To understand Him is to understand hope. To understand His gift of mercy is to understand His gift of grace. To understand our continued state of rescue is to understand our place of refuge.
Abide.
Lately, nothing soothes my heart and mind more than the moments where I find myself sitting still and abiding with my Lord. There, I draw comfort and strength. I focus on Him and who He is as Father, Son, and Spirit. In the place of full abiding is where I can breathe Him in, refreshing and perfectly good.
Abide in His refuge.
Who He is completely captures me. Though I should want to recoil in shame, I am nonetheless drawn into His presence fully aware of the grace and mercy covering me. The very essence of my continued rescue is found in those moments when I rest in Him, and the exceptional standard of hope that is found in Him is given during these moments. Words from the Psalmist come to mind as I recall the image of refuge, a refuge found in those moments of abiding.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Psalm 46:1-3
Abide in His Dwelling Place
The Throne Room of Heaven, the Holy of Holies. It is a place to where I move beyond seeking escape. It is a place where I can come to Him and it is intimate, beautiful, and holy. Holding fast to Jesus, I can enter His presence with reverence and with rest. This combination of feelings produces an attitude which depicts the place of His dwelling. Here grace envelops me all the more, so wherever sin has tempted and tried…sin finds full defeat.
Abide in the Rescuer
Through the God-Son, there is no manner of sin that was not defeated through His perfection, through His death, and through His resurrection. So, in all the ways fleshly desires hound us and in all the way sin’s aroma seeks to draw us in, we can hold fast to the knowledge of a Rescuer who felt the same temptations and conquered them. His accomplishments over–not just the very nature of sin, but as well as its enticing, tempting ways–are a victory we can claim. This continued state of rescue is what heals, strengthens, humbles, and produces an immense sense of awe.
“Therefore, since we have such a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Hebrews 4:14-16
Abide in Jesus
Maybe, like me, you sometimes feel the heaviness of struggle. Perhaps you empathize with Paul when he said, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” There is hope. For the believer, hold firmly to Him. Approach the throne of grace with the confidence you have as one who has been redeemed by, and through, Jesus Christ. He is our help and our refuge in time of need, in time of temptation and struggle. His grace binds us to Him completely. Hold on to that and find rest in Him. While on this side of heaven we are not free from temptation, but we are free from its chains–through Christ alone. Abide in Him, for in Christ our holiness is found.
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I am a recovering Army brat who loves to travel and start new adventures. My handsome husband and I met at Oklahoma Christian University and he whisked me away to Kansas. So, I bought some ruby red high heels and made Topeka my home. I have a rough and rowdy Princess 4-year-old girl, amazing twin boys (almost 3) and a newborn baby girl who all make every day an adventure. We are grateful to be part of an amazing church in Topeka who regularly challenges and encourages our whole family. I have been both a full-time working mom and a stay-at-home-mom and/or both at the same time at one point or another. I am constantly seeking God’s wisdom on “balancing it all” and following His plan for my life, not mine.
Last week my nearly three year old son had a splinter in the bottom of his foot. I told him to wear shoes outside on our wooden playset, but he chose to disobey and took them off before climbing the ladder. Lo and behold, he got a huge splinter. And it hurt him a lot.
My husband was working late that evening so it was just me versus the splinter. BIG SIGH.
I tried a few different tactics with my little boy trying to gain access to the bottom of his foot with my needle-nose tweezers, but he screamed and wiggled before I even touched him. I found myself contemplating sitting on him to keep him still. Seriously.
Finally, I grabbed him up in my arms and held him tight. I told him I needed him to relax and calm down and focus on the movie I turned on so I could help his foot feel so much better. He looked at me with tear-filled eyes and cried, “But mommy, no! I love the splinter.”
Suddenly, it struck me how similarly we act when we have a “splinter”–something harmful we hold on to when God is trying to make us new. But we can’t seem to let it go.
Whether it’s a particular sin we are struggling with, something we aren’t trusting the Lord with in our lives, a pain we are holding on to, or lack of obedience in our lives–how many times have you held on to your “splinter” and said you loved it instead of letting Christ heal your heart?
