Browsing Tag

Obedience

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Cafeteria Style Religion

Posted on July 2, 2015

pohb75mb48vzcoWhen I was a kid, my family would occasionally go out to eat at Britling’s in Birmingham. It was a cafeteria—old style— and the array seemed infinite to my child’s-eye wonderment. But there was also a substantial problem, in my childish perception: the adults could choose anything they wanted from the cucumber salad at the very beginning right down to the peach cobbler a-la-mode at the end. The kids on the other hand had three choices of meats for their “child’s plates”: a chicken leg, a small hamburger patty, or a little bowl of spaghetti. That’s all. We could not pick the trout almandine, the meatloaf or the shrimp. And, perhaps worst of all, we could not pick the chocolate pie, the peach cobbler or the banana pudding. If we were going to eat any of those things, we had to take what our parents picked off of their own plates and mercifully placed on our own.

Thus, the now legendary question I asked in my nasally, fresh-from the-tonsillectomy voice when I was a mere four years old: “We’re going to Britling’s? Is that the place where the grown-ups get whatever they want to eat and the kids get whatever they want you to have?”

The cafeteria line has never been my favorite. Still isn’t. The thing is, when I was a kid I wanted to be able to pick; I mean from the whole, entire spread. As an adult, it’s the picking that is the problem. Too many choices and certainly too much stress figuring out how much I’m paying for my choices when I’m adding things to my tray one casserole and cobbler at the time. But it’s also the thing about balance. It’s really a cafeteria style temptation to skip the salad, greens and Brussel sprouts and pick the fried fish, the candied yams, the fried okra and the lemon chiffon pie. They even tempt you to get some kind of dessert for your bread…like orange crescents or carrot muffins. (“Muffin” because they don’t want you to think you’ve already picked up a piece of carrot cake when you’re deciding whether or not to take the fudge pie at the end.)

There are drawbacks to the cafeteria system that can make us unhealthy and all-spent out. But the application of the cafeteria-style mentality to our spiritual choices is eternally tragic. Think about it with me.

As I look on the Facebook walls of friends who are LGBT advocates on this week that’s been heartbreaking for me (and actually at any given time), I notice many comments about the Golden Rule, about loving one another and about treating each other fairly. Of course, all of these concepts are straight from the book. They are Biblical concepts that are repeated over and over in scripture. They are truth and we cannot bypass them on the way to the end of the line.

But in our zeal to talk about the God of love and the love of God, we cannot silence the God of law and the law of God. The condemnation of sin—the part of the Book that holds us accountable for the moral, sexual, and religious choices that we make—is too obtrusive in the Word of God, for us to pretend He accepts us all even as we rebel against His expressed commands. Approaching the Word is not standing in a cafeteria line in view of an array of choices. He is God. He is holy. Reverend is His name. He is the supreme authority in the lives of those who will live with Him forever in eternity. He gets to choose—terms of admittance, lifestyles, modes of worship. He gets to dictate life to me.

I understand and am saddened that there are many in our country today who do not believe the Word…at all. They are not even “in line” before the Book.  I get how they can get their heart’s permission to fornicate, to be adulterers, drunkards, licentious, swindlers, homosexuals and to participate in all sorts of sin. With no objective standard of conduct, what, except personal preference and fear of unwanted short-term consequences, is to stop unbelievers from any kind of riotous behavior? The answer is—nothing. At least those people are honest in their rejection of the standard.

I also understand that group of people who have faith in the Word, but sometimes falter in keeping its precepts. I am one of those people. We are saddened by and ashamed of sin.

