Hammer on Anvil '

"From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view" (2 Corinthians 5:16).

This gem of a verse popped out at me in a simple reading last week. As often happens when the Holy Spirit illuminates my vision, it was as if I had never read this verse before or stopped to consider what it means.

So what DOES it mean, you might be asking? Well, the context is that Paul is telling the Corinthians that Christ died for all, "so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." He mentions how he formally knew Jesus "according to the flesh," and how differently he knows Him now!

Paul talks a great deal in his writings about how "there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female" (Galatians 3:28). He also told the Galatians it didn't matter if they were circumcised or uncircumcised.

All of these Scriptures point to one thing: Paul had come to realize that outward appearances and practices didn't matter. In 1 Timothy 1:15, he is astounded to declare, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst." When Paul came to grips with the fact that the blood of Jesus availed even for HIM, he knew he must no longer despair of anyone else.

I'm sure many people thought Paul was beyond God's reach. I mean, he executed Christians -- and he did it zealously! Yet God chose to reveal himself to Paul, who to this day is considered the greatest missionary who ever walked the face of the earth.

So the message today is this: We must not regard people from a human point of view. Some translations say we must not regard anyone "according to the flesh." The note in my study Bible says that means we shouldn't judge people "according to worldly standards and values that derive from living as if one's present physical life is all that matters."

Brothers and sisters, we must ask God to open our eyes to see others as HE sees them. Don't judge them according to what your limited sight can behold, and despair of them as forever lost. Make an effort to become part of their lives and learn their story. Your coworker who recently confessed to you that she had an abortion needs someone to shine the light of Jesus into her life. Your neighbor who is a single mom and moonlights as a stripper to put food on the table needs you to LOVE her, not judge her. Take a hot meal to her and her children, and sit down and get to know her. The guy at church who is addicted to pornography needs a man of God to walk beside him and help him to get free.

Let us endeavor to walk by FAITH, and not by sight. The world will be a much kinder place, and people will take note that the love of Jesus is alive in you!

My husband and I just returned from a much-needed week away in the Phoenix area. It was a blessed time of relaxation and enjoying treasured family relationships.

Our flight back to Springfield left at 7:25 in the morning. As the flight attendant began her spiel about emergency exits and the like, I was a bit taken aback when she said they would be serving alcoholic beverages. Excuse me? Alcoholic beverages at 7:30 in the morning? I could understand if it were an evening flight, but should it even be legal to offer alcohol at that hour of the morning? I was pretty sure nobody would take her up on that offer, but I was wrong.

The man across the aisle from us bought a can of beer. And it must've been one whopper of a beer, at $7 a can! Before the flight was over, he had ordered another beer.

Two beers consumed before the hour of 10 a.m. My heart ached for this man, and I wondered what his life must be like. I remember all too well sitting at the breakfast table with my father when I was a teenager. His unusually tall glass of orange juice was actually vodka, with the juice added for color. He thought he was fooling us, but he wasn't. On one occasion when I angrily hurled a bottle of his booze across a field, he threatened to wring my neck.

I confess that I used to view addicts with contempt. In times past, I would've looked at that man across the aisle in the airplane and despised him in my heart. I was one of those "holier than thou" Christians who had a list of "pet sins" that I was sure God thought were much worse than any of MY sins. But when He showed me a healthy dose of the wickedness in my own heart, I began to let Him teach me about compassion. About loving "the least of these." About not being quick to condemn just because maybe I hadn't fallen prey to a particular sin myself.

My long-suffering husband and I have been through some very turbulent waters in our nearly 35 years of marriage. When we share our story of how God has redeemed our marriage, sometimes the first thing people think is, "Oh...surely that must have happened before you knew the Lord." Wrong.

It drives me crazy that when you share something so wonderfully redemptive, people can't simply rejoice with you. They have to know immediately if you were really a Christian when you:

• had an abortion, or
• had an affair, or 
• used an illegal substance, or 
• viewed pornography, or 
• dabbled in homosexuality, or
• ________________ (fill in the blank)

What is it with that? Do people who ask this question really think that Christians don't sin?

