#31women

-Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton in their book “A Survey of the Old Testament” 

Sin just doesn’t always seem that… evil. I get it. There are times when I get away with my sins, and no one seems to get hurt at all. It almost feels like it doesn’t matter what I do anymore. Sure, murder is pretty bad, but not keeping the sabbath? Not using God’s name in vain? It just doesn’t feel all that bad!

One of the faults I often make when sharing the gospel is either downplaying or exaggerating the role of sin in the salvation story. We can go to the extremes of “God’s wrath will descend upon you because you’re going to hell for sure you heathen” or “You can do whatever the heck you want now that Jesus died. Bye!” Both of these options are superficial readings of scripture, leaving out the depth of who God is. They take our focus away from Christandonto ourselves. One condemns, the other excuses, but both are about the technicalities of our sin, rather than the character of our God.

Here’s the thing- sin is a BIG DEAL. Every tiny little decision you make has an impact on both your own soul, and on the lives of others around you.

Here’s why, it causes death and destruction. Sin may look good and even feel right at first, but ultimately it destroys us. It fails to fill the void that we’re always looking to satisfy. Itdisappoints us and distracts us from the truth of God. When Adam and Eve first ate of the tree in Genesis 3, it looked good, tasted good, and seemed that it would give them something they wanted. Yet moments later, they only felt shame. But sin doesn’t just impact our own hearts and lives. When you sin, there is always another victim. Someone is always being betrayed, disappointed, and hurt by our bad decisions.

Let’s look at the consequences of sin on both spiritual and relational levels…

1. Sin breaks the relationship between us and God. God is holy. God cannot sin. In his very nature, God cannot tolerate the presence of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were driven out of the garden, away from the presence of the Holy God (Genesis 3:22-24). They were not being excessively punished or unjustly charged with a punishment for eating fruit, they were driven out because what they had in Eden was broken (though not beyond repair!). They were no longer able to live in a place that was created in perfection because they were no longer innocent nor vulnerable.
2. Sin brings shame. The shame of our past decisions often weigh on us so heavily that we feel unable to change our actions. It feels hopeless and we feel like utter failures, beyond repair.
3. Sin is addictive. Once we give into one temptation, it’s like a waterslide down. For example, the first time a person uses drugs, they impact the individual to their full capacity. The next time this person uses drugs, it takes a higher dose to get the same response. Gradually, the person becomes so accustomed to the impact of drugs that the higher doses destroy their capability to stop. All sin works the same way. A white lie can so easily lead to compulsive lying mentality. One experience with mild porn soon becomes a necessity for more and more extreme versions.
4. Sin is inherently selfish. When we sin, we take away from other people. Sin drains, love replenishes. Lying = taking away truth, murder = taking away life, etc.
5. Sin changes our thought processes towards the people around us. When we sin, we put ourselves first, which leads us to exploit others for our own benefit or neglect people that needed us. For example, The more we misuse our sexuality, the more we begin to objectify others around us, leading to sexual harassment and (in extreme cases) sexual violence.

Sin is evil and it does matter. There is no wiggle room on that truth, but here’s the second thing we understand about sin- sin is a big deal, but it is not the biggest deal. The grace of God is victorious over sin always and forever. The grace of God covers over our sin completely. “But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you..” (2 Corinthians 12:9). There is sufficient grace to cover big deal sins. And that is where we find our gospel.

Sin matters, Christ matters more.

-31Women (Beth)

The hardest part of leaving El Salvador after 7 weeks was not knowing when I was coming back. The hardest part of leaving home for college my freshman year was knowing that everything would change while I was gone. The hardest part of cutting off communication with a close friend was wondering if I would ever see her again. The world doesn’t wait for us- it keeps right on spinning even when we want it to slow down. We keep right on growing, even when we wish things were just like they used to be. 

No matter where I am, a part of me is always wishing to be somewhere else. My heart is always torn. I always wonder if I really belong. 

I cried out to the Lord on my last day in El Salvador and asked him to show me how I could possibly bear to leave a place I loved. In response, he led me to Paul and his letters. Paul spent time building churches and relationships, only to leave when they had a stable foundation. It was his calling, and he admitted many times in his letters how much pain he went through in separating from them. Yet, he does not get discouraged, rather he continues to pray for the people he leaves in this way: 

“Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13) 

So here’s my prayer for the community I left in El Salvador, the church in my hometown, the best friend that I haven’t spoken to in years, and anyone else that I ever am called away from based on the above verses. 

1. That the Lord “directs [my] way” back to them. 
   
2. That the Lord makes them “increase and abound in love” as I have loved them. 
3. That they would truly desire to pursue a life where their hearts are “blameless in holiness before our God and Father” 
4. That they would be saved, and therefore welcomed into eternal life at “the coming of our Lord Jesus.” 

As the year begins and we are often called away from family and friends for school or work, remember to keep praying for the communities we leave behind. 

-31Women (Beth) 

Do we testify to the Truth? Are we living in a way that says “Surely he is coming soon.” Are we confident to cry “Amen, so be it?” Are we ready to proclaim “Come Lord Jesus?”

-Revelation 22:20

We all know that there’s bad things in our world. That’s pretty much an uncontested truth no matter who you are. Bad things happen. The part we disagree on across religious lines is why? Why do bad things happen? Why and how did sin become a part of lives? These questions are the second step in the gospel story, Creation —> Fall, Perfection —> Brokenness, Holy —> Sinful.