It’s the third group of people that are perplexing to me. They are the ones who are claiming an allegiance to the Bible, wearing the name of Christ and even engaging in lots of good works in the name of the Lord and, all the while, defending and/or participating in the very actions that are expressly condemned in Scripture. It’s the “Christians” who, on Facebook, talk about how proud they are of someone’s “coming out of the closet” or post pictures of themselves in extremely immodest attire or use profanity (or post someone else’s use of it) or invite friends to the bar. It’s the sisters and brothers among us who exalt what the Word condemns, endorse what the Bible disapproves, and proudly display what the Bible calls shameful.  These are the cafeteria-line Christians. They’ve chosen the parts of Christianity that they find appealing and rejected the rest.

In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus referred to a group of people who did lots of good things and even did them in His name, but yet were lost. Why? Because they did not comply with the full will of the Father in Heaven. They chose to do some good works, while at the same time, rejecting commands of the One Who has all authority over all of the lives of all people in all generations.

May I always remember that The Word is not a cafeteria line. It is sustenance for my soul, as the Psalmist said:

I opened wide my mouth, and panted; For I longed for thy commandments (Psalm 119:131). 

And finally, this wonderful paragraph from Psalm 119 is a divine mantra for those of us today who are finding it hard to digest all the “love talk” from those who are blatantly disobedient to His clearly expressed will for human sexuality:

Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,

but I do not swerve from your testimonies.

I look at the faithless with disgust,

because they do not keep your commands.

Consider how I love your precepts!

Give me life according to your steadfast love.

The sum of your word is truth,

and every one of your righteous rules endures forever (vs.157-161).

 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: Seriously?…Another Root Canal?!

Posted on May 28, 2015

imagesLast night as I traveled home from Bible study, a young friend sent me the question, “What if a person was baptized at a point in life when she really did not believe in God? Does that render her baptism invalid?…Now that she believes, does she need to be baptized again?”

This morning as I write, I’m headed to the endodontist’s office for a root canal. I wouldn’t hate it quite as much as I do except that I already HAD this root canal done a year-and-a-half ago. I mean I already did the dread, the drill, the cap, the pain, and the recuperation during the holidays of 2013. I spent New Year’s Eve in the chair. I remember. “Everything’s fixed now,” the dentist said. “You shouldn’t have any more problems.”

But I did. In fact the pain never totally went away. I kept telling myself “That ache you’re feeling back there is just residual.”…”Everybody probably feels pain for a while, right?”…”It’s probably just because you grind your teeth, Cindy Colley…You need to wear that retainer more faithfully.… That’s it. After all, you had a reputable dentist do a root canal and you have the cap back there (and the receipt for a big dental bill) to prove it.”

Oh but nothing doing. “It hardly ever happens,” my dentist explained, when I finally told him about the pain, “But every now and then, for some reason, that area below the tooth just gets reinfected and we have to drill back through the cap and get that infection out. I need to do an X-ray to see what’s going on in there.”

I knew that tooth wasn’t reinfected. Truth be told, that old infection never went away.

“Are you telling me I have to have ANOTHER root canal?” I stared at him, open-mouthed, as I heard his post Xray synopsis.

“Yes, that’s basically it….Only, this time, we have to drill through the cap to do it. I’ll have to send you to a specialist. Let me see if I can find one that takes your Blue Cross….And let me give you an antibiotic to help the swelling go down, so it will be easier to deaden your mouth.”

“That’s okay, I said…I’m already on antibiotics for bronchitis.”

So today, I’m headed to that specialist.

You see, everything looked good back there in the back of my mouth. Any dentist would have looked back there and said, “Oh, you’ve got a cap back there. Looks good.” It’s that Xray machine, though, that sees all the way through the flesh and bones…it’s that machine and that machine only that can reveal what’s going on way down deep. And, in my case, that wasn’t good. The infection that remained rendered the first root canal invalid. Today, I have to do it again. ARRRG!

That’s the way it is with our spiritual conditions. So a person goes under the water and rises again to the sound of Christians singing “Oh Happy Day.” She gets hugs all around from the members of the church. Her name is in the bulletin as the newest Christian. Perhaps she even attends all the time. But only God knows if the infection (sin) has been removed from her life. He knows whether or not her baptism washed her sins away. He has the Xray machine.

