Ouch! That hurt!

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spiritsand live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:7-11

Watching "The Bible" mini series on TV the past month or so showed the disciples being persecuted in many ways.  Our youngest son, Tyler, was especially interested in the stoning of Stephen.  "Why was he stoned?", he asked.  "Why did they show his eyes shining?"

Stephen was stoned for his message - a message that began with Abraham and went all the way through to the crucifixion of Jesus. Stephen said:

You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵² Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.” Acts 7:51-53

The members of the Sanhedrin had heard enough.  They were furious at Stephen and began to stone him.  In my opinion, "The Bible" didn't show Stephen's face "shining", but they did make his eyes appear to be shining - that is what Tyler noticed.  The Bible says that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit.  He saw heaven.  He saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  

Stephen died that day - persecuted for telling the people about Jesus - the truth about Jesus.  He pointed out their sin and they didn't like it.

Have you ever been persecuted for being a Christian?  When you read the top scripture, you will see that it says we should endure hardship.  It goes so far to say that if we do not endure hardship, we are not legitimate - not true sons and daughters of God.  Perhaps if we are not enduring hardship, we are not making a bold enough stand for Christ!  Maybe we're staying silent too often.  Maybe we're just going along with the crowd....or the world.  

Suffering, it says, produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. I want righteousness and peace, don't you?  Does it seem strange that the Bible says that suffering produces those things?  It's not really the way we like to think about becoming righteous and having peace, but it is part of God's plan...so we must have faith in those words.

What are you standing up for today?  In what ways can you be bold for Christ?  Allow God to discipline you as His child.  Allow Him to work in your life - to produce righteousness and peace.

Where Was God?

My heart aches for those in Connecticut who loved ones.  My thoughts and prayers are joined by millions of others all across our nation, as well as those from all over the world.

One thing has saddened me during these past few days.  That is that Christians have tried to minimize God.  Many say He isn't there.  Or isn't here.  Many say that the absence of visual things with spiritual meaning get rid of God.  They don't.  They can't.  Yes, Christianity is being attacked.  Jesus said we would be persecuted.  But why do we believe that God will go away?  Why do we believe that any person has power over God?  As one friend stated last night, "I bet the sovereign Lord would be quite amused to hear He'd been 'taken out' of anything."  I'm pretty sure He knows, but I'm pretty sure He isn't amused.....just sad.  His people are saying that He isn't who He says He is - and many of them are sharing that idea with a hurting world - a world who needs Him and needs to know He is there for them and loves them - in good times and in bad times.

Think about it.

Last night I was discussing this whole, "Where Was God?" thing with my husband.  Here's his response I posted on Facebook, with a few of my thoughts added at the end:

My husband and I were discussing the shooting in CT yesterday and I was telling him of how some believe and say that God wasn't there. He gave a good illustration and thought about the question some ask, "Where was God?". "The answer? He was at the same place he was when His Only Son died on the cross. Right there. He is and will always be "right there". It may not make sense to us. It may not seem right to us. Satan is called the "prince" of the world. The world isn't perfect - never has been and never will be. Heaven is perfect. That's the home we should long for - and not a perfect earth." Satan is the cause of all evil. God wants us to believe and have faith in Him in the good times and the bad times. We must fight against Satan with the "full armor", but realize God isn't ever leaving our side. It's not the absence of God, but the presence of Satan that produces evil. 

Christians, we MUST believe that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. If we don't believe it, how can we share it?

Righteous are you, O Lord,

The statutes you have laid down are righteous;

they are fully trustworthy,

and your laws are right.

My zeal wears me out,

for my enemies ignore your words.

Your promises have been thoroughly tested,

and your servant loves them.

Though I am lowly and despised, 

 I do not forget your precepts.

Your righteousness is everlasting  

and your law is true.

Trouble and distress have come upon me,

but your commands are my delight.

Your statutes are forever right;

give me understanding that I may live.

Psalm 119:137-144

The Chronicles of Biscuit - "Stop Persecuting Me!"

The Chronicles of Biscuit:  Stories about our youngest son, Tyler, whose nickname is Biscuit.

