On Saturday mornings, I pray and confess through the Ten Commandments.
The first three commandments are always easy - I'm guilty. I fall short of loving and trusting the Lord. I fall short in praying and meditating on God's Word.
But then I get to the next three commandments:
- Respect and obey those people in charge.
- Don't murder and don't hate.
- Don't commit adultery, meaning love my spouse.
These commandments deal with sins against other people, and my confession often sounds like this:
Help me to honor and obey my leaders and to pray for them, in spite of their lack of integrity.
Forgive me for being angry at this person who is clearly acting in a self-serving manner.
Forgive me for not loving my husband as I should, and help me to overlook his sins.
Notice what I did?
I justified myself by blaming other people, other sinners, for my failure to obey God's commandments, my failure to love and forgive my neighbor.
And I mostly do this without even realizing it.
But the Lord never lets me get away with this type of behavior, this type of confession, because next comes the Seventh and Eighth Commandments.
"You shall not steal" and "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."
In other words:
- Don't be lazy; don't waste time or resources.
- Don't talk about people who are annoying.
Guilty and guilty.
With those two commandments I know I'm in the same boat with those who rule over me, with people who get under my skin, and even with my family members.
We're all sinners in need of forgiveness.
In confessing my sin, my guilt, my self-centered ways, I also experience the comfort and the value of the cross. And it's then that I'm blessed with a small ability to love and forgive others as I've been forgiven.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:10–11
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
I have a relatively new neighbor. After moving in, he put a flag pole in his front yard flying both an American flag and a blue Trump banner. He later added a flag pole at the side of his house.
But his boldest move has been to etch "MAGA!" on the sidewalk.
In this country, we have people who worship the President. Likewise, we have people who want to impeach him.
At the bottom of it all, everyone recognizes that something is wrong with the world. And we want the world fixed, or at least better.
And because of the predicament that the world is in, people are asking, but mostly arguing about two questions. First, who's to blame for the mess we're in? Second, who's going to fix it and how?
And people disagree about the answers to both questions.
But the truth is, "We live in a broken world," and it's almost always been that way.
I was talking about this with another neighbor, a young father and republican who voted for Trump, but admits that he just doesn't like the President.
We agreed on this, "All men are sinful."
Some men keep their sins secret, and outwardly appear to have honor and integrity; and some, like the President, have no shame and just say what's on their minds.
So, back to the two questions:
1. Who's to blame for the mess we're in?
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death
through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Romans 5:12
We're all guilty, and we're all to blame. We all deserve death because of sin. It's not any one person's leadership or any one political party's laws or positions. It's all of us.
2. Who's going to do the fixing and how?
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18–19
Jesus is the one who's done the fixing, who paid the price for me, for all the guilty, through His death and resurrection. He's the one who's making all things new.
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. Isaiah 65:17
And my response is to love people and to share this truth with them.
My friend, the young father, he looks at the world's mess and he just wants a safe world for his girls. He loves them, as a father loves his children, similar to how the Father loves us.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16–17
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12
Amen, come Lord Jesus.
In the Marvel movies, Tony Stark, the bad boy turned Iron Man, is always working, serving, doing whatever he can to save the world. He just won't rest.
Pepper Potts even says, "Tony, trying to get
you to stop has been one of the few failures of my entire life."
Tony's relentlessness reminds me of the Christian's
walk. The work never seems to end. There's always something to do
or somebody to serve.
While I was in the Marine Corps, a fellow lieutenant had a sign that read:
If not you, who?
If not now, when?
I didn't think much about it at the time, but these days...well...I often think, "If not me, then who?" Like Tony Stark, I see a lot of work, and it seems like I should be doing it. It'd be nice to stop and rest.
But there's a lot wrong with my attitude.
Ugly pride rears its head. The exhaustion of work, the discouragement - pride is mixed in with that feeling. Yes, I'm commanded to love and serve people, but it's the Lord working through me, with His strength and His gifts. It's not my talents or efforts that matter, but I often act and feel like it's on me.