Our story of a sinful world with broken people begins in Genesis 2 with a tree and a choice. “The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  God placed two trees right in the middle of the garden of Eden to remind his creation that he was at the center. With their hearts and minds set on the Lord as the center of their lives, Adam and Eve would be secure in holiness.

Yet they had a choice. God gave them free will to choose to follow his commands. “But wait! Couldn’t God have forced them not to eat of the tree? Couldn’t he have not given them that option?” Well, yes. But God wanted more than robots. He wanted us - created beings in his image with the ability to have a real and meaningful relationship with him. How meaningful is a relationship with a robot? We have free will so that we can fully image God and know him to a fuller extent. Here’s the thing to remember about this fact- God did not create sin. Giving us a choice does not mean he failed on the job, created evil, or was defeated by evil. God is holy. God does not tolerate sin.

With that in mind, let’s continue the story. The first thing that happens in Genesis 3 is that the woman (not yet named Eve) and the serpent twist God’s Words through questioning, diminishing, and exaggerating. First, the serpent exaggerates God’s command: “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”  Next, the woman also exaggerates God’s command although she corrects the serpent at first: “you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” Eve exaggerates God’s commands (God only said not to EAT of the tree, not to avoid touching it), thereby allowing the temptation to continue. Then the serpent diminishes God’s word instead, knowing that Eve is beginning to question the accuracy of her God’s words: “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The tricky serpent knows about the best lies- the ones that are almost true. Would the woman and man become like God, knowing good and evil? In a way, yes they did - they came to know evil. Did they die? Not immediately. At this point Adam saw his wife eat, and instead of protecting her or standing up for Truth, he saw that she had more knowledge and did not immediately die (although she did surely die), which convinced him to also take and eat. Thus we had the first sin.

Here’s the thing about the first sin- it wasn’t about eating fruit. There may be 10 commandments to keep, but there is really only one sin in the world. It was the sin that the woman and the man in the garden committed, and it the one we still commit today: Ourselves > God. All other specifics fit into this one sin- we put ourselves (the creation) over God (the creator).

So why do bad things happen? Because we no longer have God at the center of our garden,we put ourselves there instead.

But brothers and sisters here is our hope - our sin story may have begun in Genesis 3, but so does our salvation story. Genesis 3:15 says “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.”  This is the first prophecy of the Bible. Sin entered the world, but it did not overcome. God was not surprised by the choice made. God is provider. God is deliver. God is faithful even when we are not. God always keeps his promises. God had a plan all along to redeem his people and restore them to himself. 

And Adam believed. He named his wife Eve, “the mother of all the living,” because believed the promise of the Lord that through Eve, a child would come to bring life.

-31Women (Beth) 

“In the beginning, God…” 

Where do you begin your telling of the gospel? 

The other day, I was taught how to do the “Romans Road,” a list of verses that help you evangelize and explain the gospel through verses in Romans. While this is a great strategy that can be useful, I respectfully disagree with the choice of starting verse: Romans 3:32 - “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” 

If we start our gospel story in Genesis 3 with the sin of Adam and Eve, we begin with broken relationships and a fallen world, forgetting that our true identity lies in Genesis 1 with “In the beginning, God created.” We were created by God to be in perfect relationship with Him and to live in perfect relationships with each other. We have to remember that the reason we should hate sin so much is that we were not created to be living in it. We should grieve over our fallen world because it was not created to be that way. Sin is the destruction of a world that was created good. 

Here’s what happens when we start the gospel with “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth…” (Genesis 6) rather than “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1): 

1. We lose the meaning behind “Savior.” If the world was always bad, and we were born in sin, what exactly do we need saving from? The reason we need a savior at all is that the Creator God wanted to restore the relationship that was broken and redeem the identity that was lost.

2. We fail to comprehend why Christ would die at all. The biggest question we should be asking ourselves in response to the gospel is “Why would he do that if we didn’t do anything to deserve it? Why does God love us so much?” It doesn’t make sense why God would love us if we don’t understand that he created us in his image. 

3. We put our focus on worldly things instead of eternal things. Sin is temporary, Christ has overcome. We need to start with the explanation of what the world truly is, because our fallen world is not going to last forever. Our focus is not on the sin that we want to escape from, but rather the God we want to run to. 

4. We do not fully understand the end of the story without its true beginning. Without knowing “and God saw that it was good,” (Genesis 1) we don’t understand “Behold I am coming soon” (Revelation 22). We know that Jesus will come again and create the new heavens and new earth as it was always meant to be, because we understand that God is Creator. 

But if we’re going to sum up one reason to remember Genesis one, it’s this: 

Before there was sin, there was God. 

“In the beginning, God…” 

-31Women (Beth) 

It’s time to go back to the basics. 

If my Sunday school teacher had asked me to tell them the gospel as a 6 yr old, I probably could have done it- and that would’ve been great… expect that for a long time I pretty much stayed right there. I could tell you the gospel, but if you asked me why Christ had to die, why it was essential that he rose again, or where the gospel really began all the way back in Genesis, I was stumped. It’s great to have Bible studies that go deeply into specific topics or certain books, those types of studies are essential to discipleship and spiritual growth, but if you don’t have a strong foundation in your understanding of the gospel, you are hopelessly lost. 

