Groaning

Posted on by Betsy

Romans 8:18-27 (NIV)

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Did you notice that Paul mentioned groaning three times in this short passage? Creation groans in labor pains, we groan in suffering, and the Spirit groans wordlessly within us. There is more groaning here than a teenager being told to go clean his room! But Paul is acknowledging the truth of our reality. 

All of creation groans in a state of declining decay as it waits for the time when Jesus returns and ushers in the New Eden. We weren’t meant for this temporal life. We were designed for fellowship with God in the garden. But after the fall, all of that changed and it has been God’s long range plan, through Jesus, to return us to an Edenlike place of dwelling with him; a place we refer to as heaven. We see Paul looking at this hope. 

I love the fact that Paul said that creation is groaning not in the last throes of death, but in childbirth. Labor pains mean life. Labor pains are a short-term suffering that ends in the beauty of a new creation. This new creation that God will bring will be void of pollution, catastrophic storms, and extreme temperatures. It will be a place where the lion lays down with the lamb, as God intended from the beginning. All creatures great and small will live together in harmony. When we join Paul in his vision, we, too can look past our current pain and suffering of this present earth and anticipate a time when Eden will be restored.

The groaning that occurs through humanity is how we express our exasperation over having to wait for our final “adoption” as children of God who look toward a future redemption of mind, spirit, and body. And see, you thought all your groaning was due to knees that ache, back twinges, and not being able to get off the floor anymore! But really, it’s your soul just groaning for that soon-to-come resurrection body. 

So when Paul used the language of “adoption” to describe the startling, new relationship enjoyed by followers of Jesus, he was speaking to an educated audience. First-century Romans, Jews and Gentiles knew what were the privileges and perks that came with the status of being legally “adopted.” Proclaiming Jesus’ disciples to be true “children of God,” and including them into the scheme of God’s salvation by virtue of a “spirit of adoption,” had real legal realities for Paul’s audience, especially the Gentiles who were previously excluded.

As adoptees, we can anticipate an inheritance as “the glory about to be revealed to us” and “the redemption of our bodies”. Paul writes about our inheritance of the kingdom of God in many of his letters. So yes, we groan through days of disappointment and despair that we experience in the here and now, but our groaning is really toward something yet to come that we can’t even see yet.

Now, let me ask you a question: Have you ever been so distraught and overcome that you didn’t even know how to pray? I have. I have sometime only been able to muster “Help me, help me” as I sigh and groan in my angst. So when Paul wrote “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” we can feel the immediate release of our stress and tension, knowing that the Spirit has taken over our need and our petition. We can come out from the confusion that blots everything out and see clearly that God has a plan.

And God does have a plan.

Are you groaning today? Remember God’s goodness is everlasting, and he has designed a better life for us at the end.

Waiting Patiently by Kathy Schumacher

A Future With Hope

Posted on by Betsy

Batman and Robin decided to go camping. They set up their tent out in the woods and went to sleep. A couple of hours later, Batman woke his faithful friend. “Robin, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.” Robin, who is used to these midnight lessons, replied, “I see millions of stars.” “What does that tell you?” asked Batman. Robin pondered for a minute. “Well, astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Chronologically, it appears to be about 3:15AM. Theologically, it’s evident that God is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant.”

“Why?” continued Robin. “What does it tell you, Batman?” Batman is silent for a moment, then speaks. “Robin, you’re an idiot. It means somebody stole our tent while we were sleeping.”

How many of you grew up watching the television show “Batman?” Batman began as a comic book, evolved to TV, and is the recent subject of several new movies. This story is first told in a twelve-frame comic strip in 1939 in issue #27 of Detective Comics. Bruce Wayne and his parents were walking home from the theater when an armed robber accosted them. His father stepped in front of his mother and took a bullet. Then the gunman turned the gun on his mother while Bruce watched. The robber ran away, leaving Bruce standing over his dead parents. His guilt and life-long suffering over standing by helplessly while his parents were murdered turns the boy Bruce Wayne into the superhero crime-fighter Batman. He dedicated his life to stopping criminals and defending the weak.