If a person is baptized to please someone else, as surely was the case in the scenario that my young friend related, the infection of sin is still there. If a person goes under the water in an emotional moment  that’s void of true commitment, perhaps because friends are doing it or, as one person I know did, in a desperate attempt to save a failing marriage, the infection is still there. Those who are looking on may find comfort in knowing the procedure has been done, but the “cap” on that baptism is just hiding the infection. It will keep hurting. Try as she may, this girl is not going to get rid of the ache of sin. She may tell herself over and over that it’s okay. But if the ONE, the Spirit, who sees all the way through, does not bear witness with her Spirit that she is a child of God (Romans 8:16), then the infection of sin is still there. It will never stop hurting, eroding, destroying, until the sin is removed.

Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins(Acts 2:38). It’s a simple procedure by which infected people become clear and clean. But it is possible to go through all the motions without removing the sin. May I always put all of my life under the Xray machine of His Word. He knows.

And, of course, the answer to my young friend’s question is, “Your friend’s original baptism had nothing to do with the removal of sins or forgiveness. It was merely a submersion; a dunking with no spiritual significance (except perhaps it was a blasphemous ritual). How could one’s baptism accomplish forgiveness in the heart of the living God in whom she did not even believe?  If she now believes and is penitent, let’s get back to the water. Let’s clear up the infection.”

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: Figuring Out Godliness–Part 3

Posted on May 18, 2015

Do You Trust Him?

aster_cafev1_600x300I went to lunch recently with a couple of friends from a denomination who wanted to talk about women and ministry. It seems they had a close girlfriend who was an extremely talented speaker. “She’s got this amazing ability to convince and convict non-believers. She’s a better preacher than any man we know” they said. “Don’t you think God expects her to use her talents to speak to people about him? “

The answer is “yes.” Of course there are settings in which all of the talents God has given me can and should be used to His glory. But just because I’ve been blessed with a talent, doesn’t mean there are no divinely imposed restrictions regarding the use of that talent. My husband is a great guitarist, but he does not play the guitar in worship. My daughter is a great cook, but she doesn’t prepare her famous macaroni and cheese for the communion table. I like public speaking. Is that a talent I can use in worship to God?

Let’s look at the passage from I Timothy 2 again:

Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression (I Tim. 2:11-14).

In a context that is addressing worship issues, women are commanded to be silent. They are commanded not to have authority over or dominate a man in worship. Before we address the reasons given in the passage, let’s look at a parallel scripture:

Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.
And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church (I Cor.14:34,35)

The devil has often used the tool of feminism in our society to make God’s people ashamed to adhere to clear teachings of the New Testament about the role of women in worship. After all, this is the 21st century. Women are astronauts, engineers, CEOs and presidential candidates. Can we really continue promoting this antiquated notion that women are to be silent in our worship assemblies?

Romans 12: 2 tells us “…do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”.  Sometimes when we think of worldliness, we think of immorality. We think of drinking, gambling, reckless affluence, and illicit sex. But being conformed to the world is simply allowing the culture around us to influence us to disobey God.  The teachings about a woman’s role in worship are some of the plainest teachings in the New Testament.  We need help to misunderstand them.  The fact that they are not politically correct in our culture does not change them.

Frequently, I will have someone ask “Couldn’t this teaching have been for Paul’s culture only? Does it necessarily apply to women today?”  In our text, it is almost as if the Holy Spirit anticipated this question. Notice he proceeds to give the reason for the command: “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.”

Notice that the reason, (what happened in the Garden of Eden), has to do with people far removed from Paul’s culture. In I Peter 3; 4, 5, Peter reiterates the submission principle, in this case speaking about submission of a woman to her husband. Notice the woman who modeled submission for the first century Christian women was Sarah. But Sarah lived a couple of millenniums before the first century.   She was definitely not part of Peter’s culture.  See, the teaching about submission in the church and in the home is not a culture-limited teaching. It began in the Garden and continues to apply in God’s new covenant.  It applies throughout all eras of time and across all cultures.

