Notes of Faith August 20, 2023

Notes of Faith August 20, 2023

When We Can't Walk Away

When we can walk away from toxic people, we probably and usually should. But when financial necessity, work obligations, family relationships, or even the accomplishment of our God-given mission necessitates that we find a way to live or work with a toxic person, we can learn much by following Jesus’ example with Judas.

Jesus and Judas

Though Jesus often walked away and let others walk away, He obviously and clearly kept one toxic person very close to His side — His betrayer, Judas. Let’s focus on three key strategies, based on Jesus’ interaction with Judas, for how we can live with or work alongside toxic people without going crazy ourselves.

Jesus Didn’t View His Mission as Stopping Toxic People from Sinning

Maybe it seems more obvious to you, but it was startling to me when I realized Jesus knew Judas was a thief and never chose to stop Him. John clues us in:

One of [Jesus’] disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray Him, objected, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. — John 12:4-6

If John knew Judas was a thief, Jesus knew Judas was a thief. In fact, Jesus knew that Judas was worse than a thief. In John 6:70, Jesus said,

“Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray Him.)

Jesus knew Judas was toxic. He could have stopped Judas from stealing and His future betrayal by kicking Him out of their group at any time.

But He didn’t. Why? Jesus kept the bigger mission in mind. To seek first God’s Kingdom, He had to raise up a band of disciples. He also had to die on the cross. He wasn’t waylaid by individual battles of piety with His disciples, as we are prone to do with people around us. Addressing Judas’s thievery would be like a neurosurgeon clipping someone’s fingernails. There were more important issues at hand. And

Jesus’ mission was not to stop everybody from sinning.

This is actually a freeing word for believers. Your mission is not to confront every sin you hear or know of, even among your perhaps toxic family members or coworkers. Of course, if you’re a parent of a child still living at home, confronting sin is an appropriate part of spiritual training. But at extended family gatherings, with hard-hearted friends and certainly coworkers, our job isn’t to be “sin detectives” who discover how others are messing up and then unleash havoc by sharing our opinions with those who don’t want to hear them.

Jesus could have spent all twenty-four hours of every day trying to confront every one of His disciples’ sins. “Peter, put away that anger!” “Thomas, you’re still doubting Me, aren’t you?” “Thaddeus, you’re people-pleasing again. Nobody likes a suck-up.”

Instead, He focused on training and equipping reliable people. Focusing on others’ sin makes you focus on what’s toxic. Focusing on training makes you focus on what is good and on who is reliable. The latter is a much more enjoyable and ultimately much more productive life.

Because our goal is to seek first God’s Kingdom and righteousness, and to seek out reliable people in the process, we’ve got to let a few things slide right by us.

That uncle who brings another woman half his age to Thanksgiving dinner? Not our problem. The coworker who had too much to drink at the office party? If we’re not the boss, that’s not our concern. Besides, one sin is never the issue. Alienation from God, shattered psyches, unhealed and unaddressed hurts — those are the real issues.

Feel free to enjoy people and love them without having to serve as their conscience.

When asked sincerely, speak the truth. Just know that merely witnessing sin in your presence doesn’t require you to act as prosecuting attorney, judge, and jury.

Jesus’ mission was not to stop everybody from sinning.

Keep the bigger picture in mind. Instead of upending the holiday gathering by making sure everyone knows you disapprove of what that child, cousin, uncle, or parent is doing, find a hungry soul to quietly encourage, bless, inspire, and challenge. Find the most “reliable” relative and invest in them.

Jesus Didn’t Let Judas’s Toxicity Become His

How much money would you spend to get an hour to ask Jesus all the questions you’ve ever wanted to ask Him?

What would it be worth to you to go back to the first century and spend an entire weekend with Jesus, watching Him perform miracles, listening to His teachings, participating in private conversations, watching Him pray and interact with others?

All of which makes Judas’s betrayal seem all the more ungrateful. Jesus gave him a front row seat to the most significant life ever lived, and Judas sold Him out.

And yet at the Last Supper, when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, Jesus made sure that Judas was still present. In a picture the sheer wonder of which leaves me in awe, Jesus used the two holiest hands that have ever existed, the two most precious hands in the history of humankind, the hands pierced for our salvation — Jesus took those exquisite hands and washed the feet of His toxic betrayer.

Even in the face of ungratefulness and malice, Jesus kept the door open to relational reconciliation. He loved Judas to the end, essentially saying,

“You can’t make Me hate you. Your toxicity won’t become My toxicity.”

Just as astonishing to me is what happened during the act of betrayal. When Judas walks up to Jesus to hand Him over to the soldiers, Jesus looks at Judas and says,

Do what you came for, friend. — Matthew 26:50

Friend? How about skunk? How about snake? Jesus said “friend” because Jesus didn’t have a toxic molecule in His body. There was nowhere for toxicity to take root. God is radically for people. He wants everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). As His followers, we also must be for everyone, even if we oppose what they’re doing. If we must live and work with toxic people, our call is to make sure their toxicity doesn’t become ours. We don’t treat them as they treat us. We don’t offer evil in exchange for evil. We love. We serve. We guard our hearts so that we are not poisoned by their bad example.

Jesus Spoke Truth to Crazy

While Jesus invited Judas back into relationship until the very moment of betrayal, washing his feet and even calling him friend, He never pretended that what Judas was doing wasn’t toxic. In fact, He warned Judas at the Last Supper that if he were to go through with his plans, things wouldn’t end well for him:

Woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born. — Mark 14:21

When Judas kissed Him in Gethsemane, Jesus replied,

Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? — Luke 22:48

When working around toxic people, you don’t have to pretend they’re not toxic. You don’t have to pretend they are well-meaning but perhaps misguided.

The reason this is good news is that it helps preserve our sanity. Toxic people are experts at twisting things, making us feel crazy for admitting the truth (what counselors call gaslighting). But as followers of Jesus, we are committed to the truth because we are committed to Jesus, who said,

I am the way and the truth and the life. — John 14:6, emphasis added

Without truth as a refuge, interacting with crazy people can start to make you feel crazy. But God is a God of order. Craziness is a clear sign of toxicity.

This will sound like such a cliché, but I’ve found that extra praying brings some level of sanity to a situation that feels crazy. There’s something about spending time talking to and listening to the God of truth that restores sanity when you’re forced to spend time in a place that makes you feel like you’re losing your mind.

