Seek Ye First

I wake this morning with a word from God. 

“Seek first the kingdom of God.”  Matthew 6:33

I'm not exactly sure why this verse until I begin to read it in context. 

“Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Matthew 6:31-33 TNIV

I find it strange that in all the years that I have sung the song about seeking first his kingdom, I have never connected it with the context in which it is set—worry. 

I think about the circumstances of life at the moment—big decisions with variables I cannot control—and this is exactly what I am inclined to do.  Worry.  

He knows me well. 

And knowing me well, He chooses to speak that which I need to hear.

He tells me not to worry. 

He reminds me that he knows my needs.

He tells me to keep walking towards Him...to seek Him first.

He will provide for all these things I worry about. 

I just need to keep seeking Him. 

So this week…

Don’t worry.

Let's trust that God sees us.

Let's trust that He knows our needs. 

Let's trust that He knows and cares about the details of our lives.

Seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first.

For, it is in seeking God that we find life.

Let’s pursue Him, leaving behind everything which might distract. 

Let's pursue the things He calls us to do and trust that He will meet every need  we have along the way.

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." 

Matthew 6:33 NLT 

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we let go of worry and seek the Kingdom of God.  As we seek God and live under his direction may we find life and discover that He meets all our needs along the way.

Jessica :)



Balm for Heavy Hearts

“Rest is a precious ointment, balm for a heavy heart.” –Wayne Muller

Body aching from the

GO,GO, GO

from the busyness of the week.

Tasks waiting—

at home,

in the yard,

in the sink,

the list goes on…

Pull out the precious ointment,

light the candles,

Sit. Be.

Hide away from the noise,

for a few moments,

Quiet. Rest.

Slow down, put on, receive,

balm for a heavy heart.

Take a few moments to pause and read the words of Jesus.

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you.  Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls."  Matthew 11:28-29 NLT

Linger with His words.

Receive His words.

Consider what you need to bring to him that he might give you rest this weekend.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we come to Jesus.  May we find that God receives all the things that we bring to Him and restores our souls.  In Him, may we find real rest.

Jessica :)

Walk the Paths of Love

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

Over the last few we weeks we have been looking at a passage about love.  John shares how love for God and obedience go hand in hand.  He lifts up Jesus as the perfect example of obedient love, saying those who wish to love God will live as Christ did.  Then, John writes of a commandment that is both old and new—to love one another.  This love is always new, because each act of love is different from the one that precedes it. 

Now, John writes about love toward others who are in the family of Christ. 

“Those who claim to be in the light but hate a fellow believer are still in the darkness.  Those who love their fellow believers live in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  But those who hate a fellow believer are in the darkness and walk around in the darkness; they do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”  1 John 2:9-11 TNIV

Remember how John talked about walking in the light and walking in darkness?  He uses this language again to talk about love toward fellow believers.  The one who loves walks in the light.  The one who hates walks in darkness.

I was particularly struck by the language in verse 10.  “Those who love their fellow believers live in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.”

When we love others there is nothing in us to make us stumble.

I spent some time thinking about what it might look like to live this way.

This is how it came out…

Bitterness, jealousy, grudges

Leave them behind.

There is no place for them in love.

Seek a clean slate.

Move through conflict to pursue peace.

Root out all traces of hate.

Walk the paths of love.

Work toward the good of others.

When hurt comes surging back into memory,

Cast it into the arms of Christ.

He knows how to love in the middle of pain.

Be fully present.

Listen with all your attention.

Learn to hold your tongue, keeping hurtful words in check.

Speak the truth in love.

Keep truth before you.

Don’t replay your self-spun lies over and over again in your mind.

In the midst of brokenness,

Love one another.

Speak the kind of words that make souls stronger.

Pray them right into your heart.

Honor others with your actions.

Love and walk in the light.

Hear the words of Jesus about relating to others in the Sermon on the Mount.

“If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”  Matthew 5:23-24 NASB

It can be a big challenge to love others. 

Yet, this is what we have been called to do.

Let’s live seeking to do just that.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we seek to love others, especially others who trust Christ as we do.  May we find that living in love indeed keeps us from stumbling.  May we rely on His strength when it is hard.  And may it be to His glory when we succeed in living as He has called us to live.

Jessica :)

P.S.  The photos from this post were taken by my husband.  They are paths from walks we took in Acadia National Park on the Jordan Pond Trail and the Wonderland Trail.

Longing for Someday

I lost two friends this past week.

Rooster and Midnight.

It is odd to call cats friends; but they were.

Rooster lived his nine lives to the full—outlasting collisions with cars, attacks by dogs, wandering the elements and surgeries.  He survived so much in his 20+ years that my siblings affectionately called him “the godfather.”  Rooster was the cat my siblings and I were willing to give up vacation for, if it would save his life.  He was the cat that would go off for weeks or months or years, so that we began to wonder if he was still alive.  Then, he would turn up meowing hello, to our wonder.  He was the cat that would follow my dad around the yard as he would mow the lawn and take care of yard debris.  In his later years, he would follow my sister around the house as she went to and fro getting ready for work or snuggle up close to her in bed.  He was her “baby.”  Rooster had his own way of relating to each family member that each of us will treasure, for always. 

Midnight was the sweet cat from down the street.  She followed my (now) sister-in-law and I as we walked through the woods, never falling behind, though we walked several miles.  She always welcomed me to the Holmes home with her friendly meow.  She curled up nearby a few years ago as I sat in the yard swing praying though big decisions, sitting content as my hand methodically stroked her black fur.

It is bizarre that these friends won’t be found coming around the corner of a couch or tripping out of the garage to greet me with their pleasing meows. 

I wonder at this.

It feels so unnatural.

It is always this way with death, though.

It doesn’t feel right.  It just feels all wrong.

