Month: August 2015

Commitment, Covenant, Hope, Humility, Love, Obedience, Submission, Trust, Uncategorized

Laser Focused Bride

Marlene McKenna

“Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.” Ephesians 5:22-24

A wedding is a wonderful snapshot of hope. It is a picture of the covenant promise God made to His bride, the church.  This past week we were blessed to witness a covenant being made that mirrored God’s unconditional love and commitment.  Watching a beautiful bride allow herself to be tucked under the wing of her husband to be nourished and cherished by him gave me hope for our future wedding feast with Jesus Himself.  When we were born again we were united to the Bridegroom   We are now set apart for Christ alone, tucked under His mighty wing.

Because of this, we enjoy complete freedom in Christ, which can also be mirrored in marriage.  Emotionally, spiritually and physically, within this covenant, there is opportunity for intimacy.  Furthermore, God calls us to love Him with all our hearts and serve Him wholeheartedly.  This sounds to me very much like being subject to a husband by choice. In other words, we enter into a relationship of submission in marriage trusting our husbands to nourish and cherish us.  We are not to have divided hearts, looking outside of marriage for protection and romance. In the same, way we are not to look outside of Christ’s love for our identity or fulfillment.  (We should not even look to our husbands to fulfill the role only Christ can satisfy.)

The song, “I Only Have Eyes for You,” by The Flamingos, is a lyrical reminder that we are called to be a laser focused bride.  We are only to allow one man to meet our needs.  Therefore, entertaining the offer of another man’s affection is out of the question because we relate to our husband’s on an intimate level as “alive” and any other man as “dead.”  This is a picture of our faith walk with the LORD!

Having an undivided heart means denying others (including ourselves) for the love of One whom God has given us to meet all our needs.  This laser focus keeps us abiding in Christ AND faithful in marriage.  Why?  Because when we join our minds, hearts and wills with Christ,  we then allow the Holy Spirit to proclaim, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!” Genesis 2:23a

“Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Mark 10:9

grace, Hope, Humility, Love, Obedience, Sanctification, Trust

Lost Dog

Marlene McKenna

“There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens-

A time  to be born and a time to die;

A time to plant and a time to uproot.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

Our dog, Champ, struggled for quite awhile with arthritis, dementia  and accidents in the house so we knew it was time to let him go. After thirteen-and-a-half years of unconditional love we had him put down. Fortunately, I was spared the trip to the vet because of an out-of-town workshop but in all honesty I don’t think I could have gone anyway.  Champ’s sweet chocolate-brown face would have prompted me to wait “just one more week.”

In the same way there is a tendency to cling to our old, decrepit sin nature for “just one more week.” Instead of allowing it to lay down in submission to the death of Christ we entertain the thought that it’s really not that bad. Ironically, death is the very essence of life in Christ. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, follow Him, take up our cross and live in agreement with Him that our “old man” is dead.  So, like a seed, the only way to truly live is to die (John 12:24).

Also, if grief and love are experienced in relation to one another, the more I love my pet the harder it is to say goodbye.  In the same way, the more I love my flesh the more difficult it is to let it die.  The fact is that we ARE crucified with Christ and no longer live, but Christ lives in us. (Galatians 2:20)  The rest of the verse says, “The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Because of this I believe that God is grieved when we allow ourselves to be separated from Him by not divorcing ourselves from sin. Allowing our loving God to meet all our needs in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19) is THE WAY God has given us to live in complete freedom. Because we are set apart for Christ as His bride we are to be continually set apart from the flesh, living moment by moment in the reality of its death.

Thankfully, though I miss my dog, I don’t miss my flesh and wish I could live every minute in freedom from it.  For now it’s dead weight but in eternity you and I will be completely free from the presence of sin.  Thank God for His perfect timing and for giving you the courage to let go of what He says is dead and cling to His promise of abundant life in Christ.