While I can see many reasons for God’s imposed limitations for women in worship, it’s important to remember that whether or not a command makes sense to me is irrelevant to its importance or the consequences of disobeying it. As a matter of fact, if I choose to obey only the commands that make sense to me, then I am not really trusting God. I’m not really doing what God says because he says it. I’m doing what I think is best. While our faith is a reasonable, logic based faith, it goes a step beyond logic. Faith says “I will obey when it makes sense to me and even when it doesn’t, because I trust that God knows what’s best for my life.”

But remember. The answer to the question about whether I should use my teaching talents in the kingdom was “yes.” So if I cannot teach in worship, then how can I use this talent?

I know a young lady who started a community Bible study for ladies in her hometown. She obtained permission to use a town hall and soon had about 50 women in attendance, half of whom were not members of the Lord’s church. I dare say she was reaching more non-Christians with the gospel than her husband who was the local preacher. But was she in any way having authority over men? No.

I know a teenager who started a weekly devotional for girls via email. Her weekly emails strengthened and blessed the lives of dozens of girls each week. Was she using her teaching talents for the kingdom? Oh, yes. But she was not violating the passage.

My daughter and I often have the chance to speak for ladies groups:  ladies’ days, teen girls’ days, ladies classes at lectureships, girls’ sessions at youth rallies, mother-daughter banquets, youth camps and retreats. All of these are wonderful times of fellowship and learning for all involved, especially us. But in none of these cases are we violating the passage.

It has been my experience and observation that those of us who are concerned about being Titus 2 women (as noted above), evangelizing the lost, and caring for the needy  have far more to do in the kingdom than we can possibly accomplish in this lifetime, without clamoring for positions of leadership that God reserved for men. It has also been my observation that when women step into positions of leadership in worship, important jobs best done by women (the care of their children, hospitality, the guiding of the house) are neglected. But let me say it again: It doesn’t really matter if I can see the wisdom in the prohibition. God said it. Faith is doing what God says to do. Period.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: I Might Need a Seaweed Wrap

Posted on March 26, 2015

images-1It’s been a steep learning curve for me in the March Digging Deep study of prayers in Jonah and Habakuk. I’ve told the story of Jonah scores of times to my children when they were preschoolers about that small prophet being swallowed by the giant fish. I can still hear a tiny Caleb filling in the blanks as we would tell and retell the story:  “So dey dus frew him overboard and a big fish dus swawowed him wite up!” (You have to be a preschooler’s mom to read that!)

But there’s so much more to that account…a story that Jesus verified in Matthew 12 as being true and literal.

I was blessed to have Flori Barber on the podcast with me earlier this week. You can watch the archived edition HERE. There were three pertinent lists given during that podcast from Jonah’s prayer as he wrapped his head around truth in the belly of the fish even as his literal head was wrapped in seaweed (Jonah 2:5). So much wisdom was discovered in that sea creature’s belly. Truly, that fish vomited a good deal more than he swallowed and Jonah was on his way, at least for a time, to do the bidding of Jehovah.

Several have requested the lists, so here they are:

Flori’s “Lessons Learned from the Prayer in the Belly”:

  1. When we pray we must acknowledge God and approach him with a penitent heart.
  2. We must humble ourselves and admit our wrongs.
  3. We should thank God for saving us.
  4. We should not just pray for help/deliverance, but pray for strength and knowledge to do what we can do on our part.
  5. We should repent and turn away from sin
  6. We should acknowledge that God is where we find salvation.

