Why We Sing

I’ve always loved to sing. I come from a family of singers. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of my mom singing hymns to me to help me fall asleep. You could say music is in my blood. I’ve transferred that love of singing to my local church as well. As long as I have been a Christian I have looked forward to congregational singing. Finding out the songs on Sunday morning when I open my bulletin is like Christmas morning every Sunday. Musical worship stirs my soul and readies my heart for the preached word.

But what if you don’t like to sing? Or maybe you do, but you aren’t much of a singer. Is congregational worship still for you? Does it matter if you stand silently in the pew (or chair) on Sunday morning because you simply don’t (or can’t) sing?

I think so.

I have been reading through the Psalms this week and been struck by the frequent references to musical praise. While the musical instruments may have changed over the years, musical worship has always been part of God’s economy. In fact, many of the psalms in the Bible were originally intended for musical worship. The psalmist meant for them to be sung congregationally.

Psalm 33:2-3 says:
 

Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

 

Psalm 89:1 says:

 

I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

 And again in Psalm 91:1-4 (a song specifically designed for the Sabbath, the holiest day):

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

So what does all of this have to do with us, in the 21^st century? Musical worship is not a new, modern idea invented by people who want to get more young people in the doors of our churches. While the mode and style of musical worship might influence why a person attends a particular church, the act of musical worship is a universal privilege for all believers, regardless of preferences or denomination.

The psalms are far more concerned with what we sing, not necessarily how we sing. Of course, what we sing has implications for how we sing, and often how we sing reveals what we believe about the One we are singing to. But for brevity’s sake, I want to encourage us to think primarily about why all of us, good and bad singers alike, should strive to be active worshipers when it comes to congregational singing.

Psalm 92 is a good place to start. Like I already said, it’s a psalm for the Sabbath, which was the Jewish day of worship. The Sabbath was our Sunday. So this psalm was meant for God’s people to use in worship of him. Because he has authority over all things, including us, this means our musical worship of him must be under his authority. He cares about how we worship him. To say it another way, he wants us to worship him in the way he prescribes and with our entire beings. Singing praises to God should be a delight to our soul. Musical worship is God’s plan for his people. Music stirs our affections and draws us out. Even secular music does this for us, right? Music causes us to feel deeply. And this is a gift to us. When we sing our hearts should be stirred to remember God and his ways. So if you are struggling with a desire to sing on Sunday morning whether because of lack of talent or lack of interest, remember this, dear Christian. Singing to God, as described in God’s word, is the overflow of a joyful heart in God alone. We should delight in singing to God because we delight in the truths of God. Congregational singing is not as much about the talent of the one singing as much as it is about the object of our singing—God. Our collective singing on Sunday morning should be a rich reminder of the goodness of his ways, the power of the cross, and the treasure that God is for us in Christ.

We sing because we love God, not because we are the next Whitney Houston. Making a joyful noise is more about the One who makes us joyful than the squeaky noise coming from our vocal chords.

So sing with all your might, my friend. Let the truths of God’s word stir your heart to worship him in song as you praise him for all he is for you in Christ.

A Heart for Diversity

The subject of race has been a polarizing topic in our country for longer than any of us have been alive. In many ways, the lasting effects of the racism that divided us are still entrenched in many communities. If we move into the church, we find that even among God’s people, diversity and freedom from race divisions is still a longed for reality.

 

How should God’s people think about diversity in light of our history and his word? What does diversity in relationships look like? How does the fact that we bear God’s image play into our thinking about diversity and race?

 

My friend, Trillia Newbell, author of the new book United, enters this conversation with grace, conviction, and boldness. Through her own story of longing for diversity, worshipping as a minority in her own local church, and subsequently finding diversity through two dear friends, she shows us God’s plan for making a people for himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation. It truly is a beautiful sight to behold.

 

Trillia speaks not only to subject of race, but very real issues in our own hearts as we think through relationships with people who are different than us. As a chronic man-fearer, I was convicted and encouraged to not look to myself in situations of fear and self-awareness, but to look to the God who secures my identity in Christ. Through her personal story of diverse friendships, she shows us that God’s plan for diversity often comes to us through relationship. It is in community with other believers that we grow in Christ but also grow in our understanding of how uniquely different we all are. It is easy to gravitate towards the people who are like us and pull away from the ones who are different, even if they share our skin color. But Trillia shows us that because of our standing as image bearers of God and now his children through Christ, we have more in common than we tend to realize.