Biscuit's having some trouble this summer and it always has to do with cleaning.  When I asked him to go clean up his room in early June, he replied, "But, Mom, I'm experiencing something!"  I replied, "Go experience cleaning your room!"  Then he said, "Good one, Mom!" and went to his room to clean!

Then last week when I told him to go clean his room he replied, "I'm spending some quality time in the chair."  He laughed afterward, but I quickly let him know he'd better get up.....which he did.  As he went I popped him on the bottom with the ping pong paddle (which makes a GREAT paddle, by the way!) and he said, "Mom, why are you persecuting me?"  Now he'd gone overboard, for sure!  He got a stern lecture about the difference in discipline and persecution and a lesson about talking back, too.  (Even though I laugh about it inside, obviously I can't laugh out loud.....it would destroy the discpline/lesson.  I write these things down so that he'll know some day just what kind of little boys he was!  He'll also most likely have a little one just like him some day, so he can read about how we handled his "chronicles"!)

Times of instruction, like explaining the word "persecution" to a child, gives me time to think about how I live my life for God.  While I'm most likely not going to be physically persecuted like the early Christians were, I should be persecuted in some way because of the life I live for God.  A preacher and friend has always said if we're not being persecuted, maybe we're not standing up for what is right.....maybe we're blending in with the world instead of standing out.

What do you think?  Do you believe that?

I know my children have been persecuted, and I was occasionally as a teenager who chose not to drink alcohol when most everyone - if not everyone - did.  In fact, I recall someone even throwing some at me and getting it on my clothes....just to make me smell like it.  Even though not everyone was drinking that night or I wouldn't have been there, this guy knew that I never did and he didn't like it. When I got home, I told my mom about it so she would know what happened if she happened to notice a smell.  No one ever did that to me again, but I made sure to stay away from any places it was present from then on.

My children have been persecuted by standing up against foul language used by peers or shown at school in certain classes.  Sadly they've been standing up alone, too.  Being made fun of as a teen or child is sometimes really hard.  Some times it's so hard teens/children just decide it's not worth it and give in to peer pressure.

It takes courage to stand up for what is right.  I pray that all of God's children will have the courage to stand up to things that aren't right.  In fact, I believe that a lot of what is wrong in our country right now is that God's children have failed to stand up for things.  It's sad.

Of course, we have to be careful how we stand up.  We have to make sure we're doing what we do with the right attitude and in love.  We have to choose our words, actions, and tone wisely.  We have to make sure that we're not doing it with a "holier than thou" attitude, as well.  We must remain Christ-like in our standing up.

Persecution, like trials, make us stronger, so scripture tells us:

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My graceis sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

When we are weak in ourselves, we are strong in the Lord.  That gives us the confidence and the strength to stand up to anything the world might throw at us!

Biscuit got his room cleaned up and has several times since then......and will tomorrow.  I suspect he won't be talking back or accusing me of persecuting him any more.  He'll just get busy working on his room without delay.....or that's what I'm expecting to happen.  We'll see.  I'll keep the ping pong paddle handy, just in case :).

Be Peculiar - Really!

Did you hear about the lady that was addicted to eating the foam out of couches recently?  It's a strange sickness - one we might say is odd or peculiar. Words such as peculiar make us think of odd, strange, even weird - yet the Bible describes Christians as a peculiar people (in the King James Version (KJV), anyway.  Other versions have "special" and other words.).  The Bible meaning isn't the meaning we think of nowadays as a definition for peculiar.

 In three different passages (Deuteronomy 14:2; Titus 2:14; and 1 Peter 2:9 - all KJV), God identifies His own people as a “peculiar people".  The world may call Christians "peculiar" and mean it in a negative connotation, but what did God mean by it? Literally, in those three passages, the word means, “that which is one’s own, belonging to one’s possessions; a people selected by God from the other nations for His own possession”.

