Body Image

1 Cor. 12:14-15 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

It sounds like the foot has shame issues. For some reason it sees the hand as being better than a foot. God doesn't see it that way at all. The problem is the foot hasn't figured out yet that it was created to be a foot and being a foot is pretty cool once you accept it. On any given day the hand might be thinking the same thing about the foot. Wish I was a foot. I might be more loved and taken more seriously. Wow, it's complicated when shame gets in the mix. I truly hope you are part of a church body or small group where you feel valued and esteemed because with out it life can be very difficult and frankly it is our responsibility to be in a group like that. And it is our groups responsibility to be a group like that. By the way, the very next chapter is 13. It is spent telling us how to love and value each other. I sincerely hope you all have this in your life today because hard times are guaranteed. We can make it through them with God's help and a caring community around us.

Body Image

1 Cor. 12:14-15 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

It sounds like the foot has shame issues. For some reason it sees the hand as being better than a foot. God doesn't see it that way at all. The problem is the foot hasn't figured out yet that it was created to be a foot and being a foot is pretty cool once you accept it. On any given day the hand might be thinking the same thing about the foot. Wish I was a foot. I might be more loved and taken more seriously. Wow, it's complicated when shame gets in the mix. I truly hope you are part of a church body or small group where you feel valued and esteemed because with out it life can be very difficult and frankly it is our responsibility to be in a group like that. And it is our groups responsibility to be a group like that. By the way, the very next chapter is 13. It is spent telling us how to love and value each other. I sincerely hope you all have this in your life today because hard times are guaranteed. We can make it through them with God's help and a caring community around us.

Finding God’s Love in Un-safe Places

Finding God’s Love in Un-safe Places

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Pet. 4:8

  I was recently thinking about all the people God used in scripture to carry out his purposes and the thought occurred to me, I wouldn’t have picked most of them out of a line up and trusted them to do the job if I had known the flaws in them revealed in their stories.  Then later I thought about some of the people God has used to encourage, build and restore my life.  If I had known how fallible they were I may not have trusted them to love me and influence me the way I did.  I may not have benefited by their wisdom, gifting and most of all their love.  Then a few days later I had the notion that if others knew how flawed I am they might not trust me and the gifts I have to influence love and healing in them.

  It is very important to me to be a safe person and it’s important for us to look for safety in people before we trust them.  But sometimes we use the “safety” card to avoid letting people in.  We keep looking for the perfectly safe person before we trust anyone.  The result is we are left isolated from God’s love and meaningful relationship with others.   This keeps us in control trusting self instead of God.  What if God sent us a Moses to rescue us?  He was a killer and a former member of the enemy’s team.  Or a David; he was a murder, adulterer and a terrible father and husband.  But these chosen ones were sent by God and empowered to be a force for him. 

  The truth is that trust is risky business and complete trust is usually foolishness so that makes it a little difficult when we are trying to discern whom we can trust.  We need to remember that ultimately we are putting our trust in God, because I can tell you with a great degree of confidence that everyone you have ever trusted is not completely trustworthy, yet they were able to share God’s love and Grace with you and you were able to receive it.  

  The goal is not to completely trust a person, only God gets that from us and most of us struggle with that.  The goal is to trust what God wants to give us through others.  We are trusting God when we chose to receive His gifts of love and grace flowing through imperfect people, just as God trusts and empowers imperfect people like us to love others. 

  So the next time we here the words, “where is God?”  We can remind ourselves that He’s in us wanting to reach out and care for others, and He’s in others wanting to reach out and care for us.  

 Doug Tawlks 5-10-13

The Devil is in the details

D. male 19 years old.

I needed some clarity on something. I've been feeling convicted about playing a particular video game that involves magic and a plot line that ultimate leads you to killing 'Diablo' and I hadn't really thought much into the conviction other than I know that video games have a tendency to be a serious distraction in my life. I had a kind of fellowship and morning bible study with a brother today and something he mentioned was, when is it too much involvement in witchcraft that it actually becomes a problem, or more so sin? Then went on to talk about how witchcraft is in form or another in a lot of video games, and that ultimately that's why he doesn't play games because he thinks it gives glory to satan. Then I asked him what he thought of Halloween and he pretty well said the same thing. I've been trouble thinking about it all of today. In fact I've been struggling spiritually in that the problem focussing like I had mentioned before. I tried getting some sleep, didn't seem to help I've prayed over it, I've rebuked it and I'm not sure what else to do??