 

United is a refreshing read for anyone who longs to see the biblical promise fulfilled that God is securing a people for himself from every tribe and tongue. I know I do. Which is why reading United ignited my passion once again not only for diversity, but to see God’s name declared throughout the world.

Order it on Amazon

In The Next 40 Years

In the next 40 years, I pray that our country would see it's endorsement of abortion as reprehensible as it's once approval of slavery.

In the next 40 years, I pray that millions more babies are born because of brave mothers who choose life over death.

In the next 40 years, I pray that thousands more crisis pregnancy centers would open up all over this nation and would continue in the work of saving the lives of the unborn and caring for scared mothers.

In the next 40 years, I pray that the idea that an unborn baby is a mere fetus would be a sad part of our past, not part of our national rhetoric.

In the next 40 years, I pray that my children and grandchildren live in a country where the killing of the unborn is as atrocious to all as segregating based on race is to us.

In the next 40 years, I pray that churches and Christians would continue in the brave endeavor to love pregnant mothers, adopt orphaned children, and serve at pregnancy centers all across this nation.

In the next 40 years, I pray that a post like this is not necessary because abortion is illegal.

Abortion on demand was legalized ten years before I was born. I don't even know a world where abortion is not part of our national conversation. I don't even know a world where abortion is not an option for a pregnant woman. I pray that one day that is no longer the case.

For all the babies who never got to experience the light of day and breathe their first breaths, God knows your names. And we have not forgotten you.

Are You Pro-Life Enough? Post at Her.meneutics

Earlier this week Her.meneutics published a post I wrote called "Are You Pro-Life Enough?". Taking a statement from a pro-choice writer I try to show how some of our language in the pro-life community sometimes comes across as less than pro-life, especially when it pertains to miscarriage and IVF embryos. To my shame, I have been party to such thoughtless comments. Here is part of the article:

"It's been many years since I uttered those heartless words to my grieving friend. Having now lost one child of my own through miscarriage, and having since walked with a number of women through miscarriages, none of us would say that what we lost was the "potential" for life. It was so much more than that. Our lost baby took with it the many dreams and hopes that began forming in our minds the moment we knew of the baby's existence. What was lost was a life that will never be replicated.

It's really important to never delegitimize the life that was once growing inside of a grieving mother or was once frozen in an IVF clinic. To her (and to God), this life was never a mere blob of tissue or a fetus. He or she was a life. Treating the baby as such gives meat to the bones of our fight for the unborn. And if we want to be consistently pro-life, we must care about every life, from the tiniest dot on an ultrasound machine to the embryo in the petri dish."

 

You can read the rest of the article here. And be sure to browse the new website while you are there. I think they've done a great job with it!

Learning to Say Thank You

We have all been on the receiving end of insensitive comments from well-meaning people. In fact, I know I have even been the communicator of such comments. The truth is it is hard to know what to say to someone when they are hurting and even harder to know how to respond to the awkward comments. Yesterday, I tried to tackle the issue of our response to hurtful comments in a blog post on the CT women's blog. Here is how I set it up:

"We’ve all faced a barrage of comments from well-meaning friends. And while the words are delivered with the best of intentions, they often sting. In the days, months, and years following my miscarriage and our subsequent infertility, I faced a similar dilemma: Do I shun every person who makes an insensitive or poorly timed comment? Or is there a better way, even if it means my heart breaks a little more each time?

As the one who is hurting and suffering, it is easy to retreat. We are the victims in the situation, aren’t we? Should we really submit ourselves to more pain when life alone seems to be the source of so much heartache?

Sometimes, yes."

I try to encourage those on the receiving end to respond with a "thank you" rather than a "how dare you". To put it another way, part of being a Christian is learning to bear with those who offend us even in the worst of situations. I go on to say:

"The reality is, many people do not know what to say to the woman who can’t get pregnant or who longs to be married but has yet to meet Mr. Right. We often awkwardly approach the mother who loses a child, or our fear of saying the wrong thing prevents us from saying anything at all. The brokenness of this world manifests itself in a variety of ways, including from the mouths of the most well-intentioned among us.

But our response as recipients of awkward or insensitive comments should be one of grace and forbearance. While we are called to bear one another’s burdens as Christians, we are also called to forebear with those who hurt us, intentionally or unintentionally. When we are called to Christ, we are called to a family. And everyone knows that every family is a little dysfunctional—even when our Father is the creator of the universe."

The hope for all of us is that even when those closest to us fail to truly understand us and our pain, we serve a Savior who knows us better than we know ourselves. He will never leave us or say the wrong thing to us. And he is our basis for bearing with those who are less than understanding.

You can read the rest here.

