Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts

Common Ground



You and I have something in common. Something important.

Whether you are religious, secular, agnostic, sanguine or choleric.  Whether you are an INFJ like me, or an EPBandJ like my daughter Sarah (inside joke).  Whether you drink Jack Daniel's or Diet Coke, you and me have a long history of the same thing.

My Story Matters {...and so does yours...}


I’m a grandmother now.  A Mimi, to be precise.  Before I know it, this one (in the picture below) will get married and have her first baby, and I will be a great-grandmother.  



I’m old enough today, to be carrying several versions of myself inside me, like Russian dolls. 







I'll be 50 years old this November.  Turning 50 is like having my 21-year-old self still inside me - the one who had just given birth to identical twin girls and who consequently never slept my 21st year.  I have inside me the 31-year-old version of myself - the one who was a pastor’s wife, who made Sloppy Joe lentils for her family, and ate everything whole food and low fat. 

I even have the 41-year-old Sheila still inside me, now.  The one who was trying to raise children who would live right and have no regrets - the 41-year-old momma who home educated all four, who had run hard and long and who had her finish line in sight,  whose job was almost done, and whose heart was on the cusp of being shattered in a million pieces.

Boyhood goes from this...



...to this...



From this...






...to this...



I suspected, but didn't know for sure when I was 41, that the "boys of summer" were about to be gone forever.  Boyhood innocence sometimes vanishes
in ways we hoped it wouldn't.

Children grow up.  They all do.  




Yeah.  I was a "basketball mom".  Whose son was headed for university.




If I'd known then, on that very day right up there, if I'd known then what I know now...

...I would still have done it.  All of it.


The overall story of my life has one theme:


The supremacy of Christ in all of life.  

Christ in my life as a teenage girl who overcame being told by classmates grade after grade, year after year that she was ugly, but who placed third in the Junior Miss Pageant - and scored the top score of all contestants in a category called poise and appearance.  

Christ the source of joy as a young bride - when I found out that married love was profound and beautiful, but Jesus was even better.  

Christ, the giver of peace when my nest suddenly emptied as two beautiful capable daughters married Godly men (see here and here and here), 

and two sons went temporarily AWOL, becoming prodigals…and I coped with feeling like the enemy of my soul had won.  

Christ, my all-in-all as a grandmother whose first grandchild, a boy named after my husband, lived with us for almost three years, along with his parents, while his momma  and daddy saved up for a house.  A house that, little did we know, would be the house next door.   




Christ, the giver of grace upon grace upon grace as my other twin daughter and her husband bought the other house next door, and two of my granddaughters moved all their pink tiaras and dolls and shiny shoes into those rooms.



Christ, who redeems every situation, as my oldest son became a first-time dad...







My story is His story. My life has but one context: the sacred-beautiful transforming power of grace, as found in the Gospel of the finished work of Christ.

All my stories find their significance in the One story of who God is. So tell your stories, too. My stories are not about me. Sure, I am the main character in my life story, that's how God made things to be, but the story itself is a manifesto of Him who made me.

What have you been a witness of? Bear witness, sister! 

Bearing witness isn't always quoting scripture. It is the telling of story. We....WE are His letters, His workmanship.

What is "Cheap Grace"...really?

(Vincent Van Gogh's "Weeping Woman")

My favorite blogger Ann Voskamp, over at A Holy Experience, hit another home run with her recent post entitled "You Know They're Laughing At Us, Right?"

I also weep over the Creflo Dollars of the pop-Christian-culture...and the Josh Duggars of the fundamentalist-legalist-Christian sub-culture...and the Tullian Tchividjians of the grace-Christian camp...and I applaud and appreciate Voskamp's willingness to name names.

The great apostle Paul named names.  And so must we.  Carefully.  With many tears.

I would only add one thing to Ann's post - and it feels like wild presumption to even think I could add to the thoughts of one of our day's finest writers - but in her recent post she said:

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

I couldn't agree more.  And here is what I would add:

Cheap grace is grace without local church.  Cheap grace is grace without true community.

Where else is repentance required and lived out, if not in the context of community?  Where else does church discipline take place, but in church?  Who do we confess our sins to, if not to a safe community of believers?  Where else is discipleship fleshed out, the cross made vivid, wolves in sheep clothing called by their name, and the flock of God guarded, and where else can Christ be incarnated?

Nowhere else but the church.  

All these things - repentance, church discipline, confession, incarnation - do not find their full expression within one person, or within a small group of favorite people who think like me, or within a business.  They don't find full and robust expression even in one family.  "Family church" can be a smokescreen to avoid the pain of real, true, flawed, diverse, beautiful local church.  To avoid church community is to live in such a way as to never have to extend grace to anyone but "me and mine".

Living like a lone ranger is cheap grace.

When I hear someone refer to "cheap grace", or "easy believe-ism", I laugh. I've read (and love) all of Bonhoeffer's works, and I get what he meant, when he coined the term "cheap grace" from a prison cell, living in close community amongst a diversity of men, suffering for the sake of Christ.

But can we, with authority, use those words unless we are likewise living in community as Bonhoeffer did?  Some who use the words "cheap grace", are using them to look down their nose at someone else...or to take someone else's theology down a peg or two.  No one who bandies those words for those reasons have actually understood the grace of God - because it can't be comprehended outside the gritty community of imperfect local church...a place often filled with prodigals in various stages of return.  

That's why repentance and confession must be preached and incarnated before the eyes of our watching community, right alongside justification and grace.  That's why I appreciate Voskamp's use of the term "cheap grace" - her context is spot-on.

