One of my favorite sayings is “there’s three sides to the truth, my version, the other person’s perspective, and that of God”. Especially when actively listening to two different people describing a problem (think marital discord) there’s “her side”, “his side” and then the absolute truth–”God’s side”. Because I believe that He is an all knowing God, sifting out truth in the course of resolving conflict can be tricky. Which leads me to my own slight disdain at popular phrases that have popped  up in our culture which steer people completely away from God’s truth.

Here’s a few examples of words that sound good, tickle ears and totally distort who God is and what He desires for us.

“God loves you and accepts you as you are”. While the basic truth IS that He DOES love and accept you, He also calls us out of sinful activities into pursuing a heart of repentance. The simple truth of the matter is that God loves us TOO much to allow us to live in ways that dishonor Him. In my reading this week, I found evidence of this desire in 1 Peter 4 where Peter’s words to early Christians he was writing to reminded them “you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose–living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. Remember, early Christians were living in Roman culture which embraced every activity listed above. Furthermore, Peter reminded his readers that although man would judge all behavior done in the body, it will be God who judges the soul.

“Follow your heart”. These three words are very dangerous. The prophet Jeremiah warned us with these powerful words “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”  We need look no further than King David who actually serves as a very good example of following his own heart. He lusted after another man’s wife, took her as a lover and later as wife, had her husband killed in battle to cover up a pregnancy. By human standards David should not have been elevated as King or described as “having a heart after God”. But–David came to a place of deep regret and repentance. Assuming humility did not save him from consequences–one of which was the death of a son–yet, God loved him enough to continue pouring into his life in order to be the leader over God’s people. Often–without sounding trite–God’s ways don’t match ours–but that’s why He’s the final authority and we in our selfish desires are not.

“Good people go to heaven”. By nature, we humans don’t like suffering. Pain and trials that crush hopes and dreams are too much to bear at times. We want comfortable lives and we’ll do anything sometimes to achieve harmony and success. Along the way of chasing “the good life” many through countless generations have pushed God aside, filling empty hearts and longing emotions with all the world offers–success, status, wealth, relationships that don’t last, drugs, alcohol, pornography, over spending, fighting to maintain position in a “dog eat dog culture” that doesn’t include God. Then, at the end of life, when last breaths are taken and loved ones surround a casket or urn, we hear “he’s in a better place….”

Paul, who wrote the book of Romans, is quite clear when he wrote that …”for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Ruminate for a moment on that tiny word “all”. What does it mean? All means all. Not a few, not some, not those who are special or excused. All. 

So, quite honestly it all means your loving grandmother who never said a harsh word her entire life, but never spoke of God as having a relationship with Him. She didn’t need to attend church. She didn’t need God telling her how to live. Someone she believed that by being “good” she would go to heaven.

Compare her to the most evil person you can think of. Who came to mind? Hitler? Stalin? Ted Bundy? Jeffrey Dahmer? Those four men are included in our tiny word “all”. By human standards which measure their respective atrocities they should certainly be excluded from God’s mercy and gift of eternal life in heaven, right?

Here’s the complexity of those who go to heaven and those who don’t. Even though bible writings are pretty clear about this topic, it boils down to God’s judgement and a person’s actions  when taking final breaths. Personally, I don’t have any resources telling me what Hitler and Stalin decided on their death beds. However, I’m old enough to remember the horrific deeds done by Bundy and Dahmer and while inexcusable, both men chose to repent of their sins and came into relationship with Christ. In Dahmer’s case a man named Roy Ratcliff ministered to him while incarcerated. Ratcliff met with Dahmer, teaching him scripture, baptizing him while in prison. Dahmer was later murdered by another inmate which doesn’t justify any wrongs by any sense of the word. 

So, should we excuse people’s choices and behaviors simply because “that’s who they are?”

Should we risk following sinful hearts to satisfy sins of the mind and flesh because we don’t want to live surrendered to an almighty God?