I Want More Bible

As I've reflected on my first semester as a teacher this verse has been rocking my world lately.

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

It never ceases to amaze me how powerful God's word truly is. When I read a passage of Scripture and sense my heart and affections being stirred to treasure Christ more and long to study further, that is evidence that God's word is active and alive. Left to myself, I want nothing to do with the Bible and it makes no sense to me. But when the Spirit of God moves, the Bible comes alive and I can't get enough. When I see students grow simply by reading God's word, that is proof that the Bible is sharp enough to penetrate any heart. God's word will do it's intended work. It will not return void in the life of any believer, including you and me. The very fact that we are trusting in Christ means that we are given the promised Holy Spirit who makes God's word alive to us. How amazing!

God could have left us to ourselves, but he didn't. He gave us his very word. And it is life to weary, broken, sinful people who desperately need a glimpse of his goodness on a moment by moment basis. Teaching has revived this passion in me. Our church has renewed my love for God's word. The Bible is powerful. It changes lives. It's deserving of our study and our time. It is the very word of our great God.

Love the Church

I've heard it said a number of times from young people (and old people), "I really love doing ministry for Jesus, but I just don't see the importance of being super involved in my church." It's really easy to separate the two, especially in a world where there are many really good organizations out there that, while not connnected to any particular church, are doing things in the name of Jesus.

This is an issue I attempted to tackle in an article published at Boundless. I tried to show that our ministry efforts should actually be most evident within the context of the local church. I've met a lot of young people over the years who, while they are really excited about "doing something" for Christ, feel very little inclination towards the Bride he died for. I attempted to argue that they must go hand in hand. I also tried to warn against the emphasis on "doing big things for Jesus" because in actuality, most of us really just do a lot of little things for Jesus over the course of our lives, and that's actually a good thing. Faithfulness is our barameter, not size and innovation.

Here is part of what I said:

The passion for ministry and commitment to a local church are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they must go together. You can't be all about the mission of Jesus and not be all about the mission of His bride.

When we only think in terms of spring break missions trips or weekly evangelism outings with our college friends, we can start to think that our good actions trump our bad behavior. If you volunteer with International Justice Mission or sponsor a Compassion child, this good work actually outweighs the fact that you can't hold a job or are wasting your days away playing video games. And that's where the local church comes in.

The local church provides the accountability, fellowship and truth that we so desperately need. We have to get away from the mentality that it's "just me and Jesus." It's not. Yes, Jesus loves you. But He also loves the church, His bride for whom He died. The Bible actually talks about the church being the very body of Jesus. And I've heard it said that we dare not say to Jesus, "It's not You I hate, it's just Your body I can't stand." When we neglect the local church, we are actually neglecting our Savior.

He has big plans for you that do not start first with your exotic missions trip or urban ministry. Jesus' mission for your life is first and foremost to make you holy, and one of the primary ways He accomplishes this mission is through the local church. Our ministry to this lost and dying world should never be divorced from the church — and more importantly, the local congregation that you belong to.

You can read the rest of the article here.

The Peril of Isolation

“Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.” –Proverbs 18:1

No man is an island. This proverbial statement graces everything from church signs to educational material. I’ve heard it said so many times. So have you. But it’s true. Left to ourselves and our own opinions we can make anything seem right, can’t we? We can make any sinful tendency normal. We need people. We need people to provide companionship, but more importantly to provide the balance of sound judgment.

Outside input from godly friends and family provides a necessary safety net for us. When we isolate ourselves all we have is our own desire. We get what we want when we want it. We always look out for ourselves. We have our best interests at heart, don’t we? But if we are truly honest what we desire most might not always be the best thing for us. Left to the mirror of our own consciousness we can all too easily begin to see our own opinions as ultimate, and worse, our indwelling sin as minimal.

That’s what this proverb is getting at. Without the counsel, companionship, and correction of others we would spiral out of control, even to the point of spurning sound judgment. This is not a foreign concept in the Bible. In fact, it’s a common theme woven throughout the pages of Scripture. It was not good for Adam to be alone, and while this was “pre-fall,” after the arrival of sin he needed Eve all the more. The very fact that God instituted the local church, a body of redeemed sinners, to spread his glory throughout the world shows us that he never intended for it to be just me and Jesus. Let’s be honest, it’s easy to be a lone ranger. Relationships are hard. People aren’t always nice, fun to be around, or even that interesting. And sometimes we would much rather it be just us and Jesus. He’s nicer, more gracious, doesn’t ever say the wrong thing, and doesn’t get all up in our business like the people closest to us.

