Considering Conduct

April 14th, 2005

Bobby showed me a funny cartoon yesterday. In it a lady is home from work and says, “Honey, I’ve had a stressful day, take me out somewhere expensive tonight.” The next block is a picture of the husband and wife sitting in his car at a gas station. I found this pretty funny because our gas has gone up so much, and I’m driving an SUV now so when I have to fill up, my eyes are bugging out at the price meter.

It sure has been an busy week at work with the tax deadline tomorrow. I can’t wait for it to be done and to have a couple of days to recuperate from the pressures of the week. One of our students is letting us borrow an old Nintendo 64 he doesn’t play anymore. And Bobby and I are having so much fun with it. We play Mario tennis and kart and recently started playing a tetris-type one, Dr. Mario. I never played video games growing up so I get pretty cleaned out by Bobby and Ty, but when Missy and I play it’s really fun because we are an equal competition for each other. I guess it’s pretty amusing that we are adults so entertained by these games!

In our study this week of young people being godly examples, we talked about conduct. Last week’s lesson being on godly speech, actions seem like a good characteristic to follow up with. But it wasn’t our idea, it was Paul’s. He says to Timothy, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12) I found conduct to be a very convicting lesson. Bobby tried to help the students see that we can’t just say things, we need to show them, like James challenges in James 3:13:

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his works are done in meekness of wisdom.”

We can’t just say we believe things we need to live what we believe with integrity, truth and wisdom. James goes on to give a list of characteristics we must not have and then shows what the wisdom of God looks like in righteous conduct. When I think of how far I have to go in striving towards godliness I can get overwhelmed and discouraged. God has set His path before me, and yet my sinful heart and bad habits are so strong to control. Why is obedience so difficult sometimes? Bobby showed a great pattern for godly conduct from the book of 1 Peter, starting with the fact that we don’t have to get discouraged because we have a living hope in the grace that God provides through Christ. We looked at three guidelines for our conduct:
1) We need to be holy before God. “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’.” (1 Peter 1:15-16) Sometimes we get our minds set on the fact that we cannot be perfect, so we simply stop trying. This isn’t a question of when we are going to get there, but are we moving in that direction. We must be striving for and pursuing God’s standard for perfect holiness.
2) We need to be honorable among others. “Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak evil against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:12) I should be living in such a way that it is clear what my motivation is, to glorify God. Being above reproach that even when people try to say bad things about me, I know in my conscience that their words are not true.

3) We need to be honest with ourselves. “Having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.” (1 Peter 3:16) This is similar to living honorably but also bears an attitude of humility, teachability and truth. If I am willing to see who I am and ask God to reveal my sins and am eager to confess them and change from them, I will begin to have a clear conscience. I know that for my own life that if I am going to be honest with myself, I desperately need to work on these things if I am going to come anywhere close to being holy, honorable and honest in all things before God and men.

The last thing we talked about was Titus 2:10:

“But showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things.”

In my small group I tried to help the girls see the importance of a virtuous life and how that can show how attractive salvation is. We asked ourselves, how am I wearing Jesus? Do I live in such a way that my conduct brings honor and glory to His name? Or do I, by the way I live, make Jesus look ugly? So often we settle for just a shallow acceptance of a system of beliefs that doesn’t seem to change us much and sometimes we are even embarrassed by. But for those who believe, a rich life with goodness and mercy, hope and truth are waiting us, if we would take up our cross daily and follow Him.


A Prayer of Praise

April 13th, 2005

I was humming this song all day yesterday. It is such a beautiful prayer of praise. I love how it refers to God in so many of the characterisitcs that He is: Counselor, Comforter, Redeemer, Father…and He is even so much more than these. My favorite line is the last, “You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for.” This song is my prayer today.

Wonderful merciful Savior,
Precious redeemer and friend,
Who would have thought that a Lamb could
Rescue the souls of men?
Oh, You rescue the souls of men!

Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
Spirit we long to embrace
You offer hope when our hearts have
Hopelessly lost the way
Oh, we’ve hopelessly lost the way

Almighty, infinite Father
Faithfully loving Your own
Here in our weakness You find us
Falling before Your throne
Oh, we’re falling before Your throne

CHORUS
You are the One that we praise
You are the One we adore
You give the healing and grace
Our hearts always hunger for
Oh, our hearts always hunger for.



Frail but Free…

April 11th, 2005

It’s a beautifully cool, grey-skied Monday. I’m sitting in my office sipping tea, listening to the soft tunes of Norah Jones and working on papers for the tax deadline. Oddly for the season, our office is quiet and calm but inside my heart and mind thoughts are whizzing around as I ponder things about my life. I’ve been pretty thoughtful all weekend, considering the trials and testings that God gives to help grow me and the opportunities that I have to serve Him and why sometimes I don’t. I feel saddened over sin, mine and others. Discouraged by the way that people are stubborn, no matter how much I talk to them and pray for their eyes to be opened. Frustrated when someone doesn’t care about God and lives for themselves. Being ignored, treated rudely, saying the wrong things, not saying the right things, being there for others, but finding myself alone when I need a friend…so many things in life are hurtful, but God remains the same.