As we trust that God understands all that is truly going on, and as we remember that God is the only one capable of bringing everything to account, we can rest in His understanding, promise, and protection:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:6-7

Sometimes we can’t walk away but have to learn how to live or work around toxic people. This will require us to become stronger than we’ve ever been before.

Don’t try to control a controller. Work around them as you are required to, but don’t let their ups and downs become your ups and downs. Keep a healthy level of distance between the two of you.

Keep first things first. Our job isn’t to stop people from sinning. Focus on investing in reliable people.

Guard against letting someone else’s toxicity tempt you to respond in a similarly toxic fashion. We can’t control what toxic people do and say, but we can control what we do and say.

Don’t allow someone who is ruining their life to ruin yours as well. Leave work at work (or family drama at family gatherings).

Thank God that we never have to pretend crazy isn’t crazy. We live by the truth. We don’t have to pretend toxic people aren’t toxic; we just have to learn a nontoxic way of interacting with them.

Excerpted from When to Walk Away by Gary Thomas, copyright The Center for Evangelical Spirituality.

I am sure that there is one or perhaps even a few toxic people in your world. They tend to affect us more than we would like to admit. It is easy to become toxic ourselves. Remembering who we are in Christ is more important than ever. Our life this side of heaven must reflect the change that has taken place in salvation, becoming more like Christ every day. Drawing near to the throne of grace often will keep your heart and mind at peace and able to function in a toxic world.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 19, 2023

Notes of Faith August 19, 2023

A Prayer for Times of Change

Times of change and transition can upset our hearts and minds more than we realize. A new school year, a new job, a new home… Change can be both good and difficult! What better time than to lean into prayer and depend upon God to be our Rock and our hope.

It is well and good, Lord,

if all things change,

provided we are rooted in You.

~ St. John of the Cross (1542–1591)

Help me to accept that change is part of life,

to welcome the newness each change brings,

and to embrace the gifts and joys of each season.

I trust Your guiding hand, God.

Help me adapt and

have a willing, adventurous spirit.

May I look for the valuable opportunities

You’re giving me in this situation

and make the most of them.

May I say yes to wherever You lead,

being glad and grateful to be on

a journey of discovery and growth with You.

~ C. M.

Lord, I am disoriented and unsettled in the midst of change.

Steady my heart and be my constant. I thank You for Your word to me:

“The mountains may move and the hills disappear,

but even then my faithful love for you will remain.”

Surround me now with Your unfailing love.

You are my refuge, my strong tower, my foundation.

You are my heart’s home forever,

no matter where I am or what happens around me.

Help me sense Your nearness, guidance, and love throughout this season of change,

and may I grow closer to You as I depend on You more.

~ C. M., quoted material from Isaiah 54:10 NLT

Be present, O merciful God, and protect me...

As I am fatigued by the changes

and the chances of this fleeting world,

I rest in Your eternal changelessness;

through Jesus Christ,

who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

~ Leonine Sacramentary (5th C.)

Help me sense Your nearness, guidance, and love throughout this season of change.

ASKING FOR HELP

God, You are the source of all that is worth having.

Every good gift in this world comes from You!

You are a generous Father,

providing what we need

and delighting in showering blessings on us.

As we think of You even giving up Your Son for us,

may we never assume You’d hold back Your generosity.

Jesus taught us to knock, ask, seek,

and persist!

So we ask You now to give us

what we need and hope for—

as it pleases You.

We worship the One on the throne

and open up our hands to receive from the Giver of life.

We say that You’re good,

we need You,

and we’re glad to rely on You.

Help us to honor You as we steward whatever You give,

hold loosely whatever we have,

and always love You, the Giver, more than the gifts.

~ C. M.

O Lord, to be turned from You is to fall,

to turn to You is to rise,

and to stand in Your presence is to live forever.

Grant us in all our duties Your help,

in all our perplexities Your guidance,

in all our dangers Your protection,

and in all our sorrows Your peace.

~ St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), Adapted

We ask not for wealth, reputation, honor, or prosperity; we pray

for a calm and peaceful spirit,

for every opportunity of leading a holy life,

and for circumstances that are most free from temptation.

We pray for Your preserving grace.

~ Henry Thornton (1760–1815)

Dear Lord Jesus, I shall have this day only once; before it is gone,

help me to do all the good I can,

so that today is not a wasted day.

~ Stephen Grellet (1773–1855)

Teach me, O Father, how to ask You silently for Your help moment after moment...

If I am uneasy or troubled, enable me,

by Your grace,

quickly to turn to You.

May nothing come between me and You today.

May I will, do, and say just what You,

my loving and tender Father,

would have me will, do, and say.

~ Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800–1882), Adapted

O Lord, send down Your grace to help me, that I may glorify Your name...

Grant me humility, love, and obedience...

Implant in me the root of all blessings:

the reverence of You in my heart.

~ St. John Chrysostom (C. 347–407)

God, I need You every hour.

I ask You to meet my needs

as I offer up my hopes and dreams to You.

~ C. M.

Excerpted from A Prayer for Every Occasion by Carrie Mars, copyright Zondervan.

Indeed, we need the Lord every moment. Let us draw near to our Creator and Sustainer in love and gratitude for His mercy and grace and life!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 18, 2023

Notes of Faith August 18, 2023

The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi: Beginning the Journey

Today's inspiration comes from:

The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi

by Kathie Lee Gifford & Rabbi Jason Sobel

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

— Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

Before I (Kathie Lee) began my new job as co-host of the fourth hour of The Today Show in 2008, I felt the Lord tugging at my spirit with the words of Matthew 6:33: Kathie, seek first My kingdom and My righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I remember responding, “Lord, You know that’s what I am trying to do — put You and Your kingdom first in my life.”

Then I felt Him gently rebuke me: You’re not listening. I said to seek Me first!

“Lord,” I questioned, “do You mean first thing in the morning before anything else?” In my heart, I sensed His clear answer: Yes.

Wow. I already got up earlier than most — usually right before dawn. “Really, Lord?” I said. “Before I go into work?”

Yes. I felt Him tenderly remind me, As you begin your day, so goes your day.

So I began to wake up before 4:00 am and pray for an hour for my family members, friends, colleagues, world situations, and personal concerns. Then I would open the Bible and study God’s Word for an hour more, with my puppies and the birds outside my window as my only company.

Seek Me first!

