Death Made Possible

I was awakened by a dream-boy attacking me, trying to kill me with scissors. [I know, gross. Stick with me. There’s a point here.]

Aren’t you glad that’s how it happens (most of the time)? We wake up before the scene gets too bloody, before our free-falling body hits the sidewalk. Before death.

My dream-boy was dreamy until I asked him, “So, what do you think of Jesus?”

That’s when his eyes filled with hatred. That’s when he pulled the scissors out. That’s when I woke up, not afraid (surprisingly)…but, stunned at the vivid picture, which I had the strong impression was spiritual. This seemed to be confirmed when I unintentionally read John 16:2 the next morning— “The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.” I didn’t read any personal prophesy into this, but took it as a reminder that people either love or hate Jesus. And that often means they will either love or hate His followers.

I thought about a passage I recently spent time with, Acts 17:16-34. Paul goes to Athens and talks about God with Jewish people, God-fearing Greeks, and philosophers. Much has been said and can be learned from this passage, but one thing that especially stood out to me was this: The resurrection of Jesus is where the rubber meets the road. My dream-boy was fine until the mention of Jesus. When Paul speaks about the resurrection of Jesus to the people of Athens, some sneer, some seek, and some are saved there and then.

And no wonder! The gospel hinges on the power and authority of God to defeat sin and death as displayed in the resurrection. Paul says that if Christ did not rise from the dead, our preaching is useless (1 Corinthians 15:14).

Every SOUL hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.

When we accept the death of Jesus on our behalf, when we accept that He rose from the grave, and follow Him as Lord, something miraculous happens: WE are raised from the dead.

And something else peculiarly miraculous happens: we’re able to die. We’re invited to die in a way that’s ONLY POSSIBLE through the resurrection of Jesus. We’re invited to allow the Spirit of God to breathe life that puts to death the death in us— to eradicate the brokenness that prevents us from living lives filled with the love and grace of God— our selfishness, our pride, our lust.

For life’s sake!

Wait, wait, wait. So what about my dream-boy-gone-stab-happy? Sometimes the whole “death to self” thing can seem separate from outward suffering for Christ— whether that looks like battling cancer in faithfulness to Christ, waking up extra early in faithfulness to Christ, or persecution and martyrdom in faithfulness to Christ. But the two are closely connected: If we haven’t died to ourselves, we’ll never be able to truly suffer for Christ or with Christ. We’ll suffer the big and small alright, but when we don’t surrender to God in our suffering, we miss out on intimacy with God and honoring Him with our circumstances.

Two days after my dream, I went searching for verses on prayer. I was looking in Acts and my eyes wandered over to the end of John (chapter 21) and Jesus’ conversation with Peter:

Jesus asks, “Do you love me more that these?”  “Do you love me?”  “Do you love me?”

Peter says yes each time.

Jesus responds, “Feed my lambs.” “Take care of my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.”

Then, then Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

The tears came loose while I read. I pictured young Peter, in love with Jesus and also heartbroken about his previous failure, aware of his need and yet being commissioned— I pictured Peter, old, bent over from years of feeding the Flock, being dressed by someone else, being led where he does not want to go…to his own crucifixion.

As I saw him, used by God’s grace, surrendered, glorifying God as he was led to another rugged cross….I heard Jesus’ words: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18).

One whose life ended so like Jesus’, on a cross— the rock the church is built on.

An old man, dressed by others, his arms outreached…the rock.

My heart was breaking in the pain of it and the glory and the reality of what the church is built on— ultimately THE Rock (the crucified and risen Jesus), but also those crucified and risen with Him. Crucifixion is part of the story of each Christ-follower— of every living stone (1 Peter 2:5) that makes up the church.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20a). I wonder if Paul’s heart filled. I wonder if he thought not only about Jesus’ death, but also Peter’s death. I wonder if he thought about the brothers and sisters he ordered to die before he encountered Jesus on the Damascus road or the variety of deaths he might suffer. I wonder if he was overwhelmed by the power of a God who could not only pay for his sins in full, but put to death his flesh and FILL him— a God who could enable him to live and die IN CHRIST.

Paul’s words fill me with wonder at the power of God. They fill me with bravery and confidence. CHRIST lives in me. I’ll proclaim it and proclaim it again with down-to-my-toes gratitude— my flesh is dead and my soul is alive because Jesus lives. I can be led wherever God wants to take me— even to places I do not want to go— because Jesus drank the cup He did not want to drink…and yet drank for the joy set before Him: The wrath of God meant for me.

