the pure joy on the little face over some new discovery.

Let’s say you own a thrift store and sort through pounds and pounds of other people’s junky leftovers. You alone discover the old cabinet for which you’ve been looking for a very long time that will work so nicely as a baby’s changing table. Or, perhaps you will have the opportunity to witness how something a struggling person finds in your store will fill a great need they couldn’t afford to satisfy in any other way.

In my occupation, as a church organist, accompanist, and as a public school music teacher, I have often had the distinct privilege of experiencing God’s awesome blessing. I’ve seen the presence of the Holy Spirit move a congregation through a particular hymn, or other selection of music, that I accompanied. I’ve experienced the moment, after hours of practicing, where the right interpretation of a musical piece comes together and brings with it the power to move hearts and minds.

I’ve seen an angry, moody child, who came to my music class with a pout and refused to participate, later leave my class with a skip in his step and a smile on his face. I’ve heard glorious sounds from children in choir rehearsals that no one else would ever hear in a performance.

As His dearly loved children, God makes sure He shows up and reveals Himself in our day-to-day experiences. Sadly, because of our preoccupation with the distrations around us, too often we miss seeing unique experiences. Or, when we do see them, we fail to understand and acknowledge that our God is the author of such blessings.

Today, no matter what your work, through those things God brings to pass along your very special pathway, take notice of all the ways in which you see God’s blessings—ways that, because of the privilege of your unique setting, you see in a different way than any other person.

 

 

Here Comes the Bride

 

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah!    For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad    and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come,    and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean,    was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

—Revelation 19:6-9

Recently I received a thank-you note from a young bride for whose wedding I played the organ. She commented that everyone kept saying what a dramatic entrance she had made at the wedding. I did nothing out of the ordinary for her, because I always prepare the bridal processional with a fanfare and loud flourishes.

Her note has me thinking about the great Wedding of the Lamb, as desribed in the Scripture passage from Revelation 19:6-9 at the beginning of this blog post.

Many times in Scripture, the bride is regarded as the church prepared for her groom, Christ Himself. Such a fuss over the bride! It would seem that with Christ, as the groom, the focus should be on Him. Yet here Scripture states that the bride has made herself ready in fine linen, bright and clean. In this passage, nothing is spoken of the Groom.

Psalm 45 is a wedding song. In verse 15, the bride is described as wearing gold and embroidered garments. She and her companions are:

“… led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king.”

Isaiah refers to the bride in Isaiah 62:5:

“As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”

It seems to me that something of the symbolism of Christ and His church has been lost in modern wedding ceremonies. In fact, like in the wedding ceremony I referred to earlier, there was neither prayer nor mention of Christ. No wonder this young bride was a bit surprised at her role in the wedding drama.

Oh yes, the money, time, and daydreaming that young girls invest on thinking about, choosing, and purchasing that perfect dress still exists. But, the real meaning of such a dress—taken from Scripture—has seemingly been lost.

Having seen firsthand the Greek Orthodox tradition of crowns in their wedding ceremony, I recently did some research about this particular part of the ceremony. One of the elements of the service involves “crowning,” in which the bride and groom receive crowns united by ribbon, representing their union in Christ.

The priest says: “Crown them with Glory and Honor.” This tradition of crowns serves as a reminder to the bride and groom that marriage involves “dying of self” in the same way that we die to self so that Christ can live in us. After the marriage ceremony, the newly married couple typically displays their crowns in a case above the bed, in order to serve as a constant reminder of the holy state of marriage.

The Apostle Paul also speaks of this symbolism in his letter found in Ephesians 5:25-28:

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.”

Yes, as recorded in Revelation 19:6-9, in speaking to the Apostle John, who records what is revealed to him, Christ has chosen to put the emphasis on the bride—those whom God has called to Himself as “Christ’s-ones.” Christ chose this bride, bought her with His own precious blood, brought her to a relationship with Himself, and waits to present her to the Heavenly Hosts and all creation.

I wonder what the music will sound like when we are presented to Him in the Heavenly Kingdom? Will it be dramatic? I would imagine it will!

