As mothers and wives, we typically carry the responsibility of providing nourishing foods to our families. Many mothers are becoming increasingly aware, and vocal, about the benefits of whole foods, untainted by man-made chemicals or treatments. There is a very strong emphasis these days on organic, natural produce, and on abstaining from foods that are highly processed. We're becoming better at making sure things are safe for our families and will help our kids to grow.
But do we pay as much attention to our Spiritual nourishment as we do to our physical nourishment?
The bloggers at Keeper of the Home addressed this issue in a post recently, that I thought I'd share through here; check out their post, Real Food for the Spirit. We should all reflect on what we're putting into our own systems, and whether we're showing enough concern for nourishing our souls with God's truths, or if we're more prone to filling ourselves with superficial, processed 'food'. And it's a great time to remind ourselves that these are matters of eternal consequence - infinitely more important than whether we choose to eat grains or not - so while we are still called to be good stewards of our bodies by what we put into them, our spiritual well-being needs to hold the higher priority.
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Thursday, 16 May 2013
The Perfect Model
"The Lord is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and rich in love." Psalm 145:8
I love this verse. Every time I read it - or very often sing it since it's been set to music in a popular worship song - I reflect on His grace and how His love endures in spite of all my failures. It's a beautiful reminder of how great God is as He deals with us.
But is this verse only to be used to acknowledge those attributes in God, or merely to take comfort as the objects of that grace? By all means we ought to embrace the comfort found in these truths - what would we be if it weren't for His love? But to stop there is to stop short, for, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." (2 Tim. 3:16) We need to seek the sanctifying truths in such verses and ask God to work in us through them.
Psalm 145:8 doesn't directly address us, but rather talks about those attributes of God. Of course, whenever we hear of God's grace, mercy, compassion and love we always think of ourselves because we are the recipients of that grace. But we aren't supposed to just rest as the recipients of such grace; we ought to strive to imitate and reflect it. As Christians, we ought to be in a constant state of purification and sanctification as we allow God to work in us through His Spirit, making us more like Him. If the Lord is gracious and compassionate, we ought to desire to be gracious and compassionate as well.
Where is one of the best areas to help refine these attributes in us? In our homes, raising our children.
What better encouragement towards being slow to anger than a toddler who you have just finished correcting, and then turns around and does the exact same thing again? Or a pre-schooler who is convinced they know what's best and who challenges our authority?
James reminds us that the trials we face will help bring us to a point of maturity and completion - "not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4). There are going to be rough patches raising children - we all know this. But we should be glad that the trials we do encounter are providing opportunities for us to learn to be gracious, compassionate, patient and loving like God.
Practically speaking, what do those traits look like in the home?
It means not blowing our tops when something gets spilled - sure it might be frustrating to have to deal with such a mess, but it was likely a result of carelessness, or even just a side-effect of a little guy growing so fast and not knowing how to handle it yet, and there was likely no sin committed, so we can hardly count our anger as righteous at such an instance.
It means forgiving our children when they have sinned and not holding it over them, making them dwell on their own shortcomings.
It means not losing it because it's 11:30 at night and they're still awake and calling us and we have things we need to do; putting aside our agenda to provide for them in the way they need and assuring them that they are precious to us - at all times of the night.
It means sitting down with your child for the third time that morning as you explain to them why they shouldn't do something instead of screaming at them.
It means disciplining our children firmly and consistently, never out of violent anger and always with love. Joel R. Beeke made the point in his book, Parenting by God's Promises, "We must enforce and enrich every act of discipline with large doses of love." Why? Because that's what God does for His children - something which we can't deny as we've seen His faithfulness in our own lives. God has set the supreme example of disciplining with love - the Bible doesn't say that He does not get angry, but rather that He is slow to anger, that His anger is righteous, and that He is rich in love even when He is angry. What an awesome model for us to follow.
And it also means setting the example for our kids, like our Heavenly Father has set for us - and openly acknowledging when we come up short and pointing them towards the better model: Christ.
