The Week in Words

WiW: The Bridge across the Chasm

February 21, 2011 2 Comments by bekahcubed

A stone of stumbling.

A rock of offense.

The only way to God the Father
is through Jesus Christ the Son.

“I sought the way to get the strength to be able to enjoy You, but I did not find it until I embraced
the mediator between God and men,
The man Christ Jesus,
who is above all things, God forever blessed;
He who cries out and says,
I am the way and the truth and the life;
who mixes with flesh the food that I was to weak to receive–
for the Word became flesh
so that Your wisdom, through which you created all things
might nourish us in our infancy like milk.”

~St. Augustine Confessions

Augustine wanted Jesus to be just a man or simply God. Jesus as God incarnate, fully God and fully man, scared him.

Yet try as he might to bridge the chasm between he and God, Augustine found that the only sufficient bridge is Christ, the Incarnate Son of God.

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one come to the Father except by Me.”

~John 14:6

Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

The Week in Words

WiW: A Day of “Love”

February 14, 2011 6 Comments by bekahcubed

February 14 has come again–and with it, scads of single women hole up in their houses to pout over chocolates they’ve bought themselves (or else they gather together to collectively bemoan/celebrate their singleness, preferably in someone’s home so the outside world doesn’t have to see their desperation.)

I did the latter last night (although we only spent about ten minutes bemoaning–and that brought up by the one married woman in our midst!)

Today, I’ll spend the day working as usual, hopefully giving God thanks for the rich life He’s given me right now-and trusting that His plan for my future is just right.

I was blessed this past week to read Monica’s encouragement to single women:

“Remember Abraham, who waited over 25 years for the fulfillment of the promise – when he tried to make it happen on his own, he created a whole mess that carries on in the Middle East even into the present day. God still fulfilled His promise to Abraham, however, and will fulfill every promise to us today (I Corinthians 1:20). If we hold onto those promises He has made, and resist the passions of the world, we will experience the joy of peaceful obedience to the One who satisfies the soul.“

Despite our teasing about maybe “just happening” to have our cars break down outside of the Christian school that (allegedly) has two single male teachers, I know that it is better to wait on the Lord–and to trust that He will fulfill my every need and conform my every desire to His.

My brother Daniel has encouraged me to post links to last year’s “Love Month”, lest any readers should benefit from my experiences and expertise (Hah!) in the world of singleness and relationships.

So, without further ado: Love Month 2010

Please feel free to comment on any of these posts. Even though they’re a year old, I’d love to continue to foster dialogue about singleness, dating, and purity.

Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

The Week in Words

WiW: Melancholy

January 31, 2011 5 Comments by bekahcubed

Some days, melancholy wakes you up in the morning.

Other days you see it coming down the road and, though you try to avoid it, it catches up to you anyway.

And then some days it just whallomphs you out of the blue for no apparent reason.

Why is contentment such an elusive thing?

What sets off that inner longing after a quiet, peaceful holiday of contentment?

I don’t know.

But it comes and goes, with no apparent rhyme or reason.

I’m just fine, and then suddenly I’m crying in my bathtub at night because I just want so badly.

I’m tempted to wallow in a little pity party. To complain about the situations God has placed me in. I’m tempted to cry for all the dreams that haven’t been fulfilled, for all the longings unmet.

But if there’s anything that I’ve been learning this year so far, it’s that I need to turn my eyes to Christ.

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
~C.S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity

Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

Book Notes, The Week in Words

WiW: Great Expectations

January 24, 2011 6 Comments by bekahcubed

“You have such expectations,” my Dad tells me again–the third or fourth time. “and it sets you up for great disappointments. You see, I never really expected much from myself or from life. And so when I turned out to have a wonderful life, I was pleasantly surprised. You have great expectations, so when things don’t turn out the way you expected, you’re disappointed–even if your life is still objectively quite good.”

It’s an observation, not a statement that his way is better or worse than mine.

But I think of it when I read these words in Anne of Green Gables:

“You set your heart too much on things, Anne,” said Marilla with a sigh. “I’m afraid there’ll be a great many disappointments in store for you through life.”

“Oh, Marilla, looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them,” exclaimed Anne. “you mayn’t get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them. Mrs. Lynde says, ‘Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.‘ But I think it would be worse to expect nothing than to be disappointed.“

I’m glad my Dad doesn’t make light of my aspirations, like Mrs. Lynde and Marilla seem to of Anne’s. But his observations–and those of Marilla, Anne, and Mrs. Lynde–do make me think.

I do expect a lot from life. I expect a lot from myself.

I want to do, I want to be, I want to see, I want to hear, I want to write. I want to live an extraordinary life. I want to do extraordinary things. I want to be an extraordinary person.

