It’s hard to separate the idea of success from wealth and material possession – and it isn’t just a Western thing. For the world, success is an accumulation of things. But Yeshua tells His Disciples something quite different – He tells them not to not worry about building wealth on earth – but to focus on the things above – spiritual wealth.
The rich young ruler was an example for us. When Yeshua asked the ruler to sell what he had and give to the poor and follow him, the ruler couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do it because he was rich. If he were poor and had nothing – the decision would have been much easier for him. But when the stakes are high…
Thankfully, there is hope for even those who would rather keep their money than follow Yeshua. When the rich, young ruler walked away from Yeshua, Yeshua turned to His disciples and stated that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. His disciples wondered if anyone would be saved at all. But then Yeshua offered a glimpse of hope.
Yeshua said that what seemed impossible for man was possible for God – because anything is possible with God.
All couples experience conflict… it’s inevitable. If you are married, and you’ve never experienced conflict, then your relationship simply isn’t passionate enough. Some couples don’t like to admit that they have disagreements because they’re afraid that they’re vicariously telling people that they have bad communication. But it’s a false assumption and myth that a lack of agreement means you’re an awful communicator. The New York Times journalist who broke the internet when she suggested making guacamole out of peas is still a great communicator despite the rest of the world disagreeing with her.
The logical thing to do is to agree to disagree. On a superficial level, this is good advice and easy to say – but when you have a disagreement about finances, parenting or a similar issue – agreeing to disagree simply isn’t an option. You have to make a decision to spend the money or not – continue with time-outs or revert to spanking. The gray area of agreeing to disagree completely disappears. And that’s when a disagreement often turns into an argument.
The technical definition of an argument is a “typically” heated or angry exchange of opposite views. When people argue, they attack each other’s logic. But here’s a thought: instead of attacking each other’s logic, figure out a way to solve the problem. Of course, this is easier said than done. If both people believe that the resolution is rooted in the other person accepting and applying their opinion to the problem, you don’t get far.
If you want to resolve a problem and side-step the argument, you’ve got to be willing to dig deep. A lot of the disagreements that I have with my husband have deep roots. A conflict over finances is often rooted in fear and insecurity. But sometimes it’s something else like irresponsibility or impulsiveness. Conflicts over how to parent is often rooted in childhood. How we were raised affects how we parent, and sometimes ‘issues’ with our childhood spill over into our parenting. Again, it’s about uncovering the root. Once the root is uncovered and dealt with, it’s unlikely that we’ll have an argument about it again in the future.
And when all else fails, I try to remember that we are on the same team. We are both on Team Wakefield. We’re a united front. And that is exactly what happens during a disagreement, you forget that you’re on the same team. We are not each other’s opponent – the opponent is the problem.
I’m one of those people who feels a little rough around the edges if I haven’t had enough sleep. Rising early has always been my Achilles heel.
And then something happened that changed everything. I moved from the East to West coast, and the move completely reset my circadian rhythm. Suddenly, I had a difficult time sleeping in later than five in the morning.
I became one of those type-A personalities who’s up before the rest of the world while even the sun is still sleeping. I awoke to think, pray, meditate, write, work, and I must say that it was exhilarating. There is something about the morning hours that hold a peacefulness that’s absent throughout the rest of the day. It was a tranquility that I was truly enjoying.
But then my husband questioned my sanity. For years, we had been an eccentric pair of night owls working in perfect synchrony and reveling in the late night hours – up at 2 AM watching movies and giggling in the dark like children.
My husband’s clock didn’t reset. Our schedules became less and less aligned until he finally said “You have to stop waking up so early.” Setting my clock forward a mere hour completely threw my circadian rhythm off. It seems like such a small sliver of time, but it felt like a giant leap. I started to drag throughout the day. I was tired, exhausted even.
My behavior became increasingly robotic. I was sleep-walking and going through the motions.
I moved my wake-up time up an inch – 7:30 AM.
I’ve learned that when you don’t get enough sleep, everything else in your life falls out of sync. Your productivity declines, your mental acuity flies out the door, and you aren’t able to process information very well so you make poor decisions.
And so, this is what happens when your life becomes burdensome, and your life gets weary. Everything declines.
In Matthew 11 Yeshua says something so beautiful. He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Your body needs sleep. You need sleep to detoxify your mind, and you need sleep to rejuvenate your cells and properly manage your immune system… you need sleep.
Your body is a machine that is fearfully made, but you must give it rest. Yeshua offers us rest. He offers to take away our burdens. Yeshua came for people who don’t have enough hours in the day and whose fringe hours are infringed upon by the cares of life. He came for people rocked with insomnia because of apprehension about the future – these are the people that Yeshua wants to come to Him for rest.
But this rest has nothing to do with the circadian rhythm. His rest properly syncs our spiritual rhythm. When our spiritual rhythm is on the right track, the rest of our life falls into place – our spiritual quality of life is enhanced. In the same way that you need sleep to enhance your physical quality of life, the same thing happens in your spiritual life when you don’t get enough rest… so rest in Yeshua.