“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:11

grace, Hope, Love, Sanctification

Manuracles

Marlene McKenna

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

When I was eight or nine years old my mother, sister and I would clean horse stalls in order to use the manure for our garden.  At the time we lived in Las Vegas, Nevada on Nellis Air Force Base in a duplex on a cul-de-sac.  We had a back yard but mostly the land behind our house was a dry, cracked, dusty desert.  In spite of this my mom managed to create a garden oasis.  How did she do it?  With horse manure, ground up eggshells and banana peels, straw and worms.  The result was a miraculous bounty of corn, okra, eggplant, tomatoes and potatoes amidst a parched landscape.

My children will tell you that I love analogies and use them every chance I get.  This one is just too good to pass up.   God turns waste into something beautiful!   A good friend of mine once said, “God takes the manure of our lives and uses it to make flowers.”  For me the waste was the broken pieces of my heart that were shattered little by little as a by product of growing up with an alcoholic father and emotionally broken mother.  For many years I wandered through life, scared of my own shadow while playing the victim well.  I was 28 with two kids and a broken marriage before God got my attention.  Then, He scooped up the waste my life produced and planted it in Christ.  In time He also miraculously resurrected my marriage, blessed our children with salvation at a young age and saved my dear husband.

These are what I call manuracles.  It’s not a real word but it reminds me of God’s redeeming work in my life and the lives of so many of my friends.  One of the sweetest things about being God’s child is that He continues to change us, making us more like Jesus, as long as we are this side of heaven. This has been my experience.  Anyone looking at my life today would probably not guess that my childhood was so dark.  That speaks to the fact that God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6). Praise be to God our Redeemer and the author and perfecter of our faith!  He not only shines through us but renews us day by day by lovingly scooping off the dross to fertilize yet another manuracle.

Uncategorized

Twisted Thinking

Marlene McKenna

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”   Isaiah 55:6-9

Have you ever tried untying a bread tie only to twist it the wrong way first before realizing it was working against your purpose? (This is a regular occurrence for me.) Similarly, we can twist scripture the wrong way at first and it too works against our purpose to be spiritually fed by God’s Word. Instead we end up questioning God and listening to Satan whisper, “Did God really say…?”

Take 2 Samuel 24:1 for example and see what your first impression of God is after reading it.

“Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 

Without reading 1 Chronicles 21:1 it would seem that God provoked David to sin. Is God just messing with David’s mind and heart because He’s angry at Israel and wants a reason to punish them? Of course not! Therefore, knowing my twisted tendencies, I go to the truth passages in God’s Word that tell me of God’s character and use those verses as a plumb line to measure passages I don’t fully understand.

For example, after reading 1 Chronicles 21:1 we know that Satan was the instigator, appealing to David’s pride and insecurities, and God allowed the numbering to take place because He is sovereign, loving and just. God was in hot pursuit of His bride’s heart, allowing pain for the purpose of restoration. This is how it works with us too. I know when my heart hardens toward God He allows whatever it takes to bring me back to Him, exposing sin not for the purpose of shaming or condemning me but for healing and restoration just like a surgeon creates a wound through an incision, exposing what’s inside in order to remove a problem area or restore what’s broken. When this happens I can have twisted thoughts about God based on my circumstances instead of His character.

Fortunately, like a swing when you twist it round and round, you can only go so far before letting go. For instance, when we twist our hope around things other than Jesus Christ we ultimately feel the pain of loss of intimacy with God and others causing us to stop and repent. For David his hope was in the size of his army. What is it for you? Is your hope in your job, your family, money, looks or friends? Or, is your hope (confident expectation) in Jesus? Are your thoughts and actions in line with God’s?

What good news it is to know that God knows our thinking is twisted and we need help! Fortunately, in verses like Isaiah 55:6-8 we have directions for untwisting our hearts. “Seek the LORD…Call upon Him…Forsake YOUR ways and YOUR thoughts…Return to the LORD…HE WILL have compassion on you and HE WILL forgive you…”

Thank You, LORD, that Your thoughts are perfect and right and Your ways are straight! Praise You for Your Word which is “a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” making my thoughts obedient to Christ as I allow You to renew my mind and heart by the power of the Hoy Spirit which is in me!