We live in a world of ideals, many of them conflicting. Our culture prizes the ideal of "being true to myself" (if I can only figure out who I am!), while at the same time setting forth ideals of what great people look like, talk like and find interesting. I've read this week (yes, we're settled in enough that I've actually done some reading!) about the modern "Extrovert Ideal", which prefers charisma, a polished public persona and enthusiastic, engaging speaking abilities above quiet reflection, backstage service, awkward genius and an unassuming personality. I've also read about idealistic body image advertising, and how companies not only blur out celluloid and wrinkles, but slim and reproportion models into a computer generated image that fits with--and entrenches--our cultural ideals of beauty. I could list several more examples, but we also live in a culture that prizes brevity, so I will refrain.
The problem with these ideals is that they are often unattainable to the average human. Who I want to be depends far too often on who I think others think I should be, which I can never fully figure out. I can do my best to polish my speech and be out there, chatting it up with strangers, but my God-given personality is far more suited to quiet (or not so quiet) interaction with small groups of familiar people, and that's my natural gravitation. And I will never be 5'11" and 100 lbs with perfect skin and curves in all the "right" places, no matter how hard I try. In fact, the desperate struggle to reach these ideals (and others) has caused many people--myself included--confusion, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and a generally unhealthy and low view of self and others.
The good news is that the Bible doesn't prize any of these ideals. It says I'm made in God's image (!), and that is who I should be. It holds up as heroes of the faith not only loud passionate people like Peter, but also those who "pondered these things in [their hearts]". It says it's the meek who will inherit the earth. "Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain"; it's the woman who fears the Lord who is to be praised. (And, might I add, there is no brevity in Psalm 119's exposition of the beauty of the Law!) What freedom there is in God's Word from the slavish drive to follow cultural ideals of personality, beauty, wealth and success!
But there's some bad news, too. The Bible also has an ideal that it holds up. And it's God's ideal, so it's the one we should listen to. AND it's even more unattainable than any ideal we could ever dream up. God's ideal is perfection in all areas of our life, for every single moment of every hour of all the years of our life! The Bible says I'm made in God's image, and that is who I should be (!). It says, "Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect." It says I'm not ever to hold anything dearer than God himself, even when a cool new piece of technology comes out or a great new friend comes along. It says I'm to love my neighbour as much as I love myself (and boy, is that ever a lot!), even when she hates me and continually voices her negative opinion of my house, my kids, my job, my faith or whatever. It says I'm to live a life of continual prayer, thankfulness, contentment and praise, never wavering in my faith in God's righteousness, even when life circumstances are painful and incomprehensible. It also says that one small departure from this standard is enough to disqualify me for life! And yet, if I haven't already figured it out for myself, this same Word also proclaims that I cannot possibly keep this standard because "there is no one righteous, no not one," and, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." If I wasn't depressed by vainly trying to attain a charismatic personality with a stunning body and succinct speech, all the while holding firmly to a non-conformist value of just being myself, surely this impossible demand for perfection in all things is enough to send me over the edge!
And that is why, when I think about impossible requirements, I'm so thankful that there's more good news! We can't attain this unattainable standard. But someone did. And what's more, that someone did it not just for his own benefit, but for ours as well. That someone is Jesus, and he lived a life of complete perfection, following God's standards to the smallest point. And then he gave up this perfect life, taking the mockery and hatred of other humans and the wrath of God we deserved, and clothed us in his righteousness, giving us his perfect record of obedience. And even now he stands in heaven, interceding on our behalf, holding up his perfect record before God the Father and proclaiming that it belongs to us, so that in God's eyes, through Jesus, we actually attain the unattainable!
