Linebackers and Princes

Welcome to February! The month of 'love.' This month I really want to make it a goal to write on here daily. We'll see how well that works. I cannot guarantee that all of the posts will be lengthy or deep, but surely February is filled with enough topics and few enough days to generate substance sufficient for a daily blog.

Today's topic: Nobility.

It does tie in to the topic of love. In recent discussions with a young man, he mentioned that number one thing he was looking for in a wife was noble character. That being said, it was in my best interest to figure out exactly what that meant. What does it mean to have 'noble' character? I was pretty sure I had it... but then again, if I couldn't define it, how could I know? As I sat here in front of the computer, checking my various emails and websites, the thought crept up to research the exact definition and meaning of 'noble.'

Modern-day man has a problem with 'old' words. If it can't be shortened into texter-friendly symbols then it is no longer worth speaking. I wouldn't say that I am completely immersed in the text world... my text messages are written out and take up all 160 characters I am allotted. It is a last resort for me to shorten "you are" to "u r." Still, this man had used a word that I should know the meaning of but didn't.

Ready?

Noble
It has many definitions, actually. One thought is-

distinguished by rank or title.

My rank or title does not distinguish me as noble at all. Jessica Harris, high school math teacher and monitor. No noble blood runs through my veins. This is referencing the nobility- the kingly line. Royalty.

Then there is another thought-

of an exalted moral or mental character or excellence; lofty: a noble thought.

The first thing that popped into my head was 'holier-than-thou.' Lofty. Lofty just kinda shoots the idea of noble out of the sky. It makes it sound most unpleasant.

very impressive or imposing in appearance; stately; magnificent: a noble monument.

Again, not exactly fitting the bill here. When I think of imposing in appearance, I think of a linebacker. THAT is imposing. Somehow the connection wasn't being made. I don't see how thoughts, linebackers and princes are all able to be defined by one word.

Then, yet another definition for 'noble.'

of an admirably high quality; notably superior; excellent.

And then things started to make sense. Noble serves as an adjective. It describes something. I looked up its synonyms in a theasarus (two more anti-text words... look em up). Want to know the thought that noble carries?

Woah.

Seriously. That is the idea of 'noble.' It causes whoever is near whatever is noble to step back and say, "Woah." It brings admiration and respect. Think of a princess. She is stately and elegant. When she walks, speaks, smiles... people say, "Woah." Think of a large monument, a world wonder. People stop and say, "Woah."

So what this man is looking for in a wife is someone who causes others to stand back and say, "Woah!" Not because she is going through with this attitude of "I am so amazing" but because her character and conduct set her apart from the rest of the pack. Some more modern words for 'noble.'

dignified, excellent, benevolent, charitable, courtly, cultivated, dignified, distinguished, extraordinary, first-rate, generous, gracious, great-hearted, high-minded, honorable, humane, magnificent, meritorious, refined, remarkable, reputable, splendid, stately, sublime, supreme, sympathetic, upright, virtuous, worthy

I see a few words in there that ring a bell. One really sticks out because I just read it yesterday. "Virtuous"

Prov 31: 10 "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."

Who can find a noble woman...

Go one step further.

Who can find a princess...

A little too far, a little eccentric. Probably. That's exactly why this question is asked, "Who can find her?" Look at what such a discovery is worth, "far above rubies." Rubies. Not silver or gold. The author chose rubies, a brilliant radiant gem. A virtuous/noble woman is worth far more than that.

So, Proverbs 31 becomes the standard for living a life that makes people step back and say "Woah!" And it is a standard greatly lacking in our age. Women are encouraged into full time careers, to climb to the top of the corporate ladder and proclaim equality and leave the husband and children behind. No woman belongs 'bare foot and pregnant in the kitchen' they say. They cry for justice and for tolerance. They have murdered the woman God intended for us to be. By no means less than man, but a fulfiller of a completely different role.

Look through the 31st chapter of Proverbs. See how it references the husbands relationship to his wife. He cherishes her. If I had something that was priceless, I would cherish it too.

As a side note, the rise of the modern women has also murdered the Godly man. The prince we all dream of marrying... we killed him. When a young man strives to serve a woman she, in her climb up the ladder, ridicules him. How dare he treat her like she is incompetent? Who does he think he is to open her door? To offer his arm? She can handle herself, thank you very much. And so, our quests as Miss Independent leave us very independent and, consequently, miserable.

Today, too many women have a price. They can be purchased with money and the promise of power and respect. Young women do not know what it means to be noble. To be above the pack. To live by a different standard. A noble standard.

As daughters of the most High King, we are Daughters of the most noble birth, and it is high time we refine our skills and live the life of a princess. Strive to live a life that catches the world's attention and makes people step back and say, "Woah!"

