I began a project this year - to read through the Old Testament, looking for Grace Sightings! Since Jesus Christ was the plan of God from before the foundation of the world, it stands to reason that the Old Covenant must be replete with shadows and glimpses and outright sightings of grace-gospel.
Oh, it is. I've always known this, on a basic level. I've been well taught in the types and shadows found in the laws and feasts. But I began to think there had to be so much more.
Oh, there is. So much so, in fact, I often wonder if I have not bitten off far more than I can chew. The law was set in place to magnify grace. Grace was in place before the law. The gospel of grace is hinted at...oh, long about Genesis 1 and 2. God gives dominion to human beings He knows are going to blow it, and blow it almost instantly. He blesses them...
::slapping myself::
But I really want to talk about Abraham. After all this time, inching along, looking for glimpses of the grace message hiding behind every Old Testament olive branch, shimmering through every rainbow, warning me about my self effort through a tower (self effort results in relational disconnect) - after all this time, I'm not even half way through Genesis.
I've come up with quite a few sightings - and then I come to father Abraham. Here, grace is more than glimpsed. God displays it openly.
Yet people read of Abraham, and still come away with whack-job notions about Christian perfection. And no wonder...a mere human being must approach God's revelation of Himself with great humility, knowing that he has to have supernatural revelation, or he will get the wrong idea.
I will say this - revelation and patient scholarship are required to understand the picture of grace painted in the Old Covenant well enough to teach it. If you understood it quickly, if you were taught this stuff piecemeal, here a little and there a little, you didn't understand it well.
Do you need to understand the gospel intricately to be saved? Not at all. Believe in your heart the Lord Jesus, and confess with your mouth, and you'll be saved. You don't have to have a grasp on all the shadows of grace found in the Old Covenant to be saved.
I will say this too - it is far better to receive grace by faith first. Then, you seek to understand Old Covenant in the light of grace....veil removed. Not the other way around. You do not first put your trust in the law, and then look for the grace of God hidden within its types and shadows. You usually won't find it. That darn veil.
Genesis 17:1 - "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."
At first glance, every single one of us reads this and comes away with the idea that we, too, have to modify our behavior and improve ourselves.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. As I began to study, in the light of the gospel of grace, trusting that Jesus Christ was the plan of God from before the foundation of the world, believing that "before Abraham was, I AM", I began to see what was hidden from me before.
God was not giving Abram a moral imperative here! He was, in fact, giving Abram an impartation of divine grace. God said to Abram, in effect, "I am God all by Myself, needing nothing. Therefore, walk before me in that state of completeness."
"Be thou" perfect - much like "be thou" made whole.
Circumcision was a token of the covenant of grace being made with Abram (verse 11 of chapter 17). Circumcision was not itself the covenant. Works are incompatible with faith, they are not a condition for the gift of righteousness which is by faith. Rather, they are a token of a far greater reality which is beyond any one's ability to merit.
Then, and only then, after more prayer and thought and study of the original Hebrew wording, I checked out the commentaries.
Clarke's commentary on Genesis 17: "Ten thousand quibbles on insulated texts can never lessen, much less destroy, the merit and efficacy of the Great Atonement!"
Here is some language study: "Be thou perfect" in Hebrew (vowels added to make it easier on us Gentiles) - "Vehyeh thamim", which properly translated is "and thou shalt be perfection."
"I am God Almighty, Abram. Take the next step believing Me, and you will be made perfect. By Me. All by Myself. I will make you complete. Lacking nothing."
Another commentary: "God can and must do everything. No movements or workings of nature are of avail; everything that is for God must be affected by His mighty power. Now if we walk before Him in this sense, we shall be perfect. We shall come into the good of His covenant, and obtain spiritual promotion, and we shall be prepared to accept circumcision; we shall (then) have no confidence in the flesh."
Circumcision was not a token of stout moral willpower. Just the opposite! It was a type and shadow of you and I having no confidence in our own ability. Please, please see circumcision in the light of Biblical context!
Context, context! What had just happened?