Batman’s life is a statement about how we can use suffering to give us purpose and to make us stronger while we wait on an unknown future that is way off on the horizon. This little story is also a reminder that sometimes you have to get out from under the tent to truly see what is on the horizon.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New Revised Standard Version)

11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Jeremiah was an Old Testament prophet who served God during a time of great discord in Israel. He was called to warn the kingdom of Judah about the coming destruction by the Babylonians. God was allowing this to happen due to Israel’s apostasy. Even with this impending doom, Jeremiah had the ability to see beyond the immediate to the future with hope.

I am reminded of a story one of my pastors told about the first time he took his 6 year old daughter on a cruise ship. As they made their way out to sea, she looked left to right and then right to left and exclaimed, “Oh Daddy! I can see as far as I can look!” Her first view of an unlimited horizon was breathtaking.

So should ours be.

God has prepared an unlimited horizon for us that includes a resurrection body, a new Eden, peace, and fellowship with him. So no matter what troubles you today, look up! See the stars. Watch the horizon. Be encouraged. This life is not all there is.

Get out from under your tent.

Unlimited Horizon by Michelle Robertson

Tongue Taming

Posted on by Betsy

I have always disliked the kid’s rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Really? In what universe? Words have the power to break a mood, break a spirit, break a childhood, and even break a life. Having broken a few bones, and also having received the tongue lashing of harsh words, I can attest to the fact that words hurt more. I bet you can, too. This may be folklore, but I have heard that a healed bone break produces a stronger bone. I can’t say the same for a soul that has suffered from breakage by negative, self-esteem destroying words and attitudes. Words can linger through a lifetime, and they can leave a significant mark.

Proverbs 12:18

The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

I have a friend who was raised in an environment of negative words. Overly distracted and uncaring parenting lead her to seek affirmation outside of the home. The extreme harshness of constant criticism from her mother took her down a dark and lonely path, leading her to attempt suicide and participate in dangerous behavior. When she wasn’t wilding, she was trying to disappear. Her world was void of any color that usually goes along with a normal childhood. Later in life, she was fortunate to meet a stable and caring man, but the words she received from her violently angry mother are still a part of her daily existence.

In counseling, I experience the aftermath of the words of war that people inflict on each other. Every sentence that comes from your mouth can either inflict hurt, or bring fruit from the tree of life to someone. I think the difference lies in our ability to practice self-control. Everyone gets angry. Everyone is frustrated. Everyone looses their temper now and again. But the pivotal moment lies in our ability to practice the fruits of the spirit … or to abandon them and give into our need to rage.

Galatians 5: 22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

Self-control. Just walk away. Take a break. Count to 20. Leave the room. Go outside. Anything but give into your anger that might result in a soul-crushing vomit of damaging words.

How would it be if we decided today that this week we will only offer words that uplift, build up and offer the fruit of the tree of life to those around us? How would it be if we decided that this week, we will avoid any words, tone, or attitudes that might crush the hopes of those around us?

So there is your challenge. You can do it … with God’s help.

Reaching for Good Fruit

Consider the Ravens

Posted on by Betsy

A friend recently asked me why I started writing this devotional blog. I had to think back to 2019 when I wrote my first one on April 25th after spending a week with my daughter, who encouraged me and helped me figure out WordPress. But it began a few months earlier, when I had the blessed luck to fall into a seminar in Atlanta with a comedic genius named Jon Acuff. I am still feasting on the manna he poured out that day. I decided to go ahead with starting these daily devotionals because of his one-hour session of encouragement to risk-take.

One of the many great things I heard that day is, “Don’t give real time to fake worries.” Let that just settle into your brain a minute. Take another sip of coffee, and let’s dwell there for a moment.

