spiritual health

24
Dec
2019

Navigating life’s changes

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on May 25, 2017.

Constant strength in a changing current

by Patrick McKay

Canoeing is one of the greatest outdoor activities that a person can do.  It’s a refreshing blend of relaxing / unwinding and yet challenging / rewarding.  Being out on the water leads you to realize and appreciate God’s creation, to really look at the beauty that the created world has to offer.    Going downstream and letting the current take you is soothing, an almost carefree ride.  With the exception of a few downed trees or sand bars, which easily can be avoided with enough practice, the experience is very enjoyable.

But have you ever tried to paddle upstream?  It is quite a different experience.  You must fight the current and steer your canoe, all the while being out of breath from paddling so hard.

In our spiritual lives there are times when we feel like we are paddling upstream and against the changing current of how the world wants us to live.  One moment the current pushes us one way and then will throw us back the other.  The current is never constant; it is always changing.   The Bible describes the ways of this world with a similar analogy, depicting this world’s influences like the roiling of muddy water:  “The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud” (Isaiah 57:20).

However, God’s word is not like the constant churning of the sea or the changing current of a river, always fluctuating, always twisting.  God’s word is always constant.  It is always unchanging.  The word of our God is “imperishable … living and enduring. … The word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Peter 1:23,24).  The word of God is as firm as God himself, who assures us, “I the Lord, do not change” (Malachi 3:6).

What a blessing it is to rely on an unchanging God and the consistent message that his word tells us.  God tells us that although we were sinful, lost and condemned, he sent his Son Jesus to suffer, die, and rise again in glory.  Connected to Christ, by faith given us by the Holy Spirit, we are called children of God, with all our sins forgiven.  When the current of life in this world makes it hard to paddle, remember what a marvelous and consistent message that God’s word tells us about Jesus and the life we have in him.
Posted by Electric Gospel
24
Dec
2019

God doesn’t hold grudges

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on February 25, 2017.
Author’s name withheld by her request

God doesn’t hold grudges

She could not forgive herself. She was convinced that God was angry with her over her sins. She felt the need to keep begging for forgiveness as though God were holding a grudge against her. She just assumed that until God was satisfied that she had suffered enough for her sin, he would not help her if she prayed for help. The reason this woman felt this way was because, as a child, someone would grow coldly silent for long periods of time and hold grudges against her. She tried and tried to get forgiveness but nothing worked. As a child, she didn’t have many experiences and this was normal to her. She ended up translating this behavior to God.

Maybe you endured someone’s silent anger when you were growing up. Maybe it is happening now. Maybe you tried and tried without success to get this person to forgive you. As a result of this, you may have a hard time forgiving yourself, thinking that God is treating you the same way. Maybe you feel like you can’t be forgiven. Maybe you can’t forgive yourself.

God is not like this. He did not wait until you “suffered enough” to send Jesus to be your Savior. If he had, Jesus never would have come, because we deserve nothing less than eternal suffering for our sins. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Jesus died for you when there was nothing good in you. That is how much he loves you. Because Jesus was punished for you, your sins have been forgiven in full. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).  There is no need to earn your forgiveness by begging God. Your forgiveness was accomplished when Jesus died on the cross. When he looks at you, God sees Jesus’ righteousness in place of your sins. Because of this, you can live in peace, knowing that Jesus already did everything necessary for you to be forgiven. God does not hold grudges, no matter what it is you have done. Like Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, he will say to you, “‘Then neither do I condemn you…Go now and leave your life of sin’” (John 8:11).

Posted by Electric Gospel
24
Dec
2019

Starving Soul

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on January 22, 2017

Starving Soul

by Brooke DeAnda
Eating disorders are very serious and scary diseases, even deadly. The same is true for spiritual eating disorders. Your soul needs to be nourished daily, just as the body does. Let this poem remind you just how to feed your soul.

You’re so hungry but you won’t eat
Take this bread and you can breathe
Let the other life be born
And drink the wine that you long for
You were filled with emptiness
He loved you despite your sickness
Your heart was small and hostile still
Because your hunger was not fulfilled
He can give you what you need
Hear his word and you will see
Sick inside, you are dead
But he won’t give up on you yet
Anorexic is your soul
No wonder why you are so cold
He can give you warmth inside
Please just promise you will try
With the water he can give
Wash away your frigid skin
He will hold you when you’re clean
From your sickness you are free

Posted by Electric Gospel
24
Dec
2019

New Life in Christ

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on June 11, 2016.

