Get the Dirt Out!

It's May and it's time for Spring Cleaning. Days are longer and the light is brighter. Now I'm seeing all those places where the dust bunnies were hiding all winter long. Goodness knows, I should be more vigilant in my housework.

Are you a great cleaner? Please respond to this post if you are and share your secret. My motivation needs a kick start. I would much rather be piddling in the garden, planting new living things, and moving overgrown plants around.

When I think about dirty vs. clean I am reminded of the scripture that says "our sins, though they be scarlet, will be made whiter than snow." Ever try to get dried cherry stains out of a white dress blouse or shirt? It's next to impossible. But all things are possible with God.

He says when we are forgiven of the "dirt" in our souls, those sins are tossed far away, as far as the east is from the west. How amazing to know God can and will make us whiter than snow inside for holy fellowship with Him and with others.

While we are preparing our homes for company this summer and getting the dirt out, let's remember to confess our sins, too. Admitting where we have failed as disciples of our Lord can be a time of much needed self-examination and also relief as we share with Jesus, the one who loves us most.



Blessings and Agape,

Dr. Linda B. Greer

Birthday Musings

Did you ever think, “I never thought I would live this lo-o-o-o-ng?” However, God knew it, and suddenly over half your life is behind you. It's an odd place to view things with your exit to Heaven much closer than your entrance to Earth.

If you are deeply honest, you can see you have made some great choices and some really bad ones. You can also see the sin in this broken world is truly a stumbling block. Praise God for taking all of it and making something beautiful of our lives!

When you mentally recount all the really difficult times in your past, you can also see how God intentionally grew you most as a disciple during those same times. Instead of tumultuous times, they were intense “go-to-God times”. You realized when the going got tough; you got going—to the arms of God. And why is it so? Because we are only strongest when we are weakest as the apostle Paul so aptly said.

Praise God in all things and give Him thanks for whatever part of your life you are living. His plan far surpasses any concoction we could ever cook up on our own. He’s our north star when everything in our earthly body is going south. Reminds me of this old hymn:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” (Helen H. Limmel, 1922)

In more modern language, instead of focusing on your problems and glancing at God, focus on God and glance at your problems. Isn't it a relief to know when God is in the middle of it all, we are securely headed homeward?

Blessings and Agape,

Dr. Linda B. Greer

Ding Dong

Remeber the Munchkins' beginning song for our classic version of The Wizard of Oz? I doubt the kind of merriment we all felt from it is present in the new pre-quel, The Land of Oz. Why should the retelling of traditional lore in our culture be "updated" to include confusion, terror, and woefully wicked looking creatures? Even Jack the Giant Slayer previews scare the pudding out of me.

 

With Easter coming in less than two weeks, our cultural tolerance for terror seems to have lessened the horror of the Cross. But I say, "Ding Dong, the devil's dead, the mean old thing, the mean old thing. Ding dong, the wickedness is dead." At least for Christ: He overcame everything the devil hurled his way. Jesus was victorious, whole, and gallant rising up on His third day from the grave. "Death where is thy sting?" Absolutely nowhere to be found in the truth of the resurrection.

As many of you who follow me know, I felt the sting of death when my young and very pregnant daughter was murdered ten years ago on Valentine's Day. God had his hand on all of the brokeness of her body parts, finally found in a large plastic trash can on Easter Monday. It was His way of telling me that her earth suit had been decimated, but her spirit, and that of her little girl, had risen in wholeness to be with Christ. God's timing is so elegant and so perfect.

There truly is power in the blood of Christ slain for all sinners. Had it not been for my faith in Him, I would not have peace in knowing I would see April and her child once again. Death has lost its sting. I thirst for this magnificently joyful reunion in heaven with them and my husband of only nine years--all in the presence of the King of kings, my strong tower and my best friend.

In honor of this year's celebration of eternal life, I have decided to sponsor one more child through the Africa Renewal Ministries in Uganda, a developing country in the heartland of Africa bordering Lake Victoria. Her name is Lilian. It reminds me of Jesus, the Lilly of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star. She is in second grade and close to the age of my grandson, Andrew. Lilian's birthday is tomorrow, and I bless her with the hope within all who look to God for our eternal salvation and who seek gallant victory over each day on this earth. Ding dong, the wickedness is dead through Christ.
                                                           
                                                                   Lilian

Blessings and Agape,
Linda B. Greer

Emmanuel is Here!

"The Lord is come." This is a strange verb to use, but it means Jesus, our Lord and Savior, is here and will always be with us on earth through his Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus as our Savior. God came in the form of a man to be crucified, but now He resides as the Holy Spirit in each veritable Christian.

How wonderful to know we, as Christ-followers, each carry a small but epically important light for a dark and dreadful world. The horror of the recent point blank murders of 20 small school children and 8 adults in Newtown, Connecticut, are severe evidence of Satan's dominion over the earth. Satan is fighting his last battles to discourage and dishearten as many Christians as he can. 

But the day is coming when "the trump shall resound", and the Lord will return in all His Glory. Holy terror will fill the hearts of those who never claimed Jesus as Lord. But holy awe and joy will fill the hearts and souls of Christians, those who have waited and prayed, "Come, Lord Jesus!"

Today in church, the pastor said you do not have to hate God in order to be judged and damned to eternal hell--it only takes apathy about Jesus. You simply turn your eyes away from God, disregard all of the Bible's pleas to surrender your life to Christ and you qualify. You can even be profoundly charitable or astoundingly gifted and still go to the depths of hell. "What is man that God should be mindful of him?"

The distillation of faith sequesters this decisive question: Who is Jesus to you, personally?

I believe Jesus Christ, the Son of God, saved me from damnation by taking my sins upon the cross and was the perfect and holy sacrifice, once and for all. No more, no less. If someone in your life can't make this claim today, tell him/her who Jesus is to you. Answer the question of quintessential importance before this person. Tell your story with every spiritual heartbeat within you.

Blessings and Agape this Christmas
Dr. Linda B. Greer