The Parker Dog, Lady . . .

I can't help but blog about my mentioning of Lady, the Parker dog, last night. Perhaps this blog can be one of my outlets that will lead me to a better relationship with this canine. (Basically, I am going to ramble a little which may be good for me but not as much fun for you . . .)

So, here's the deal, Justin has had Lady since he was a junior in high school. She turned 15 this month (in September). She was very jealous when Justin and I started dating and would put her nose down between us when we would sit together on the couch.

Eventually, they grafted me into the family and she would protect me (and Jarrett too) from anyone who would threaten us.

Why wouldn't this be ok with me? Lady is a good dog. Just don't leave your socks or undergarments laying around. You will see them again it will just be the next day out in the yard. It's amazing what will go through her digestive tract! Justin actually saved a pair of Jarrett's socks once - cleaned them up and he was good to go . . .

Anyway, Lady is a DOG. I have never considered myself a dog person and she came with Justin. I have tolerated this quite well but more recently has become more inconvenient. My biggest issue is that she sheds which requires more house maintenance. I also don't like to be breathed on or brushed up against on hot days. When I am on the floor playing with Jarrett, when I pick him up, I have to use a lint remover on him and me before we leave the house.

As I am writing this, I am saying to myself, "it's so trivial isn't it ". . . My point of writing? Well, to keep you updated on what I learn about what Lady represents for me. It's not logical to be so angered by the canine so there is something there . . . if any of you have insight, feel free to let me know.

In the meantime, me and my lint remover will be close by.

And, finally, we get to this question of religion. Which many of us in the room last night said we recoil at that word. We don't like being called "religious." But this scripture can help us with what that really means and it's great news! If we were truly "religious" in this way, people would love Christians and "religious" people!

James gets to this point to Accepting the Word and Doing the Word but what can this lead to? Religious "practices." It looks good but it becomes mere ritual and not Christ-centered. So James lists 3 penetrating dimensions of religion that are acceptable to God:

1) Control of the tongue - how many sins can you think of that are caused by our tongues? James obviously knows this is a big deal and dedicates chapter 3 to address it. Just to let you know, James is not addressing if we sometimes have an unbridled tongue it's if we have an habitually unbridled tongue.

2) Help those who cannot help themselves = orphans and widows. These two persons in NT days were helpless without men to take care of them in their Patriarchal society. It was up to Christians to lend a charitable hand to meet their needs and help them in their plight. And this is not just to give money but to be personally involved with them. Hands-on caring.

3) An unpolluted life - I think this comes back to the question from the beginning - what does a righteous life look like? This may look different for everyone but certainly includes what this passage addresses - quick to listen, slow to speak and become angry. Listen to the word AND do what it says. Watch what you say and help those who can't help themselves. That may be a good start to this unpolluted life.

Any other ideas?

I love how this passage involves our Words, our Hands, and our Hearts. I am challenged to my core and the dog is my test :-)

Looking in the Mirror

The mirror = the Word. The word speaks of the Old Testament.

When we look into the Word, we see, literally, the "heart of our birth". The longer one looks at the mirror, the more we begin to see our flaws, blemishes etc. (Some talked about when we see ourselves on video, the camera doesn't lie . . . or how about the great 360 mirror on What Not To Wear? Nothing is hidden. . . ) The mirror - the Word - allows us to look at ourselves but also to gaze upon the face of God.

So we have 2 pictures - one person who "looks at their face in the mirror and, after looking at it, goes away and forgets what he looks like." The 2nd picture we get is a person who "looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this."

The first person may have scripture memorized, know the books of the Bible, know stories, etc. They have accumulated knowledge but clearly, that is not enough!

The second person is gripped by what they see in the mirror - and keeps on looking! The "perfect law" refers to the OT Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus because he came to fulfill the law. They see the sin in themselves and they also see the holiness of God. Like Paul says in Romans 7:24, "What a wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

Which kind of person are we? Do we look into the mirror and act upon what we see? Are we a part of a process of looking & doing, looking & doing, looking & doing?

If we are looking and doing? How is this lived out for you?

James closes with a beatitude: if we hear and do the word, one will be blessed in ALL they do. (Wow, really??) That's what the scripture states . . . :-)

Word, Hands and Heart

Last night we had the joy of studying James 1:19-27. I like what Sheila did last week so I am going to blog a few different posts . . . here's some beginning thoughts. . . on vs 19-22

There is a triple duty in responding to the word
1) Quick to listen - listening is not a passive - it's active and it takes hard work! Oral communication and listening was cruical and if it wasn't done lead to spiritual impoverishment. The scriptures (they only had the OT at the time) written down were not mass produced so much was communicated orally rather than read.

