Psalm 119:74

“Those who fear You shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in Your word.” (NRSV)

I want people to like me. I mean, I really want people to like me. I think many of us do. It’s a natural thing, to want to be liked and accepted. But more than that, whether consciously or unconsciously, we all work at trying to create a culture around us that’s comfortable. We want our friends and associates to share our morals, values, and habits. And it becomes uncomfortable when we find ourselves planted within a group of people with whom we have little of value in common.

America, once more Christian in practice (though not necessarily in nature), has become increasingly secular over the past century. And where there were pockets of geography where the social culture mimicked Christian values, those pockets are becoming smaller or disappearing altogether. Anti-Christian attitudes are showing themselves (to the surprise of some Christians) and many in the Church seem to be floundering around, not really sure what to do about all of this. In fact, many Christians, in an effort to be accepted and feel more comfortable, have become more and more like the world in their thoughts, values, and practices.

A half century ago, I attended a small church in Southern California. It had about 300 members and no one even considered talking about drinking. The one or two (yes, that few) who smoked, did so secretly away from church property and gatherings. Dress, speech, and manner was moderate, conservative, well-behaved. (For example, my own parents never attended any kind of a movie except those that were G-rated.) Things have changed greatly since those days, at least here in Southern California. Nowadays, it’s very common to have openly practicing Christians talk about drinking alcohol, go to R-rated movies, use foul language, and have multiple marriages due to divorce.

We look exactly like our unsaved neighbors. I don’t believe that this has come about simply because we all decided to be bad. We simply wanted to be accepted, to be part of the society around us, to feel more comfortable.

Is that who we should be?

A. W. Tozer wrote (in the 1940's or 50's):

“The world hated Jesus without a cause. In spite of their fantastic charges against Him, Christ’s contemporaries found nothing in either His doctrine or His deeds to rouse in them such unreasonable anger as they constantly displayed toward Him. They hated Him, not for anything He said or did, but for what He was” (The Warfare of the Spirit).

The fact is, if I expect the unsaved around me to like and approve of me, I’m looking in the wrong place for approval. The psalmist wrote: Those who fear You shall see me and rejoice. Who are those who fear God? What does that mean?

A person who fears God turns away from evil. “The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil’” (Job 1:8 NRSV).

A person who fears God keeps His commandments. “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep His commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NRSV).

A person who fears God prays constantly and gives generously to others. “He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God” (Acts 10:2 NRSV).

A person who fears God is trustworthy. “Men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain” (Exodus 18:21 NRSV).

A person who fears God gives Him glory. “Fear God and give Him glory” (Revelation 14:7 NRSV).

This is the kind of person I want and need to become and these are kind of people with whom I need to fellowship. Father God didn’t call the Church to fellowship simply so we would be able to go to potlucks or have a great time at church on Sunday. We are called to fellowship together so that we have a family of believers upon whom we can depend for prayer, support, and like-mindedness. This family should be people who we know will pray for us, will challenge us to right living, and will be there when we fall to admonish us and teach us how to avoid that trap of sin the next time. It should be a family of believers who fear God. And among that family should be me, a person who also fears God and who hopes in His Word.

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Psalm 119:73

Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. (NRSV)

Where have I come from and where am I going?

America espouses self-determination. It is a part of who this nation is from its conception. From the Gale Encyclopedia of U. S. Foreign Policy: “the revolt of the British colonies in North America has been defined as the first assertion of the right of national and democratic self-determination in the history of the world” (http://www.answers.com/topic/self-determination#ixzz1bbl5hjsl). It is the fundamental assertion of the new “Occupy” movements: “We have principles of solidarity, and we are working together to make a better world - a world of inclusion, dignity, love and respect. #OWS has no space for racism, sexism, transphobia, anti-immigrant hatred, xenophobia, and hatred in general.” (http://occupywallst.org/)

In a nutshell, most people don’t want to be told . . . anything. Think about it. I often hear people say, “Well, I don’t learn from what others tell me. I learn from my own mistakes.” Or they might say, “I want to make my own way, do things the way I think is best.” And as a people living in a society that has fewer and fewer social constructs, those are choices we can make. We can choose to go our own way, to reject the morals or guidelines of our parents, to embrace new ideas. We can create our own society based on what we think is right.

The question is . . . should we? Should we take our lives into our own hands and experience it for ourselves, making our own mistakes, and making our own choices? Should we make our own determination about what is right and wrong?