And that’s exactly why we need people.

The people in your local congregation are people for whom this Jesus shed his blood. Building relationships with one another is part of his perfect plan to change us and make us more like him. Sure, it’s hard work. Sure, people will hurt us, misunderstand us, and sometimes say the wrong thing to us. But that’s all part of it. They chisel us. They make us more aware and sensitive. And more importantly, they help us see sin that we didn’t even know was still there.

Regardless of your personality, the truth still stands. Even the most outgoing person can miss the principal the proverb is trying to make. We have to be willing to open our lives to people and let them see inside—even if it’s not pretty at first. Thankfully, we have a perfect example in Jesus. Of all people who could live an isolated life, he would have been the one to do it while on earth. He was God. In him was complete perfection and holiness. But he came to earth and opened his life up so we could be cleansed, forgiven, and no longer live in sinful isolation from everyone else.

So when you feel tempted to hide and live in isolation from the ones who love you and know you, remember the Savior. Not only did he obey perfectly, but he has made a way so you no longer have to live in fear of condemnation for your sins. The sound judgment you deserve was paid for by the holy, precious, and victorious Jesus. He bought you with a price and adopted you into his family.

So the saying really is true for us. In Christ, no man is an island.

The Kate Middleton Baby Watch, and Why We Shouldn't Participate

Yesterday, Her.meneutics (the Christianity Today women's blog) ran a post I wrote about the hype surrounding whether or not Kate Middleton will have a baby this year. It seems to me that our cultural obsession with a little royal is an exaggerated snapshot of our comfort with asking people we hardly know when they will have kids. Sometimes our lack of knowledge about their situation, coupled with questions about their plans, can bring more pain to their situation. Obviously, this doesn't pertain to everyone, nor is it the same thing as asking good friends about their plans for children. It's more of a general observation and some thoughts on how to think through the questions we ask people we don't know very well.

In the post, I say:

You never really know where people are. I’ve seen people ask a woman when she was going to add another child to her bunch, only to find out later that she had miscarried a week earlier. She and her husband were trying; it just wasn’t public information. We tend to be really comfortable with asking couples when they might want to have children, but we tend be unaware of the fact that these questions might bring pain rather than encouragement. Unless we are invested in the lives of young couples in our churches, we don’t know about their circumstances any more than we know about Middleton’s.

Of course, the answer is not an end to all pregnancy questions. Children are a gift from the Lord and should be welcomed and celebrated. One of the things we often fail to embrace when we ask such questions is that conception is not a man-made invention. Even the most fertile couple in the world can “plan” their family only to be met with a little “surprise” earlier than they had scheduled. God is the author of life, an oft-forgotten concept in our zeal for new children. But as Christians, our questions should always be laced with sensitivity and, more often than is true, restraint. Thinking through your questions before you ask them can bring a wealth of grace and encouragement to a couple who might be facing infertility or the loss of a child.

Read the rest here.

The Power of the Boring Testimony

A good testimony sells. At least that is what a lot of people think when it comes to picking someone to recount how God saved them. We like the testimony of the former drug addict, crazy partier, or promiscuous girl. We tend to think that this person tells a better story, a more compelling story of God’s grace and forgiveness. We use the story of the woman who wiped Jesus’ tear-stained feet with her hair. She was forgiven of a lot, which is why she was so grateful for Jesus. The magnitude of her sin compelled her to weep and thank Jesus for his grace. But is her story really that different from anyone else’s?

Before God saved me my life was similar to this woman. I loved my sin and enjoyed it lavishly. But if my story was different, and I had trusted Christ at an early age, my testimony would be no less amazing. In fact, it might even be more compelling. It’s easy to sin. It’s not out of the ordinary to engage in sinful behavior and be proud of it. What’s hard is to follow Christ whole-heartedly when the world is pulling you to jump in and enjoy the “fun.” A life that is protected from the outward manifestations of blatant rebellion towards God should cause us to worship and rejoice in God’s good work in the life of this believer.

So why do we gravitate towards, and praise, the “crazy” testimony? We are products of the entertainment culture. We like the sensational and the interesting. Reality television alone is evidence of this. But as true and Christ-exalting as these testimonies can be sometimes, I think they can almost do more damage than good in the lives of those who hear it.

In high school I heard a number of testimonies of people who were saved out of sinful lifestyles, and even though they gave glory to God for their salvation, what kept ringing through my mind as they talked was “I want a testimony like that.” As sinful as they made their former life sound, it had a forbidden allure. In my mind, they lived life to the fullest and lived unscathed to tell the story. Plus, sin always looks more enticing than the gospel to an unregenerate person.