Psalm 90 gave me a renewed and encouraged perspective:

“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world.
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You turn man to destruction, and say, ‘Return, O children of men.’
For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it has past, And like a watch in the night. You carry them away like a flood;
They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers. For we have been consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years;And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow. For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Return, O Lord! How long?And have compassion on Your servants.
O satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us.The years in which we have seen evil. Let Your work appear to Your servants, and let Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.”

At first this Psalm seems kind of harsh how it talks about God’s wrath and anger towards man and how He sends us to destruction and death. But as I read it over and over some things really began to stand out.
-God is changeless. The end of v.2, “from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” God is so incomprehensible to me. He has no beginning and no end. It says that before all the world was brought forth, He existed. He created all things. Nothing exists that He did not make because all is made by Him and for Him. There is none other than Him and none like Him. I love v.1 where it says that God is “our dwelling place.” He is the one place that is stable and safety and sustenance.
-God is perfect. This seems like an obvious statement, but it has very serious consequences on us. This Psalm is talking about God’s wrath and anger over the sin of men. I guess we usually think of perfect in terms of what would seem perfect to us, the definition changing as we change. But God is perfect in every way and it never changes. He is holy and just, loving and merciful. He never tolerates sin. This is where His anger and wrath come into play. We are affected by sin, all have sinned, and live in a world that is dominated by sin. Our physical bodies feel the affects when we get sick or tired and in death. v. 5-11 addresses this when the Psalmist says, “For all our days have passed away in Your wrath.” Every day, mankind experiences the wrath of God on sin in troubles and the weariness of life. God is perfect and only those who have been cleansed by the saving blood of His perfect Son can come to Him and be forgiven and set free from the bondage of sin.
-God knows my heart. There is no sin that I can hide from God. He sees all and knows all. Many people live as if they can keep things hidden from God or as if God does not exist, but this is to their own folly because God does see it and His wrath burns against the sin. This makes me think that I should be so ready to repent and seek forgiveness from Him, since He already knows my heart and the sins that I have committed in thought and deed. Sometimes this is a scary thought, that God hates sin and God sees all of my sin. But this is the great thing! If I am walking in Him and in righteousness, there is nothing to fear. The reason we have fear is because we know we have sin. This is actually a very freeing reality.
-God knows my time and purpose. v. 12, “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” God knows how many days I have left in my life. To learn to number them simply means to evaluate the way I use the time I’ve been given in light of how brief life is. Am I living focused on God’s sovereignty and for His glory? Last night Bobby, Ty and I were having dinner together and we were talking some about sickness and death. Ty was saying, “What if one of us died?” And we realized that we don’t always think that if one of us died they would be the lucky one. We think about how much we would miss them and how they would miss out on things here on earth, but really the one who dies goes to be with the Lord, a wonder that we cannot even fathom. Life is short and I can live it wisely if I live it doing the work He has given me. v. 17, “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.” I love how the Psalmist prays for the beauty of God to be upon us. In other words he is asking for God’s approval and favor to be on him. He finds favor with us when we walk in Him in obedience to His Word. By God’s grace, we can have significance and meaning in life. He sets before us the path to walk and the works to do.
As I read this Psalm and these things stood out to me I realize that my problems and burdens are all consumed in the beauty of the Lord. He is God and He can do as He pleases. I am no one to question Him, I can only love Him, serve Him, and give all that He has given to me, back to Him.
“I watch in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.”
Micah 7:7-8


More rain, more thoughts…

April 8th, 2005

So far my Friday has consisted of lots of rain and lots of taxes. As the April 15th deadline approches clients are getting more antsy and we are getting much busier as the days go on. The firm I work for is strict on company policies and on top of the upcoming deadlines. I am thankful because this means that I don’t have to work too much overtime and there isn’t tension in the office. All the same, I’m looking forward to a couple of days to rest and finish up our taxes. If you haven’t filed yet either, simply follow the links to the IRS and California FTB websites where you can conveniently file online or print forms and instructions.

This morning I spent some time reading from a devotional book called Truth for Today. Today’s thoughts focused around Romans 6:4, “We also should walk in the newness of life.” The point of Jesus’ sacrifice was that “we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.” (1 Peter 2:24). The author of the devotional, John MacArthur, says of this, “Peter doesn’t say that Christ died so that we could go to heaven, have peace, or experience love. He died to bring about transformation: to make saints out of sinners. Christ’s substitutionary work enables a person to depart from sin and enter into a new life pattern: a life of righteousness.”

