Unity, love, and the Great Mystery

My precious mother-by-love, Bernice Bauman once told me that there is a scripture for every situation in life, and challenged me to think of something that I thought might not be addressed in scripture.  I, being a young mother, thought of “potty training”.  Mom thought a few minutes, and pulled out her Bible, and quoted:

Deuteronomy 23:12-14 (KJV)
12 Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad:
13 And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:
14 For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

I had to laugh, because this scripture did, indeed, address potty training.  We certainly don’t want “which cometh from” our children in “the midst of thy camp”!

Mom and Dad Bauman.  

So looking forward to seeing them again! ♥ ♥ ♥

I want to preface my comments with a very short discussion of what I believe.  I believe that there is nothing in our lives that is not in some way addressed in scripture.  It is the ultimate guide, it is the Creator’s instruction manual, and it cannot be overlooked for opinion or conjecture.  I pray that it be the foundation of my opinions. 

(A short note about the translation I use.  Unless otherwise noted I have chosen to use the New American Standard Bible. BibleGateway.com: "While preserving the literal accuracy of the 1901 ASV, the NASB has sought to render grammar and terminology in contemporary English. Special attention has been given to the rendering of verb tenses to give the English reader a rendering as close as possible to the sense of the original Greek and Hebrew texts. Recent research on the oldest and best Greek manuscripts of the New Testament has been reviewed, and some passages have been updated for even greater fidelity to the original manuscripts.")

So, moving on to what is on my heart. 

We are women.  

We have issues.  

We have hormones which have a real effect on how we function. 

We multitask because we are equipped to do so. 

We overreact to things said to us, 

around us, 

and about us.  

We fuss. 

We fret. 

We have full and busy lives. 

We really want to live our lives to the Glory of God and we struggle to put that into practical terms.

My prayers and thoughts recently have focused on our relationships with each other, particularly as sisters in Christ.  

I generally look to Job chapters 38-42 when I want perspective on life.  What a great set of verses!  Some of the best are the ones that remind me that I don’t know much.  

Great.  

Just what we needed, right? 

YES, it is, when that Someone is God!  

38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
2 “Who is this that darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
3 “Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
5 Who set its measurements? Since you know.

These verses simultaneously give me chills and make me laugh!  It is a true “duh” moment.  “Well, Lord, actually, um, I have nothing to say to that...”

Another verse jumped out at me because it demonstrates that Our Awesome God is the God of worlds beyond our own:

Job 38:31  "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?  

Yet, this Magnificent God is interested in us.  And, He has given us some particular instructions on how to relate to Him, and how to relate to each other.

We have instructions from the words of Jesus about what we need to be:

John 17:22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 
23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

There is a goal to our unity with each other! It is unity with Jesus and the Father and as a display to the world of His glory, His divinity and His love.

What an awesome responsibility and challenge!  This is not just for us.  We serve a God Who is the God of all the stars, and we are given the task of displaying to the world and the heavenly beings:

Ephesians 3:8 (Paul says:) To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 
9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 
10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 
11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord

Colossians 1:26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 
27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

So, our unity displays His love and purpose for coming to us.

Our salvation, the mystery which was hidden for ages, which is seen by the world and authorities in heavenly places, displays the wisdom of God. 

And, our love for one another is the litmus test for all men to know that we are His followers.

In light of the consideration of this HUGE responsibility, I am convinced that we are being undermined in this goal, and we are allowing ourselves to be undermined.

Is it any wonder that the world looks at traditional American Christianity and wants nothing to do with it?

Ladies, I am fully convinced that if we loved each other the way we are instructed to do, true, effectual revival would come to the people of God.

This lays the groundwork for another aspect of this discussion in my next post.  That is, practical sisterly love and unity.

The Beginning...

I am just a wife, a mama, and a grandma.  I am an older woman.  I am not perfect, and have not done everything in my life perfectly.  Far from that. 

"But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; Skills I 

have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a

nightmare for people like you."

(LOL!  Sorry, I could not resist the Liam Neeson quote from

 "Taken"!)

But seriously, I have life experience, and have made many of the mistakes others make, and some mistakes unique to my life.  

It has been impressed upon me that I have a responsibility to my family and my community, in particular to the community of Believers.  To define my role in this community, I look to Titus 2:3-5 NASB

3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 
4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 
5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

~ I am compelled to share some observations I am making about how we interact with each other.

I will not make these observations personal to any one individual.

I will not be condemning of personal choices families have made about their own situations in their private lives.

If I am asked to elaborate on my opinion, I will do so, but will not insist that the women who may read my opinion must necessarily follow me, or be wrong in their choice.

~I choose to use Facebook as a place to let you know what I've been pondering.

Facebook is like a soundbite.  A tiny morsel of communication.  A place to throw things on the table.  I will be utilizing my Facebook page as a place to post my blogs and link them to this place. 

~ I will be selective in how I chose to engage in the discussion of issues. 

I choose to not engage in querulous, inflammatory, or highly controversial discussions on Facebook which focus on the decisions by families, about their own families.

~ I will pray for you!

A big part of encouraging is praying, so I will be available to pray for you as you have requests for me.  

I will not give you my opinion on your situation unless you ask me to do so.

I will not confront you with your situation unless I believe you are in sin. (Matthew 18:15 NASB  If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.) This is true also of sisters! ;)

This is an open blog, so don't ask me to pray for you for a very private issue on this blog.  Feel free to message me, text me, or email me.

~ Pray for me that I will communicate what God would have me share.

Psalm 19:14 NASB

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be

acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my 

Redeemer.

~ Pray for me that I would not fall into the trap of argumentativeness or the equally ugly trap of pride.

2 Thessolonians 3:3 NASB
But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.