Bible

Defeating Sin with Snowball Fights

December 17, 2015 By Michelle

I’m delighted to welcome Monica Sharman to the blog today. Monica is the author of Behold the Beauty: An Invitation to Bible Reading, which I will tell you straight up has helped this lax Bible reader return to daily Scripture reading with a fresh heart {thank you, Monica!}. If you know anyone who has fallen away from daily Scripture reading, or perhaps has never cracked open a Bible to begin with, Behold the Beauty is a gracious, gentle invitation that will appeal to faithful readers and beginners alike. Read more about Monica’s book here, and be sure to stop by her website to say hello {and scroll down to the bottom of this post for a chance to win a copy of Behold the Beauty and one of Monica’s favorites, Knowing the God You Pray To, by Cynthia Hyle Bezek – email subscribers click here and scroll down to the bottom of the post to enter the drawing}. Welcome, Monica!

Text and Photos by Monica Sharman:

I live with four family members, and all of them are male.

I still don’t get why snowball fights are fun. Why do they love being pelted with icy globs? To me, it’s like being hunted.

But they have their great fun packing snowballs while I watch from inside and take pictures with the window between me and them.

I heat water in the kettle and take out the marshmallows so the hot cocoa will be ready when they come in, red-cheeked and happy.

That’s winter. In the summers I worked with my young sons on the simple skills of catching and throwing a baseball. I told them how to position the mitt. I reminded them not to shut their eyes when the ball comes at them. I showed them that if they throw the ball with the right hand, they should step with the left foot (not the right, as they were doing).

Sometimes the progress seemed slow. At the beginning of one summer, though, I went to the backyard for one of the first throwing and catching practices of the year. They were much better than I remembered; their skill level was even better than it was end of the previous summer!

Wondering what happened, I told my husband about it. “They got so much better at throwing all of a sudden! I haven’t even been working on it that long!”

Charles’s explanation came immediately. “It’s because of the snowball fights.”

Of course.

Maybe the way to get better at throwing is not so much to “work on” throwing skills. Maybe we should just have snowball fights, and the throwing will improve automatically, almost without thinking about it. Plus, it’s fun.

The Snowball Fight of Knowing God
If overcoming sin is the throw-and-catch practice, knowing God is the snowball fight. Maybe the way to get better at conquering sin is not so much to “work on” avoiding that sin, gritting my teeth and saying, “I won’t sin. I won’t sin. I won’t sin.”

Maybe if I get to know God better and better, increasing my intimacy with Him, then overcoming the sin will follow as a natural consequence, almost without thinking about it—like the snowball fights and learning to throw.

Could it be?

“And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him…

No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.” (1 John 2:3-4 and 3:6, emphasis added)

I think it’s worth a try.

Knowing God more intimately—this is why I read the Bible. Plus, it’s fun.

“Remember, the goal isn’t to scan a verse for the right answer, note it, and move on; it’s to get to know God.”
– Cynthia Hyle Bezek, Knowing the God You Pray To.

monica-nov2012-200wide Monica Sharman is a home educator, freelance editor, and author of the newly released Behold the Beauty: An Invitation to Bible Reading. She loves drumming, poetry, and karate. She and her husband, inventor of Crossbeams, live in Colorado with their three sons. Connect with Monica on Twitter or Facebook.

I’ll randomly draw two winners – one to receive a copy of Monica’s book Behold the Beauty, and the other to receive a copy of Cynthia Hyle Bezek’s Knowing the God You Pray To. {Email subscribers, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the post to enter the drawing}.

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Let’s Lay Down Our Swords

March 5, 2015 By Michelle

Twoblossoms

I think most of you know by now that I love the Bible. I mean I LOVE the Bible. I read it faithfully, almost every morning. I pray it, I ponder it, and I try, to the best of my limited abilities, to let it seep into my heart, mind and soul and to change the way I think and act. Yes, I question it; yes, I wrestle with it – perhaps more than most – but this, I know, as fact: Scripture has personally transformed me and grown my relationship with God in more ways than I can count, and for that I am grateful.