This new discipline soon became the best part — and my favorite part — of the day. Changing my morning routine has changed my life. I began not only to study the Word but also to memorize as much as I could so that Scripture would become a living, breathing part of me. No textbook needed, no study guide necessary — just the pure, life-giving, sustaining Word of God settled deep in my soul.

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 18:30:

As for God, His way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless.

Friends, this is either a fact or a lie. There is no middle ground. This is why I have grown so passionate about learning what the Bible really says. If I am going to base my life on something, it has to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me, God! But how can we live the truth if we don’t even know it?

The word truth occurs in the Bible over 200 times. God places immeasurable value in it, and He longs for each of us to seek it, find it, and apply it to our lives. All too often we are so overwhelmed by technology, our personal dramas, and our endless ambition that we neglect to study God’s Word. Imagine how it breaks the heart of our heavenly Father, who loves us, when He sees us putting our energy into everything but the one thing that can bring us life.

You have the exciting opportunity to discover the truth of the Bible and learn what many passages in the Bible really mean. You can experience the Rock (Jesus), the Road (the Holy Land), and the Rabbi (the Word of God) in a way you might not have done before. So come deeper as we explore the land of Israel and mine the treasures of God’s Word!

Adapted from The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi, copyright Kathie Lee Gifford.

I will never stop encouraging and challenging people to read/listen/study the Word of God. It is a living book, able to reach the height and depth of all that we are, think, and do. It is the only book that leads to a transformed life…being obedient to the truth within it will make us more like Jesus. If you seek truth, an abundant life, peace, and hope for the future, READ YOUR BIBLE! God will speak to you, draw you to Himself, make you His child, and give you understanding of the things of God. That perspective will bless you now and for all eternity as God opens up the floodgates of blessing for those that love Him. Do you encounter God in your Bible? Spend more time in it for the joy of intimacy with God! More, more, more!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 17, 2023

Notes of Faith August 17, 2023

The Pro-Child Life

Three Ways We Love the Littlest

Article by Scott Hubbard

Editor, desiringGod.org

Ever since Eden, God has given children a crucial role in the coming of his kingdom. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring,” God told the serpent (Genesis 3:15). And so, ever since Eden, there has also been a long and desperate war on children.

The biblical story shows us just how ruthless this world’s anti-child forces can become: Pharaoh casting Israel’s sons in the Nile (Exodus 1:22). Demonic “gods” bidding parents to pass their children through fire (Jeremiah 19:4–5). Herod slaughtering Bethlehem’s boys (Matthew 2:16).

Our own society is not above such bloodshed: more than sixty million invisible headstones (from the last fifty years, and still counting) fill America’s fields. Much of the modern West’s aversion to children appears, however, in subtler forms. Today, we are having fewer children than ever, later than ever. We diminish, and sometimes outright despise, stay-at-home motherhood. And too often, we treat children as mere accessories to our individualism: valuable insofar as they buttress our personal identity and further our personal goals — otherwise, inconvenient.

As Christians, we may be tempted to assume that this war on children exists only out there. But even when we turn from the world of secular individualism and carefully consider ourselves — our hearts, our homes, our churches — we may find strange inclinations against children. We may discover that anti-child forces can hide in the most seemingly pro-child places. And we may realize, as Jesus’s disciples once did, that children need a larger place in our lives.

Pro-Child on Paper

As with most Christians today, the disciples of Jesus grew up in a largely pro-child culture. Their views of children may not have been as sentimental as ours sometimes are, but they knew kids played a key role in God’s purposes. They remembered God’s promise to send a serpent-crushing son (Genesis 3:15). They regularly recited the command to teach God’s word “diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:4–9). They cherished God’s faithfulness to a thousand generations (Exodus 34:7).

But then, one day, some actual children approach the disciples. And as Jesus watches how his men respond, he feels an emotion nowhere else attributed to him in the Gospels: indignation.

They were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant. (Mark 10:13–14)

The disciples likely had the best of intentions. To them, these children (or their parents) were acting inappropriately; they were coming at the wrong time or in the wrong way. Not now, children — the Master has business to attend to. They were about to discover, however, that far from distracting the Master from his business, children lay near the heart of the Master’s business.

In the process, they also warn us that claiming a pro-child position does not mean living a pro-child life. You can theoretically value children and practically neglect them. You can say on paper, “Let the children come,” while saying with your posture, “Let the children keep their distance.” You can look with disdain on the anti-child forces in the world and, meanwhile, overlook the precious children in your midst.

We, like the disciples, may hold pro-child positions. Our churches may have pro-child programs. But actually being pro-child requires far more than a position or a program: it requires the very heart and posture of Christ.

Heart of Christ for Children

“Jesus loved children with a grand and profound love,” Herman Bavinck writes (The Christian Family, 43). And do we? Answering that question may require a closer look at our Lord’s response when the little children came to him.

How might we become more like this Man who made his home among the children, this almighty Lord of the little ones? Among the various pro-child postures we see in Mark 10:13–16, consider three.

1. PRESENCE

First, Jesus created a warm and welcoming presence for children.

Something in the demeanor of Jesus suggested that this Lord was not too large for little children. Young ones apparently hung around him with ease, such that he could spontaneously take a child “in his arms” while resting with his disciples in Capernaum (Mark 9:36). Later, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, children gladly follow him, shouting their hosannas (Matthew 21:15–16). And then in our scene, parents and children approach him apparently without hesitation (Mark 10:13).

“Something in the demeanor of Jesus suggested that this Lord was not too large for little children.”

What about Jesus communicated such an unthreatening welcome? We might note the times he helped and healed children, like the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:41–42) or the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:14–15). Yet these stories are also examples of a far larger pattern in Jesus’s ministry, which was noticeably bent toward those the world might consider “little”: lepers, demoniacs, tax collectors, prostitutes. He was not haughty, but associated with the lowly (Romans 12:16). And children, seeing this lover of lowliness, knew they were not too lowly for him.

If we too want to become a welcome presence for children, we might begin by bending ourselves toward lowliness in general. Upon entering our Sunday gatherings and small groups, and as we move through our cities, do we see the lost and lonely, the bruised and broken? Do we wrap gentleness around vulnerability and bestow honor on weakness? If so, children are likely to notice our humble, bent-down hearts, a presence low enough for them to reach.

2. PRIORITY

Second, Jesus made children a practical priority, giving them generous amounts of his time and attention.