I can, for the joy set before me, endure the cross because the Son of God defeated death and hell when He rose from the grave. Because He lives, sweet unity awaits me.

Photo by Alem Sánchez from Pexels

Christ’s Advent at Your Christmas Party [and on the last day of your achy body]

We prepare for who is coming.

Many of you, I think, experience this: You set a date for a gathering. You envision friends or family at the table, their smiles. You picture soft lights and imagine breathing in delicious smells— so you make sure your star lights have batteries, make a grocery list, and pick a cookie recipe. You prepare for what you set your mind on.

We prepare for who is coming. And, in the process of preparation there is something of the celebration itself— a foretaste. When I’m excited for an event, I have deep joy and delight in my preparation. I want to invite comfort and joy, I want the people at my table to be filled with love…and maybe experience a taste of Love Himself.

I visualize the goodness and try to prepare so it just might become a reality.

But, I seriously fall short of goodness when I only prepare materially and mentally.

Let’s be realistic…as I prepare, I also taste spiritual germs on my breath and others’ threatening to spread our soul-sicknesses, fractures in hearts, death cycles, my social anxiety creeping up my neck and squeezing.  We can experience a foretaste of anxiety rather than celebration. A foretaste of the broken can steal our preparation for goodness.

So, when I am wise (by the grace of God), I prepare my heart—I beg for my broken heart to be prepared and repaired. I pray for God to shift my focus from the wounds to the Warrior-Healer-Carpenter. For my roof to be patched, my windows to be sealed tight, and my door to be unlocked— for my home and my presence to be a haven from the cold.

I want these precious people I envision sitting at my table to experience a little bit of Emmanuel. And, as my great-grandmother Vivian would say, a little taste of heaven.

We prepare for who is coming because we love them.

Yet, we also are filled with God’s love in the process of preparation— as we ask God to help us prepare out of love for Him, He lavishes us with more love to give. As we confess our brokenness and invite Him to repair our hearts we have peace with Him.

YES, isn’t this one of the greatest treasures?  When we prepare for Christ’s coming at our Christmas party or His guaranteed Second Advent, we experience ever-increasing peace with Him because we experience more and more of Him.

Isn’t that what we really, deeply want as we hang lights and make menus and vacuum under the chair?

Peace with God.

We have peace with God through Jesus— the Holy Spirit is with us through Jesus. God has come, God is here.

BUT, never forget, God is coming.

He is coming to work in your broken heart, at your invitation. He is bringing joy as you sweep. He is washing feet and pouring grace at your Christmas party.

And that is not all!

He is coming on the clouds as King! He is coming to establish a new, unimaginably radiant Earth!

He is coming to be with us in a way we have yet to experience— a way only He can prepare us for.

He fills us and moves in us to prepare for more of HIM. For the true life He intended. And, guess what? In this process of preparation, there is a sweet, sweet foretaste of  His peace and His glory because He Himself is our peace and He is inexpressibly glorious.

How do you prepare room for God to work in you?

What time will you set aside this week to re-focus and re-center on Christ as your motivation?

I invite you to open up a gift I prepared for you! Click here for simple daily scripture readings I put together on preparation:  Advent Week 2 Scripture Readings 

If you would enjoy hearing this content read, click here to listen: https://m.soundcloud.com/doni-owens/christs-advent-at-your-christmas-party-and-the-last-day-of-your-achy-body

Love and peace,

Donielle Hart

Dreams are Tawdry

Elisabeth Elliot’s voice, low and calm, read from a journal entry of her deceased beloved— the statement, bold and heavy with conviction, landed hot on my heart through the car speakers, “Dreams are tawdry compared with the leading of God.”[i]

Not simply, “we must sacrifice our dreams for God’s dreams” or “our dreams must not become idols.” No, no. Jim Elliot, considers (I am quite certain his opinion hasn’t changed since meeting God) human dreams with a flavor of distain. He considers them “tawdry”— gaudy, showy, cheap, low, mean, base, or, as a noun, “cheap, gaudy apparel.”[ii]

Human dreams, I think, can be worn in attempts to show people we are worth something in the world. We are headed toward greatness of some sort— in artistry, finance, even ministry. We are not solely the person standing before them, mortal and unimpressive, we are small gods who can fabricate greatness out of something that is not— the future. Many of us know in our hearts that our dreams are ultimately fiction. They are stories we weave for ourselves that we hope will come true— not only hope, but work toward. At times, it is not a stretch to say, serve.

