Dana's Christian Journey

musings of a thankful cancer survivor

Author: Dana

  • repentance

    —

    Dana

    Paul asked some disciples at Ephesus: “‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit.’ So Paul asked, ‘What baptism did you receive?’ ‘John’s baptism,’ they replied. Paul said, ‘John’s baptism is a baptism of repentance…’” (Acts 19) Peter, recounting the events at the house of Cornelius, said: “Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” (Acts 11) John the Baptist preached of one who would give what he could not: “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire…” (Matthew 3)

    But Jesus also preached repentance. “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.’”

    Here’s a familiar story, but an important reminder of God’s will and our choices. A young man, probably raised in a God-fearing, successful home, came to Jesus and asked what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus, knowing very well the state of man and the purpose of the Law, answered, “Obey the commandments.” The man asked, “Which ones?” Jesus listed half of the Ten Commandments and one more: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man replied, “I’ve kept all these. What do I still lack?” Mark wrote that Jesus looked at this man and loved him and then said, “One thing you lack. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

    Jesus loved the rich young man enough to bluntly tell him the Father’s will for his life. “Follow the Christ! I am the Messiah, predicted to come by the prophets of old. One day I will give you the greatest gift you could ever have on earth – the Holy Spirit will dwell in your heart and give you power to live an abundant life. I love you, but right now your mind is clouded and you can’t comprehend my love. Follow me and you will! But first I’ve got to tell you what prevents you from possessing true life. Your stuff hinders you. Your wealth is more important to you than God. You’ve followed the commands on the exterior, but you know there’s something wrong on the inside. I’m your answer. But you must repent! Turn from what is destroying you! I see it plainly and I’m telling you what to do. Sell your possessions and follow me.”

    But Jesus will never take the choice from a person. We know this man hung his head in sorrow and sadly walked away because he had great wealth. We, like the disciples, might be troubled with Jesus’ teaching on the difficulty of the rich entering the kingdom. “Who then can be saved? What about all my stuff… I admit I have too much. I’ve tried to live right, but deep down I know I’m in need. I’m afraid I put other things before God quite often. Is there hope?”

    “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” This tells me God can even bring about repentance. He can soften a heart hardened by materialism. He can plant a desire for God where no desire exists. He can convict a soul of sin and bring godly sorrow… which leads to repentance. He can bring such clarity that a relationship with Christ becomes all-consuming and a person will be willing to do anything the Master says. As John the Baptist, we must humbly declare: “He must become greater; I must become less.” Help me, Lord.

    “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” Acts 26:20

    “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.” Acts 11:18

  • changed

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    Dana

    People influence us but only God can change us.

    After Andrew and Peggy married and established a home in London, they had to make a decision about where to attend church. “God led us to a group of believers that met simply in a home.” Over the years, the group has grown in number and now meets in a grammar school, the place Susan and I visited Palm Sunday.

    Andrew shared, “These brothers and sisters really knew the Holy Spirit. When I was filled with the Spirit, I was changed; I have never been the same.”

    God’s goal is not that we just be influenced; He plans to change us. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

    Man is often content to focus on exterior matters, but God is after the heart. Some of the early Christians were taught that in order to be justified before God they had to be circumcised. Paul passionately argued that true faith in Jesus alone brought the righteousness that pleased God. “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.” A ‘cutting away’ takes place, but it is an ‘inner work’ done by Christ, not man. “In him (Christ) you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ…” “…circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.”

    This ‘heart work’ was predicted by Jeremiah in the days of old: “I will put my laws in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”

    Only the Holy Spirit can bring about the miracle of a changed person. Through this gift we can love, serve, and live the abundant life Jesus calls us to live. “God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” And by this gift we come as beloved children to our loving Father. “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’”

    “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:25-26

    “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” John 16:7

  • influenced

    —

    Dana

    A friend in our neighborhood told us that her sister lived in London so we arranged to go to church with Peggy and Andrew on Palm Sunday. It would take quite a while to share the journey Susan and I took on the red double-decker buses to get to the right section of London – which we discovered to be a huge city. Then, after sitting through a service, God sent a special servant to reveal we were in the wrong church. She gladly escorted us a few blocks to the correct location and we made a happy connection with new friends.

    After a wonderful English meal at their home, Andrew shared a bit about their lives. Andrew’s family was Jewish and moved to London from Hungary when he was a boy. As a teenager in the late 60’s, Andrew was interested in Christianity but wanted to find out if it worked. “I decided I would give a church a period of time to determine if this Christianity made a visible difference in lives. I would go to the same church several months before making a decision. Sadly, I found no notable difference that made me say, ‘That’s the life I want! I’m going to become a Christian!’ I remember attending one church for nine months. The preaching was great and the singing was great, but never once, in all nine months, did a single person speak to me. I heard about a place in Switzerland and said to myself, ‘If I don’t find something real there, I’m ending my investigation of Christianity.’”

    At the same time, Peggy, a child of American missionaries in Iran, was on her own quest. “I just had tons of questions. And though my parents were strong Christians, I could not get satisfactory answers. I was not alone in my generation. We wanted real answers… not rhetoric. So I joined scores of other young people who went to this haven in the Swiss Alps to seek truth.”

    This haven was called L’Abri, which means ‘the shelter’, and a family named Schaeffer simply opened up their home to young people seeking answers. Andrew said, “You’ve got to realize that many of these kids were rebellious youth impacted by the revolutionary thinking and living of the hippie movement. But Mr. Schaeffer would let a kid say anything and ask any question. Often, the beginning of the dialogue was anti-God, anti-establishment, and full of disrespect. But once Mr. Schaeffer started talking, the hardest of hearts would melt at the simple truths that speak to our deepest needs. Francis and Edith Schaffer were patient, kind, and loving. And he was a great teacher.”

