Tag Archives: submission to God

It’s Great To Be A Woman

Leave a reply

1 Timothy 3:1-7

When the Bible talks about how to be a good wife, it’s tempting to turn a deaf ear. I’ve never been a wife or mother, and at this stage of life I never will be. So, move on God. We’ve got nothing to talk about in this area.

Or do we? A good wife is a good woman, isn’t she? Shouldn’t how to be a good woman apply to me? OK, God. Point taken.

In chapter three of his first letter to Timothy, Paul talks about the qualities necessary for a pastor. But these qualities are just as important for godly men and women no matter our vocational calling. Things like:

blameless
temperate
sober-minded
hospitable
having good behavior
having a good reputation outside of church

As a Christ-follower those traits should be evident and maturing every day in me. But there are places in Scripture that speak specifically to women, and our role in God’s kingdom work. In addition to the characteristics listed above we are to add:

helper (Genesis 2:18)
submissive (Ephesians 5:22-24)
respectful (Ephesians 5:33)
love for family (Titus 2:4)
trustworthiness (Proverbs 31:11-12)
serving others, helping the afflicted, and devotion (1 Timothy 5:10)

Wow! Taking a look at a woman’s role in God’s kingdom work makes me realize we aren’t less than men in any way. If fact, women seem to be necessary for men, their anchor, their charging-station, the shelter and encouragement they need in order to serve God in obedience to Him.

Why do we think we have to compete? Why blur the lines when the lines were drawn by a loving God who doesn’t make mistakes.

What a privilege to be a women in God’s kingdom work. You don’t have to take on the work intended for men in order to feel special or useful. You have enough to do, important things to do in your role as a godly woman.

We are all equal in the sight of God. And we are all equally important to Him in our separate roles.

Am I saying women shouldn’t be behind the pulpit? I’m not. But God clearly is. I don’t believe God would “call” someone to a position that opposes His written Word.

“But I don’t like being in the back ground. I like to be out front, in control, lauded and applauded.” Then I’m thinking you might have a pride-problem.

Study for yourself the beautiful role God has designed for women. We’ve strayed. But I don’t think it’s too late to humble ourselves and pick up the banner He has laid out for us. Strong homes, strong men and fathers, strong churches depend on the strong women who are working diligently to be the women God intends them to be.

What a privilege! It’s great to be a woman in God’s kingdom work.

They Deserved It

Leave a reply

Genesis 34-35

Rather than repenting of their sinful act of revenge, Simeon and Levi justified the murder of hundreds of men with, “They deserved it.”

It’s tempting to think the same when we hear that guy at work who took credit for your idea is getting a divorce, or when that reckless driver who lives down the street gets in a car accident, or when that childhood bully who made seventh grade miserable for you gets cancer. These days there are some who think people deserve to have their cars blown up, or an assassin’s bullet aimed at a man’s head simply because they have different opinions than their’s. Wanting revenge isn’t a new phenomenon. But it gets a lot of press these days.

Remember when your mom used to tell you, “Two wrongs don’t make a right?” She wasn’t wrong! That scale never levels out. The question still remains: who made you judge and jury?

Bad things happen in this life. There are bad people in the world. There are crimes that should be punished according to Scripture and the law of the land. But there is only one ultimate Judge. And you are not He!

God will judge every individual with righteousness according to His character. Some people will deserve His wrath and the punishment for their unrepented sins. Others, like me and I hope you, will face the judge wearing His own righteousness and hear Him declare that our sin debt is paid in full.

Life is too short to plan to get even with someone, or to even waste time hoping something bad happens to someone who you think has wronged you. It’s not your job to try to balance a scale that cannot be balanced. It’s not your job to dole out punishment to someone who has hurt you.

Honestly, I think the best way to handle the hurt you feel or the wrong that has been done against you, according to Scripture, is submit to God. Take a step back from the situation. Breathe. Pray. And trust God who does all things well. My experience is that when I turn it over to the Lord, I am free. A burden is lifted. Thoughts of revenge are replaced by peace. And whether or not that person gets what I think he or she deserves doesn’t matter any more.

Whew!

In fact, my prayers become, “Lord, Don’t give her what I think she deserves. I pray that Jesus will get what He deserves, and that is her heart.”

