Blog Site Moved

Freedom Walk 2012 has moved to a new blog site. The blog name remains the same; only the site on which it is being published has changed. Thanks for reading!

new site: www.freedomwalk2012.wordpress.com

Blog Site Moved

Freedom Walk 2012 has moved to a new blog site. The blog name remains the same; only the site on which it is being published has changed. Thanks for reading!

new site: www.freedomwalk2012.wordpress.com

Second Month, Thirty-sixth Step

I have moved the blog posts for Freedom Walk 2012 to a new blog site. The blog name is the same, only the publishing site has changed.

Please follow this link to the new site: www.freedomwalk2012.wordpress.com

Second Month, Thirty-fifth Step

I am furious and roiling with indignation—not at a particular person, but with a strategy the devil uses—man’s unsanctified heart—to destroy seeds of faith and cause people to sever their relationship with God. My heart breaks for those who have turned away from God because of man's misrepresentation of His person, character, and desires. Whether done intentionally or out of ignorance, the damage occurs--sometimes irreparably. For a number of years, I was rife for the picking off to become a casualty of such misrepresentation; sadly, my experience occurred within the church. Even as believers, the possibility exists for us to be more a witness against the true meaning of the gospel than for it: to love conditionally, rather than unconditionally; to elevate rules and rights above relationship; to favor wearing the judge’s robe we feel we’ve earned over the Lord’s robe of righteousness given to us by grace.

The apostle Paul has strong words for those who distort the gospel and pervert truth. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Gal. 1:8) Paul immediately repeats this a second time. Later in the book, Paul laments, “I could wish that those who trouble you (put men back under the law, reject grace) would even cut themselves off.” (Gal. 5:12)  In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he asserts, “Charge some that they teach no other doctrine…rather than that which is for godly edification in faith…for some desire to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.” (1 Tim. 1: 3-7) These are but a few of Paul’s exhortations to stand fast in the liberty—truth—by which Christ has made us free, and not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage (Gal. 5:1). “Therefore if you died with Christ, from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations…”(Col. 2:20)  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph. 2:8)

A conversation I had this morning compelled me to redirect the focus for today’s blog. I have such a strong passion for the love and person of God to be revealed in truth to those who are struggling to find meaning and hope in life. It’s a mad world in which we live—mad crazy and mad angry. There is a frantic, if not desperate, search going on all over the world for peace and contentment. Some focus on the riches to be mined from the secular world, others on the treasures that lie within the religious world. However, life is not found in wealth of any kind, regardless of its source, but in relationship. Sharing life and living loved--in relationship with the Lord and each other—forms the circle which circumscribes fullness of life, including acceptance and belonging man inherently desires. Relationship is a circle of love, not a hierarchy of command: a circle in which to discover our worth, not an arena in which to prove it; a field in which to grow and flourish, not a field strewn with mines, threatening incapacitation or destruction. Life is not about getting it right or doing it right, but about being in right relationship with our Creator and Heavenly Father, content in His presence, with peace of mind and heart as we entrust ourselves, and all that concerns us, to Him.

Thank God for His grace from beginning to end. Thank God for His sword of truth that lays open the lie and slays the enemy. Thank God for His gift of faith that keeps us safe and persevering until the end. Thank God above all for His redeeming love that covers all our sin and restores us to perfect, unbroken fellowship with Him, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Second Month, Thirty-fourth Step

Today is one of those days when my thought process seems stalled in neutral as to traveling in one direction or another. At the moment, I have a handful of loose threads and a head full of indecision, as I sit here with fingers (of my thread-free hand) poised above the keyboard, waiting for the urge to move forward on a chosen topic. In life, as is the case with writing, sometimes the adventure is not having an adventure. How do I do—or write about—the ordinary or mundane, gracefully?

Of one thing I am certain: “gracefully” is not an adverb I would attach to the way in which I “do” anything. I m referring to the “effortless beauty of movement” part of the definition: beauty--once in a while; effortless—never. In spiritual terms, if “grace” or “gracefulness” is an excellence of power granted by God, I also miss the mark by a wide margin. It is not that God is short of excellence, or the power and authority to grant it; it is the fact that I have a very poor reception record. I am usually so busy tending to my own agenda, schedule, and plans that I am not of the mind to look or wait to receive outside resourcing.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.” Unfortunately, we apply this maxim to the whole of life with one broad brushstroke. As concerns man, this is generally sage counsel; as concerns God, it is blatantly untrue, detrimental to our relationship with Him, and a stumbling block in our walk of faith. Grace is a too-good-to-be-true gift, from a too-good-to-be-true God—which isn’t; both God and His gift are far better than they sound or we can imagine. To believe this as fact is a real act of faith.

“You get what you work for—so work hard” is one twist on the Protestant work ethic. I rather enjoy hard work and I work hard. However, as concerns grace, I’m not sure that either hard work or working hard is the issue, but rather one’s heart motivation and focus.

Work is tangible, performance is measurable, results are assessable, and control appears viable. When God is kept out of the equation, man works and takes the credit. When God is recognized as part of the equation, man works and gives God credit, with or without a genuine understanding of the role and operation of grace. It is hard for me to trust God with the whole enchilada, so to speak, when it comes to the work and tasks of everyday living. My dependence on God vacillates wildly. When I am totally overwhelmed and ready to throw in the towel, I see trusting God as my sole option. When I am only partially challenged or stymied, I see trusting God alone as the spiritually correct option; however, in the practical outworking of affairs, I do as I am able, consigning God to the role of safety net and back-up.

