We are not commissioned to tell the world about some transcendent being who is disconnected and unconcerned with the brokenness of life. We represent the God who entered into that brokenness and took it all upon himself so that we could be rescued from it. This is the one who is now seated at the right hand of God and sends us out promising to be with us, always.

Work doesn’t have the most pleasant connotation. It sounds hard. Arduous. It is the antonym of “play”, yet work was created BEFORE the Fall. God placed Adam in the garden to “work it and take care of it” while everything was still GOOD. It was a curse of the Fall that caused work to become an act of toil. Work now produces sweat, blisters and pulled muscles along with stress and work-a-holism.

Hanging on the wall of our daughter’s bedroom is one of my favorite things: a growth chart. Each of my children received a personalized chart when they were born, and we have loved marking them annually to see the growth each has experienced. While our teen boys have now surpassed their charts by several inches, our daughter still loves to back her heels up against the floorboard and stand as tall as possible, hoping to see a significant difference from the previous blue line.

Have you ever asked yourself what brings you to a house of worship each Sunday? Put a different way, imagine every church building in the US suddenly vanished.  No more live music from a lighted stage.  No more coffee shop lobby.  No more celebrity pastors.  No more kids’ programs…

What does it mean to pursue God at all costs?  If we understand this to really mean “without any limits” or “at any price”, would most of us say we actually do this?  Would we really be willing to do it?  Have we been tested to the limit, as Paul had?  Probably not.

Several years ago I bought a box of Cheerios that came with a free children’s book. The little book that came with the O’s had a darling and oh-so-prickly little varmint on the front cover. The title? How Do You Hug a Porcupine? 

“Hallo”, said the driver in his Dutch accent as I boarded the airport shuttle van,  the only passenger in Eindhoven Netherlands, for a two-hour ride to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. After 60 days in Holland, I was ready to get back home to Ohio. Jon, my driver, was a 62-year-old retired worker and loved to talk about everything and every place I visited. As our conversation covered every topic from our families to World War II, I felt compelled to ask some questions about his faith. 

If ever there were one who could rightly respond to every “why” with “because I said so” it is God. But he doesn’t! Not only has God revealed what is required of us he has also revealed himself. We can have confidence that behind every command of God are the attributes and actions of God that assure us that, even when we don’t understand the “what”, we know we can trust his “why”.

In an account from the book of Luke, we have Jesus visiting the home of sisters Mary and Martha. A crowd must have assembled and Jesus was teaching. Anticipating a need to feed and serve the group gathered in her living room, Martha set about preparations. Verse 10:40 says that she was distracted by all the preparations. That sounds like someone who was anxious.

A trip out west was calling us, so after several weeks of planning and preparations, Paul and the kids and I arrived at the Charlotte Douglas airport ready for our early morning flight to Phoenix. As first-time fliers, all three of our children wanted a window seat and took turns watching as the land became smaller and smaller while we rose higher and higher.  

Am I striving to be my best in order to make the most of what God has given me—or because I want to impress others and be at the top of the heap? Those are two very different questions.

I read a story recently about a man so wealthy that he had a basketball court on the deck of his yacht. But that wasn’t all. He had a staff that would follow his yacht out to sea in smaller boats, and whenever he missed a shot, they would retrieve the ball from the ocean, and he would try again. That is some candy!

Have you ever considered that life as we know it is living between two perfect gardens? The Bible begins and ends with a garden. In Genesis, Adam and Eve are created by God and placed in the Garden of Eden, in perfection. And in Revelation 22, we see Eden restored. Finally, we will return to the garden with its tree of life and where there is no more curse (Rev. 22:1-5).

To walk with the Spirit means to keep in step with the Spirit -not to run ahead or lag behind. I must remember that fruit is produced to be eaten; not to be admired or put on display. People around us are starving for love, joy, peace, and all the other fruits of the Spirit. When they find them in our lives, they recognize something they lack. We do not bear fruit for our own consumption; we bear fruit that others might be fed and that Christ might be glorified. The flesh may manufacture “results” that bring praise to us, but the flesh cannot bear fruit that brings glory to God. It takes patience, the Spirit, the seed of the Word of God, and a sincere desire to honor Christ to do that. 

In the same way, the Holy Spirit is not bound by our biology. The Holy Spirit shows us God’s trustworthiness, which becomes the foundation of our transformation. The Holy Spirit plants the promises of God’s word like seeds into our hearts giving us confidence in Him that blossoms into the fruit of self-control in our lives.

This world proudly celebrates the removal of all restraint as what’s best. But scripture paints a better picture of freedom. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). And in Galatians 5, the Spirit of the Lord is at work in those who have been set free by the gospel producing fruit in contrast to the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-24). 

The Christian walk is not meant to be a stroll of ease, comfort, and treats. Rather, it is a battle. We are told to “Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ”, to “put on the full armor of God”, and to “stand firm”. Paul adds “I beat my body and make it my slave”. These are fighting words!  

Several years ago I was asked to perform a worship dance at a Christian women’s conference. And while I wasn’t in the best physical form after much time away from formal dance training, my spiritual form was in pretty good shape. Life events and challenges had drawn me into a deeper study of the Word, and prayer had strengthened my relationship with the Lord. Yet, I struggled to let Him fully lead my steps…in life and in dance.