Created to Sing

(Lazuli Bunting - rare sighting in my backyard)

When I was two years old, my brother was born. He was a sickly baby suffering from eczema and asthma. He had trouble sleeping and gave my Mom many difficult nights. She was very happy if he would fall asleep during the day, allowing her to get some of her work done. Because my brother was a light sleeper, Mom needed to keep me quiet so my noisy play would not awaken him.

I remember one specific day very clearly.

My Mom had just rocked my brother to sleep and she told me I needed to play quietly. She took away the toy I was playing with saying it was too loud. I remember distinctly grappling in my little mind what constituted 'quiet' - why some toys were OK and others not. I could not quite grasp the concept of where the line between quiet and too loud was, but I tried my very best to be 'quiet'.

I thought that I was playing quietly but my brother's sudden cry proved I was not. I remember my Mom being upset that I had woken my brother and I felt crushed -- feeling so bad that somehow I had not done what my Mom needed me to do - and not understanding why.

'Quiet' has to be learned, making 'sound' comes quite naturally.

Our parents tell us to be quiet, we are told to be quiet in libraries, in churches, in school. Not many of us could point to times in our childhood where we were told to be 'noisy' !

And yet, it seems our God loves noise ! and indeed tells us to 'make noise!"

Psalm 98:4 - "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!"

Our God, the creator of all things created everything with the ability to make sound. What an amazing symphony must be heard in the highest heaven where He sits on His throne.

When His creation was finished, God pronounced it as good! And if it was 'good' is it not natural that each part would praise Him?

Praise cannot be silent, can it? If it is, there is no praise.

I don't think I ever considered, until I watched that moving video, that of all of God's creation only man has to ability to choose whether or not he uses his voice to praise God.

Everything else in His creation is programmed to praise Him continually -- even the rocks stand by to praise Him!

If all ability to make sound was created for singing/shouting praise to God, then are our voices not also created for that highest purpose?

And yet... what do we use our voices for ? How many times a day do we raise our voice in 'praise' to God ? To join in with that amazing symphony that encompasses all of our universe and beyond!

I am told that a conductor or composer has the ability to hear separately each note or sound of every instrument or voice in a choir or symphony. How much more then, would God not have that same ability -- to hear every individual sound that rises from His creation. How pleasing it must be to Him when every individual sound blends into the majestic harmony of praise.

And yet -- how often do our individual voices disturb the harmonious universal choir because our voice rather than being lifted up in praise is lifted up in anger, in criticism, in complaining or even in praise of something earthly.

Does our individual 'out of key' voice grate on God's ears the way someone singing out of tune grates on my husband's ears? His sensitive ears can hear even the smallest discord - how much more finely tuned are God's ears ?

I desire - I choose - my voice to be raised in praise to the One who alone is worthy of all praise!

Psa 150:6 "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!"

Psa 5:3 "My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up."

Press Play

The other day at breakfast my husband related an experience he had had the night before.

As is his nightly ritual, he was sitting in his favourite easy chair reading his bible. Reading from John 14, he read to verse 13 when he dosed off.

A dream came to him.

In the dream he was looking at a computer screen that had John 14:13 written on it ..

"And whatsoever you ask in My name , that I will do, that the Father maybe glorified in the Son."

But over top of the verse was the triangle "Press Play".

He wasn't sure what the dream meant but the analogy presented itself immediately in my mind!

When we pull up a video or youtube on our computer screens there is the 'press play' button that activates the video. If you don't 'press play' the movie never plays, it stays static, frozen in one frame.

So often we pull up a certain scripture, a promise of God or a commandment and we just sit and look at it frozen in the frame of the printed page. To activate that promise or word of God we need to 'press play'. We need to 'act' on it -- believe it , make it something we live out, something we DO ... not just think about , not just know about , not just be able to read or even recite from memory.

What we believe motivates us to let it change us and determine our life path. Watch the things people do, listen to the things they say and you know what they believe.

Even as Christians, it is not an automatic given that the scripture we are so quick to say is the inspired word of God, is what we allow to be the greatest authority in our minds.

It is one thing to know what God says , but another to have pressed play to activate our obedience to actually live them in our daily life.

God says ... "Forgive others as I have forgiven you!" Do we press play and forgive those who have hurt or offended us ? Or do we stare at the 'screen' thinking of all the reasons why we cannot forgive someone.

God says ... "Do not worry, I will meet your needs." Do we press play and trust that all our needs will be met without us lying awake at night worrying about them? or do we go over and over the things that cause us concern and fill us with apprehension or indecision.

God says.... " Ask in my name and I will do it ... " Do we press play and believe it? Do we confidently expect the answer to our petition is coming or do we live as though our prayers go unanswered.

