Hello, Is There Anybody Out There?

Okay so I bet you are wondering what is this blog about – well it is about YOU. That is right, we, the authors, want to take this time to thank you for all the views we received. I can not believe how many people look at our posts. I would just like to ask one small favor. We love getting personal emails about our posts and messages on Facebook, but we want to see you comment on the blog directly. Then we know what, if any, impact our posts are having.

Okay so no pressure, well maybe a little bit – I want your comments – here and now, good and constructively different. Any feedback is wanted.

Always remember
God Loves You And So Do We

Michele

Dwelling In Unity

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

It is like the precious oil on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down the collar of his robes!

It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion!

For there the Lord has commanded the blessing. life forevermore.”

Psalm 133

I’ve always loved this Psalm.  It is one of the “Songs of Ascent”  thought to be sung as pilgrims ascended to the temple during Jewish festivals.  It rejoices in the blessings of God and family.

There is nothing that contributes more to our happiness than living contentedly with those around us;  and nothing more miserable than being surrounded by discord and disagreement.  This is so obvious that it astounds me to realize how often we spend our time (whoops, back to last month’s theme) being aggrieved and angry with people.

The Bible gives much good advice on getting along with one another.  We like to think that “those others” are just difficult, but guess what?  The burden of getting along  rests with you and me, and with controlling our own, often selfish, behavior.  In Romans, Paul tells us:

“If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.”  Romans 12:18

Now comes what I call the YBH question (yes, but how?)  Well we can ….

“Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.”  Romans 12:15

“Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be conceited.”  Romans 12:16

“Outdo one another in showing honor.” Romans 12:9

“Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” Romans 12:13

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all.”  Romans 12:17

Most of all,

“Let love be genuine …Love one another with brotherly affection.”  Romans 12:9-10

Whenever there is a lack of harmony, I need to ask myself, “what is my part in this?”  Do I love others, all others as children of God, and therefore my siblings? (or do I consider some of them not worthy of my interest, not as “good” as I am) Am I sincerely happy when things go well for them, and sad when they don’t (or am I secretly envious when they do well, and gloating when they fail?).  Do I try to build others up, giving them honor and credit? (or do I tear them down behind their backs?)  Do I bear patiently with the faults of others? (or do I lash out when they do something wrong?) Am I quick to offer help? (or do I want to keep my time and money for myself?)  Is my love for others genuine (or just lip service?)

Of course, admitting and working on my own faults is difficult–but the reward is peace with God and others.  Isn’t that worth the price?  What do you think, readers?

 

Freedom by Decision

We spend everyday making decisions in our life. What we are going to eat, who we will talk to, what we will wear, where we will go, and the list goes on. The most important decision we will make is which gate we will walk through, the narrow or wide one.
In case you are wondering where I am going with this – stay with me it will become clearer as I go on. A couple of weeks ago the gospel reading at the church I attend was Matthew 7:12-14 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” I am going to focus on verses 13&14. Jesus is talking about the path to Christianity here. I am not sure if I totally got it before the sermon that Sunday; but I can honestly say that I understand it now. The sermon spoke of how the narrow gate and the path will not be easy or smooth like the wide gate and that we only go through the gate one at a time not as a group. Now before you think I am not making any sense, I want you to think about it – We are told repeatedly in the Bible that the way of the Lord is hard and we will meet untold troubles on the way. So why do we think that all we have to do to get to heaven is accept Him as our savior with no real heartfelt desires to pursue His word. We should be grateful that we are even given the opportunity to be a child of God and be willing to accept what trials or troubles may come forth from it. The sermon went into great detail about the wide gate and how many will want to enter through there because it is the easy way to go and that the narrow gate is not the most appealing way but is the only way to follow in the footsteps of our Lord. To enter through the narrow gate we must be ready to let go of all the earthly baggage we have; whether it is material things we use as idols, emotional things we cannot let go of or just a basic refusal to accept the writing in the Bible as it stands without changing it to meet what it is we want.
I know I am not giving the sermon the justice it deserves by my paraphrasing here, but I hope you get the picture. We have the FREEDOM to make the DECISION to enter the NARROW GATE, I hope I see you on the path with me.
I want to thank the person who wrote and delivered that sermon; my husband Jim Edgel for opening my eyes to the path I need to be on. Thank you so much, and I love you.

