Who Does God Say We Are?

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called--his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. Ephesians 1:8

Paul wrote these words to the church at Ephesus. He was thankful when he heard of the people’s strong faith in Jesus Christ and their love for people. He prayed that God would flood their hearts with light so that they would understand and be confident in the hope of Jesus Christ. He reassured them that they are indeed God’s holy people and they were called by God. If you are like me, you don’t feel holy. Thankfully, it’s not about our feelings. We are made holy through Jesus Christ, certainly not of our own accord.  If we have been saved by believing Jesus is God's son, believing that He died and rose again, and making him Lord of our lives, this is for us.
So what does this verse mean for us? It means that we are children of a Holy God. We can come before His throne unashamed. Yes, we still sin and need to repent, but we don’t have to live in bondage to sin. We don’t have to live defeated lives. We are a part of God’s family and He loves us. We are not to be prideful but thankful. We should live our lives like we appreciate what Jesus has done for us, with lives and attitudes that are pleasing to Him. How do we know if our lives are pleasing to him? Through prayer and the Bible. We should ask God to reveal to us anything that isn’t pleasing to him. David prayed in Psalm 139:23, 24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” God will not only point out what needs to be changed, He will lead us in changing it.
We can be confident that Jesus Christ is ours. We need to let the word of God bring light into our lives so we can understand this. We belong to Him and all that he is belongs to us. Every need we have can be met through Him. There is nothing too big or too small for our Lord. We can be confident that he cares for us and wants to intervene in our lives as we give him control. We have to be willing to work with him and obey him.
He is our confident hope: our hope for salvation, eternity, and the here and now. Let’s live our lives like we believe this. Let’s relinquish our lives to him. Let’s allow Jesus to shed his light into every aspect of our lives. This includes our hearts, our minds, our attitudes, our marriages, parenting our children, our jobs, our service to him and the list goes on. Nothing is hopeless with Jesus because he IS our hope.

Love Never Fails

Mama and Daddy on their 50th Wedding Anniversary

Today has been a month since my dad passed away. It doesn’t seem like it. Although, if I asked my mom, I’m sure it has been a long month. My mom and dad were married 50 years, 6 months and 12 days. A month without him has probably seemed so much longer than a mere 30 days.

As I have mentioned in other posts, my dad was very sick. ALS had taken away all of his physical capabilities and left only his mind to function. He was trapped inside his body, and after he could no longer communicate, he was trapped in his mind as well.  He suffered so much. When he died in his sleep and went to be with the Lord, his pain ended.

I saw true love in action the last year of his life. My mom was his primary care-giver and she saw to his every need. There at the end, all he could do was grunt to call her, but she would go to him and try everything she could to make him comfortable. At 71 years old, she bathed and dressed him. She fed him and got up all hours of the night to see about him. My brothers and sister and I tried to help as much as we could, but he wanted her. The last 2-3 months, he wanted her right there with him almost all the time. She even slept (what time she could) in the recliner close to him at night because he didn’t want to be left alone. He had to sleep in his wheel chair in the living room. It was the only way he was somewhat comfortable.

When young people marry, the words, “in sickness and in health, for better or worse” can often be just words to get through in order to kiss the bride and be pronounced husband and wife. We often don’t think about the difficult circumstances that may follow. Who would? A couple’s wedding day is about joy and happiness. No one wants to think about the bad stuff that may or may not happen. Unfortunately, it will. It is inevitable that we will have trouble in this life.

True love is sacrificial, like the love of Christ. It’s when the hard times come, that our love for each other is truly put to the test. My mom and dad have been there for each other through a lot of ups and downs over their 50 years of marriage. Though nothing has been as hard as the last 15 months. Their golden years didn’t turn out like they had hoped. My dad’s sickness changed everything, everything but their love. Even when my dad could no longer speak words that were understandable, he could tell my mom, “I love you.” And my mom rolled up her sleeves and took care of him right to the end. That is true love.

One day they will see each other again. She lives with that hope. He died, but their love didn’t. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.                 (1 Corinthians 13:7)

Pay Attention to the Little Things

“Things don’t go bad in a marriage in an instant. The character of a marriage is not formed in one grand moment. Things in a marriage go bad progressively. Things become sweet and beautiful progressively. The development and deepening of the love in a marriage happens by things that are done daily; this is also true with the sad deterioration of a marriage. The problem is that we simply don’t pay attention, and because of this we allow ourselves to think, desire, say and do things that we shouldn’t.” Paul David Tripp-What Were You Expecting?

Some examples of everyday things that can snowball into a hazard for our marriages or cause sweet harmony.

• Do you continue to do something you know aggravates your spouse or do you stop out of consideration? (leaving shirts on the floor, crinkling the toothpaste tube, burping out loud, etc...)
• Do you replace the toilet paper roll or leave it for your spouse to do because you have had to do it the last 3 times (or load the dishwasher or take out the trash, etc…) 
• Do you complain about needless things or show gratitude and appreciation for things done right.
• Do you leave for work without a tender kiss for your spouse or do you kiss her and tell her you love her?
• Do you go to sleep at night irritated with one another or thankful to be lying next to the person you love?
• Is it more important to prove you are right or to make your spouse feel cherished and valued?
• Is it more important to point out all your spouse’s faults/mistakes or forgive him/her knowing that love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
• Do you do rude things now that you’re married that you may not have done while you were dating? Is it fair to think that your spouse doesn’t deserve the respect they did while dating?
• If you know your spouse likes something a certain way (and it is perfectly reasonable), do you try to please him/her or do you think it is too much effort?
• Do you always consider your spouse’s feelings before you say or do something?

You get the point, right? It’s the little, everyday acts of love or acts of selfishness that can eventually make or break a marriage. It is a simple fact that although we may think getting our own way makes us happy, selfishness never makes a happy marriage. Putting the other person’s needs above our own is the right thing to do. (Romans 12:10) When we look out for the interests of our spouse, we begin to experience much more love for him/her than when we would simply looking out for our own interests. And that makes everyone happy!