Worn

 

 

Somewhere in time, for several weeks actually, I have been hearing the 10^th Avenue North Song “Worn” played on the radio.  It’s very popular so I hear it many times.  I do believe the song is also resonating with people.  There are times when we all feel tired, week and worn.  Many times the circumstances around us leave us looking for rest and peace. 

It made me think of King David of Israel.  Before he was King, he was a mighty warrior.  He was a defender of his country and he served the King Saul with everything he had.  Instead of prizing his loyalty and rewarding his victories, King Saul instead become jealous and tried to kill David. 

David spent years on the run.  Hiding in caves and living off the land to avoid Saul and his armies.  When you read the Psalms David wrote during this time, you can read that he was feeling worn.  He wondered why such things would happen to him.  He had always sought to do right, but everything still went wrong.

I know in this day and age many people are feeling worn.  They married till death do they part, only to find a few years later, only one of them took the vow seriously.  Single mothers, doing their best to raise their children by themselves, find themselves alone dealing with a hurt and angry teenager.  People are fighting illness, loneliness, poverty and depression.  Maybe that is what is making the song the cry of many people.

 

Let me see redemption win
Let me know the struggle ends
That you can mend a heart that's frail and torn

I want to know a song can rise
From the ashes of a broken life
And all that's dead inside can be reborn
Cause I'm worn

 

Here is one of my favorite versus in the Bible – John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

This gives me hope for two reasons.  The first reason is it says in this world we will have tribulation.  It’s not something we did wrong; it’s just something that happens, at some point, to all of us.  The second reason is because Jesus has overcome the world.  He is the one that will let us see redemption win and our struggle end.  He is also the one that can take the ashes of a broken life and make something beautiful.

Valentine’s Day

 

 

Somewhere in time, approximately fifteen hundred and seventeen years ago, Pope Gelasius marked February 14^th as the day to commemorate the life of Saint Valentine.  The man came to be known as Saint Valentine, was a priest that violated an ordered issued by the Emperor Claudius II.  The order was that young people were forbidden to get married.  I read that one reason he issued this order to was to keep young soldiers single. They fought better without wives or children to worry about in his mind.  Valentine violated the order and married young couples anyway. 

Valentine was arrested and put in prison.  He was beaten and finally beheaded.  He died on February 14^th. 

I don’t know how the day morphed into what we celebrate now.  It does make sense that Valentine was about love, the kind of love celebrated by two people, but he died for his Christian faith. His faith led him to violate the law by marrying people against the Emperors order.  The day was set to remember a martyr. 

One thing I read, said when Valentine was in prison, the Emperor Claudius liked to talk to him.  His big mistake was trying to convert Claudius to Christianity.  This is what eventually resulted in his death.

When the Bible was translated from Greek into English, they ran into a little problem with the word love.  The Greeks had several words for love and in English we only have one. 

There is “philio” love, which is the love of friends.  There is “storge” love, which is the love of family.  There is “eros” love which is the love associated with sexual attraction and finally “Agape” love which is the supernatural love, the love that goes beyond natural affection.

We tend to base our celebration on “eros” as the focus of love is on our sweetheart or spouse.  We even celebrate a little “philio” love when we celebrate with friends.  As kids, we sometimes would give Valentine cards to every person in our school classroom; this is “philio” love.

On this holiday we don’t necessarily celebrate “Agape” love.  I think this is sad.  Agape love is the strongest and the best kind of love.  We don’t have to earn it.  We don’t deserve it but sometimes we still receive it.  God gives us agape love.  Saint Valentine showed agape love to the young people he helped marry and died because of it. 

Consider this:

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

That is the type of love we should celebrate on February 14^th.  This is what Valentine did for the young couples he married.  This is what Christ did for each one of us when he died on the cross. 

Amy Grant - Say You'll Be Mine (Official Music Video) from amy-grant on GodTube.

The Prodigal’s older brother

 

 

Somewhere in time, approximately two thousand years ago, Jesus told a parable about a prodigal son.  The story was of a man who had two sons.  The younger son asked for his inheritance and left home to spend his money on riotous living.  After exhausting all he had, a famine fell on the land and he was starving.  He had taken a job feeding pigs and prayed for food as good as what the pigs were eating.  It was at this time, he realized the servants in his father’s house were better off than he was.  He gathered together is meager possessions and went home.  His intention was to ask to be a servant in his father’s home. His father had other thoughts.