Always Remember
God Loves You And So Do I
Michele Edgel

Free to Be Me

 

“For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.  If the foot should say, ’Because I am a foot, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body.  And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?  If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each of them, as He chose.”  1 Cor. 12:14-18

 Listening to the world often makes us feel inadequate.  There is always someone smarter, richer, more talented, or more beautiful. Christians are not immune to those feelings although we may judge ourselves by different standards – we’re not as generous, as pious as well-read in the Scripture as some other Christian we know.  It’s so easy to start striving to become someone we’re not and being dissatisfied with who we are

Whenever I start thinking this way, I try to remind myself that God made me, and I have a purpose to fulfill that only involves being in step with His plans for me.  In his letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul puts it this way:

“For we His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  Ephesians 2:10

 In Christ we are free to stop trying to be what we’re not.  We are free to stop measuring ourselves by the world’s definition of success. We’re even free to stop worrying about whether we’re as good a person as someone we know. We are free from envying others.  We can rest secure in our identity of beloved child of God. 

 Remember He loves you and so do I!

The Freedom of Baptism

The following prayer is from the Via De Cristo Pilgrim’s Guide, given to each participant in the retreat weekend:

Lord God, I am your child.  I call you Father because you are my Father.  You named me with your own holy name before I could move a hand to help or prevent you.  You insisted on having me even though you knew the end of my life as well as it’s beginning, it’s shame as well as it’s glory, it’s failures as well as it’s achievements, it’s bad as well as it’s good.

Why, Father, should I persist in resisting you?  Why should I insist on my own way instead of knowing your way of grace and love?  Why should I obey my own whims instead of letting your grace in baptism have it’s way with me?

Forgive me, Father, for so often wandering into a far country away from you, your forgiveness, your joy, your promises, your love in Jesus Christ.  Help me to live in the freedom of my baptism, by the faith you have given me, in the life which you daily renew by your gracious forgiveness. 

I am baptized.  I belong to you, God.  Amen

What Freedom?

What freedom do we enjoy as a Christian? The freedom from death. We have eternal life through the salvation of Jesus Christ, not anything we do, but from God. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I live in America, the land of the free, but unfortunately it seems that this country has lost the best freedom it could have. We live in a society where God is not allowed in school, business or government; and at the same time we have the audacity to ask Him to bless us. We want to have our cake and eat it too. We want everything we feel we deserve, even though we don’t deserve anything, and do not want to give anything back for it. I know some will be upset by what I am saying; but before you get all self righteous and indignant; ask yourself this question – Do you stand up for Him in your daily life? Or do you hide behind being politically correct? Remember Jesus told us “Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father, who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:33)
The freedoms we are taught that we deserve by being citizens of the U.S.A. are NOT the best freedom we have access to. That freedom is the freedom from death and the thought of eternal life.
Always remember
God Loves You And So Do I
Michele Edgel

Free to the Max

I couldn’t let the month go by without at least one book recommendation, so here goes.

While on vacation I have been reading, A Touch of Freedom-Meditations of Freedom in Christ, by Charles Stanley.  It’s a 30 day devotional on the subject of freedom.  Each devotion includes a Bible verse, meditation by Dr. Stanley, and a photograph(also taken by Dr. Stanley).  For those of us who are more visual, this is a real bonus.

 

Here’s a quote from a devotion entitled Maximum Freedom:

 

“Whereas our world teaches us that freedom is gained through throwing off all restraint, the Scriptures teach that the opposite is true.  Human being forfeited a great deal of their freedom in their attempt to gain absolute freedom.  As we begin to put two and two together, it becomes increasingly clear that freedom is gained and maintained by adherence to God’s laws.  Just as a good father sets loving limitations for his children, so the heavenly Father sets moral and ethical perimeters for us.”

