Sacrifice

          Memorial Day is bittersweet.  It makes you grieve for the individuals who gave their lives for our freedoms and for their loved ones left behind, but it also stirs up feelings of determination and purpose.  The verse “greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” has somewhat set the example of service for our country.  Men and women are laying their lives down everyday across the world to protect ours and provide us with freedom.  As we remember these individuals, we also need to remember the One who laid His life down for all humanity.

        He didn’t die on that cross for it to be in vain.  The after-effects can still be felt.  We have freedom because of His sacrifice:  we can choose to worship how we want, we can freely read and carry our Bibles, we can attend church without being afraid.  We also have life because of His sacrifice:  the life we have through Him isn’t just here, but it’s for eternity.

        It’s easy to “forget” things…it just happens, it’s natural.  But “remembering” something is a conscious decision that we make.  We, as Christians, need to consciously decide to remember every day, that we are in a battle.  The battle we face is good versus evil.  We need to demonstrate our loyalty, our faithfulness, and our obedience to our Commander.  There are people who are enslaved by sin and to be victorious in this battle means that we have won a soul for the Lord.

        I’ve never felt the call to enlist myself for my country and I truly appreciate the ones who do feel it and heed to that call.  But I felt the enlistment call for His service a long time ago and I am trying my best to suit up every day for that battle.

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Ephesians 6:11-17  KJV

 

I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America.  And to the republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands.  One brotherhood, uniting all Christians, in service and in love.

“The Mountain vs. The Valley”

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.”

Psalm 121:1 KJV

            I have always liked this verse and have proven it to be true time and time again.  When you think about it, if you are looking up to the hills, you are lower than the hills, or in a valley.  Isn’t that so true?  When we go through a valley or just feel overwhelmed by life or situations, we tend to look a little higher…up toward our help, because we know where it comes from. 

I thought about this verse a little different though.  The battle of “Mountain vs. Valley” has been a common theme for a long time, usually with the mountain coming out with the win.  People associate the mountain with victory or peace and rest.  However, when you think about mountains, they are steep, rocky, and difficult to climb.  The journey to the top is winding and sometimes dangerous.  It is the mountain that causes shadow on the valley. 

Then, there is the valley…associated with hard times, disappointments, dark days, etc.  I’m not saying that’s not true, but what if we think about it in a different light.  The valley is where you see beautiful rivers flowing and lush grass.  The valley isn’t necessarily the difficult part of life, it’s the commonplace.  It’s the ordinary everyday things and situations.  It’s what we are used to.  The difficult part of life isn’t the valley; the difficult part is the climb up the mountain.  The climb gets hard.  There are obstacles to face, split second decisions to be made, and we have to hold on pretty tight.  We’re so comfortable with life at the bottom that when God gears us up for a climb, it’s a daunting task.  He removes us from what we know and places us in different situations, which are out of our comfort zone.  He wants us to navigate the obstacles, obey Him and get a little higher, a little closer to Him. 

Anyone who has ever been on a climb up anything knows that when you are in the midst of it, you always look ahead, up.  If you look back, you might get scared or discouraged with your progress.  The Bible urges us to look up when we are on our climb.  There are different, new, and sometimes better things waiting on us at the top.  It isn’t until we reach the top that we look out and see where we were that makes us realize how far we came, simply by fixing our eyes “up”.  So enjoy life in the valley.  Enjoy the beauty of your days there and remember it’s not always a battle down there.  But when the Lord asks you to climb, keep your eyes on Him…it will be rough, rocky, and sometimes you might want to give up, but don’t.  The view from the top will be worth it!  So in my opinion, the battle of “Mountain vs. Valley” is a hands down tie, every time!