And it is all wrong.

It reminds me that this is not the way things were meant to be.

It leaves me longing for home.

For the garden.

For the time before death entered into the world.

It is hard to believe that a lack of trust, a choice to be disobedient, a failure to respond to love began all this world’s pain.  But, I do believe it.  This world must be broken.  This pang I feel, this longing to see life course through the lifeless, it reminds me of it—the brokenness of this world. 

It is also hard to believe that someday all will be made right because of Christ.  But the pang deep inside leaves me clinging to this hope.  Death does not have the last word.

Death does not have the last word, because Jesus did.  He does.  He will.

He made sure of this in his resurrection.

“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.  They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!”  Luke 24:1-6 TNIV

Jesus’ resurrection is my hope.  It means he is who he says he is.  He is God.

When I trust this, I live in the kingdom that Christ inaugurated, the one of the now and the not yet.  In this kingdom, the sting of death is still present now.  But in the not yet I will praise God for His victory over death.

In this, there is hope.

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in turn:  Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.  Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.  For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death."  1 Corinthians 15:20-26 NIV

There is hope that death is not the end. 

I think of His words to Martha after she has just lost her brother.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.  Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 NIV

These are His same words to me.

I am the resurrection and the life.  Jessica, do you believe this?

I do.  I cling to it.  I trust Him.  Because in the midst of the pain of death what can console?

Nothing else.  Only Him. 

He is the only hope.

Someday, Christ will do away with death once and for all.

I long for the someday.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we trust that Jesus is who He says He is, as we trust that He lives, as we trust that he has defeated death and that one day death will have no sting.  May we find He is the hope that gets us through all things.

Jessica :)

P.S.  The photos of Rooster and Midnight were used by permission of my sister and my brother-in-law respectively.

Gospel Music: Marveling in His Story

We sit in the loge seats at the Aronoff Center waiting for the champion competition to begin in the Gospel category at the World Choir Games.  After listening to the end of the open competition we prepare to just take in the experience of the games.  

I turn toward my mom and say, “I’m glad that even though we missed most of the first set of choirs, the one we did hear was made up of people we knew.  I didn’t expect that and it was kind of fun.” 

She nods assent and I continue.  “I’m not really sure that “gospel” singing is my style.  That’s probably strange since we’re at the gospel competition.  I really do like the words, but I’m not sure that I care for much more. I’m glad we’re here, but I kind of wish that I’d pre-bought a pass to hear the show choirs tomorrow.  They’re all sold out now.  I do love a good show tune.”

As I say all this, I realize it is a little ironic telling my mother all this, since she sings in a gospel choir.  However, she just nods kindly, without judgment; and we talk about her choir’s performance at the downtown mall, the day before.  They sang for one of the World Choir Games’ Friendship Concerts.  

Soon, a couple comes out to welcome all the gathered people to the competition.  They announce the choir that is walking onto the risers in black and shimmery gold, behind them, and tell us of their song selection.

Mom and I settle back in our seats and listen as the keyboard plays and voices begin to shout at randomly spaced intervals.  “Ow.”  It’s like their voices are doing these little leaping praises. 

“This is a bit odd,” I think.

Then, they really begin to sing. 

And their words, they capture me, as they sing to a very catchy tune.

“We lift our hands in the sanctuary.

We lift our hands to give you the glory.

We lift our hands to give you the praise.

And we will praise you for the rest of our days.

Yes.  We will praise you for the rest of our days.”

So, as they stop to shout their praise again, mid-song, it no longer seems awkward.  It is a joyful noise unto the Lord and my insides are leaping in praise right alongside their voices. 

As the song comes to an end and the clapping of the audience is all around me, I offer up an “Amen” and wait curious to see what will come next. 

A young woman steps forward from the choir and picks up a microphone.  She begins to tell the creation story in a spoken musical sort of way.  She pauses and after a musical introduction, in which I can picture the Spirit of God hovering over the waters of the deep, the choir begins to sing this unfolding story of Genesis. 

As they sing, I can picture it happening—the word of God speaking in the deep voices of the young men and the burst of energy that creates something from nothing, as voices sing a line with speed, sending it back and forth across the voice ranges. 

It is beautiful.

It takes my breath away.

I marvel in His story.

It is this story that begins the Gospel.

I wonder how I could have ever thought that gospel music isn’t my style. 

It is His story that captivates my heart.

I’m riveted.

This is what happens to me when I really hear His story.

When this choir leaves the stage after their last two songs, I have been moved to tears.

I didn’t expect this.

Maybe I should have.  But I didn’t.

There are more choirs that follow. 

Musically, the sounds vary.  Some choirs sing fast and beat driven music, others sing slow and harmonious.   This doesn’t sound like gospel music to me…should it?  It is midway through the second choir when I begin to think that I don’t even really know what gospel music is.  

I keep listening.

The words of the South African girl’s choir stick with me:

“Born to die. 

Died only to rise again.

Rose only to live eternally.  […]

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”

I think I begin to see it.

Gospel music shares the story.  It tells the story of the gospel…in song.

We hear choirs from around the USA and others from around the world—Germany, Canada, and South Africa.  I am reminded of the diversity of the body of Christ and smile. 

I hear God's story over and over again.  I listen to so many different brothers and sisters in Christ share different scenes in this story.  It is beautiful, the way they share the Good News. 

They each tell it in their own special way, each communicating the message that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”

As I begin to process all this, I know I’m glad that I didn’t miss this. 

Show tunes are toe-tapping good.  But this…

This tells of the goodness of God and salvation for the world.

And this might just be the very best music after all.

Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Sing to the Lord, praise his name; 
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.   Psalm 96:1-3 NIV

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we sing of what the Lord has done and tell of His story to the world.  Whether it is by song or through our words may we bring glory to His name.

Jessica :)