That said, I also remember, very clearly, the many, many years I didn’t know the Bible at all. Those days are part of my not-so-distant past. It wasn’t all that long ago — just six or seven years ago, maybe — that I didn’t even own a Bible. And I certainly didn’t read it. Ever. Scripture was as foreign to me as another language. It meant nothing to me because I didn’t know it, and I didn’t have any context in which to understand it.

I remember the day I bought my first Bible; I wrote about that experience in Spiritual Misfit. I was leery I might be seen by someone in the “Christian Living” section of the bookstore; I was a little bit embarrassed and a lot uncomfortable. I remember the relief I felt when the cashier slipped the heavy, hard-bound book into a plastic bag. Another few weeks passed before I even opened the Bible I’d bought. I was afraid of what I would find inside.

The truth is, there’s a lot of scary, intimidating stuff between the covers of the Bible: hard truth, convicting words, ideas and teaching that will push you to your very limits and press at the boundaries you’ve so carefully erected.

As the Bible itself states, “The word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (Hebrews 4:12).

I’ve felt that sword cut between my soul and spirit, my joint and marrow. Scripture has revealed my innermost thoughts and desires time and time again.

But. I think it’s important for us to remember that just because Scripture is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword does not mean we should use it as such.

The truth is, using the word of God as a two-edged sword, even when we believe it with our deepest convictions, does not always serve others best. Using the word of God as a two-edged sword, even when we believe we are using that sword as salt and in love and truth, can often alienate the very people who most need to be brought closer to God.

When we use the word of God as a two-edged sword, we defeat our most important mission as Christians: to love our neighbors and to invite them into God’s unfailing love.

I’m not so far out from my misfit days that I can’t remember how fervently I recoiled from the Bible, how suspiciously I approached the word of God and those who seemed to know it and quote it so often. I’m not so far out from the fringe of faith that I can’t recall how disdainfully I looked upon those I considered the “Bible bangers” and how deeply I viewed them with repugnance.

And why did I feel that way for so long? Because far too often I’d heard and experienced scripture wielded as a weapon.

Friends, if we take Jesus’ commission seriously, then please allow me to state this as clearly as I can:

Quoting bits of scripture will rarely, if ever, bring the lost and wandering to God. And I know that might sound shocking to you. I know it might sound all convoluted and backwards, because how can that be, right? How can it be that the word of God could do the opposite of what we intend and desire?

But please hear me when I say this: wielding the word of God as a weapon, no matter if it is Truth, will not bring the lost to Christ. In fact, using the word of God as a two-edged sword will send the lost, the weary and the burdened, those on the fringe of faith, running, running, from Christianity — and God — as fast as they can without so much as a second glance back.

Spouted Bible verses mean nothing to a person unfamiliar with the Bible, to a person on the fringe of religion and faith. I know, because I was that person for twenty years.

But do you know what does mean something? Do you know what speaks loud and clear and can truly make a difference? Do you know what can successfully turn a person toward God, even a person who has turned her back on him for decades?

Love.

Compassion.

Humility.

Generosity.

Grace.

Forgiveness.

Invitation.

Conversation.

It really is that simple.

There’s time enough for the two-edged sword. Believe me, when people commit themselves to Christ wholeheartedly and authentically, they eventually go to battle long and hard with the two-edged sword. We don’t need to wage that battle for them.

Instead, let’s invite the lost and the wandering and those on the fringe of religion and faith gently and gracefully into Jesus’ embrace. Let’s lay down our swords and lead them to Jesus with love.

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: When You Think a Bible Verse Doesn’t Apply to You…Think Again

January 20, 2014 By Michelle

I have a bad habit of assuming certain Bible verses don’t apply to me.