New Life in Christ

by Elizabeth Duff

As each of us began our physical life on earth, we were in a bad way, spiritually speaking. In fact, we had no spiritual life. All of us were born dead in sin, separated from our God. There is nothing we could do to make ourselves alive. But God, by his grace, called us to be his own, making us alive with Christ. God used his gospel message – Christ crucified for the sins of the world and raised to life for our justification – to bring us to faith, whether that be through hearing his word or through baptism. We are no longer on the road to eternal death in hell, but now have God’s promise of eternal life in heaven. This full realization of our spiritual life – being able to see God face to face and that he will make his dwelling with us – is what we eagerly anticipate this side of heaven.

This new life that God has given us compels us to live out our earthly lives in a new way. No longer are we slaves to sin. This new self in us takes delight in God’s holy law and wills us to carry it out. Our lives have becomes lives of thanks – Christ’s love overflows from our hearts into what we think, say, and do.

However, that is not the end of the story. If it were so, we would simply be doing good works all the time. Any Christian can tell you that the truth is this: we continue to struggle against the sinful nature within us. This part of us continuously rebels against God’s commands – it hates his holy law. Our two natures, the new self and the old self, continue to fight one another.  If it were simply up to us, we would fail time and time again. Even as new creations, we still are weak to fight the temptations that our sinful flesh, the world, and the devil throw our way.

So where do we turn for help? We turn to our Savior. We see what he has done for us on the cross. We see how his blood has covered every single one of our sins – including those times our new self has failed and we have given into our sinful flesh. We see Christ’s work for us and take heart. We are not alone in this fight. Our God and Brother is at our side. He has conquered sin, death, and the devil for us. He now sits at the Father’s right hand, guiding all things for the sake of his church (which includes us).  He continues to intercede for us, perfecting our imperfect prayers. We also see our Father, in turn, graciously blessing us with all good things. He willingly has given up his Son, so how will he not graciously give us all things? He also sends out the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. This same Holy Spirit makes intercession for us, expressing thoughts that human language cannot contain. He equips us with the great gospel message. Our armor is God’s very Word – in preaching, in baptism, and in communion. When we fail in this life, our God picks us up in his loving arms. We already are his new creation. We continue to trust that he will help us fight off temptation in this life and bring us into the next life. We may fail in our lives of sanctification, but God and his promises never fail. We receive our energy and strength from these great promises – promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Our life of sanctification isn’t so much seeing ourselves become better, but learning to fully lean on the cross of Christ.

Posted by Electric Gospel
24
Dec
2019

Tumbleweeds

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on July 24, 2014.

During the summer of 2014, The Electric Gospel featured items written by participants in the summer 2014 Devotional Writing workshop that I led. In this installment, Jenni Mickelson uses an illustration from nature to show our wandering tendencies — and our need for rootedness in Christ.

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Blowing in the Wind

by Jenni Mickelson

John 15:5-6 – “‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.’”

If you find yourself on a flat slab of barren land in the western United States, you will most likely come face-to-face with the local drifter: the tumbleweed. Tumbleweed is a plant that finds its home in areas where the ground is either weathered by the natural elements or cultivated by farmers. Once the growing season passes and the tumbleweed shrivels up, though, the wind can easily pluck it out of the soil and blow it around aimlessly in the remote plains and deserts. The tumbleweed also carries with it thousands of seeds that spread about the land and will later foster a new crop of menacing weeds.

Tumbleweed, in its dry, lifeless state, is useless. It only moves, with no anchor to keep it positioned in the ground where it belongs.

We sinners are in danger of drifting like tumbleweed, alone and without purpose. Lost dreams, wrongdoings, and hardships leave us parched and cast our minds into hopeless wandering. We blow in the wind, with no root system to keep us steady, when we forsake God’s will and instead succumb to the enticing but fleeting temptations of this world, the devil, and our flesh. We foster sin’s weeds and put others at risk of flying away when we live our lives in this way.

God does not want us to roam in this manner. He yearns for us to remain secure in him. It was for this loving reason that he sent his Son Jesus into the world. Jesus brought us back to God through his perfect life, innocent death, and glorious resurrection. Thus he is and forever will be our vine, our root, to keep us firmly grounded in the Lord. When we rely solely on Christ’s redeeming love and sacrifice for our salvation, and not on ourselves, we are no longer tumbleweed but rather the sturdy branches of God’s vine, nourished and strengthened by faith.

Tumbleweed – it blows around with seemingly no purpose but simultaneously gives off the impression that it is desperately searching for something out there in the world. How grateful we can be to Jesus for giving us a purpose to live for – him!

Prayer:

Jesus, forgive me for all of the times that I forget about being rooted in you and instead turn to the unstable pleasures of this world. Plant me firmly in you and nurture me once again with the news of your everlasting love through your life, death, and resurrection. Guide me in being your witness to others rather than being the cause of their drifting away from you. Amen.

Posted by Electric Gospel