“As Long as I’m Living, My Baby You’ll Be”

    In honor of Mother’s Day, I read the children’s book Love You Forever to my class.  There's a repeating phrase in the story that goes, "I'll love you forever.  I'll like you for always.  As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."  As I was reading it to my students, I began to think of mothers in the Bible and my mind drifted to Rizpah.  You probably won’t find her name on the list of the top women of the Bible.  You may never have even heard of her or simply forgotten her, but her story is one that depicts the definition of a mother’s love and perfectly illustrates a mother’s heart. 

    Rizpah was a concubine of Saul.  She wasn’t his wife; she had no royal identity.  She was simple a concubine and a mother to two of Saul’s sons.  Saul had broken his covenant and the Gibeonites requested that 7 sons of Saul were to be hung; 2 of those sons being Rizpah’s.  The men were hung and without another thought, life went on for those people…all except Rizpah.  There was not going to be any burial and she was not allowed to take their bodies, so she did the only thing she knew to do: set up a vigil by their bodies. 

The Bible tells us that she stayed there, having no protection from weather or animals or robbers, doing everything in her power to keep her sons bodies safe.  I can picture her scattering birds away that came to peck at her sons’ flesh.  Or scaring away the hungry animals preying on her babies.   Not a picture of a demented maniac, but rather a devoted mother.  She thought more of her sons’ lifeless bodies than she did for her own.  She stayed there until she eventually died.  Word got back to David and when he heard of her sacrifice, he took the bones of Rizpah’s sons and gave them a proper burial.

    Rizpah demonstrated a love that only a mother could have.  She wouldn’t leave her children alone to be harmed, even though they weren’t even alive.  She was willing to sacrifice her own life, to protect their remains.  She still loved the two bodies that were left hanging as a symbol of condemnation.  She made her home there, right by their lifeless sides. 

I’m sure that just like in the children’s book I mentioned before, Rizpah whispered to her sons, day in and day out, “I’ll love you forever.  I’ll like you for always.  As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.”  That was Rizpah’s goal:  to love, protect, and honor her children as long as she was living and she did just that. 

If you’ve never read that little children’s book or the story of Rizpah, I encourage you to do so…they will touch your heart.  Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there and I pray that every mother finds the heart and determination that Rizpah had, to love her babies.   

“ Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies, she did not let the birds touch them by day or the wild animals by night.”

 2 Samuel 21:10 NIV

Just Pile Up the Yucky Stuff!

        I decided one night that I was going to have a delicious dinner waiting on John when he got off work and came to my house.  I worked and worked and it was smelling pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I was pretty confident that everything was going to be great!  That was about the end of my confidence and excitement…because he took the first bite. 

I could tell out of the corner of my eye that something wasn’t right, so I looked at him and he was pulling a little bone out of his mouth and making an awful face.  I said (or maybe shouted) “Where did that come from???”  (I fixed chicken breast, which last time I checked, had no bones, lol)  He was obviously grossed out by it, and so was I, so we decided that we’d just eat the other stuff.  Well, the potatoes were not done and the rice tasted funny.  Determined not to hurt my feelings, he kept eating while I decided I was not eating another bite…I was discouraged and to be honest, still a little grossed out by the chicken, lol.  I gathered everything up and dumped it into one big, yucky, bitter pile and said I was throwing it out.  I made the comment “what a waste of time”.

I thought about that later and the thought dawned on me that sin is like that.  We think it’s going to be great, but in the end it leaves a bad taste.  It doesn’t sit well in our hearts.  But then the Lord comes along and wants to clean us up.  He doesn’t make us go through our sin one by one by one…He allows us, and wants us, to just dump them into one big pile and get rid of them!  He doesn’t care that the pile may be big and stinky.  He just wants us to give it to Him…He’ll sort it out, forgive us, and then throw it away. 

John and I ended up getting a pizza and I told him that Giovanni’s never gets it wrong.  What a waste of time when we are in sin, because there’s One who NEVER gets it wrong.  And the One is just waiting on you to decide you’ve had enough of the yucky stuff and just taste of Him…just like Giovanni’s, He’s tried and true and you’ll go away full and satisfied!    

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9 KJV