The Bible proclaims that God takes dirty, sinful, awkward, socially maligned individuals and sings over them, loving them and adopting them into His own family, fully accepting them on the basis of His Son's perfection. 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)
We may be ordinary, quiet, fat, short, balding, poor. We may have spider veins and crooked teeth and hate public speaking with a vengeance. We may feel like our earthly existence is acknowledged by no one, or like we're unusually loud or too long-winded, or too this, that and the other thing. And we are most definitely sinful, falling far short of God's requirements--the only requirements that really matter in the end. But if we are trusting in Jesus' work on our behalf, even while we still have far to grow in living according to God's standards in this life, we are misfits no longer. We belong fully to God, who grants and credits to us the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ, as if we had never sinned nor been sinners, as if we had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for us. All we need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart (Heidelberg Catechism, Question 60). And that's good news in a world of unattainable ideals!
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Once Upon A Time, I Had a Blog...
Just the other day, I got an email in my inbox reminding me that my domain name was up for renewal. "Oh yeah," I thought, "I have a blog."
Well, I'm pretty sure I have a good excuse for not writing anything at all last month--big move, major surgery and all. Not that there's any law regarding the frequency of blog posts anyway. But I do hope to get back to writing more often, now that we're getting settled in and the kids are on their last week of finishing up their final school projects.
So this is just a brief post to say that we made it through the worst of moving out, moving in and major knee surgery (Nathan's, not mine). I do now remember that I have a regular space to write, and will likely be back to it shortly. But that's all for now, folks!
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Update: Ha! Just got an email from Twitter welcoming me back and saying it's been a while since I've been seen. Thanks for rubbing that in, Twitter! :)
Well, I'm pretty sure I have a good excuse for not writing anything at all last month--big move, major surgery and all. Not that there's any law regarding the frequency of blog posts anyway. But I do hope to get back to writing more often, now that we're getting settled in and the kids are on their last week of finishing up their final school projects.
So this is just a brief post to say that we made it through the worst of moving out, moving in and major knee surgery (Nathan's, not mine). I do now remember that I have a regular space to write, and will likely be back to it shortly. But that's all for now, folks!
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Update: Ha! Just got an email from Twitter welcoming me back and saying it's been a while since I've been seen. Thanks for rubbing that in, Twitter! :)
Friday, May 03, 2013
Wise Foolishness
Tomorrow is moving day, and it has finally begun to really sink in that this is really happening. So has that feeling of being totally overwhelmed, insufficient and out of our league! The child who has been most excited and supportive of this whole moving process had a meltdown last night, pleading with me to please unsign everything and stay here! This is the point when I become acutely aware of the "foolishness" of what we're about to do. Move our country kids down to Condo Central? Squeeze our 6-member family (plus the dog) into a smaller place (when we've often thought about moving elsewhere for a little extra room)? Sign a lease on an apartment with a rent that, despite being a "deal" for the neighbourhood, is shocking to just about everyone who knows what we're about to pay? And do all this so that we can get to know a bunch of strangers with the hope of seeing the gospel impact their lives? We must be crazy!
That's when I take comfort from 1 Corinthians 1: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.' Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
We preach a gospel that is foolishness to the world, so why should we not expect many of the actions that accompany that gospel to appear foolish as well? Our hope is not in worldly affluence and success, in having a big yard and fresh air for the kids to play in, enjoying all the comforts of life in our dream home (or at least the closest we can come to it). Our hope is not in having neighbours who are all like us, with 4 kids and a dog (we may end up being the only ones in the neighbourhood!). It's not in having our best life now. So we'll do what is foolish, with all the wisdom that God provides, and rest in His strength and the hope of many saved to eternal life!
The kids and I have been reading a book by a mid-20th century missionary to Iran, and just finished it this Wednesday, shortly after I had my own mini-meltdown in the midst of all this stress. I was so encouraged by the closing words of this book, written by someone who gave up many things to see the gospel spread in a difficult land. They are simple words, ones we've heard many times, but they are worth reminding ourselves of again:
"When Jesus Christ is really living in our hearts, we want him to enter and live also in the hearts of our friends and in the hearts of all the people of the world. And we will do everything we can to make the good news of Christ known to everybody everywhere. It was for this that I went to Iran, and I am most grateful to God for calling me to serve him in that land as a missionary.
