Spirituality – Page 2

The Truth About Eve

John MacArthur’s recent sermon in response to women as Teachers has stirred much displeasure and unrest in some, and also agreement for others. MacArthur’s name has been in the spotlight in recent weeks because of some comments about well-known women leaders in the church. Instead of apologizing or listening with empathy (eg., like Jesus did), he has doubled-down and defended his position using the Bible.

Here’s an excerpt of his newest sermon:

“Eve got out from the protection of Adam, she was vulnerable, she was deceived, …He sinned because he couldn’t live without her. She had become everything to him. When the roles are reversed, the women are deceived, bad things happen, the men are made weak, worse things happen. The whole human race went down with Adam. You tamper with this order, chaos is unending. … Adam was not deceived, Eve was deceived. If we stay in the order that God has designed us everybody flourishes.”

I squirm to be the one with the voice to say it, but THIS IS A LIE. Men aren’t weaker because of women. In fact, according to the biblical creation poem, men are made whole when given a woman. Genesis says “it wasn’t good for man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) God saw he needed a helper. Eve was CREATED BY GOD. How can we listen to and nod in agreement to a man who relegates a woman’s existence as “inherently evil?” Genesis 1 not only shows women are created by God, but made in His image! “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) God himself exists in Fullness within a relationship (the Trinity), and so do we. We are better together.

The centerpiece of thoughts like “I am worthless” or “I have no value” or “I’m not worth anything” is SHAME. Some of us have experienced so much shame these declarations have become self-mantras. We then tack our list of failures onto these beliefs:
“I’m worthless because I’ve had an abortion.”
“I hate myself because I can’t stop looking at porn.”
“I am trash because I am not skinny enough”

If my deepest truth is worthlessness, then I will always strive to cover my shame. I believe many leaders struggle with worthless feelings, so they teach a self-centered “gospel” falsely. Self-discipline, facades of “rightness,” performing and behavior modification will never save us and make us feel whole. Yet, some preachers teach us this is how we become “holy,” how we redeem our wrongness and make it right.

Women in particular struggle with hatred of self, and sermons and teachings like this in the church teach women that hating our self is some form of agreement with a God who sees this evil in me. Many of us believe God sees us as failures, utterly lost, broken and depraved. But what does He really see?

But all human beings- even women!- have inherent value because we’re made in His image. Our value and worth is NOT dependent on us, then! Our value is not determined by what anyone thinks of me- not even the preacher on stage. My value is not determined by what I think of myself.

God didn’t meet us by Lording over us and condemning us from some magical cloud asking us to “act right.” My God became HUMAN! That must mean something significant about humanity. God has never had a low view of humanity, because He knows the truth. He made us before we were “duped,” before we believed the lies in our own minds or the lies someone else has fed to us. God- who IS good- created people, and he called humans “very good” in the Garden (Genesis 1:31). When Jesus was born, He didn’t become like us. We were made to be like HIM! Humanness was part of the godhead before creation!

That means when He made me, I was made very good. I’m always “very good” because I am a reflection of the image of God. This gives me value. And it gives other people value. It gives men and women EQUAL value. Jesus as flesh embodies this truth for us.

As a parent, I would never tell Giana “the truth about you is there’s nothing good about you. You are terrible and utterly depraved. You have always been and will always be worthless.” Wouldn’t that make me a terrible parent? YET- the church teaches people this- and defends it using some “hand selected verses.” Father God has never made this declaration about humanity because He’d likewise be saying that about himself.

We should tell people this is the ultimate truth of their existence. We believe the Gospel —- Ephesians 2: 4-10 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

HUMANS HAVE ALWAYS HAD VALUE. Before we could even know or realize or even exist, God saw our value. It literally says we are HIS HANDIWORK in Ephesians.

My goodness is not earned because of my gender. I am not disqualified because of my behavior- nor was Eve! We are fully known and fully loved because of God’s character- rich in mercy, love and grace. We are called to be the same Merciful, Graceful Love to others.

In fact, if we’re going to base this all on Eve as MacArthur did, then let’s look at the whole story through Genesis 3. Even after God knew about her “sin,” he made a covering for her shame (Genesis 3:21). I SEE REDEMPTION IN THAT. God Himself shed blood to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness and shame. If that’s not a picture of Jesus, what is?

