The Parable of the Slave

You are a slave.  

Abused, unloved, unwanted.  

You have never received any benefit from your slavery -- worse, you know you got yourself into this mess. It seems that every choice since that initial stumble has only led you deeper into the darkness. The one you obey, the master, is as attractive as he is repulsive.  This is the only life you know-where every choice is wrong, every person is reduced to an animal, and every day dawns in new horror

One day there’s a rumor.  The great king is sending his son to inspect your master. He’s going to look at the whole pathetic lot of you.  And you? You’re ashamed to be seen. It’s been a long time since you were clean or healthy or well-fed; it’s been a long time since you had any choice about those things. The day comes and you stand baking in the sun, reeking of fresh sweat and old sin, one of an impossibly long line of hopeless men and women.  Far down the line you see the king’s son. If it weren’t for his clothes, he’d fit right in. Looks as ordinary as the rest of you. But in that unstained robe, it’s pretty obvious who he is.

6 Strategies For Dealing With Anger

Sister, is being slow to anger the same thing as swallowing our anger?  

You know it’s not! The first is an aspect of God and a godly person (Exodus 34:6-7).  The other is a kind of self-deception and not healthy--bringing pain and disease in our bodies, our minds, our relationships, and our souls.

All We Like Sheep

    Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

            And our sorrows He carried;

            Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

            Smitten of God, and afflicted.

      But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

            He was crushed for our iniquities;

            The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,

            And by His scourging we are healed.

      All of us like sheep have gone astray,

            Each of us has turned to his own way;

            But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all

            To fall on Him.

      He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

            Yet He did not open His mouth;

            Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,

            And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,

            So He did not open His mouth.

     By oppression and judgment He was taken away;

            And as for His generation, who considered

            That He was cut off out of the land of the living

            For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

(Isaiah 53:4-8)

I love this part of Handel’s Messiah!  One year as a kid I checked the record of the whole thing out of the library and listened to it.  I was old enough to enjoy being different maybe not old enough to really appreciate the lyrics.  But I remember the chorus swelling “all we like sheep-have gone astray.”

And I remember being that sheep.  Not some cute and fluffy lamb from a Christmas pageant but a panicked matted sheep caught in the brambles wondering where the shepherd went.  

The last part of the song drops the frenzied primary melody into a sad slow fade.  “He has laid on Him the inquiry of us all."

In Christmas and every other season we have this precious gift: our Shepherd became a sheep.  He left the glory of heaven to be a broken and bloody lamb.  

Ready for more Christmas posts?

Jesus the Lamb of God

Families are the best   

The Lie: You are Good Enough

This post, which appeared in a slightly different form some years ago, is part of a list of posts about the lies that sin tells us hosted by Bethany Mcllrath.  I hope you will click over and read more of these articles!

Who would you die for?  Not risk your life for, like heroic police officers, soldiers, and others do.  I mean for whom would you deliberately step forward and offer to die in his/her place?

For me, the answer's easy. I would die for my daughters, my nieces.  I might die for my husband if he didn't beat me to it.  Or perhaps for other adult family members.  But that's it.  Short list.

Why do I ask? 

 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him (Romans 5:7-9).  

Because these verses haunt me. Because left to myself, I know I am neither righteous nor good.

Entertained not Enslaved: Resources for Dealing with Media

On a Facebook group I am a part of, I saw a very intriguing post go by.  A minister's wife  was gathering resources to teach a lesson on how to deal with the media coming into your home.  I was intrigued.  I contacted her to ask to share the completed list and convinced her to guest post for us instead.  Joanne Desmartin is a stay-at-home mom, a minister's wife, a Bible class teacher and an altogether Godly lady.  You can find her and her congregation online. You might find her traveling, enjoying art, or getting ready for the holidays!

While preparing for a recent ladies’ devotional, from Nancy Eichman’s Seasoning Your Words:  God’s Recipe for Controlling Your Tongue, on offensive words, I had the opportunity to compile a list of valuable censorship resources.  The chapter I was covering from Nancy’s book talked about how we have gradually allowed vulgar language to creep into our society and our individual homes.  She encouraged us to avoid this sneaking advance by evading even a hint of foul, vulgar language.

9 Christian Strategies for Helping Kids Overcome Fear

The shadows on the wall as they try to sleep; hurricanes, earthquakes and shootings on the news; bullies at school; learning to read a bike and don't forget Halloween.  If you're a kid, life is scary.

I’ve seen all kinds of parenting posts about how to comfort kids and help them overcome their fears.   None of them were terrible.  Well, ok, I found the ones that suggested lying to your kids pretty horrifying.  But it seems to me that Christian parents have a whole different playbook for solving these kinds of problems. 

I Am Not Afraid.

I’m not afraid.  

I am not afraid of thunderstorms, heights, dogs, or mice.  They are little things that have been known to startle me (barking dogs and thunderstorms) or make me mad (Rodents of all kinds infuriate me! Tiny little home invaders!).  To say that I am afraid of them would be an exaggeration.  