Grace is mere concept to the rugged Christian individualist, that is why they think it can be cheapened. When you "live of the gospel", when you live in right relationship to others, nothing is more costly or more difficult in life than to earnestly look for the good, to "keep yourself in the love of God". (Jude)

Far from being "cheap", the truth of grace will cost you more than you ever thought you could pay, and stretch your faith beyond where you thought you could go.

Flashback Friday {...a post from the archives on the danger of "perfect"...}


                                                 Today I'm throwing back three years to a
blog post about the danger of "perfect".
This post was entitled, "Permanent Beta Launch"
and it's a mix of small business and theology

and it was written in the language of sarcasm, in which I am, unfortunately, fluent.

Enjoy...





(mixed media art-in-progress..."Suspended in Grace"...with four being the number of Creativity...and the amount of children I have had to release to God and His unfathomable riches of Grace!) 

Love Michael Hyatt's post today on living with Permanent Beta.  This is when you find an acceptable level of imperfection, and you roll with it anyhow. (That's my succinct paraphrase, and I think it's great.)

My Spiritual Gift is "Roll With It".  You won't find it in Scripture, not in those exact words, nor will you find it on any Spiritual Gift Test.  But I promise, my gift is Roll With It.

Not so long ago, however, my gift was more akin to "Wait Until It's Perfect".  The crazy thing is, nothing ever was.  Perfect.

Thank God He imparted the gift of Roll With It to me.  If He hadn't, very little would be getting done, except what I could do to please and bless myself. I wouldn't be actively mentoring other women, creating art and selling it, and we wouldn't even attempt some of the things on our schedule - because it's all risky business.

But we Roll With It.  What God says, we do, even when it is BigBig, even when we don't seem to have the resources, even when we can't do it perfectly the first time.

The big revelation (truly) for me was - and I didn't begin to really get it until I began naming my years, beginning with "Create" -  that you always tweak as you go.  I once knew a man, Godblesshim, who for years was hung up on pride.  He worried that The Preacher was prideful, worried about the pride of teenage boys, and prayed endlessly for humility - especially that others who were doing Big Things would Stay Humble.  He was the pride police, and of course, you aren't supposed to walk in pride.

So you sit and do little-to-nothing in the area of your true calling and passion, wearing pride turned inside-out like a reversible coat.  We all know that pride is what keeps you sitting there until you are no longer proud.  And the worst pride of all is to be certain of your own humility.  Might be best to shed that deceptively-protective layer and stand up and do something imperfectly.  By the way - be proud that you did.

Then you simply face up....man-up...woman-up....to the Tweaking Process.  Someone is going to correct/critique/tell you how you must improve.

Hug them, when they do.  I did...just last week - and they weren't just correcting my spelling or my grammar.

And I received correction a few weeks before that.  If no one is critiquing you, you aren't out in front.  (And if you are the one always critiquing...well...I've got sad news.  You aren't out in front either.  But I'll take your criticism on advisement.)

Does that mean I must embrace all correction?  Nah.  Only when it is for the Greater Good.  Only when it does not compromise the Finished Work of Christ in my life.  When it gets petty or personal, I toss it like year-old mascara.

Friend, it's all in the Tweak.  Life is one big 80 year Tweak.  Get over yourself, and move on.  If you make a mistake, own it and fix it.  I promise the juju of the universe is not moved when we screw things up.  You were born wrong, and you'll be wrong again before dinner.

All my life I thought I had God's stamp of approval because my life wasn't going badly. Now I was faced with the fear that it might actually be the opposite. What if my life was going so beautifully because I wasn't chasing after God?



- Jennie Allen, Anything

Parables From The Garden {...He makes dead things alive again...}


I just returned home from a church conference yesterday.

And I just shot the picture above.  Just this morning.  
And I have something important to tell you about it, if you will indulge me by reading on.

Late, late last night, after unpacking, then promptly picking, snapping, stringing, blanching and freezing over a quart of green beans that were screaming at me from my neglected garden...

...I was watering said garden to the soothing sounds of cicadas. 

I gave all the raised beds a good drink,
then shuffled in my pajamas, blissfully barefooted, over to the many containers,
beginning with two large galvanized buckets of carrots.  

Then I turned my water hose onto 
the vintage Radio Flyer red wagon and the vintage wooden trug, both filled with lantana -
about the only thing that can sit in a container in full sun, and take these hot, humid southern summers.  

Then the containers of zinnias.

Then the shady area, where only impatiens grows in the
various and quirky containers in which I have planted them.

Interesting name:  "impatiens".

I looked at my antique typewriter - a gift from my neighbor - expecting to take in
the joy I always feel when I think of planting flowers in that unexpected space.

 {The typewriter was already in this shape when I lovingly gave it a new home and a new purpose -  
outside, in my shade garden.  Take heart, fellow antique typewriter lovers - I would never take a mint machine and plop it outside.}

Those impatiens were dead.

I'm telling you, from my vantage point, there was nothing left.  In fact, I had to squint in the barely-lit darkness to even see if there was anything...anything at all in the carriage of that typewriter, 
which before I went out of town
was lush with coral-colored petals and green leaves.

Nothing.  There was nothing but dried up sticks and stems.  I even walked
over, and bent low to investigate by the light of the twinkle lights in
the trees overhead...

...with the thought of setting the hose down, and pulling out the whole plant.   
But I was too tired.

For some strange, unknowable reason, I watered anyway.

I remember thinking to myself, "Why am I doing this?  I must be out of my mind."

As I was sleeping, overnight, I heard rain.  This morning, I did my usual - I went
outside to sip coffee and peruse the gardens.

I stepped off the back deck, turned left, and screeched to a halt, my mouth hanging open.

