Grabbing For Everything You Can Get

Ephesians 5:21 (ESV)
submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

We often miss this verse, because it comes right before Paul telling wives to submit to their husbands. But we are supposed to submit to one another. All of us.

This is an interesting concept to me. My entire life, I have heard it stressed that wives are to submit to their own husbands. But a deeper study of scripture shows that we all submit to someone.

Wives are to submit to their husbands.
Husbands are to submit to Christ.
Christ even submitted to God.
We all submit to the laws of the land.
Children submit to their parents.
Members of a congregation submit to the Elders.
Every Christian is to submit to Christ.

We are all supposed to submit to one another. My desires are to take second place to what my brother or sister needs.

1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)  Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

"But if I don't look out for my needs, who will?" I've heard this question before. And the answer is, "God will." If I am looking out for others' needs and they are looking out for my needs, then all needs will be met. Isn't His plan beautiful??  Remember Matthew 6:30 - 33 "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

The same goes in a marriage. I'm focused on meeting the needs of my husband. And he, loving me as his own body, is focused on meeting my needs. And ultimately, God has promised to provide for our needs. Not for every single thing we want but for our needs.

That is such a freeing thought to me. I can quit frantically scrabbling to grab hold of the things I think I need because God has already promised He is taking care of it. That means, in marriage, I can focus on what my husband's needs are, because I know God is taking care of me. I can devote my time and energy to caring for my husband and children, for fellow members of the body of Christ, because I can have complete confidence in the fact that God has promised to take care of my needs.

Now the interesting thing about all of this is that what I think my needs are and what God knows my needs are could be two completely different things. God created me, He knows what I need and my job is to let Him take care of it. My job is to do the work He has given me to do, caring for and looking out for my fellow brethren.

It seems so sad to me to see women of the world who are frantically grasping for everything they can, because they believe if they don't take care of themselves, no one will.

Isn't it a comforting thought to realize that God cares for you and, if we follow His plan of submitting to one another, everyone's needs will be met without all that grasping and struggling for what "I want."

Be Not Afraid!

Psalm 27:1 (ESV)
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

I heard recently (haven't confirmed for myself) that there are 365 instances in the Bible where God tells us to not be afraid. That's one verse for every day of the year. Maybe He's trying to tell us something??

Life on this earth is uncertain at best. We have no guarantees of tomorrow, of health, of good fortunes. We do have God's promise that He will never leave us or desert us.

In the United States today, I believe there is a mentality that says "I deserve this." We think we are entitled to good health, good fortunes, lost of stuff and the ability to do whatever we want. We are always concerned about our "rights."

As Christians, we give up our rights and we trust God to care for us. John 12:25 (ESV)
"Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."  Don't be afraid! God is your light and your salvation. He is the stronghold of your life. Give up the fear and let God handle it.

Easy to say but how do we do that? Prayer, constant reminders, more prayer. I think as women, as mothers, as wives, we tend to be more afraid, more concerned about all the people in our lives. And I think we need to be constantly reminded to turn it over to God, to give Him complete control.

God is the Creator. He made us. He knows what we need before we know ourselves. And He has provided for us. The things in this life that we think are so important will be burned up at the end of days. All things here rust and break down, even our own bodies. But God has given us a soul, a spirit, that longs to be with Him. We have been given the opportunity to spend eternity with our Creator. That should be our goal in this life.

So. . . when we are faced with the trials of this life, how do we handle them? Do we fret and stew about the things that "aren't right" or do we remember God's promises to us? Be not afraid!

Are You Mary or Martha?

Luke 10:38-42 tells us about the two sisters from Bethany, Mary and Martha.

Martha, the ultimate hostess, was very concerned with making sure everything was just right for the Master's visit. She wanted the meal to be perfect, her home spotless. You know, the kinds of things most of us are concerned about when we have company in our home.

Then there's Mary. To some of us, she seems like a slacker, a lazy girl who doesn't care anything about her home.