As creatures with free will, we have always had that choice. The current governmental or social structure hasn’t created that for us. That ability to choose our own way has always been with us since the Garden of Eden. Because that spirit within us, that spirit that demands to create our own way, our own laws, our own purpose is the same spirit that whispered to Eve: “You will not surely die, but you will be like God knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4). It is the spirit that says we are not creatures created in God’s image for the purpose of worshiping Him, but rather separate creatures, made through the process of evolution (or the Big Bang or whatever other theory you wish to espouse) with the right to believe what we want, convinced that our believing it will make it so.

In fact, that is what so often amazes me. That there are so many people in this world who refuse to believe God and His Word and are convinced—simply because they believe it—that their way is right. And then they find all sorts of “evidences” to prove their point . . . when all along they are headed down a dangerous path of rebellion and sin.

Unfortunately, often that creature headed into rebellion . . . is me! For while outwardly I can easily appear as a submissive believer, I spend so many hours wrestling with God, trying to tell Him how to do His job. Oh, the folly of it! For ultimately it comes back to this: I am His creation, made by His hand. He breathed life into me when I was a single cell in my mother’s womb. He gave me an eternal soul and He numbered my days. I can make all the plans I want, but in the end, God wins because He is Creator, Master, Ruler, and He is in control.

There is no other story. There are no other valid beliefs. There is no other possible ending.

He fashioned me and He controls the destiny of this world. My choice is whether or not to be obedient to Him.

While, at age seven, I choose to be obedient to Him, I have discovered that it is not just a life choice, but also a daily choice. And it isn’t a choice without wisdom or discernment. The Psalmist prays here: “Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.” Why do I need understanding? I could learn the commandments by rote and simply do them blindly. But instead, the scripture tells us that we learn the commandments through understanding. Because I am a creature of free will, the Lord wisely knows that I will see both sides and will lean toward my own understanding. Thus, He is willing to teach me, to convince me that obeying His commandments is best! He isn’t a god who coerces—though He could for He is fully able. He isn’t a god who demands—though as Creator He has the right. Rather, He is a God who loves me, who sacrificed for me, and who teaches me that I might learn how to be obedient, how to set down my rebellion and cling to Him.

Even in my rebellion, in my sin, He works His love for me. Romans 8:28 tells us that “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” The all things is so important because it means all things. Everything I do, everything I think, everything that happens to me. God loves me so much that is works all of that for my good! It is an amazing thing.

God is willing to teach me to obey Him. But I must first come to Him as a creation and as a student. I cannot stand unflinchingly and demand that He defend Himself. He won’t. Just as the Lord Jesus refused to defend Himself before Pilate, Father God refuses to defend Himself to a rebellious world. He won’t attend a debate. He won’t compare Himself with other choices as if life were a multiple choice test and He was one of the possible responses. But He will reveal Himself to the seeking heart.

• “The Lord is with you, while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you” (2 Chronicles 15:2 NRSV).
• “I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently find Me” (Proverbs 8:17 NRSV).
• “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:25 NRSV).
• “The Lord searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you” (1 Chronicles 28:9 NRSV).
• “From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search after Him with all your heart and soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29 NRSV).

Today, I choose. I pray for understanding in order to obey His commandments. I seek after Him with all my heart and soul.

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Acts 8

Acts 8:26-31, 35-39

“Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. . . . Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’s He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philipt baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.” (NRSV)

Many of us have family members who are not saved. I know that I do—some who are very dear to me and for whom I pray daily. Day after day prayers . . . after awhile it is sometimes difficult to know what to pray. So the other day I began to pray for those Christians around my family members, that the Christians would have the courage the wisdom to speak boldly to those I love.

And suddenly it hit me! I am “those Christians” around someone else’s family members. You know, I take the offices of the Church very seriously. Ephesians 4 talks about the five offices (some churches believe in four offices): “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (v. 11-12 NRSV). And I know that I am clearly not an evangelist (someone who tells others about the Lord). If I lean in any direction, it may be as a prophet or teacher. But I also know that all of us are commanded to be witnesses to the gospel. And now I need to take that admonition even more seriously.

Paul told us, in Ephesians to “bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (6:2 NRSV). I believe that when we go out of our way to minister to the unsaved around us, we are bearing the burdens of the Christians who are praying for those people. We all know that those closest to us usually don’t listen to us. I never cease to be amazed at my husband in this regard. I can talk to him about something over and over again and he often ignores it. But let someone else tell him, and he thinks it’s the greatest idea in the world! I think there is some of that in all of us. And if that is true, then we likely have the least amount of influence on those for whom we care the most! Of course, we can—and should—pray for those dear ones daily. But it may be that anything we say will fall on deaf eyes. But we can pray that God will send other believers in their path and we can become those “other believers” to the unsaved that cross our paths each day.