I ran back inside to grab my camera.

The Holy Spirit spoke to me, in that moment.

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;  So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.…"

Dear one, the Lord has sent you here today...
He has sent you to me, and me to you,
to tell you this:

That which seemeth to be dead, will spring to life in one night, when God says, "Live!"

Keep planting.  Keep watering.  And trust that His Word will fall from heaven and succeed.

Scripturally, His Word is both seed and rain.  Both metaphors
are widely used by the Holy Spirit to help us understand the power of 
everything God has spoken.

Hear Ecclesiastes:

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

Things unseen and deeply planted always spring up in
 ways we do not understand, and cannot predict.  

"And Jesus was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows-- how, he himself does not know."   (Mark 4:27)

Take heart.  Have patience...don't be "impatiens".  

God is in the business of making things alive again.

Spring Decorating {Lent = He Gives Beauty For Ashes}

Every day is a celebration of grace.

But there is something so precious to me about the season leading up to Easter.

The season some recognize as "Lent".

Come on in, and let me try to show you how we celebrate this Holy Season.




The upper hooks are for mine and the Preacher's scarves and hats and such...

...the lower are for the G-babies' little things.

Winter evergreens are replaced by green grass, in the rusty metal bucket.

And the binoculars aren't for show. The Preacher is a rabid bird watcher.

{and the number 10 needs to be replaced by an 11. I just haven't carved the stamp.

Yet.

::smile::More on that later.}





Fresh spring flowers are always to be enjoyed this time of year.





A table centerpiece of moss and candles, nestled in an antique drawer....

...celebrating spring, the Finished Work of the Cross,

and Him whose Life was the light of men (John chapter 1).








Pussywillow branches, an antique book whose title rejoices in

every new season, whatever it is. And original art. And light.







The new hallway Gallery Wall - full of original art by my son-in-


...as well as yours truly.



This is a time for Christians to rejoice in Jesus,

{In Christ Alone My Hope is Found}

This is a time to observe the inauguration of the dispensation of

His grace;

 not a time to be wan and sad, not a time to look inward,

where perfection is never to be found.

He gives beauty for ashes.



Why not fill your home, heart, and relationships with beauty?




Grace and Peace,

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

Coming This October {31 Days of Celebrating Middle Age}



I am all about the season of life most people call "middle age".  And just like those "middle school years", the years of middle age can be vexing and trying and our self esteem takes a hit like it's 7th grade all over again.  I was still wetting the bed in 7th grade - but don't tell.  Since I am more than a conqueror, I have overcome that little issue.  But other issues - just as discouraging - have cropped up in my middle. 

Yet these middling years determine our later years.  The quality of the end depends on the quality of the middle.  I am passionate to see us strong in body, soul, spirit, relationships, and our calling in life. 

Come October, I celebrate for no good reason - simply because we are, and we have come this far...

I celebrate  and honor middle age in my life and in my art...




And (deep breath) this October I will be taking the {31 Days} challenge - and I will be pouring my heart out to you, in a daily effort to impart joy and encouragement to your middle.

Because we are all "in the middle" of something. 

Join me?

Do You Have a Hidden Agenda?





‎2 Cor 4:2


We have renounced hidden agendas (employing a little bit of the law in an attempt to “balance” out grace); we have distanced ourselves from any obscure craftiness to manipulate God’s word to make it mean what it does not say! With truth on open display in us, we highly recommend our lives to every one’s conscience! Truth finds its most authentic and articulate expression in human life. This beats any doctrinal debate!

~Mirror Bible Translation (and no, this isn't a perfect translation...and no, I do not use it for study purposes...and no, Du Toit is not a universalist...and yes, repentance is necessary - mostly, repentance from dead works, whether they be "sinning" dead works or "sainting" dead works - and salvation from our sin condition is necessary, and has been accomplished through no other means but Christ.)

Grace Versus Law - How About a Little Visual Evidence?

Tim and I have been grace teachers and preachers for many years - probably a decade or so. But it was just over three years ago when the Holy Spirit led my Preacher to preach it straight up, hard, and exclusively. Golly. Is there another way to preach the Gospel? (I know...Paul was so sweet and professional about it, and he mixed it with law like crazy, right??)

Out went the mini behavior modification seminars. Performance based Christian living was dealt a death blow in our church. Mixture of any sort was put on a shelf. We took a chance, baby! After all, people might throw sin parties, or become do-nothings.

Oh well. It was pure grace, pure New Covenant, or it didn't get taught. A few literally didn't know what had hit them. Therein lies the sad truth: they didn't know. As in, had not heard it preached quite that way. As a church we were told, week in and week out, that our salvation was a Holy Thing, an act of the grace of God...plus nothing. The writings of dead moralists were examined respectfully. (Gasp! I know, right? "Who has the courage to touch the 'holy Oswald'?!", as a dear Jewish friend of ours joked this past week...)

Yeah. "Oswald chapter 7 verses 11 through 15", Wesley 3:16, and Bonhoeffer 1:1 was challenged, held up to the light of Scripture, and parts of it found to be slightly less than the inspired word of God. That messes with the juju of some people's universe. And make no mistake - Oswald is one of our very favorite dead guys. We read him daily - but read him with a firm New Covenant foundation built under us.

We were accused of seeing things in Scripture that were "fringe" at best. After all, the ones upset were not familiar with the big picture, or even with a lot of historic Bible teachers that fell outside their doctrinal performance confines. I do not fault them for that, whatsoever. Such is the case with most of the modern church. We did our best to defend the Gospel and not ourselves, not always succeeding, but refusing to name-drop in some misguided effort to convince the critics, who by that point were even hurling words like "cultish" around. (Whew...a word I would tremble before using against a church. I fear God and love the Bride too much...) But we knew we could name drop.