If God should tell you to go to some place where people to do not know Christ and to spend your life in making him known and showing his love to them, you should obey with joy. For I know of nothing that you could do with your life that would be better than that. 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish by have eternal life.'"
That's when I take comfort from 1 Corinthians 1: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.' Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
We preach a gospel that is foolishness to the world, so why should we not expect many of the actions that accompany that gospel to appear foolish as well? Our hope is not in worldly affluence and success, in having a big yard and fresh air for the kids to play in, enjoying all the comforts of life in our dream home (or at least the closest we can come to it). Our hope is not in having neighbours who are all like us, with 4 kids and a dog (we may end up being the only ones in the neighbourhood!). It's not in having our best life now. So we'll do what is foolish, with all the wisdom that God provides, and rest in His strength and the hope of many saved to eternal life!
The kids and I have been reading a book by a mid-20th century missionary to Iran, and just finished it this Wednesday, shortly after I had my own mini-meltdown in the midst of all this stress. I was so encouraged by the closing words of this book, written by someone who gave up many things to see the gospel spread in a difficult land. They are simple words, ones we've heard many times, but they are worth reminding ourselves of again:
"When Jesus Christ is really living in our hearts, we want him to enter and live also in the hearts of our friends and in the hearts of all the people of the world. And we will do everything we can to make the good news of Christ known to everybody everywhere. It was for this that I went to Iran, and I am most grateful to God for calling me to serve him in that land as a missionary.
If God should tell you to go to some place where people to do not know Christ and to spend your life in making him known and showing his love to them, you should obey with joy. For I know of nothing that you could do with your life that would be better than that. 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish by have eternal life.'"
-William McElwee Miller (Tales of Persia: Missionary Stories from Islamic Iran
)
)Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Where I've Been and Where We're Going
Well, I am still alive, though possibly buried under a pile of boxes... But I thought it was time I dug myself out long enough to give a little update on what we're up to (and why I've been MIA lately, and probably still will be for at least a few more weeks). Many of you who know us personally will have heard this already, but I figured it was time to fill in everyone who has only heard rumblings on this blog or on Facebook.
For the last 6 years, we've been part of a great church family at Sovereign Grace Church Toronto in King City, Ontario. We love this group dearly, and have learned and benefitted much from them over the years. We're grateful for the faithful, wise, biblical teaching of Tim Kerr and others. We're so thankful for the example of godly fellowship we've observed and been a part of, the gracious way others have challenged us, offered true wisdom and encouraged us, as well as the way many have so graciously accepted input from us. We've been greatly blessed by the generosity of this people, and so many of the times in the last 6 years that we've had huge needs miraculously met, God has used these dear people to meet them. And now, although we are sad to leave, we sincerely appreciate their generosity in sending us out on a new mission and adventure!
Last June, our pastor told us about a brand new church planting effort just getting underway in Liberty Village, Toronto. He was aware that we have long had a desire to be back in the city (after 5 years out in rural Ontario), and wanted to help his friend, Darryl Dash, who was heading up this plant and looking for people to be involved. This was admittedly a little out of the blue for us, as we had no real intentions at that point to make such a change in the very near future. We spent the next 6 months wrestling through questions of where God was leading us, getting to know this new little group a bit, and seeking advice from family and a few close friends. In January, in the midst of getting back into the school year, cleaning up after puppies and whatever else we were up to that I can no longer recall (but which at the time seemed to be pushing me toward the mad house), Nathan and Darryl met for lunch, then went to a church planting conference together, and we made a decision to really begin pursuing involvement at Liberty Grace Church. Within the month we realized that if we were going to do this, living 45 minutes north of the city (when the church is almost as downtown as you can get) was not going to be practical or effective for very long. So as we were shooing the last of the puppies off to their new homes, we were starting to look at house listings in Toronto. The absurdly high cost of living in the city was very discouraging (as was the shortage of 3 bedroom places in Liberty Village), but every single one of the many people we sought for counsel was excited and encouraging, and so we began to pray that if this was, in fact, the move we were to make, that God would once again miraculously provide--both a place to live and the finances to pay for it.