How many times have you spun out with anxiety over something, only to see it through in real time as the no-big-deal that it truly was? How many hours of sleep have you lost fretting over something, only to wake up to the reality of:

1. It wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be.

2. It was already being taken care of.

3. You had no control over it anyway.

4. It looked much smaller in the daylight.

Yet you spent real time obsessively worrying over it. Time that could have been spent more productively.

I spent a lot of time, and I mean a LOT, worrying about my parents’ deaths. Perhaps this is a preoccupation of pastors, since we sit with a lot of families alongside a deathbed as part of our pastoral care. I can remember in my early years of ministry making the fiftieth visit to a home where someone was slowly dying of cancer, and driving away thinking I could never have the strength to watch my parent linger like that. This worry fueled many a sleepless night.

As it turned out, my father came home from the grocery store one day with a headache and died of a sudden brain aneurysm, and five years later my mother died in her sleep. I was with her that evening, and neither of us had a clue she would die in a few hours as we kissed and said, “See you tomorrow”. And so all those years of fake worry in real time only robbed me of peace in a situation I could not control anyway.

Psalm 46 breathes a word of sanity into our spinning:

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

God is looking at your anxiety this morning and whispering, “I got this.” 

Jesus reminds us:

Matthew 6

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

Today, let’s take that worry and cast it out. Let’s bundle it up in newspapers and carry it out to the curb. Let’s approach the throne of grace and lay it down. And then leave it there. The only beneficiary of our worry is the Enemy, who loves the distraction worry brings into the abundant life Jesus is trying to give us.

Don’t let him win.

Fish Tails by Michelle Robertson

Staying Focused

Posted on by Betsy

Dogs love walks. They may not like leashes, gentle leaders, other dogs on the street, or rules, but in general, dogs love walks. When I used to walk my dog Georgia, her intense focus on the task almost pulled my arm out of the socket several times. We live on a cul-de-sac, so every single day we walked in the same direction. We may have added a street at the end, but every day, twice a day, we walked the same street, passed the same houses, and greeted the same neighbors. Yet Georgia walked with such gusto and purpose, it’s as though every walk was a new and exciting venture. And there was no use in talking to her when she was walking; she was too busy concentrating.

You’ve watched kids do the same thing. Give a kid a Lego project, and watch her tongue slip out of the side of her mouth as focus draws her in and the background activity fades away. The ability to tune-out in order to focus-in is a gift from God, and has brought us all through driver’s exams, final papers, graduation, scoring the touchdown, childbirth, accomplishing the big project at work, and has even saved our lives when the surgeon’s focus was accurate. Olympians, politicians, and three-year-olds know the value of focusing.

But even the strongest among us can occasionally lose focus. Or maybe it’s a matter of shifting our focus to the wrong things. We can focus a lot of time, energy, and attention to things around us that are not going carry us forward to the goal of being citizens of heaven. All day long our focus can shift to useless things like comparing ourselves to all those happy, beautiful (fake) families on Face Book, envying the coworker’s expensive car and wondering why you don’t have one, clicking on a friend’s vacation video, reading announcements of someone’s child who got straight A’s and won four school awards … all these things are focus-stealers that take you down wrong paths. Too much time on Instagram can lead to Instagrim, where you get caught in a sticky comparison trap that makes your vision blur. When you do that, you lose sight of what’s really important.

So what’s really important?

Seeking a relationship with the One who makes us beautiful and whole.

Building a partnership with the One who will transform our earthly bodies into glorious ones like his own.

Staying on the right track and living a life worthy of the cross.

Focusing on God, and letting the rest of it go. All of it.

Philippians 3:15-21 (The Message)

So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision – you’ll see it yet! 

16 Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it. 17 Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. 18 There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. 

19 But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites. 20 But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.

Lord, in your mercy, help us focus!

Focused

Need a Friend?

Posted on by Betsy

A few summers ago I had the extraordinary opportunity to see the Broadway musical, “Beautiful”, which is about the life of singer and songwriter Carole King. Her story is fascinating. I had no idea how many songs she has written, and how reluctant she was to sing her own compositions. Many of her greatest efforts were recorded by someone else, as she took “second chair” to somebody else’s great talent. It is fitting that one of her best known works was recorded by her friend James Taylor: (ear worm alert! You’ll have this stuck in your head all day!)