Fast forward. Harvest is still not a mega church. Or even a big church. But we have been a faithful church. And we are a joyful church...a relating church...a healthy church. Tim is still preaching the Gospel. I think he preaches it with even more bliss and passion than ever. A young man approached him in a Starbucks recently, and asked him to sit in on a men's small group (in another church) which he is facilitating, one that is exploring the issues of New Covenant grace. He asked because, in his words, "You are kind of becoming known as one of the foremost grace teachers in the city." My Tim said he would do it if he could clear his schedule, and have the blessing and permission of that church's pastor. Permission was given - we'll see what comes of it.

Which brings me to my next point. Why do I re-tell our story from time to time, here on this blog? Why not let it lay where it is...in the dusty annals of history, long since moved on from? Because I get new visitors to this blog every week, and based on their search words, they are just now becoming clued in on issues of law versus grace. Some are coming out of Jewish mysticism. A few email me. They visit this blog, and some weep as they read. Some of them could be in the exact same place in their respective churches as Harvest was a few years back - feeling a bit persecuted, needing someone to come alongside and encourage them. (Thank God for our Master Builders oversight!)

Encouragement is a profound thing. I plan on encouraging you, and every visitor to this blog, in the grace of God. Sometimes, that will involve some context...some background...some personal "war stories"...and the resulting "victory stories".

Fringe movement? Are you kidding me? I went to my local Christian bookstore last week, and spent a mere five minutes snapping pictures with my smart phone...I didn't even dig! Here is what I saw:




New book. "Freedom From Performing - Grace in an Applause-Driven World"









new book, "...the tired supergirl's search for grace". Wow. This girl might be my BFF.








new-ish book - note the author. Mmmmmm-hmmmmm. Not quite your "cult" material.






Still not convinced? Still worried your grace-preaching pastor, in your small midwestern or east coast or west coast church might be dabbling in dorky doctrine?  Well.  I saved the best for last:













Yeah. Good old Chuck. "Believing in Grace is One Thing, Living it is Another". When Tim and I said the exact same thing, a few years back, there was talk of burning us at the stake. (Just kidding....but I'm not far from the truth.)

There is another great book Tim and I have been discipling people out of for over ten years, "Grace Plus Nothing". (The title of which was scorned and excoriated and darn near spat upon by a very, very few...perhaps it would have been better received if it had been titled "Jesus Plus Nothing", but that is an exercise in word semantics. The law was given....Grace came. Grace is a person, and His name is Jesus. Search this blog - been saying it for years.)

One time, years ago, it was either Tim or me who remarked how many times the word "grace" is written in the New Testament. I remember a worried someone astutely pointed out that, though "grace" was mentioned "X" amount of times in the New Testament, "Jesus" was mentioned "X" amount of times more.

Yeah.  It really happened.  (Like grace is something SO DIFFERENT from the person of Christ)  That's the sort of thing that makes a Bible teacher want to drop an anvil on his own foot, or smack his own head against a brick wall.

Friends, this New Covenant, Jesus-centric Grace-Gospel is well on its way to being preached with a purity we have not seen in over a hundred years. I am excited to be part of a REAL move of God.

Join me?






Sabbath Rest

Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day...(Jer. 17)

this sounds suspiciously like a passage in Hebrews:

For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest...(Heb. 4)

The Sabbath was spoken of as a perpetual covenant. How is it perpetual? Christ is the substance of the Sabbath shadow, and in Him we have a perpetual covenant of rest.

You cannot know rest without the grace and peace that comes to you through the gospel. Paul's words "Grace and Peace to you" were no mere greeting. He knew that grace and peace were prerequisites to rest. You will never have rest, so long as you are burdened by your own insufficiency...or the insufficiency of others.

Without grace and peace, you will always be burdened by someones insufficient ability, insufficient finances, insufficient education, insufficient experience, insufficient humility, insufficient wisdom, insufficient performance.

Isn't that the essence of all burdens? We grow anxious or angry or addled or agitated when we ourselves, or someone else, does not meet an expected standard. When we fall short, through ignorance, willfulness, or inadequacy, there is immediately created a sense of burden.

I can almost promise you that burden-bearing has become second nature to you. You have likely developed a sophisticated, even unconscious network of mechanisms to compensate, carry, and continue beneath a variety of burdens. You likely are living as though some form of burden bearing constitutes normal life.

I can definitely promise you that a burden free life is what God means to be second nature to you. We are commanded to bear no burdens whatsoever on the Sabbath...

...and Jesus is our Sabbath.

Without the "grace and peace" found in the gospel, we operate in a mode of either drawing confidence from ours and others' performance, or we operate in a mode of ever-so-slightly eroded confidence, based on the under-performance of ourselves or others. The more disciplined and accomplished we are, the more confidence we feel.

The more disciplined and accomplished someone else is, the more confidence we feel in them.

The only problem is that, like Paul said, everything we once thought of as asset, is now considered liability. The new sufficiency is Christ's all sufficiency. The new ability is Christ's ability. The new work is to rest.

And if you think resting in the finished work of Christ is easy, then tell me, if you will, why legalists can't do it? I'll tell you why - because it takes doing the real work of God, which is believing on Jesus, whom God hath sent. All other kinds of work comes easy as falling, and fall we always do.

The hard work is found in laying every. single. burden. down.

Every moment.

Every day.

Today.

Today is your Sabbath, friend. Today is the time to cease from your own efforts.

