Luke 8:5-8
A sower went out to sow his seed, And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. As he said these things, he called out, He who has ears, let him hear."
Many of us know this story of the parable of the sower and can probably identify with many parts of this parable. First and foremost, I think many of us find it really difficult to be found on "good soil" that bears much fruit. More times than others, we find ourselves on the path only to have the truth stolen from us. Or we might find ourselves on the rock and receive His truth with joy, yet be blown away by the wind because there are no roots established within us, and some more of us often times find ourselves caught in thorns being so distracted and swamped by the cares of this world that His truth cannot dwell with us. While I can relate with all of these experiences, I think most recently I've felt like the one who was on the rock. The one that received His word with great joy and believed, yet when circumstances changed I found myself being blown left and right away from His truth. While this is probably very obvious, I feel like I'm learning at the heart level that we can try to grow on a flat surface, but without firm roots established in the deep places, the growth will be limited, and it will eventually die if not grow at all.
The other day, I found myself sharing my testimony to a group of my co-workers and it hit me that it's been a long time since I've been able to sit down and just share His story with me from beginning to end (of course it was condensed!). I mean I think I always share personal things here and there, different parts to different people, but sharing the full story was another story. I didn't realize how emotionally, spiritually, and mentally vulnerable it required me to be, but I felt like I almost experienced some of the cracks that God has been drawing me to within ME. I found myself being unable to control some of my emotions and I even felt a little embarrassment want to creep in because my flesh wanted to be this strong woman that has overcome all things. But something someone shared really shed light to me and it really took things home in terms of where I am at. She explained how God has really been teaching her that He always has her lead out of her brokenness. When she said this, I just realized how it's been a long time since I've really gone to that broken place within me. I was looking back in the past years and just saw how I lead so many times from a place of insecurity that took on various forms -- not brokenness.
I mentioned in my previous blog about how I feel like I've been journeying into some of the pains of Jesus, and I guess I realize why He is drawing me deeper in there! Some of these pains are actually the ones that He has shared with me throughout my journey. In the past, I think I experienced my own past in such a self-pitying way and have even experienced them with other people in a insecure way, but I feel like perhaps for the first time I am experiencing them with only Jesus by my side as he's showing me my own brokenness and all that He has been with me through and lead me out of and continuing to do so. Stepping into some of my own cracks have been a bit overwhelming, but I'm understanding that God truly has us lead out of our brokenness, and that it is through those cracks that he establishes His roots in us that we might not be tossed to and fro but yield a hundredfold even when the winds blow and the waves come.
Lord thank you for being our steady rock that doesn't change by circumstances, but that secures us and guards us so that we might grow deeper in our relationship with you bearing MUCH fruit. Amen.
Luke 8:10-15
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Stepping into the Cracks
I've been meditating on what it means when the scriptures says that Jesus is the rock, He is our chief cornerstone. We say these truths, recite the scriptures, and sing the vbs songs (Jesus is the rock and he rolls my blues away! Bop shu bop shu bop WHOO!), but I feel like I have finally journeyed to this place of understanding a bit, and just a bit, of what Jesus being the rock has anything to do with me and the church.
Ephesians 2: 19-22 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
There are so many people at church who feel like foreigners and strangers to God and His people, and this is including the very people who profess that Jesus is their rock and savior. I've been thinking about why this seems to be the case for a good number of people in the church, and why there have even been times when I felt that way in my own journey of knowing Him and community in the church. When we look into the scriptures, God's people-the church is called to be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Jesus because he reconciles us to the Father so that we are no longer bound by the law,condemned, and shamed, but have hope and access to the covenant of God's promise of salvation through the grace that came through Jesus. Now, if Jesus is the rock and I were to put this in terms of a picture, I literally see a massive rock/chief cornerstone sitting in between a desert place and sea of water, and a group of these strangers camped outside on the desert place around the parameters of the rock checking in to see what's going on and what's not. Speaking from this context, I realize how there have been times that I have felt like a stranger and foreigner to the church because I found myself living bound by the law and works. I judged people, programs, and practices from the outside because they weren't 'perfect'. I shamed myself because I couldn't do something right or the way it was supposed to be done either. These were the times when I checked in when I wanted to, and checked out when it required something of me that I was not willing to give because of my shame-based attitude.
Something significant about these strangers is that these camps and tents and homes built outside of the rock of Jesus, are usually built alone. Maybe we get some hands here and there, but at the end, the house is of the self because the foundation is of the self. I'm realizing these days that sometimes the hardest thing to do in the Christian faith is to let ourselves just sit on the rock of Jesus and to embrace the grace that Jesus gives through his death without letting the blame and shame get the best of us. I think for many of us, we live with an extra lens -- a shaming lens. We are taught as a child to shame others, because we ourselves have been shamed when we didn't get something right and were convinced that we- the person- were the problem. But this is the very message that Jesus came to abolish, he took on our guilt and shame and publicly declared that he was the wrong when he did nothing wrong. And that is why it is through him that we no longer have to live ashamed of who we are.