Cindy’s “Lessons Learned from the Prayer in the Belly”:

  1. Sometimes, hitting “rock bottom” is the wake-up call that I need.
  2. When I attempt to get out of God’s sight, He will make sure it happens. (vs.4)
  3. The deeper the sin and sorrow, the greater the salvation. (vs. 5)
  4. When I believe the devil’s lies, I burn my own bridge to mercy. (vs. 8)
  5. Repentance requires action. (vs. 9)

Jonah Prays the Scriptures:
Jonah 2:2…………….Psa. 18:4-6; Psa. 22:24; Psa. 120:1,2; Lam. 3:55.
Jonah 2:3…………….Psa. 88:6; Psa. 42:7.
Jonah 2:4…………….II Chron. 6:38; Psa. 31:22
Jonah 2:5…………….Psa. 69:1; Lam. 3:54
Jonah 2:6…………….Psa. 16:10; Job 33:28
Jonah 2:7…………….Psa. 18:6
Jonah 2:8…………….Psa. 31:6
Jonah 2:9…………….Psa. 3:8; Psa. 50:14; Psa. 50:23

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: Do You Play in the Elevator?

Posted on April 17, 2014

elevatorWe were checking out of the hotel, Glenn and I, …pulling our loaded cart from the room on the 2nd floor, when we heard it. At first the shrieks were so piercing and frantic that we thought someone down the hall needed a spanking. You know, we thought we were hearing the typical out-of-control child. (You know this child. People call him “out-of-control”, but he really controls just about everything about his family.)

But the screaming got closer to us and, turning around, I saw a three or four-year-old curly-headed boy, tears streaming, panicked cries getting louder and louder, running and peering into every nook of the hallway. It was obvious this child was lost from his parents. I started toward him when the stairwell door opened and a young man said, “Charlie.” At that instant Charlie turned toward the voice and ran into the man’s arms. Charlie’s father said only, “See Charlie…that’s what happens when you play on the elevator. I told you.”

I know Charlie was having fun. The magic doors were open and it was such a temptation to run into the elevator. Then it was fun to push the “1” button when the doors began to close and make them open right back up again. I know his father, busy checking out in the lobby, had said “Charlie, get off the elevator. You’re going to get hurt….Now, Charlie!” But Charlie had to push just one more button. This time he pushed the “2” and the doors closed. This time they did not re-open. This time the elevator began moving and Charlie began screaming hysterically.

Do you play in the elevator? Oh, you know where this is going. I mean, when your Father tells you what to do to avoid being hurt, are you still lured into areas of experimentation with the very things your Father has told you to avoid? When your Father bids you come away from the dangers and draw closer to Him, do you sometimes procrastinate, intending all along to go to Him, but just “pushing one more button” or “watching the magic doors open” just one more time?

Sometimes I think we play in the elevator with entertainment choices. We know the Father is calling us to purity, but we forget that the choices we are making can move us farther away from His protection. Finally, while we are quite oblivious to the danger, the doors may close and we may no longer be even in close proximity to the Father and His will.

Sometimes we play in the elevator with physical lusts. How many teens, like King David, have figured out that lust leads to actions that you can’t undo? It leads to regret that you just can’t fix. Sometimes it puts you on a path that will keep you out of heaven. Sometimes, the doors close.

Sometimes we play on the elevator with our lust for material things. We know that we need to get our priorities aligned more perfectly with the Father’s, but we think, “Maybe I’ll just pursue this one more career goal, obtain this one more possession (that will require me to seek the kingdom second, financially, for at least 24 months, till it’s paid off), or try to get into this prestigious circle of friends. Once I’m there, I’m getting serious about Christianity.” The only thing is, once we’ve “pushed that button” there’s always one more to push.

Sometimes we play on the elevator with our parenting. We think about how we should be having Family Bible time. We know we need to get started. We know that we have got to be more consistent in discipline. We know we need to be memorizing scripture with our kids. We do hear His call from the “lobby.” But, you know, we’re just thinking about what’s right there in front of us at the moment. Playing around is just  more fun than being so serious and conscientious about listening to the Father. “There will be plenty of time later to step off the elevator and “straighten up” my act.”