For me, living with gracefulness is not easy. The effortlessness of grace depends on my surrendering my effort to God—and I have a strong attachment to “my effort.” Working gracefully is tantamount to trusting God with the responsibility for working—and interference is my specialty. Graceful living is living at rest, in peace, by faith in the finished work of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to accomplish His purposes, for His name’s sake and glory—impossible for me, but possible with God. What can I do? Only believe…

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:29

Second Month, Thirty-third Step

Today is a special day as is every February 2^nd. Twenty one years ago, as Punxsutawney Phil was looking for his shadow, in the same quarter hour of the morning, at 7:22, my first son was born. In that year, I doubt my interest in the famous groundhog’s prediction was foremost in mind. If anything, my concerns probably lay more in preparing for adding Child #5 to my brood than with the possibility of having to deal with six more weeks of winter. A slight extension in one winter season was hardly worth a passing thought compared to the decades of child-rearing stretching far into my future,

With my children grown, having time to think about shadows is a luxury I can now afford. Instead of waking up in the morning only to have my feet hit the floor running, I can take my time, building momentum at a leisurely pace. Who would have thought that lounging in bed, staring across the room at a vase of peacock feathers, could be so pleasurable? I kid you not! I love the brilliancy of color in peacock feathers; an arrangement of several in a vase on my desk is but a taste of the beauty I enjoy when an array of feathers is displayed by a peacock itself.

The other morning, in the dimness of the dawn light, my eyes were drawn past the peacock feathers to the large shadows cast on the wall behind them. The contrast between the feathers and their shadows was thought-provoking. The two were similar in shape, but in size and color they were as dissimilar as night and day. One was vibrant and full of detail, the other was monochrome and vague. I had before me a perfect spiritual reflection of the contrast between truth and lie.

The enemy is a master of illusion. He cannot genuinely replicate the truth, but he can produce a convincing counterfeit. Truth has substance and qualities that the lie only appears to possess. Illusion is key to the power of deception. One of Satan’s primary strategies is to present the lie as larger and more substantive than the truth. If he can get us to believe something is real, it might as well be--for the effect it has on us: intimidation, fear, discouragement, retreat, despair and host of other life-sapping, life-robbing results.

Truth is real, endures, and remains unchanged; the lie exists, but is not true and has only the staying power people give to it. Trouble can look larger, appear stronger, and exert great pressure on us, but it is not bigger or mightier than God, or us in Christ. Finding and keeping a hold on truth is not easy in the face of opposition forces, but truth does not move, hide, or fade. Light dispels darkness; truth exposes the lie for what it is—a mere shadow with no true ability to overcome or defeat us. Belief in the truth deflates and dissipates the lie and its effect; belief in the lie inflates its efficacy, but has no power to affect truth's ability to conquer.

Perception and choice critically affect our quality of life every day. God has made life vibrant, with evidence of His goodness all around us. God tells us we can expect trouble, but we can face it with an expectancy of guaranteed victory--already procured. The only variable is our acceptance of it. We can choose to live in the light of victory or in the shadow of defeat; to focus on the peacock feather or its shadow. If I can take one in hand, I think I prefer the feel of the former over the latter!

1 John 4:4 “This is the victory that has overcome the world—your faith.”

Second Month, Thirty-second Step

The new year is underway, and with it, thoughts of another cycle of seasons--some elements of which will be familiar, some challenging, some different. If the speed with which January has come and gone is any indication of what to expect in the coming months, I’d better put on my running shoes and start hoping I can keep up. More of the winter season is behind us than ahead, which is good news—despite the groundhog’s prediction come tomorrow. In day-count, February gets short shrift, the occasional leap year not withstanding.  Two family birthdays and two holidays tend to make a short month even shorter, which is fine with me.     

God created man to fellowship with Him. To live, enjoying relationship with God, was the purposed beginning, middle, and end of man’s being. Our one response-ability was to participate in the God-man exchange of love. In the beginning was God and God created man with an ability to respond to Him and His creation with expectation--an expectancy--full of life and possibility. Life was as good and glorious as God intended. Then sin entered and everything changed. What was once alive and vibrant—man, along with his ability to respond and his expectation of life—died. Law-- rules of responsibility and expectations-- became the laws of life.

Who delivers us from this rule and reign of death? Deliverance only comes one way: God, in His mercy and grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, restores us to eternal fellowship with the Trinity. God does not give us a list of responsibilities—tasks to perform—to earn our way back into His good graces. He does not enumerate a set of expectations to control our behavior or elicit our compliance to His commands. What does He require of us? He simply desires us to take Him at His word—that there is nothing we must do, because there is nothing we can do, except believe and receive His love. Everyday He sets before us the choice of life and death; life by faith and dependence on Him, or death by unbelief and independence from Him. We can walk in freedom—God Himself, in Christ, our ability to respond to life, or walk yoked to performance, dependent on our own ability to respond and meet expectations.

Another epiphany from The Shack: “Those who are afraid of freedom are those who cannot trust God to live in them. To the degree we resort to expectations and responsibilities…to that degree, we neither know God nor trust Him.” I think there is more work to be done in me in this area—just a little!

He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6