Numerous qualifying fine lines of motive and heart can be drawn if we are trying to figure out when a dream goes from being moral to immoral— from beneficial and productive for the Kingdom to idolatrous, prideful, and selfish. However, even if a dream or desire is good and submitted to God that does not change what our dreams are in comparison to God’s will: Tawdry.

Jesus tells us our love for Him and desire to serve Him should be so great that, in comparison, our relationship with our family should look like hate.[iii] Paul says, “Those who have wives should live as if they do not.”[iv]  As has been explained by many a pastor and writer, this does not mean we should hate our families or leave our spouses. However, this should not take away from the weight of the call…and, the basis of this call— the great, great worthiness of Christ and His Kingdom.  And how very small our other loves and dreams should be in comparison. Eyes solely fixed on Christ, love for sister and spouse becomes more holy. But, in choosing between the two, the answer is always to be Christ. If it’s not, our love is sullied. The same is true when considering good dreams.

Clothe yourself in a dream of your own invention and it is sewn with all your brokenness.

Clothe yourself in Christ and you are covered in power, righteousness, and light. He will mend the brokenness of your dreams and shape your dreams to His will as you choose Him time and time again.

This is so amazing!

The possibilities we have on our own are limited. Our God does beyond what we could ever imagine— His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.[v] His power so far exceeds our abilities but our dear Lord, He, (great mystery) uses His power through us as we submit. “That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”[vi]  [SAY WHAT?!?]

The will and power of God may seem far from you, but it is not. He is not. He is accomplishing His will through you as you walk in obedience and communion with Him— even when it means putting a dream second. He is accomplishing His will as you respond to the prompting of the Spirit—even when it means putting a dream to death.

The “kingdom of God,” at least in one sense, is not far off: “Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can observed, nor will people say “Here it is” or “There it is” for the kingdom of God is in your midst [or, ‘within you’].”’”[vii]

He is working now and He wants to do His work in and through you.

I trust that His dreams are so much better than any dreams I could write for myself. The future He has for us makes me tear-up in awe— I know He will use me beyond my power and this ASTOUNDS and humbles me.  Such great delight. Such great mercy. His wind blows and whispers and clothes my heart with His. Jim Elliot died by spear trying to connect with the Aucas, a tribe who had never heard of Christ. Elisabeth Elliot forgave, lived with, and ministered to that same tribe for two years. Many were added to the Kingdom.

My dreams are so tawdry compared with the will of God.

 

I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:8-14

• [i] Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot
• [ii] Dictionary.com
• [iii] Luke 14:26
• [iv] 1 Corinthians 7:29
• [v] Isaiah 55:9
• [vi] Ephesians 1:19b-20
• [vii] Luke 17:20-21

Room

When I’m scared of what God has to say, I fill the spaces. Sometimes I fill the spaces with good things— Bible study, recited prayers, exercise, baking.

God can speak to us through Bible study, when our hearts are open. God can transform us through prayer, when our hearts are open. Baking and exercise can be acts of worship. But, God does not enter hearts uninvited, even when mouths are professing His name.

In John chapter 8, we read about a hard conversation Jesus had with some Jewish people (potentially a mixture of Pharisees and laymen). The people he was speaking to likely studied the scriptures, prayed, and followed the Law to varying degrees…however, their core issue was deeper than outward actions. Jesus said to them, “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word” (John 8:37).

Not because they hadn’t studied enough, not because they hadn’t prayed enough, not because they had broken too many laws— no, they wanted to kill Jesus because they did not have room for Him in their hearts, minds, and souls.

There are times I study the Word in the same way some of the Pharisees did— I attempt to leave Him less room instead of more. I don’t want to leave room for His words to echo, I don’t want to leave space for His Spirit to transform and direct me.

I forget that my Savior, in all His goodness and mercy, truly seeks to SAVE ME and that my fear should be a joyful, trembling, awe-inspired fear that draws me nearer to His light. 

When I seek to increase my sense of self-righteousness, I leave no room for HIS righteousness.

When I seek to solely increase my knowledge, I leave no room for His peace that passes understanding.

When I seek to justify my plans and desires, I leave no room for His perfect plans and desires.

And, the opposite is true— when I sit in the presence of God, with my hands and heart wide open to receive Him, He grants me His strength to walk in paths of righteousness, He grants me His indescribable peace, and He corrects my thoughts and makes them obedient to His good, perfect, beautiful will.

Jesus died not to make us good people or solely to save us from Hell, but to be with us and transform us through intimacy with Him!

In the words of Isaac Watts, “Let every heart prepare Him room.” 🙂