Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008                                            by Allison J

"God is not making better people, but He is making new men" (C.S. Lewis).  So many times, we try to better our "Adam-like" Christianity and present it to God.  The "Adam-mindset" says things like, "Better yourself," and, "Be a better you!"  Christ says, "...If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).  Die to yourself and then you'll find out what it's like to really be living!  You see, Christianity isn't living better than Adam--it's living in Christ.  And sometimes, in our endeavor to be "better" Christians, we end up having a "religion" instead of a vibrant faith.  We have a religion of books and people--but if we truly want to learn what living in Christ is all about, why not go straight to the source?  He said "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:29).  Take that "gentle and humble in heart" phrase and replace it with whatever it is you're struggling with.  I love praying that back to the Lord!  Resources are a cheap imitation of Christianity.  As a teacher, I find myself realizing that no matter what I say to my students, it is ultimately God's working and moving in their lives that brings them to that point where they realize He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  I can talk to them and touch their hearts, but when Jesus talks to them He changes their hearts.  He's the only one that can do that: the "People-Changer." 

Psalm 51:10 reads, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."  What a beautiful picture of God's redemptive work in us!  He knows we need it and is waiting for us to cry out like Jacob did, "I'm not going to let you go until you bless me!"  Jacob's spiritual walk started out with the "Adam-like" Christianity.  He even went so far as to make a vow to the Lord, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God" (Genesis 28:20-21).  God does a work on Jacob's life and twenty years later, we find Jacob realizing that "he that finds his life shall lose it; and he that loses his life for [God's] sake shall find it" (Matthew 10:39).  When he finishes struggling with the angel, we find that God had taken Jacob: "the trickster," and changed him into Israel: "Prince of God."  THAT is what the "People-Changer" can do, and the work that He does is eternal.  May our prayer be: "God, make a fresh start in me; shape a Genesis-week from the chaos of my life--don't fail to breathe holiness in me" (Psalm 51:10 -The Message-).

   Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008                                                  by Allison J

During the close of this summer, I was battling greatly with disillusionment due to my incorrect response to a situation.  I had asked for forgiveness and took all the necessary steps I needed to take, but something just wasn't right. 

It took me some time to snap out of this discouragement, but one solid truth reverberated out of the lesson the Lord was trying to teach me: Christianity is nothing about me—it's all about Him.  Surely I do not mean that we don't matter, but rather that the Lord had to show me that I don't bring anything special to Christianity and God doesn't "need" anything of me.  So much of the "me" centeredness in us and so little of God makes for one bad combination.  God chose to have a relationship with us, to redeem us and make us His children.  He didn't do this based on whether or not we would get everything right, but rather because He loved us despite our sin.  Scripture tells us, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God….You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us….we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" (Romans 5:1-2, 6-8, 11).

Emotions differ daily when we think that Christianity is based on our having to "do" something to "feel" Christian.  I had forgotten about just "being" and lost focus on Whom it was all about.  John records Christ's words, "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned" (John 15:3-6).  Following Christ doesn't make life perfect, and our walk will encounter the rocky roads and our growth will encounter its linger in progress, but following Christ isn't about an obstacle-free course, it is about knowing and constantly acknowledging that HE is life.  

We make plans and have expectations and goals, and when they are not met and we don't reach them, we get disillusioned.  But we are not supported by our past, by what we achieve, or by what we get right—none of those things uphold us.  Christ is our fulfillment.  My prayer for myself and all of you is that we would constantly remember that "…this is eternal life: that [we] may know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) [Him], the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He] sent" (John  17:3--paraphrased).  Anything else that follows is just icing on the cake.  Our identity is found in, we speak, we do, and we are because of Him. 

   Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008                                                   by Allison J

Doing the "Extraordinary"

We are all attracted to the "Wow! Amazing! Beautiful!" So often, we seek to do "extraordinary" things, and get so caught up in the pursuit of them that we lose sight of the "good" or "great" things in front of us that not only deserve our attention but need it. For a toddler, learning how to walk seems like the most extraordinary thing—to the adult, it's a daily process that we don't think twice about (unless you're a girl and you're breaking in some killer heels!).