 

The meditation makes the point that in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, God gave man maximum freedom.  There was only one rule to follow:  other than that, the man and woman were totally free to enjoy themselves in loving relationships with each other and God.  When they broke that rule they became much less free—now they were slaves to sin and death.

 

If you want to spend more time in God’s word meditating about freedom, this book is a good choice.  Let us know if you like it.

 

Do You Really Want Free Will?

“I Don’t Want Free Will” by Martin Luther

“I frankly confess that, for myself, even if it could be, I should not want “free-will” to be given me, nor anything to be left in my own hands to enable me to endeavour after salvation; not merely because in face of so many dangers, and adversities and assaults of devils, I could not stand my ground ; but because even were there no dangers. I should still be forced to labour with no guarantee of success.¦ But now that God has taken my salvation out of the control of my own will, and put it under the control of His, and promised to save me, not according to my working or running, but according to His own grace and mercy, I have the comfortable certainty that He is faithful and will not lie to me, and that He is also great and powerful, so that no devils or opposition can break Him or pluck me from Him. Furthermore, I have the comfortable certainty that I please God, not by reason of the merit of my works, but by reason of His merciful favour promised to me; so that, if I work too little, or badly, He does not impute it to me, but with fatherly compassion pardons me and makes me better. This is the glorying of all the saints in their God.” – Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1957), 313-314.

Let’s Get Personal

I believe that once we become a Christian, and start trying to follow God’s will, He will gradually change us into the person He created us to be (in Lutheran speak, that’s sanctification).  That doesn’t mean our whole personality will do an about face.  It doesn’t mean we’ll be transformed into saints.  It does mean we’ll be more like Jesus, and more gifted, more joyful, more full of life, more peaceful with ourselves and others.

In my own case, the biggest thing God frees me from (I say frees because it still has to happen daily) is fear.  If I were asked to choose one word to describe myself, especially years ago, it would be shy, maybe even timid.  Social situations were not pleasant, but stressful.  I was afraid people wouldn’t like me, that they would discover what a fraud I was, or that I would make a stupid mistake.  Of course, that kept me from trying all kinds of things or taking risks of any kind … who knew what might happen?  It’s not a great way to live.

Becoming a serious Christian helped me to move outside of my comfort zone.  I’m still a quiet introvert (nothing wrong with that, it’s how God made me!) but I have taught Sunday School (children and adults), led workshops and retreats, given talks to groups, organized committees and more. I can use the gifts God gave me in my own way.  I’m not tooting my own horn, just telling you what God can do, because I would NEVER, EVER have done those things without Him.

Am I still afraid?  All the time.  My husband says if there isn’t something to worry about, I’ll invent it.  However, I don’t have to let my anxiety control me. I can step out in faith and take a risk.  A friend of mine once said, “there’s no better place to try something new than at church.  If you fail, they’ll still love you.”  That’s what’s so freeing about being a Christian — you know that no matter what happens, you can never lose the love and Christ.

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.”  1 Timothy 1:7

What has God freed you from?  We want to hear from you.

 

 

Who is the Truth?

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:32

I was thinking about these verses this morning and also another one in John. Pilate, the Roman governor is speaking with Jesus and he asks:

“What is truth?” John 18:38

Pilate, of course, was all wrong.  He was even asking the wrong question.  His question and ours should be not “what is the truth?”  but “who is the truth?”  We all know that words can be manipulated;  facts can be obscured;  data can be skewed.  There are people and publications we can’t trust. To believe in the message, you must trust in the person delivering it.

Jesus told his disciples:

“I am the way and the truth and the life.”  John 14:9

The Bible isn’t just words, it is THE WORD.  Jesus isn’t just a good teacher He is THE SON OF GOD.  We can trust Him. Read the Bible.  Get to know Him.

“Then you will know THE TRUTH, and THE TRUTH will set you free.”  John 8:32