A fancy suit: $300
A plastic face: $2000
A master's degree: $20000
A woman who fears the Lord: priceless

Yes, I am aware it is Sunday morning and that many good souls would be in church right now. This good soul is feeling a little queezy, so as not to force a cleaning of my church's upholstery, I have opted to stay home. Still I have spent the morning reflecting on some of the challenges of this past week, and now that my 'post a new note' button decided to work, I wanted to share... with a ginger ale in one hand and a trash can in the other (lol).

We Christians have lost what it means to live a life following Christ. Somewhere along the line, the Christian life became cooshy. It became comfortable, complacent, even easy. Read my Bible- check. Say a prayer- check. Give an offering- check. Don't swear- check. Don't drink- check. check. check. check... done.

That view, present even in my own life, was challenged this past Tuesday. I remember the day very clearly because I was finishing up my devotional outline for Challengers on Tuesday night. Being that I work just outside of DC and it was Inauguration Day, most of our students were downtown for the 'historical occasion.' This left the school relatively quiet, and this teacher relatively bored. I searched through the school's 'library' (one shelf of books in a metal cabinet) and saw a book by Charles Sheldon entitled "In His Steps." I had nothing better to do, so I grabbed it, sat at my desk and read the first two chapters.

Praise God for even the boring days because I know He can use them for His glory! After reading the first two chapters, I was convicted to the point of being sick (today is not a remainder of that conviction. Today, I believe I have the flu). My stomach was heavy and felt caught in my throat. My mind was consumed by the accusation against Christianity made in the first two chapters of that book. All that I had known as comfortable and Christian living was called out as a fraud.

My outline on the Christian speech went in the trash and in a matter of ten minutes was replaced by one detailing a subject more threatening and deep than I had ever dared venture with these young women. Our Christian life was never ever meant to be easy. True disciples of Christ do not have comfortable lives.

To summarize. In this book, a homeless man wanders a town and finds no one to care for him. He finds himself on the steps of a minister who offers him the first and only words of comfort and encouragement he hears. The following Sunday, he wanders into the minister's church, and at the end of service confronts the congregation with their complacency. Is this really what following Jesus means? You go on your vacations to exotic summer homes while people outside your doors are starving and dying without hope. I ask you, is this what Jesus would do?

The man dies within the week but his words ring true in the heart of the pastor. He levels a challenge at his congregation to go through the year asking, "What would Jesus do?" and to do that, regardless the cost. This is true discipleship.

A group take 'the pledge' and the story goes on to tell how their choices affect their lives in drastic ways. Many lose their jobs. Many choose roads less traveled. Many are angered and forsake the pledge. For those that chose to follow in His steps, the rewards far outweigh the sacrifice.

It was a challenge to me. A call to true discipleship. Discipleship that forsakes the comforts of instant America and reaches out to the broken America. Discipleship that knows what it means to take up the cross and follow Christ. Discipleship that tastes the sufferings of Christ. The shame. The humility. The mockery. Discipleship that knows Him because it follows Him regardless of the cost, physically, financially, emotionally, socially. A discipleship that forsakes family and forgoes convenience in order to reach the lost and dying He came to save.

That is true discipleship.

Sunday morning church isn't true discipleship. That is only a part. We Americans like things easy. We want our relationship with Christ to be easy. Nevermind the fact that in one country in the Middle East in one prison alone, 3000 people are being held captive on no grounds except their Christian faith. They have sacrificed their lives. Here we sit in America, saving up money for our dream homes, driving ourselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt while down the street a family lies broken, but we wouldn't know because talking with them wouldn't be convenient. Heaven forbid we actually feel compassion for someone other than ourselves. Heaven forbid that God would bring to light our selfishness and greed. Heaven forbid we would feel led to actually help people.

I speak more to myself than anyone else. Ten miles down the road lies the hub of America. The side of DC tourists don't see are the crippled and lame that walk the city streets. The homeless, cold and lonely, who lie over the metro exhaust fans trying to find a little relief from the cold. The husbands and wives who lay beside the highway with nothing but a tent as shelter. The prostitute who gives herself away because it is the only job she can find. The filthy, the vile, the wretched, the blind, the deaf, the hungry...

Jesus communed with publicans and sinners. These are the people He came to save. He came for the broken, the weary, the wounded. We read the story of the good Samaritan and scoff at the religious leaders as they pass him by. How could you! How could you walk beside a man, so hurt, so broken, so in need of help!?! How could you just skirt around him? Ignore him? If I were there, I would help him. I would get down off my horse, get my hands bloody and take care of him. I would get him help. Take him to the nearest hospital and pay for the bill. I would see to it that he was taken care of.

Would you, really? Well, of course I would!

Do you?

