Sunday, January 27, 2019

A Bullet Journal for Christian Living?

This month, I started a bullet journal.  A bullet journal is sort of an organizational calendar combined with a to-do list.  Meetings, tasks, and other items get "bullet" entries and are then crossed off once they're achieved.  It's a way to increase productivity and to give a person a sense of accomplishment.

Someone recently said to me, "Shouldn't Christianity have a list of items on how to live so that people know what to do?" and I thought of my bullet journal.

A Bullet Journal for Christian Living could help a person form good Biblical habits.

But, there's a danger too, because every person, even faithful Christians, can get caught up in doing good works. 

As a Christian, my salvation is from Christ, and my salvation is independent of my own good or bad works. 
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8–9
And yet...I know I should do good works.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:10 
And I know that my sinful nature gets in the way of my good works, and in "doing good" I start to rely on my performance, my efforts, and my worth.
 
So, what's the answer?  How does a Christian do good works without becoming prideful?

A "good work" in God's eyes, it's something that comes from the heart.
For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.            1 Samuel 16:7b  
And love is the fulfillment of good works.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  John 15:12
Good works are simply loving other people, serving others, meeting their needs.

As a Christian...
  • Sometimes, I love and I act without noticing that I'm doing good.
  • Sometimes, I struggle to love, but I do the good anyway.
  • Sometimes, I struggle and then I fail in doing good.

Even as I'm loving and often failing, my Lord is loving and working on my heart. 

In the midst of this doing, loving, failing, the Augsburg Confession says that, for the Christian...
                Good works are bound to follow.
And the bullet journal?  The Christian life - it isn't a list of dos and don'ts, or bullets to mark off.  It's always what Jesus did.  In coming to earth, living, dying, rising again, Jesus is the One who crossed off His work as completed.
                It is finished.  John 19:30b



Sunday, January 20, 2019

Make Your Bed


When I was a busy homeschool mom with three young boys, I happened to stumble upon The Fly Lady, a home organizing website.  For months, I followed The Fly Lady, completing the daily tasks -  Get Dressed, Make Your Bed, Clean Your Sink.  


Now there's a popular book called Make Your Bed:  Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe The World.  The book is based on a graduation speech given by Admiral William McRaven.  

And I'm currently reading Liturgy of the Ordinary:  Sacred Practices in Everyday Life.  The second chapter is entitled Making the Bed.   

"Make Your Bed" just seems to be a trendy theme these days.

The Fly Lady emphasizes establishing daily routines, doing the little things, and being consistent.  

Admiral McRaven's book has ten life lessons, including making your bed as a way to start your day with a completed task.

But Liturgy of the Ordinary contends that we're a society that likes to be entertained, likes instant rewards, and likes the new and the novel.  The author points out that there's value in the ordinary, the routine, the mundane.  There's value in making your bed.

I like all three lessons, but I especially relate to and appreciate the last one because it reminds me of the Seventh Commandment.
You shall not steal.
The Seventh Commandment incorporates good stewardship, including time management.

And I confess - I'm lazy, and I like being amused and entertained, doing something different, something instantly rewarding.  Simply put - I'm not a good steward of my time.  I don't like to make my bed or do those "little" chores.

I get caught up in the ways of the world, including how I spend my time.
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  1 John 2:16
And I often think that the "right type" of busyness creates worth.  I resent the mundane.

I don't make my bed.  I end up wasting time, seeking entertainment or significance.

And I'm convicted again, this time by the First Commandment.
You shall have no other gods.
I forget that my life and my worth depend on God's Word, on Jesus.  He is my peace that surpasses all understanding.  

Viewed from that mindset, making the bed, doing the mundane, simply serving others - those  tasks take on a whole new importance and perspective.  

My prayer is:
Lord,
Help me to focus on those things that need to be done to love and serve others.  Help me to spend time in prayer and in reading Your Word.  Satisfy my soul with You, each day, in all I do.
Amen.






Sunday, January 13, 2019

God's Gifts - Baptism and Faith

When I was 9, I started attending Versailles Baptist Church.  I didn't like the worship services, but I loved the Sunday School classes.  We were always studying the Bible, especially the New Testament.


A few years later, I was baptized at that church.  Interestingly, my Baptism was the first Baptism I'd seen there.  I wasn't even aware of what was going to happen or the significance of it. 