I have great expectations.

But, as my dad and Marilla and Mrs. Lynde observe, it does set me up for more disappointments than if I hadn’t such expectations.

I end up with less time and energy than I thought I’d have even after moving permanently to Columbus–and I’m disappointed not to be able to accomplish the grandiose expectations that I’d had for how my first few months in Columbus might look.

I find myself in a corner of dietetics I didn’t expect to find myself in, in a corner of the state I didn’t expect to find myself in, with…

I find that life is very different than what I expected.

On the other hand, like Anne, I love the expectation itself–the dreaming, the planning, the process of trying to make the dreams become reality. I still haven’t taken that bike ride across Nebraska, but I’ve loved what training I’ve done (I’ve trained gung ho three springs in a row, only to find busyness and/or medical issues stymie the actual completion), I’ve loved the planning, I’ve loved the bike rides taken with friends in the meantime.

And, as my Dad points out, my high expectations, while not always achievable, have enabled me to achieve a great deal more than someone who just floats through life with no goals or expectations.

My dad makes it clear that my driven personality is not a fault but a blessing. But he is also quick to caution that it can become a fault. When I become so focused on results that I ignore people. When I become so focused on unmet expectations that I fail to be thankful for unexpected blessings. When I set my heart on things instead of Christ.

And ultimately, that is what it comes down to.

“You set your heart too much on things,” Marilla says.

She’s right. I do.

Not that there’s anything wrong with doing things, having things. Neither the doing of things nor the desire to do things is wrong. It’s the setting of my heart on things that is wrong.

“Do not trust in extortion
or take pride in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.”
~Psalm 62:10, NIV (c)1984

I was made to do great things.

It is right that I desire to do great things.

But my heart was made to be set on Christ.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
~Colossians 3:1-4, NIV (c)1984

Be sure to follow through with Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

I’m reading Anne of Green Gables as a part of Carrie’s L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge. Check out the link to see what others are saying about (or reading of) L.M. Montgomery this month

The Week in Words

WiW: My greatest idol

January 17, 2011 6 Comments by bekahcubed

It hit me between the eyes as I drove down Highway 30 on my way home from Grand Island.

I was listening to ChristianAudio’s recording of Jerry Bridges’ The Pursuit of Holiness (Available for free this month!).

“Our first problem [with walking in holiness] is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We are more concerned about our own ‘victory’ over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God.”

~Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

Ouch!

The moment I heard it, I knew its truth.

Up until that moment, I had been fighting a self-centered battle with sin and hadn’t even realized it!

My fight for holiness wasn’t about glorifying God or abhorring the things that break His heart. It was about making myself look good, proving that I could do it, gaining victory over sin.

But Bridges’ reminds us:

“God wants us to walk in obedience — not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God, victory is oriented toward self. This may seem to be merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there is a subtle, self-centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin. Until we face this attitude and deal with it we will not consistently walk in holiness.”

Say I had managed to gain victory over all those external sins I so want to conquer.

What then?

I could boast in my flesh–like the rich young ruler who tells Jesus that he has kept the commandments from his youth–but my boasting would quickly be brought to naught as Jesus reveals my secret idol.

Not possessions.

Me.

I am my own greatest idol.

Every morning I wake up and bow at the altar of self. Every evening I return to offer self homage.

I offer a sacrifice on the altar. I bring the grain offerings. I keep the feasts.

My ablutions are not effective, my oblations not accepted.

I have offered my sacrifice to the wrong god.

Self instead of Christ.

Lord, have mercy upon my idolatrous soul–and teach me to treasure You above me.

Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words” is where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week. Crying foul over my audiobook quoting? After a couple days of contemplating what I’d heard, I remembered that I’d picked up The Pursuit of Holiness at a used store a couple of months back. I started reading at the beginning–and was hit anew with the realization of my idolatrous fight with sin.

Book Notes, The Week in Words

WiW: A Poor Counterfeit

January 3, 2011 5 Comments by bekahcubed

“Thus doth the soul commit fornication, when she turns from Thee, seeking without Thee, what she findeth not pure and untainted until she returns to Thee. Thus all pervertedly imitate Thee who remove far from Thee, and lift themselves up against Thee. But even by thus imitating Thee, they imply Thee to be the Creator of all nature…”

~St. Augustine from his Confessions

What is sin, Augustine asks, but the fading shadow, the poor imitation of that which can be found in Christ alone? Is it not the attempt to wrest from God the attributes that are His alone?

Our pride but a poor imitation of His exaltedness; our ambition but a poor striving for the honour and glory that belongs to Him alone. Our immorality a poor counterfeit of His genuine love.