I am so grateful for biblical accounts of David and Samson and Jonah and Peter and many others who blew it big-time. It is obvious when I read about these men that, yes, it is possible to be even "a man after God's own heart" and yet allow sin to lure you away. Peter walked with Jesus for three years, and yet denied Him in His hour of need because he allowed fear to grip his heart.

Please, my friends, before you quickly look down your nose at someone who has committed a sin that you can't imagine committing yourself, remember that very likely you have committed sins that the other person hasn't. Don't condemn a brother's homosexuality and then gossip about him to everyone you meet. Don't be critical of a sister's addiction to alcohol and then eat yourself into a model of American obesity. Don't be properly horrified to learn someone has abortion in their past, while you privately view pornography because "you're not hurting anyone."

It is time for us to be real about the ugliness in our own hearts, dear ones. If you have become hardened about the shortcomings of others, ask God to circumcise your heart. Ask Him to allow you to see others through His eyes. Ask Him to show you how far short YOU fall, and be repentant. Remember Jesus' wise words to the accusers of the woman caught in adultery: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

A couple of weeks ago on this blog, my friend Hannah shared about a crotchety older man she had encountered in a parking lot. He had taken note of an arm patch on her coat that says "Satan Sucks." He asked her if the patch was intended to be a testimony to the Lord, but when she began to explain, he cut her off rudely. Bottom line is that he didn't care what she had to say. He was offended by the patch, and in no uncertain terms let Hannah know she was a "poor testimony" to the Lord. This man had never met Hannah before in his life (which is probably why he was so grouchy), yet he had the audacity to insinuate that she wasn't as holy as he was because she wore a patch that said "sucks."

And he wasn't even theologically correct in his arguments. He suggested that perhaps calling Satan a "rascal" might be less offensive. Excuse me? Calling the enemy of our souls a mere "rascal" doesn't do him justice. Satan comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

My theory is that this man's faith is so marginal that, to him, Satan is nothing more than a rascal. You see, if your "faith" consists of attending church three times a week, and not cursing or drinking, you aren't much of a threat, and Satan leaves you alone.

If, however, you seek to honor God in all that you do, and daily offer yourself to Him as a living sacrifice, you can bet on a battle. John 16:33 says "in this world you will have tribulation." James says we will face trials of many kinds. In Ephesians, we are told to stand against the devil's schemes by daily clothing ourselves with the armor of God.

The day after Hannah's blog posted, I read something in my daily devotional (Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest) that reminded me of what she had experienced:

Abandon to God is of more value than personal holiness. Personal holiness focuses the eye on our own whiteness; we are greatly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, fearful lest we offend Him. Perfect love casts out all that when once we are abandoned to God. 

What a perfect description of Hannah's encounter. The man was obviously focused on his own whiteness. Had he really cared about Hannah and what her patch meant, he would have engaged her in conversation and let her speak. But every time she tried, he interrupted. It was clear that his opinion was the only one that was valid. A word he deemed inappropriate blinded him to the wonderful truth that Hannah could have imparted had he given her half a chance.

I told Hannah about a similar experience our son, Josh, had with an elderly man several years ago. Josh and some of his friends were hanging around the square downtown, when this man confronted them and basically told them they were all going to hell because of how they looked. He was so offended by tattoos and piercings that he couldn't see straight. He angrily told Josh, "If God would've wanted us to have tattoos and piercings, we would have been born with them!" Josh remained calm as he replied, "Really, sir? Were you born with those glasses?" Touché! The man was so flabbergasted by Josh's logic that he stomped off. It's hard to argue with intelligence when you are being so ignorant.

Brothers and sisters, abandonment to God is infinitely more precious to Him than our vain attempts at holiness. Hannah exudes that abandonment, which is probably why the man she met was so hostile. When genuine love for God meets up with ugly legalism, a clash is inevitable.

Let us endeavor to not be so priggish about how others express their faith. The patch that Hannah sports is dear to her because it is accurate. She has been through stuff that has earned her the right to say "Satan Sucks." Let us ask God to help us see others as He sees them, instead of through our prideful arrogance that wants to believe we're always right. Above all, let us live the Jesus Creed -- loving God and loving others.

"Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."