In the end, it’s not about what we think anyone deserves. It’s about what God deserves for dying on the cross for our sins… and the sins of the people we are struggling with. He will get what He deserves in the end. And that’s the way it should be.

Take Off Your Sandals

Leave a reply

Exodus 1-4

Moses grew up a prince in the palace of the most powerful king in the world at that time. He most likely had everything a boy could ask for. In fact, the first forty years of Moses’ life was lived in luxury, honor, and privilege. He knew he wouldn’t be king, his stepfather had an older son. But if something should happen to his brother? Maybe.

Think of all the ways God could have saved Israel if Moses had been King of Egypt! If I were writing the story, I think that’s direction I’d take. But it wasn’t until Moses left that life and took on the lowest rung of the career ladder in Egypt… shepherd!… that God called him into action.

In fact, God waited another forty years until the prince in Moses was worked out of him and only a shepherd remained. Then Moses was ready for the task at hand.

How often do we think God can only use the successful, popular, well-spoken extroverts to do great things? That’s not true. In fact often we see those kinds of people rejected by God in favor of the weak and lowly. Think the shepherd boy David. Think the recluse John the Baptist. Think the fishermen, tax collector, disciples. Think Mary Magdalene. Dozens and dozens of outcasts and “sinners” used by God in extraordinary ways.

God delights in using ordinary people like you and me who are willing to take off our sandals and stand on holy ground, to allow God to show His strength in our weakness, His power through us so He is clearly seen.

So whether you are living in a palace or sleeping under the stars with smelly sheep, God can use you. Take off your sandals. Spend time on holy ground. Stop the excuses and submit to the perfect will of God. Moses saw incredible things happen when he did that.

And so will you!

All or Nothing

Leave a reply

Reading 2 Kings 10 today, I wondered why Jehu went through with sacrificing the burnt offering to Baal. I mean, I get why he called the prophets and worshipers of Baal to the temple with the promise of a big corporate worship service. Get them all in one place, then kill them all while you have them cornered.

But why go through the worship before destroying everything Baal?

Then I read on and it made sense. Jehu never intended to actually give up Baal. Oh, he obeyed God. He destroyed the idolators and their idols. But Jehu kept Baal in his heart.

He mostly obeyed. But mostly obeying is disobedience.

In fact, Scripture tells us “he refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.” (10:31)

It’s possible to look like an obedient servant of God, to go to church every Sunday, sing in the choir, maybe teach Sunday School. It’s possible to abstain from alcohol, show love to your neighbor, and say, “Praise Jesus” twenty times a day, and still be disobedient.

God’s not fooled by what we do or say. God sees our hearts. You can read your Bible every day, and be as disobedient as an atheist if you are refusing to totally submit your heart to the Lord.

You can’t mostly obey, and think it balances the scale. It doesn’t. True Christianity – the heart that God approves – is all in. It has to be all or nothing.

Daddy, Help

Leave a reply

Psalm 86

We are told that we are powerful and capable individuals who can do anything we set our minds to. It’s a great thought. But it’s a lie. And I bet most of you, if you’re honest, would say it’s a lie, too.

Because we aren’t all that. We were never intended to be all that. We were created to need, and receive from God. The truth is, the most empowering thing an individual can do is to submit to God, admit a need, worship him, and receive His power to meet the need. There is something very freeing about admitting we need God.

Like a 2 1/2 foot child stretching, reaching, straining to get to the cookie jar on the kitchen counter. No amount of stretching is going to gain those extra inches he needs to reach his goal, no matter how much he believes in himself.

But let that child say, “Daddy, help!” and that father will take that child into his arms, lift him up, and place him in a position to open the cookie jar. And, more than likely, that daddy who loves his child, will hug that little one and give him a smooch.

Psalm 86:1-7 did that for me today. It reminds me my Heavenly Father is standing at the ready to forgive, to show mercy and love, to make me happy and help me in times of trouble. I just need to call out to Him.

Now, I know my example is imperfect. You might point out the child could pull a chair over to the counter and crawl up there himself to get to the cookie jar. Possibly. (especially if your name is Caleb and you are my great-nephew). But that child would miss out on that special moment with his daddy, the hug, the love expressed by his father who is bigger and much more capable than he.