But I was so wrong.

I now have their story, and I would give my life to take it back. And I don’t think I’m alone. Countless kids hear shocking testimonies and think that it would be really cool to have a testimony like that. It’s not. One of the ways we can help counter the overwhelming interest in the “sensational” testimonies is to not cater to the hype surrounding them. Don’t believe the myth that if they just hear all the sordid details about the wild life you, or someone else, lived they will suddenly fall on their face and proclaim Jesus as Lord. They might not. And even if they do, for every kid who follows Christ because of the story there are a dozen who it has the counter effect on. This doesn’t mean we aren’t honest about who we are and who Christ saved. It just means we don’t put all of our faith in the story being the means of salvation.

The next time you ask someone to give a testimony at a youth event consider asking the girl or guy who was saved at the age of 5. I remember one of my pastors saying, often with tears in his eyes, “God saved me from a life of drinking, sex, and debauchery—all before I turned 6.”

Grace is amazing not because of the recipient of the grace, but because of the One giving the grace. In reality, even the most righteous act we do is like filthy rags before him. No amount of good behavior can please him, so why do we so often think that the “good” testimonies are so boring? That a perfect and holy God would save any of us is cause for celebration. But he does. And that’s why it is so amazing—from the former prostitute to the six-year old praying by her bedside. No one is righteous, but God sent his Son to save sinners like you and me. It’s all undeserved and all free.

The woman who wept before Jesus wasn’t overcome with emotion because she sinned more than everyone else; rather she was overcome with thankfulness because she finally grasped the magnitude of her sin. If you are in Christ, your testimony is just as amazing. That a good God, perfect and right in all of his ways, would send his righteous Son to die for sinners like us is a story worth telling. And it makes even the most “boring” testimonies in the eyes of the world glorious because of what he has done.

Love in the Local Church

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it’s not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”—1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Perhaps one of the most popular sections of scripture read at weddings, 1 Corinthians 13 contains a beautiful example of the nature of love. Separated from its context, it can seem that Paul is giving us an example of how we are to love our spouse, children, or family and friends. While it is possible to read this passage and be convicted about how you love your husband, mother, brother, or children, Paul is speaking about a relationship that has much deeper bloodlines—the body of Christ.

Like most of Paul’s letters, 1 Corinthians is written to a local church. This body is a gathering of believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ who are saved by his precious blood into the family of God. Often when we hear 1 Corinthians 13 mentioned it is in isolation from the verses and chapters surrounding it. This passage, like all of Scripture, is profitable because it is God’s word, but the full meaning can best be understood if we understand what Paul is doing in the preceding chapters.

Chapter 13 is sandwiched between two chapters on spiritual gifts in the church. In chapter 12 Paul teaches the Corinthian church about the unity of the gifts and their usefulness in the body of Christ. This chapter contains tremendous encouragement for us as believers. Paul shows us that no spiritual gift is better than another and each believer is useful and valued in the body of Christ. Chapter 12 provides the framework for the practical applications that come in chapter 13.

1 Corinthians 13 is a beautiful application of how to use the gifts and minister in the body of Christ. Yes, we can glean application for our own familial relationships from chapter 13, but more importantly Paul wants us to see that all of our efforts to minister and use our spiritual gifts are meaningless if we do them for our own glory and gain (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Chapter 13 should be a defining characteristic of our churches, not because we want people to say we have such a loving church, but because we want people to see Christ as the greatest treasure. The overarching theme of Paul’s ministry was glorifying Christ. He wanted local churches to be a testimony to the sufficiency of Christ and his salvation of sinful people.

That is my prayer as our church (Midtown Baptist Church) begins our Sunday morning services this Sunday. I want to be free to be thankful for the gifts God has given me without comparing my gifts to other believers, because all of our gifts matter in the body (1 Corinthians 12:14-21). I want to care for the other believers in our congregation like I care for my own body, because they are members of Christ’s body just like me (1 Corinthians 12:27). I want to lean hard on Christ’s righteous work in my own life so I can love people well with the gifts God has given me, because every effort in my own strength will fall short every time.

Obeying 1 Corinthians 13 is not easy. I am a sinful person who is not naturally patient, loving, or humble. I am, however, naturally resentful, prideful, and irritable. By God’s gracious grace in my life, I’m growing more into the person he has called me to be.

So pray for us as we begin our services this week. Pray that we would be a church that values all members of the body and exalts Christ above all other things. Pray that our pastors would preach Christ boldly and that hearts would be stirred to trust him. We want him to made much of in all that we do.