D

My response.

There are extremes on how many would answer your question, but I would start with a question for you. Are you able to walk away from it. Put it down. Or does it have control over you? Of course you could have this problem with Angry Birds. Still it's a good question. The demonic impact of a game like this should be taken seriously although that is hard to explain why in detail. Because I personally believe that demonic influence comes through deception that we have to buy into. It's not like a virus that we can catch on accident. So another question would be; are you being deceived in anyway through this game or is it leading you toward deception? I would recommend that you keep praying for God to reveal what it is he is trying to show you. One last thought. One of the trickiest lies that I see believers get caught up in has to do with what they believe is the extent or limitations of Satan's power. When we start believing that he has power over us when he really doesn't, it opens the door to him having power over us. We must always remember that our "flesh" also wants to control us. It is easily distracted toward things that have a negative de-valuing to us. It's like when we eat junk food. It seems harmless, it tastes good, but it has negative consequences. This video game may be spiritual junk food for you. Slow, subtle negative consequences that in the end leaves you stranded with extra baggage you really don't need.

Take care D.

In Search of Emotional Courage

The heart of a man is like deep waters...  Proverbs 20:5

A true adventure requires risk.  And risk we must! For falling back in fear will mean losing the emotions we were created to experience.  As men we are strongest when we can empathize with the emotions of a loved one.  Then and only then will we be able to connect at the heart with those we care about and the God we serve. 

I was first introduced to “risky faith” when I was in college.  The first time I heard Tim Hansel talk about the need for adventure to bring personal growth it captured my masculine heart and for the first time I began to see Jesus in a different light.  Tim said, “an encounter with Jesus is no safe thing.  Meeting him is like running straight on into a tornado for the first time.”  It was from this man that I first heard a quote by Helen Keller, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”  In many ways he was a forerunner to John Eldridge, who over a decade ago began to call men back to their masculine souls.  And what a stir that caused.  Men from all over this country were drawn to the “Wild at Heart” message that said,

“Adventure is written into the heart of a man.  And it’s not just having fun.  Adventure requires something of us, it puts us to the test.”  -John Eldridge-

John told us that men’s hearts have been assaulted and it was time to recapture what it means to be a man.  He challenged us to return to the adventure of living from the heart. 

Soon after hearing the adventure message in my early twenties I discovered that the greatest adventures in life do not happen riding the white waters of the Tuolumne or climbing a vertical granite wall in Yosemite.  For many men it is easier to risk rappelling off of a vertical granite face or jumping from an airplane than to risk feeling the deeper emotions of the heart.  Meaningful adventure happens when we trust God with the pain of our lives because then and only then do we discover that He is bigger than that pain.   And then we are able to love others deeply instead of closing off and shutting down our emotions. 

As men we are called to be strong and courageous and often toughness and strength are required to take on the day, finish strong and rise to the present challenge.  At other times the obstacles we face are of a different nature, like overcoming the pain of a traumatic childhood or a devastating loss of a friend to an early death.  Some of us carry the wounds caused by an angry or absent father while for others it is the rejection of a lover or the loss of a dream.  Whatever it is that has assaulted your heart, it will not let go until you find the emotional courage to trust God with the deepest part of your pain.  Anytime we move from managing our own pain to facing it and trusting God to take us through it, we will find ourselves on the path to discovering a God that is much bigger, more powerful and intimately real than we ever imagined.

We have to trust that our stories deserve to be told.  We
may discover that the better we tell our stories the better
we will want to live them.  -Henri Nouwen-

Bonding and Boundries

Questions, feedback and thoughts welcome here...