When you’re down and troubled
And you need some love and care
And nothing, nothing is going right
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest night

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running, to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there
You’ve got a friend

King, an extraordinary talent on her own, served as a type of “Barnabas” to Taylor. Forty years later, they still toured together.

Barnabas was an encourager to Paul, and his presence and actions brought the early church into focus. He gave Paul the center stage and stood with him as the church was growing and expanding beyond Jerusalem:

Acts 11:22-26 New International Version (NIV)

News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.  When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

When I think back to my own times of trouble, I realize that God sent me some pretty incredible ”Barnabas” friends along the way. I have been prayed over, lifted up, listened to, and loved through many trials and tribulations. For many years I was blessed to walk my dog with a true friend who offered her ear and gave great counsel. I am blessed with a running partner who embodies Taylor’s lyrics. When I call out her name, she comes running, (see what I did there?) offering me a safe and nonjudgmental space to be myself and whine as we put in our miles.

Who in your life needs you to Barnabas them today? Who would thrive under your encouraging and uplifting words? Who needs reminding that they are loved unconditionally, and cherished by the creator of the universe, who offers life abundant? Someone you know needs encouragement today.

Barnabas’ entire life was focused on bringing people to our ultimate friend, Jesus. Jesus was the kind of friend of whom it was said:

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Everyone needs a friend like him.

My grandmother once told me that to have a friend, you need to be a friend. I bet God has put someone in your life right now that needs your friendship. There is someone in your life right now that needs to be reminded of Jesus’ love for them. Make the call, send the text, reach out to someone who is hurting and alone, and tell them, “you’ve got a friend.” You just might save a life.

Friends For Life

Wisdom to Know the Difference

Posted on by Betsy

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

This beautiful prayer is a hallmark of 12 Step groups such as AA. The origin of it is somewhat disputed, but look at this longer prayer written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace.

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.

Trusting that You will make all things right, if I surrender to Your will, so that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

The pursuit of serenity and peace is something that consumes many of us, with little to no results. The reason may be that we are using the wrong things to find it. Hoping to find serenity in alcohol, drugs, food, “retail therapy”, inappropriate relationships, overworking, over exercising, attempting to control everything around us….even the list itself is exhausting.

I know someone who religiously gets up every morning to pour over every single page of a national newspaper, thinking that intellectual pursuit of answers to her anxiety about the current state of affairs will bring her peace. It does not. I know someone else who is up at the crack of dawn to exercise, followed by more cardio work and group classes throughout the day, in hopes that physical exhaustion will settle her mind down. It does not. Neither will the every afternoon Happy Hour routine, the weed smoked before class, the sexting, the pornography, the overspending, the undereating…..nothing we can produce or manufacture will bring us true peace. It is all lies, smoke, and mirrors fueled by industries who are just trying to produce more consumption of useless things.

Niebuhr was right. Accepting hardship, rather than denying it, is the pathway to peace. Living one day at a time, rather than spinning with worry about tomorrow, will lead us to serenity. Enjoying one moment at a time, rather than comparing that moment to the fun everyone on Fakebook seems to be having, will lead to acceptance of the world as it is. And the key? “Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will.”

Take a look at verses 3 and 4 of this passage from Isaiah. Note that the voice changes in this passage; verse 1 and 2 describes what is happening, verse 3 addresses God, and verse 4 addresses us.

Isaiah 26

1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

    he sets up salvation

    as walls and bulwarks.

2 Open the gates,

    that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.”

3 You keep him in perfect peace

    whose mind is stayed on You,

    because he trusts in You.