God didn’t pronounce Eve as evil, or curse her- He only cursed the snake (Genesis 3:14). In fact, God said Adam and Eve became like Him now, knowing good from evil (Genesis 3:22)

Then God showed them MERCY by sending them out of the Garden of Eden, so they wouldn’t live forever to see the playing out of good and evil. God didn’t discipline them by banishing them from Eden, He provided for them in Love so their suffering wouldn’t be eternal.

Furthermore, if you believe in the redemptive story of Jesus, his resurrection made all things new! Men AND Women are free from the curse of sin and death in Christ. So how can we believe there’s a superior gender? MacArthur’s teaching is a manipulative twist on the whole story of the Scripture, proof-texting at it’s finest to derive a defense and use the Words of Love to justify hate speech and marginalizing people. MacArthur is using the most powerful form of religious abuse- shame. Period.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.“ Romans 8:1 There is no room for shame when we are at the feet of Jesus.

DISCLAIMER: Let me be clear: I am not criticizing the personhood of MacArthur. I believe he, too, is made in God’s image. But as teachers, we are held at the highest standard, and his teachings misalign the truth of Christ.

Blog Spirituality

I am Blessed (and so are you…)

Bless you. Let’s say the blessing. Bless your heart! I am so blessed. God bless America. The blessed life is the best life. And let’s not forget posting a picture of our new car with the infamous hashtag: #blessed.

The word bless is a common part of our everyday talk. It’s become a word we toss around casually, a spiritual version of our wish that came true. People use the word to describe their nice cars, big houses and bank accounts. But this word encapsulates much more than the desire for well-being or materialism.

The idea of earning blessing is a type of “Christian magic” where we think we can coerce God into treating us special. If I just do the right thing or say the right thing, surely He will do what I deserve. Surely he will bless me! This is performance-based thinking; it’s anti biblical and ungodly.

God is about relationship and not magic. Magic is about formulas and behavior. Relationship is about mystery and trust. Blessing is relational, not material. So we can throw away the score sheets and sticker charts, along with our ideas that God owes us something, or that we’ve earned our way into blessing. Relationships don’t need record keeping!

So what does blessing mean? The sermon on the mount was taught by Jesus and also talks about blessing. Matthew 5 says:

Have you ever felt: poor in spirit? mournful? meek? desiring of righteousness? merciful? pure in heart? peacemaking? Have you ever been persecuted or had something evil said against you? <<raises hand for every one>>

But look at the other half of the verses. What is the blessing?
The kingdom of heaven
Comfort
Inheritance
Satisfaction
Receiving Mercy
Seeing God
Being Sons/Daughters of God
Joy & Gladness

These are all relationship attributes. We receive comfort from someone who loves us when we’re hurting. We receive inheritance, not because we have earned something, but because we belong to them as an heir. He calls us sons and daughters. We receive satisfaction and mercy through relationship. We experience joy and gladness in relationship.

Our human tendency is to take these verses and make them into a checklist. “Just act merciful and then you’ll receive your mercy!” We use the checklist then as a way to give some Christian advice, which often falls short and leaves people feeling alone in their circumstances. Making blessing into cause and effect takes away the very gift blessing is.

Many times blessings are revealed in hardship. Life is not bubble gum and raindrops on roses all the time. The blessing is seeing the immovable love of God during my struggle. It’s unwrapping his grace in my failure… again. It’s having a deep hope in the face of rejection. It’s having peace in troubled waters.

When we make the entire gift out to be a behavior-reward exchange, we actually withhold or confuse blessing. We think the blessing is things or situations or outcomes. In the face of hardship we respond with feeling unloved, unwanted, hopeless, helpless, restless and uncertain in who we are and who God is. Isn’t our reaction usually: “If God is good then why is this happening?” Confusing the definition of blessing leaves us in a dangerous place of questioning and doubting the goodness of God.

The blessing is always within us, just hovering beneath the surface. As we go deeper with Jesus, He reveals blessing to us. As we yield to the spirit drilling deep into our hearts, through hard soil and dead things, he shows us blessing.

Blessing is not a measuring stick. It’s not goods that we receive. It’s not a heavenly checkbook. Blessing is our identity: Redeemed. Chosen. Adopted. Forgiven. Holy. Blameless. Daughter. Known. Receiver of grace, wisdom and mystery. Sealed by God in Christ through His Holy Spirit. No circumstance can shake those descriptors. No good deed can earn those titles. No sin or wrong can withhold who we are.