The gospel is the cornerstone of our faith; Without it all the religion in the world means nothing. Yet, do we even understand what we believe when we recite the gospel to each other? 

What about every other part of Christianity that follows? Do we understand why we go to church read the Bible, pray, go on mission trips, help the poor, or anything else we are called to do as Christians? When Christianity becomes cultural, it can be easy for us to go through the motions of doing all the outward signs of Christianity that everyone else expects, without understanding their significance, or experiencing these things in their fullness. 

When we try to build on our faith without a solid foundation in the Lord and His Word, we are easily broken down by the attacks of our enemy and the distractions of the world. As soon as we face hardship, we begin to think that religion is fake, petty, and naive. Look at the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 13 of a farmer (that is God) sowing seeds (the gospel) into different types of soil (our response to God’s words). Jesus said, “Some [seed] fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.” That is what happens when we don’t take time to create a foundation in why we believe what we do. We are beat down by troubles that come. Yet, hope is not lost. “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” We can truly grow in our faith and our relationship with God when we have a foundation to build on, that means hearing AND understanding. 

So we’re starting a series on the wait, why? moments of Christianity- starting with the gospel, because we’ve gotta have a foundation. 

-31Women (Beth) 

“We were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also ourselves.” -1 Thessalonians 2:8

Once upon a time, I was sitting on the steps of a soccer field, trying unsuccessfully to get two young women to open up to me about their lives, the absolute mess that our bible study was in, and the reasons behind their jealousy of a couple other girls in the community. They suspiciously gave me meaningless answers and turned up the music so I couldn’t ask anymore questions. 

But I was a woman on a mission  

….or rather three separate staff members told me in no uncertain terms that someone needed to talk to those girls and it had to be a girl who spoke Spanish (literally only me). Also I was pretty sure God was calling me to do so as well.  

So it was a bit of a forced mission but I was no less determined for it. 

As the beginning of the conversation wasn’t going well, I decided to start praying that God would soften their hearts towards me. And then he spoke to me: “How are they supposed to be open to you when you haven’t been vulnerable with them?” 

That’s the mentality we often have when we try to love and minister to others. We expect people to trust us without giving up any part of ourselves to them. Yes, we can tell them that we’re trustworthy and that we believe in God, but if we don’t sacrifice our own comfort zones, can we truly become frustrated when the other person seems unwilling to open up and discuss life with us? 

In 2 Thessalonians, Paul tells the church of the Thessalonians that he, Silvanus, and Timothy loved them enough to share the gospel, but also to share their own lives. This is true community- sharing God and sharing ourselves, and that has a price. Sharing ourselves is scary; it means being weak, and being honest, and trusting others. Not too comfortable an idea. 

So here’s the end of that story on the steps of a make-shift soccer field: 

God asked me what I was willing to give up to follow him, and I said everything. 

“Let’s make a deal,” I told the girls. “You can ask me anything you want and if I answer honestly, then I get to ask you a question in return.” 

You can assume that they started with the most personal question that could. When I answered honestly, they were so shocked they forgot that only 30 seconds ago they hadn’t trusted me. It was a dangerous game, but I was prepared to pay the price to build community. That game was the start of a 3-4 hour conversation that was centered on real struggle and real questions about God. It was worth every secret I had to give away. It was not only the first time those girls were honest with me, but it was also the first time that they had ever wanted to be. It was a 180 degree change in those relationships, and as a result, my ministry. They changed my heart and I hope I showed them real love in return.  

So you want to do discipleship, ministry, mission work, community building, activism, etc. Be genuine. Be authentic. Be honest. Be vulnerable. Be trustworthy. Be smart. Be faithful. Be ready to give it all. 

-31Women (Beth) 

This post is 2/2, you can find the first “The Price of Unity” here

We (Christians) all like to talk about things like unity, community, the body of Christ, family in Christ, the global Church, and on and on. In fact, we talk about it so much that you’d think we’d tell you how to do any of that.

Because here’s the truth- we’re not so good at being unified these days. We spend a lot of time trying to prove that we’re not like “those” Christians or criticizing our brothers and sisters in Christ that seem less committed and not as perfect as us in our own eyes. I’d go so far as to say that unity isn’t a priority at all in the modern church. Spiritual denominations and physical borders separate us from each other. Those that have begun to see this as an actual problem stand on street corners and shout at us to get our act together, but even they aren’t really doing anything to help the problem or find the solution. We ask each other to change, saying “if you would just have our worldview and our customs, we could totally get along with you!”

Listen up brothers and sisters- Unity has a price. If we want to truly become one community, we have to have a funeral before we have a wedding.

Think about it this way: When two people get married, they don’t just squish together two individuals. Rather, two people give up their individual selves and become one body together. The same has to happen for us to become one body as a Church. While there are some truths that we should never compromise on and some people who aren’t truly following God that we should rebuke, we are called to sacrifice our comforts and preferences to join with the global body of believers. For example, you may love modern music, but worshipping with a different group of people may require you to learn some old hymns or even music in a different language.

