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Monday, March 20, 2006
Article by Mary Biever
Our Unexpected Mission Out of the Wasteland
By Mary Biever
He was a simple carpenter. His life was measured in pieces of wood he
crafted into usable objects. His fiancée was a quiet girl who didn't get
into trouble, who would make a good wife.
Then the unthinkable happened.
She was pregnant. He wasn't the father. He couldn't raise another man's
child but didn't want to shame the girl or harm the baby. So he planned to
divorce her quietly.
Then came the dream. An angel of the Lord told him to marry the girl and
that her son would save his people from their sins.
Joseph's life changed in an instant. He married the girl and was the foster
father of a son he grew to love.
It was his unexpected mission. Unexpected missions from God aren't meant
to be easy. Sometimes it means delivering a baby in a stable because
there's no room in the inn. It could mean a sudden flight to Egypt - when
your very lives are at stake. Occasionally there's heartbreak, when a child
disappears in a large city and isn't found for days. Other times, the
mission brings kings with unexpected gifts to our doorstep.
When Joseph followed the mission, the life once measured in blocks of wood
transformed into one we now measure, chapter and verse, in the Gospels. The
hand of God took Joseph's simple life, turned it upside down, and changed
everything when this simple carpenter raised up the Son of Man as his own.
We can learn much from Joseph today. What does God want us to do when he
sends children into our lives? Sometimes they are our own children, and
other times they are the children of others.
He has a purpose and a reason for sending them to us. Imagine you, too,
have a dream where God tells you what that purpose is:
I have special plans for you. Turn off the television, get off the
computer, pull that speaker out of your ear, and listen to me. No longer
will your life be measured by reality TV, email alerts, or the latest MP3
download. When you hide behind those things, you miss knowing what life
really is.
Instead, I'm sending you a child. Raise the child up in the way he should
go. Talk to him about Me, from the moment the sun rises, while you walk
together during the day, and when you tuck him into bed at night. A child
has a few precious years before becoming an adult. I expect you to give
those years to him.
These aren't years in the desert. They are years out of your comfort zone.
You will get tired. He will get sick. You will get sick. Even when you're
sick and tired, I expect you to raise him up in the way he should go.
Nurture his talents.
You know all those things your parents didn't get right with you that you've
spent all that money in counseling sessions overcoming? Now's your chance
to make it right. Break the chains that bind you and do it better.
What if his talents aren't the same as yours? He wants to build rockets,
and you can't hold a hammer? Then find someone who can. Ask Me to send
help to you.
If you think you get stressed now, just wait.
Don't give me that stuff that you don't know how to do this or it's too
tough a job. Parents have raised good children for centuries. You can too.
When you need help, ask Me. Fall down on your knees if you have to and ask
for grace, for guidance, for strength, and for wisdom.
If you do everything badly today, ask for my help tonight, and begin again
tomorrow. Children's hearts give us room for second chances.
Ask, and it shall be given to you. You just have to wait, listen, and obey.
If I could trust Joseph to raise my own Son, don't you realize you can raise
children too?
Sometimes, I will send other children besides your own into your life.
Remember my son said to let the children come to Him. When I send them to
you, I expect you to be there for them. Give what you can. That, too, is
your mission.
Yes, there will be valleys as deep as the Grand Canyon on parts of your
mission. There will also be times on the mountaintop the height of Mt.
Everest, when you experience joy and love in ways you never imagined.
Remember that sometimes I send kings to your doorstep with gifts, just when
you need them the most.
Your life doesn't have to be measured in teaspoons, blocks of wood, or
gadgets and gizmos. It may instead be measured by how you answer My call to
you now.
Get out there. There's a child out there who needs you. There may be a
quiver full of children out there who need you. You need to stand in the
gap for those kids. I know what you can handle and how much you can do.
If you look closely into a child's face, you may see the face of My Son,
Jesus Christ.
Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Me.
Mary Biever
www.marybiever.com
workshops@biever.com
Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
3/20/2006 11:48:00 AM by Todd Bacon
2 comments
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Love and Respect
From "Reforming Marriage" by Douglas Wilson
... when the bible gives a specific command to husbands as husbands, and does the same for wives as wives, the emphasis in the respective commands is notably different. For example, wives are nowhere specifically commanded to love their husbands. In one passage, the older women are urged to teach the younger women to be "husband-lovers." But the word is a compound word (philandros), and the form of the word for love refers to a warm affection. The attitude that is required for wives is one of respect. "...and let the wife see that she respects her husband" (Eph. 5:33)
Men, on the other hand, are commanded to love (agapao) their wives to the uttermost. Two examples are given for the men, and both require tremendous self-sacrifice. First, men are to love their wives as they love their own bodies. "So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself" (Eph. 5:28). Second, men are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her...(Eph. 5:25).
Now the Scripture plainly gives us our duties. Wives are to respect their husbands, and husbands are to love their wives. But there is more. When we consider these requirements and look at how men and women relate to one another, we can see the harmony between what God requires, and what we need both to give and to receive.
The commands are given to our respective weaknesses in the performance of our duties. Men need to do their duty with regard to their wives - they need to love. Women need to do their duty in the same way - they need to respect. But men are generally poor at this kind of loving. C.S. Lewis once commented that women tend to think of love as taking trouble for others (which is much closer to the biblical definition), while men tend to think of love as not giving trouble to others. Men consequently need work in this area, and they are instructed by Scripture to undertake it. In a similar way, women are fully capable of loving a man, and sacrificing for him, while believing the entire time that he is a true and unvarnished jerk. Women are good at this kind of love, but the central requirement given to wives is that they respect their husbands. ...... It is wrong for women to substitute love for the respect God requires.
We can also see the commands which are given have regard for our respective weaknesses in another way. Men have a need to be respected, and women have a need to be loved. When Scripture says, for example, that the elders of a church must feed the sheep, it is a legitimate inference to say that sheep need food. In the same way, when the Scripture emphasizes that wives must respect their husbands, it is a legitimate inference to say that husbands need respect. The same is true for wives. If the Bible requires husbands to love their wives, we may safely say that wives need to be loved.
But we are often like the man who gave his wife a shotgun for Christmas because he wanted one. When a wife is trying to work on a troubled marriage, she gives to him what she would like, and not what God commanded adn not what he needs. She loves him, and she tells him so. But does she respect him and tell him so?
We have difficulty because we do not follow the scriptural instructions. When a man is communicating his love for his wife (both verbally and nonverbally), he should be seeking to communicate to her the security provided by his covenantal commitment. He will provide for her, he will nourish and cherish her, he will sacrifice for her, and so forth. Her need is to be secure in his love for her. Her need is to receive love from him.
When a wife is respecting and honoring her husband, the transaction is quite different. Instead of concentrating on the security of the relationship, respect is directed to his abilities and achievements - how hard he works, how faithfully he comes home, how patient he is with the kids, and so forth.
The specifics may cause problems with some because she thinks he might not come home, and she thinks he doesn't work nearly hard enough. But love is to be rendered to wives and respect to husbands, because God has required it, and not because any husband or wife has earned it. It is good for us to remember that God requires our spouses to render to us far more than any of us deserve.
3/15/2006 06:59:00 PM by Todd Bacon
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I Am David
You should see this movie if you haven't already. We watched it (again) last night, but this time with the kids and were able to pause the movie in several spots and talk to the kids about life issues. I was surprised at how riveted they were to what was happening. Even Isaac, at almost 6, seemed to get a lot out of viewing this movie.
3/15/2006 10:08:00 AM by Todd Bacon
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