We have the perfect example laid out before us of gracious, patient parenting, and when we set that as our standard we'll likely see many areas we can improve on: Are we truly being gracious? Does our parenting style reflect compassion? How much slower can we get to anger while still being firm in our limits and correcting our children? And how much more love can we lavish on our children as we raise them?
And the best part? While we can set a new standard for our parenting as we strive to emulate our Heavenly Father, He is the most gracious, the most compassionate, the slowest to anger and the richest in love, so when we fall short - which will happen - we never need to be afraid of turning to Him, confessing our failures, and asking for His help to make us more like Him.
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
I love this verse. Every time I read it - or very often sing it since it's been set to music in a popular worship song - I reflect on His grace and how His love endures in spite of all my failures. It's a beautiful reminder of how great God is as He deals with us.
But is this verse only to be used to acknowledge those attributes in God, or merely to take comfort as the objects of that grace? By all means we ought to embrace the comfort found in these truths - what would we be if it weren't for His love? But to stop there is to stop short, for, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." (2 Tim. 3:16) We need to seek the sanctifying truths in such verses and ask God to work in us through them.
Psalm 145:8 doesn't directly address us, but rather talks about those attributes of God. Of course, whenever we hear of God's grace, mercy, compassion and love we always think of ourselves because we are the recipients of that grace. But we aren't supposed to just rest as the recipients of such grace; we ought to strive to imitate and reflect it. As Christians, we ought to be in a constant state of purification and sanctification as we allow God to work in us through His Spirit, making us more like Him. If the Lord is gracious and compassionate, we ought to desire to be gracious and compassionate as well.
Where is one of the best areas to help refine these attributes in us? In our homes, raising our children.
What better encouragement towards being slow to anger than a toddler who you have just finished correcting, and then turns around and does the exact same thing again? Or a pre-schooler who is convinced they know what's best and who challenges our authority?
James reminds us that the trials we face will help bring us to a point of maturity and completion - "not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4). There are going to be rough patches raising children - we all know this. But we should be glad that the trials we do encounter are providing opportunities for us to learn to be gracious, compassionate, patient and loving like God.
Practically speaking, what do those traits look like in the home?
It means not blowing our tops when something gets spilled - sure it might be frustrating to have to deal with such a mess, but it was likely a result of carelessness, or even just a side-effect of a little guy growing so fast and not knowing how to handle it yet, and there was likely no sin committed, so we can hardly count our anger as righteous at such an instance.
It means forgiving our children when they have sinned and not holding it over them, making them dwell on their own shortcomings.
It means not losing it because it's 11:30 at night and they're still awake and calling us and we have things we need to do; putting aside our agenda to provide for them in the way they need and assuring them that they are precious to us - at all times of the night.
It means sitting down with your child for the third time that morning as you explain to them why they shouldn't do something instead of screaming at them.
It means disciplining our children firmly and consistently, never out of violent anger and always with love. Joel R. Beeke made the point in his book, Parenting by God's Promises, "We must enforce and enrich every act of discipline with large doses of love." Why? Because that's what God does for His children - something which we can't deny as we've seen His faithfulness in our own lives. God has set the supreme example of disciplining with love - the Bible doesn't say that He does not get angry, but rather that He is slow to anger, that His anger is righteous, and that He is rich in love even when He is angry. What an awesome model for us to follow.
And it also means setting the example for our kids, like our Heavenly Father has set for us - and openly acknowledging when we come up short and pointing them towards the better model: Christ.
We have the perfect example laid out before us of gracious, patient parenting, and when we set that as our standard we'll likely see many areas we can improve on: Are we truly being gracious? Does our parenting style reflect compassion? How much slower can we get to anger while still being firm in our limits and correcting our children? And how much more love can we lavish on our children as we raise them?
And the best part? While we can set a new standard for our parenting as we strive to emulate our Heavenly Father, He is the most gracious, the most compassionate, the slowest to anger and the richest in love, so when we fall short - which will happen - we never need to be afraid of turning to Him, confessing our failures, and asking for His help to make us more like Him.