As you all know, I recently spent time in El Salvador working with a Christian organization in Cuidad Delgado (part of San Salvador). While this organization was doing many wonderful things in the community, no organization is perfect and I saw some harmful ideas about what it means to be a Christian practiced in their ministry. Instead of accepting their culture and conforming to their worship practices, many of the missionaries expected the community to become more american. They saw the american christian worldview and customs as the only correct way to know and worship God. Yet God is not the God of America. America does not matter much to God. People matter to God, not national boundary lines. The way we worship isn’t the “right way,” it’s simply our way. When we go into other cultures to do ministry, we need to meet them where they are, not as a lesser people but as a unique and therefore different people.

Unity requires sacrifice. It requires us to give up our comfort zone.

So let’s put this into practice: When you meet other christians with different experiences remember to listen to them, accept them, and learn from them. Stop expecting to people to agree with you all the time, but rather listen to their perspectives to grow your own worldview. Stop asking people to change to join your church or social group, instead see diversity as an asset rather than a risk. Stop worrying about doing things the way they’ve always been done, because those new ideas and new perspectives and new ways of life could be better than your old traditions.

Stay tuned for how to start doing this on an individual level next post.

-31Women (Beth)

I am physically exhausted but spiritually AWAKE. My eyes are opened to the reality of the oppressed and the sorrows of abandonment. Yet in both of these circumstances that I witnessed in Cambodia, where darkness is natural and expected, hopelessness was not rampant. These people who had material and physical lack had more than most of us westerners do. We may have less poverty but they have less SPIRITUAL POVERTY. They recognised that even in these situations of being unwanted that they were sought after. They recognised that even in the midst of trials such as HIV and the reality of being an orphan that they were loved by the highest power in complete fullness. They recognised that building up spiritual apathy was unthinkable yet I, taking this all in, realised that I had the mantle of apathy over my shoulders. You see, we here in the first word have become comfortable behind our closed doors and hardened hearts. Yet the people I met over the last few weeks were all in to both challenge the injustice and spread the light of God. I have decided to swap my garment of apathy for one of empathy and action towards the impoverished and suffering as though I knew they were out there in the millions, it took me a two week trip to realise their reality. Yet their reality is one of HOPE which a lot of us in the western world take for granted and don’t fully understand. They were orphans yet they had a joy beyond measure. They were sick and hungry yet they held true to the bread of life. They were abandoned yet they were pursued. They were poor yet they were rich. I’m taking up the challenge to help lift the blanket of apathy off our first world shoulders and grasp the hope that is offered to us all. Will you join me? ✨ “And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be the poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.” - Luke 6v20.
- 31women (Gabi)

I’m going to say something that said often but is hardly heard: you are not damaged goods. 

My goodness, you are not damaged goods.

 We have fallen into this comparison trap and we have created such a dog eat dog world for ourselves. Instead of building each other up with strong hands and open hearts we are stuck in a dizzying world of “prettier” and “better” and “smarter” and “skinnier.”
 And it is so hard to lift someone up while you’re stepping on them to propel yourself forward.

We are either the woman being stoned or the ones throwing the stones (reference).

We believe with all our hearts that Jesus is good. 
But we believe with all our hearts, too, that we are too damaged or too bad for him to use for his glory. 

Let me tell you something. 
You are never going to be too broken, too bad, too snarly, too mean, too weepy, to much, or too little to love you and use you. 

His love for you is not dependent on you - it is dependent on him. 
And he’s got arms big enough to wrap you up and send you out, scars and lies and gnashing teeth included. 

Stop giving into the lie that you’re not good enough. 
Walk in the freedom that Jesus doesn’t care about all of the crap in the bags at your feet. 
He just cares about the one with the arms so tired from holding all of them. 

-31Women (Ansley)

I know it’s hard to believe right now, but there will come day when you will walk into your bathroom, casually glance at yourself in the mirror, and realize with a start that there aren’t purple circles under your eyes. 

You’ll start thinking, and realize that you didn’t cry yourself to sleep last night. Come to think of it, you haven’t cried yourself to sleep in a while. 

You’ll look down, and your hands won’t be shaking. 

You’ll stare at your reflection and won’t hate what you see. 

Then you’ll walk out of your house, and start conversing with a neighbor, before remembering that even talking to a close friend used to be a struggle. 

Maybe you’ll even go out to eat with some friends, and (plot twist!) actually enjoy your food, forgetting the calorie count that used to strangle the life out of you. 

You’ll sit in church, singing your favorite hymn, remembering only vaguely the times you sat in that very same place doubting the existence of a God you now know as a father and friend. 

Because that’s the funny thing about healing- you never realize that it’s happening. Then one day, you look back to see that God was answering your prayer before you even asked him to. When you were still crying out in pain, God was moving and your heart was changing. 

I promise you brothers and sisters, your laughter will block the sadness you once felt suffocating you. Your confidence will overcome the insecurities that used to burden you. Your praises will prevail over your doubts. Your God will show up, and the forces of darkness will flee before his power. Love will grow in your heart, slowly but surely, to blossom and overflow within you. 

Beloved, where you are now is not the end of the story. Hold onto your faith, and continue in your prayers. The Lord has worked all things together for your good. It will happen slowly, but little by little the light will come back into your life… And the light always wins over the darkness in the end. 

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

-31Women (Beth) 

I’m not a great sleeper…. I’m sure many of you can relate. Between academics, extracurriculars, and relationships, sleep is hard to come by… even for those who sleep like rocks. Sometimes, It’s just really hard to turn your brain off, and lying in bed for hours awake and worrying, processing, or just thinking can become a nightly routine. 