“How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you.“
It also reminded me of C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce when he describes the man with the Red Lizard. I found a partial transcript in Christianity Today if you want to read a longer segment, but pick up the whole book if you haven’t already. In this story, a man has a lizard on his shoulder which represents sin in his life. It’s a startling allegory about what separates us from God.
A mighty angel approached the man and asked, “Would you like me to make the lizard quiet?”
“Of course I would,” said the Ghost.
“Then I will kill him,” said the Angel, taking a step forward.
“Oh—ah—look out! You’re burning me. Keep away!” said the Ghost, retreating.
“Don’t you want him killed?”
“You didn’t say anything about killing him at first. I hardly meant to bother you with anything so drastic as that.”
“It’s the only way,” said the Angel…. “Shall I kill it?”
“Look! It’s gone to sleep of its own accord. I’m sure it’ll be all right now. Thanks ever so much.”
…
After much discussion and indecision, the man finally allows the Angel to kill the lizard. As the lizard dies, it transforms into a dazzling white stallion.
The man, now free from his torment, climbed upon the stallion that had been his sin and rode into the glowing sunrise toward the Savior.
That is available to all of us. We can be free from our torment. Free from the sin in our lives.
Galatians 5:1 assures us, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” {sin}
Walking around life with “splinters” in our feet is slavery. What pain, what agony, what self-inflicted misery we can wallow in if we don’t seek the forgiveness, restoration, and loving healing of Jesus Christ.
Why is our old nature so hard to let go of sometimes? We think it will hurt, and it might a little…but life will be so much better afterward.
Do you have a “splinter” in your life that you need to surrender to God? Have you experienced the forgiveness and healing of Christ? Did you know that even though it seems incredibly hard to be refined by God through repentance and obedience and trust in the Lord, that He loves you and wants to see you restored, healed, and following Him?
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
A lot of prayer and thought has gone into whether or not to write this post. For you see, I am your acquaintance, your old high school friend, your daughter, your granddaughter, a person you sit next to in worship. I am your Facebook friend. I am typically very transparent in my life but there is an area that I only share with those closet to me. Those free of judgement and “Well, you need to…” statements.
You see, a year ago my daughter, a high school student, through tears of shame and fear told me that she was gay. It was nothing I did not already suspect.
This is a journey that my “tribe” rarely speaks of and in the past has not been a topic tied to love and grace. As the headlines of the supreme court decision began to hit social media, I quickly saw my news feed divide. Mostly, it was profile pictures turning to rainbows or some pretty heartless, condemning, and unkind statements. My heart began to sink as I noticed some of these people were people my daughter looked up to and were even related to.
I wanted to scream of my daughter’s struggle and that these hurtful statements were beyond counter productive. There are a lot of things I do not know about this journey for my daughter. I don’t know what this will look like in her life. I don’t know all the right things to do or say.
BUT what I do know is: I love my daughter. I will walk beside her on this journey and not try to drag her on the journey I think she needs. I will pray over her daily. I DO trust God to work in my daughter’s life and be Lord of her life.
This is my verse for my child.
We know all the scriptures that have been listed. We know all the theologies you could discuss with us. That is not what my daughter needs. She needs to know she is loved.
She needs to know that she is loved by God’s people unlike any other people on earth. I truly believe that God created us to crave community and I have done everything in my power to make it well-know to my children that the church is that community. This week has placed my daughter back into a place of shame and you see, as a mom I do not want to tell her story but I want her to know I am not ashamed of her.
What I wanted my Facebook status to be this week was:
There are young eyes that are watching how “our tribe” will respond to this day. Young eyes that are searching and struggling with their sexuality. They are looking for a safe place. A place filled with love to navigate a difficult journey. We need to remember that they may be reading Facebook today through a frame of insecurity and fear and if they do not find an overwhelming feeling of love, they might just determine not only are they better off turning their back on God and anyone claiming to be “His people” but also maybe this life. Please post wisely and thoughtfully. Do you want to be right or do you want to exude God’s love?
Luke 15:20 says “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him…” Only love brings us back to God’s open arms.
Are you willing to help me love my daughter and anyone else who is struggling, so that they too may feel Christ’s hands & feet at work in their lives?
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