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Rejoice in the Lord - Always.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." Philippians 4:4
What does it mean to you to rejoice in the Lord? And furthermore, what does it mean to do it "always"?
For many of us, this verse may seem a bit perplexing. How can we always be rejoicing? Wasn't Paul aware of what sort of things can complicate the life of a wife and mother? Was he unaware of the anxieties that accompany those roles, and how many concerns we have brought before us day after day? And what about those seasons of sorrow that all of us face? Surely we are excused from rejoicing then?
But that's the beauty of scripture: "All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16) Which means that the word "always" is in there for a reason, and there's also a good reason why Paul felt the need to admonish the Philippians to rejoice twice: it's easy to forget to do this!
But what sort of 'rejoicing' are we called to do? Is this an un-natural behaviour where in the face of deepest sorrow, we as Christians are never allowed to weep or mourn? Of course not. Christ wept at the mourning of the Jews after the death of Lazarus. He was sorrowful to see the despair that death brings. Christians aren't required to be perpetually happy and never sad. There may be those that you've come across who don't seem to understand that, and who may feel like it's a sin to be sad, but they forget that we are called to, "Mourn with those who mourn." (Romans 12:15) No, we have freedom in God to experience the emotions that He gave us. But we also have the responsibility to not sin because of our emotions.
You should notice that the verse doesn't instruct us to "rejoice in our illness", or "rejoice in the loss of your loved ones," but rather, "Rejoice in the LORD." That is why we are called to do it always - because we always have reason to rejoice in Him! While our circumstances themselves may not prompt us to rejoice, the faithfulness and goodness and sovereignty of our Lord should!
In our illness we should rejoice because we have a faithful Father who will comfort and heal according to His will. In times of loss we should rejoice because we know that the victory has been won and that death has lost its sting. In seasons of tension and hurt in our relationships we should rejoice because we are benefactors of the eternal love of God, which He will never remove from us. Only in the Lord will we find our unending cause to rejoice!
Now, I must admit that I feel this in particular is a verse that is profitable "for training in righteousness", as referred to in 2 Timothy. When you think of training for something, there's the implication that perfection does not come naturally, and that sometimes there will be mistakes that you need to correct, learn from, and move forward from. Does it come easily for us to rejoice at all during the hardest seasons of our lives? No - but that's because in our fallen state we had forgotten that there was something as constant and faithful as God which we could eternally rejoice in. But as we train in righteousness, and God continues His good work in us, we can find ourselves coming to a point where we don't need to work so hard to rejoice in our sovereign God. We'll find ourselves, by His grace, remembering that while under the sun there is a season for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1), He does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17); He is always faithful - and that is a great reason to rejoice.
So what is your burden today? What is weighing on your heart, or breaking you down? Whatever it is, we need to remember that while there may not be much cause to rejoice in our hurts and anxieties, God welcomes us to cast all our cares upon Him, and that is one of the incredible reasons why we are called to, "Rejoice in the Lord always."
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
What does it mean to you to rejoice in the Lord? And furthermore, what does it mean to do it "always"?
For many of us, this verse may seem a bit perplexing. How can we always be rejoicing? Wasn't Paul aware of what sort of things can complicate the life of a wife and mother? Was he unaware of the anxieties that accompany those roles, and how many concerns we have brought before us day after day? And what about those seasons of sorrow that all of us face? Surely we are excused from rejoicing then?
But that's the beauty of scripture: "All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16) Which means that the word "always" is in there for a reason, and there's also a good reason why Paul felt the need to admonish the Philippians to rejoice twice: it's easy to forget to do this!
But what sort of 'rejoicing' are we called to do? Is this an un-natural behaviour where in the face of deepest sorrow, we as Christians are never allowed to weep or mourn? Of course not. Christ wept at the mourning of the Jews after the death of Lazarus. He was sorrowful to see the despair that death brings. Christians aren't required to be perpetually happy and never sad. There may be those that you've come across who don't seem to understand that, and who may feel like it's a sin to be sad, but they forget that we are called to, "Mourn with those who mourn." (Romans 12:15) No, we have freedom in God to experience the emotions that He gave us. But we also have the responsibility to not sin because of our emotions.
