Today I was pondering Jesus’ words when he said, “Bless those who curse you”. I have often thought of the sentiment behind the verse as meaning that we should pray for those who do hurtful things to us and speak hurtful things about us.

But today it struck me a different way. 

Jesus’ instructions are always taking us the extra mile. They are always getting us past that “comfortable religious ritual” into the uncomfortable “death to self, but alive in Christ” heart attitude. It’s not the hardest thing ever to pray for someone who has hurt you. Yes, it can take some overcoming, but we can slide into it without too much depth of struggle or thought.

“Lord, please bless _______”, we might mumble. “Please rescue them from their [*insert sin here*].” There. We did it.

But today I realized, Jesus is presenting us with two overt expressions of feeling here. 

When someone curses you, they don’t just sit on their beds at home, mumbling under their breath. Well, maybe they do…but that’s not usually the full measure of it.

No, no, no.

They’ll yell in your face. They’ll barrage you with text, emails, letters, phone calls (sometimes even face-to-face….though this is super rare, because it takes courage) full of their hate. They’ll find people to tell about how awful you are. It doesn’t matter if these people have any idea what is going on or not…or if they even know you – but they WILL know about what a terrible person you are.

So, in the same way, God calls us to actively BLESS those same people. “They will know we are Christians by our love.” 

We aren’t called to sit mumbling on our bed. We are called to be up, actively looking for ways to speak well of these people to those around us. We are called to think the best of them and their intentions, and look for ways to pour care and real love upon them. This is the way of God’s world. This is the way of Jesus Himself.

As I stopped again to think about this, as the morning went on, I realized this very thing is what Jesus Himself has done. He doesn’t ask us to do the impossible. He has shown us that the impossible IS POSSIBLE, as we walk in the Spirit.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

In the midst of the cruelest hate and unfair accusations, Jesus speaks well of those surrounding Him like dogs to devour Him. He doesn’t ask for fire from heaven to consume them for their sins. He doesn’t ask for God to discipline them. No…as He hangs on the cross – the most tortuous and embarrassing death you can imagine – He pleads with the Father for their forgiveness. 

And likewise, He was there on that very cross for millions to come after who, like those standing there in the flesh, mocked Him, spoke ill of Him, and who would break His good laws day after day after day without remorse or care.

And why?

So He could heap blessing upon us! He suffered and died so that He could look for ways to bless us, so that He could intercede before the Father on our behalf – to speak well of us before the Throne of God, even when we fail. Jesus died, and rose in power and glory so that He could call us Sons and Daughters, and lead our wandering, sinful hearts out of the mire and into newness, and cleanness and beauty and joy and LIFE!

When we fail, and break His heart, He comes before the Father and says, “That is my child. Have mercy, Father.”

Can we not now “go and do likewise”?

Ah, thrift stores: the haphazard museums of the recent past. As a girl with old-fashioned tastes, I’m sure to part with at least a few dollars to gain a favorite skirt, the most comfortable chairs, or some treasured books or music. I’ve met many close friends in thrift stores. Twila Paris, Point of Grace, Andrew Murray, and now Elisabeth Elliot, while hard to find in modern music aisles and bookstores, are familiar faces in the secondhand realms.
So it is that I find a copy of Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ’s Control. What a sweet little book. Having received numerous letters and questions about romance and relationships, Elisabeth Elliot writes of her desire to keep the Lord as her first love, her courtship with Jim, and wisdom on the subject of relationships that she has gained over the years.

This is a short recommendation for the book, as I believe it could be a benefit to any woman. I was eager to read it as soon as I bought it, not because I as a single woman am eager to seek out the prospect of marriage. I used to be an avid story writer, and, being analytical, sometimes took tales of romance further and into more detail than is godly. The imagination wasn’t something Elisabeth Elliot directly addressed in these terms, but reading her gentle call to dedicate virginity to the Lord gave me a clearer opportunity to dialogue with the Lord about some of my thoughts, fears, and struggles in the area of romance.

Midway through the book, Elisabeth Elliot talks about some of the struggles women have with their interactions with men. I can identify in general with wanting to be controlling of my circumstances, even when that includes other people. While convicting, this was also very encouraging. I’ve never been much into hair or make-up or talking about boys, so in reading Passion and Purity, I got a chance to understand more fully who I am as a woman, though I be a rough and tumble one.