I used to believe that I had to build my own house, my own community, and my own faith, but sitting on the rock these days is teaching me to be still and know. Often times, we build on ourselves -- and the things we are only familiar and comfortable with. And it is right to believe that you have to build everything yourself when building on a desert ground like this, because there is no grace available in such a shame-based world. The rain will come down so hard on your house, the waves will flood everything you built with your own hands, the winds will blow away the very things that you made part of you when even a little portion of what you have built is not 'perfect' -- because that is the foundation of this world. The enemy is out to shame us and convince us that WE are the wrong, not to make us feel guilty of our wrongs so that we would repent and turn away from them. And for as long as we are living on this shaming soil, we will continue to get our homes rocked.
I can write this entry because I've lived most of my Christian walk near the rock, and not on him. It's just been a major paradigm shift to embrace the rock of Jesus. I'm finding myself on this rock, no longer wanting to sit around the parameters of the rock, or even on the outskirts of this elevated rock to see everything that's going on around me and contemplating to go back to the desert ground, but moving closer to the cracks of this rock, the places of depth where it is dark and unclear, the places where it doesn't look all that glamorous but rather frightening. When we think of the chief cornerstone imagery, we think of a nice polished rock foundation with perfect edges and shaved surfaces, but the rock of Jesus has its cracks, it is natural, and it is not manufactured or manipulated. And, it has been such a journey to have the privilege of Jesus drawing me into some of his pains, cuts, bruises, and cracks so that I might share in his life.
Matthew 7:24-27
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
Lord, I pray that you would draw your people onto your rock of grace and covenant. That people would be transformed by being known by you and by knowing you -- and that their homes would be built and filled by you and you alone on the rock of Jesus. And Lord, I pray for courage and bravery to walk this next season in my life, to be bold as I walk into the pains of Jesus and share in his suffering as well as his victory. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Ephesians 2: 19-22 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
There are so many people at church who feel like foreigners and strangers to God and His people, and this is including the very people who profess that Jesus is their rock and savior. I've been thinking about why this seems to be the case for a good number of people in the church, and why there have even been times when I felt that way in my own journey of knowing Him and community in the church. When we look into the scriptures, God's people-the church is called to be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Jesus because he reconciles us to the Father so that we are no longer bound by the law,condemned, and shamed, but have hope and access to the covenant of God's promise of salvation through the grace that came through Jesus. Now, if Jesus is the rock and I were to put this in terms of a picture, I literally see a massive rock/chief cornerstone sitting in between a desert place and sea of water, and a group of these strangers camped outside on the desert place around the parameters of the rock checking in to see what's going on and what's not. Speaking from this context, I realize how there have been times that I have felt like a stranger and foreigner to the church because I found myself living bound by the law and works. I judged people, programs, and practices from the outside because they weren't 'perfect'. I shamed myself because I couldn't do something right or the way it was supposed to be done either. These were the times when I checked in when I wanted to, and checked out when it required something of me that I was not willing to give because of my shame-based attitude.
Something significant about these strangers is that these camps and tents and homes built outside of the rock of Jesus, are usually built alone. Maybe we get some hands here and there, but at the end, the house is of the self because the foundation is of the self. I'm realizing these days that sometimes the hardest thing to do in the Christian faith is to let ourselves just sit on the rock of Jesus and to embrace the grace that Jesus gives through his death without letting the blame and shame get the best of us. I think for many of us, we live with an extra lens -- a shaming lens. We are taught as a child to shame others, because we ourselves have been shamed when we didn't get something right and were convinced that we- the person- were the problem. But this is the very message that Jesus came to abolish, he took on our guilt and shame and publicly declared that he was the wrong when he did nothing wrong. And that is why it is through him that we no longer have to live ashamed of who we are.
I used to believe that I had to build my own house, my own community, and my own faith, but sitting on the rock these days is teaching me to be still and know. Often times, we build on ourselves -- and the things we are only familiar and comfortable with. And it is right to believe that you have to build everything yourself when building on a desert ground like this, because there is no grace available in such a shame-based world. The rain will come down so hard on your house, the waves will flood everything you built with your own hands, the winds will blow away the very things that you made part of you when even a little portion of what you have built is not 'perfect' -- because that is the foundation of this world. The enemy is out to shame us and convince us that WE are the wrong, not to make us feel guilty of our wrongs so that we would repent and turn away from them. And for as long as we are living on this shaming soil, we will continue to get our homes rocked.
I can write this entry because I've lived most of my Christian walk near the rock, and not on him. It's just been a major paradigm shift to embrace the rock of Jesus. I'm finding myself on this rock, no longer wanting to sit around the parameters of the rock, or even on the outskirts of this elevated rock to see everything that's going on around me and contemplating to go back to the desert ground, but moving closer to the cracks of this rock, the places of depth where it is dark and unclear, the places where it doesn't look all that glamorous but rather frightening. When we think of the chief cornerstone imagery, we think of a nice polished rock foundation with perfect edges and shaved surfaces, but the rock of Jesus has its cracks, it is natural, and it is not manufactured or manipulated. And, it has been such a journey to have the privilege of Jesus drawing me into some of his pains, cuts, bruises, and cracks so that I might share in his life.
Matthew 7:24-27
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
Lord, I pray that you would draw your people onto your rock of grace and covenant. That people would be transformed by being known by you and by knowing you -- and that their homes would be built and filled by you and you alone on the rock of Jesus. And Lord, I pray for courage and bravery to walk this next season in my life, to be bold as I walk into the pains of Jesus and share in his suffering as well as his victory. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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