To a Granddaughter

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Col. 3:16)

         My husband and I were blessed this month to have our granddaughter, Kassie Jo, with us for three weeks. During that time, she sang nonstop, with or without her beloved guitar, from the shower to the impromptu stage of our living room to my chair at the computer, where she recorded a song to put on Facebook. While I was driving her to the airport on her last day with us, I shared some thoughts from this verse with her. I thought perhaps I would elaborate somewhat and share them with you, as well, because no matter how public or nonpublic our singing may be, we’re all commanded over and over in the Word of God to “sing unto the Lord.”

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…”

         I love how God, through Paul, uses the adverb “richly” to intensify the verb “dwell” to show us just how much a part of us the Word of God should be. We used to hear how important it was to memorize portions of the Bible, though you don’t hear it preached much anymore, perhaps because the new translations sound less memorable. J But in the margin of my Bible, next to Psl. 119:11, you’ll still find these words: “The best Book in the best place for the best purpose.”

Still, it’s possible to have the words in your head but not your heart. More important than even memorization is internalization. And when we add the word “richly,” the internalization becomes more like saturation. The Word of God should be such a part of our lives that it shapes our very thinking and decision-making. We often say, “I’ll talk to God about doing such-and-such,” when many times, He has already made judgment on it. We simply have to read and do it. Some things are not mentioned by name in the Bible, but you can mark it down, the overriding principle to use for finding an exact answer will be there every time.

         Solomon tells us that wisdom comes from “the mouth of God” (Prov. 2:6); therefore, says Paul, we have wisdom in direct proportion to how full of the Bible we are. If our reading and absorbing of the Word is puny, so will our lives be. But if we “over-indulge,” to the point of saturation, we’ll discover one day that we’ve begun to think God’s thoughts behind Him and experience the joy of truly knowing God. Now if that possibility doesn’t get your engine going, your battery’s dead!

         And so, my dear Kassie, Soak in the Scriptures!

Fifty Shades of Black

“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints.” (Eph. 5:3)

         In the spirit of Titus 2:3-5, which I consider to be my (primary) biblical mandate for writing these devotional/exhortational pieces for women, I feel a need to comment briefly on something I read online at Foxnews.com on September 15, 2012.

“Porn is becoming a new ideal and value for young girls. And women are responsible. Women are consuming and endorsing porn such as ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ — a book recognized as ‘mommy porn.’ Poorly written, it is not a how-to-manual and it’s not poetic erotica. Pulp/romance novels transformed into a new genre embracing porn as literature—explicitly sexual scenes…More than 20 million copies have sold in the US (40 million worldwide), and it is yet another example of the way porn is becoming more than socially acceptable amongst women. Moreover, it is becoming an aspirational [sought after] target for women.”

         First, let me say that as a woman and a reader, I consider any kind of reading like this to be both morally depraved and intellectually infantile. And I assure you, I only know what has been said about this book and others like it.

         Second, lest you think I’m addressing a subject completely foreign to my readers, I’ll tell you that I hardly know anyone who is not aware of this book, and as a volunteer librarian, I know that our public libraries are full of such trash. And it is regularly consumed…mostly by women.

         Third, I am not naïve enough to think that married women, even Christian ones, are not tempted to add a little “spice” to their marriage by substituting demeaning “role-playing” practices in place of loving passion. And I would remind us that none of these meet Paul’s admonition that we “each esteem other better than themselves” (Philip. 2:3).

         I once made the observation that initially, foolish women who had no real sense of who they are, insisted, “We’re as good as men!” Now it seems they want to be able to say, “We’re as bad.” But, surely, you and I are not fooled by such immaturity and immorality. God still holds purity at high premium, and Philippians 4:8 is still in the Bible:

“Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true…honest…just…pure…lovely…of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think [and read!] on these things.”

                  

What You See is...

“…man looketh on the outward appearance…” (1 Sam. 16:7b)

         All of you can finish the title, and most of you could finish the scripture. “What you see is what you get,” is a familiar saying today; and the verse in 1 Samuel declares that although man looks on the outward appearance, “God looketh on the heart.” I have two things to say about these. 1) What you see is hardly ever what you get; and 2) although our first inclination will always be to judge by appearance because we’re unable to see the heart, that doesn’t mean we should trust our first impressions. Case in point:

         How does this sound for a first impression: “A choice young man, and a goodly…not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward…higher than any of the people” (1 Sam. 9:2). Pretty impressive, wouldn’t you say? Yet, when the chips were down and they needed someone to fight God’s enemy, King Saul cowered in a tent, while a young kid, far less impressive than he, defeated the giant and won the day with unconventional weapons and a burning desire to do something for God.

         Let’s face it, you and I would have chosen Saul, the giant of a man on the outside over little David with his sling, a giant of a man on the inside. There are some Christians who come off as spiritual giants at first glance because of their exclusive “holier than thou” demeanor (Isa. 65:5), or their string of pious platitudes; while, on the other hand, there are saints of God who carry a depth of soul and holy purpose, undreamed of by the casual observer, within what you and I would call unlikely bodies of clay. If this is true, you and I must have spiritual discernment enough to know the difference.

         “But we can’t see the heart,” you say. No, but we can judge our own, and we can determine to let (only) the Word of God and the Spirit of God within us make the final judgment as to the authenticity of those we meet. I don’t know about you, but I’d hate to miss a young David while fawning over a Saul.

As I say, what you see is hardly ever what you get. Sometimes it’s much more; and sometimes, it’s far less. 

A Healthy Fear

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…” Psl. 111: 10

         Wisdom begins with fear. Not love, communication, or even respect, but fear. When I say fear, I’m not speaking of the fear of bodily harm, although we all know, and the Bible teaches, the temporary “discomfort” of measured corporal punishment as a child has saved many young adults from bad decisions and foolish actions in later life (Prov. 22:15).

         What I am talking about is the fear of offending a father who loves us enough to set boundaries of protection and provide godly instruction for a life of joy and purpose, and who warns of inevitable consequences of disregarding both.

          In this verse, we’re told that this kind of fear is the only starting place for finding true wisdom in this life. If you don’t start here, you’ll never get there. You may find ways to get by, but not to do well, spiritually speaking and otherwise. Without God, life is a gamble, with no meaning or purpose, because there is no fear of consequence. Do your own thing, follow your heart, and hope for the best in the end; when God has said, “But now being made free from sin, and become servants of God, ye have your fruit in holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Rom. 6:22). Fear God enough to believe what He has said about salvation through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, fear Him enough to follow the precepts in His holy Word, and God has promised, not only will we be wise here, but wise forever.

         So now, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13). It’s as simple as that.

         The healthiest fear of all is the fear of God.