How do you practice listening?

2) Slow to speak - basically, James is telling us to think before we speak. Prov. 10:19 is a good one for me who likes to talk . . . "When words are many, sin is not absent - he who holds his tongue is wise.

How do you practice being slow to speak?

3) Slow to become angry - It's easy to rationalize our anger. We say that we are just "brutally honest" or "frank" about things. We even blame the pressure we are under. An angry spirit is never a listening or teachable one. (YIKES!) If we don't listen to the word, we act out of our own selfishness which certainly can escalate anger. Prov. 29:11 "A fool gives full vent to his anger but a wiseman keeps himself under control.

The reason we act in such a way is listed in verse 20, "anger doesn't bring about the righteous life that God desires."

What is righteous living?

Basically, if we wish to benefit from the word, we must get rid of the sins it reveals to us - when we do that, we are ready to "humbly accept the word . . ."

What about that?

Other Questions

A few of the questions from last night are excellent discussion questions and I would love to hear what you all think about them since we ran out of time last night...Here they are...

*What does perseverence look like? (vs 3, 4, 12) Is it situational, big picture or both?

*What does "every good and perfect gift" look like? (vs. 17). Do I view my trials as good gifts if they are producing spiritual maturity?

*"God is tempting me" (vs 13). Why would someone think that??

Firstfruits

Another question raised was about firstfruits (vs 18). One of the groups mentioned it being the first of the harvest...YES!!!

James' readers would have been familiar with the term because Jewish custom was that firstfruits were offered to God in gratitude and recognition that all comes from Him and belongs to Him. To find out more about the term firstfruits look up all the places in scripture that talk about it (in a variety of ways)...Deut 26:9-11...1 Cor 15:20...Rev 14:4...Jer 2:3.

The image of firstfruits is an expectation of the ultimate fruit-bearing goal of God's work in us. It is a high calling to have God's character of holiness more and more clearly reflected in us...Thus, we all should present ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2) to Him (similar to the Israelites offering of the first of their harvest).

Reminds me of Kevin's action step...Take time to be holy...

The Test

One of the unanswered questions last night stems from James 1:12 where it says "when he has stood the test". What is this test? The phrase is hoti dokimos genomenos or "when he has become approved as by test". There will be diverse trials and tests and we can trust the Lord to use them to grow our faith. How many tests will we have...who knows!!! I believe this might also just mean "life" cuz much of life is a test! Once we are "approved" we will receive the crown of life--full enjoyment of HEAVEN!!

This raises a few questions...

*How do I react when various forms of testing come into my life?

*Do I live in the future, waiting for my circumstances to improve, or do I live in the present seeking to see the hand of God in all that comes to me?

Follow up from 9/17

Hi All!
I just want to thank all of you who were there last night at TNT...you did an awesome job at getting to the nuts and bolts of James 1:1-18 and brought up some wonderful questions. I am really looking forward to getting to know all of you better!!

This is an invite for all of you to begin blogging...you do need to have a google account which is easy to set up and then you can comment on posts. If you would like to author a "post" just let me know and I'll get you going:)

I've decided that I'll post all of the unanswered questions separately so that we can have conversations about the individual questions...hopefully that will make sense as we get going...

Oh, and I would just encourage you to invite a friend next week:)

Wednesday September 17

Hi All!
We are starting our study of the book of James this week at TNT!! I just wanted to post a little something about this week since I've had some questions about details. Here's the scoop...we'll start at 6pm with FOOD. This week we're going to have a potluck so just bring a dish to share. If you have children, they are welcome to eat with us and then you can take them to nursery when we're done eating. We will be meeting in room 101. After our meal we'll study James and we'll end promptly at 8pm. For further discussion we will be posting things on the blog so that people who want to continue the discussion can blog about it during the week.

SO...here's what you should bring along...

1) food to share
2) A Bible if you'd like (not a requirement but might be helpful)

We'll see you all Wednesday night!!

New things

I love the changing of seasons and all the new things that are starting this fall. I'm anxious to get TNT started again and I'm really looking forward to catching up with everyone. So on my subject of "new" things, I'm probably a little slow with this, but this morning was the first time that I have listened to one of the recorded sermons directly from my laptop.

Anyway, I was out of town last weekend, but have heard several comments about Kevin's message. Whoa. Direct, clear. I now understand why people have described it this way. If you missed it (or didn't know you could listen to it), here's the link. http://www.trcpella.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=14148

I'm curious if anyone has thoughts about this message . . .

I hope to see everyone Wednesday night at 6:00!