The apostles taught in Acts it is more blessed to give than to receive. Isn’t this real relationship, and real love- to sacrifice? To become like Christ we must give as he gave, too. There’s an undercurrent of sacrifice in the Beatitudes. To be a peacemaker means I lay down my right to defend myself. To be persecuted means to choose not to retaliate. To be merciful means I give forgiveness to people who might not deserve pardon.

When devastation and loss happens, it’s not punishment from God for not following the rules. I believe He is WITH us in our sufferings. That is the blessing- a relationship that cannot be shaken because of our behavior or performance. An identity no one can alter, to include myself. Blessing is becoming more fully who He says I am. Blessing is taking up the cause and yoke of Christ, and being Christlike to others. Only when I can fully be myself IN Him, can I be a blessing to others.

We are blessed because of WHO Jesus is, what His identity is, and what our identity is because of our relationship with him. YOU are already blessed. The blessing is ours in, through and because of Christ. The blessing IS the inheritance- it’s our birthright. It’s who we are. We get to BE the blessing to one another.

Blog Spirituality

Dear Church, Love Doesn’t Divide…

A mainline American Christianity reputation, and oftentimes reality, is judgmentalism. For three decades I’ve seen the ebb and flow, the collective rise and fall, the finger-pointing and condemnation hurled at certain well-known Christians or denominations. Whether it’s come in the form of questioning their faith, commitment or leadership, I’ve seen people with evolving thoughts on faith lambasted, their books pulled off shelves and every blogger in Christendom taking their collective stab at them.

It’s always been so ironic to me that Christians- who’s primary message is centered on a person called Love- can carry such negative connotations. Love doesn’t divide. Love multiplies.

Every parent who’s welcomed more than one child knows this truth- you CAN love more. The capacity for love is ever-growing, ever-changing and bubbling with the possibility to multiply.

It seems like Christianity is a dying faith some days, and that the church is continually putting each sect under the microscope to criticize. It’s time to return to elementary teachings. The whole message of Jesus is love, and we must multiply the cry.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12-14

Church- what if we encountered others with compassion?
Compassion sees the heart of the person made in God’s image and loves them anyway.

What if we encountered people different in their faith with kindness?
Kindness goes out of it’s way to make peace and create belonging.

What if we encountered people different in their faith with humility?
Humility says I can learn from someone else and my views aren’t always right.

What if we encountered the people we’d rather judge with gentleness?
Gentleness listens for the story under the story, the suffering under the hardness, and weeps with those who weeps. Or it finds the joy in the story and rejoices along with it.

What if we encountered our brothers and sisters in faith with patience?
Patience says I realize your path and journey is at a different place with Jesus. You don’t have to theologize, defend, “get on my level,” or believe how I believe for us to bear with one another.

The end of the Colossians passage says that we must put love on to bind us together in perfect unity. The global church is not united right now- we’re dividing ourselves into man-made boxes and defining God within those boundaries. We’re not marked with compassion and joy- don’t believe me? Ask an unbeliever! The Church has not lived up to the charge of love, which multiplies, which invites, which creates openness and willingness to dine with the sinners and the saints. And because of it, we see division.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. We must find unity by becoming people of Love, and not people of our denominations (yes, nondenomers, you have your own little groups, too). We must have loving conversation. We must get out of our certainty, theological boxes and assurances, and learn to become comfortable with the grey areas in faith- because most of it is grey, after all. That’s what faith is- not being certain all the time.

We don’t need anymore opinions or views about Jesus. We need to allow others to seek Him and find Him. We need to give people the air and freedom to wrestle with God. Because a real faith journey includes the doubt.

We cannot live in fear of another person’s viewpoints about Jesus or faith in general. We cannot avoid them or remain silent. We can’t just blend in and keep to ourself. We have to live in the tension with people. That’s the call of Christ: to love in the mess; to engage with faith and humility.

Every time I’ve tried to respond with gentleness, love, patience, kindness and humility to someone I’d previously categorize as “not as holy as myself,” I’ve been surprised to find they are much like me, and also capable of responding with gentleness, love, patience, kindness and equal humility. We can learn and grow, even if we don’t always agree. We can love each other, authentically, and in turn open the doors to love others.

I believe this because I’ve lived it. On one hand I’ve participated in judgmentalism, in defending biblical views, in becoming so rigid in my faith that I’ve pushed people out. I’ve contributed to division, and I am heartbroken by it. But I won’t stay there.