That is the question.

Your Future Affects Your Now

Call me slow but I just found out that a well-known Christian artist has 'come out of the closet.' I have this overwhelming urge to vomit. After I'm done, I want to go up to my room, gather up all of his CDs and snap them in half and put them in the trash.

Why? Not because I hate gay people. I'm not a gay basher. Do I believe the lifestyle is wrong. Yes, and I say that without shame. The homosexual lifestyle is wrong. It is sinful, perverse and wicked. I do not approve of the lifestyle, but I do love the people. After all, didn't Jesus eat with the whores and the embezlers? Yes, He did. He loved them. He came to save them.

I can't stand the hypocrites. If you struggle with something, be honest before yourself and God and then get it right.

More than that, it breaks my heart to see people who impact the world for Christ but then make a stupid decision and cover all that work in black paint. Years of ministry just went down the drain, in my opinion. A shining light for Christ has just been 'busheled.' I don't want to listen to his songs anymore because the whole time I will be thinking of him proclaiming that God made him this way and that God wouldn't send him to hell for being who He created him to be.

Are we that deceived?

Have we lost sight of the cause of Christ that much?

Understand something, your life impacts people. The decisions you make will make a difference in someone else's life. That is fact. Unless of course you live in a cave, devoid of all human contact which isn't the case because you are reading this. You impact people! The more people you impact, the more responsibility you have to make that impact a positive one.

Remember this. You will never retire from this part of your life. You may retire from singing, or teaching or preaching but people will still look up to you and the decisions you continue to make will still affect them. Your sin will have consequences. The choices you make now will affect your future, but your future choices will also affect your now.

Battling Temptation

How do you battle sin? How do you 'kick' a bad habit? You, personally, how do you do it?

The New Year is often full of resolutions. We find areas in our lives that we insist on changing. Most of them center around self-discipline. I am going to exercise more. I am going to lose 10 pounds. I am going to stop doing this, start doing that, pick up this hobby, drop that hobby... basically, we are going to work on disciplining ourselves. Is that the approach we take to sin?

Is struggling with sin really a matter of lack of discipline? How are we taught to combat sin and sinful habits in the Bible?

Nearly all of the references in the Bible to dealing with sin tell us to run. They don't tell us to stand and fight. They don't even instruct us to have self-discipline. They tell us to run. Run. Flee. God even says He will provide a way to escape... not a way to fight, but a way to get away.

There are times we approach sin like we are in some self-help program trying to make us a stronger person. Instead of fleeing alcohol, we are told to stand defiantly in front of the bar and say, "Ah HA! I have conquered you. You have no power on me." We step into the bar and take our seat and order a water. Look at us. We sure must be strong, sitting at a bar and ordering water... yep, we've beat alcohol alright. Problem is, every day we sit in front of that bar we are more likely to fall.

That is how it is with sin. You can't beat it by standing defiantly and sticking your tongue out at the devil (pride anyone?). Instead, we are told to run. Doesn't seem very victorious to turn tail and run, does it? Isn't running a sign of defeat? Not to us. Running is a sign of faith and trust.

See, when we focus on 'beating' a sin, our focus is on the sin. We, essentially, have our back turned on our only Help and are trying to duke it out ourselves. But, when we run, we run into the arms of Christ, and though running may be a sign of weakness, we know that His strength is perfect in our weakness. It's a different approach, indeed, but we lead a different life. We have different motivations, different goals, different priorities. We are a peculiar people, and God calls this people to run, to flee from sin, as Lot did from Sodom. To pack up, move out, and never ever look back.

How do you need to run, this year? Maybe you need to cut ties with some unGodly friends. Don't trick yourself into thinking that you are stronger because you hang out with them. More than likely, they are undermining your faith. Eventually, you will fall. Maybe you need to unplug the TV. Unplug the computer. Radical? maybe, but isn't our faith a radical faith? Doesn't God call us to forsake all and follow Him? When it comes to sin, we are to throw it aside and run away. That might mean leaving some people or some things behind... but is anything too high a cost for a better relationship with Christ?

Are you willing to run.

Is There Still Hope?

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27

I wrestled the other morning with the concept of prayer. For the past month, I have prayed for a young man from our youth group who suddenly faced a battle with cancer. A malignant form of cancer that I have come to name, "Little Monster." A tumor the size of a basketball in his chest and he is only eighteen. Tonight, he is dying.

At the beginning, the prayer came easy: "Dear God, please help Daniel to beat this. Give him a miracle." For while, it seemed that that prayer would be answered. There was hope. He was improving.