Augustine goes on–Our curiosity a pretense of His omniscience. Our sloth an attempt at rest apart from Him. Our gluttony mimicking the satisfaction that can only be found in Him.

Sin is me trying to live life on my own, not acknowledging that Christ is the only source of true life. Sin is me trying to exalt myself, not acknowledging that Christ is the only one truly worthy of exaltation. Sin is me trying to become wise, not acknowledging that Christ is the only source of wisdom.

Looking at sin through Augustine’s eyes, I see the sins I so regularly excuse.

Self-improvement. The sin of trying to be sanctified without God’s Spirit.

Goal-orientedness. The sin of fixing my eyes on outcomes rather than Christ.

All of it Pride. Pretending I can live, can survive, can thrive with me at the center rather than Christ.

But I am a poor counterfeit, a tainted instrument. What I find in myself is only a warped copy of what can be found only in Christ.

Oh, Lord, forgive me for my sin of spiritual fornication, for seeking in myself what can only be found in You. Turn my eyes, my heart from these fleshly things that I might better see and savor You.

“Oh! that Thou wouldst enter into my heart, and inebriate it, that I may forget my ills, and embrace Thee, my sole good?”

~St. Augustine from his Confessions

Collect more quotes from throughout the week with Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”.

The Week in Words

WiW: The temptation to go beyond what God has said

December 27, 2010 4 Comments by bekahcubed

“You speak of love,” a small voice whispered. “How much do you think I love you? How much do you think I love Beth?”

It had not been an audible voice. Not a spoken word. But an inner communication. Lizzie could not have explained it. Nor could she have denied it.

She shook her head. “Lord,” she argued silently. “I have no doubt of your love.”

…

“Then what is troubling you?” came the same gentle voice.

Lizzie thought—long and hard and ended by shaking her head in confusion. “I’m not sure,” she replied honestly.

“Then leave it to me,” the voice came quietly but with great strength and clarity.

The tears began to trickle down the aged cheeks. Of course. Of course. It was the only sensible thing to do.

“Does this mean you will heal her, Lord?” she quizzed, the thought too awesome for her to even grasp.

“My child,” came the voice once more, and it was filled with love—and patience—yet just a hint of reproof, as though reassuring a needlessly fretting child. “I love Beth. I will do what is best.”

~Janette Oke from Nana’s Gift

I believe that God speaks. Even today, He speaks. And when He speaks, His sheep hear His voice.

I have heard His voice. The voice that said “Be still and know that I am God.” The voice that said “You are worried and troubled about many things, but this one thing is needed.” The voice that told me to dream. The voice that told me to let him go.

It is a wonderful thing that God speaks, when God speaks.

But my temptation is so often to go beyond what God has said. When God says to dream, I presume that He means that He’ll fulfill those dreams. When God says to let someone go, I presume that means it’ll be easy to let him go.

But that isn’t what God has said.

God said exactly what He said. And THAT’S what I need to remember.

So when God speaks, I write it down. Word for word. As close as I can get. It’s an altar like the ones built by the Israelites. Reminding me of what God has said. Reminding me of what God has NOT said.

Warning me lest I forget what God has said. Warning me lest I go beyond what God has said.

Reminding me lest the serpent should whisper in my ear: “Did God really say?”

Reminding me so I can say, “No, THIS is what God has said.”

A sentry set against the temptation to go beyond what God has said.

Collect more quotes from throughout the week with Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”.

The Week in Words

WiW: Not Stalled Forever

December 13, 2010 5 Comments by bekahcubed

I started reading Janette Oke when I was in elementary school. I loved the pioneer stuff, the romances, all that. I didn’t really notice all the deep stuff.

In my late high school years I looked on Janette Oke with a jaded eye. “How many years of my life did I waste with that pablum?” I thought, as I gloried in the intellectual fare I was now enjoying.

Now I’m a young professional, re-reading Janette Oke as part of my “read every book in Eiseley library” goal. And I’m astonished at how much stuff there really is.

No, it’s not intellectual, debate-the-meaning-of-this-with-your-friends material. But it’s solid, Biblically and experientially-based stuff. Yes, it tends to “tell” through conversations between characters rather than simply “showing” these big principles. But it’s still good stuff.

Re-reading these books has been like listening in as an older, wiser woman helps a younger, less experienced woman with the everyday details of her life.

In fact, that’s usually what it is–a conversation between Ma Graham and Marty in the first books of the “Love Comes Softly” series, conversations between Marty and her developing daughters later.

Or like the conversation that struck me just a few days ago–Marty’s advice to her grown granddaughter Virginia after the death of Virginia’s grandmother-in-law, who had lived with Virginia and her husband for quite a while.