I am not afraid of ISIS or any terrorist domestic or foreign.  They can beware of me. They have guns; I have prayer. They steal life - precious to me because it represents the days I have here to serve my King and his people.  Yet if they steal it, they have only moved the place I am praying from earth to under the heavenly altar (Revelation 6:9-11). 

The Source of Conflict

4 year old Adrian spies a shiny red fire truck in his playmate’s hand.  After a quick glance over his shoulder to locate the nearby adults, he pinches his friend, hard.  Squalling, the other child wallops Adrian over the head with the truck leaving behind not only a red welt but an indignantly wailing Adrian.  

Sin in the Congregation

Are there Bible commands that are optional? I’m not talking about details under the Old Law like not eating pork or issues that may relate to culture like head-coverings. I am talking about the clear and direct commands of Jesus Christ. Do we have optional commands? We certainly have some that are rarely practiced, hardly noticed, and generally ignored.  Why?  They require such humility, selflessness, honesty and forgiveness that we read right over them with barely a glance. 

Glittering Vices: A Book Review

Every once in a while, I come across a book that has a little something for everyone.  In YA fiction, the Harry Potter books fit the bill.  Do you like mysteries? Check! Coming of Age? Check! Fantasy? Check! A book with a message? Check!  Bad words, bosoms, and blood?  Okay, maybe not *everyone.* I recently read a book in the “Christian non-fiction” genre that has something for almost everyone.  Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies, by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, is scholarly enough for the nerdiest reader, full of pop culture references, and most importantly, it made me confront the sin in my own life without wanting to throw the book across the room. 

Lovers of Pleasure Rather Than Lovers of God

We've explored the question here before of what it means to really love God, yet when I ran across this phrase in 2 Timothy 3:4, "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God," I was stunned.

It would be easy to dismiss this verse without carefully considering it.  Obviously it does not mean that we are supposed to give up all earthly pleasures and joys.  A good steak, a snuggle with a sleepy toddler, a porch swing, a concert, a sunset, these simple pleasures are surely not what God had in mind here. 

The Sins of Un-

We often think of sin as "the bad things we do" or even the "the bad things we think."  More rarely someone understands that even the bad things we feel, for example hatred or covetousness are wrong and should have been submitted to Christ.   This is a "positive" view of sin.  In other words, this way of thinking understands sin as "The things we do, think, or feel that we should not."

Jessie's Girl

One of the things that bugged me about living abroad was how terribly out of touch I felt.  As a nerd of the first caliber, I have never been caught up on pop culture but I'm not usually an ENTIRE decade behind.  Once in a while I still have to say, "Sorry, I must have missed that while I was gone," but these days we are LESS lost. 

The Cure for Greed

Hello, my name is Melissa, and I am idolater.  It's been one day since I've been greedy.  Sometimes it seems like I don't know how to stop worshiping money.  The sad thing is that sometimes I don't even know what I'm doing.  Then an extra expense comes up, and I feel that little knot of anxiety.  I see an opportunity to give, and I pass it by because we just don't have it this week.  But we have it.  Extra giving just isn't in the budget this week, and I'm sure God understands that I need a grand in my emergency fund.  When I begin to question if we can afford what we have budgeted to give, I finally see the greed for what it is.  I've put God behind money.  Again.  I look back and see all the signs, and I regret it.  Then it creeps up on me again. How can I break out of this cycle?

Lovers of Money

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.  For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. Colossians 3:5-7

We're Going to Write About Sin

We're going to write about sin

Why? Why would Helene and I, who have made a habit of staying positive here at Maidservants of Christ, decide to start writing about negative things?  Attitudes we shouldn't have and actions we shouldn't take seem like such a downer.  There are several reasons, really, all based on the studies we are currently doing in our own lives. 

Self image - His image

"Mom, can a person really hate themselves?"

I looked up in great surprise.  "What?  Why?"  (See how articulate I was in this crucial teaching moment?!)

"Oh this guy in a book," (Whew!) My older daughter proceeded to tell me the plot of a novel she had been reading where the main character had been abused, believed that everyone he cared about died (therefore people shouldn't love him), and had come over time to truly hate himself.

Through Jesus's Eyes

I read an article on Huffington Post recently (not my normal reading fare, but it was recommended a few times) where the author talked about looking at her possessions with new eyes.  She talked of putting on her "perspectacles," and seeing her home as a blessing bordering on miraculous instead of a place that needs constant cleaning and updating.  Lately, I've been wanting to put on some perspectacles of my own, but instead of seeing my stuff differently, I'd like to see people differently.  I want to see the people around me as Jesus sees them.

Envy on Social Media

"Look at what we had for supper!  Don't you wish you were me? YUM," my husband sent with this photo of rutabaga, grilled fish and homemade hush puppies. If that doesn't seem enviable to you, it's cause you haven't eaten my rutabaga . 

"I expect some when we get there you big old chump face!" my father-in-law happily replied. 

Calling Bible Things by Bible Names

"Call Bible things by Bible names." Have you ever heard that maxim before?  I grew up hearing it, mostly in reference to naming things.  Nondenominational groups of all stripes have long been against calling a minister "pastor," a word that references elders in the New Testament.  Or calling a church by a person's name instead of using a biblical name like, "The Way."