Once home, his father threw a great celebration.  His son was lost to him and now he is found.  The story can be found in Luke, Chapter 15, starting in verse 11. The point of the story is if you have strayed, it’s never too late to return.  God is waiting to welcome you home.

Today I don’t want to talk about the younger son, the one who was welcomed back. I want to talk about the older son.

The older son stayed with the father.  He worked hard for his father to make sure the family continued to prosper.  When he comes home and sees the party for his younger brother, he becomes indignant.

Luke 15:29-30 “So he answered and said to his father, “Lo these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.””

In my opinion, the older brother felt like it was doing right, but perhaps he wasn’t doing it with the right motives.  Do we do our good works only to get some recognition from men?  If we do, it’s the wrong reason.  It may also be that he was growing weary.  He was working and working and he returned to find a celebration in honor of someone, in his mind, who hadn’t worked at all.

When I was growing up, we had testimony time at church. This is where someone would stand up and say what had brought them to Christ.  I always felt a little left out.  People would get up and say they were caught up in drugs and then Christ saved them.  All I could say is I was five years old when I became a Christian.  I wasn’t saved out of something horrible, but the decision I made was no less as real.  Of course, my testimony didn’t make the older women cry or the men want to pat me on the back. I felt like the prodigal's older brother. I wanted a little celebration for making the right choice also.   

As I was thinking about the prodigal’s older brother, I ran across a verse I thought he could use. 

Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.    

When you are always the one doing what is right and standing strong, you may grow wearing in well doing, but don’t lose heart.  The season may be long, but serving God is still the reason why we are here. 

For everyone who feels like the prodigals older brother and wants to cry out – Hey, what about me?  Don’t worry, your reward is coming. 

Luke 15:31 “And he said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”  That is what the father said to the prodigal son.  Perhaps that is what our heavenly father is staying to us now.

 

Big Daddy Weave - Redeemed (Official Music Video) from big-daddy-weave on GodTube.

Beautiful

 

 

Somewhere in time, this week, I have been thinking of our definition of beautiful.  I have a younger friend that is getting married.  She is beautiful, inside and out, and I surprised she lasted this long as a single woman.  One thing about my friend is she is not a thin, wisp of a woman. She is not model skinny or picture perfect, but she is a beautiful woman.  Somewhere along the way we lost sight of what beauty really is.  We let media determine what is beautiful.  What we see in magazines or on TV is someone’s idea of beauty.  If you have done something worthy of a magazine cover, but they don’t think you are perfect enough, they will retouch your picture and take away your wrinkles and scars. They may even make extra weight is miraculously disappear. 

Why is this necessary?  Wrinkles and scars are evidence of life. Wrinkles can be proof of wisdom earned from years of living.  Scars are proof of trials overcome.   Extra weight, in many cases, can be a sign of plenty and a sign of good times.  Why do we shy away from such things? Why don’t we showcase and celebrate this?  I don’t understand.

Somewhere along the line, we decided that beauty was something that could be seen.  Well we are wrong.  Beauty that is only skin deep fades and is not beauty at all.  Sure we may think a person is attractive, but when they show themselves proud and selfish, it makes them much harder to love.

Beauty of the heart, mind and spirit will last the test of time, but it may not photograph well.  In my opinion, it is more important that we celebrate kindness, compassion and love. These are the marks of a true beauty, the kind of beauty that doesn’t fade. 

This is true of men as well as woman.  We woman don’t care if our husbands lose their hair. We don’t care if they gain a little extra weight.  We are more concerned that they are healthy.  If the one we love is kind, caring and faithful, that is normally all we need.  Everything else is window dressing. 

To God, the physical things, height, weight, skin color are not as important as the points of character we display.  He doesn’t even care if we are brilliant, or if we struggle.  He cares that we are honest and we display integrity in everything we do. He wants us show compassion to the needy, strength to the week and love to the hopeless.  God standards are what we should strive for.

Proverbs 31:30 “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing. But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” (A woman or man who fears the Lord shall be praised – my own translation.)

The next time you put on wrinkle cream, or pluck a white hair, or stand on the scale – remember.  You are beautiful. 

MercyMe - Beautiful [Official Music Video] from mercymemusic on GodTube.