If anyone had good reason to shuffle past the children — “Sorry, kids, not now” — it was Jesus. No one had higher priorities or a loftier mission. No one’s time was more valuable. Yet no one gave his priorities or his time so patiently to those we might see as distractions. On his way to save the world, our Lord paused and “took [the children] in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them” (Mark 10:16). His life and ministry were full, but not too full for children.

In our own lives, prioritizing children calls for active planning, a willingness to devote portions of our schedule to play and pretend. But as Jesus shows us, prioritizing children also calls for responsive receiving, or what we might call living an interruptible life.

Children are master interrupters. Tugs on the jeans and cries from the crib, impulsive addresses and immodest stompings — kids have a way of ruining well-laid plans. The more like Jesus we become, however, the more readily we will embrace our ruined plans as part of God’s good plan. And we will remember that if Jesus could pause to linger with little children, then we too can pause our own important tasks, bend down on a knee, and give children the eye-level attention of Christ.

3. PRAYER

Third, Jesus prayed and pursued children’s spiritual welfare.

When the children came to Jesus, he not only received them and held them; he not only looked at them and spoke to them. He also laid his hands on them and, in the presence of his Father, bestowed a benediction upon their little heads (Mark 10:16).

We don’t know how old the children were, but they were young enough to be brought by their parents (Mark 10:13). They were young enough, too, that the disciples apparently saw little spiritual potential in them. Not so with Jesus. The Lord who loves to the thousandth generation sees farther than we can: he can discern in a child’s face the future adult and budding disciple; he can plant seeds of prayer in fields that may not bear fruit for many years.

Do we invest such patient spiritual care in children? When we pray for our friends, do we bring their little ones, by name, before the throne of grace as well? Do we find creative ways not only to joke and play with the kids in our churches, but also to share Jesus with them in thoughtful, age-appropriate ways? And do our evangelistic efforts take into account the not-yet-believers walking knee-high among us?

Oh, that each of us, parents or not, would join the mothers and fathers in Mark 10, desperate to hand our children into the blessed arms of Christ. When we hear him say, “Let the children come,” may we respond, “We will bring them.”

Posture, Not Programs

If our treatment of children looks more like the disciples’ than our Lord’s, then our problem, at heart, is that we are not yet children at heart. “Let the children come to me,” he says, “for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:14–15). We have become too big; we have outgrown grace. For the doorway into the kingdom is small — so small that we can enter only if we kneel to the height of a little child.

To oppose the anti-child forces in this world, we need more than a pro-life position, a high view of motherhood, and a robust Sunday school program. All these we may have and more, and yet still become the objects of Jesus’s indignation.

We need a posture, a spirit, a kinship with the living Christ, who left the highest place for the lowest, who became a child so we might become children of God. The more we love Jesus, the more we will love children. The more like him we become, the more powerfully will our presence, our priorities, and our prayers say, “Let the children come to him” — and the more the children will come.

The people that cry out, “It’s my body” are not lovers of God, seeking to do His will. They want to engage in immorality and lust without the consequences of a child. The choice to kill that child at any point in a pregnancy is nothing short of murder. Immoral sex is a sin. Killing a child is a sin. All can be forgiven if one comes to Christ in true faith, but the conscience will suffer with memories that cannot be forgotten. Robin and I lost our first child who died in her womb. It is not the same as stopping a life but the pain was just as great. We understand that this child as well as those lives taken will be with God eternally in His home. Many of those who took the lives of those children will not be with God eternally, not because they killed their child, but because they never come to Jesus in faith that they might be saved and receive eternal life. They will be punished eternally for not coming to and believing in Jesus as their Savior. Pray for all women and the men who participated in conceiving a child, that they might give that child an opportunity of a full life, to live and pursue as God ordains for them.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 16, 2023 Part 2

Notes of Faith August 16, 2023 Part 2

Why a Barbie movie now?

A scene from Barbie (Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)

I remember begging my mother to buy me my first Barbie. The price was $2.07 back in 1961, and I just had to have one.

Of course, no one questioned the idea behind Barbie or the fact that she was a huge departure from the typical baby dolls who were plump and squishy. But well-known novelist Jonathan Cahn provides a wealth of unknown context to the origins of the very popular doll which has served as the optimal but unrealistic body-perfect model to which women often aspire to emulate.

In answering the title of this article, “Why a Barbie Movie Now?” Cahn’s clip offers a more than plausible rationale behind the timing. It’s simply uncanny how, after 60 years, a movie based on an iconic doll could be more relevant than ever.

He starts off by discussing the origins of Barbie, depicting how the movie begins and making a case for the message which, in his estimation, “attacks half of the human race and marriage.” He says that the film actually indoctrinates girls against men, as heard from the mouth of Barbie herself, who brazenly declares, “By giving voice to the cognitive dissonance required to be a woman under the patriarchy, you robbed it of its power.”

Cahn assures us that speech of this type is not normal but more in keeping with either a text that can be found in a radical feminist handbook or views which espouse Marxist doctrine. Because that’s already a heavy claim, Cahn warns that while the film purports to be nothing more than pure fun, it’s far from the “children’s entertainment” that it’s billed to be.

He points to terms, such as “patriarchy” and “cognitive dissonance” to back his assertion of propaganda being aimed at impressionable children. He further explains that “patriarchy,” a buzzword of feminists, associated with the world’s evils, is used frequently and purposely throughout the film. Men, per the movie, are nothing more than inferior, useless jerks whose “very dangerous idea” of marriage is exposed as subjugation. That message, however, is soon overcome by the “awareness” that women don’t really need men and, in fact, are able to manage quite well without them. This is the basis under which Cahn says, is a vilification of half the human race, as men are shown to be stupid enough to be easily manipulated and then conquered.

Interestingly enough, one Barbie, in the film, is depicted as transexual, and here is where we learn something that most of us never knew. Barbie is a replica of a 1955 German doll named Bild Lilli that was sold in sex shops. The provocative doll was actually patterned off of a prostitute prototype, wearing a skimpy corset. This same image, although clad in a striped bathing suit, brilliantly appears to the young girls, in the film, playing with ordinary baby dolls, almost as if to enlighten them that there is now a better, more-improved replacement.

Once they become mesmerized by her, they shatter and destroy their old baby dolls as a sign of embracing the new plaything. Here, Cahn makes the shocking symbolic parallel between the rejection and destruction of their baby dolls to today’s rejection of marriage and the destruction of real babies through the very discardable process of abortion.

