November 7

“Because oppression, or the lack of universal justice, is so insidious, we must labor constantly to bring about our great hope, the commonwealth of God.  We do this not only because oppression limits the ability of the disinherited to use their talents but also because it can easily make them doubt the goodness, if not the very existence of God.  Finally, in due time oppression will almost invariably lead the victims to resort to violence and many of the superficial to blame the victims because they could no longer bear a pain not experienced by their critics....” Dwight Spann Wilson, 1981, Daily Readings from Quaker Writings, 10/16

This is why Christ’s message of freedom is universal and therefore for everyone.  I really don’t understand what the resistance is to receiving this message.  If we strip away all false pretenses we are left with a basic human need to be loved.  If you are being oppressed you are experiencing the antithesis of love.  Love is the ultimate freedom of expression.  To be freed to love and to be loved is what life is suppose to be all about.  Along the way we have to take care of business--like food and shelter--and this is where we get into trouble.  Our ego wants more than its share or wants something someone else has and justice becomes distorted.  We begin to define it by our own desires and not by the common good.  To get what we want we oppress.  This can be done quite subtly within our own families and move outward to friends, places of business, the community, and ultimately between nations.  Christ leveled the playing field, freed us from all that greediness, and elevated us to children belonging to God.

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”  John 8:36

November 6

“God does not tell us we are the workmen, who are to use and manage the instruments, but that we are the instruments to be used and managed by the Divine Master Workman who made us, and who alone, therefore, understands for what work we are best fitted.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 10/15

I’ve been in churches that have put an emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit to the point of giving people tests to help them discover which gifts they have.  While this may be helpful in the secular world, I believe it sends the wrong message to Christians.  It puts us in the position of the workman who uses his talents to serve God when, as Hannah points out, we are the gifts--the instruments.  I’ve never thought of myself as a gift, but that is what I am if I am a pliable instrument in God’s Hand.  As an instrument I am freed from the outcome and instead can enjoy the process.  I believe that if we could get this one thing straight we wouldn’t suffer regrets in our old age.  How often do we look back on our lives and measure its success by results.  Very few of us probably ever live out our dreams to their fullest.  If, however, we lived our lives enjoying each day’s process without regard to it’s outcome, we could look back and feel a satisfaction beyond our dreams.  Dreams are great, but they are overrated.  Real life happens without any planning. Real life is in the details of each day--from sunrise to sunset.  Those are the moments we should be able to look back on and see God’s Hand in our lives.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’”  Matthew 25:21

November 5

“If we walk with [God], in obedience to His Word, He will stand with us and ensure victory over our challenges.  We must face the battle, but God promises us victory if we remain in His will.  However, if we choose to disassociate from God, we surely will be overtaken by difficulties.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 10/14

We have to either be for God or against Him.  We cannot straddle that fence that I spoke of yesterday and still be for God.  Yet we do.  The world looks down on black and white thinking.  It wants to accommodate everyone and their ideas of what is right and wrong.  We say there is a gray area.  As Christians, this is when we start to get in trouble.  This is when we allow wrong doctrine to infiltrate our churches.  However, at the same time those who do think in black and white can often come off as judgmental which obviously is not what God wants His people to be.  Only He is the judge.  That is why we are only to confront others in love.  It was Jesus’ love that enabled Him to take a stand for what was right.  And it is what enables us now to do the same.  By His love we will be able to do and be right without being judgmental.  Others may feel judged, but if God’s love is in our hearts, this will enter into their hearts to heal the wound made by the arrow of Truth.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  Hebrews 4:12

November 4

“Faith in man and faith in God are precisely the same thing in their nature; the difference consists only in the different persons believed in.  Faith in man links us to and makes us one with mere humanity; faith in God links us to and makes us one with divinity.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 10/14

So whom do you trust?  I think we all want to trust in a higher being--at least until we start to feel uncomfortable because we can’t see what’s going on.  That’s when we climb up over the fence that’s blocking our view to take care of things ourselves.  Then when we take matters into our own hands we are trusting ourselves and anyone else we may need along the way to help us take care of the matter.  Meanwhile, we may delude ourselves into thinking we are still trusting God because we continue to pray about it and seek God’s will.  But you say, “Wait a minute here....are you saying I should just sit back and do nothing?!”  No, I’m not.  However, if you take a look at my example you will see where the first mistake is made:  what you do at the first sign of feeling uncomfortable.   Some of us run to the refrigerator to eat.  Some pick up the phone to garner sympathy from a friend or chew someone out.  Or we use our credit cards even though we know we can’t pay it off at the end of the month.  The list is endless.  Every one of those scenarios is a fence that we’re trusting to support us as we climb over feeling uncomfortable.  When will we realize that God puts those fences there so we’ll turn to Him?