But I’ve also lived repentant (meaning with a changed mind), and seen the Kingdom multiply. I can attest that no one wins or build relationships from picketing, brimstone and fire sermons or a good religious debate. Love wins because of the choice to step out in love toward someone, to show empathy, to care in the same way Jesus did when He walked the earth.

So, Apologists, step away from your podiums (or your social media platform) and let the Spirit enlighten hearts. Use your voice to speak love kindness, gentleness, and maybe even a little humility to know you aren’t always right. God spoke through a donkey; therefore, He can operate outside our neatly defined faith.

So, Theologians- close the books and essays. No man or woman has ever perfectly dissected God and faith. It’s time you to go and talk to people who might even believe differently or belong to a more liberal or conservative denomination. Stop the Twitter arguments and reposts and love your neighbor.

So, Pastors, Elders & Deacons, Lay Leaders and Small Group Facilitators- don’t become so comfortable in your positions that you forget your mission is to love the world, and not just the little clique behind your doors who tithe, who celebritize you on Facebook Stories or think you are a guru of the Bible.

Believers- let’s start giving each other the benefit of the doubt. Let’s not weaponize the Scripture or Jesus. We need to use the real truth of the book- LOVE- to live and move and breathe and have our being.

The world needs us. We need each other. And Love is the only way that’s going to work and unify our hearts.

Blog Musings Spirituality

Shepherd

I remember the moment I felt called to Pastor. About 18 months after I finished my Masters in Counseling, I attended a spiritual retreat. I had an undeniable impression that I was being called to ministry, and specifically to Pastor. I couldn’t reconcile this theologically, having grown up in a denomination that taught that women are meant to serve, but only in the background.

I remember a conversation not long after with a beloved Women’s Pastor, who called out my anointing and gifts, charging me to preach and teach. I didn’t believe her. Not me. She even gave me books to read and I pushed them off. I stayed quiet. I remained mainly in the background in my church community. I was scared to be seen.

I remember the first time someone called me Pastor. In fact, it was my {Pastor} husband, who said that I’ve most shepherded his heart and purposed him to pursue Christ.

I remember the first time I taught a Bible study in my home and the first time I led a ministry project- with knees shaking. The first time I preached to a crowd of women for a Christmas cookie exchange, my voice quivered the whole time. But little by little, with faith, I kept going.

Over the years, I picked up the books. I started to put myself out there to be known. I stayed faithful in my relationship to Jesus and the people He sent to me for care. I counseled many people in late evenings at Starbucks. I walked people through inner healing and prayed with them through heartache. I spent many Wednesday morning with women sharing truth and words to continue the race.

Today my husband and I get to Pastor a chapel on a military base. Because of his role and influence, he has pushed me to step into my calling. Once a month now, I stand in the pulpit. I recognize many people still don’t welcome women in this position. But it’s taken me nearly a decade of praying, seeking, trusting and undoing to find the freedom Jesus offers. We’re all invited. Chromosomes do not exclude us from our gifts and callings.

Furthermore, Pastoring is far, far more than a 20 minute lecture from a podium. True shepherds know their sheep, and the sheep know their voice. Pastoring sometimes looks like coffee dates and text messages. It looks like play dates and casseroles delivered throughout the week. It looks like bringing over something to cheer up a would be Mom who just had a miscarriage. Pastoring is sitting with a couple struggling to communicate and helping them find their common ground and love for one another. It’s presence in the face of grief-stricken moments.

I’ve done all of this because I care for people. Or we give it language and say women who shepherd are just “nurturing.” But for whatever reason, calling a nurturing woman and caretaker of people a Pastor still ruffles feathers.

But we need to speak the truth in love. Women are born, gifted and called to be disciples. And to be a disciple means to study under the Rabbi, to become a “mini Rabbi.” Following Jesus always means to become more and more like Him. Jesus Pastored. His entire ministry was shepherding- caring for and protecting the sheep. Why do we exclude our language from including women in this call? Scripture teaches the priesthood of ALL believers, but we somehow make loopholes and caveats for how women cannot truly be a “Priest.”

Each Sunday that I preach, I sit in my husband’s office beforehand to pray, to be silent, to surrender. And today when I walked in, my lovely boy had left a flower for me to find. This moved me. I heard the whisper of the Spirit encouraging me to keep going- because there’s a little audience watching. My daughter and my son need to know that ALL people matter to Jesus. They need to know the Lord moves in and through everyday, ordinary people. Even women. Even their imperfect Mama.