In the previous chapter, Abram had just used his male "organ" to obtain The Blessing through his own efforts. Result: Ishmael.
How vivid of our God to make His covenant of grace with Abram, and to decree that the token of this covenant be that the very part of his flesh he used to obtain God's blessing, be the very part that gets....ah, "incapacitated".
We are Abraham's seed truly, who put no confidence in the flesh, to keep the law. Our flesh is "cut off". Just as father Abraham's was. Our circumcision is of the heart - our seat of ambition and motive. In our very heart of hearts, we acknowlege our utter ineptitude to improve ourselves, or to "make of ourselves" anything - all we have, in terms of salvation, education, income, ability, all of it is grace.
God alone is "Maker". It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.
Friends, there is no more a blessing for keeping the law. No one was ever blessed for keeping it. Rather, they came under the curse that comes with not keeping it. In fact, it is the same curse in force to this day, for all who put themselves under the law, to attempt to obtain any level of righteousness by self improvement.
Consider Abraham.
Read your Old Testament without the veil on your head.
A One-Woman Facebook Crusade...
That does it. I'm on a one-woman mission.
I have never been a huge fan of Facebook. (For those of you who love it...I'm happy for you. So don't take this personally.) I have short spurts and seasons where I enjoy it, and I clearly see the utility of it, when important, short bursts of information need to get out to a large number of people. I get it. And it is fun, sometimes. But Facebook is still not my favorite way to spend my downtime. Give me a book-book ANY day.
And like every tool that can be used for amazing good, Facebook can also be used wrongly, and we who have minds of our own are allowed to speak up and say what we think. Kapeesh?
Let me get right to the laser-point: I've never, ever used my maiden name on Facebook. It never occurred to me. Sure, old friends from high school might try to "find" me and not be able to, but I graduated and moved on in 1984, and I rather enjoy my life as a middle aged woman. If an old friend from high school never "finds" me....well...how can I say it...
I'm okay with that.
Yup. I'm totally okay with it. Memory lane holds no fascination for me. Life as it is, right now, is totally wonderful. And chances are, no old highschool friend is going to Facebook me wanting to hear about Jesus. When I weigh the hidden message that might be in broadcasting my maiden name...when I weigh its risks with the potential "benefits"....call me old school, but I love my man, and I love my life, and I've grown up and grown older like normal people do. I wish my old high school friends well, but if they never find me, they can still find Jesus. Their eternity does not depend on my Facebook page.
In addition, without my maiden name, old boyfriends cannot find me.
I'm really okay with that.
I'm okay with that, even though there were only two or three boyfriends, and only one of the two or three was a really serious boyfriend. I'm okay with that even though I weigh only about 12 pounds more than I did in 1984 - and I was a skinny teenager. I'm okay with that even though I could impress any old boyfriend if I really tried, and even though I am still "hot" for my age.
Okay....warm.
No, wait. HOT. Sometimes I am totally hot, and byheaven, I am not ashamed. Women of a certain age get hot now and again, and have no business Facebooking old boyfriends.
If you are married, and have your maiden name on your Facebook - I know you don't mean anything by it. Well, I trust that you don't. But for the sake of The Cause....please remove it.
Or, let me be the radical one. Quirky me! Leave me to do the unusual thing all by myself. I'm okay with that, too. But you should remove it.
You have the power.
You can do it.
How about just your first name, and your married-last name? It is such a lovely last name, after all. I realize I am opening the door to all manner of hate mail, but I don't care. I'm sayin' it. I'm on a crusade.
No More Maiden Names For Married Godly Women On Facebook.
If you are happily married, remove your maiden name today. Just go with your real, married last name. You'll be glad you did. If you are not happily married...
...well, go ahead and leave that maiden name. I hear a certain cable TV show just might hook you up with your long lost heart-throb!
I have never been a huge fan of Facebook. (For those of you who love it...I'm happy for you. So don't take this personally.) I have short spurts and seasons where I enjoy it, and I clearly see the utility of it, when important, short bursts of information need to get out to a large number of people. I get it. And it is fun, sometimes. But Facebook is still not my favorite way to spend my downtime. Give me a book-book ANY day.