Well, the long and the short of it is that He has, yet again, done more than we asked for, and has not only provided what we need for at least the next 6 months' living expenses, but also a townhouse-style condo that is in the same complex as Darryl Dash and his wife, Charlene (we will literally be able to yell at them from our balcony). This is great for fellowship, and ideal for the kind of community/relationship-building outreach that Liberty Grace is pursuing.
So in a very quickly passing 11 days, we say good-bye to the fields and the quiet (and the slow internet) of the Ontario Greenbelt, and move what's left of our stuff into a 3-story city condo. We love the city, we love the people of the city, and we're excited (and a little terrified) to be a part of what God is doing in Liberty Village, but it's going to be a big adjustment, especially for the kids (and therefore for us, too!). So we'd really appreciate your prayers for us as we make this move.
As soon as I have a chance, I want to write more about Liberty Grace Church and the desire to reach Liberty Village with the gospel, but right now, I need to clear a path through the boxes to my bed.
I'll peep out again one of these days!
For the last 6 years, we've been part of a great church family at Sovereign Grace Church Toronto in King City, Ontario. We love this group dearly, and have learned and benefitted much from them over the years. We're grateful for the faithful, wise, biblical teaching of Tim Kerr and others. We're so thankful for the example of godly fellowship we've observed and been a part of, the gracious way others have challenged us, offered true wisdom and encouraged us, as well as the way many have so graciously accepted input from us. We've been greatly blessed by the generosity of this people, and so many of the times in the last 6 years that we've had huge needs miraculously met, God has used these dear people to meet them. And now, although we are sad to leave, we sincerely appreciate their generosity in sending us out on a new mission and adventure!
Last June, our pastor told us about a brand new church planting effort just getting underway in Liberty Village, Toronto. He was aware that we have long had a desire to be back in the city (after 5 years out in rural Ontario), and wanted to help his friend, Darryl Dash, who was heading up this plant and looking for people to be involved. This was admittedly a little out of the blue for us, as we had no real intentions at that point to make such a change in the very near future. We spent the next 6 months wrestling through questions of where God was leading us, getting to know this new little group a bit, and seeking advice from family and a few close friends. In January, in the midst of getting back into the school year, cleaning up after puppies and whatever else we were up to that I can no longer recall (but which at the time seemed to be pushing me toward the mad house), Nathan and Darryl met for lunch, then went to a church planting conference together, and we made a decision to really begin pursuing involvement at Liberty Grace Church. Within the month we realized that if we were going to do this, living 45 minutes north of the city (when the church is almost as downtown as you can get) was not going to be practical or effective for very long. So as we were shooing the last of the puppies off to their new homes, we were starting to look at house listings in Toronto. The absurdly high cost of living in the city was very discouraging (as was the shortage of 3 bedroom places in Liberty Village), but every single one of the many people we sought for counsel was excited and encouraging, and so we began to pray that if this was, in fact, the move we were to make, that God would once again miraculously provide--both a place to live and the finances to pay for it.
Well, the long and the short of it is that He has, yet again, done more than we asked for, and has not only provided what we need for at least the next 6 months' living expenses, but also a townhouse-style condo that is in the same complex as Darryl Dash and his wife, Charlene (we will literally be able to yell at them from our balcony). This is great for fellowship, and ideal for the kind of community/relationship-building outreach that Liberty Grace is pursuing.