I defy you to obey God's Sabbath imperative without a deeper understanding of grace than what you now have. Living by the law is way easier. It is far-and-away easier to live life trying to please God. It is exponentially more difficult to lay burdens down, submit to the gift of righteousness, and put no confidence in the flesh.

We think bearing burdens justifies our own existence. The cooler the burden a man bears, the cooler the man. And some burdens are just plain cool...admit it. Who do you know, who complains about the burden of being in a higher tax bracket, the burden of a successful career, the burden of an estate, the burden of keeping his pool properly maintained?

In our culture, those burdens mean that you are a rock-star.

Well, it is equally cool to bear the burden of fasting, prayer, and early rising. In fact, we can't help but let it slip in "casual conversation", if we regularly bear those burdens. When we fall short in the area of Christian perfection, it feels so...so...so holy to angst about our imperfections, and go immediately to work on them. Cool packs on our back, they are. Tokens of our ability to out-perform.

In kingdom culture, success is measured by how little you bear, not how much. The Sabbath is a perpetual covenant, and we still have our part of it to remember and keep.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

Do. No. Work. Bear. No. Burdens.

The burden has already been borne. Sins and sorrows were carried by Christ to the cross. The work has already been done. Christ said, "It is finished." All that remains is rest.

There yet remains a rest for you. Work very hard to enter into it.

Funny - the holiest believers I know are the ones who don't work at being holy. So untorque yourself, friend. Rest may not be cool, but it is necessary to your sanctification.

What Do You See?


"And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."
Mark 8:24

If you are still under the law, you see "men as trees walking". You've experienced the touch of Jesus, maybe even come to a saving knowlege, but you are not seeing clearly. Yet you might go years - alas, decades, thinking that you see just fine.

Then, one day, you hear the gospel preached by a pastor-teacher who is walking in a New Covenant understanding, and you realize that "seeing men as trees walking" isn't the same as seeing Jesus clearly and centrally. You have not been seeing the world as you could and should.

Does this offend you?

Let Jesus put His hands on you again, afresh. The moment you see the God of all grace, the moment your focus is on the finished work of Christ and not on your performance, you finally see everyone else clearly, and through the eyes of love. In fact, through the lens of the gospel of grace, as taught in all the New Testament, everything in all of Scripture becomes clear.

I'm So Grateful to be Planted


Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God.They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him!

I may not be "old", but I'm a grandmother now, and Biblically, that gives me a right to open my mouth and speak the word of the Lord. I'll never forget, shortly after Hannah discovered she was pregnant, the Holy Spirit spoke to me clearly and succinctly, and said, "You are now that older woman." (..."the older women should teach the younger women...")


Of course, I took that as a compliment. My self esteem is through the roof these days - because my concept of womanhood has, over a period of many years, been transformed to be more Biblical than ever. Becoming a grandparent has not diminished my sense of femininity or sensuality or joy or energy. If anything, life has gotten sweeter, and marriage more intimate and fulfilling - and believe me, it has always been good, if hard at times. So to be able to say that marriage is better and sweeter is saying something quite nice.


Physically, I feel as young as ever. I'm in great health. And I admit to the gift of good genes - my own mother does not at all show her age. Spiritually, there's a good bit of miles on the motor, as I've walked and talked with the God of all grace for 38 years now. I'm bearing fruit in my old(ish) age.


I'm flourishing, because I am planted. But I'm not just planted any-old-where. I'm planted in the local church. I've built a grace-bridge to the people I love in my local church...and it will never be burned by my hands. I can't be a blessing, or build a bridge to the church universal...I want to see you try to "bear the burdens" of the "church universal", or even the "church internet". I want to see you try to "imitate the faith of those over you" when you, in fact, answer to no one in particular; or when you, in fact, don't really know those who watch over your soul.


The long and the short of it is this: you really have to be planted in the church local, in order to flourish. I find it sad when people think they are flourishing outside the church local. All it is, is they have seen a measure of success, and they think that's all there is. When there is so, so much more.


But the "more" comes at a mighty price.


Nothing...nothing matures you like right relationships. Nothing separates the precious from the worthless like gut-honest communication by flawed people, with equally flawed people. Nothing defines spiritual leadership more than the insistence on relationship as priority over moralism, nothing tests leadership more than the defense of relationships in the context of Christian community. To walk in that sort of leadership, you have to have a theological and practical understanding of the God Who Is Community.


If you are not planted, get planted. If you have broken relationships, go back and repair them with the people who count...versus attempting to re-establish communication with people you perceive as being on the peripheral. (There's something creepy about that - everyone knows.) If you were offended by the choir director, then it is the choir director you need to be emailing or calling, not the lady who takes care of the nursery. Trust me, you may not pick and choose who you will or won't get in touch with, if your real heart is to make things right. You must get in touch with the very ones you disagreed with, and if you hurt or betrayed anyone, you must get in touch with the very ones you hurt and betrayed. No one else. Not before you make things right with the people you wronged, or who wronged you. Even if that means the preacher and/or his wife. You. Go. There. First.


In painfully practical terms, being planted is a blessing....get planted. It is the only way to flourish all the way into old age. And really...is there another way to age? What is the alternative? Otherwise, you slowly wither and petrify and become stale, jaded, stilted, petty and comical, alone and a loner, bored and boring.


Ain't no way to live.


And now, back to my crazy-flourishing life...God, how I thank you for your gifts and the grace of your gifts...


Do We "Balance" Grace With Law? Final Answer: NO!

I ran across the following article on The Gospel Coalition's website, and was struck hard by one thing: my husband and I know a very few people who thought/think that the gospel of grace we teach is somehow different or wonky or....something. Not only did they fail to understand the sweep of ecclesiastical history, but they failed to explore amongst some of today's heavy hitters of the faith.