And, if we’re pointing out the possibility the kid could crawl up there himself, we could also point out he could fall. The tragedy of that is, there is no need to go through the pain of a fall when all he had to do was ask his Daddy for help in the first place.

I hope, that if you are going through a difficult time right now and you think you have it in you to get through it on your own, think again. You don’t have to. There is no intrinsic value in sucking it up when God is standing there waiting for you to call on Him. And, my friend, the benefit of receiving His help goes way beyond whatever you are going through at the moment.

You have a Father who loves you. Allow Him to pick you up in His capable arms and BE the answer to your problem. I’m praying that today you will pray:

“Daddy, help”

(Genesis 32-40) Submission

2 Replies

Here’s where I think we have failed God.

As I was reading every detail of Bezalel’s work in the making of the tabernacle, once again I was frustrated. Didn’t we just get done reading those same details in the previous chapters? Why put us through that torture again? Why not simply report, “Bezalel obeyed?”

As I was forming that question in my mind somewhere around chapter 37, God seemed to challenge me to pay attention. There is a lesson to be learned from Bezalel’s obedience. I slowed down my reading and looked carefully at the level of Bezalel’s obedience and it dawned on me. The lesson here is…

submission.

We don’t see Bezalel going rogue. We don’t see him adding to or skipping over even the tiniest detail. He was an artist. I’m sure he was creative and imaginative in his own right. But he submitted to God. He laid aside his own desires and fulfilled the plan God designed exactly as it was told him.

Scripture tells us repeatedly that the tabernacle was made “just as the Lord had commanded Moses.”

Oh, that we would be as diligent, as careful to build the Church in 2021, just as the Lord commanded in His Word. I’m not sure we have submitted our wills as completely as Bezalel submitted his.

If we’re honest we have overlooked some important details. We’ve tweaked some details to be less offensive, more politically correct. Haven’t we turned our worship into entertaining productions? We are more concerned with what our worship looks like than in the condition of our hearts. We rationalize sin in our church and in our individual lives, and it’s getting harder and harder to recognize a follower of Jesus because we look very much like unbelievers.

The result of Bezalel’s level of obedience was blessing. Read chapter 40. It must have been an amazing spectacle as God revealed His Presence. There could be no question. God was in this. There is reward for carefully following what God says: HIS PRESENCE!

So today God is asking me to submit, to lay aside what I think, and look into His Word to find out what He commands. He is asking me to stop listening to christian-sounding ideas and plans, and to obey what He has made so clear in the pages of my Bible.

I realize my level of submission isn’t where it needs to be. Submitting to God isn’t merely a prayer, or an intention. If I truly submit to God it is going to be evident in my talk, my walk, my thoughts, and ultimately in my choices today. It’s going to be driven by God’s plan, not mine.

Have we as the Church failed to submit to God? If so, maybe it’s time we do.

August 6; Malleable

4 Replies

Jeremiah 14:1-15:9, 18:1-9:13, 24:1-10

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be malleable clay in the hands of a potter? Those hands pushing and stretching, applying pressure both firm and gentle, shaping and re-shaping toward a finished product only his mind can see?

Sometimes, if there is an imperfection, the potter might take the clay back to a formless clump by squeezing the clay between the palms of his hands. Then, once any trace of the imperfection is gone, the process begins again. The hands begin to knead, the wheel begins to spin, the fingers begin to work, and at just the right moment, a perfect form begins to appear, carefully fashioned by the potter’s hands.

Jeremiah is speaking to dry clay, hardened by drought, that would only break into pieces when the potter tries to form something beautiful. A clump of dry clay is fairly useless on a potter’s wheel.

But the potter, by adding just enough water to that dry clump, can restore it to a pliable form. Oh, it takes some strong hands to work that water through the crusty clay, to break it down, to soften it. But a skilled potter can restore that parched piece of clay, then form it into a beautiful, useful piece of pottery, that he can be proud of.

I want to be that malleable piece of clay in the hands of The Potter, the Creator God. I don’t want there to be any signs of dryness or imperfection, so that He can make me into something beautiful and useful for His purposes.

So I will continue to spend time in God’s Word every day. I’ll continue to let those Words apply pressure, push and stretch me. Because at the end of the day, at the end of my life, I want to look into the eyes of the Potter and see His approval as He looks at the woman He has fashioned from malleable clay.