It Stands Forever

She had Alzheimer’s disease, my grandmother—Hazel.

In the time before she passed away my mom read Romans to her.
 

Romans, that book which tells it like it is. 

There is none righteous, not even one.  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  

Romans, that book which tells of grace through faith in Christ. 

All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. 

Romans, that book which tells of hope. 

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans, that book which encourages us to live life as worship, changed, free and following the Holy Spirit.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  […]  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans, that book which reminds us to live love.

I still remember my mom describing the peace that it brought to her mother.

I marveled, thinking of this as I stood in front of the kitchen sink reading the verse from John: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

For Grandma, it was God’s word that remained a source of strength when the familiarity of life gave way to darkness.  This was something my mother seemed to know intuitively.

It’s funny that I should remember all this before sitting down to read this in Isaiah:

“All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it.  Surely the people are grass.  The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”  Isaiah 40:6-8

All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 

Yes.  Life sweeps through our bodies—growing, learning, blossoming, living—full and abundant.

My grandmother was a lover of algebra, a crafter, a baker.  She was well past doing these things during my lifetime; but I think we would have enjoyed one another, because these are all things I have enjoyed too.  From stories my mom has shared my grandma had a servant’s heart; and reading between the lines I think she must have been rather feisty.  I think of my mother and my sister—these women are like her also.

When I was very little my grandmother lived at home with us.  I have a few memories of that time—the one I remember most clearly, Grandma got sick when we were out on an errand.  I have many more memories after Grandma was moved to a nearby nursing home where we visited on the weekends.  On Saturday, my mother would wet and wind up Grandma’s hair in thin loops, before putting it in bobby-pins to curl overnight.  It was a time of cartoons, hide-and-seek, visiting and exploration of the nursing home.  On Sunday, we would return to brush out Grandma’s curls, feed her lunch, and watch American Gladiators.  A lot of time has passed since then. 

The grass withers, the flower fades—and so do we, some quickly and others over a long period of time.  Alzheimer’s disease being a neurodegenerative disorder took its toll over years on Grandma.  

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

But this!  As her body was failing, as her mind stopped functioning in the here and now, it was God’s word that brought my Grandma peace and hope. 

The word of the Lord stands forever. 

Forever, breaking through to Grandma’s heart, holding firm when memories faded and life was confusing and lonely and not the way she remembered it.  When people cared for her and did all the things she once did for herself and was humbled to let them do for her.

Forever.  In Christ, The Word, who lives—a sure hope that one day all things will be made new, including her mind and body.    

Forever.  In the word lived out in the lives of His people, led by the Holy Spirit—serving her out of love.

The word of the Lord stands forever.

I take courage from this.  I delight in this.  I give thanks for this bedrock truth that a life can stand upon when life itself is so very different from all one has ever known. 

The word of the Lord stands forever…bringing peace and life and hope even at the end.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we trust that the word of the Lord stands forever.  May we steep in it and find that we are like the tree planted by streams of water yielding fruit.  May we find that whatever rains and floods come we are firmly set on a foundation that will last.

Jessica :)

Let It Take Hold

On Thursdays, I have been sharing a little bit about what I have been learning as I read through 1 John.

I have been sharing about a paragraph at a time.  Right now, I am in the middle of writing about a section where John talks about the unity of the body and those who are adversaries of Christ.  A word that keeps coming up again and again as I read and share about this section is “remain.”  The section continues:

“Let the good news, the story you have heard from the beginning of your journey, live in and take hold of you.  If that happens and you focus on the good news, then you will always remain in a relationship with the Son and the Father.  This is what He promised us: eternal life.”  1 John 2:24-25 the Voice

John calls me to let the good news—the life, death and resurrection of Christ—take hold of me.  I am to let it change me.  I am to keep focused on Christ—my heart and my mind set on Him.  This is abiding.  This leads to relationship with the Son and the Father.  This leads to life—eternal life.

John Ortberg writes, “If you want life, you want God. […] You want God more than you know” (41). 

This is true because of what the word for life in the Bible really refers to.  The word for life, in Greek, is zoē.   Zoē is “life as God has it. That which the Father has in Himself and gave to the Incarnate Son [Jesus] to have in Himself and which the Son manifested to the world.” (VINE’S Expository Dictionary).

This is the life that was lost to man in the garden.  This is the life that we long to have course through our bodies now. 

I think about John’s telling of the gospel.  Abundant is the concept of life in connection with Jesus.  In fact, the reason John says he writes is so “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). 

The life that we long for is available to all, in Christ, when we believe. 