Can we understand the complexity of life and death–knowing that none of us are “getting out of here alive” is reality, and that there are two places of eternal rest. One has been prepared for we who embrace Christ’s sufferings on the cross as payment for ALL sins. It’s called heaven. The other–a place of total separation from God–commonly called hell is a second reality. The latter is not a place I wish on anyone, no matter their level of depravity or outright rejection of all that is good…God’s deep abiding love for everyone to not perish.

I leave you with these beautiful words penned by Peter: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you…”

Be careful what you take as absolute truth. Be mindful of careless living. Be aware that God’s salvation is for everyone, but it’s not an automatic gift He gives. It’s a partnership He’s waiting to establish with you between Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Maybe we all could learn something from Roy Ratcliff, too, be willing and available to minister God’s truth to those we often prefer to “judge” according to the sins of their bodies, forgetting that there’s a “soul” inside that will is bound for one of two resting places.

My husband and I have been watching an older series on television written and produced to showcase individuals who have adopted living a “hoarder” lifestyle. If you’re not familiar with the term it basically means folks who have created stockpiles of stuff either in their yards or inside homes. In most cases, any space on their property has become a place to stash and store their possessions. There’s a variety of styles that are used to accumulate the “stuff”…there’s the people who pick through someone else’s junk on trash day, purchases of new merchandise at stores or a thrift shop, an inability to throw out old items including daily common trash created from cooking meals, etc. Some of the episodes we’ve watched have revealed some pretty disgusting living conditions pertaining to rodent and insect infestation, unusable bathroom facilities, rotting floors, walls and ceilings from lack of proper maintenance.

As a viewer who is outside the situation it’s been easy to get frustrated and angry trying to comprehend how a person can get swallowed up by a hoarding lifestyle. My own frustrations are often echoed by family members, therapists and cleanup crews who are brought in to help a homeowner declutter property and home in order to rebuild habits that lead to a new healthy living environment. Usually the allotted time devoted to each project is 3-4 days, all intense work as rooms are unpacked, sorted for trash or possible donations.

We watch as the “hoarder” begins the cleanup journey with 100% enthusiasm, fully cooperating as their “treasures” begin to get packed, tossed into trash bags which pile up dumpster after dumpster. I think the worst case I’ve watched so far is that of an elderly woman who lived in a mansion and I kid you not–every room was packed full of stuff she had collected. Some of it began as a home business as an interior decorator but over time a shift in her brain caused a need to buy, buy some more, and never throw anything away.

We’ve also noted that in each person’s life chronicled in this series, some form of trauma in their life altered their behavior. Folks with normal common sense for daily living slowly adopted over buying, over keeping, not cleaning their home with regular routines only to find themselves surrounded, held captive in mountains of “stuff”. Sadly, their mental health challenge blinded them from unhealthy living conditions until an intervention was initiated by family and friends. By day 2 or 3 of the cleanup, cooperation is usually exchanged for denial, anger, and bartering to keep useless “stuff”. It’s sad.

As I’ve watched each episode I’ve witnessed how a therapist works with the “hoarder” to find the source of trauma, address it, and begin to gently admonish and teach new thought patterns to change their brains. I’m not sure if anything is scripted or if what we’re watching is pure raw conversations, but it’s very enlightening how trauma or believing a lie causes hoarding behavior in people.

Likewise, in the Body of Christ–those of us who follow Christ and meet together weekly in our church settings–bring a vast variety of hurts and habits with us. Together, we’re a hot mess. Some of our behavior was our own fault, others fall into the category of “sin against us”. In either case, Christ offers hope.

 “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8)

Furthermore, in Mark we read more about why Christ came: “ When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”. (Mark 2:17)

In our ministry at Celebrate Recovery we deal with hurts, habits and hangups. We come alongside men and women who have lived lives filled with trauma. Unlike a TV program produced for educating and exposing a person’s hoarding lifestyle, we minister with Christ’s love and scriptures to reset brain patterns, launch healthy spiritual growth, and “cleanup” emotional baggage that has held people captive instead of living a life of freedom available through Christ. Unfortunately, the work in Celebrate Recovery is not limited to 3-4 days, but rather can take a lifetime of consistent hard work laying aside stinkin’ thinkin’ and giving full surrender to Jesus Christ as the only higher power to bring change, renewal, and hope!