 

 

Flying Buttresses from God

 

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

—Galatians 6:2

In a time of collapse, we would do well to have someone on whom to lean. We see this principle at work in the flying buttresses of Gothic Cathedrals. According to Wikipedia:

“… the purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards…” which occurs with the load of heavy stone and glass in the walls of the largest buildings. “Another application of the flying buttress is to prop up a leaning wall in danger of collapse.”

The Apostle Paul was such a “flying buttress,” providing support to the early churches, which he and other apostles founded in the first century. He not only traveled to stay with these young congregations, in order to encourage and help them, but he wrote long letters of instruction to them, so that they would not fail.

In helping to carry the load of these new churches, the Apostle Paul experienced endangering situations, such as shipwrecks, starvation, health problems, beatings, imprisonments, riots, and sleepless nights. In order for his ministry to continue, he knew that, for himslef and his ministry, he needed the buttressing of fellow servants of Christ. He relied on Titus and Timothy, John Mark, and Luke, as well as lesser-known men, such as Tychicus, Epaphroditus, and women, such as Nympha and Priscilla.

The Apostle Paul speaks of the Church as the “Body of Christ,” in which each member belongs to each other member, in order to complete the whole. He admonished the Church in 1 Thessalonians 5:11:

Therefore encourage one another, and build each other up.

This theme occurs often in Paul’s writings. He knew how hard life can become and what spiritual warfare these young Christians would face.

In our present age, we may have days when we don’t feel we can go a step further. Weariness, sickness, emotional pain—along with a too-long waiting for God to answer our prayers—can beat upon us like heavy wind and rain beats on a cathedral in a violent storm. In prayer, we must ask God to supply the buttressing support for us, so that we can keep from collapsing.

God has already prepared a group of fellow Christians to buttress us during our difficult days. When the time of hardship ends, we should seek to have the same grateful spirit that Paul did, when he wrote to Philemon in verse 7:

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

 

 

The Nobles of Tekoa

 

“The next section [of the wall] was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors. ”

—Nehemiah 3:5

What an exciting time it must have been in the days of Nehemiah. God had moved this man to travel back to his homeland and begin the process of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He had never seen Jerusalem. But, he had heard of the destruction of this city and its walls. The news of this disaster moved Nehemiah to seek permission from King Artaxerxes, his master, to return and give aid to the fallen city.

Nehemiah motivated cooperation and a collegial work ethic among the people. Chapter three of the Book of Nehemiah lists the names of all those who helped on each section of the great wall. Goldsmiths, joined by perfumers, priests, merchants, and temple servants—and even a few women—got busy and zealously worked on the repairs.

However, this curious verse five from the third chapter tells us that the nobles of Tekoa refused to work alongside their fellow Jewish brothers. Fortunately, not all men in positions of importance acted that way. As we read through the chapter, we see that a number of rulers, men of authority, enjoyed the camaraderie, and did what they could to join the work.

Amy Carmichael, referring to this story writes: ¹

In the list of honorable names in chapter 3, there is a little sentence that I am sure the men in question would like to take out of the Bible. But they cannot. They are for ever held up to derision and shame. They lost their chance, the great chance of their lives; it never came again… How glad all the other builders must have been when the wall was joined together; each set of people had done their bit faithfully… And how astonished they would be to hear that their names were written in a Book that would be treasured to the end of time.

Do we have our own nobles of Tekoa? I don’t think we would need to look too far to see people with this attitude in our churches today.

I once heard a woman say, “Oh, I direct choirs, I don’t sing in them!” I also knew a woman who held the position of the children’s ministry team director, who enjoyed chairing meetings, but never actually got to know any of the children of the church.

When we look at Jesus, we see the way that He lived, walking and helping those in need, always serving others. We read His words in Matthew 20:26-28:

Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

When God calls us to serve, He builds us into a team of His people. While we work in whatever capacity He calls us, He makes sure that we, like the builders in the days of Nehemiah, rejoice to see the work completed and to hear His words to us, “Well done!”

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1 Carmichael, Amy, Thou Givest…They Gather. Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade for Dohnavur Fellowship, 1958. p. 132.