If we are truly a child of God, then we have been chosen (adopted) out of the world (those who are not a true child of God) into His family, and we are His possession. We have been redeemed (bought back) by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Our adoption is free to us, but not to Him. He therefore has every right to expect us to obey His will. His Word is clear on how He wants us to live.  We get all mixed up.  We get opinions and feelings mixed with truth and fact.  God's Word straightens that all out for us - if we'll allow it to.

One of the hardest things to do as a Christian is to stand up for what's right (by God's standards - not our opinions), and to defend Christ, His church, and the gospel that leads to salvation.  When we choose to serve Him in that way - with that conviction - we may be called names.  We may be made fun of.  We may be hurt physically, mentally, or emotionally.  But, in everything, our faithfulness and commitment to God will show when we choose to be different....even peculiar. 

Persecution comes in many ways, and when we are persecuted for Him, we must believe that it is He who is being glorified.  It's not about being proud in what we are doing, but a pride in whose we are - in our belongingness and about being His chosen people.  In doing so, through our example and our walk, we will be living out that description in a way that shows others Jesus Christ - the Jesus that died for them and wants to be their Savior, too.

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

John 15:17-19 (NIV)

The world did and still does hate Jesus and what He has done. The world hates God's plan.  The world wants to "do their own thing".  Satan would love it if all would denounce Jesus and serve him.  His goal is to trip us up and draw us away from God.  He delights in our persecution because he thinks we'll fail.

Being persecuted means we may be hated, too.  That's tough talk, isn't it?  Kind of scary?  I, myself, might be able to handle the persecution, but the thought of my family being persecuted makes me feel like a big mamma bear protecting her little bear cubs!  (My kiddos like it when I tell them that! They think it's funny....that I'm joking.....but I'm not.).  It's tough!  But, the road Jesus went down and the cross He died on was even tougher, and for that we can take it.  We can take whatever the world, the scoffers, and Satan want to throw at us, can't we?  Can't we be peculiar?

Ask yourself this important question:  Are you God’s own possession, a peculiar people? If so, you are not your own, for you belong to Him.  Belonging to Him should make us want to serve Him as described throughout the Bible.

You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:20 (NIV)

You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.

1 Corinthians 7:23 (NIV)

Are You Being Persecuted?

"Come on! Don't be a chicken!"  "What do you mean you can't do that?  Why not? Are you too scared?"  "Say it!  Just say it!  It won't hurt you!"  "You don't watch that?  What's wrong with you?" "Everybody is doing it.  Just try it once."

Persecution today looks a lot different than in did for the first century Christians, but it's instigators still want the same thing:  They want the Christian to deny Christ and His existence in their life.

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you... If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you... because they do not know Him who sent Me."

John 15:18-21

It's amazing to me when my children come home (from oldest at 16 to the youngest at 8) and tell me how strange other kids think they are for not saying "bad" words, for not watching certain movies or television shows, or by not doing certain things.  Thankfully it doesn't bother them and they don't have a problem with saying no or not doing those things at all.  In fact, I think they've had an influence on many of those same kids. 

I pray that their faith will continue to give them courage and God will continue to strengthen them as they get older.  Prayerfully they will always be able to resist the temptations that will come their way.  Being a child, preteen, mid-teen and older teen is hard enough, but add into that the pressures of life from school and friends and negative peer pressure, it can be down-right overwhelming!

In American we may face persecution, but it is usually not to the degree that many face today all over different parts of the world; however, sometimes it is to that degree.  Remember the young lady who lost her life for stating her faith in Jesus at the Columbine school massacre?  That type of persecution is what others in the world face and what many in the early church faced constantly and even to the point of death.

A favorite preacher used to say that he believed that Christians today should be persecuted.  What he meant was - if we are not being persecuted, maybe were living too much like the world.  Maybe we're not being set apart and being a "peculiar" (KJV of Titus 2:14 and 1 Peter 2:9) people.  I think he's got a point, don't you?  If we're not living a life that is different, we're just blending in with the world.  As Christians, we live in the world, but we mustn't ever live like the world.  We must be proclaiming Jesus.  We must be following Jesus.  We must be showing that we are His disciple each and every day.

So, are you being persecuted?  I hope so!

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven...."

Matthew 5:10-12