I am not perfect in my performance. I am not perfect in my practice. I am not perfect in my progress. But I am perfect in my position before God. Because the perfect one gave his life for me and stands in my place. I have been made perfect in God's sight. Washed white by grace.
And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, (Hebrews 5:9 NASB)
For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14 NASB)
I have been accepted because Jesus was rejected.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:3 NIV)
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31 NIV)
The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone; (Psalm 118:22 NIV)
And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). (Mark 15:34 NIV)
I did not give God a reason to love me.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NIV)
He loves me because I am His.
I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. (Song of Solomon 6:3a NIV)
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Renew Your Mind
For the past few weeks, nap time with Henry has been a source of contention. I usually change his diaper, he chooses two books and hops up in bed. After I read the books to him, he lays down in his bed and I lay down on the floor next to him and then the "party" begins. I noticed yesterday that Henry makes the same mistakes over and over again-and he says the same things to me almost verbatim.
"Mommy...mommy...mommy...mommy..." I pretend like I'm already asleep. He keeps it up. When I finally reply he says, "I just wanna Skype later." I say ok and he's quiet for another minute or two. Then he repeats my name again until I answer and he says, "Can you put my blankey on?" After I do, he proceeds to kick it off in less than two minutes. Then he takes his slippers and his socks off and on repeatedly until I get completely frustrated and end up threatening a spanking or else start doling them out. It is an awfully painful cycle not only for me but for Henry as well. I couldn't understand why he kept repeating the same things day after day until yesterday.
Finally it occurred to me that because kids (especially Henry) love routine and that it is only because it is a habit that we keep repeating this cycle. But how to bust out of it is the question...
That afternoon when we laid down for a nap, I tried to add some additional activities to our routine in order to hopefully override Henry's unpleasant habits. I had his blankey in place before he got up in bed. We read an extra story from his children's bible and I also took his slippers off ahead of time and put them in the closet. After he got settled, I stood over him and asked him to close his eyes and take three deep breaths. I did it with him (maybe more for myself than him) and counted each breath out loud as we went. When we finished he dove into his old routine... "Mommy"... I stopped him immediately and said, "Henry, you know how you usually say Mommy a bunch of times? We're not going to do that today. God wants us to make new habits that are good for us. That way Mommy and Henry can be happy when we do nap time. When you say Mommy over and over, that is a mistake. We are going to try not to make the same mistakes every day." I then prayed aloud for Henry and asked God to renew his mind and help him to make new habits that are healthy. I prayed that God would show Henry how to go to sleep without complaining or stalling and that he would sleep soundly. Amazingly, it worked!! I am as shocked as you are! I know it was a lot of talking and it's possible I bored him to sleep but whatever works! Anyway, God answered that prayer because we had no problem again today. It stuck. Praise the Lord for new good habits!
After I prayed for Henry and as soon as I laid my head down on the floor to take a snooze with my little Henry boy, the Lord started impressing on my heart the idea of renewing my mind. Wow! I love how He teaches me through my kids. I have experienced torment in my life when it comes to worrying about what people think-fear of man type stuff. In essence, it has been my own disgusting cycle. I put myself out there, entrust my heart to another person, trust is broken because people always disappoint, offense occurs in my heart, I pull back and put up walls, and make a note not to put myself out there like that again. God is asking me to renew my mind. Instead of taking the same paths I always take, challenge myself to take a different path. The path laid out in the word of God. This path is not easily traveled. It requires me to die to myself to my selfish pride. It requires me to humble myself and not always be proven right. To not trust in another person but trust in God. To not be offended but to make allowance for other people's faults. To forgive as I have been forgiven. It takes effort. Real mental effort. Pushing through feelings and not acting on an emotion. I must renew my mind, take every thought captive to the Lord and make every effort to apply the word of God to my life in every situation. Otherwise, I will still be dealing with the same issue when I'm old. I want to mature in my faith and I want to be holy as He is holy. Lord, please make me more into your image.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV)
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8 NIV)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV)
"Mommy...mommy...mommy...mommy..." I pretend like I'm already asleep. He keeps it up. When I finally reply he says, "I just wanna Skype later." I say ok and he's quiet for another minute or two. Then he repeats my name again until I answer and he says, "Can you put my blankey on?" After I do, he proceeds to kick it off in less than two minutes. Then he takes his slippers and his socks off and on repeatedly until I get completely frustrated and end up threatening a spanking or else start doling them out. It is an awfully painful cycle not only for me but for Henry as well. I couldn't understand why he kept repeating the same things day after day until yesterday.
Finally it occurred to me that because kids (especially Henry) love routine and that it is only because it is a habit that we keep repeating this cycle. But how to bust out of it is the question...
That afternoon when we laid down for a nap, I tried to add some additional activities to our routine in order to hopefully override Henry's unpleasant habits. I had his blankey in place before he got up in bed. We read an extra story from his children's bible and I also took his slippers off ahead of time and put them in the closet. After he got settled, I stood over him and asked him to close his eyes and take three deep breaths. I did it with him (maybe more for myself than him) and counted each breath out loud as we went. When we finished he dove into his old routine... "Mommy"... I stopped him immediately and said, "Henry, you know how you usually say Mommy a bunch of times? We're not going to do that today. God wants us to make new habits that are good for us. That way Mommy and Henry can be happy when we do nap time. When you say Mommy over and over, that is a mistake. We are going to try not to make the same mistakes every day." I then prayed aloud for Henry and asked God to renew his mind and help him to make new habits that are healthy. I prayed that God would show Henry how to go to sleep without complaining or stalling and that he would sleep soundly. Amazingly, it worked!! I am as shocked as you are! I know it was a lot of talking and it's possible I bored him to sleep but whatever works! Anyway, God answered that prayer because we had no problem again today. It stuck. Praise the Lord for new good habits!
After I prayed for Henry and as soon as I laid my head down on the floor to take a snooze with my little Henry boy, the Lord started impressing on my heart the idea of renewing my mind. Wow! I love how He teaches me through my kids. I have experienced torment in my life when it comes to worrying about what people think-fear of man type stuff. In essence, it has been my own disgusting cycle. I put myself out there, entrust my heart to another person, trust is broken because people always disappoint, offense occurs in my heart, I pull back and put up walls, and make a note not to put myself out there like that again. God is asking me to renew my mind. Instead of taking the same paths I always take, challenge myself to take a different path. The path laid out in the word of God. This path is not easily traveled. It requires me to die to myself to my selfish pride. It requires me to humble myself and not always be proven right. To not trust in another person but trust in God. To not be offended but to make allowance for other people's faults. To forgive as I have been forgiven. It takes effort. Real mental effort. Pushing through feelings and not acting on an emotion. I must renew my mind, take every thought captive to the Lord and make every effort to apply the word of God to my life in every situation. Otherwise, I will still be dealing with the same issue when I'm old. I want to mature in my faith and I want to be holy as He is holy. Lord, please make me more into your image.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV)
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8 NIV)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV)
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