Take the story we read this week, for instance, about the day Jesus cleared the Temple of the merchants and money changers. First of all, the scene itself is difficult to picture. Jesus, whom I typically think of as even-tempered and mild, fashions a whip – a whip! – out of rope and uses it to chase the transgressors out of the building. He scatters the coins onto the floor and then, consumed with anger and disgust, he turns over the tables, one after the other. This is a side of Jesus we haven’t seen before and won’t see again in all of Scripture. This is a side of Jesus I don’t want to mess with.

So what’s my reaction to these verses? “Whew!” I say to myself. “Glad I’m not as bad as the money changers! Glad I’m not the one abusing God’s Temple.”

Every time I’ve read this passage in the last three years, this has been my response. I assume because I’m not selling goats in the church lobby that I’m okay, I’m good – these verses don’t apply to me. But this week when I read this story, I discovered something I’ve never seen before in the verses that immediately follow the scene in the temple:

“Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like.” (John 2:23-24)

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that these two verses immediately follow the scene in the Temple.

Suddenly this story wasn’t only about the merchants and the money changers, it was about all of humankind. Suddenly I knew this story was about me.

The truth is, my inclination, my human nature, is to put material concerns – wealth, status, achievement, recognition – ahead of God. I do it time and time again. When I covet someone else’s house, I put money before God. When I yearn for someone else’s position, I put status before God. When I desire more blog readers and a bigger platform, I put achievement and recognition before God. I struggle with my priorities. I struggle to put God first.

Jesus was angry with the merchants and money changers because they dishonored his Father’s house. But on a deeper level, he was angry with them because their motives, actions and priorities dishonored God himself. They put worldly concerns – wealth, status and recognition – ahead of God, and that, I know, is something I’m guilty of, too.

Questions for Reflection:
What do you put ahead of God? Can you think of how you might better arrange your priorities so that God comes first?

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Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: What To Do When Doubt Takes Your Breath Away

April 8, 2013 By Michelle

He drops the bomb at dinner, over meatloaf and baked potato: “I think I might be in a not-believing-in-God stage.” My heart sinks. “Really?” I ask, peering at Rowan around the vase in the middle of the table. “What makes you think that?” I try to sound casual, nonplussed.

“I just can’t get over the idea of being dead,” Rowan explains. “It seems so weird to think that once you’re dead, you’re just gone, like, not existing at all.” Now he’s trying to sound casual. But his eyes are wide, unblinking. He stares at me hard across the dining room table, holds my gaze. I can tell he is afraid.

“It’s okay,” I tell him, spooning sour cream onto my potato. “Everyone doubts sometimes, everyone wonders about God and death and everything. It’s going to be okay.”

“Yeah!” Noah pipes up. “I had my not-believing-in-God stage all the way until the start of fourth grade. Then after that I was fine.” I’m not sure I knew this, but I nod vigorously anyway, like Noah’s example is proof that everything will indeed be okay.

I’m still thinking about that dinnertime conversation a few days later, though, when I read the story of the road to Emmaus. I’m having trouble with verse 16:

But God kept them from recognizing him.

Two of Jesus’ followers were walking together, three days after his crucifixion. Jesus appeared alongside and began to walk with them, but they didn’t know who he was. Not just that they didn’t recognize him, but that God kept them from recognizing him, the text reads.

I don’t like this verse. I search Bible Gateway for other translations, hoping for a different interpretation. Nearly all of them translate the verse the same way or very similarly.

Why? Why does God keep the men from recognizing Jesus? I wonder. Why would God intentionally keep us from seeing him?

I wrestle with the text for days, reading and re-reading the story. And while I’m not sure I get an answer to the why?, I finally realize something important. It’s true, Jesus is exasperated by his followers’ disbelief. But instead of throwing up his hands and walking away, he begins to teach them. Again. From the beginning. He starts way back with Moses and the prophets, and he points out each and every instance in which the Bible paves the way toward his resurrection.

When his own disciples doubt him, when they waver in their faith, Jesus brings them back to the Bible.

He brings them back to him through the Bible.