Cahn goes on to make the comparison of the emasculated men in the Barbie film to Tamuz, the equally emasculated male companion of Ishtar, the young Babylonian goddess of sexuality and prostitution. In that era, men were nothing more than a sidelined accessory to iconic females. Consequently, motherhood and marriage were not compatible with that image.

We finally get to the exquisite and peculiar timing of this movie, which is not at all coincidental in Cahn’s estimation.

Today’s progressive philosophy has been systematically “grinding away at the masculinity of men” by portraying them as creatures with toxic proclivities who are in desperate need of reprogramming in order to soften them and make them worthy of retaining their societal place, alongside the more evolved and civilized women who, thank goodness, are free of those same toxic tendencies.

Male authority is nowhere to be found in this prototype, and with good reason. Men are simply not virtuous enough to be admired.

Cahn’s 2022 book, “The Return of the Gods,” goes into greater detail about “the patriarchy,” explaining that Ishtar’s father was the authority figure with whom she warred, in direct rebellion to his authority. He also attributes the early incremental removal of God from society around the 1960s which, coincidentally, coinciding with the introduction of Barbie. That era birthed the sexual revolution as well as a completely different viewpoint of marriage.

Ever since her successful launch, Barbie enjoyed tremendous popularity, but never more than now, and with good reason. “The success at the box office during the first weekend, combined with positive film reviews and the entire build-up towards Barbie’s release, made it more than a movie. It has become a cultural phenomenon, beating out Oppenheimer at the box office with a record $155 million debut.”

Already, there are talks of a sequel, and why not? Rarely is a goldmine of this caliber struck, and certainly unusual for one that was so unexpected, due to the particular genre of a made-up doll. But if there is any laughing going on, it’s all the way to the bank, because, in addition to the pink-themed movie, the color of Barbie is now green from its massive financial windfall.

It's all tied together so well. The agenda, from emasculating men to liberating women, to establishing a new hierarchy and authority structure, to tearing down traditional family, all culminating in the massive flow of wealth created by Hollywood. Has there ever been such a fortuitous convergence of agendas under one roof? Nothing comes to mind.

So, Barbie, the iconic doll has done the impossible, the message being that no one should underestimate her power – or at least the power behind the deliberate and well-planned message which only took 60 years to come of age in all its fullness.

Read more: CULTURE | MOVIES

Cookie Schwaeber-Issan

A former Jerusalem elementary and middle-school principal and the granddaughter of European Jews who arrived in the US before the Holocaust. Making Aliyah in 1993, she is retired and now lives in the center of the country with her husband.

I have not seen the movie but in talking to those who have it was very apparent that it has a man bashing, family destroying theme. This is a sign of the times for Satan and those who follow him to add to their agenda of going against the design and plan of God. This movie was not made for “fun” but for breaking down the design and plan of God for mankind. Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked. Do not allow Satan to tell you God’s design is not the best for you or the rest of us. Be careful what you see and listen to!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 16, 2023

Notes of Faith August 16, 2023

The Great UFO Invasion

Are we experiencing a UFO invasion?

Lamb and Lion Ministries:

Nathan Jones: You’ve probably been following in the news all the excited talk about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), also called Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs). Recently, former military intelligence officer-turned-whistleblower, David Grusch, appeared before the House Oversight Committee’s National Security Subcommittee claiming the Executive branch agencies have been withholding real spacecraft and alien remains for decades.

And, earlier this year, the Biden and Trudeau administrations were both shooting suspected UFOs out of the sky: one blown up off the coast of South Carolina, another one up in Alaska, a third in the Yukon, and a fourth one in Michigan. Biden actually shot a sidewinder missile at the first UFO! It was hovering way up in the stratosphere some 60,000 feet up. The wreckage later confirmed it was, in reality, a Chinese spy balloon. The other three UFOs were discovered to be much smaller man-made devices that had been traveling lower some 20,000 feet up. Air Force officers, such as General Glenn VanHerck of NORAD, who when asked if UFOs were real, went on record as saying: “I’m not gonna categorize them as balloons. We’re calling them ‘objects’ for a reason.”

So, Tim, as a retired Air Force Colonel, can you or any of your connections confirm that we have been shooting actual UFOs out of the sky, or possess alien remains?

Tim Moore: People often ask if Lamb & Lion Ministries would tackle the subject of UFOs as it relates to Bible prophecy, and now here we are.

Well, I’ll say this, if we don’t know what something is, it is unidentified. If it’s in the air, then it’s flying. And, if its size is substantial, then it’s an object. So there you go — there are UFOs! But, are they extraterrestrial? I highly doubt it.

As an Air Force Colonel, I know there are technologies out there that would blow most people’s minds if they knew about them. Even when I was briefed on the top secret programs back in the early nineties, I was amazed at what could happen then. I would tell people that once the tech was at last declassified somewhere in the 2020-30s, people would exclaim, “Wow! We can do that?” The answer is, “No, we could actually do that 30 years ago!” So, there are some phenomenal technologies out there that are just coming to light.

We’re certainly getting mixed messages from the White House. The current White House press secretary has indicated the administration was not wanting to talk about extraterrestrials and aliens, but then we’ve got the general of NORAD and NORTHCOM speculating, as you mentioned. The government seems hesitant to leave out the possibility of extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Let’s just recognize this. There’s a great curiosity among all people as to what is by definition unexplained objects appearing above our heads. We often just don’t know what they are, so they’re unexplained.

UFOs in the Bible?

Nathan Jones: The big question on many Christian’s minds nowadays is, “Did God create life beyond the Earth?” Some people will point to 2 Kings 2:11 when Elijah was taken up to Heaven in a fiery chariot and claim that’s an ancient person’s description of a UFO. And, later, in 2 Kings 6:17, when Elisha was given the ability to see the chariot, he was really seeing a UFO. Or, with Zechariah 5:2 and the vision of the flying scroll, they’ll conclude that the flying scroll must be a form of spacecraft. They’ll also point to Ezekiel 1:1-10 where Ezekiel witnesses the throne of God, which sits on wheels within wheels, and then claim that God is floating around on a flying saucer.

Personally, I think that’s taking Scripture to the extreme. Sure, ancient people were trying to explain what they were seeing. And, now we’ve got modern-day people trying to explain what we still don’t understand. Frankly, I don’t believe these are aliens at all but instead are addressing the spiritual realm. I don’t believe that God has created life outside of this world because He created mankind alone in His image and He alone died for the sins of mankind.