Perhaps the most significant way this book has impacted me is in fleshing out what it means to wait, and the value and beauty that comes from such an unexpected place. Again, I am coming to this book from a point in my life where I single, and willing to stay so. What I came to understand more personally in reading Jim’s letters and Elisabeth’s reflections is that the Lord has called me to wait on Him. Waiting is a struggle. Jim and Elisabeth were in love for five years before the Lord gave them permission to marry, and they thought often of each other in that time. In the same way, there is the wedding supper of the Lamb. I’m not there yet, but I long to be. Sometimes I feel that more should be happening in my life as I seek to follow the Lord, and wonder if I am doing something wrong that so little is happening around me. Perhaps He feels further from stirring my emotions than I would like. My life as a missionary has not “taken off” yet in the way I hope it will, and that can be hard to accept. What I appreciate is that this book is from the perspective of missionaries. So many biographies gloss over five or ten years in the second or third chapter, and dive right into the meat of the action. Of course books have to do that, but if you’re still living in chapter two, it can be easy to feel as though the calling has passed you by. Passion and Purity is a book about waiting. Those five years are given one hundred and eighty-eight pages of attention: a comforting reminder that the Lord has not forgotten a little heart that beats for Him, and that there is greater joy in the fulfillment for having waited.

I’ve written more of what I personally gained from reading this book, though there is certainly much more. The majority of what I gleaned was related to my relationship with the Lord. It is, of course, a book about a very human romance, so there will certainly be much to gain in that avenue, but all such relationships best begin with the Lord. For that reason, I believe this book would be a help and encouragement to all women, particularly those that seek after the Lord.

If you have read Passion and Purity, or have more questions about it, please feel free to comment. I would to hear from you and discuss it.

The Lord be near, my sisters.

We joined an amazing church in Deerfield Beach, FL for their Wednesday night meeting, during which we read through the 4th chapter of Ephesians together. It is always so neat to see how God can so easily instruct us when we do nothing more than sitting down to purposefully put aside all our other plans and distractions and just read His Word.

As we read, I just had some neat thoughts, which I thought was a good opportunity to to write a blog post, after being a bit negligent (and BUSY) this past year!

I love how, throughout this chapter of Ephesians, Paul emphasizes in several different ways the reality that we were not created to be loners; we are all parts of the same body, and must work together, and think of the other members before we think of ourselves.

One part of a verse really stuck out to me the most, which says, “….for we are members of one another.” (v.25b)

Members of one another. This should mean several things to us.

1.) We belong to each other. We aren’t here to further ourselves and our own passions. We are here to support the body in its entirety in its mission to rescue the lost, and share the greatness of Jesus with the world! We must not be looking at ourselves and our mission, thinking, “Who is going to come support me? Because what I am doing is obviously the most important.” No – we are called to assess our giftings (which Paul also touches on in vs. 11) and abilities (sometimes this means nothing more than a pair of willing hands, and a good attitude) and look around us and think, “How can I lift up those around me who are serving the Lord? How can I support this pastor, and make him more successful in his ministry? How can I make myself more available to advance the work of the Lord in this area? Who is struggling in their service to the Lord, and needs encouragement today?” We need to make ourselves available for the needs of the other members of this body of Christ. Our lives are not our own. And when we make ourselves available for the use and support of the rest of the body, we are serving the Lord. And, if you happen to be one of those who does have a position that is seen as “higher”by others, these positions are never given to us because we are awesome, or so we can promote our own plans, or show people how amazing we are. These positions in higher spots are given to us so we can pull others up, as the header photo for this post depicts so well. It is not so we can be the most important person around, or the closest person to Jesus, but so we can draw those around us up higher, and then lift them up to be higher than ourselves.

2.) Also, this reminds us that we have to be together to “work”. It can be tempting, when you don’t get along with someone, to say, “I’m outta here! I’m going to go out and start my own ministry somewhere, because I just want to be on my own now.” Or, “I’m going to go work with someone else who has the same gifting as me. They’ll understand me better!” But as Paul admonishes here, we NEED each other. Where would we be with only prophets in the church? Where would we be without them, and the admonitions they give, or the vision they cast? Where would we be with only evangelists, and no one to shepherd the young lambs, or protect them from harm? Each one of us has a job we have been called to do, but not one is more important than the other! Without each gifting that God has bestowed, there is a distinct hole. Yes, often God calls people to go out and become missionaries on their own, blazing new paths as they seek out the lost….but His Body — the ones who are called by their name, and have taken hold of His salvation — needs all its members to continue on, and to thrive, and learn to truly walk in step with our Shepherd King. God made us to need each other, the same way a husband and wife need each other, and compliment each other; one family, but different members with different roles that work together to make something beautiful and sacred.

Ah, this beautiful, messy, imperfect family….yes, this is the Body of Christ….and we are being built up into a spotless Bride for the King! Hallelujah! Lets keep pulling, lifting, and otherwise encouraging each other to attain this high and beautiful calling!