You should notice that the verse doesn't instruct us to "rejoice in our illness", or "rejoice in the loss of your loved ones," but rather, "Rejoice in the LORD." That is why we are called to do it always - because we always have reason to rejoice in Him! While our circumstances themselves may not prompt us to rejoice, the faithfulness and goodness and sovereignty of our Lord should!
In our illness we should rejoice because we have a faithful Father who will comfort and heal according to His will. In times of loss we should rejoice because we know that the victory has been won and that death has lost its sting. In seasons of tension and hurt in our relationships we should rejoice because we are benefactors of the eternal love of God, which He will never remove from us. Only in the Lord will we find our unending cause to rejoice!
Now, I must admit that I feel this in particular is a verse that is profitable "for training in righteousness", as referred to in 2 Timothy. When you think of training for something, there's the implication that perfection does not come naturally, and that sometimes there will be mistakes that you need to correct, learn from, and move forward from. Does it come easily for us to rejoice at all during the hardest seasons of our lives? No - but that's because in our fallen state we had forgotten that there was something as constant and faithful as God which we could eternally rejoice in. But as we train in righteousness, and God continues His good work in us, we can find ourselves coming to a point where we don't need to work so hard to rejoice in our sovereign God. We'll find ourselves, by His grace, remembering that while under the sun there is a season for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1), He does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17); He is always faithful - and that is a great reason to rejoice.
So what is your burden today? What is weighing on your heart, or breaking you down? Whatever it is, we need to remember that while there may not be much cause to rejoice in our hurts and anxieties, God welcomes us to cast all our cares upon Him, and that is one of the incredible reasons why we are called to, "Rejoice in the Lord always."
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Teaching Your Children About Marriage
Another post - another outside link! Occassionally articles are brought to our attention that we feel convey solid truth and sound reasoning, and which do the job well of glorifying God. This is another such article:
Teaching Your Children About Marriage
The article is written by a woman, to women, and while it certainly isn't exhaustive, it makes a great point that our children will learn what marriage means by watching what ours looks like. Is your marriage about serving yourself, is it all about the kids, or is it about glorifying God while you and your husband serve eachother? I pray for all of you that it's the latter!
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
Teaching Your Children About Marriage
The article is written by a woman, to women, and while it certainly isn't exhaustive, it makes a great point that our children will learn what marriage means by watching what ours looks like. Is your marriage about serving yourself, is it all about the kids, or is it about glorifying God while you and your husband serve eachother? I pray for all of you that it's the latter!
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
Saturday, 23 February 2013
The Me Time Myth
I recently saw this article shared on Facebook and felt it was a wonderful reminder to women about what we really need: Christ. In a self-centered world, we can find a lot of bad council, but if we remember to look back into God-breathed word, we can find truth and promise, just like this woman experienced.
So I encourage you: read this, apply the heart of the message to your own life, and dive into God's word for more encouragement!
The Me Time Myth
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
So I encourage you: read this, apply the heart of the message to your own life, and dive into God's word for more encouragement!
The Me Time Myth
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
An Opportunity to Serve
February 14th.
Valentine's Day.
The day when women all over the world expect flowers, candies, cards and dinners.
Valentine's Day has many foes; large numbers of people despise the focus on relationships when their own love lives are lifeless, many people lament the emphasis on spending money and the apparent necessity to buy into the commercial aspect of the day, and then there are people who believe that boycotting the day is the best way to state to the world that we should celebrate our relationships more than just once a year.
I'd like to point out that I personally enjoy the day. I enjoy the prospect of a day designated to the celebration of our relationships. Plus, I think it's fun.
That being said, I do have my issues with Valentine's Day. My biggest issue is with my expectations about the day.
Growing up as young girls, we are taught that Valentine's Day is when it is the boys' responsibility to lavish us with tokens of their affection, and anything less than the sweetest "Be Mine" card and one more candy than they gave every other girl is grounds for being upset with them.
