Seeing through more than "kiddie" eyes

Family is a funny thing.

Our reunions are filled with secrets and tears, with shared traits and laughter, with too much good food and too little time.

It’s a blessing, I think, to go to a place with none of the outside world near. “Isolation” is whispered by the trees that cluster along three and a half miles of gravel road. We’re the only people here and we’ve got no internet – and no phone service for At&t customers. A recent and nearby Verizon tower does not leave us utterly technology desolate.

Therefore, we have no default internet to run to. One is forced to demise some other way to pass the time – perhaps conversation?

Family. These are the people we love – the people you can fight with and gripe with. You cry in the kitchen together, clinging tightly to each other – the only tangible thread of hope and of God that can be found sometimes.

You talk in hushed and hot whispers of your heartaches. Reflief is found only in a thin straw of a second chance.

You realize that you never knew the half of it before – you never realized the craggy rifts carved up – the loneliness, the hurt. You never realized what your child eyes had hidden.

You also realize how easily you can love a child. Hot breath on my cheek and h heavy head on my shoulder. Sweet, soft hands tugging on shirts, grasping a finger to climb the stairs.

My heart aches for all that could be but is not.

Yet… Gratitude resonates in my bones – God has blessed us with so much. Slow afternoons filled with relaxation and good conversations, evenings with singing – with interspersed “kiddie” songs (where the adults sing louder than the children even!). The The richness fo sharing a talbe, of holding hands to pray, of the gentle hand of Grandpa on your shoulder. The bittersweetness of remembering Grandma – through photographs and shared memories – and of teaching her name to little ones who never knew her. Knowing that she looks down on us along with our loving Father. Knowing that both she and we are safe in the arms of Jesus.”

Seeing the Beauty of the Whole

We were driving slowly but it was still a breath-taking surprise.  Stretching from one end of the house to the other was a vibrant mass of orange flowers.  God's masterpiece was stunning.

That morning we'd walked by those same flowers - not so beautiful then.  We were close enough to see the dead ones, the wilted ones, the ones with only half the petals - all the flaws were starkly apparent.  We could not see the beauty of the whole.

Of course, they were the same flowers - but when viewed as a whole, one could not help but marvel at their beauty.  The flaws were masked.

Perhaps the church is similar.  Sometimes we are too close to people and their flaws to notice that as a whole, we represent the precious and beautiful body of Christ.  

"for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body." (Ephesians 5:29-30, emphasis added)

So when you look at your brothers and sisters in Christ, tempted to concentrate on their faults and dead attitudes, take a step back and look.  Can you see the beauty of Christ's body altogether?

Fighting Techniques

In the 8^th grade, I could not even bench press the bar, and I’m not sure that I can even now.  I am by no means physically imposing.  The thought of fighting has never crossed my mind.  And I certainly cannot see myself as a warrior.

 

In short, I have a lot of trouble relating to David and his fighting psalms.  Or at least, that’s what I thought.

 

In reality, we do have a common enemy.   He schemes and lays traps.  He fights both blatantly and stealthily.  He is, in fact, the oldest warrior in the world.

 

His name is Satan.

 

Psalm 18:37-42 depicts David’s triumph over his enemies.  It is graphic and descriptive and emphasizes complete eradication of those enemies.

Sounds a lot like what we need to do to sin.

 

To Develop some of David’s Fighting Techniques

1. Pursue the enemy (v37)

“I pursued my enemies and overtook them,

And I did not turn back until they were consumed.”

A necessary part of any Christian’s life is self-examination.  In order to take out the plank in your eye, you’ve got to take a look at yourself and realize that the plank is there.  In order to be able to eat the “meat” of God’s word, you’ve got to develop (which implies the need for improvement… you were not perfect to begin with).

So, there is a need to find that sin in your life. 

 

2. Don’t turn back until it is consumed (v37)

“I pursued my enemies and overtook them,

And I did not turn back until they were consumed.”

We all realize that Satan is persistent – even more so than your pestering little brother. 

He works all the time to capture us – remember the roaring lion prowling around seeking to devour us?  That’s not just on the weekends.

If we want sin and Satan out of our lives, we have to be just as stubborn.  This isn’t just a once-over.  Getting rid of sin is a steady and determined process that takes a lot of pigheadedness.

 

3. Shatter sin so that it cannot stand (v38)

“I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise;

         They fell under my feet.”

Amos 7:7-8 talks about God holding a plumb line up to Israel.  What’s the point of a plumb line?  To show that something won’t stand up or is not straight – it’s crooked or ill-formed in some way. 
What better way to shatter sin – to cut the feet out from under it – than to hold it up next to the straight truth of God’s word?

4. Allow God to gird you for battle (v39)

“For You have girded me with strength for battle;

         You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.”

Are you aware that there’s a spiritual war?  Are you aware of the need to protect yourself?  God is.  He’s provided armor for you.  It’s especially designed to confront the wiles of the devil. 

Right now – are you fighting this spiritual battle or are you succumbing apathetically to Satan?

 

5. Get God to fight for you (v39-40)

“You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

    40You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,

         And I destroyed those who hated me.”

God is the one who tips the balance when you face the nine-foot giant.  He is the one to change your widowed life completely by placing you in Boaz’s field.  He is the one who brings your brother back to life after three days of wrenching agony.

Surely, he can help me in my struggle with sin.

 

6. Cry out so that God can hear you (v41)

“They cried for help, but there was none to save,

         Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them.”

1 Peter 3:12 says that the Lord’s eyes “are toward the righteous” and that “his ears attend to their prayer.”  He listens if you’re in the right place. 

If He doesn’t hear you… who’s the one who moved?

7. Empty the sin out of your life (v43)

“Then I beat them fine as the dust before the wind;

         I emptied them out as the mire of the streets.”

Sin is not like wine or cheese.  It does not get better when aged.  It does not improve if you keep it in the closet.  You don’t ever want to be that jean size again.  Shake that sin and all its traces out of your life.  It doesn’t belong there.  It’s like dust that needs to be beaten out of a carpet.

David fought many battles – both physically and spiritually.  He was armed by His God and triumphed.

Are you ready to fight sin?