What scripture verses have stood out to you lately ? What passages are you drawn to ? What words of God speak to your need or situation or walk of faith ? Have you pressed play when you look at them ? or do you hold back ......

"Dear Father, I pray that you would help each person reading this to reach out and press play on your word to them. That their faith/trust in your word would be released with power and authority to play out in and through them. I thank you for your faithful, caring love for each of your children - and I love that you know each of us by name! through Jesus, Amen!"

Our Inheritance

I have always loved wild flowers more than the ones we grow in our gardens and I think this is the reason why.

No matter how dry or infertile the soil, no matter if rain falls or not, no matter how hot the sun, wild flowers bloom in wild abandon somehow unfailingly cared for by some unseen Gardener’s hand.

The flowers I plant in my garden on the other hand, seem to need constant pampering and attention which , in my case at least, never seems to be enough. And if I turn my head away for a day or two and the weather conditions are less than perfect they hang their blooms and leaves and die more easily than they live!

I have come to the conclusion that God has done that on purpose wanting man to see that what He does is perfect and when He speaks we can trust that it will come to pass. He did not say He would care for us as we care for our garden flowers. He said He would care for us as He cares for the wild flowers that are perfectly healthy and happy – as well as beautiful - in the most adverse growing conditions.

I was reminded of a verse in Psalm 2 this morning that encouraged me in spite of the discouraging conditions of the world around us. If we look at the failing economy, the shaky financial institutions , the ever increasing threat to our moral standards and values and to our expression of them , the threat to our personal safety from criminal or terrorist activity, then we have every reason to feel like a flower in my garden that is fearfully dependent on my ‘notsogreen’ thumb for survival .

BUT… what does Psalm 2:7,8 have to say to us ?

The familiar words of verse 7, "You are my Son , this day have I begotten you" …. quoted in Heb. 1:5 make it clear that in those Psalm 2 verses we have God the Father speaking directly to Jesus , His Son.

He is promising to Jesus His inheritance, which is … “I will give you the heathen and the uttermost ends of the earth !”

Do you think the same God who gardens with such faithfulness the wild flowers would be unable to deliver on His inheritance promise to Jesus ? I think not!

The promise He made to Jesus is also made to us as the followers of Jesus.. His inheritance is also our inheritance!

Col 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

What does this inheritance entail ? What is it exactly that we have been given the right to and the power to receive ?

In Deut. 20:14 God gives His people instructions on how they are to deal with ‘cities that are afar off’ .. He says that they are to take from them all the plunder that they could productively use, as well as take the women and children as their own. Interestingly, they were to kill all the males. Why would this be?

Males represent power... and so God's people were not to allow something that would have power over them. God was to be the only authority in their lives.

The ‘cities that are afar off’ represent the world. We have this given to us in Acts 2:39 in the first sermon preached by Peter in his words… “and this promise is to you and all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call”

The words ‘afar off’ and the ‘cities afar off’ do not parallel by accident. Just as the OT ‘cities afar off’ referred to the heathen in the OT world, so also the words “afar off” in Acts are speaking about God reaching out to the heathen in the world to whom the promise of salvation was being extended.

So we see that God has given to Jesus and to us the ‘plunder of the world’ as our inheritance. Whatever we need for our livelihood or our ministry is ours to freely take … and the best plunder, of course , are the souls that we take ‘out of the world’ and bring into God’s Kingdom.

Did you ever stop to think that that is our inheritance?? That as citizens of God’s Kingdom we have the right and ministry to take from the world that which rightfully belongs to God and claim it for His everlasting Kingdom?

I love that God calls it our ‘inheritance’ . No one need fight for an inheritance – it is simply given by the one who names the recipient.

An inheritance can be squandered or used selfishly. That is not to be the attitude of God’s children. We are to be known by our attitude of love. We are to use our inheritance for the glory of God and in such a way that we will be recognized as children of God !

If the inheritance is ours by God’s Word, then the conditions around us in a crumbling world hold no terror for us, though they may threaten! What God has given us to do will never be hindered nor our opportunities be diminished !

So if God gave Jesus .. (and by extension to His followers and brethren) the 'heathen and uttermost parts of the earth as our inheritance does that not mean that we SHALL have it ?? surely God can pass on to us what He has decreed to be our inheritance !

So that means that no matter what happens in the world around us ... we shall take from it what belongs to God's Kingdom ... and that is our work and our calling and our ministry and our joy !!!

What's 'New' ??

The above photo is of my new e-reader, the Amazon Kindle that my kids and husband gave me for my birthday . I love it!!