And like every tool that can be used for amazing good, Facebook can also be used wrongly, and we who have minds of our own are allowed to speak up and say what we think. Kapeesh?
Let me get right to the laser-point: I've never, ever used my maiden name on Facebook. It never occurred to me. Sure, old friends from high school might try to "find" me and not be able to, but I graduated and moved on in 1984, and I rather enjoy my life as a middle aged woman. If an old friend from high school never "finds" me....well...how can I say it...
I'm okay with that.
Yup. I'm totally okay with it. Memory lane holds no fascination for me. Life as it is, right now, is totally wonderful. And chances are, no old highschool friend is going to Facebook me wanting to hear about Jesus. When I weigh the hidden message that might be in broadcasting my maiden name...when I weigh its risks with the potential "benefits"....call me old school, but I love my man, and I love my life, and I've grown up and grown older like normal people do. I wish my old high school friends well, but if they never find me, they can still find Jesus. Their eternity does not depend on my Facebook page.
In addition, without my maiden name, old boyfriends cannot find me.
I'm really okay with that.
I'm okay with that, even though there were only two or three boyfriends, and only one of the two or three was a really serious boyfriend. I'm okay with that even though I weigh only about 12 pounds more than I did in 1984 - and I was a skinny teenager. I'm okay with that even though I could impress any old boyfriend if I really tried, and even though I am still "hot" for my age.
Okay....warm.
No, wait. HOT. Sometimes I am totally hot, and byheaven, I am not ashamed. Women of a certain age get hot now and again, and have no business Facebooking old boyfriends.
If you are married, and have your maiden name on your Facebook - I know you don't mean anything by it. Well, I trust that you don't. But for the sake of The Cause....please remove it.
Or, let me be the radical one. Quirky me! Leave me to do the unusual thing all by myself. I'm okay with that, too. But you should remove it.
You have the power.
You can do it.
How about just your first name, and your married-last name? It is such a lovely last name, after all. I realize I am opening the door to all manner of hate mail, but I don't care. I'm sayin' it. I'm on a crusade.
No More Maiden Names For Married Godly Women On Facebook.
If you are happily married, remove your maiden name today. Just go with your real, married last name. You'll be glad you did. If you are not happily married...
...well, go ahead and leave that maiden name. I hear a certain cable TV show just might hook you up with your long lost heart-throb!
Sweet Saturday
We got started on yet more projects this weekend. We gardened, painted another whole room, and primered yet another. We got an early start, and still yet it is 11 PM, and we are just now finishing up, and turning in. Many thanks to Hannah and Justin, Sarah and Jonathan for their help!
A small peek at the cottage doings today:
This sign points the way to our home...
This entire load of mulch got spread around the gardens today...and yes, "I think his trailer's sexy." Who needs a tractor when you can sport this hot little number, and boast that you made it yourself? (He did!)
variagated vinca, Scottish moss, dusty miller, and helichrysum in an old wooden toolbox...
We love our birds here - wild and tame.
A small peek at the cottage doings today:
This sign points the way to our home...
This entire load of mulch got spread around the gardens today...and yes, "I think his trailer's sexy." Who needs a tractor when you can sport this hot little number, and boast that you made it yourself? (He did!)
variagated vinca, Scottish moss, dusty miller, and helichrysum in an old wooden toolbox...
We love our birds here - wild and tame.
Renesting...
The answer to the empty nest, is to REnest. I am earnestly and blissfully renesting...
...but no pictures till I am done. There will be a "big reveal", once I manage to finish this mammoth project of repainting my entire dining room and kitchen - cabinets and all! Hint: think totally different. A complete change.
Kind of goes with my new season of life, don't you think? So far, I am llllllloving it. But no pictures. Yet.
Before ~
Primering red walls is a chore! Loved this red, in its season. It served its purposes well, and made my heart happy. But like most creative souls, I am in a "new phase", color-wise. Important! Give yourself permission to move on to the next level. Your "eye" changes with the years, your taste refines itself, in short....you want to try new things. Do it!