Will You Please "Like" Our Church?

We've enjoyed getting settled here in Little Rock and finally feel like we have some time to actually think, plan, and relax. After a wonderful three-day weekend, it was back to reality today and with it came a new development with our church plant...we have a Facebook page! When you are in the beginning stages all developments are a big deal.

So I humbly ask you, my faithful blog readers (and I know you are out there), to "Like" us on Facebook. Just click on this link, log-in to Facebook, and hit "Like." It's so easy and would make us very happy. If you don't have Facebook, we have a Wordpress page that talks more about who we are and what we are about (click here to get to that page). Either way, we covet your prayers as we begin this exciting and sobering journey to start Midtown Baptist Church here in Little Rock, AR.

Hope you all have a happy re-entry into the work week!

Headed to Little Rock

One of my constant prayers when I married Daniel is that he would enjoy my best friend's husband as much as I enjoyed her. I knew they had similar interests, but you can't force true friendship. So I prayed that the friendship would come naturally. And by God's grace, it did.

After her husband graduated from seminary they began praying about where God would have them go next. Over time they started to feel like church planting was what God was calling them to.

That's where we come in.

After approaching us and asking us to pray about the decision to church plant and the location, it seemed that Little Rock, Arkansas was where we needed to be ministering (where they are from). Like so many cities in America, Little Rock is a city populated with churches, but many of them lack depth. When it comes down to it, every city could use more healthy, Christ-proclaiming churches. So there is no real formula for choosing Little Rock, just a common need and helpful connections.

We aren't really mystical when it comes to making decisions. We believe that God prompts us through people and through his word, but we don't really have any burning bush moments when we make decisions, although that would be helpful sometimes. When Jeff and Laura approached us with the vision and need we were sold. Although we knew Daniel was close to graduation, we had no concrete plans for next steps and were pretty much open to anything. We love the Breedings and we love the Gospel. This combination excites us to partner with them in ministry.

So on May 14 we will pack up the U-haul and head South to our new home. When we went to look for a place to live last week I kept saying to myself "This is where your home is now." Moving to a completely foreign city with only a handful of friends, and an amazing husband, can be daunting and overwhelming. But so far I'm just plain excited. I'm excited about what the future holds. I'm excited to start this new adventure with my husband. And I'm excited to be in the beginning stages of a church that, Lord-willing, will be a pillar of truth and Christ-exalting passion in the Midtown area of Little Rock, Arkansas.

If you think about it in the next few weeks, please pray for us. We have already seen God provide for us in tremendous ways, most notably in providing a job for Daniel (he will be bi-vocational for a while). This provides the opportunity for me to focus on our home, be a support to him, and grow as a freelance writer. I'm really looking forward to keeping a home and being a much happier, less stressed wife. We have a lot of details that need to fall into place. And we have a lot of things that need to get done, most importantly, packing and Daniel graduating.

Thanks for caring and for following us into this exciting new chapter of life. To God be the glory.

A Safe Place for Loss

It is not a shock that in many circles miscarriage is a taboo subject. I have recently noticed a rise in famous people bringing up their own pregnancy losses in public arenas. In some ways this is good. It brings voice to a silent sorrow for many women. But it can't stop with celebrities. Today, the Christianity Today women's blog has an interesting post titled "What Celebrity Miscarriages Teach Us." They link to an interview with Lisa Ling on The View about her recent miscarriage, and her thoughts are worth listening to. Her final solution to the pain of miscarriage is Christ-less, and ultimately unhelpful. But her premise, that miscarriage needs to be talked about, is right.

The author of this post says some right things about what these public losses teach us in the church about our own responses to miscarriage. She says:

"Perhaps the courage of these women who are living through loss in the limelight can remind us Christians that we, too, can be courageous. Perhaps it can remind us that we, of all people, should be able to share loss with one another — even loss that presents as a bloody, shameful failure. Perhaps our communities of faith can remember that it is our privilege to become, not secret societies of women, but places where women and men alike become part of a Body — the Body of Christ, out of whose bloody shame was born redemption for this world."

While I don't think that courage is our motivation in talking about miscarriage, I do think she is on to something. The Body of Christ should be the safest place for a couple facing pregnancy loss. As I have heard one musician put it, "we are journeying through a valley of tears." The road to glory is hard and heartbreaking, but we are called to walk it together. Sometimes carrying the ones who are broken and battered by the trials of this life. Churches should be places where voice is given to the silent sorrow of miscarriage and pregnancy loss.