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Isaiah 43:10-13

“But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord. “And you are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God; there never has been and never will be. I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior. First I predicted your deliverance; I declared what I would do, and then I did it—I saved you. No foreign god has ever done this before. You are witnesses that I am the only God,” says the Lord. “From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I do. No one can reverse my actions” (NLT).

I wish—I truly wish—that life were like a 60-minute TV show where the dramatic problem is presented, the villain is revealed, and all is wrapped up for the heroes to live happily ever after before the final commercial. But life isn’t like that. And the longer I live, the more I’m convinced that life is messy, sloppy, sometimes miserable, and usually unintelligible. There simply isn’t a way to make life neat because of sin. Every time I think I have every problem solved, every task organized, and every person content, a new set of difficulties emerge, sometimes more complicated than the first. And, of course, there are the problems that are simply out of our control.

I have a friend who is ill, very ill. It is an illness that was brought on suddenly and will likely have life-changing consequences for him and his family. Because of the instant interacting of people across long-distances through technology (like Facebook), I have been able to observe people’s reactions to his illness. One couple in particular have been interesting to observe. This couple (friends, not family) almost immediately set themselves up at experts on everything! They have done their best to control the doctors, the choice of hospital, how other friends respond . . . everyone! At first it was irritating until I realized that this was how they were trying to deal with their anger and grief. In an obviously uncontrollable situation, they are trying to bring about some order and control by trying to tell everyone what to do, what to say, and how to act. So while they are trying to present themselves as people who are hearing from God, the ones who are actually hearing from God may be the friends who are the most silent, spending their time in prayer.

I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior. From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I do. No one can reverse my actions.

I can truly relate to that couple because I’m like that: I’m a controller. Oh, I’ve tried to tone down my interactions with others (I used to be so much worse), but I know that when I get stressed, when loss looms on the horizon, I want to control everyone and everything around me. The truth is, who I’m trying to control is God. I simply want my way and not His! Foolish woman that I am. I have to laugh. There is no other Savior, including me! How in the world do I think that I can control . . . anything? I suppose I control my own behavior and reactions, but that’s about the extent of it. Everything else is in His hands, including me. And any control—any self-discipline—that I have at all comes directly from and through His Holy Spirit.

So it comes down to this: Do I believe that God loves me and wants the best for me? Romans 8:28-30 (one of my favorite passages) tells me just that: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like his Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And He gave them right standing with Himself, and He promised them His glory” (NLT). This is similar to a phrase in the Isaiah passage: You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. God chose me. He chose me. We are “God’s very own children, adopted into His family—calling Him ‘Father, dear Father.’ For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:15b-16 NLT). Knowing this, how can I doubt that God loves me or that He is providing the very best for me?

When I try to control, I may in fact be messing things up in such a way that His best will be hindered. Certainly I’m not my own savior; I can’t save anyone, including myself! And the sooner I learn to let go and let God, the sooner I can rest in Him, knowing that He is working all things for my good!

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

“For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings” (NRSV)

Who am I? I grew up in the free love/free spirit days when one of the overwhelming questions of life (and priorities) was to define ourselves. The consensus of my generation was that society had placed demands on our parents with social context defining them and my generation wanted the freedom to define itself. In a sense, Paul was very much like those of my generation. He had lived under the strict regiment of Jewish law. In fact, he had submitted himself to the very strictest code of the Pharisees. And now, as a believer, he found himself freed from that code. He could eat what he wanted, travel as far as he liked, socialize with whomever came his way.

Paul’s freedom, at the time of his conversion, was even more than this. As a Pharisee, he had the right to rule over Jews. The only Jewish rulers, in fact, were the religious leaders. Civilly, Israel was ruled by Rome. So, Paul, as a trained Pharisee, had the right to tell others what to do. As a citizen of Rome, Paul also had immense rights, rights not granted to non-citizens (many of which were his fellow Jews). So, Paul had dual civil rights. This made him both unique and uniquely powerful because it gave him a freedom to travel, to speak in the synogogues, and to teach scripture without rebuff. But Paul understood that this freedom—which wasn’t a license to sin, but was rather a return to the obedience of the Spirit—had only one purpose. It’s purpose was to share the gospel with everyone in his path and nothing in his personal culture was going to be allowed to interfere with that purpose.

Paul defined himself in 2 Corinthians 11:

“But whatever anyone dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death” (v. 21-23 NRSV).