Ya'll come on over when it is finished, and see the big change!
...but no pictures till I am done. There will be a "big reveal", once I manage to finish this mammoth project of repainting my entire dining room and kitchen - cabinets and all! Hint: think totally different. A complete change.
Kind of goes with my new season of life, don't you think? So far, I am llllllloving it. But no pictures. Yet.
Before ~
Primering red walls is a chore! Loved this red, in its season. It served its purposes well, and made my heart happy. But like most creative souls, I am in a "new phase", color-wise. Important! Give yourself permission to move on to the next level. Your "eye" changes with the years, your taste refines itself, in short....you want to try new things. Do it!
Ya'll come on over when it is finished, and see the big change!
Another Harvest Wedding
The beautiful Lisa, Benjamin, and my man...
Dancing in "fields of grace"!
God created life to be lived in chapters and seasons. It is meant that we enter into the seasons of those with whom God has placed us in community. At its most common denominator, this is what life is about: serving one another in love, celebrating with those who celebrate, weeping with those who weep.
The Christian faith has no context outside relationships, because love is not a concept, it is a way of living every day with people.
The Miracle of Technology
It's a....LIMA BEAN!
Of course, we don't know if the grand baby is a boy or girl yet, but I went with Hannah to her first doctor's appointment, and I got to see the ultrasound, and hear the baby's heartbeat.
Oh. My.
What a moment. Good, strong heartbeat! They measured the little teeny baby, and estimated that Hannah is right at 6 weeks along, and the due date is (drumroll please)...
...December 18!
Hope your weekend is blessed, my friends. We've a Harvest Wedding tomorrow, and the excitement of this day has caught up with me. I'm headed to dreamland...
Of course, we don't know if the grand baby is a boy or girl yet, but I went with Hannah to her first doctor's appointment, and I got to see the ultrasound, and hear the baby's heartbeat.
Oh. My.
What a moment. Good, strong heartbeat! They measured the little teeny baby, and estimated that Hannah is right at 6 weeks along, and the due date is (drumroll please)...
...December 18!
Hope your weekend is blessed, my friends. We've a Harvest Wedding tomorrow, and the excitement of this day has caught up with me. I'm headed to dreamland...
The Fruit of the Womb is His Reward...
This is what happens when you find out you are going to be a grandmommy: your friends send flowers and give you presents.
I know it is early...but story books are most important, you see.
I've been waiting to tell you. Bustin' to tell you.
Two of my best friends are pregnant...my daughter Hannah, which you already know....
....and Wendy Cantrell, over at Hope Springs!
Here's the jump-up-and-down, squeal till I'm breathless thing: My Wendy is...well, she's almost my age. She isn't forty...she is a late thirty-something, but she'll see forty way before I see fifty. Put it that way.
And her Doug is my Tim's age. Doug and Tim get to be new daddy and new grand-daddy together. Isn't that pre-shus??
Wendy babysat Hannah when she was a baby. Wendy and I lingered over the thought that she never dreamed...no, not in a million years, when she fed Hannah in her high chair...that she and that baby would one day be pregnant together.
Two of my best friends. My confidantes. Right arms, these girls are.
Wendy doesn't know this, but when I heard, I did the same thing she did. I laughed, and then I cried. Then I laughed. I did a whole lot more laughing. It was the sort of laughter that rolls up from a girl's innermost being.
God is saying something profound to my heart and to my church.
Relationships are worth the work it takes to preserve continuity. I cannot run after anyone determined to leave me, because there are far too many others still with me who do love and need me. The other gal would have to be the one to leave. I would not sacrifice continuity for any difference of opinion, no offense could make me leave, no personality clash is worth jeopardizing these life-long friendships. This....oh, this! is generational blessing.
If bliss could kill, I'd be dead.
Two babies - who will be born within days of each other. A grand baby, and another "adopted" niece or nephew. May they grow up dwelling in the land - pitching their permanent living quarters, cultivating the same faithful continuity of friendship with their God and their family and their friends that their parents and grand parents have cultivated.
I can testify: Verily, they shall be fed.
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