In High School, if our boyfriends forgot Valentine's Day, they were no longer 'boyfriend material', and if so-and-so got a better gift than we did, we felt ripped off.
Fast-forward to our married selves, and while our expectations may be more moderate and our hormone fluctuations more temperate, we still expect something and a fight may be brewing if we feel ourselves neglected or forgotten.
But perhaps we're looking at this all wrong. Instead of thinking ourselves the best wives in the world because we make it easy for our husbands by telling them exactly what our expectations are and helping them remember to bring home flowers, shouldn't we be viewing this as the perfect chance to show our spouses how much we love them? Instead of waiting to be served, should we take the opportunity to serve?
The selfish expectations we hold regarding how our men should treat us is something we were likely taught at a very young age. In an attempt to equip girls with self-esteem and a feeling of worth, the world told us we were beautiful, that we deserved the best and that we needed to hold out until we found someone who was willing to give us that. But what we should have been taught is that we are beautiful because we are daughters of our Holy Father, that we deserve death but have been redeemed through Him, and that 'the best' is a man who pursues God with all his heart, and who strives to serve Him in everything he does. The first model did little more than teach us that we needed to find a husband who would wait on us hand-and-foot, particularly in seasons such as pregnancy or obligatory dates, such as Valentine's Day and our anniversary. The second model teaches so much more; it shows us that we need to desire to serve, that pursuing God is our highest priority and that keeping our focus on God is the best thing that can happen to our earthly relationships.
Should your husband remember Valentine's Day, your birthday and your anniversary? Yes, he probably should. But instead of worrying about his memory and his plans, we should instead worry first about ours.
Wine him. Dine him. Show him that you adore him. Let him know that you appreciate the man and the leader that he is.
Get your kids in on it. Make sure they let him know what a great Daddy he is.
And remember that this day is a great reminder to do these things, but that we need to do it regularly. I've heard it said before, "Ladies, if you don't pursue your husband, there are plenty of women who will be willing to take over for you." And it's true. We need to encourage our husbands in our relationship, and I think Martin Luther had a great formula for it: "Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave." But our responsibility as the wives in that equation lies first in making him glad to come home - to making him feel loved, appreciated, served and respected.
So whatever your expectations for Valentine's Day were, throw them out the window. Shift gears and use this opportunity to serve your husband to the best of your abilities. Greet him at the door with a cold drink and a plate of nachos, make sure he get's a say in the evening's activities and make double-sure that he gets a nice long back rub.
And if you find that you do feel he is neglecting you and that you would appreciate him to express his affection more freely, talk to him respectfully, not emotionally, and request that he think about it and perhaps talk with an older man to gain perspective on the situation. And remember the teachings of Peter when it says, "Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct." 1 Peter 3:1-2 We need to submit to our husbands and serve them for God's glory. And God truly is glorified when we celebrate the relationships He has blessed us with!
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
Valentine's Day.
The day when women all over the world expect flowers, candies, cards and dinners.
Valentine's Day has many foes; large numbers of people despise the focus on relationships when their own love lives are lifeless, many people lament the emphasis on spending money and the apparent necessity to buy into the commercial aspect of the day, and then there are people who believe that boycotting the day is the best way to state to the world that we should celebrate our relationships more than just once a year.
I'd like to point out that I personally enjoy the day. I enjoy the prospect of a day designated to the celebration of our relationships. Plus, I think it's fun.
That being said, I do have my issues with Valentine's Day. My biggest issue is with my expectations about the day.
Growing up as young girls, we are taught that Valentine's Day is when it is the boys' responsibility to lavish us with tokens of their affection, and anything less than the sweetest "Be Mine" card and one more candy than they gave every other girl is grounds for being upset with them.
In High School, if our boyfriends forgot Valentine's Day, they were no longer 'boyfriend material', and if so-and-so got a better gift than we did, we felt ripped off.
Fast-forward to our married selves, and while our expectations may be more moderate and our hormone fluctuations more temperate, we still expect something and a fight may be brewing if we feel ourselves neglected or forgotten.