4 Trust in the Lord forever,

    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

To be kept in this perfect peace, our minds must be “stayed” on God. The Hebrew word “sawmak” comes from the root “to prop,” and is translated as “to lean upon or take hold of; to bear up, establish, uphold, lay, lean, lie hard, put, rest self, set self, stand fast, stay, sustain.” (Strong’s Dictionary)

So, what sustains your mind? What do you lay your mind upon? What does your mind stand fast upon? What is your mind leaning on? To have perfect peace, your mind can’t just occasionally visit the Lord; it has to be STAYED on him. Keeping your mind, heart, soul and activity wholly centered on God is the way to peace.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Perfect Peace

Love First

Posted on by Betsy

A few decades ago, Christians everywhere started wearing bracelets with the letters “WWJD”. It was an attempt to encourage the wearers to ask themselves, “What Would Jesus Do?” as they made their way through the day. WWJD captured our imagination and quickly became the ubiquitous symbol of what it meant to truly follow Jesus.

We might think of the WWJD movement as a recent development, but actually the wording has been around for more than 100 years. Charles M. Sheldon, a Topeka minister and evangelical Christian writer, used it in his 1897 novel, “In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?” He was a social activist focused on justice issues, and his book brought forth the idea that in everything we do, we should be imitating Christ. Our words, our actions, our priorities, our thoughts, our giving … everything we do should reflect Christ to the world.

Paul was way ahead of his time when he wrote this quintessential response to the question of what Jesus would be doing: 

Ephesians 5 The Message (MSG)

Wake Up from Your Sleep

5 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

“Mostly what God does is love you.”

See how beautifully this answers the question of What Would Jesus Do? He Would Love First. (HWLF)

Loving first means to seek out the lost and offer them salvation.

Loving first means that there are no “others,” for everyone is considered by God to be a child of God.

Loving first means we are extravagant with all of our resources, just as Jesus was.

Loving first means we offer ourselves without any expectation of reward or return.

Loving first means to withhold judgment and condemnation and offer acceptance and hospitality. To everyone. Without regard to any differences. You see, if you love first, the differences don’t matter.

Loving first opens wide the hearts, opens wide the minds and certainly opens wide the doors.

Love like that.

How is your HWLF life going? We are offered a chance today to do a deep examination of this standard in the different aspects of our discipleship. Is love your first response, or is legalism? Is love your first answer, or is anger? Is love expressed in your every action, or are you withholding? Does your giving reflect love, or self-love? Is your social media persona a pure reflection of God’s unconditional love for the world, or have you taken sides?

He Would Love First. So must we.

KHUMC Mission Trip Love

Too Soon

Posted on by Betsy

I was disturbed this week by a headline that fairly jumped off the page in an advertisement from my denomination’s publisher. It came unwanted and unbidden on a sunny day in August. You can probably already guess what they were selling: Christmas resources. It read: “Do you feel the anticipation coming?”

Yes, it is time to order Advent materials. No, I don’t feel the anticipation beginning.

You see, I live on the Outer Banks. I anticipate September. September is a magical month where the weather is gorgeous, the beaches are less crowded, the air is cooler, the restaurants are still in full swing, and you can actually navigate the by-pass without getting stopped at all nine stoplights between Colington and Kitty Hawk, which is only a four-mile trek. (Seriously, the by-pass traffic is a thing. I once wrote a song called “The By-Pass Blues,” and made my entire congregation sing it.)

Ahhh, September!

Perhaps that should read, “Ahhhhh, (hopefully hurricane-free) September!” When we get through the early fall unscathed by tropical depressions that turn into storms that turn into hurricane-force winds that turn into Cat 5s, we have had a good fall indeed.

Now that’s something to anticipate!

Simeon was one of the best anticipators in the Bible. I offer this with an apology: it was not my intention to bring you a Christmas scripture in the late summer, but here it is. Apparently I should work for Cokesbury. Oh, wait! I do work for Cokesbury.

Luke 2 (NIV)

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,

    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.

30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,

31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:

32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

    and the glory of your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Wow, so much to unpack here, but let’s stay focused on Simeon the Anticipator. He was waiting for the Lord’s Messiah, and was empowered in his waiting by the Holy Spirit. He had been assured by God that the Messiah would actually come in his lifetime and he believed that so much, he went to the temple that day led by the Holy Spirit, anticipating that he would see Jesus.