He had the right to place himself in both spiritual and civil authority over many, and yet he chose to be a slave to all. Slavery, while still practiced in some parts of the world today, isn’t something we like to think about because it connotes the giving up of one’s identity and rights completely to another. When people become slaves to another (whether willingly or by being forced by another), they no longer have any rights to any part of their lives. They literally become property with the owner being legally allowed to do what he wills with them. This is the image that Paul gives, an image of complete submission in order to share the gospel. Paul had the right to become ruler over most of the early Church and yet he gave up that right in order to achieve a greater purpose, sharing the gospel.

What am I willing to give up to share the gospel? If I have positions of influence or power—even the Church or in my family—am I willing to humble myself and submit to the wishes and will of others? If I have an opportunity for a promotion, am I willing to step aside for the sake of the gospel? If I have the power that money brings, am I willing to use that money for the Lord’s purposes and not my own, even allowing others to determine those purposes? There is a real sense of both specific purpose and of submission in Paul’s words that I often fail to grasp.

Paul, in a real sense, gave up his right to be angry when he was inconvenienced or put upon in order to witness to the purpose who had offended him. Even when people wronged him, he put aside that wrong in order to witness. In Acts 16, scripture tells about an incident when Paul, and his traveling companion Silas, were wrongly imprisoned and beaten for releasing a slave girl from demon possession. In the middle of the night, a great earthquake released them from their chains. Paul, who as a Roman citizen had been imprisoned and beaten illegally, wasn’t concerned about his ability—and right—to confront the guilty jailer, but instead used the opportunity to lead the jailer and his family to the Lord.

Paul used every opportunity to witness. He saw every circumstance in life as that open opportunity and he saw every person as potential believers.

What am I willing to lay aside my rights in order to share the gospel? It is a question I should be asking myself every minute of every day.

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

James 1:17

“Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

I’d like to say that I hate to waste time. I mean, I can sit in meetings and fume at how slow everything goes and what inane questions others ask. I can be just as impatient with Father God Who is—according to my way of thinking—working much too slowly and holding me back from my life’s ambitions.

The fact is, I hate to wait. But, if I am truly honest, it’s more that I want to control my time and my efforts. I want to lallygag and waste time when I want to do it and I want to get moving and get things done on my own terms. What I’m beginning to realize is that God often gives us “down time” as a gift, as a time for us to turn from the busyness of our own lives (and our own agendas) to, instead, focus on Him (which is what we should have been doing in the first place) or to prepare us for the unseen times ahead. In fact, what I see as hindrances to my plans (and to what I think are His plans) may actually be His working in my life to refocus me on His priorities and His will, rather than my own.

I know that God works everything for my good according to His own will and His infinite resources (Romans 8:28). I also know that everything He gives to me is perfect according to His holy character. But in those times when I seem to be thwarted in my own designs, it’s difficult to give up my dreams and plans in order to understand that He is working His will in my life.

In a nutshell, it’s often hard to wait.

Over the past years, American society has seen enormous financial changes. People who were firmly on career tracks are unemployed. Many who were happily settled in their homes are now renting elsewhere. Retirement plans are adrift. There are those who are wondering if God forgot us? Or if this some kind of punishment for social sins? And yet, what if it is neither? What if this seeming upheaval is simply His perfect gift of time and refocus so that we can again look to Him instead of ourselves for our riches? A. W. Tozer wrote: “Earthly riches cannot procure human happiness.” And while all of us would heartily agree, likely many of our errant thoughts run to the idea of somehow getting “just enough” money to live worry-free. A better job. Winning the lottery. Receiving an inheritance. Watching the stock market soar. When, in fact, happiness cannot—cannot—be tied to happiness because happiness only come with shalom—peace with God. And money cannot buy that.

Unfortunately, so much of our contemporary doctrine focuses upon having a “perfect” life here and now: good health, prosperity, the American dream (our own home and a chicken in the pot on Sunday afternoon). And we can become so centered on asking God for these things that we forget our entire purpose in life: to go into the world and preach the gospel. Our job isn’t to provide for us; that’s God’s job. Our job is to tell others of His marvelous grace, mercy, and love. Our job is to warn others of their future while God takes care of our present. The fact is, every encounter that we have in life should have only one purpose: to look for that opportunity to share the gospel. We often pray in church for God to bring in those who would come to hear the message. We’ve got it all backwards. We need to go out and share, invite, love, and witness. If we do that, God will very perfectly take care to give us every gift that we need for everything else.

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.