Born of God

Last night some of my daughter's friends came over and we were talking about 1 John 3:9 which says, "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God." The obvious question came up: why then do we sin? And, why is it so hard to not sin? (I'm sure I heard that second question even if it wasn't said out loud). I brought up 2 Corinthians 5:21 which says that we are the righteousness of God in Christ. This isn't just a theory, this is reality. In our spirit, we Christians are totally righteous. And our spirit is who we really are. Our flesh isn't who we are. So our tendency is to do what's right, right? And our desire is also to do what's right; everyone seemed to agree on that. Then it should be easy to not sin. Why isn't it?
Let's say I'm angry at someone. I've been there before. Here's where I go wrong: I focus on my irritation and forget about Jesus. We were never meant to live independent of God. It doesn't work to try to do life without God. Adam and Eve could tell you about that. That's why they ended up wearing fig leaves and hiding. They wanted to be like God. So they ate the fruit and the rest is sad sad history. Here's what happens when I turn my attention to Jesus and say, Lord, how do You want to love this person through me? He shows me how precious that person is in His eyes. He shows me what the person needs. He shows me how He meets my need. He lets me see through His loving eyes. And because I know and believe that He has put His love in my heart, I know that I can love instead of spewing anger. This really works.

An Apology and a Prayer to My Heavenly Dad

OOPS!
I am so sorry you guys, I'm not used to communicating by computer, and I haven't read most of your comments, until last night. But they were all SO encouraging, thank you all for being so kind. Joe, thanks for your patience; Jeff has your email address and he said he'd write to you. All this time I've been wondering who jocat85 was; I didn't know it was you. It was so good to hear from you. Anyway, sorry everybody for not acknowledging your comments; they were all so wonderful! I'm so thankful for my great friends.

And since tomorrow is Father's Day, I wanted to write something to the Lord:

Abba,
Thank You that you let me know that You are my Father and I am Your child. Thank You that You delight in me, enjoy me, and rejoice over me with singing and shouts of joy! Thank You that you are always with me, holding my hand. Thank you how, as a father carries his child, You have carried me through all the wildernesses of my life. When I look into Your face I see Your kindness, Your compassion, your unconditional, unfailing love, your everlasting devotion, your patience, and Your joy. You encourage me, You strengthen me, you protect me with Your strong hands, You guide me with Your counsel. Thank You that I'm in Your family forever. I love You.
Your daughter.
(See Romans 8:15-16, Zephaniah 3:17, Psalm 73:23-24, Deuteronomy 1:31, Psalm 23:6)

Busyness

School is done for the summer (except that I'm trying to teach Spanish to my two youngest girls), and for the most part we are living life at a somewhat leisurely pace. Still, with six people in our house all wanting to have a life, it gets hectic some days. The other day I was rushing around with too much to cram into a morning, and it put me in a bad mood. Later I was reading a prayer in a devotional (31 Days of Praise, an awesome book): "I thank You...for each thing that triggers in me anxiety". As I read these words, I wasn't really thankful because anxiety isn't fun. When I was stressed, I didn't talk to God about it because I was in a hurry. But Jesus said to the stressed-out Martha (Luke 10:42), "one thing is needed". The one thing He was referring to was sitting at His feet and listening to His word. Anyhow, how long would it have taken me to say, "Lord, I need Your peace and guidance right now. Keep my eyes on You." If I had turned my thoughts to Jesus I would have realized that He isn't stressed at all, and I had no reason to be either.
Later that same day, I took Liz and Kelly to get their hair cut. I had brought along a book to read while waiting, and I left it in the car. So I picked up the July issue of Ladies' Home Journal, and started reading an article about prayer. It was fascinating. A neuroscientist named Andrew Newberg (author of How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist) did a study in 2001 in which Tibetan Buddhists were asked to meditate and Franciscan nuns were asked to pray. When they reached a place of deep contemplation, their brains were scanned. Surprisingly, the scan showed that the superior parietal lobe, the part of the brain that tells us where our body stops and the rest of the world starts, had shut down. The article said, "With no sensory input coming in, the brain can't distunguish between self and not-self. You feel at one with--well, whatever you're inclined to feel at one with. Humanity. The universe. God......When the self dissolves, the worries and stress that usually batter the self go away, too." How interesting that a brain scan would validate what the Bible says: "he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (I Corinthians 6:17) And Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). Thank You Lord.