What this sudden rise of public attention to miscarriage teaches us is that pregnancy and life matter to people. And when it ends they are groping for answers. As Christians we have an answer for the hurting sister in Christ and hurting woman on the outside looking in. Yes, miscarriage is ugly and awful. But there is hope for the woman who feels shamed by her loss. And it's not in "secret societies" and or even going on the morning talk show. It's in the open confession of her need for the blood of Another. Because these sorrows and this shame is not secret to him. He knows it all. And he cares.

Understanding the Great Commission

We hear it all the time. Christians need to be about the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). We should care about Jesus’ commands to “make disciples of all nations.” But what exactly does Jesus mean when he says to “make disciples.” I’ve heard a lot about making converts and how many “decisions” were made at a recent revival or evangelism outreach event. I can’t help but wonder, when I hear those statements, that maybe Jesus had something far more involved in mind when he gave us this great commission.

I think Jesus is strategic when he tells us to make disciples. By this point in our reading of Matthew we already have an idea of what a disciple looks like. Jesus’ disciples were invested in by him, they spent time with him, and they knew him intimately. Perhaps Jesus is telling us to engage in something far more profound than simply checking a box on a decision card or coming forward during the altar call.

Jesus is calling us to give our lives for people. Discipleship takes hard work. It takes living life with people, knowing their struggles, knowing their past and present, and it takes getting out of our comfort zones. The command to make disciples is not a lone ranger idea. It’s done within a community of believers, the Church, who love one another. But that doesn’t mean we are off the hook if our church is fulfilling this command, and we aren’t. Even though commands are given corporately, they are also applied individually.

In Colossians 1:28-29 Paul is giving us a picture of the sanctification/discipleship process. He talks about laboring to present people “mature in Christ.” He even goes so far as to say he toils and struggles with all of his energy. When Paul talks about believers it is always as a father speaks to his children. He doesn’t leave them to fend for themselves after conversion. Rather he nurtures them, shepherds them, and stays with them. This is the process of making disciples. This is the Great Commission.

Of course, it’s not easy. It’s much easier to get people to sign a card or make a profession of faith, and then just leave them on their own. But that’s not what we are called to. Living the Great Commission requires us to be like Paul, to labor and struggle with our new brothers and sisters as they walk this pilgrim road to become more like Christ.

The very fact that Jesus tells us to make disciples shows us that there is no provision for us to abandon people at their time of decision. A young mom who is a new believer needs an older woman to walk a long side her and show her what it means to be patient with her kids and prize her husband. A fatherless, teenage boy who just was brought to Christ needs a godly older man to show him what true fatherhood looks like, and help him purge the old sin from his life.
Some of us are called to make disciples of all nations in the far corners of the earth; some are called to do it with our own family members. The point is, we are all called to go and make disciples in the sphere of influence that God has us in.

Elyse Fitzpatrick on Modesty

Elyse Fitzpatrick has a great post on The Gospel Coalition blog on modesty. Summer usually means a lot of talk on modesty, and her piece is an excellent reminder and heart check for all of us as we look at our closests and our motives behind our outfits. In her post, "Gentle Jesus, Meek and....Modest?" she links modesty to the character of Jesus. Jesus was modest, she says. Defining modesty as "a refusal to show off out of love for God and one's neighbor. Jesus refused to show off his power." And he could of. In a heartbeat. Instead he exercised restraint so that the plan of salvation could be accomplished for you and me.

She goes on to explain how immodesty is essentially a desire to show off. She says:

"Conversely, immodesty flows out of the heart of a show off. Maybe we’ve worked hard at the gym or purchased an expensive new pair of jeans. Maybe we want to prove how free we are to dress in any way we choose, no matter how scandalous. When we show-off we’re failing to love our brother (and sisters) who may be tempted to lust or covetousness or sinful imitation. Showing off is a fruit of pride and love of self. Immodesty demonstrates a cold unconcern for the church."

And I don't ever want my heart, reflected in my attire or anything else, show a "cold unconcern for the church." I can relate to the pull to wear something just because it looks good without any regard for the people around me. As a Christian woman my desire should not be to show-off my own fashion taste, or my body, or even my freedom. My desire should be to show-off Christ, which is ultimately a pointing away from myself and towards the Savior.

And that's the beauty of it all. She goes on to say:

"The beauty of the gospel, however, is that it informs us about who we are and what Jesus has already done. While it convicts us that we’re all unloving show-offs (in some way), it also assures us that we’ve been loved and that we no longer need to show off to get other people’s approval because (here’s the best news of all!) the record of our Modest Redeemer is ours! Our identity isn’t wrapped up in the approval or envy or lust of others. Our identity is found in Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Christ is our life. He loved us and refrained from showing off so that we could be His and freed from the need to prove that we’ve got a great body or wardrobe or … because we’ve been lavished with His love instead."