    “So,” I asked, “Was it the teaching of Francis Schaeffer that made you want to become a Christian?” “Oh no,” Andrew replied, “I heard good teaching in many of the churches I attended. I was searching for something that worked in a person’s life. What influenced me the three months I lived at L’Abri were the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Schaeffer and their children. This family lived out what Jesus was all about. They opened their homes, they lived sacrificially, and they laid down their lives for people they didn’t even know. That’s what influenced me.”

    That was also what influenced Peggy, who found Christians unafraid to tackle her toughest questions. Andrew and Peggy met at L’Abri, married a short time later, and for almost forty years have lived out the same type of lives in London that they witnessed in Switzerland. Their home is always open for brothers and sisters in Christ and for seekers of truth. Another couple also joined us for lunch on Palm Sunday. Connie is a science teacher from the West African country of Ghana. She had recently been baptized as a result of studying the Bible in a group led by Peggy. Her husband, Richard, is a graduate of the prestigious Oxford University, but is not a Christian. Maybe one day he’ll also find Jesus to be the answer we’re all searching for.

    How beautiful is the Body of Christ!

    “Let us live up to what we’ve already attained. Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” Philippians 3:16-17

  • vida

    —

    Dana

    Last week, a friend we visited in Brazil sent an encouraging word. I asked if I could pass on most of her message. I included her ‘smiley faces’ and ‘words’ that might have some Portuguese meaning… or these could be generational differences I’ve not yet grasped… as Renata is 23 years old. ‘Vida’ means ‘life’ – a great word for us all.

    Susan and I are to leave for Europe tomorrow so I won’t write for a couple of weeks. Karlyn left this morning for Haiti. Taylor flies to Kansas City next week to represent UGA’s club volleyball team in the annual national tournament. Kinsey is doing well at Harding. Thanks for your prayers!

    As I was walking, suddenly, I turned and came across this bright white sand hill that stood out from the top of the semi-evergreen rain forest from the park, and its beauty just made me stop, stand in awe, and hate myself for not having at LEAST my cell phone with me then, to take a snapshot! The sun was setting and its light focused right on top of this, apparently, dry bush. No leaves whatsoever; just short, skinny, dried, brown branches. However, what made me stop and stand in awe was what I saw there living in all its potential form. Fully being, with all its glamorous curves!!! 🙂 This ridiculously, gorgeous flower!! And it spoke to me…. aaahhh 😀

    Because it was there, by itself, in what apparently looked like a desert for her; it stood there reigning in life, living the fullness of what it was created to be! 🙂 Now, I saw other dry bushes, with more than one beautiful flower on them, but none of them caught my attention as the one that was by itself. You see, we all know it is so hard to stand when we feel we are in a desert; it is so hard to persevere in the Love of God that is perfected in us through Grace when we feel alone and dry. Although, He looks at us and that is exactly what He sees when we do choose to stand for Him, when we do choose to abide in Him. O what a joy it is to be found in Him! 🙂 So as I stood there in front of that breathtaking scene, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind a verse found in Romans 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. hahaha, uohouu! 🙂 This brings so much Joy to my heart! This is pretty awesome! To reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Wow! aahaha! So, these two were brought to my heart Romans 5 and 2nd Corinthians 3, because of this little flower! hahaha 🙂 I love the Spirit of Jesus!

    “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.” A.W.Tozer

    Read Romans 5 on your own. Below is II Cor. 3:2-18 … which gives a little more revelation about Moses and Jesus.

    Blessings to all,
    Dana

    “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

  • humility

    —

    Dana

    “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone on the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3) Several have proposed that someone besides Moses wrote this verse since no humble man would ever write such a thing. But there is no conflict between true humility and telling the truth. Moses might have asked, “Are you sure?” but if God said, “Moses, you are the most humble man on earth”, there was no need to argue. God sees perfectly.

    While he is an example, I can’t go to Moses for humility. The law God gave him exposed my sin… most of which stemmed from self-centered pride. Even if I’m dressed in ‘humble clothes’ and use ‘humble talk’, God is not fooled.

    For true humility I must go to the one Moses predicted would come after him. Jesus also declared himself humble and we know he told the truth. “Come to me all who are weary or burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

    But the ‘wise’ did not run to Jesus. Those that thought they could ‘see’ did not go to the fountain of life. Those that thought they were ‘healthy’ did not visit the Great Physician. What’s the difference today? Not a thing. The journey to the source of humility involves humbling one’s self, but ‘self’ makes it hard to see the need. So Jesus hung out with sinners. The poor and the sick sought him out. He taught, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”, but few had ears to hear.

    The world bellows, “Go higher and higher!” The Holy Spirit whispers, “Go lower and lower… follow the Son.” “Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing…” I’ve yet to see the course offered: “Becoming Nothing in Your World.” This is the secret: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

    Of course, only God’s grace will bring the humility of Christ. We are to humble ourselves, but God will form the sweet attitude of Jesus in his children. He alone knows us. He knows the self-sufficiency we’ve embraced and our misguided piety. He also knows true humility most reflects who he is… and pride most reflects who he is not. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” I want to pray, “Lord, I can never be humble like Jesus by my own effort. But I can empty myself and stand before you. You are the miracle worker and with you all things are possible. Would you form the humility of Christ in me? And would you give me the grace to trust you completely?”

    “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17

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