New Insight on the Lady Mentioned on 7/11/11 & on Grace

It turns out that the driven older lady I mentioned about two weeks ago has good reason not to be around her husband all the time. His negativity pulls her down. Now that's a problem.

But why don't people understand that God's grace is not limited to salvation? It encompasses all of life. Like our daily stresses.

I'm not necessarily suggesting the lady stay at home. But I'm wondering why she's driven to this fast-paced way of living to get away from him. And I'm wondering why her husband, who embraces God's grace for his salvation, does not also embrace it for his day-to-day problems. I'm also wondering why the family doesn't point him to Jesus and challenge him to take a Biblical approach to suffering, and instead depends on elaborate and stressful man made solutions to the stress of caring for him.

Praise God, He has taught me, through trials, to depend on His grace for everything. Are churches not teaching this? Apparently not. Why not? We need to tell the whole story. Jesus' yoke is easy, and His burden is light. His grace is sufficient for absolutely everything.

Shall I Step on Some Toes

Regarding my two preious blogs, is it that people are being taught that we will be raptured before any trouble hits us in America? If we're not going to be here when all the trouble hits, why worry, and why pray for national repentance? Why get ready for something we won't have to endure? But isn't it better to be ready for trouble and not have it, than have it and not be ready? Pre-tribulation rapture theory breeds complacency. It's not true that we won't have to suffer. Read 1 Peter 2:19-23. We are called to suffer with Jesus, and encouraged in the Book of Hebrews to go with Jesus, and suffer outside the camp.

A Different Level

I'm going to take my previous post to a different level briefly. In light of what some of the Christian prophetic types are saying about the current scene, I wonder greatly why we Christians don't stop everything we're doing that's not absolutely necessary, and have a national day of prayer, fasting, and repentance. Pastors are not saying anything prophetic, not getting people ready to suffer. If most Christians understood today's happenings seriously, we might be able to slow down this downward spiral. The Lord never intended for us to sit around and let bad things happen without doing something about it. We can make a difference. But we just go along like everyone else, business and pleasure as usual. We'll pay for it.

Is This What the Lord Really Wants?

So many of us are busy beyond belief. Sports practice and events. Music lessons and events. Pampered Chef. Scouts. Civic organizations. "We meet ourselves coming and going," as my mother used to say. Do we Christians ever stop to ask whether this is really what the Lord wants for us? Where is the precedent for these things in the Bible? Is this really what the Christian life is all about?

I challenge you to believe that it's not. I'm not saying these things are wrong. I'm saying they have taken over, and they govern our lives. One of my prayer partners is way too busy, and she knows it. So why doesn't she stop, or at least slow down?

I know a woman in her mid-70's, who is still actively teaching in the public schools, and is engaged in many church activities, clubs, committees, etc., pushing herself to the point of collapse all the time. Now her husband's health is seriously declining, which challenges her on a different level, and she's talking about getting him back to a functional level before school starts. Does she ever ask herself why she drives herself like this?

I am reminded of a retired college president whom I heard speak at a missionary conference. His first wife had Alzheimers Disease. She would walk back and forth between their house and his office multiple times a day to try to find him. One night, as he was helping her get ready for bed, he saw that her feet were bloody. It was a moment of truth. He said, "The college can get a new president, but my wife cannot get another husband." He resigned immediately to stay home with her, and care for her until she died. This is the Christian response. This man had his priorities in the right order.

Remember the saying, "No one on his/her deathbed ever wishes they'd spent more time at the office." If my teacher friend in her 70's goes back to teaching school,leaving her husband languishing at home, she'll collapse in the doing, and regret her choices later, if she even lives to regret it. Does the school really need her more than her husband does? Of course not!

If we are so busy that we have to push people away, we are wrong, no matter what else is going on. Something even worse scares me. Are we trying to earn merit with God? Do we fear being thought of as lazy? Most evangelical Christians would assert to the contrary. Really? They need to think again. Scripture says, "Many will say in that day, 'Lord, Lord! Didn't we do many wonderful works in your Name.'" And He could say He doesn't know them (intimately). That's what I fear the most.

I would rather be thought of as lazy in the eyes of people, and be intimately known by God. Wouldn't you? Frenetically busy people don't take time to be intimately known by God. I think they're wrong.