It’s only later, after Jesus has been revealed to them in the breaking of the bread, that the two disciples realize this. “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32), they say, astounded. The Scriptures had stirred their hearts to God’s presence; their brains simply needed time to catch up.

There’s a lesson in here for all of us.

When we are lost, when we begin to doubt God, when we can’t see him, even when he stands right in front of us, we need to return to his story.

Open the book, Jesus says. The proof is right there.

And so, even though Rowan’s declaration of doubt takes my breath away, and even though I’m terrified he’ll suffer a lifetime of questions and uncertainty, much like me, I do what Jesus does with his own wanderers. I bring Rowan back to the Bible.

And we begin again.

And a quick note: Kim from Kim’s Country Line won the free copy of Matt Appling’s book Life After Art. Kim, Rowan picked your name from the bowl this morning — congratulations! I sent you an email – please email me your mailing address so Matt can mail you your copy of his book!

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Welcome to the “Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday” community, a place where we share what we are hearing from God and his Word.

If you’re here for the first time, click here for more information. Please include the Hear It, Use It button (grab the code below) or a link in your post, so your readers know where to find the community if they want to join in — thank you!

Please also try to visit and leave some friendly encouragement in the comment box of at least one other Hear It, Use It participant. And if you want to tweet about the community, please use the #HearItUseIt hashtag.

Thank you — I am so grateful that you are here!

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Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: Why I Read Different Bible Translations

March 11, 2013 By Michelle

I’m more of an old-fashioned traditionalist when it comes to Bible translations. Not King James-old-fashioned, mind you. More like New International Version. Or, if I’m feeling especially mod, the New Living Translation. But The Message? I resisted it for a long time because it seemed too trendy, too newfangled and hip for me. I figured people like Shane Claiborne read The Message, radical Jesus people; cool people. But not live-in-Nebraska-have-two-kids-and-attend-PTO-meetings kind of people.

Finally, though, I bought my own copy because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I’m glad I did, and here’s why:

Initially I read yesterday’s lesson, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, from the New Living translation. And I skimmed right by these opening verses:

Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury.” (Luke 16:19).

After I read the whole parable, I opened The Message translation to see how the story read there, and I read these opening lines:

“There was once a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption.”

Do you see where I’m going with this?

In the first version, the verses didn’t feel like they applied to me. I’m not splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen. I don’t live each day in luxury. I’m picturing The Emperor’s New Clothes here, people, not a woman who lives in Nebraska and shops at Kohl’s.

So I move on.

But The Message version? The Message version makes me cringe. “Dressed in the latest fashions” strikes an uneasy chord, because, let me tell it to you straight: I do like fashion. I do like clothes. I do like to shop. In fact, several years ago, a colleague told me she thought I was the most fashionable person in the building. Not that I was the kindest or the smartest or the most gracious or even the most professional person at work, but the most fashionable. I wore that complement like a crown.

The description of the rich man in The Message doesn’t let me off the hook so easily because it describes me and one of my many flaws.

I haven’t been reading the Bible all that long. But already I’ve gotten complacent. The more familiar I am with the parables and the messages, the more inclined I am to skate by the truth, to overlook how each story applies directly to me, to neglect the fact that Jesus is talking to me, not to some “other” worse-off person.

I like reading more than one translation because it keeps me on my toes. It doesn’t allow me to get lazy or self-righteous. And sometimes, a different translation hits me where it hurts, which is exactly what I need.

What about you? Did you tend to read more than one translation or do you stick with your favorite?

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Welcome to the “Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday” community, a place where we share what we are hearing from God and his Word.

Thank you — I am so grateful that you are here!

Click here to get posts in your email in-box. Click here to “like” my Facebook Writer page. Thank you!

Bible

But God kept them from recognizing him.

When his own disciples doubt him, when they waver in their faith, Jesus brings them back to the Bible.

He brings them back to him through the Bible.

Open the book, Jesus says. The proof is right there.

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