Growing up in a Baptist church, I read the Bible through the lens of the Baptist perspective.  A person heard the gospel, decided to believe it, and then was Baptized.  In my mind, infant Baptism was crazy.  I didn't even know there was such a thing.

Years later, when I read Luther's Small Catechism with the verses about Baptism, I was stunned.  How did I, as a Baptist who read the Bible a lot, just read over those verses and not take in the words?
Baptism, which corresponds to this [waters of Noah's flood], now saves you...1 Peter 3:21
Let the children come to Me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Mark 10:14
Repent and be baptized...for the forgiveness of your sins...Acts 2:38
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.  Mark 16:16
One Lord, one faith, one baptism.  Ephesians 4:5
Those verses, and many others, completely changed how I view Baptism.

I recently read an article that addresses why Baptist churches insist that people, who were baptized as infants, be baptized again before joining that church.
...a true or valid baptism requires a right understanding of the gospel by the baptizee and a right proclamation of the gospel by the baptizer.
And from another article about children and their faith: 
In every case, a church ought to be careful, weeding through words to attempt to discern the motivation behind a profession of faith―in other words, its credibility.
Now think about this...

First, the Baptist position sets the church and church leaders up as the judge of people's hearts.  In other words, a person needs to be "worthy" of Baptism before receiving it.

Second, the Baptist position tells a person that his own profession of Faith, his own Baptism, even a Baptism in a Baptist church, that Baptism may be lacking because the baptized person didn't truly believe or rightly understand.

Wow.  Instead of Faith being a gift of God, outside of myself, Faith becomes a thing that I need to conjure up, to make sure I have, and have it in the right way.  And that's crazy.  

But my God isn't a god of confusion; He doesn't leave me hanging and wondering about my salvation.  He's a God of love.  His love is sure and true.  His Word is sure and true.  

My Faith isn't of me; it's not for me to "decide" to believe.  I could never be "sure" of any of my own beliefs, if my beliefs were good enough or right enough.  But Faith is a work of God in me, coming from outside of me.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved...Ephesians 2:4–5
That's the difference.  God gives me my Faith; and He gives it and sustains it through His Word, through Baptism, and through the Lord's Supper.  He's a God who keeps giving.  And salvation is all from Him and by Him.



 

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Stealing Packages - The Glitter Bomb

Have you seen this video: Package Thief vs Glitter Bomb Trap?  

A man has a package delivered to his house, and it's stolen from his porch.  Then he spends 6 months engineering the ultimate revenge box so he can "repay" people who steal other people's packages.

The Glitter Bomb Trap is ingeni0us.  The box looks like a shipped package, but includes a GPS, a glitter bomb, "fart" spray, and cameras.  And all the parts are programmed to activate when the package is stolen, so the thief gets what's coming to him.

My first thought was, "This is really cool.  Thieves should be punished."

But God's Word...it wouldn't let me be comfortable with that thought. 
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay...if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:19-21
So I tried to think of a package that would make a thief feel guilty, and at the same time, would touch the thief's heart and show real love and real forgiveness.  That package, the package that could overcome evil with good, would be an engineering marvel.

Why do people steal?  The simplest reason is - people are longing for satisfaction, and that box might contain something that satisfies them in this life, if even for a moment.

But God's Word tells me that, the things of this life, they never fully satisfy.  
All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.  Ecclesiastes 1:8
And the answer - the perfect package that can overcome evil with good - it's God's Word.

God's Word first comes to me as God's Law, and it convicts me of my sin.

I'm the one who's never satisfied.  I'm the guilty one who steals the package, and I deserve the glitter, the "fart" spray, eternal damnation.

I'm also the guilty one, who seeks vengeance when my "package" is stolen. 

And that perfect package containing God's Law, it also contains the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus, His death, His resurrection, His forgiveness and love...for me.

I don't need to hold onto the package; people don't need to steal it.  It's there for free, in abundance.

I pray to remember that.  I pray to remember that for myself, when I'm not satisfied with things in this life and am looking for fulfillment in things of this world.  And, I pray to remember to give that gospel to others, others who are hurting, who hurt me, and are looking for something. 
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.           Romans 8:1-4