And then, so often, it happens. The door closes and we are tragically separated from the Father. We’re not even on the same floor of the building. And, at last, we “get it.”  Our lifestyles have come to mirror the entertainment choices we made. We laughed at sin for so long that it became tolerable in our lives and homes and we are paying high prices for our lack of discernment. Our children did not think we were serious about morality, at all, when we were laughing at immorality. Or perhaps we look around and find that it is almost time to die and we are very rich in things that we are soon to leave behind, but we have no treasures in heaven. Our families somehow missed the importance of seeking the kingdom. How did that happen? Perhaps we, as parents, procrastinated the years of childhood away and we find that the door has closed. The opportunities to draw close to the Father are no more because the Father is nowhere in our proximity. How did we get on “the second floor”?

God doesn’t pull punches about playing around with sin.

“…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” (II Cor. 6:2)

 “That’s what happens when you play on the elevator, Charlie. I told you.”

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: When You are Crunching Acorns

Posted on November 4, 2013

Acorns_fallingIn the past few days, I have gone to a retreat without the required bedding, towels and soap, I have face-planted in front of an audience that was gathered around a campfire, I have discovered a double-booked Saturday just a few days before I was supposed to be speaking in two places, I have had a wicked stomach virus, and I’ve traveled several hundred miles alone and spent multiple hours in doctors offices and waiting rooms. I’ve canceled a couple of trips so that I could make different trips that were more urgent on that particular day. In short, my course–the regularity of planned events–has been altered many times.

Have you ever thought about the fact that God never says “Uh-oh!”? He never changes his plans because things aren’t working the way He wants them to. We serve a God Who always follows through. This time of year, when you find yourself crunching acorns beneath your shoes, driving through colorful foliage or running back into the house to get that coat you haven’t worn since last March, remember He is a God upon Whom you can count. He is faithful. He delivers. Nature obeys Him—the winds and the waves, the faithful ocean tides, the stars in their courses, gestational life, seedtime and harvest. The hosts of heavenly angels are situated even now at His command. All of life obeys God.

But you and I have a choice. Sometimes I wish I did not. After all, if I did not have the choice, I would be like the birds flying south or the squirrel gathering acorns. I would always be doing His Holy Will. But it’s only in the choice that He can find in me devotion, appreciation and submission. He has given me the freedom to love Him in return…or not. And, when I choose to love Him, my indestructible connection between heaven and earth takes its shape. I am the only one who can burn the bridge that spans the gulf between the Faithful God and the vulnerable woman I am.

I’m in verse 39 of Romans 8. Dark nights and storms and mean people and serpents and terrorists and surprise situations are there, too. But I am the inseparable. They are just the unable.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38, 39).

Seasons of the Heart

When the crimson leaves have fallen
And cool winds breathe a sigh,
I stop beneath a barren oak
And wistfully think, “Why?”

Why must flowers lose their blooms?
Where goes the butterfly?
Why does autumn bear this chill?
Where do the birds go and why?

The squirrels don’t forget to find acorns.
The fields never fail to turn gold.
The mice find my barn for the winter,
And I’ve turned another year old.

Every appointment of nature
Is met with the greatest detail.
How can all heaven and earth do His will
And I, in His own image, fail?

If I could, like stars in their courses,
Or that gold harvest moon in the night,
Follow the course He has charted
And change when He thought it was right;

If I had no fear of tomorrow;
If I trusted in God’s wisdom more,
Like the squirrel I’d be ready for winter;
Like the bird flying south, I could soar.

The heavens and earth shout His glory.
The sky is the work of His hand
I, too, have a place in my God’s world.
I, too, must attend His command.

Seedtime and harvest, death before life;
In His good time may I take my place
As the whole world gives way and all nature obeys,
In the seasons, may I see His face.

CCSig