But I'm not sure we are seeing each of these women for who they really were.

Martha was concerned about the physical things, to the exclusion of the spiritual. Jesus reminded her that the spiritual, learning at His feet, was "the better." And if we look at Martha in later scriptures, we see that she learned the lesson Jesus was teaching her. She mellowed, as we might say today. She learned to not let the urgent overshadow the important.

And Mary - Mary wasn't really lazy, she just saw an opportunity to study at the Lord's feet. She was neglecting some things, the physical things, but she was choosing the better, the more important part of life. I may be reading too much into this, but I think, from the fact that Martha was so shocked and outraged by Mary's lack of help, that Mary knew how to do the things that needed to be done for guests. If she never helped, would Martha have been so outraged?

Mary understood the lesson that Martha learned from Jesus that day. We all have urgent life matters to attend to. If you are a stay-at-home mom, you have children to care for, groceries to buy, a house to try to keep neat and clean with little ones running around. If you work outside the home, you probably put in 40 hours a week and then still have to feed and care for your husband and children. Or if you are still single, you may be working or going to school or both, which means you have a full to-do list as well.

The urgent always seems to try to blind us to the important. This life will pass away and the earth and all its things will be burned up. Then how important will it be to you that you always had your house spotless or your children were always immaculately dressed?

The most important thing in this life is a relationship with the Father through His Son Jesus Christ. And that relationship takes some effort. God loves us as we are but He loves us too much to let us stay where we are. He wants us to grow, to learn more about Him, to develop a close relationship with Him.

Mary spent her time sitting at Jesus' feet. Are we doing the same thing? Are we spending our time in study of His word, in prayer and in service to Him? The urgent can often blind us to the opportunities to serve Him, to learn from Him, to worship Him. It takes a conscious effort to build your relationship with the Father and the Son. Maybe it means giving up some sleep to have some quiet time in study and prayer. Maybe it means the house isn't spotless or your entertaining isn't "Martha Stewart" perfect but you took advantage of the opportunities to serve others.

I'd like to let you in on a little secret - when people come to your home, they aren't there to see your perfect house or eat at your perfectly set table. They are there to see YOU! If they are there to see your perfect home, that is their own problem, not yours.

So here's my advice to you - invite people over but don't stress about what you will serve or how the house looks. Pay attention to the fact that you are welcoming others into your home, your heart, and this is a time for fellowship, for learning to love others.

Some of the best times, the most memorable times I have had at my fellow sisters' homes have been when we ate sandwiches and chips and spent our time (in between chasing down children) to pick up the Word, to share our spiritual joys and concerns, to draw closer to my sisters in Christ. Those times when I was with my sisters either at my home or theirs were also times where I had the opportunity to teach my children what is most important.

I believe we can all be part Martha and part Mary. Let's choose the better things, the things that draw us closer to one another and to our Savior. I'm praying for you all!

What Do You See in that Mirror?

3Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

4But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

 

We all start out as babies, cute and adorable. We grow up and life has a way of affecting us. But we are determined to look our best. Hair, makeup, clothes - we put so much emphasis on them.

 

But let me clue you in on something - we all get old, we get wrinkles, our hair turns grey or white. Sure, we can cover some of those things with make-up and hair color. But these bodies of ours all decay. We get old, eventually we all die. Yes, even you 17 year olds some day will be old. I speak from experience - I used to be 17. I thought it would be ages before I was old. Seems like just yesterday.

 

This could be very depressing. But it doesn't have to be. Because we all get old and we all die. But we will live forever after this life. So the real question is, where do you want to live forever. You can spend all your life worried about this life and then you can spend eternity realizing that what you worried about all your life was nothing, no importance whatsoever. Or you can live your life looking toward that future life - working on those things that are incorruptible.

 

The wise woman will spend her life working on those incorruptible qualities of a meek and quiet spirit. God sees the value of that, and I pray that each of you will see the value of that, as well. A life lived for Him is of great value. Choose the more valuable path.