Have you ever stopped to consider how many times a day you say or hear the word 'new' ??

A common greeting - 'What's new'?

A new experience, a new outfit, a new kitchen, new dishes, new hairdo, new technology, new recipe, new toy, new appliance, new décor, new friend, new book, new baby.... the list is endless.

In every instance 'new' is an adjective that conveys to us a sense of value concerning the 'thing' referred to ! It is not something old or worn out. It is something fresh, something desired, something we did not have before.

The word 'new' is also used in scripture, perhaps not as many times as we would guess. It is mentioned 49 times, with 7 of the references in the New Testament.

A very often quoted and one of my favorites is "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new." (II Cor. 5:17)

There is another reference to 'new' in Colossians 3:10 where Paul refers to believers as having put on the 'new man'. Because of something I learned this week about the Roman class system these words 'new man' have taken on a deeper significance of meaning for me.

I always simply understood Paul's reference to 'new man' fitting in with the above quoted verse in II Corinthians but I am wondering if Paul did not have a vivid analogy in mind drawn from the customs of his world.

Paul, living in a world dominated by Roman rule, would have understood their political structure. The Romans had two elite classes of citizens. One of these classes was the Senatorial class from which were elected the members of the Senate and the consul. The consul was a man elected to the highest political office in the Roman Republic.

This Senatorial class was dominated by the nobles. The nobles were distinguished by the fact that they had an ancestor who had served as consul.

The elitism of this class was closely guarded and men were appointed/elected to the Senate or as Consul because they carried birth-rite membership in this class of Roman citizens.

However, on a rare occasion, a man would so distinguish himself on his own merit that he would be elected as a consul even though his family did not belong to the noble class.

When this happened, Romans would call him a 'new man' because he was the first in his family to be elected to this public office. He then consequently qualified his family for noble status.

Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was such a man, who lived in Paul's lifetime.

How does this interesting Roman political tradition magnify the meaning hidden in the reference to 'new man' in our passage in Colossians 3?

I see several points of parallelism.

1> A 'new man' is not someone who is 'grandfathered' into a position of honour.

For the Romans it was not someone who could lean on ancestry.

We also cannot depend on our family connections or heritage in seeking relationship with God. We cannot take for granted that because our parents, grandparents or uncles were godly believers, we automatically belong to the 'noble' class and are part of God's family in the Kingdom of God.

2> A Roman 'new man' came on his own merit, as must we to become one of the elect.

What is our own merit ? Unlike the Roman man who distinguished himself by his mighty works or exemplary achievements, we must come on the merit of our own repentant hearts recognizing our personal need of a Saviour.

"..the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15)

3> The Roman 'new man' was elected by man. The 'new man' believer is 'elected' by God. Paul admonishes the believer in Col. 3:12 that as an elected 'new man' the believer must live up to the standard now required of him.

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;

While a Roman elected 'new man' could lose favour with the people, the believer 'new man' need not fear the opinion of man, only the opinion of God matters. "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies". (Rom. 8:33)

4> A 'new man' leaves his old 'class' behind and steps into an entirely new identity.

Looking at verses 5- 9 in our Col. 3 passage , we see that the 'old man' belonged to the class of sinners (fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, idolatry , anger, wrath, malice , blasphemy, filthy language, lying)

But the 'old man' has been put off -- the Roman citizen could not belong to two classes at once. He could not belong to both the common class and the elite noble class. He had to leave one behind and embrace the 'new' .

So the believer, becoming a 'new man' steps out of his sinner class and steps up into the heavenly noble 'elect' class!

Col 1:13 "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, (1Th 2:12) "that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory."

5> The 'new man' believer, just like the Roman 'new man' who qualified his family to belong to the noble class, has an great influence on others.

" whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (I Cor. 10:13) becomes his motto. He lives in such a way that his life will honour his new class and make others want to become one of the 'elect' as well.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matt. 5:16)

6> There is one difference in the Roman 'new man' and the believer. The Roman 'new man' had to prove that he was independently wealthy - he had to be able to prove that his personal worth was at least one million sesterces (about 2 or 3 million dollars in today's currency) There was no monetary salary offered with his elected position so he had to have his own resources.

The believer, on the other hand, is offered the riches of the kingdom for his support !

"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

(Phil. 4:19)

The invitation to become a 'new man' in the Kingdom of God is open to all ... not those born into the 'right' family, not those who earned it by their works , but ANYONE may come and receive the status of the elect 'new man'.

In the words of Jesus, hear His invitation .."And the Spirit and the bride say 'Come!' And let his who hears say 'Come!' And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires , let him take the water of life freely." (Rev.22:17)

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