“It takes time. Time and God…I was told that years ago when I lost someone. At the time, it wasn’t a’tall what I wanted to hear. But it happened–just that way. Oh, not that ya ever forget. Not ever. But life has a way of movin’ on. New things happen. New people come into our lives. God does not leave us stalled forever. He just nudges us forward. Pushes us on out. Urges us to look for new meanin’ in life. An’ it is there. It’s always there. Somethin’ new to live for. Somethin’ to give life zest again.”

~Marty Davis, in Janette Oke’s A Quiet Strength

As I read this, I thought of Marty’s losses (of a husband in the very first book in the series, of friends and neighbors later on, of children moving far away, of medical situations causing huge changes). I thought of Virginia’s loss. I thought of my own losses.

And with tears in my eyes, I thanked God for that one sentence of Marty’s:

“God does not leave us stalled forever.”

Sometimes in the midst of loss, it feels like we’re stalled on the side of the road, broken, going nowhere. Sure that the engine is fried, we might be tempted to give up, to abandon even life itself. Other people might be moving along the road, but we can’t be.

But God does not leave us stalled forever.

At some point, even if we can’t identify a specific moment, the hurt begins to fade, the missing becomes a little less all-encompassing. And something new rises to give meaning and purpose for continuing.

Deeply ambivalent, desiring a different life, you move to a new town, begin a new job. You choose to seek out new friendships, new opportunities to serve. And then someday you find that you’re no longer forcing enthusiasm for a life you didn’t want–you’re rejoicing in the opportunity that God has given you in this life you once didn’t want.

Not that you forget. No, it’s like Marty said. You don’t forget. But somehow, by the grace of God, you move on.

I am so thankful that God chooses to work in such a way–and that somehow, over the course of this past year, He has worked that beautiful miracle of healing in me.

Collect more quotes from throughout the week with Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”.

The Week in Words

WiW: They Don’t Learn…

December 6, 2010 4 Comments by bekahcubed

I’m a teacher, less than two weeks away from ending my career as a graduate teaching assistant.

I love teaching.

I love explaining things to students, helping people understand something better than they did before.

I love showing students how to do something, seeing them glow with a sense of accomplishment.

I’ve been teaching about food. And I love teaching about food.

Because I love food.

I get excited about cooking, about food, about how food fits into people’s lives.

My students can’t help but feel my excitement for food.

Which is why Don Carson’s quote sobers me.

“If I have learned anything in 35 or 40 years of teaching, it is that students don’t learn everything I teach them. What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again…”
~Don Carson (via Justin Taylor)

What are the things I get excited about?

What are the things I emphasize again and again and again and again?

Are they the things I want to be emphasizing over and over and over again?

Carson says what should be emphasized over and over again:

“…What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again. That had better be the gospel.”
~Don Carson (via Justin Taylor)

I am challenged as I read these words. What is the refrain of my life’s work? If someone were to interview a dozen of my students and ask them what they learned from me, what my life message is, what would they say?

Would they say that I lived for food?

Or would they say that I lived for God, glorying in the gospel and savoring the sweetness of Christ?

I fear too often they would say the former–but my heart’s desire and my prayer is that the latter would be true.

Collect more quotes from throughout the week with Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”.

The Week in Words

WiW: A Lovely Song

November 22, 2010 4 Comments by bekahcubed

I am surrounded by the Word of God.

My Bible goes with me, tucked into my purse.

My MP3 player is loaded with sermons and podcasts to listen to as I drive.

My bookshelves are full of books expositing the Word of God.

My Google Reader fills every day. Homemakers reflecting on how the word of God impacts their lives. Mothers praying the word of God over their children. Men discussing the nuances of one doctrine or another.

The Word of God. My life is saturated with it.

And it is beautiful.

But the Word of God is not merely a song to be heard and applauded.

Last night, I read these words–and they cut me to the heart:

“Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.”
~Ezekiel 33:32

Surrounded by the Word of God, I revel in its beauty. I delight to hear how the gospel has impacted others. I delight to read of the intricacies of the gospel. It is a lovely song. The speakers, the bloggers, the writers play their instruments well with pleasant voices.

But it is not enough to consider the Word of God a lovely song.

I must do it.

The Word of God must enter my soul and transform me.

I pray that Jeremiah’s cry might become mine.

“Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me
the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.”
~Jeremiah 15:16

Oh that the Word of God might become for me more than just a lovely song. Oh that it would become as the very sustenance of my soul. That I might eat the Word of God–and that by it I might be transformed.

This is my prayer.

Collect more quotes from throughout the week with Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”.