Up Close and Personal

It happens all of the time. A friend hurts our feelings. A pastor doesn’t understand us fully. A spouse lets us down. A teacher treats us like we are ignorant. A boss is short and demanding. We walk away thinking, “wow, he wasn’t as nice as I thought he would be.” And then disappointment sets in. Sometimes disappointment turns into bitterness or anger. We begin to resent the particular person for their failure towards us.

Suddenly we are the unwitting victim of our unmet expectations. But honestly, and I have seen this all too often in my own life, we are really expecting them to meet a need or fill a void that only Jesus can fill. We are all too often slaves of our own unrealistic expectations. It can happen to all of us.

What I have learned in my own life is that I have a tendency to put people on a pedestal—idolize them. I worship the very words that come from their mouths, think they can do no wrong, and then suddenly I am sorely disappointed when they act just like me—a sinner. This is not to say that sin should be condoned or allowed, it just means that everyone is pretty ugly once you get to know them. We are all sinners (Romans 3:23), even the people we admire most. If we kept them at a safe distance they could not disappoint us, but that is not what God calls us to.

He calls us to live in a community. Not a perfect one, by any means, but a community, regardless of our sanctification process. For some of us it means that we will have to trust in God’s promise to complete the work he began (Philippians 1:6), for others it will mean we have to trust the confrontation from the people God has given us for our growth.

I remember the first time a friend really was honest with me about my need for growth. I hated it at first. But that only revealed my sin even more! It taught me something about the kindness of God. God has given me friends and family to convict me of my sin because he doesn’t want me to stay where I am. But he has also put me in a marriage, a family, and a church community because he wants me to not only be a recipient of his grace, but a means of his grace for others.

We can keep people at a safe distance if we want to, and we might not get hurt by their sin. But we will never grow if we do. We were meant to live within a community of God’s people, his family, blemishes and all.

It's so much easier to ridicule and inspect from a distance. But God wants us to get in the thick of it and get a little messy and scarred. It's what he did when he sent his Son. If Jesus had not come and dwelt among us, getting in the middle of all that we were, we would not be here. Sure, he could have observed from afar, but that would not have saved anyone. He became one of us, got personal with people, and died so that we might live. And that is our foundation for getting up close and personal with others.

Disciple Now Reflections

My husband and I just finished up a Disciple Now weekend with the youth of our church. For those of you unfamiliar with DNOW (and I was until I married a youth pastor), it is a weekend conference for youth put on by the local church (or at least in our case it was). Usually you bring in speakers and then break up into small groups at homes hosted by church family. So I spent the entire weekend with three amazing high school girls from our youth group!

(On a side note, I used to be able to stay up until all hours of the night and then function the next day. This is no longer true of my body. There were moments of total delirium on Saturday evening, and this lasted well into yesterday afternoon when I took a very long nap. It’s official. I am 100% a grown-up.)

The theme for the weekend was Resolved and we had two Southern graduates as our main speakers. They did a phenomenal job. They preached from Philippians 3, and one of the things asked of us over the weekend was to “remember God’s work for you in Christ.” This got me thinking. What if remembering God’s work for you brings back memories too painful to think about? Surely this is true for some people. I am sure it was for Paul. He killed Christians. I am sure it was for Peter. He denied the Savior. How do you remember the work without flooding your mind with memories you would rather just bury?

It is often said that you can’t change the past. This is true. We can’t change what has already happened. Often, and I know this is true in my own life, the pain of certain memories cause us to wallow in unbiblical guilt rather than worship the One who took that guilt away. We can remember the past, in all degrees of heinousness, and call it what it is—awful. But if we are in Christ that past has no control over us any longer. If we are in Christ, God does not hold us condemned for those previous sins.

It is good to remember what Christ has done for us. It is a glorious thing that the King of Kings died to reconcile us to God. And we should never forget what we were saved from. But it should not lead us to despair. It should lead us to worship. In Philippians 4:8, Paul tells us to think about the things that are true, among other things. It is true that we were once sinful, rebellious, and condemned people. But it is an even greater truth that because of Christ’s work on our behalf, and his righteousness given to us, those adjectives no longer describe us. This is what we should remember every day of our life.

“When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see him there
Who made and end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free!
For God the just is satisfied
To look on him and pardon me!”