When we fail to forgive people in our lives, the person who suffers the most is us. Holding a grudge is toxic to our body and soul. As we allow the hurt we have suffered to fester, our physical health deteriorates, and our every day attitude turns sour. Before we know it, our hearts are hardened; against man and God.





Jesus turned the law of retribution on its ear. The old Mosaic law said, among other things, this: If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Leviticus 20:10 Christ showed forgiveness in the face of this law.





John 8:3-11


The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”





Jesus clearly gives us an example of how things are to be different with Him in our lives. If Christ has the power and is willing to pardon this clear violation of God's laws, who are we to withhold forgiveness from one another? Do not judge so that you will not be judged. Matthew 7:1 Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Luke 6:37





Each of us is a sinner. We have trampled on the name of Christ more times than we can count. We return to old sins we have repented from. Each of us has been forgiven of our sins-past, present, and future. In the face of this magnitude of grace and mercy, how can we justify refusing to forgive those who have sinned against us?





Forgiveness is not easy. It takes prayer and humility that the world doesn't teach us. Forgiveness does not mean instant restoration of trust. It doesn't "make it all better". It IS what we are called to do, and it drives a wedge between us and God when we fail to obey.





"Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses; as we forgive those who trespass against us."

This weekend, I will be out of town, speaking at a Youth Retreat, on the topic of spiritual purity. One of the sub-topics that will arise is that of having the appearance of holiness and judging one another by fleshly standards. I was surfing through some old emails this week, and came across one that contained a devotion that I had written back in 2003. I love that the truth of God's word never gets old, you just grow with it. I just wanted to share this little devotional with you.

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"Spiritual Competition"

One of the most defeating diseases that can infect a body of believers is an atmosphere of spiritual competition. The Disciples of Christ showed us that one extremely poisonous tactic of Satan is to inject the unassuming disciple with the venom of spiritual pride. Christ’s disciples began to argue over which one of them would be exalted the greatest in the kingdom of God. Surely, with such a competitive spirit, there was no unity among the disciples. Each disciple was probably planning his next move, sure that he was wise enough to be heard and heeded, trying to impress everyone else with his great words and understanding.

The saddest part may have been that their wisdom would have blinded them from hearing anything of worth that any other disciple had to say. For they would have said in their hearts “I don’t need to hear what this babbler has to say, what does he have on me?” They may even begin to try to sneak a peak at the list of the great Judge who sees all, and try to build up a defense for themselves against other disciples, saying “He talks a good game, but he has many shortcomings and downfalls in the light of God. Why, he doesn’t even know what holiness is, nor does he desire it! I am not like him! I love God MUCH more than he!”

How sad it is for a group of believers to become so blinded by their own pride and haughtiness of spirit that they refuse to hear the words of another or glean from the wisdom of another. Such spirits are poor, wretched beggars, for in denying the words of their fellow disciples, they may very well neglect a word from God. And never could they have any unity with their brothers. Though they pray together, sing together, and worship together, or prophesy together, they could never do so in spirit and in truth, for such a spirit would accept EVERY brother in Christ without respect for persons.

How long has it been since I have worshipped in the spirit? I may measure that moment against the period of time since I was last able to accept every brother in Christ-like love and in unity, forgetting their trespasses, but remembering that the blood that covers their door post is the same blood that covers mine. That the Spirit that moves through them is the same Spirit that moves through me. That the wisdom and fellowship they have tried to share with me was not from the pits of their own dying branches of unrighteousness, but sprung forth from the living vine amongst which they dwell, the same vine of which I am but a fresh, budding twig. When I view every brother in light of Christ and his power to changes hearts in spite of the hardness of those hearts, and when I see each soul in the light of the hope that one day, we will ALL be perfected in Christ, it will be that day that I can worship again with them in unity. Moreover, where that unity dwells, I will then again be able to worship in spirit and in truth. But if that day never comes, and I lift my hands toward heaven without that light, I sin against God, and grieve the Holy Spirit.

“Lord, open mine eyes that I might see your light shining down upon the people you have saved and ordained for your holy calling. For they are your workmanship, and I but dwell among them with the same hope you have laid down upon each soul in which the Holy Spirit dwells.”