So, then, let’s address how the spirit world is perceived. Jesus revealed in Matthew 12:43 how, “when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.” The Bible also addresses spirits of the air that dwell high up in the sky, that these spirits are bodiless, and that they float around looking for bodies to inhabit. We can conclude then from the Bible that there is indeed a spiritual dimension all around us that we mere mortals just cannot see.

So, when it comes to UFOs, are we talking about little green men say from the planet Mars? No, it doesn’t seem so. But, what we are most likely experiencing is demonic in nature. And so, as pilots get higher and higher up into the stratosphere, which is really high up, possibly we are encountering these beings of the air.

Could it be that with our modern sensing equipment, coupled with our ability to travel higher into the sky, which we’ve only been able to do for a hundred or so years, that we could actually be encountering angelic or demonic spirits?

Tim Moore: From a technical perspective, I don’t think so. According to 2 Kings 6:8-23, when it came to Elisha and his servant, the servant had to be given a special dispensation to see spiritually what Elisha had been seeing all the time. The servant saw the physical threat of the Syrian army in front of him, but when the Lord opened his eyes, he beheld the angelic armies arrayed around the city of Dothan. So, sometimes the Lord does give us the ability to see what is normally unseen.

Satan is always trying to deceive, so UFOs could well be demonic apparitions. But, to be honest, even though I don’t know what these objects are exactly, I figure that there’s probably a logical explanation. Many of our secret hi-tech devices are being utilized by our government, not to mention enemy and foreign governments. To protect our secret hi-tech from being stolen, our government would naturally not be transparent about them or risk espionage.

Distraction and Deception

Tim Moore: Now, our government would shoot down something just to distract us from what really is taking place that it doesn’t want attention drawn to.

Nathan Jones: Certainly, every time a president gets in trouble, they lob a missile and cry out, “Look over here!” And, right now, President Biden has a lot of shady reasons to distract the American public.

I find it interesting what the Bible says in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” This verse isn’t denoting spirits in Heaven, but in the heavens, meaning the sky. From this verse we learn that the demonic world, though unseen to us, can exist in the sky as well as dwell in the high places, meaning the mountains.

Since these disembodied spirits dwell in the air, whether they’re manifesting themselves as unidentified flying objects that can be seen or we now possess just the right modern technology to see them, their purpose seems to be for distraction. Why the distraction then? It’s part of the end-time deception that Satan is using to deceive the world. He’s long been planning on ruling and reigning the world through the Antichrist and so needs to create a crisis. All this UFO talk very well could be preparing the world for the Antichrist to come and as a deception for the Church’s disappearance in the Rapture.

Tim Moore: Agreed! This goes right back to Matthew 24, when Jesus said we will be hearing not only of wars and rumors of wars, but of all sorts of other fearful events happening, which will get us stirred up, put our spirit on edge, and make the world fearful. In Matthew 24:24, for instance, Jesus revealed, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Sadly, there are many of the “elect” right now who are all worked up over the threat of UFOs. Even with all of this drama that we are witnessing, remember what Jesus said in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Satan is going to try to deceive and distract to lead people astray from their Savior. Our Enemy misleads so that people do not focus on Jesus Christ. So, Christians, don’t be distracted! Keep your focus on Jesus Christ.

Nathan Jones: Absolutely! Remember what the destiny of demons is as Jesus told us in Matthew 25:41, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels”. All of the wickedness and evil in this world will eventually be dealt with by Jesus Christ. When He returns, evil will be sent to Hell. And, for those who are in Christ — who have accepted Jesus as Savior — we will rule and reign with Him forever.

These unidentified flying objects will eventually be identified. And, this crazy age in human history will come to an end. But, right now, let us keep our focus on the Bible and Jesus Christ so that we will not be deceived.

God gave us truth in the Bible about Himself and His creation. Satan and those who are against the Word of God deceive and believe things that they make up. Human beings are the only thing created in the image of God and the rest of creation was created for man to have dominion over. I believe that what people are seeing is new technology or spirit beings that God is allowing us to see in this age, whether they are angels or demons. Let’s try hard not to make up what is and try harder to believe what God says . . . truth is truth.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 15, 2023

Notes of Faith August 15, 2023

A New Song in Your Mouth

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him. — Psalm 40:3

You will have a new song in your mouth — that’s the second way you’ll know you’ve waved goodbye to the pit. Right after the psalmist tells us that God sets us on the rock and gives us a firm place to stand, He tells us God gives us a new song: He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. (Psalm 40:3)

Every one of us was born for a song. Even the one who can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Even the one who wouldn’t mind church so much if it weren’t for the singing. The one who just doesn’t get it — and doesn’t think she wants to.

Right after God sets us on the rock and gives us a firm place to stand, what, according to Psalm 40:3, is the very next thing He does?

“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, He displays His glory in Israel. — Isaiah 44:22–23

Have you begun to hear a God-song in your heart? Can you put words to your song? If it is an actual song that you can sing, sing it!

Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. — Ephesians 5:19–20

God gives us a new song.

A God-Song

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him. — Psalm 98:1

You were born for a God-song. Your heart beats to its rhythm and your vocal cords were fashioned to give it volume. A God-song in the simplest man’s soul is greater than any symphony. It’s more than emotional intoxication or getting lost in the moment. It’s the unleashed anthem of a freed soul. A song expresses something no amount of spoken words can articulate. No amount of nonverbal affection can demonstrate. Music is its own thing, especially when instruments and voices respond to the tap of the divine Conductor. Nothing can take a song’s place. If the outlet gets clogged, the soul gets heavier and heavier. And nothing on earth clogs the windpipe like the polluted air of a pit.

“Your heart beats to the rhythm of a God-song, and your vocal cords were fashioned to give it volume.” What is a God-song?

My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast;

I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre!

I will awaken the dawn. — Psalm 57:7–8

When you’re in a pit, you may be singing a song, but it’s usually not a God-song. What are some of the Enemy’s songs that you’ve been singing? If you can’t think of an actual song, make up a song title that fits your situation. (Think country, and have fun with this!)

I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise. — Psalm 138:1

Excerpted from Get Out of That Pit: A 40-Day Devotional Journal by Beth Moore, copyright Beth Moore.