But perhaps we're looking at this all wrong. Instead of thinking ourselves the best wives in the world because we make it easy for our husbands by telling them exactly what our expectations are and helping them remember to bring home flowers, shouldn't we be viewing this as the perfect chance to show our spouses how much we love them? Instead of waiting to be served, should we take the opportunity to serve?
The selfish expectations we hold regarding how our men should treat us is something we were likely taught at a very young age. In an attempt to equip girls with self-esteem and a feeling of worth, the world told us we were beautiful, that we deserved the best and that we needed to hold out until we found someone who was willing to give us that. But what we should have been taught is that we are beautiful because we are daughters of our Holy Father, that we deserve death but have been redeemed through Him, and that 'the best' is a man who pursues God with all his heart, and who strives to serve Him in everything he does. The first model did little more than teach us that we needed to find a husband who would wait on us hand-and-foot, particularly in seasons such as pregnancy or obligatory dates, such as Valentine's Day and our anniversary. The second model teaches so much more; it shows us that we need to desire to serve, that pursuing God is our highest priority and that keeping our focus on God is the best thing that can happen to our earthly relationships.
Should your husband remember Valentine's Day, your birthday and your anniversary? Yes, he probably should. But instead of worrying about his memory and his plans, we should instead worry first about ours.
Wine him. Dine him. Show him that you adore him. Let him know that you appreciate the man and the leader that he is.
Get your kids in on it. Make sure they let him know what a great Daddy he is.
And remember that this day is a great reminder to do these things, but that we need to do it regularly. I've heard it said before, "Ladies, if you don't pursue your husband, there are plenty of women who will be willing to take over for you." And it's true. We need to encourage our husbands in our relationship, and I think Martin Luther had a great formula for it: "Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave." But our responsibility as the wives in that equation lies first in making him glad to come home - to making him feel loved, appreciated, served and respected.
So whatever your expectations for Valentine's Day were, throw them out the window. Shift gears and use this opportunity to serve your husband to the best of your abilities. Greet him at the door with a cold drink and a plate of nachos, make sure he get's a say in the evening's activities and make double-sure that he gets a nice long back rub.
And if you find that you do feel he is neglecting you and that you would appreciate him to express his affection more freely, talk to him respectfully, not emotionally, and request that he think about it and perhaps talk with an older man to gain perspective on the situation. And remember the teachings of Peter when it says, "Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct." 1 Peter 3:1-2 We need to submit to our husbands and serve them for God's glory. And God truly is glorified when we celebrate the relationships He has blessed us with!
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
Monday, 21 January 2013
Desire to Improve
As we roll into a New Year we are constantly being encouraged to improve ourselves. Sales for organizational tools and exercise equipment remind us of areas that we need to work on, and spur us on towards self-betterment. Self-help books appear on shelves in droves and will tell you how to do anything from manage your time better, to lose that last 5 pounds.
Desiring to improve ourselves is not a bad thing. We should desire to be better in many things. But why do we desire it? And are we focusing on the wrong areas?
First and foremost, we need to desire God more. We need to desire to serve Him better, and to let Him work in every aspect of our lives. This is FAR more important than whether or not we stay on top of laundry or whether our craft cupboard is organized. We need to pursue relationship with Him, asking Him to ignite that desire in our hearts and strengthen us to follow through with our goal of knowing Him more intimately. This is not an area that falls under 'self-help'. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that we can't help ourselves when it comes to right relationship with God. We have been redeemed by the blood of our Savior, through no merit or works of our own, and we will be continually restored and renewed through the work of the Spirit, as it pleases the Father. Self-help books on your relationship with God should all be very short: Pray to Him, surrender to Him and let Him work in you.
Not only does this need to be the first priority, it needs to permeate through every other goal you set!
Why should we want our houses to be cleaner? To impress our company? Because so-and-so has such a clean house? Pride?