I’ve really been giving this some thought because I seem to wake up to some of the same struggles each day. I need to learn to take hold of the hope of His resurrection and the power that His strength provides and surrender sinful habits to Him so that I can be transformed to Christlikeness. In Romans 6:6 Paul says, “Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” I am dead to sin, it has no hold or claim on me, even if it seems to control me. Sin is not a struggle, it is a choice. When I am “struggling” with a sin it is becasue I am giving into the temptation and being defeated by it. I must put this aside as I put of the old man who was crucified and instead take on the new life I’ve been given in Christ’s resurrection. He has paid the price to set me free from the bondage of sin. He has given me victory. He has turned me around and given me new and freeing direction in life…one that is headed straight towards Him.



Time, rain and words…

April 7th, 2005

I read a interesting article on CNN today that said Congress is trying to pass an energy bill to that will allow two more months of daylight-saving time. Usually daylight-saving begins at the first Sunday in April and ends at the last Sunday in October. If this bill passes we will practice daylight-saving from the first Sunday in March to the last Sunday in November which will supposedly save more energy. I guess I hadn’t realized that our government could make such controlling decisions about our use of time, or that daylight-saving really made that much difference.

I guess I have enjoyed the longer days when I come home from work there are still two more hours of daylight. Bobby and I can take up our evening tennis games again. We have been enjoying beautiful sunny 75 degree days this week, but this morning I was awakened by the sound of rain. They say we should have rain for the next two days. I don’t mind the rain at all, actually I rather like it. It makes everything so green and well, I guess I don’t mind being stuck in my warm office with a cup of tea working on heaps of tax papers on a cold day, rather than the warm beckoning days we had been having!

Last night we continued our study in 1 Timothy 4 on youth being godly examples. Last week we talked about how youth is not an excuse, and this week we studied the first way that young people (and anyone) can set a godly example for the believers: in speech. It isn’t suprising that the first thing that Paul wants Timothy to set an example in is his words. Matthew 12:34-37 opened our eyes to just how telling our words actually are of us:

“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account for it in the day of judgement. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Our words are so telling of who we really are because they are the expression of our heart. I do not know a person’s heart I cannot understand it or conclude what they really think or feel. But when they open their mouth, they themselves are telling me what is there, good or evil things. My words reveal the state of my heart. I talked with the girls in my small group about the difficulty in controlling our words. We cannot be content to simply manage what comes out, we must take care to cultivate “good treasure” in our heart, so that the right things are what come out. We discussed Ephesians 4 and found that we must put off evil speech such as: Lying, which includes deception, exaggerations, false facts…anything that is not 100% true.
“Therefore, putting away lying,
‘Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor’.”
Ephesians 4:25

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice.”
Ephesians 4:31

The last verse showed us to put off any hate speech. Words that are harsh, judgemental and hurtful. We must speak the truth in love and gentleness to help the hearer grow in Christ, not to bring them down. I can see how I react sometimes out of these things listed in verse 31. I don’t think or ponder my response, but the words just seem to jump out of my mouth, because I have not checked my heart to respond humbly and graciously to others. Ephesians 4 didn’t leave us with an empty place, having put off evil speech, it gave two godly ways of speech to put on in its place: truth and grace.
“But speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ.”
Ephesians 4:15
“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good and necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”
Ephesians 4:29
The idea of corrupt words bring to mind something, spoiled and rotten. This picture gave me a whole different perspective on Colossians 4:6 which exhorts us to have our conversations, “seasoned with salt.” Salt can be used as a preservative, and to add flavor to food. This is the way my words should be preserved with truth, and flavored with love to impart grace to those listening. We made the conclusion that to guard my speech I must guard my heart from Proverbs 4:23:
“Keep your heart with all dilligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.”
Bobby gave the students three practical disciplines that we could all follow to guard our hearts. I found them to be challenging and inspiring: 1) Talk to myself, like the Paslmist does in Paslm 42:5 when he asks himself, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” I can try to find what the issue is in my heart by finding out what is troubling me or bringing me down. 2) Talk to God. In all things I can be in a unending conversation with the Lord. Psalm 42:8, the Psalmist says that day and night he will offer a “prayer to the God of my life.” 3) Let God’s Truth talk to me. Sometimes we seek the words of others, we ask their opinion, advice, approval while never going the God in His Word to address the issues in my heart. Psalm 43:3 says, “Oh send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me.”

In my girls small group we looked up ten verses in Proverbs that address the issues of wise and foolish speech. We concluded that foolish speech is characterized by hasty, emotion driven reactions; and wise speech is charcterized by listening much and being slow to speak and weighing the options for a right response of gracious and timely words. Have you ever had someone speak this way to you? Gracious, timely, encouraging? It is very uplifting and inspiring to be with someone who speaks this way, and I usually want more of their company and conversation. One of the verses really stood out to me, spoke of these godly words:
“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.”
Proverbs 16:24
What do our words tell other about our hearts? Do my words build and encourage, imparting grace and truth to all who hear? Or am I beating others down with harsh speech and lies? We all agreed that we could talk less and listen more, committing to setting an example in our speech.
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
Psalm 19:14


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