Tullian Tchividjian - Billy Graham's grandson. Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Yeah. Um...that would be late pastor D. James Kennedy's church. According to what I read in this article, an article I just discovered about a month ago, my husband, the pastor of a mini-mega church, is the best kept secret in the southeast!

Obviously, I'm slightly tongue-in-cheek with that, but only slightly. But these two men, one world renown, one little-known, preach the exact same gospel. Down. The. Line.

While we understand what some people mean when they say that we should preach and teach a "balance" between law and grace, we have stood strongly for preaching grace in all its glory, and the law in all its exacting terror. We have stood, having done all to stand, we have continued to stand, and it seemed, awhile back, that the cost was going to be more than we could pay. When in reality, God was positioning us for our wildest blessing! By grace, we've stayed faithful to what we understand, in our theological studies, about Biblical grace and the full, New Covenant Gospel.

We've always known we aren't the only ones preaching this, but nor have we wanted - when in direct dialogue with anyone - to name drop in some misguided effort to defend ourselves. People who are misinformed often want to be - there is usually no changing their mind.

But this is a personal essay, I'm free to say anything I want, and Tim and I are long past feeling any urgent need to defend ourselves. So...is what we are teaching some sort of anomaly that only we, and a few "iffy" other people, are seeing in Scripture? Come on...Billy Graham's grandson? Coral Ridge Presbyterian? Really? Puh-leeze. Not exactly your small church. Not exactly a "cult".

So yeay! This gospel of grace is like a tsunami, covering the face of the whole earth. We happen to be doing our part, in our part of the world.

Enjoy the following article. I gotta get Tchividjian's book!

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An Interview with Tullian Tchividjian on Gospel and Law

One of the things I enjoy most is fruitful theological dialogue with a few faithful friends. One of them is Tullian Tchividjian.

His new book, Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels, is now available. It’s a stirring, insightful exploration through the book of Jonah, showing the beauty and power of grace. (It also includes some pretty cool artwork by various painters and sculptors who have sought to convey aspects of the book.) You can read a good review by James Grant at TGC Reviews.

Since the book is (essentially) on the outworking of the gospel, I wanted to ask Tullian a few questions about the gospel and the law, especially as it relates to Christian motivation.

Is the gospel a middle ground between legalism and lawlessness?

This seems to be a common misunderstanding in the church today. I hear people say that there are two equal dangers Christians must avoid: legalism and lawlessness. Legalism, they say, happens when you focus too much on law, or rules. Lawlessness, they say, happens when you focus too much on grace. Therefore, in order to maintain spiritual equilibrium, you have to balance law and grace. Legalism and lawlessness are typically presented as two ditches on either side of the Gospel that we must avoid. If you start getting too much law, you need to balance it with grace. Too much grace, you need to balance it with law. But I’ve come to believe that this “balanced” way of framing the issue can unwittingly keep us from really understanding the gospel of grace in all of its depth and beauty.

How would you frame it instead?

I think it’s more theologically accurate to say that there is one primary enemy of the gospel—legalism—but it comes in two forms.

Some people avoid the gospel and try to “save” themselves by keeping the rules, doing what they’re told, maintaining the standards, and so on (you could call this “front door legalism”).

Other people avoid the gospel and try to “save” themselves by breaking the rules, doing whatever they want, developing their own autonomous standards, and so on (you could call this “back door legalism”).

So the choice is between submitting to the rule of Christ or submitting to self-rule?

Right. There are two “laws” we can choose to live by other than Christ: the law which says “I can find freedom and fullness of life if I keep the rules” or the law which says “I can find freedom and fullness of life if I break the rules.”

Both are legalistic in this sense: one “life rule” has as its goal the keeping of rules; the other “life rule” has as its goal the breaking of rules. But both are a rule of life you’re submitting to—a rule of life that is governing you—which is defined by you and your ability to perform. Success is determined by your capacity to break the rules or keep the rules. Either way you’re still trying to “save” yourself—which means both are legalistic because both are self-salvation projects.

(My note: Tim and I teach this concept as being a "prodigal" or a "pharisee". BOTH insist on walking in their own understanding! Both are in the same boat: not in touch with the Father's true heart. When speaking to those "under the law, as being under the law", people without a firm understanding of doctrine, we call the two enemies of the gospel "legalism" and "license". But this is not to imply that there needs to be a "balance". Both are anti-Christ, but legalism is by far the most dangerous.)

If most people outside the church are guilty of “break the rules” legalism, most people inside the church are guilty of “keep the rules” legalism.

What do you say to folks who think we need to “keep grace in check” by giving out some law?

Doing so proves that we don’t understand grace and we violate gospel advancement in our lives and in the church. A “yes, grace…but” disposition is the kind of posture that keeps moralism swirling around in the church. Some of us think the only way to keep licentious people in line is by giving them the law. But the fact is, the only way licentious people start to obey is when they get a taste of God’s radical acceptance of sinners. The more Jesus is held up as being sufficient for our justification and sanctification, the more we begin to die to ourselves and live to God. Those who end up obeying more are those who increasingly understand that their standing with God is not based on their obedience, but Christ’s.

But don’t Christians need to be shaken out of their comfort zones?


Yes—but you don’t do it by giving them law; you do it by giving them gospel. The Apostle Paul never uses the law as a way to motivate obedience; he always uses the gospel. Paul always soaks gospel obligations in gospel declarations because God is not concerned with just any kind of obedience; he’s concerned with a certain kind of obedience (as Cain and Abel’s sacrifice illustrates). The obedience that pleases God is obedience that flows from faith—faith in what God has already done, and trust for what he will do in the future. And even though we need to obey even if we don’t feel like it, long-term, sustained, heart-felt, gospel motivated obedience can only come from faith and grace; not fear and guilt. Behavioral compliance without heart change, which only the gospel can do, will be shallow and short lived. Or, as I like to say, imperatives minus indicatives equal impossibilities.

