That Which Remains

 

“Simon, Simon, look out! Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen the brothers.”

—Luke 22:31-32

Every summer on my family farm, my father and his helpers used the old, rattle-trap, noisy threshing machine on the latest crop of oats. Like harvesting wheat, the machine would beat the grain until the seeds were separated from the straw and chaff. The straw ended up as bedding for cattle, the seeds became feed for them, and the chaff, well, it just blew away. The value lies in that which remains.

While watching this process, we dared not get too close. Every time we did, the chaff would find its way into every crevice of clothing, between our bare toes, and even up our noses. Chaff—what a dirty and useless material it is. We cleaned and cleaned it from our bodies.

In Bible times, as we read about in Ruth 3:3, men would use sledges, heavy wooden platforms weighted down with stones and fitted underneath with anything sharp. These sledges, pulled by teams of animals, would ride over the crop of wheat on a threshing floor. The farmers would “winnow” the loose plants with a winnowing rake and the chaff would blow away.

The agrarian culture of Bible times provided plenty of illustrations for the writers of Scripture to use in teaching God’s truths. The Psalmist, in Psalm 1:4, likens the chaff to the wicked people who walked away from God’s truth:

They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

But, why did Jesus allow Peter in the passage from the Gospel of Luke at the beginning of this blog post to go through the sifting process with Satan in charge? Certainly Jesus didn’t place Peter in the same camp as the “wicked.” What was Satan’s purpose here? I am convinced that Satan wanted to destroy Peter, the future leader of the Christian church. But, God had a different plan.

I like the way that Beth Moore explains it: ¹

Satan’s goal in sifting is to make us a mockery by showing us to be all chaff and no wheat. Christ, on the other hand, permits us to be sifted to shake out the real from the unreal, the trash from the true. The wheat that proves usable is authentic grain from which Christ can make bread.

In preparation for powerful ministry, we often find that God puts His choicest servants through the hardest of circumstances. They learn what God considers “chaff” in their lives and then submit to the painful and brutal threshing process.

If God seems to be beating the “chaff” out of you these days, rejoice that He has called you to suffer for His sake. Trust Him to bring about His purposes in your life, so that you may become “nourishing bread” for others. Remember, the value lies in that which remains.

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1 Moore, Beth, Portraits of Devotion. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2014. P. 264.

 

 

Spiritual Sinkholes

 

“Therefore let any one who thinks he stands—who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm—take heed lest he fall [into sin].”

—1 Corinthians 10:12 Amp.

If you were driving along and came to the sinkhole shown in the photo above, would you try to drive around it? If you were planning to build a house, would you set your sights on the lot adjacent to such a sinkhole? Of course you wouldn’t. No reasonable person would do either.

Yet, we all sometimes dare walk by and peer into a pit like this and suddenly get drawn into it. Sin entices us when we least expect it and we fall into a pit of sin.

For example, we all have “besetting” sins that we get used to having in our lives. Some of us live close to a sinkhole called “Worry.” We find it so easy to step over the side and fall into this sinkhole. Others of us nurse “Grudges.” We stand too near the rim and suddenly have to catch ourselves—on the way down! Some of us get too close to the edge of a pit called “Self-pity.” Before we know it, we’re at the bottom of this sinkhole with no apparent way out.

How do we make it a practice to stay out of the neighborhood where sinkholes dominate the landscape? Some days we’d much rather build our house right there on the perimeter of a sinkhole of sin and enjoy our misery. Do you ever feel that way?

In her book, Jesus Calling, Sarah Young writes about this problem area. She explains the importance of this crisis of daily living. ¹

Be on guard against the pit… When you are weary or unwell, this demonic trap is the greatest danger you face. Don’t even go near the edge of the pit. Its edges crumble easily, and before you know it, you are on the way down. It is ever so much harder to get out of the pit than to keep a safe distance from it.

Sarah Young suggests that Christians with this problem—the enticement of the pit—should occupy themselves with praising and thanking God for His blessings. She also speaks of living close to God in order to put a distance between us and the pit. Her suggestions are both wonderful ideas.

Scripture itself, in the same passage as the verse at the beginning of this blog post, tells us that we have help available if we want it. The Apostle Paul writes these words in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

I hope that you will join me as we work together at staying away from spiritual sink holes. Comfortable though it may be to peer into them, whenever we put ourselves into that kind of temptation, we cannot please our heavenly Father. He has definitely given us help to overcome the sinkholes of besetting sins that tempt us.

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1 Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008. Devotional for February 23rd.

 

 

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!