November 11

“We must give up all care of our own, by an utter surrender of everything to the Divine Caretaker, and by an implicit trust in him; and then we must just simply let him know our wants and our needs from day to day.  If we do this honestly and persistently, the result will unfailingly be that the peace of God will keep our hearts and minds.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 10/22

It occurred to me this morning that God may WANT me to write children’s stories.  I’ve been feeling frustrated that new stories haven’t been coming to me and that what I have written doesn’t seem that special to me anymore.  Because I’ve focused so much on being published as an indication of whether or not I’m to write, I’ve lost the initial joy I felt when I wrote that first story six years ago. There are many things I could be doing with my time, which I have lots of now that all but one of my children are grown. So, if I could settle whether or not my writing is a legitimate pursuit, I know I would be “freed” to pursue it.  Hannah has reminded me that I must let God know my wants--not because He wouldn’t know otherwise--but because in doing so I will be surrendering them to Him.  Once I’ve placed my desire to write--and even to be published--on His altar, I can trust that whatever happens, happens because He feels it’s what is best.  When I share my stories with others in the class I am taking I can receive whatever criticism they may give because my stories are no longer mine, but God’s.  

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you.  Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.”  1 Peter 5:6, 7

November 10

“Our job is not to transform people into Christians nor to convict them of their sin. It is not our responsibility to make people do what they ought to do.  Our task is to bring them to Jesus, and He will perform His divine work in their lives.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 10/21

Blackaby uses Andrew as an example.  He was always bringing people to Jesus.  Peter, his brother, was the first he brought.      Then it was the little boy with the loaves of bread and fishes.  But we don’t have Jesus in the flesh to bring people to.  When we introduce people to Jesus it often seems more of a concept than a reality.  I think this is why we don’t bother with “bringing people to Jesus”.  This is why we have to come to the realization that we are now “Jesus”.  If we are “born again”, we have the Holy Spirit and it is God’s Spirit within us that people will see--or not see.  Our job, now, is to let God’s light shine from within us.  This is the living Christ that we are to bring people to.  It means I must open my life to others.  This is how I bring people to Jesus today--being an open book.  If I let Christ live in me, people will see Him.  The moment we begin to preach to people who are not seeking is the moment we cause people to turn away.  That is why we must follow the Holy Spirit’s lead because we often do not know who is seeking and who is not.  This is all the work of the Holy Spirit.  Our job is just to bring people to Jesus.

“For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),”  Ephesians 5:8, 9

God is Love

November 9

“....we must never accept any conception of God that is contrary to what we see in Christ.  We must utterly reject any view of God’s character or acts or any statement of His relationships with us, no matter how strongly upheld, that is at variance with what Christ has revealed.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 10/20

Jesus said He was one with the Father and anyone that has seen Him has seen the Father.  I don’t think I’ve fully appreciated this fact.  Jesus was God incarnate--God in the flesh--I know that.  But what I haven’t let sink in is the fact that everything written about Jesus applies to God.  If I find it difficult to have a real relationship with God, I need only think in terms of Jesus.  Perhaps this has been my problem.....I’ve separated Jesus from God to the extent that I’ve made  Jesus merely a link.  I think the theology of the Trinity, in its attempt to explain God, has led me to this separation.  I’ve taken it literally when it was meant to explain.  God came to earth in the form of Jesus so that I could understand Him.  His death on the cross was meant to show me how much He loves me.  It wasn’t literally necessary that He die.  God could have done anything He wanted to do to satisfy His Justice and show His Mercy.  He did it for us because that was the only thing we could understand.  I believe Jesus was explaining this when He said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."  (John 15:13)  Let this settle once and for all any questions you may have about God’s love.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.”  John 14:6

November 8

“In the Gospel of John, Christ takes the name ‘I Am’ as His very own.  This unfinished name of God seems to me like a blank check signed by a rich friend, given to us to be filled in with whatever amount we may desire.  Every attribute of God, every revelation of His character, every proof of His undying love, every declaration of His watchful care, every assertion of His purposes of tender mercy, every manifestation of His loving kindness--all are the filling in of this unfinished ‘I Am'.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 10/17

I think I’d have a hard time accepting a blank check from a friend.  I’d worry I was spending more than they’d intended.  I’d feel much better if they’d fill in the amount.  But I’d probably still feel uncomfortable accepting such a gift unless I felt I could repay them in some way for their generosity.  Is this why we treat God the same way?  Is it so ingrained in us to work for what we get that we feel we need to reciprocate?  When it comes to friends, this is not a bad thing.  No one likes to be taken for granted. But if I take a closer look at what Hannah has said I see that the “things” God wants to give us are not gifts like a friend would give.  God is offering Himself to us.  He is love.  When we accept God’s blank check of Himself we are accepting Love into our lives.  His Love is meant to set us free which in turn allows us to become all that He made us to be.  Being made in His image we are being set free to become all that we already are.  This is the blank check that Hannah speaks of--the continual, never-ending help to become.

“But to all who received him (Christ), who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;” John 1:12 

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