So do you think the law no longer has—or should no longer have—a role in the Christian life?

No, I wouldn’t say that. While the law of God is good (Romans 7), it only has the power to reveal sin and to show the standard and image of righteous requirement—not remove sin. The law shows us what God commands (which of course is good) but the law does not possess the power to enable us to do what it says. The law guides us but it does not give us any power to do what it says. In other words, the law shows us what a sanctified life looks like, but it does not have sanctifying power—the law cannot change a human heart. It’s the gospel (what Jesus has done) that alone can give God-honoring animation to our obedience. The power to obey comes from being moved and motivated by the completed work of Jesus for us. The fuel to do good flows from what’s already been done. So, while the law directs us, only the gospel can drive us.

You’re the master of good word pictures. Got one for this?

Well, someone told me recently that the law is like a set of railroad tracks. The tracks provide no power for the train but the train must stay on the tracks in order to function. The law never gives any power to do what it commands. Only the gospel has power, as it were, to move the train.

But doesn’t Scripture motivate us by saying that if we love Jesus we’ll keep his commands?

When John (or Jesus) talks about keeping God’s commands as a way to know whether you love Jesus or not, he’s not using the law as a way to motivate. He’s simply stating a fact. Those who love God will keep on keeping his commands. The question is how do we keep God’s commands? What sustains a long obedience in the same direction? Where does the power come from to do what God commands? As every parent and teacher knows, behavioral compliance to rules without heart change will be shallow and short-lived. But shallow and short-lived is not what God wants (that’s not what it means to “keep God’s commands.”). God wants a sustained obedience from the heart. How is that possible? Long-term, sustained, gospel-motivated obedience can only come from faith in what Jesus has already done, not fear of what we must do. To paraphrase Ray Ortlund, any obedience not grounded in or motivated by the gospel is unsustainable.


Do you believe in the so-called “third use of the law”?

Yes. I’m a staunch believer in the three uses of the law (pedagogical, civil, and didactic). The law sends us to Christ for justification (the first use—which is correct), but some would also say that Christ sends us back to law for sanctification (a misunderstanding of the third use). In other words, there’s a common misunderstanding in the church that while the law cannot justify us, it can sanctify us—not true. In Romans 7 Paul is speaking as a justified, rescued, regenerated Christian and he’s saying, “The law doesn’t have the power to change me. The law guides but it does not give any power to do what it says.” So, I would caution people from concluding that the third use of the law implies that it has power to change you. To say the law has no power to change us in no way reduces its ongoing role in the life of the Christian. And it in no way minimizes the importance of the law’s third use. We just have to understand the precise role that it plays for us today: the law serves us by making us thankful for Jesus when we break it and serves us by showing how to love God and others.

How would you boil your concern down to one sentence?

We are justified by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone, and God sanctifies us by constantly bringing us back to the reality of our justification.


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No Weapon Formed...


Have you ever had an instance when, all of a sudden, a passage of Scripture takes on "flesh and blood" in your life? All of a sudden, what you've read in Scripture takes on context?


Me, too. About this whole "weapons" thing...


When you walk in a conscious awareness of the unmerited favor of God, He comes to your personal defense. This is because you have made the God of Jacob your refuge by choice, not by default. You have submitted yourself to the righteousness which comes only through Christ Jesus. When you make it all about Jesus, all for Jesus, through, by and to Jesus, you simply live in an unfair advantage. There is no other way of putting it. No weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that speaks against you in judgement, you will, in time, show to be in the wrong.

Not because of any righteousness of your own, but because you are in Christ...no one who criticizes you prospers in their effort because of Christ. Not because you prayed a prayer, not because you attend church, not because you decided to be a better, more self disciplined Christian, not because you perform, but rather, you live in an unfair advantage when you know you can't do anything right! You have believed the report of the Lord, and thus to you is His arm revealed! Your unfair advantage comes by blood. By blood inheritance, you are "unfairly favored" in life, and no one can touch you.

Funny, I woke up some time back with the feeling that something else was going to come to light regarding people we love, who have moved on awhile back. I even dreamed about them recently - an unsettling dream that left me concerned for them. In my dream one of them was sick to the point of death, but keeping up a pretense of being well - all because they wanted to be "right", to be thought of as being well. There was nothing we could do to change that. I woke up sad for them.

Then, that very morning, Tim "just happened" to run into someone else who had left our church years ago - the two of them had an amiable conversation, and he told Tim some things that we found to be...interesting. Of all things, a small part of the conversation was concerning the very ones I dreamed about the night before, and about whom I sensed that more was going to come to light. And more did. Nothing of any consequence in this season, but new information, nevertheless.

Maybe for a moment or two, the old knee-jerk reaction was there. The urge to vindicate oneself resides in every human being. But I realized - "...what they said and did, didn't prosper!"

Then, without my having to choose to feel the right thing, the same concern for them washed over my heart, sweeping away what little debris of self-vindication had collected there. Because of my grace foundation, I know that I am loved and accepted and protected by God. I'm aware of possessing such wealth, that it makes the judgement of another person feel like what a billionaire must feel when the law gives him a hundred dollar speeding ticket.

"I can afford this. Why let it bother me?" I'm way wealthier than the one who is writing the ticket. He can write me all the tickets he wants, and he might even be right, according to the letter of the law. I still get to go home and enjoy my wealth, figuratively speaking, while those who write tickets will go back to doing just that....issuing tickets to others for their infractions. I've chosen a different way of life, and I get to go live it.