I am not a tidy person by nature. But I have identified a need in my life to improve on the cleanliness and order in my house because the Bible commands me to submit to my husband, and instructs me to help him, to care for him, and to serve him as an act of worship to God. My husband likes when our house is clean, therefore I clean my house, to serve my husband, to the glory of God.
Many of us struggle with body image and desire to lose a pound or two (or twenty). But why do we desire it? Because then our clothes fit better? Because we're embarassed by how we look? Because we crave the compliments we'll receive? Or because we seek to treat our bodies well, to stay healthy and be desirable to our husbands, for God's glory?
Often we take this time of year to relook at our finances. I'm sure the vast majority of us feel like we could do well to have a bit more money, and we all sit around at some point, wondering where we can cut back, how we can save and what we can do to possibly make sure there is more money in our account. But if we are doing all of this to save up for a debaucherous trip to Vegas, or so that we can spend money selfishly without guilt, or so we can excuse poor stewardship, it's wrong to desire that. When was the last time we sat down to relook our finances to see how we could give more to God's work?
It's not wrong to desire to improve, but the heart behind the desire can be wrong. We need to realize that things like healthy lifestyles, good organization and fiscal planning can be idols. In all things we need to set our gaze on our Heavenly Father and work for His glory.
So by all means, go through Pinterest and find wonderful ideas for ways to organize your linen closet, and how to keep your house clean, and recipes for low-fat, organic foods, but do it all to God's glory, because while God may not care how organized your pantry is, He does delight in the things we do as an act of worship to Him, which can be everything we do if our first and foremost desire is to serve Him.
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
Desiring to improve ourselves is not a bad thing. We should desire to be better in many things. But why do we desire it? And are we focusing on the wrong areas?
First and foremost, we need to desire God more. We need to desire to serve Him better, and to let Him work in every aspect of our lives. This is FAR more important than whether or not we stay on top of laundry or whether our craft cupboard is organized. We need to pursue relationship with Him, asking Him to ignite that desire in our hearts and strengthen us to follow through with our goal of knowing Him more intimately. This is not an area that falls under 'self-help'. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that we can't help ourselves when it comes to right relationship with God. We have been redeemed by the blood of our Savior, through no merit or works of our own, and we will be continually restored and renewed through the work of the Spirit, as it pleases the Father. Self-help books on your relationship with God should all be very short: Pray to Him, surrender to Him and let Him work in you.
Not only does this need to be the first priority, it needs to permeate through every other goal you set!
Why should we want our houses to be cleaner? To impress our company? Because so-and-so has such a clean house? Pride?
I am not a tidy person by nature. But I have identified a need in my life to improve on the cleanliness and order in my house because the Bible commands me to submit to my husband, and instructs me to help him, to care for him, and to serve him as an act of worship to God. My husband likes when our house is clean, therefore I clean my house, to serve my husband, to the glory of God.
Many of us struggle with body image and desire to lose a pound or two (or twenty). But why do we desire it? Because then our clothes fit better? Because we're embarassed by how we look? Because we crave the compliments we'll receive? Or because we seek to treat our bodies well, to stay healthy and be desirable to our husbands, for God's glory?
Often we take this time of year to relook at our finances. I'm sure the vast majority of us feel like we could do well to have a bit more money, and we all sit around at some point, wondering where we can cut back, how we can save and what we can do to possibly make sure there is more money in our account. But if we are doing all of this to save up for a debaucherous trip to Vegas, or so that we can spend money selfishly without guilt, or so we can excuse poor stewardship, it's wrong to desire that. When was the last time we sat down to relook our finances to see how we could give more to God's work?
It's not wrong to desire to improve, but the heart behind the desire can be wrong. We need to realize that things like healthy lifestyles, good organization and fiscal planning can be idols. In all things we need to set our gaze on our Heavenly Father and work for His glory.
So by all means, go through Pinterest and find wonderful ideas for ways to organize your linen closet, and how to keep your house clean, and recipes for low-fat, organic foods, but do it all to God's glory, because while God may not care how organized your pantry is, He does delight in the things we do as an act of worship to Him, which can be everything we do if our first and foremost desire is to serve Him.
To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!
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