This idea of balancing work and rest reminds me of prayer.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6
So, how does a Christian face and deal with life's issues and problems, pray about them, but not worry? Likewise, how does a Christian see all the work that needs to be done, join in doing it, but not feel overwhelmed, anxious, or prideful about the work?
People often say, "Give it to the Lord." But I ask, "How do you do that?"
How do I give my work, my problems, to the Lord, but also still continue the work and still live alongside the problems? Is there some mysticism involved here?
I tend to focus on the problems, on getting the work done, and praying for help, for things to be better. Good to do.
But, that doesn't alleviate the personal discouragement and hurts that happen in the midst of life. Praying about the problems just doesn't help me deal with my despair or exhaustion.
And the answer is always the same. Sin and grace.
Whatever the situation is, when I pray for help, but also confess my own sin, ask for forgiveness, and give thanks for Jesus's death and resurrection, in that prayer I find peace, comfort, strength, and rest.
It's always about the cross; it's always about Jesus's resurrection.
If not you, who?
Jesus
If not now, when?
At the cross.
At the empty tomb.
He is risen indeed!
During my time in the military, 1980 to 1989, women weren't allowed to serve in combat. They couldn't be assigned to combatant ships, and they couldn't fly a plane that was designed to engage in conflict. On the ground, women didn't participate in offensive infantry battles or even train for them.
Looking back at my time in the Marine Corps, I recall a couple of situations that provide some insights.
While attending TBS, a six-month officer training course, I participated in both offensive and defensive infantry instruction. And on every occasion that we had offensive field training, one other woman and I would always be assigned to join a large group of male lieutenants, along with a crusty old Marine as our instructor. Despite policy, he'd make us train right alongside the men.
And I hated it. It was hard and tiring, the gear was heavy, and I'm not that strong. I remember one particularly difficult exercise, mechanized assaults. I was struggling, and one of my fellow Marines asked if I was okay. And although everyone was hurting, he asked and was concerned about me because I was a woman.
At my last duty station, Parris Island, South Carolina, I was a series commander and a company commander at Fourth Recruit Training Battalion, which is the only unit in the Marine Corps that specifically trains women recruits. Overall, the women recruits I saw were capable and performed well, but I couldn't see them in combat. I'm being honest here - women just aren't as physically strong as men, and I saw that.
Fast forward to today. The restrictions on women's military service are gone. Women fly all types of aircraft and serve on combatant ships and on submarines. Some women have even completed infantry training right alongside the men. And everyone seems to be applauding this breakthrough. I don't want to take away from these accomplishments.
Maybe things have changed; maybe women are stronger. I know there's always a few women who are as capable as or more capable than many men. I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if the majority of women are that capable.
But as I think about this "women in combat" thing, my question is, "Even if women are as capable and as strong as men, should they fight in combat? Is this good for us, for our society?"
As a Christian, I look to God's Word. I look to my God as our creator; He created us with order and a plan. He created us in His image - male and female. And God commanded:
Be fruitful and multiply. Genesis 1:28b
It's very clear that women's bodies are beautifully equipped to bear and nurture children, to give life. As a woman, as a mother, and looking at this situation over time, I see that God has a good plan and order for creation. For women, His plan includes giving them the ability to bear life.
God also created them male and female, with marriage in mind and the female as a "helper fit for him." Genesis 2:20b
And that marriage between a husband and wife is a reflection of the relationship between Jesus and His church, His bride. As Paul writes:
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31–32
This is the drama of creation and of God's story. And we're a part of it, and a living picture of salvation.
Jesus, the promised savior, lived among man, was born a man, specifically born of a woman.
Jesus, our bridegroom, fights the battle for us; He dies for us; and in dying and rising again, He defeats sin, death, and Satan.
And in this picture of salvation, we see and experience the love of God. And we see this in our marriages, with a husband and a wife, with children - in living as He created us to live. Yes, it's a mystery, and in this mystery, we testify to the world of salvation through Jesus.
I don't have a satisfying answer to "women in combat." It's a complicated issue.
But I do have the answer to, "Who's my God? Who's my Savior? What's this life all about?" Jesus.
...who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.