In Matthew 16, when Yeshua came to the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Yeshua answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Amazing things occurred when Peter recognized Yeshua as God.
First, he was blessed.
Next, he gained a new identity. When Peter confessed that Yeshua was Christ and recognized his divinity, God gave Peter a new name.
Finally, Peter gained authority. Christ gave him something that he hadn’t given his other disciples nor anyone else – the ‘keys of the kingdom of heaven’. With those keys, came a divine authority from God Himself.
I used to be somewhat of a control freak. I became that way while living in Chicago during my early 20’s. It was a time when I had no idea who I was or what my purpose was. To gain a sense of identity I thought I needed to seize the reigns. So I ripped the reigns of my life out of the hands of God and tried to control everything – and as soon as I did that – everything went out of control…
Contrary to popular belief – we are not masters of our fate. This is not to say that we shouldn’t live a life of diligence and wisdom. And it’s not to say that we should consume everything we have and plan for nothing. And this is not to say that responsibility is meaningless. But… this IS to say, that unless God is in control, and He has the reigns, everything will be out of control, even if it looks like it’s under control, it’s an illusion.
We are not sovereign. We cannot control the outcome of anything. We can plan things and attempt to control our lives, yet most of us have come to grips with the fact that our lives aren’t completely under our control. This can wreak havoc on the emotional and physical health of the control freak.
I am no longer a control freak. Being a control freak is entirely too disappointing and risky. I’ve matured enough to know that trying to control everything isn’t good for my emotional or physical health. Instead I look to God, seek His face, and give everything to Him. This isn’t always easy. Sometimes I snatch situations out of His hands forgetting that He can handle life much better than I can… But then I remember – that I can’t do this alone. I NEED Him and His strength to help me daily.
God is not just a God of love, but also a God of justice. I understand how this is connected to the idea of warfare, and I’ve read the book of Joshua with trepidation as I studied the Biblical account of nations being completely wiped off the face of the earth.
When you have ideas of what you think God should do (which is often wrong) you can’t help but suffer from cognitive dissonance when you encounter what you think is a disconnect between what is happening in the Bible and what seems to be ‘just’ or ‘loving’.
With that said, Ezekiel 18:23 says something so beautiful and profound. It says;
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
God is not pleased by war, and He is not pleased when people die. As Christians, we are not to take pleasure in the death of the wicked. We should feel sorrow and mourning for souls headed to destruction.
I’ve seen some Christian blogs that are quite controversial because of their stance that we should be praying for ISIS. They are full of love for their enemies. It reminds me of Pastor Saeed and how he is praying for the salvation of those holding him in prison.
But, isn’t this how you bring people to Yeshua? By allowing your love to overcome their evil?
I remember the first time I used a curse word. I was in middle school. My peers cursed, and I rapidly developed the same habit. It was a combination of social pressure and moral degradation. It became an ingrained habit that I found difficult to break.
Curse words walked with me beyond middle school and into adulthood. I have struggled with an untamed tongue for many years. And although my tongue was brushed a little cleaner the further I dove into Christianity, the struggle was still there…
And then I had a child.
If you want to know how to clean your mouth quickly, there is any easy way to do it. Have a child. Prior to having children, my husband and I discussed all of the things that we would need to stop doing for the sake our child’s well-being (and sanity). Cursing was one of the vices that definitely made the list.
We didn’t want our child to grow up thinking that it was acceptable to use such language. I think most people are a little surprised when they hear a child curse. It’s because it’s not the language that we expect a child to use. It’s “grown up” and by “grown up” I mean far less innocent and far more morally corrupt. Some people might see a cursing child as cute while others find it incredibly appalling. But even those who think it’s cute when a child uses a curse word, often cringe if they discover it’s a natural part of the child’s vocabulary and not restricted to one-time usage.
Most of us believe that cursing somehow defiles a child and taints their innocence. Why would we think that a curse word defiles a child? The answer lies in how we perceive profanity. The words are dirty. The simple idea of children and cursing together may arouse nostalgia of an angry mother forcing her child to wash his mouth out with soap. The soap symbolically cleanses the filth attached to the ‘dirty’ word that came from his mouth.
There are plenty of parents who curse in front of children. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re bad parents because I am quite sure that a lot of parents who love their children deeply and would die for their kid may drop an F-bomb of two. I still cringe a little when I hear people curse (especially when they are Christian) but I’m also sympathetic because I know that taming the tongue is an impossibility apart from the Holy Spirit.
Everything that has breath praise the Lord! – Psalm 150:6
The sun, stars, and heavenly host all praise God. Even the ants on the ground and the fish in the ocean praise God. How do they praise God?
By being.
They are simply doing what God has called them to do – whether it’s providing light to the earth, digging tunnels in the ground, or swimming in the depths. The sun rises and sets, yet it’s praising God because the sun is fulfilling God’s purpose for it.
Whenever we are fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives we are praising Him.
BOHO + THEO 