I ache for everyone to know God and truth. Eternal life is more than abundantly good or more than devastatingly bad. Heaven and hell are real! Life after death is assured! But we must believe that God is, and is a rewarder of those who believe in Him. Persevere in the work that we have been given to make disciples that will make disciples of Jesus. We will inherit the kingdom of God soon!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 14, 2023

Notes of Faith August 14, 2023

Two Builders

Everyone who hears My words and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. — Matthew 7:24 NCV

Jesus once told a story about two builders. One was wise and one was foolish. The wise builder built his house on solid rock. The wind blew, the rains came, and the water rose up all around him. But that house didn’t fall. Because it was built on rock.

The other builder was not so wise. This foolish guy decided to build his house on the sand. Maybe it was easier. Maybe he didn’t have to travel as far for supplies. Maybe he liked the view. But when the winds blew and the rains came and the water rose up all around him, that house came crashing down.

What did Jesus mean by this story? Who are the builders? And what are the rocks and the sand?

The Rock is God.

The builders are you and me and everyone. We’re all building our lives. The question is, are we building our lives on rock or on sand?

The sand is the world. When we listen to the world and let it tell us what is important, that’s like building our house on sand. Because just like sand, the world is always moving and changing. If you count on being the best soccer player, the smartest kid in the class, or the most popular to make you feel important and special, then your house is sitting on sand. What if you sprain your ankle? What if you flunk the test? What if the cool kids decide someone else is more popular? The sand will shift, and your house will come crashing down!

The rock is God. If you let Him tell you why you are important and special, then you’ve built your life on rock. Because God never changes. Make Him the most important thing in your life, and no storm of life — no flunked test, no lost friend, nothing in this world — will be able to knock you down.

Lord, help me not to build my life on unimportant things. Teach me, instead, to build my life on You. Amen.

Excerpted from You Can Count on God: 100 Devotions for Kids by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

Building our lives on anything but the truth of God is building on sand and will shake and fall in the trials of life. Building on the rock (God) will allow us to withstand all of the trials of life and stand firm because of the foundation on which we have built. Let us grow in knowledge of God and intimacy with God until we see Him face to face! Maybe soon!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 13, 2023

Notes of Faith August 13, 2023

Uncomfortably Limited

The Frustrating Beauty of Finitude

Article by Marshall Segal

Staff writer, desiringGod.org

When did you first become acquainted with your finitude?

To some, that may seem like a funny question. When was I not acquainted with finitude? For as long as you remember, you’ve been confronted with the limits you face in the mirror. Sometimes, it may even feel like the mirror has come to life and follows you, carrying your flaws and failures wherever you go. There’s a friend who sticks closer than a brother, and finitude draws closer still.

Where shall I go from my limits?

Or where shall I flee from my weakness?

If I work diligently into the night, you are there!

If I wake early before the others, you are there!

If I give all I have, and do all I can, and make every possible effort,

even there you find me.

Finitude, of course, touches a dozen different nerves. You may get tired more quickly than others, and end most days worrying about what didn’t get done. You may have a hard time falling asleep, or staying asleep. Or if there’s an opportunity to get sick, your body seems to seize it. Maybe you’ve battled chronic illness or persistent pain over years or decades. Or you’re called to some difficult relationship that always seems to demand more than you can give. It’s part of the mystery and brilliance of humanity — these creatures that can harness electricity, transplant a heart, and visit the moon, and yet still need naps and sick days.

Whatever limits you, you can probably walk outside and see something of yourself in those tiny green blades beneath your feet:

As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more. (Psalm 103:15–16)

Six-Foot-Tall Grass

If you follow this grassy trail through Scripture, you realize that our finitude isn’t the accident it often seems to be (or at least feels like in the moment). If you can believe it, it’s actually a feature.

“Humans are finite to maximize, not minimize, what humans are made to be and do.”

Notice, even before the fall (before our need for redemption), God made us unavoidably limited. And now after the fall, he uses our finitude to draw us back to him. From the beginning, humans are finite to maximize, not minimize, what humans are made to be and do. To be fully human requires feeling and embracing the limits of being human. Even glorified humans living with God in the new heavens and new earth will still be finite — free from sin and pain and sorrow, but not without the limits of a body.

We know our finiteness is intentional and purposeful, because God brings it up again and again in the Bible. As he does, he often reaches for grass (which, remember, he himself sovereignly sketched and planted).

All flesh is grass,

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the Lord blows on it;

surely the people are grass. (Isaiah 40:6–7)

As I write, our yard’s been without rain for several weeks. Despite some real (modest) effort, I’m watching the withering in real time the brief and fragile life of my poor lawn. And I’m learning about myself. All flesh is grass, even mine, and my short spring and summer will soon fall into winter.

But grass isn’t the only window we have into finitude. Even in Psalm 103, God gives us another metaphor for our limitations: “He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). Man was formed from dust, and we must all return to dust, and in between, we are small, brief, and brittle, like dust. Dust from dust to dust.

By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19; see Ecclesiastes 3:20)

Like grass, like dust, like a single drip of water: “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales” (Isaiah 40:15). We were meant to feel this way, like a 5-foot 9-inch blade of grass, like a 195-pound shadow. If you feel the discomfort of finitude, you’re not alone and you’re not crazy. You’re human.

Prayers of Finitude

The more I walk through the field of Psalm 103 in particular — “As for man, his days are like grass” — the more I realize that finitude weaves its way through the whole psalm. These have been some of my favorite verses to pray in all the Bible:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:1–5)

I’ve long loved these verses for rehearsing the height and width and depth of God’s power and love, but I’ve recently learned to appreciate them even more for being prayers of vulnerability and finitude. These are the prayers of people acquainted with sickness (“who heals all your diseases”), of people in desperate situations (“who redeems your life from the pit”), of people wrestling with weakness (who renews your youth), of people weighed down by sin (“who forgives all your iniquity”), and in the next verse, of people who’ve been wronged and wounded (who “works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed”).

“Finitude exists to lead us to Infinitude.”

In just a handful of lines, we can each find someone who relates to our finitude. We can find a cry for whatever fragile moments we experience. We also find a God ready to meet and bless us in our particular limits and weaknesses.

Where Finitude Takes Us

If we let it, finitude really will help us live happier, more fully human lives, but only if we see through the grass, the dust, the shadow, the drip. Follow Psalm 103 through the field: “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But . . .” Now we’ll learn where the good path of finitude finally leads. All of our weakness, sickness, frustration, disappointment has been leading us to and through this sentence:

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

and his righteousness to children’s children,

to those who keep his covenant

and remember to do his commandments.