I have tried sleeping pills, hot showers, long walks, and everything else in the book, but none of them seemed to solve the long-term problem. 

Here is the #1 thing that made a significant difference: I had to actually prepare myself to go to sleep. About 30 minutes before I want to crawl into bed, I found that I need to go through a routine of preparing my body, mind, and soul to rest.

Here’s the thing: I had been either doing homework or talking to my roommates before quickly (and stressfully) throwing on pjs so that I could be in bed at a certain time with my heart pounding from all the adrenaline. That made the time before I was supposed to rest very un-restful. 

Instead, I trained myself to go through a routine before I lie down to sleep every night. My body is able to recognize this nightly order as the “resting routine”—a time of preparation that switches my mentality from “go do” to “be still.”

When we think about this simple ritual that prepares our bodies for a physical night’s rest, it raises another question: what do our souls need for a true spiritual rest?

I have recently realized that just as I don’t prepare myself for physical sleep on a weekday night, I also don’t prepare my heart for Sunday church services, weekly school chapels, or daily devotions. I jump right in, expecting to get an emotional high. But the truth is, I don’t really learn anything of value or worship my Lord fully when I don’t prepare myself to come before Him. 

Priests in the OT had to prepare themselves extensively before coming before the Lord—they had to be completely ritually and spiritually clean with the proper garments on their body and the correct sacrifice in hand. Why do I have the right to do anything less? 

When I come before the Lord, I have realized that there are a couple things I need to do: 

1. Set myself apart: I need to find a place and time that allows me to focus and be able to truly express what I need to say to God. That may be in my room, in a church, or in a bathroom stall. Just somewhere relatively solitary and still. 

2.Confess:I need to spend a moment bringing my sins, anxieties, praises, and thanksgivings before God before I start reading His word or asking Him questions. I need to unload my heart so that He can fill it up in the right way. 

3. Ask for understanding: This is especially important before reading God’s word. We should always stop and pray for understanding from the Holy Spirit. God himself dwells within us—don’t you think we should ask Him to come into our hearts and help us interpret and apply scripture? 

So when we come before the Lord, we need to have a heart that is ready to receive what he offers. Just as I need to train my body when it is time to sleep, so I need to be trained when it is time for worship. 

-31Women (Beth) 

Walgreens has their Valentine’s Day products out. When I walked in to buy something Christmas-themed, I laughed at the sight of the pink stuffed-animals and heart-shaped boxes lining the top shelves, waiting for their turn. “How ridiculous,” I thought, “We’re not even done taking down our Christmas trees yet!”

But then we realized something; Walgreens wouldn’t have their Valentine’s Day decorations out yet if people weren’t going to buy them. Tish Harrison Warren, author of “Liturgy of the Ordinary” explains that “our culture tends to rush from celebration to celebration—from a month of Halloween, to two months of Christmas to the Super Bowl, Cinco De Mayo, and on and on.”

We aren’t a culture that accepts waiting. But in truth, waiting is a spiritual practice.

Waiting reminds us of two important truths:

1) Time is not our own: I don’t know about you, but when I am stressed or upset, my main complaint is time. I go to bed angrily, wishing that I just had more time for everything—studying, sleeping, talking, exercising, etc. We live in a world that tells us that time is something we own and control. I need to be productive, multi-tasking, focused, and just generally going 24/7, and when something comes along and messes up my color-coded schedule for the day, it makes me MAD. Traffic jams, flat tires, slow food-service, lost keys, forgotten cellphone—these are the nightmares that drive me insane. Yet what are these things but small inconveniences that force me to wait? In “Receiving the Day,” Dorthy Bass terms our perception of time a false theology; “we come to believe that we, not God, are the masters of time. We come to believe that our worth must be proved by the way we spend our hours, and that our ultimate safety depends on our own good management,” she says. Waiting makes us the opposite; we become losers of control rather than masters of time, insecure people rather than gods of safety, and wasters of our moments rather than good managers.  

Traffic jams, flat tires, slow food-service, lost keys, forgotten cellphone—these are the nightmares that drive me insane. Yet what are these things but small inconveniences that force me to wait?

We are not the masters of time, and productivity eventually drains us. Our busy way of life is not sustainable, and even though we center our lives around “go,” we still spend 5 years of our lives in waiting on average. The truth is that time is not our enemy, nor is it a commodity for us to consume and control. In “The Screwtape Letters,” C.S. Lewis explains that “the Present is the point at which time touches eternity” because it is the only time that is reality. Therefore, we should focus on “obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.” What he means (at least from my perspective) is that the only point it time in which we live, and have choices to make, is the present. The time that we can experience God is now. The time we love others is now. Christianity is not a religion of theories, philosophy, and vague ideas about things that have happened or will someday happen. Christianity is first and foremost a faith that is acted out in the present. What will we do to faithfully God is this exact moment of time, which is the only point of time that I can exist as a human. 

Christianity is first and foremost a faith that is acted out in the present.

2) We are a people in waiting: Since Genesis, the people of Israel (and the whole world for that matter) were in waiting for the Messiah. The Old Testament is one continuous story of waiting for the promised savior-king-redeemer. The gospels tell of the coming of that Messiah—Jesus Christ, Emmanuel. The rest of the New Testament is one continuous story of… waiting for the promised Messiah! 