So in a very quickly passing 11 days, we say good-bye to the fields and the quiet (and the slow internet) of the Ontario Greenbelt, and move what's left of our stuff into a 3-story city condo. We love the city, we love the people of the city, and we're excited (and a little terrified) to be a part of what God is doing in Liberty Village, but it's going to be a big adjustment, especially for the kids (and therefore for us, too!). So we'd really appreciate your prayers for us as we make this move.
As soon as I have a chance, I want to write more about Liberty Grace Church and the desire to reach Liberty Village with the gospel, but right now, I need to clear a path through the boxes to my bed.
I'll peep out again one of these days!
Monday, April 01, 2013
When Easter is Dry
The glorious freedom proclaimed by the cross, and the amazing hope of eternal life shouted by the empty tomb are things to be celebrated with tears, loud singing and exuberant joy. And often, these truths bring just such a reaction from my soul. But I'll be honest: this particular Good Friday and Easter Sunday, my emotions didn't cooperate. We're in the middle of a lot of changes and I was tired, physically and emotionally. I spent more of my thoughts on how my two-year-old was behaving during the Good Friday service than on the wonder of my Saviour's death for me. And Easter Sunday started with kids up at a crazy hour clamoring for candy. When we met as a church, I felt pretty emotionally flat-lined. At least until the subtle guilt started rising... At that point, emotions have a tendancy to go south. I mean, what kind of Christian am I if I'm not leaping for joy on the day that is the highlight of the Christian calendar? A brief dry spell that would be just that on any other day suddenly seems reason enough to doubt my salvation on a day when I'm supposed to be especially devout.
Have you ever felt that? Ever had a Christmas season when the miracle of the incarnation got lost in the busyness? Or a Thankgiving when gratitude was not particularly abundant? Or an Easter when you really just wanted to go back to bed? It seems to me that while lack of wonder and awe and thankfulness expose our weakness and sin on any given day, they feel to us to be especially condemning when the calendar says it's time to be amazed and grateful.
And that is precisely why I am thankful for the events that inspire the Easter weekend celebration. The cross proclaims that I am justified by faith alone, not by the measure of my fervent devotion on Good Friday (or any other day). It is faith in Christ and his work that saves me, and not the number of tears I shed because of it. And the resurrection cries out that death and sin have been fully overcome, and that the day is fast approaching when it will be impossible to feel anything BUT joy and delight at the magnitude of Christ's work on our behalf!
The cross and the empty tomb should move us to celebration. But when instead our hearts fail to leap and our soul feels dry, it is the cross and the empty tomb that free us from the condemnation of the laws of religious observance. It is the cross and the empty tomb that respond to the devil's accusations of failure and apathy with the cry, "No! I paid for these sins, and I am making this cold heart new!"
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.
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us... For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation (including spiritual dryness), will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:1-4,33-39)
Have you ever felt that? Ever had a Christmas season when the miracle of the incarnation got lost in the busyness? Or a Thankgiving when gratitude was not particularly abundant? Or an Easter when you really just wanted to go back to bed? It seems to me that while lack of wonder and awe and thankfulness expose our weakness and sin on any given day, they feel to us to be especially condemning when the calendar says it's time to be amazed and grateful.
And that is precisely why I am thankful for the events that inspire the Easter weekend celebration. The cross proclaims that I am justified by faith alone, not by the measure of my fervent devotion on Good Friday (or any other day). It is faith in Christ and his work that saves me, and not the number of tears I shed because of it. And the resurrection cries out that death and sin have been fully overcome, and that the day is fast approaching when it will be impossible to feel anything BUT joy and delight at the magnitude of Christ's work on our behalf!
The cross and the empty tomb should move us to celebration. But when instead our hearts fail to leap and our soul feels dry, it is the cross and the empty tomb that free us from the condemnation of the laws of religious observance. It is the cross and the empty tomb that respond to the devil's accusations of failure and apathy with the cry, "No! I paid for these sins, and I am making this cold heart new!"
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.
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us... For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation (including spiritual dryness), will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:1-4,33-39)
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