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over all. (Psalm 103:17–19)

Finitude exists to lead us to Infinitude. God never grows weak or tired. He never needs help. He never sins. He never feels stuck or desperate. He never needs to sleep in or take a nap. Unlike us, he’s not like grass. If all the nations are a drop in the bucket, his kingdom is an ocean.

So, as we come up against our limits again and again, when we feel our dust-ness more acutely again today, or tomorrow, or sometime next year, we’re meant to see and feel his limitlessness. There’s no ceiling to his ability, no reins on his power, no vulnerability in his plan, no exhausting his mercy. The grassiness of our short, complicated, confusing, often discouraging lives should lead us to his iron throne of love. Every limit and weakness that sets us apart from God can help us savor more of him.

He Knows Our Frame

Being himself infinite, you might think God would have a hard time relating to finite creatures like us, but he doesn’t. In his infinitude, he finds the heart to father the weak and flawed, to love us as if we were his own children. He loves us more than an earthly father could (Luke 11:13).

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:13–14)

We know our frame, and we grumble and despair. God knows our frame (even more than we know ourselves), and yet instead of complaining about us or rejecting us, he draws close to strengthen and help us. In Christ, his power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). He approaches our frailty with the heart of a devoted father, not of a ruthless manager. If we fear and follow him, the limits we’re tempted to despise about ourselves stir and inflame the coals of his compassion.

And he not only knows our frame, but sent his Son to bear our frame. Our God is the only God ever conceived who can sympathize with finitude. Jesus lived a short, physically demanding, relationally trying, temptation-battling life. He slept and got sick. He even died. And then he rose to give your grass-like life a throne-like weight and glory.

So, if you feel a little like grass, let those sharp green blades point you up and away from your frustrations and insecurities to the God who knows your finitude, planned your finitude, lived your finitude, and now redeems your finitude.

Just a note of encouragement for your finite walk in this life. We never know when it might end, but it was meant to be beautiful and filled with joy as the grass and flowers illustrate. How are you doing with that part? Yes, we are finite and will return to the dust from which we were made, but we were made for glory and in Christ will be glorious for all eternity. Praise God for the way He made us and in Christ will keep us beautiful and filled with joy forever!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 12, 2023

Notes of Faith August 12, 2023

Peace I Leave With You

A friend and I were texting today about how our mornings had not started well. She had lost her keys and subsequently missed both a dentist appointment and a work meeting. I had placed an important form in a “safe place” and then could not remember where I put it. The longer my friend and I kept looking for these items, the more flustered and upset we became.

As time dragged on, my friend’s worries grew. What if she did not find her keys? Had she thrown them away by accident? Getting a replacement key fob is not easy nor cheap. My concerns mounted as well. While requesting a new form would not set me back in money, it sure would set me back in time. I just knew I would have to call customer service and be passed from person to person to request what was needed. I dreaded the hassle it would be. Instead of stopping a moment to collect the proper perspective—and most importantly, pray about it—we both swirled through our homes like raging storms.

Thankfully, I am happy to report that we both found our missing items. My friend’s keys were in a closet on the top shelf. She had looked in that closet but in a raincoat pocket. She never thought to look up at the shelf. I had misfiled my form, and in my agitation and haste, must have flipped right on past it while looking. I was relieved but not proud at how easily I lost my cool. And if I am honest, this is not an isolated case. How many times have I let minor inconveniences and agitations rob me of my peace? Yes, today we misplaced important items. Tomorrow it may be traffic. We may spill something the next day and make a huge sticky mess. Sometimes, our peace is jeopardized not by something that happens but by worries and negative thoughts.

There are many verses in Scripture where peace is mentioned, but one of the most studied and quoted is John 14:27. In this verse, Jesus is preparing His disciples for the fact He will be leaving them soon. He says,

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

There are three sentences in this verse. Each one is packed with importance.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you.”

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you.”

Various Bible scholars point out that “peace” was often used as both a greeting and a parting sentiment. We find examples throughout Scripture of its use, specifically after the resurrection of Jesus (John 20:19-26). However, the way Jesus emphasizes peace in this verse by using the word “My” makes peace seem more than just a mood or feeling but an actual gift or possession. Peace is valuable, and Jesus wants nothing more than to give it to His disciples. This type of peace – a peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) — is only possible in the giving of Himself. He knows they will need this level of peace for what lies ahead, both His crucifixion and the start of the Church where most of them will be martyred.

“I do not give to you as the world gives.”

Thinking back to my harried morning, one could argue that a better organizational system could have prevented my situation. Yes, organization is a great thing, but all the planners and filing systems in the world will not deter humans from misplacing things from time to time. Human error is a reality and trusting our peace to things of the world (even though I do love my day planner) is simply an illusion. Life happens. What matters is how we react. That is why our peace should not be dependent on everything going right. It will not happen.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

When I read this sentence, I tend to focus a lot on the last part where He says, “do not be afraid.” Fear is crippling, so it is comforting to know His peace is available for those moments in life that bring us to our knees – the loss of a loved one, serious illness, and more.

While we know from Scripture that Jesus cared very much about the hurting people He met in His earthly ministry, His peace is more encompassing than just for serious seasons of life. He wants His followers to claim His peace every day. Notice in the first part of the sentence He says, “do not let your hearts be troubled.” That does not mean we will not have frustrations – they are just a part of life. But accepting Jesus’ gift of peace means we will look to Him in both the big and small situations. After all, He cares for our every need (1 Peter 5.6-7).

Are you feeling unsettled today? Could you benefit from a fresh infusion of God’s peace in both big and small concerns? Take a few minutes to talk to God about both the troubles and the fears you are facing. After prayer, take some time for yourself. Many people find the rhythmic motion in coloring to have a calming effect. You can color today’s Scripture from Peace Be with You: An Inspirational Coloring Book for Stress Relief and Creativity. Share your finished creation on social media with the hashtag #coloringfaith.

Written for Devotionals Daily by Mandy Wilson.

Peace be still! Wouldn’t this be a great command for you (okay, and me) today? If Jesus were to speak those words to us we would be instantly at peace. The Bible is the Word of God. He is speaking peace into our lives. Listen to Him. Obey His voice and live at peace…His peace.

Pastor Dale