In Romans 8, Paul describes the longing we all feel for a different world—one ruled by God and free from sin. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God … For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies … we wait for it with patience.” 

According to Warren (Liturgy of the Ordinary), “Christian time reminds us that we are the people on the way. It allows us to live in the present as an alternative people, patiently waiting for what is to come, but never giving up on our telos [or ultimate aim]. We are never quite comfortable. We seek justice, practice mercy, and herald the kingdom come.”  

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” 

Something inside tells us that where we are now—this life on this earth—is not our end. C.S. Lewis once said in “Mere Christianity,” “if I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” There is a dissatisfied longing that reminds us that there is something greater, something we are in waiting for. 

And what exactly are we waiting for? The apostle John had a vision in Romans 22; “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold I am making all things new…’” 

“Behold I am making all things new…” 

The times of waiting between Christmas and Easter are just as “spiritual” as the holidays themselves. Warren reminds us that “In the liturgical year [the Church calendar] there is never a celebration without preparation. First we wait, we mourn, we ache, we repent. We aren’t ready to celebrate until we acknowledge, over time through ritual and worship, that we and this world are not yet right and whole. Before Easter, we have lent. Before Christmas, we have advent. We fast, then we feast.” 

Fast, then feast. We are a people who wait. There is something more coming our way. 

-31Women (Beth) 

Guys, its Christmas time. Anyone else having difficulty comprehending where the past few months went? or is it just me?

Now, Christmas is a season in itself. It is ‘the season’ where Jesus is at the very centre, literally the reason for the whole celebration. But something i’ve really struggled with these past months is having Jesus at the centre of my seasons, whether its Christmas or not. As ruler of my heart, He should be seated at the throne of my life. But in reality, the past few months, Jesus has been banging on my door while i turned up the sound of my other priorities and blocked His pursuing of me out completely. 

My last few months, have been really busy. I’ve finished a degree, been undergoing interviews and application processes towards next years task of teachers training. My sister has been through a break up, my grandparents haven’t been all that well, my job has been consuming, my flatting situation has been extremely stressful, my contribution to this amazing platform has been small, my free time has been limited and my mind, heart and soul have been preoccupied with things that should take second place to the Lord. 

I don’t want to make excuses. In fact i’m here to do the opposite. i know, that even though the past few months have been filled to the brim, that i could have made more time for God, and if i had done this then the whole crazy season would have probably been a heck lot more manageable. I have only myself to blame for trying to handle the whole thing myself. 

Jesus says in Matthew 11v28-30, ‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” 

This is exactly what i should have done to make the weight of he past few months lighter on my shoulders, I should have shared the weight with my God.

 I don’t think i’m alone in trying to sort out a season on my own, and i don’t think i’m the only one who has suffered the consequences of attempting to do so. But the point of realisation of where i went stray this past season has been revealed to me by the beauty of Christmas, where this season sets an example for all others, as Christ is at the centre, at the heart of the whole thing. As he should be as the king of my heart.

- 31women (Gabi)

Remember the excitement you had for Christmas as a child? How we all couldn’t sleep and tried to get up as early as humanly possible so that we could open our gifts Christmas morning? 

The anticipation for Christmas is most evident in the hearts of small children. Unfortunately, when we grow up we tend to forget about how exciting Christmas used to be for us, and are somewhat surprised and annoyed when we realize it’s time to start looking for gifts in the midst of all the other things we have to do. 

While it’s not a bad thing to stop incessantly asking for a certain gift from an imaginary man with a beard, I actually think that the kids got this one right—there should be a sense of anticipation as we enter the Christmas season. This time of year where children struggle to wait is actually a biblical concept—we call it advent. 

Advent is more than something you do to get to Christmas or a reason for companies to sell more calendars. In fact, without advent, Christmas doesn’t actually have much meaning. 

Christmas celebrates the birth of our savior, but advent is a lived-out retelling of the story behind Christ’s birth and a reminder of the promises of God. 

What is advent? 

Advent is the period of anticipation that points to the coming messiah. The word is a version of the latin word for “coming.” For Christians (at least those in US evangelical protestant traditions), the advent season begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas. 

For my church, advent means the lighting of 5 candles each Sunday and Christmas eve for one month. Each candle signifies a different part of the Christmas story. For other traditions, advent may include special daily prayers or even fasting in preparation for Christmas. 

The important part of advent is not exactly what you do, but that you are reflecting on the importance and reasons for the coming Messiah, preparing your heart to receive him on Christmas day. 

What does advent signify? 

Advent represents two separate periods of waiting: We’ll start with the Israelites. 

In the Old Testament (OT), God continually weaves together the story of his people with the promise of a coming messiah to save the people from their sins. This promise first appears in Genesis 3, directly after the fall when God promises Adam and Eve that one of their offspring would “bruise [the serpent’s] head.” The serpent had tempted Eve to sin, therefore he would be judged with a coming “serpent crusher.” As God continues to make promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon, this hero figure continues to be mentioned as the ultimate fulfillment of each promise—a king from the line of David, yet greater than David. 

Then, the Israelites get conquered by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. The Davidic line is lost. The temple is destroyed. The people are spread through all the lands. Yet the promises of God do not fade. Throughout the prophets that speak to Israel during this dark time, the promises of a new King that will liberate his people continue to appear and develop.He will come from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). He will be called a Nazarene (Isaiah 11). He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7). He would be the son of God (Psalm 2). He would do healing signs (Isaiah 35). He would be pierced for our transgressions (Isaiah 52). He would bring a new covenant for all people (Jeremiah 31). 