So, does your life reflect that of a hoarder? Is there a deep hurt or a nasty habit holding you captive? At Celebrate Recovery we’d love to introduce the 12 step process that unlocks the door to your cell. We meet every Tuesday, 7 pm at Fowlerville United Brethren in Christ Church. For more information, call 517.223.9490.

What do you have to lose if you step out of your misery to seek a better way? Probably tons of unwanted “stuff”! 

In recent weeks, due to a broken cabinet in our kitchen cupboards, I needed to rearrange the majority of my baking goods. This meant cleaning out a larger closet in our dining area to accommodate moving my items to a new home. If completing that task wasn’t enough I found myself in “give a mouse a cookie mode” and continued cleaning and purging other cabinets in the kitchen. One such shelving area is where I keep my variety of spices. Included with those spices is my collection of salt varieties. I counted that I have five different salts: Baja, Pink Himalayan, Kosher, Course Sea Salt and Fine Sea Salt. 

Did you know that salt is mined globally? It’s found in underground rock salt beds, evaporated sea water from salt flats and coastal salt pans. The United States has key mining sites from Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Utah.

Salt has been a world commodity for centuries. It was used for preserving foods, adding flavor, and as a means of payment. Ancient people knew the value and significance of salt’s benefits in daily life, therefore it came as no surprise when Jesus referred to God’s people as being the “salt of the earth” in His sermon on the mount. Matthew recorded His words found in Chapter 5, verse 13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot”.

I don’t know about you, but as a Christ follower I don’t want to run the risk of losing my effectiveness as a Christian witness, to be considered as “no longer good for anything” or something to be thrown out or trampled upon. When cleaning out my pantry items, there was stuff that had lost its quality, or I was no longer interested in keeping it, so in the trash bin it went.  When I look and listen to what’s happening in our world, in our communities, and in some of our churches, I dare say that many Christians and even some of our churches, have lost their saltiness. 

I’ve watched and witnessed good individuals being slowly caught up in what’s now defined as Progressive Christianity. Not sure what this is? Take some time to do an online search to discover how it’s defined. Its tenets sound very good at first glance, but with deeper reading and digging behind pretty words, evidence of swaying from biblical truths to embrace humanistic teachings surface and challenge its validity of being biblically sound. I think this erosion from truth is why we’ve seen an increase in Christian apologetics across social media etc. to counteract lies against the tenets of Christian theology. Individuals such as the late Charlie Kirk and Ravi Zacharias, were eloquent in explaining many topics covered in scripture for our role as sincere Christians. Others whom i enjoy learning from include Alisa Childers, Del Tackett, the teaching staff from “Walking the Text”, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, Hugh Ross, R.C. Sproul.

By no means am I an apologetic, however, I value and trust these strong knowledgeable individuals. Lee Strobel is a former atheist. Hugh Ross is an astrophysicist (he uses BIG words sometimes but is fascinating!) The others all have their rightful individual styles but are amazing at bringing the bible alive for today’s Christ followers, which is vitally important as we live in times where many people are following their own sinful hearts versus seeking to live under the commands and guidance from God’s plan of salvation and Christian living. 

Cleaning a kitchen cabinet is really a very simple task that doesn’t hurt anything or anyone other than tossing out unwanted stuff. Teaching and leading people astray with false teachings based on humanistic doctrines is very serious and will not go unpunished from God when He deems so.  Matthew is also credited with describing falling trap to false prophets. In verse 15 of Chapter 7 we read “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”.  In 2 Peter 2: 1-3 we read that false prophets come secretly with destructive heresies, deny the Lord, and exploit people with deceptive words.  And this in 2 Timothy 4: 3-4: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

There are varieties of salt and each has its purpose. There are different approaches to interpreting and teaching God’s Word. You and I have the responsibility to “test” what’s being taught, to “test” the fruit of the teacher, and to discern if we are being infiltrated by a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2: 10)

If you’ve ever planned to host an event or family dinner of any size, you know that a lot of planning and preparation begins before the actual celebration day arrives. There’s food to be purchased and prepared. Appropriate decorations are also bought and put together to help create a festive atmosphere. If your event is being held in your home, most likely a deep clean of every room will be performed so your guests–and you–feel confident in your cleanliness and attention to detail. 