Let that soak in.

What are you anticipating today? Are you waiting with full assurance that you will encounter Jesus? Are you making your way toward his saving grace with confidence that you will be delivered?

Anticipation tells us that whatever we do, wherever we are, whatever sin we have committed, whatever burden of grief we bear, no matter what, Jesus is ready. He is ready to heal, to direct, to rebuke, to fight for you … Jesus is ready.

Simeon teaches us to anticipate with hope. We are invited to stand firm on the promises of God in our lives and expect to be delivered. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of Jesus:

Romans 8 (NLT)

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” God always delivers on his promises. Simeon saw Jesus, and we can too.

Anticipate that, my friends!

Waiting for September

Church Clothes

Posted on by Betsy

Consider the history of the necktie. Legionnaires in the 2nd century B.C. wore the first neckwear, according to some historians. Their cloth bands were worn as protection from the weather. Other people cite the 3rd century B.C. terra-cotta statues of Chinese warriors as the first evidence of neckties. They wore neck scarves to protect the source of their strength, i.e. their Adam’s apples.

Most experts, however, date the initial appearance of what led to the modern tie back to 1636. Croatian mercenaries hired by King Louis XIV wore cloth bands around their necks to ward off natural elements and sword slashes.

Today, however, men don’t need to protect themselves from weather, assaults to their Adam’s apples, and hopefully not sword slashes. So why the tie? Most men find them uncomfortable and bothersome. Loosening the tie is often the first thing a fellow does the minute he leaves the office. I mean, even the word neck-tie sounds restrictive.

Neckties are a means of uniformity. Imagine the workplace of the 1960’s without men in neckties. Imagine the church of the 1990’s without men in neckties. Uniformity was the goal, and neckties were the instrument that tied it all together. Blessed be the tie that binds? Not when it is tied around the neck!

Thank God we are over that.

Ties, hats, gloves, and heels have faded away as mandatory “Sunday morning best.” Society has accepted the fact that it is so much more important to show up than to show off.

So with neckties out, what should we wear around our necks?

Proverbs 3 New Living Translation (NLT)

3  My child, never forget the things I have taught you.

    Store my commands in your heart.

2  If you do this, you will live many years,

    and your life will be satisfying.

3  Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!

    Tie them around your neck as a reminder.

    Write them deep within your heart.

4  Then you will find favor with both God and people,

    and you will earn a good reputation.

Loyalty and kindness. The perfect neckwear for any occasion! This type of necktie will help you find favor with God and people alike. When we tie the things God has taught us around our necks, we will have a satisfying life and a good reputation. Now that’s a necktie everyone should have in their closet.

I once had a conversation with a teenager about church clothes. Michael was the son of the school bus driver and never attended church. I knew him from the High School marching band, where I volunteered as a chaperone and band announcer. All the kids knew me, but most didn’t know I am a pastor. Michael had spent the weekend at Taylor’s house, and when they awoke on Sunday morning, Taylor’s mom called them to breakfast and told them what time to be ready for church.

When Michael arrived, he looked around at all the people dressed up for church, and all the men wearing ties. He found me and immediately came up to me. “Miss Betsy, I am so sorry to be wearing my band t-shirt and jeans in your church,” he said. “I spent the night at Taylor’s house and my Mom didn’t know we would be coming to church so I don’t have church clothes.”

I looked him in the eye and asked, “Michael, are you in a church?” He replied, “Yes, M’am.” I said, “And are you wearing clothes?” He laughed and said, “Yes, M’am.” “Then you’re obviously wearing church clothes, so have a seat.”

The Gospel is a message of freedom, not restriction. Church is a place of harmony, not uniformity. Come on in and find a seat! We’re just glad you’re here. There is no dress code in God’s house. In my church at the beach, the acolytes wear flip flops and the pastor never wears a tie. Got clothes? Come on in.

Sometimes We Wear Green