Imagine the anticipation for the Israelites as they waited for hundreds of years in exile for the coming of new and greater king to vindicate them. They didn’t wait just 4 Sundays for Christmas, they waited over 400 years. It makes us understand why the Angels announced the news to the shepherds, and they ran to praise the newborn king, why Simeon in the temple said he could die now that he had seen the promises of God fulfilled in baby Jesus (Luke 2), and why every single OT passage that Jesus told the jews was about himself caused a scandal in Jerusalem. 

Jesus was everything that they had waited for. 

The world received it’s Messiah once, but the story isn’t over yet. The second part of advent is just as crucial. The second period of waiting in anticipation for the Messiah is now. We are waiting for the return of the king. We are waiting for a new heaven and new earth—the fulfillment of the promises of God. Advent isn’t just about the past, it’s also a reminder that we are currently waiting (as the Israelites did), and that the Messiah will come (just as we celebrate on Christmas).

Advent is a reminder that because God fulfilled his promises to the Israelites through Jesus Christ, so will he fulfill his promises to us through Christ’s second-coming. 

Think about it: Joy to the World isn’t a Christmas song at all, and neither is O Come O Come Emmanuel. They are both advent songs. O Come O Come relays the emotion of waiting for the liberation of the Messiah for a people in exile. It awaits Jesus’ coming. And Joy to the World? It’s theme is not the birth of Jesus, but rather the second-coming! Advent does remember the past, which helps us to celebrate Christmas in all it’s weighty glory, but it is also a reminder of what is to come. It encourages us to wait. 

Joy to the world
The Lord has come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and heaven and nature sing

-31Women (Beth) 

This post is part of the #waitwhy series. You can find more posts like this here. 

Information used on OT prophecies in this post can be found here. 

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44. 

My home church recently decided to take a leap of faith and pay off the mortgage of the sanctuary building early. Instead of careful financial planning, they wanted to allow God to work by trusting in Him to provide and allow the congregation to participant in this trust by asking them to give. 

I can’t remember the exact number that the church needed in total, but it was in the ballpark of 80,000 dollars (US). 

An elder of the church got up in front of the congregation one Sunday to explain what was going on and ask people to give some extra money that month so that the church could accomplish their goal. The congregation was generally positive about the message, but not particularly motivated or inspired…. 

with one exception. 

One little girl in the church listened to the message and felt God calling her to action. After the service, she marched right up to the elder who spoke about giving and handed him… 15 cents. 

Not exactly a great start to an $80,000 project, but the elder thanked her and took the money. Later, he came up to that little girl’s father to tell him the cute story about how his daughter had given $0.15 to the building fund. But what that father said changed everything: “You don’t understand,” he said, “That’s not just the money she had with her, that’s ALL the money she HAS. That’s her entire weekly allowance.” 

The next week, that same elder got before the church again. This time, he told the story of how a little girl faithfully responded to God’s call and gave everything she had with a heart of worship. And he cried. 

People were inspired by the heart of that girl. They followed her example and gave all that they had. And for many of those individuals, they made a lot more in a week than $0.15. The church raised all the money they needed and more that very day. That girl didn’t give $80,000, but she did inspire others with the way that she gave, which led to the giving of $80,000. 

She teaches us a lesson about giving and perspective. 

I often fall into the trap of believing that what I have to give is not enough. I am easily overwhelmed by the weight and size of the problems in our world. I start to feel like a failure when I can’t solve the issues or heal the pain around me. 

But the truth is, God is not asking for you to cure world hunger or singlehandedly stop child trafficking. He does not require us to find a way to fix everything that is broken in the world all by ourselves. 

He is asking for you to give Him all you have. And whatever that is, He wants it. 

We do God’s will when we faithfully respond to His call for sacrifice with a heart of worship. He asks for what He knows you have the strength and ability to give, and he takes care of the rest.

Our small gifts that seem worthless encourage and challenge others when we give them wholeheartedly. What matters is that we do what God is calling us to do and we lay down all we have to offer at the foot of the cross. 

-31Women (beth) 

Alright internet, it’s confession time: One day, I was stressed and felt overwhelmed by my seemingly never-ending to-do list. One of the things on that checklist was to put-away my laundry, so, when I came into my room and my roommate asked how I was doing, I put on my almost-in-tears face and explained that my clothes being all over the place was making me anxious, but I didn’t have to fix it because I had to go to several meetings that night. When I got back to my room later that night, my loving roommate had folded all my laundry and put it away where she knew I would want it. However, I didn’t feel relieved, I felt guilty 

Why would I feel guilty? Because I know my roommate, and I know that she loves to do things for people, especially when they are struggling. When I came into the room earlier that night, I intentionally phrased our conversation in a way that suggested I needed my laundry folded, without actually asking her to do it. When I got back to the room that night after she had done such a nice thing for me, I pretended to be in shock and acted emotionally touched that she had took notice of my stress. In short, I manipulated her to get her to do what I wanted, and then put on a show to convince her that I had nothing to do with her decision to do that for me. 