I remember when I was about 7 years old my oldest brother David was being confirmed in our Lutheran faith. Close family members were invited in advance to attend the service if so inclined but certainly to join us for dinner Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, my mom’s sister Emma came to help her prepare food, get out dishes used for special occasions. I don’t remember being of much help that day at my young age other than being an observer as mom and Aunt Emma talked out plans and worked together making side dishes to go with ham, the chosen meat to feed more than our usual family of five. Mom and her sister spent a great portion of Saturday in preparation, not sitting down until everything on her “to-do list” was checked off as “done”.

The Apostle Paul is considered to be the author of the book of Ephesians. This verse was a highlight of my reading this week. As often is my practice when reading scripture, I look for a word or several in fact, that jump off the page at me. Here, I marveled noticing we are God’s “handiwork”…you and I were created to “do good works”…and if that’s not crazy enough, God “prepared” our good works in advance!  So, how do we respond to these simple yet profound truths?

Because we are handcrafted, formed by God, I believe you and I should accept who we are, that our identity is rooted in His image along with purpose.

Because we have good works prepared for us to do, it is worthy to pursue searching out to discover our gifts and talents, honing them to be sharpened tools and accessories that help us accomplish tasks and achieve goals.

Recently my 75 year old brother Mark traveled to North Carolina with a team of peers in his age range to work with Samaritan’s Purse doing more work rebuilding homes after Hurricane Helene. It was his second such trip. I’ve pondered his ability to go. I’ve chuckled at him saying “ya, us old guys can work circles around the younger ones”. He, and his friends who were on the trip, all have craftsmanship abilities to handle chainsaws, woodworking tools, continued strength in arms and legs for heavy lifting, passion and drive to serve devastated families as they each honor God using the very gifts He gave them. If these guys are much like my brother, their interest in learning skills began in childhood and with each passing year of maturity, deeper attention to mastering construction work was gained.

I never tire discovering in scripture how special God made me and that I have beauty and purpose in Him. Until I came into a relationship with Him 40 plus years ago, I confess I was merely an “observer”. Much like my 7 year old self watching mom and Aunt Emma move around our home’s kitchen I had fallen into a trap of merely going through the motions of church attendance, participating in programs and choir, until the reality of my need for a sincere relationship with Christ fell heavily into my soul. Having gained that relationship and with it a hunger and thirst to know Christ deeply, I also believe “purpose” and “good works” waiting for me to discover and hone were awakened. It’s been an exciting 40 year journey chasing God’s written dreams and purpose!

Lessons I observed watching mom and Aunt Emma have not been wasted nor alll the times my brother Mark had his bike laying in a heap of parts was not in vain; his curiosity to see how something was made taught him how to rebuild and reassemble. Working with his hands took him to a career of welding–later teaching this valuable trade. He also built his own home, with some assistance from our dad who I might add was well into his 60s at the time!

Mark will be returning to North Carolina next year. I’ll continue reading, studying, writing in my journals and for my blog site. Both of us will be a little older with passing days that eventually turn into another year. Though he, I, and you too will slow down physically–the inevitable of our aging process–we need not give up celebrating our creativity and purpose given to us by God!

As a close friend of ours once pointed out to me “nowhere in the Bible does it say we ‘get’ to retire”. God has given you and me purpose. He’s written job descriptions for each one of us. The blueprints for our lives are sealed by His stamp of craftsmanship. May we each spread out the blueprints with our name highlighted in the an upper corner and “get to work”!