Even the household chore for a child can be an extraordinary task, but, with attitude, drudgery is added to it. Meanwhile, "mom" thinks it's the most amazing thing because it helps her achieve a greater goal—getting the entire house cleaned and ready for the family, and the extended family, and the extended family's family to come over for dinner! Yes, formulating the Theory of Relativity, painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and inspirationally leading the British to victory in World War II are all extraordinary things, but so are the less glamorous ones that don't bring the widest of acclaim. The extraordinary is a subjective thing, in a way, because it all depends on the perspective that you're looking at it from. I think I can safely say that we all feel like we have to have something "extraordinary" to do and show for ourselves.

Eyes will not always widen in amazement and admiration, but it doesn't make whatever is being done any less "extraordinary." It's really not about what you're doing, but about the way you're doing it. I was missing that in my frustration at the beginning of this school year. I love to teach, and I have been blessed with a job that I love and look forward to every day. Every teacher invests in the lives of their students, but it took me some time to realize that I am not Superwoman and could only divide myself up in so many ways. I'm not saying that a teacher cannot reach each child that steps through her door, but my heart would sink if each and every one was not showing fruit of some sort of impact. Is one soul for Jesus any less than a classroom full? I was so focused on my idea of doing something "extraordinary" for God, that I almost lost the opportunity to invest in the lives of three young ladies that came from broken homes, were going down a destructive path, and desperately needed the Lord.

Once I entrusted it into the Lord's hands and set extra focus on the three girls who I knew needed it most, He began to do His work. My eyes prick with tears as I write to you that those very three girls accepted the Lord as their Savior recently, and the evidence of that in their lives makes my heart rejoice. My little brother told me that the impossible are merely things or situations that take longer to achieve or see come through. Set your eyes on what God sees as "extraordinary"..and remember that there truly is an "extraordinary" in everything.

   Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2008                                                    by Allison J

The Box Top

A Happy and Blessed New Year to all the IPF readers out there!  The past year seemed to go by so quickly for me—how many of you felt it fly by too?  As I was reflecting yesterday on how strangely the time seemed to have elapsed in comparison to other years, the various situations that took place and the way I saw the Lord move in them, all I could say was, “’God is good, all the time.  All the time, God is good’.” 

A little before Christmas, I went shopping to buy cards, wrapping paper, and gift bags for the presents I had purchased.  Among other gifts, I had bought jewelry, and when I bought the wrapping paper, etc., for the gifts, I also picked up some little gift boxes to put the different pieces of jewelry in.  Each box was different, seeing as each piece of jewelry was not the same size.  When I got home and was putting everything together, I realized that there were one or two pieces of jewelry that I probably didn’t have to be so picky about which boxes I put them in, but I couldn’t say the same about the box tops.  Each box top was created specifically for one type of box, and I couldn’t just swap the box tops unless another box was the same size.  The greatest lesson impressed on me during 2007 was that in the time of plenty AND during the famine, God is still God. 

He is still good, He is still great, He still reigns and He is still Sovereign.  But how many times do we reduce our great God to the size of our box top?  Oh sure, we might swap the box tops with matching box sizes, but at the end of the day, we have still placed Him in a box.  When we don’t trust Him to be the great God He is, and instead reduce Him to the size of our box top, we in essence limit Him from showing us His greatness.  The little gift boxes I purchased were very decorative and festive, but the beauty of the jewelry could not be fully admired if the people who I gave them to had left them in the box instead of wearing them.  “There was a time when almost everybody on earth believed that the earth was flat. At that time, this was a very comfortable theory to live with. It was safe, easy to understand -- it was comfortable. Now, believing this did not make it true, but it was easier to handle and it made life more predictable. …There are a lot of us who have grown up thinking that God is flat, that he is rather safe and easy to understand and that he fits very comfortably into the pattern that we have made for him. He is predictable, and we find ourselves very secure with these little theological boxes into which we have crammed God. …God is greater than any human box we can design” (Ray C. Stedman). 

Scripture speaks and creation testifies of how great our God is!  “Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.”  “Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.”  (Psalm 145:3; 150:2).  We’re talking about the One who made us fearfully and wonderfully—our bodies’ each faculty with its own unique design and function.  We’re talking about the God that the prophet Isaiah tells us can hold all the waters of the earth in the palm of His hand (see Isaiah 40:12)!  As you reflect on 2007, look at the goodness of the Lord in your life—it’s enough to kick out the sides of those boxes.  God has never let us down—He can never fail us because He is God.  Let us entrust everything into His care—our Savior will never leave us or forsake us—for whatever happens, He is still God.  This new year, let’s throw away the box tops!