So I'll take the ticket. It has no impact on my destiny or my day. "Thanks, officer. And I love you. Come over for dinner sometime!"

Friends, this is what I mean about context. This is what the Scripture means when it says that no weapon formed against you will prosper. It doesn't mean that no one is ever going to form a weapon against you. It means they will! Put that in your Promise Box...there are many, even other believers, who carry weapons and write tickets. They will utilize both.

But it won't prosper. Any weapon, in order to prosper, must "inflict pain" or some level of damage that affects your outcome. If it doesn't inflict at least a little damage, if it doesn't at least alter your outcome a little bit, if it doesn't weaken you, at least....the weapon didn't prosper.

Hear me - no weapon formed against you can prosper, when you have, by conscious belief and choice, placed your faith in the gospel of Christ. You dwell in a Secret Place, where, when a weapon is fired, it doesn't do any lasting damage.


"Tis merely a flesh wound!" I can't tell you how many times I've laughed my behind off at that very movie line. I identify with it - with one exception: When my arm or leg gets chopped off, the blood squirts in a shocking way...but then another arm or leg appears almost instantly. The rest is exactly the same as the movie - I'm still hopping around, talking smack. Now, if I can just learn to keep my mouth shut, I'll be a real leader.


When you understand the unmerited favor you have been given, all because of the obedience of Another, you simply can't be touched.


Another thing that distracts us is the lust of vindication. St.Augustine
prayed-"O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself."
That temper of mind destroys the soul's faith in God. "I must explain
myself; I must get people to understand." Our Lord never explained anything; he left mistakes to correct themselves.

When we discern that people are not going on spiritually and allow the
discernment to turn to criticism, we block our way to God. God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.


~Oswald Chambers

Lord, cause me to be your version of a Godly woman, not my own version. Make me into a leader after your Own Gracious Heart, who is willing to go to all lengths to love those you've put in my sphere. Help me not to criticize, but rather to pray.

Legalism

The law was and is the school-master, ever pointing us to Christ. Legalism mistakes the classroom for graduation. Gentile legalists have taken the law and made it the end instead of the means. They live life, figuratively speaking, chanting their long and short vowel sounds, drilling their math facts, strutting their Geometry theorems...thinking that the Greatest Teacher of All is giving them a straight "A".

When the point of the law was to point us to the One who is not a ordinance, is not a law, is not a rule, but is a person.

The difference between living under the law and living under grace is the difference between being in school all your life, making straight A's...

...and graduating, falling in love, starting a family, and nurturing that family by all means possible. Legalist believers and Grace believers know the same things and do some of the same things - but only the Grace believer , who truly understands grace, is able to take what she knows and apply it to her relationships. Only the grace believer does what she does for the higher and deeper and better reason. Because of relationship.

And relationships are all that matter - loving God and loving the people He has placed in proximity to us in this life.

Best Organizational Strategies for The Top Producers - Those Grace-Girls

You can't give a cup of cold water to one of God's children, and not be rewarded. All my grace-girlfriends are big-time producers, and hard workers.

"I outworked them all, yet not I, but the grace of God in me..." the well-known words of the apostle Paul, my all-time hero, other than Jesus...well, and other than my husband. I know that sounds cheesy, even though it is true.

There is something about a life that is animated and empowered by the grace of God. You often work very hard, and get very tired, but it feels like an effortless doing. What it is, actually, is maximum effectiveness with minimum human effort.

This state of being, this effortless doing, is The Art of Living in Grace, and is a harder, artful nuance to achieve than powering one's way through life in a perpetual state of active doing.

I'm by far no expert. But when I'm in the flow of Grace, I know it. I know it, because my days become fluid, like water, and I simply flow. I respond to the topography of my life, moving around obstacles, inhabiting my moments receptively and effortlessly. A lot gets accomplished. A lot.

Here are a very few things I have learned from these seasons of grace, lessons I hope to inhabit until they become INward HABITs ~

~ Just get started. Say yes to the thing. A thing once begun, is half done. Do it. Get started. Now.

~Get rid of clutter. Self explanatory.

~Surround yourself with joyful people. Just because you are in full time ministry, you are not obligated to spend too much time with anyone who is a drain on you. Spend the majority of your time with people who worship a Big God, believe He gives More Grace, and who make you feel like a Special Lady. Everyone else can take a number.

~Don't be available at a moment's notice. It is impossible to maintain a creative spirit if you are overly accessible to everyone.

~Don't waste time talking about your problems with someone who can do nothing about them. Unless you are speaking to a Praying Woman, you are better off casting all your cares upon The One who cares for you.

~Take out your emotional trash several times a day. In my home, our medium-sized kitchen garbage can has to be taken out several times a day. Your emotional well being, particularly in times of stress, is no different. Keep short lists, hold no grudges. Stop several times a day, on the inside, and do a heart-and-body scan. If you sense tension or emotional negativity, speak to your soul! Get that trash out of there, before it stinks up the place! If you find you have to empty the trash cans of your heart several times a day, that just means you are a busy, caring woman, who gets a LOT done, and touches a lot of lives, every day. It's normal.

~Practice the Presence. Our God is a reservoir of relaxation. He is our hiding place...our little cabin in the woods...our cottage on the beach...He is vacation for the spirit, accessible to you twenty-four times a day and more. Run into His presence often.

When it comes to accomplishing things of eternal value, a legalista can't hold a candle to a grace-girl. A grace-girl can do all things through her revelation of Christ - and in direct proportion to her revelation of His great love and greater grace.