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  Proverbs 3: 5. 6  

November 3

“We long for human love to bring us peace.  At times it brings great peace and great joy.  But only the love of God brings peace and joy in all things and under all circumstances.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 10/14

This message is not really taught to children.  We tell them about God’s love, but I suspect we spend more time telling them how to behave according to God’s law.  I know I did not emphasize God’s love to my children.  That’s because I didn’t understand it myself. As a Sunday School teacher I taught about God which invariably addressed this fact--God is love.  We sang the little song “God is so Good”, and I told them stories of how God cared for His people, but I know I never told them that only God can love us the way we need to be loved.  I now finally understand this myself.  In fact, I’ve finally realized that the last bastion is love of oneself.  It’s when you finally realize that you don’t even love yourself as much as God does that you are finally able to rely only on God’s love (1 John 4:19).  If we are honest with ourselves I think we’d all have to admit that we come into this world believing that it’s our right to be loved.  We then set out to get that love in any way we can.  Because we are so greatly influenced by the world we go about it in the wrong way until someone either tells us that only God can love us the way we need to be loved or when we hit rock bottom and have no where to look but up.  Unfortunately, not everyone lands on his or her back.  Those who don’t never do see God.

“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:6, 7

November 2

“Simplicity tells us to ask for no more than we need; stewardship reminds us that we need less if we take care of what we have.  Simplicity insists that we get rid of encumbrances; stewardship helps us decide what are encumbrances and what are not.....If a possession, or a task, is an encumbrance, using it properly rapidly becomes much more trouble than it is worth, and the possession falls into disrepair, or the task remains constantly undone.” Bill Ashworth, Oregon, 1986, Daily Readings from Quaker Writings, 10/11

Simplicity appeals to me, but being a person of many possessions, because I save things that most people get rid of when they buy new things, I’ve believed I could never achieve that lifestyle.  Having this distinction between stewardship and simplicity is helpful because it gives me a ruler by which to measure my possessions. I realize I need to declare a moratorium on acquisition until I’ve organized and repaired what I already have.  Whether it’s never-used clothing, books, and household items or more flowerbeds than I can manage to keep weeded, I need to think in terms of stewardship first. This will help me to see what I can and cannot manage as well as what is important and what is not.  This applies to our relationships as well.  If we have more friends than we need, we will be in danger of neglecting most of them and never quite connect with any of them in a meaningful way.  God has called us to be stewards of the earth and all its provisions.  He has also given us the people that matter in our lives.  Let us not neglect any of God’s gifts.

“Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”  James 1:17

November 1

“Faith is the vital principle of the spiritual life just as truly as breathing is the vital principle of the bodily life.  We can no more live spiritually without faith than we can live our bodily life without breathing.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 10/12

This is so obvious you wonder why we are so adept at forgetting it.  I’ve been a part of several different churches and I can say I often saw this principle violated in its leadership.  Every one of those churches had “faith statements”, but when it came to practicing actual faith--believing without seeing--they often rationalized their actions as “stewardship”.  The times when faith would be exercised, there always seemed to be some vocal person in the congregation that challenged the decision because it wasn’t practical or it was too risky.  In fact, I’m sure this is often the cause of splits in the church--what one group of people calls faith, another calls foolishness.  So, how do we know the difference?  This is why I believe, individually, our personal relationship with God is of the utmost importance before we try to live by faith as a group.  If we aren’t practicing this kind of life in our daily routine, how can we possibly expect to know what God would have the “church” to do?  This is also why it’s important for us to hold each other accountable.  This is the only kind of church that can know it is following God’s will.

“He [a bishop] must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way; for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for God’s church?”  1 Timothy 3:5