When I read Psalm 51, I remember that story, along with many other examples of my sinful motives corrupting a moment showing the beautiful heart of love and service that others have towards me. 

Psalm 51 was written by King David after he sinned by sleeping with Bathsheba and covering his scandal up by having her husband killed, then marrying her after the time of mourning. When David is confronted by his own sin against God, he writes this poem of confession, lamentation, and repentance, asking for God’s mercy to come upon him to forgive his sins and make his heart clean. 

“Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach wisdom in the secret heart…Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me.” 

I once had a friend explain the message of this psalm as “clean heart, pure motives.” It became one of my life mottos after that. You see, God does not look at the actions of humans, but rather sees the heart motivations behind what we do. The Bible tells us that “it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come.” (Mark 7:21). If we have a clean heart, we will yearn for good and not evil. If we have pure motives, we will love and serve others from a place of love, rather than exploiting them. 

So back to my example: If I had just come to my roommate with a clean heart and pure motives, I could have been straightforward and simply asked her, “Syd, would you mind folding my laundry? I’m not going to have time to do it tonight and I’m feeling very overwhelmed right now.” I know that she would have joyfully accepted and appreciated having a way to show love to me, in the same way that I care for all the time when she’s stressed. 

Instead, I let my prideful heart win over and refused to ask for help directly, using manipulative motives to exploit her loving and sacrificial character. 

I have long since sought my own forgiveness from the Lord and asked that he give me a clean heart and pure motives every time I speak to others. But, I think there could be more to this message. 

What would it look like if we actually lived our lives with clean hearts and pure motives? What if we ended exploitation? And manipulation? And lying? Hurting others with our words? If we didn’t look for selfish gain? If we put others before ourselves? 

Clean Heart, Pure Motives. It changes everything. 

-31Women (Beth) 

We hide, but He seeks us out. He seeks us out so that we will seek Him.

She Reads Truth (Hosea Devotional)

Think the Old Testament (OT) is boring? Irrelevant? WRONG. The OT is a beautiful picture of God’s love for his people, and his promise to provide a savior. I wouldn’t be able to fit all the imagery of the OT that points to the gospel in 10,000 million books, but I can try to hit some high points in a few hundred words. 

Like we already established, God is holy and cannot tolerate sin, yet wants to be in relationship with us, a sinful people. In our day and age, we have the righteousness of Christ and the seal of the Holy Spirit bridging the way to communication and interaction with our God. However, for most of the Bible, God’s people didn’t have this covering for sin and promise of eternal life. In Exodus, when the Israelites (the chosen nation of God in the OT) were brought out of Egypt on the way to the promised land, God gave them the law they were to follow in obedience to him. He also gave them instructions to build a tabernacle where God himself would dwell among them (think pre-Holy Spirit). 

In our eyes today, these laws seem strange, and at times, even unnecessary. We understand the 10 commandments, but staying away from dead bodies? Sacrificing animals? Not eating certain foods? They may seem strange now, but at that time, God was protecting, guiding, and shepherding his people. He was keeping them healthy through laws about their bodies, instructing them about being holy as he is holy through his moral laws, and providing ways for their guilt to be covered through sacrifices. 

The Old Testament law showed the character of God, and his promise to provide a savior for his people. But something reaaallllyyyy cool about the OT law? It was NOT a burden on the people, it was God’s miraculous GRACE! In other places in the Ancient Near East, they had ideas about inconsistent and selfish gods. They worshiped all different gods for all different things, and no one was ever clear on what they should do or who was in charge. Secondly, the Israelites had legit just been slaves for a good minute. When they left Egypt, they had NO IDEA how to be a free nation of people who followed the Lord. With the OT law given at Mount Sinai in Exodus/Leviticus, God graced the people with clear guidelines on how to live. The law was a major blessing. 

So let’s think about this gracious law for a second (Look at Exodus 24-end and Leviticus): 

1.The OT law is a part of a bigger picture - The COVENANT! Yay covenant! The law is part of the agreement that Israel and God follow: king and his nation in relationship with each other through covenantal promises. If Israel promises to keep the law, God gives them the land of Canaan, many children to create a large nation, and blesses the world through them. Spoiler alert: Israel definitely fails, and God is definitely faithful anyway. Spoiler Alert #2: We get to be under a new covenant! A covenant created with the blood of Christ that give us life. 

2. Why the sacrifices? Well, the wages of sin is death. We all pretty much got that one, right? Sacrifices TAKE THE PLACE of the sinner for the sin and cover them in eyes of the Lord so they can continue to be in relationship with a holy God, despite still being sinful as humans in a fallen world. In the OT, they sacrificed animals for unintentional sins and guilt, but more was required- we needed a sacrifice for sin itself, even when intentional. In short, we needed a lamb of God to atone for us. We needed a savior to die. 

So how do those things relate to the gospel? Well look at words from Hebrews 9- it explains everything a lot better than I ever could. 

^“13For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

¹⁵Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. ¹⁶For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.¹⁷Fora will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. ¹⁹For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,²⁰saying,“This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²²Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

…. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.²⁷And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,²⁸so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” 

-31Women (Beth) 

References - Verses taken from biblegateway.com, most of the thoughts stolen from my OT prof (S/O to Professor Smith). 

Similar to the trinity, we are a three. Spirit, soul, body. Which one sits on the throne of your life and calls the shots?

Late night questions with Gabi