God With Us

It was time for the kids to go to bed so Nichole and I began to get Maryah and Malachi ready for the night. As I was coersing my daughter to get her pajamas on, I heard a call from Malachi's room:

"Dad, come in here. And bring Maryah," my wife yelled out.

Earlier in the day Nichole had bought Malachi some new PJs. Not for any particular reason, other than him growing out of his clothes every eight minutes...just one of the perks of raising a 2 and 3 year old.

I walked to the room and flipped the light switch on, Maryah standing at my legs.

"Turn the light off," Nichole instructed me. So being the fantastic husband that I am, I did as my wife suggested. Then it happened...

Malachi's pajamas were glowing in the dark! Seriously! I didn't know they still made stuff like that anymore. I mean, with iPods, XBoxes, PS3s, the internet...who woulda thunk they still had time to make glow in the dark clothing? You've got to understand, when you're not expecting something like that, it's pretty amazing...even though it's small. So, I picked Maryah up and we went and laid on the bed with my wife and son. Here we were - all laughing and enjoying just being a family on a twin-sized bed. In the dark. With glowing pajamas.

Then it hit me...this is just too good. Whatever this is, I don't want it to end. I want this closeness, this feeling to be this real all the time.

A thought crossed my mind: This time. This place. This moment. Maybe it's all just a glimpse of God.

It seems that I'm always looking so hard to see God or hear a word from God or touch God, and I let moments like the 'glow-in-the-dark-PJ-incident' pass me by without a second thought. Those moments where everything seems to be right and in its place at its appointed time - maybe it's God. Of course, those moments aren't all God is, but perhaps this is what David meant in Psalm 46 when he wrote, "Be still and know that I am God." It's almost as if he were living in our culture today. Everything is always rushed. We're always looking forward to the next big point in our lives; our driver's license, the day we move out, the day our insurance premiums go down, the day we get a raise, the day we retire...and then we wish we had time to go back and really live, then it's too late.

And just maybe that's a picture of what true worship is; simply honoring and thanking God in everything - even the small, seemingly insignificant moments in life. We always hear about a 'lifestyle' of worship, but for the first time I understood what that meant outside of just behaving right. In a real, unpredictable, and pure way I could 'be still' and know God was somehow interested in being a part of my life.

We forget to take note of the small things in life. The small things that just might be more than what they seem. In those moments we need to be still, knowing that God is with us here...

In this moment.

In this place.

At this time.

And she served them...

Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.

We like to hold on to our pasts. Whether it's pretty or not, we remember what's happened to us. Maybe it's because it's hard to erase something from our memory bank, or maybe it's because we like to hold on to it - because who knows when it might come in handy...

These verses in the first chapter of Mark are brief, but for some reason they caught my attention and have held me captive for a few days. If you put this in the 'miracle class', it's probably somewhere on the lower end of the spectrum simply because there's not much to it, and not a lot of time is spent talking about it. Basically, Peter's mother-in-law was sick with a fever...and Jesus made her better. Not really as exciting as walking on water, is it? The shocking thing that stood out to me, though, was not that Jesus just walked right in and lifted her out of bed and cured her fever, the shocking part of the story is the very last sentence: And she served them.

The reason this four word sentence took me by surprise was that those four words is all there is to it. Her fever left her, and she served them. So many times we let things that are in the past become excuses for our lack of obedience. Things that Jesus has lifted us from become a stumbling block to us. A lot of people have huge situations that they claim Christ has saved them from, yet there is still this emotional baggage.

Peter's mother-in-law didn't fumble around complaining about all the things that she missed while she was lying sick in her bed; she got up and she served. We like to get up, tell everyone how bad we've had it, then say, "I'd like to be able to do that, but I've had a rough few days...I need a little rest." This un-named lady whom Jesus cured could have just laid in bed and rode it out until the disciples had left, but she didn't. She served.

Many times we make the messages in the Bible a lot more difficult than they actually are. There have probably been great preachers deliver powerful sermons about this exact Scripture, but to me the meaning is quite simple and clear:

As believers, God has lifted us all up from our sick-bed.

Our disease has left us.

Will we serve Him?

If Ignorance is Bliss...

If ignorance is bliss, Christians should be among some of the happiest people on earth. Often times we try to hide ourselves from the rest of the world while the Enemy strengthens his grip. We shut our door to the evils of the world and ignore the pain in our friends' and co-workers' lives. Why do we get mad when something bad happens to someone we know, yet we've done nothing to prevent it? Why do we all of the sudden care when someone that's been in emotional torment finally gives in and harms themselves or someone around them? For me, the answer is easy: It's tangible.

Ephesians chapter six states that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We are warned that we are in a spiritual battle, yet we ignore the valuable truths in Scripture. Because we can't always see the war taking place, we forget that the Enemy is hard at work - seeking to destroy. In the verses directly following the previous one stated above, Paul instructs his listeners to put on the whole armor of God. This is very important when compared with Matthew 16:18. Jesus told His disciples that the 'gates of Hell' would not prevail against His church. During those days gates were used as a defensive structure. This principle is interesting because we always think in terms of defending ourselves against evil, but it's almost as if Jesus is calling us to attack the evils of the world...and they won't be able to stand against the power of Christ's Church.

Simply stated, we are to apply the whole armor of God and attack evil at its very source, because when left ignored, the Enemy will always sneak in and steal our joy. Whether we like it or not, Satan doesn't abide by any 'Rules of War'. He uses whatever he can to try and defeat us, including attacking the things and people that are closest to us. Unfortunately, he seems to be taking aim at our youth, and a lot of times he seems to be accomplishing most of the work that he intends.

Even more unfortunate is the fact that, as believers, we are sitting idly by as Satan expands his territory. We're boarding the windows and locking the doors of our churches and leaving those outside stranded in a fight they'll never win on their own. Is the solution to pray that those who are lost will hear the message of Christ? Or is it to get off our pews and tell them?