But then things changed, and again, we prayed earnestly for a miracle. It wasn't until earlier this week (Wednesday to be precise) that I woke up realizing, "I am praying the wrong prayer." I struggled all day with how exactly prayer fits in with the sovereign will of God. If I pray, will it honestly change His mind? Can I pray hard enough for something to happen? What is the point of prayer? If I pray a certain way is that demonstrating doubt or faith?

At youth group that night, a lesson was given on prayer, but not on the aspect I was struggling with. So, I wrestled and wrestled and decided on my own study and discussion. Can we honestly pray the wrong prayer?

I remember election day 2008. In the days proceeding, my sister called to tell me that my grandfather would not stop ranting and raving about the election. "How could Barack be president?!?! How could God let this happen? I fasted. I prayed. I had people fasting and praying that this wouldn't happen. How could this happen? What did I do wrong?"

I've come to the conclusion that prayer isn't about changing God's mind. It is about changing our hearts. When we pray, I believe it helps us realize our position before God. First off, prayer must be taught. In Luke's account of the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11), Jesus is asked to teach the disciples how to pray. We don't have to be taught to be selfish or to tell people how we feel. Therefore, we can assume that if something comes naturally, it does not need to be taught. Prayer does not come naturally, because true prayer, is humbling yourself before the throne of an Almighty God. You wouldn't just go waltzing into the White House, stroll into the Oval Office and say, "Hey! Prez! Whazzup!" You would be shot. Instead, you learn to approach with the respect demanded by the position. Prayer is about realizing where we stand with God.

Prayer is also about realizing how dependent we are on God. If you recall the Lord's Prayer, used often as a prayer model, it starts off praising God, then asking for His will, then asking for His provision, then asking for His forgiveness, then asking for His guidance and then for His deliverance. Prayer is all about Him! Life is all about Him.

So, what is the point of prayer? I, personally, have come to believe that prayer is a part of our worship. It is a vital part of our personal relationship with God. It is when we share our hearts (which He already knows) with Him. It is while in an attitude of true prayer that we humble ourselves to His will and enter His workshop, where He can mold us, and form us into vessels fit for Him.

When He tells us to pray for our enemies it is to teach us temperance.
When He tells us to pray for those that despise us it is to teach us agape love.
When He tells us to pray for laborers it is to open our eyes to the needs of the world. (We are the laborers).
When He tells us to pray so that we do not enter temptation, He is reminding us that our flesh is weak.
When He tells us to pray for our needs, He is reminding us that He is the Provider.

Life is about God. Prayer is about God. No one figured that out more than Job. Look at his life. If anyone had a reason to ask why, it was Job. He lost everything, and I mean everything. His faith stayed strong and he cried out asking why. God answered by telling Job about Himself. God never gave Job a reason. In fact, He pretty much told Job that He didn't have to have a reason. He gave Job a little taste of His glory as His way of saying, "Trust Me." Reasonless isn't the same as hopeless. We have a hope. Our hope is found in Christ.

So, what is the right prayer to pray? Well, don't sweat it too much, because that verse in Romans 8 tells us that the Spirit knows how to pray for us and that He will fill in the blanks when we just can't figure out what to say. But if you look at the end of the verse, it says according to the will of God. See, God has a will and a plan, and sometimes, even our prayers are prayed in opposition to that plan. When we focus so much on a result, we lose hope.

A friend and I discussed this yesterday morning. We think that many Christians are disappointed because they come to God with orders, not faith. I love the approach of Job: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" and the Old Testament characters of Shadrach, Meshach and Obednego: "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

It may sound like doubt, but I think faith lies in saying, "God, this is the desire of my heart, but nevertheless, Your will be done." Isn't that how Jesus prayed in the garden? He prayed earnestly that the cup would be taken from Him. That He wouldn't have to suffer Calvary, but then He said, "nevertheless, Thy will be done." See, it isn't about us, and if God said, "Yes" to every fervent prayer we would be without a salvation.

So, can we pray the wrong prayer? I think we can have the wrong focus when we pray. If we pray for a specific result without leaving room for God to do what He wants, we have raised our expectations and murdered hope. His goal in all things is to work in our lives. He wants to do something with us. If we keep focusing on a physical result we miss that. Prayer becomes nothing more than a petition to the Most High- sign on the dotted line and if enough people pray, it might happen. Just like my grandfather and the election, when our requests aren't answered, our hopes are dashed to the ground.

However, hope is never lost when we focus on Christ. When we ask for His will to be done, when we ask for His strength, we can be certain we will receive both. We just can't dictate His will. He has a plan for others and for us. Those blueprints were laid long before the foundation of time. Prayer isn't meant to change those, it is meant to change us. When faced with trial, we need to pray for strength to go through the trial and for patience to learn what He is working in us. That continued work in us is what gives us hope.

"From glory and glory He is changing me, His likeness and image to perfect in me, the love of God shown to the world."