Scot McKnight writes that “To believe means more than just mentally agreeing with some truth, even if that truth is that Jesus is Messiah and Lord over all.  The entire sweep of the Story of Israel and the Story of Jesus ushers us into a world where God’s people rely on and trust God, and such a trusting relationship generates a life of obedience, holiness and love” (The King Jesus Gospel, 128).

When I believe, I let the gospel “take hold of [me].”  The result is that I live in relationship with God.  I abide.  And when I abide, I am promised eternal life.

When I take a look at the Greek word for eternal—aiōnios—the idea that I would find eternal life in Christ does not seem too surprising.  Aiōnios is “used of persons and things which are in their nature endless” (VINE’S Expository Dictionary). 

God who is by nature eternal, is full of life that is in its nature endless. 

This is the life that is in Christ. 

I begin to recognize the wisdom in John Ortberg’s words:  “Jesus is the only one with authoritative wisdom about how to live” (The Me I Want To Be, 46). 

Jesus tells me the best way to live is to eat of the bread he offers. 

John tells me to let this good news live in and take hold of me.

Through this, I remain in Him.  Through this, I have eternal life.

I set my focus, once again, on Christ.

I come, ready to abide.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundace as we believe the good news and allow it to take hold of us.  May we find that abiding in His presence is very good and the life He gives is just what our hearts have been longing for all along.

Jessica :)

Are We Having Fun Yet?

I am bent over a basket, pulling out my warm white clothes into a mound, soon to be folded.  As I do, a man I have never seen enters the laundry room and purchases a few drinks from the vending machine.  Then, with his arms full of bottles he asks me a question.

“Are we having fun, yet?” 

“Excuse me?”  I reply looking up at him.

“Are we having fun, yet?” he repeats.

I look at him puzzled, and respond, “Um sure.”   

Is this some new way of greeting people?  If it is, I’ve never heard it before.

He tells me, “I try to stay as far away from the laundry as possible.”

I nod and say “Oh” just before he exits the laundry room.

I pick up my basket and follow him out.

He is standing with a co-worker as they wait for an elevator.  I wait near them, arms full, as they talk with one another, before the man who spoke with me turns to walk down the hallway toward the front of the building. 

His co-worker waits beside me.  When the door opens, he allows me to carry my basket onto the elevator, before he joins me.

I ask, “Would you push two, please?”

He hits five and follows with two, saying “Sure.”

The next words from his mouth are the same as his co-worker.

“Are we having fun yet?”

I pause at the oddity of it.  “Yes?  I mean, sure.  I like when my laundry gets done.  I mean, I like having it all neatly in the closet.”  I manage weakly.

Where did these people come from?  Are you having fun yet?  Is this some sort of creed or mantra?  I really am confused.  I shuffle off the elevator and sincerely wish the man a wonderful day.

As I walk down the hallway toward my apartment, I chuckle at it.  Am I having fun?

Wasn’t my prayer as I walked toward my laundry that I would have some words about rest for today?  Did God not answer my prayer in their words? 

“Are we having fun?” Their words are rather similar to what God was saying to Israel through the prophet Isaiah. 

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

     and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

     and the LORD’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

     and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the LORD,

     and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land

     and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.  (Isaiah 58:13-14 NIV)

 

God is saying I want you to be authentic.  I want you to care about the things I care about.  I want you to enjoy me.  I want you to have fun.  You call my Sabbath a delight, live as such.

In my Judaism class in college we talked about a Hebrew word for the Sabbath that Jews use.  It is oneg.  It means to delight.  This is the word used here.  The Sabbath is to be filled with that which is enjoyable and restful.  It is a time to celebrate and give thanks for the blessings God has given. 

God’s words in Isaiah 58 tell Israel that they are going through the motions.  They say that God is important, but they do not value the things that He values and so their actions are empty.   He wants them to begin responding to Him and living in a way that will bring them life.  He wants them to truly delight in the Sabbath and rest in Him.

He invites me to do the same.

It is Labor Day weekend, a time the country stops to rest in celebration of the work that has been done.  It is a time where I will have a chance to spend some additional time responding to this Sabbath question, “Are we having fun yet?” 

I can hear God asking me.  I think about the friends that I will be spending time with this weekend, the anniversary I will be celebrating Sunday, the freedom to fill up the time with the delightful and life-giving things that bring real joy in Christ.  I think about this moment and the opportunity to respond to life as a gift or life as tedious task.  I choose gift.

I hear God calling out “Are we having fun yet?”

I respond, “Why, yes. I think we are.”

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we seek to delight in the Lord and enjoy him.  May we find that we are full of gratitude for His gifts and that we have blessing to heap upon those whose lives are difficult.  May we find that Labor Day is an opportunity for continued rest. 

Jessica :)