August 2016 – Manna For Moms

When You’ve Just. Got. Nothing.

Megan Breedlove August 22, 2016 0 Comments

My sister is my best friend. We keep in touch regularly and frequently. We sometimes talk on the phone even when we don’t have anything much to say. At some point, if we run out of things we can pretend are important enough to talk about, there will come a long pause, and then one of us will say, “Well…I got nothin’.”

Today, it is with reluctance that I say the same to you, the precious mom reading this. And I’m sorry to have to say it. But I got nothin’.

The details don’t matter, and I’m not including them here for the same reason I think Paul never told us what his “thorn in the flesh” was: so that we could all identify with him, instead of only a few. And I’m well aware that others in this world are suffering far worse than I am. But suffice it to say that right now, I am spread so emotionally thin and am struggling to bear so much stress and pain that I have no encouraging words for you. I have no funny stories. I have absolutely nothing to offer you that would make your day any better, urge you any closer to the Lord, or even make it worth your time to read this.

Unless, of course, there is someone out there who can somehow benefit from reading the following words: I still have faith.

I do not have faith that God will necessarily make my circumstances better (some will not improve until I reach Heaven, unless God should choose to do a bona fide miracle). Can He, if He wants to? Oh, yes. But will He? I don’t know.

But if He doesn’t, it won’t be because He doesn’t care. It will be because somehow, in some way, He knows that He must not. That He can not, if He is to do what is right and best (and only He gets to determine what those are). It won’t be because He is somehow unaffected by my neediness and pain; on the contrary, He will weep with me.

I don’t know whether or not He is going to take away my pain. I hope He does! But I refuse to define His goodness by whether or not he changes my circumstances. I refuse to stop loving Him simply because He won’t do what I want, like some sort of genie in a bottle.

I refuse to accept good from God, and not trouble.

I choose faith.

I choose Him.

Job 2:10—“Shall [I] accept good from God, and not trouble?” (NIV)

Daniel 3:17-18—“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (NIV; emphasis mine)

Christianity Go!

Megan Breedlove August 8, 2016 0 Comments

By now, you’ve probably heard of the game Pokemon Go! Players download an app to their smartphones and walk/drive/parkour anywhere and everywhere, trying to locate and capture Pokemon.

Within 13 hours of its being made available, Pokemon Go! became the top-grossing app in the U.S. It attracts 21 million users and 4-5 million downloads per day. In other words, it’s very, very popular.

Why? Because it gives people a fun way to obtain something they really want.

If Christianity were something people really wanted, they would be out chasing it, too. But it isn’t.

Why? Because when nonbelievers hear our presentation of Christianity, they feel like we’re giving them an unpleasant, arduous way to obtain something they don’t really want—a relationship with a God who isn’t really interested in them unless they get everything right.

Maybe, just maybe, we should take a closer look at how we often present Christianity.

See if the following way of presenting the gospel sounds familiar: “God is holy, and we’re sinners. We can’t come close to God unless we’re righteous. Fortunately, Jesus made us righteous, so now we can belong to God and go to heaven when we die.”

It’s all true. It’s 100% accurate. But most people don’t want just one more person (God, no less) to tell them that unless they find a way to measure up, they can never be accepted. If that’s the only thing you tell them, they probably won’t be interested.

What people are interested in is relief from stress and loneliness, comfort when they’re discouraged or grieving, wisdom to know how to relate to others and which decisions to make, and the assurance that they can make it through this crazy, sometimes excruciatingly difficult and painful thing called life.

A relationship with God offers them all of those things, but that’s not what we tell them about. Or if we do, we promise them incredible things, then make those things conditional upon their right actions.

Please hear me clearly: YES, we must submit to God and obey Him. YES, we must admit our sin and our neediness. YES, we must acknowledge Him as the Lord of our life. YES, we must make sure people know about God’s holiness and our sinfulness and what Jesus did on the cross for us.

But this is not how Jesus primarily presented the gospel. He didn’t say, “You’re a screw-up. You need to get it right for God to love you.” Instead, He showed them by His response that He already loved them.

When Nicodemus came to Him seeking a right understanding of God, Jesus took the conversation deeper and explained the answers to questions Nicodemus didn’t even know he had.

When the woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus, He first assured her that He didn’t condemn her, and then He told her to stop sinning.

When a pagan Roman soldier sent emissaries to Jesus to request that Jesus heal his daughter, Jesus began by commending his faith, not confronting his sin.

True, Jesus confronted sin when appropriate. I’m not suggesting that we not do that. There will be many occasions when we must confront sin. But even then, we must remember that the point of presenting the gospel is not to get people to clean up their lives, but to introduce them to the incredibly rich spiritual blessings of a relationship with a holy, perfect God who loves them passionately.

That’s the good news, that such a relationship is even possible.

Psalm 16:11—You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (NIV)

Comparing Candidates

Megan Breedlove August 1, 2016 0 Comments

This November, voters in the United States (and U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote but currently reside elsewhere) will go to the polls and vote for the man or woman they want to become the next President of the United States. Hopefully, those voters will carefully consider the qualifications of the candidates before choosing one and casting their vote.

To the end of assisting voters in determining whom to vote for, many organizations and individuals have published charts comparing two or more candidates and their positions on various issues. Of course, one always has to take these charts with a grain of salt, because they may be slanted according to the author’s bias.

I’d like to offer you a completely unbiased comparison chart between two contenders for something far more important than a U.S. citizen’s vote in November. Well, okay, not completely unbiased; it’s biased toward what the Bible says. In other words, I have prepared this chart as if what the Bible says is 100% trustworthy (because it is).

This chart compares the two leading contenders—actually, the only two contenders—for control of your life. You will choose between them each and every day (and sometimes moment-to-moment). They, are, as you have probably guessed by now, God and Satan.

But they’re not the only two contenders, you might say. I myself am a third contender for control of my life.

Nope. You’re not. The Bible says that anything that does not come from God is sin. And who is the author of sin? Satan. So if you think you are ever in control of your own life, think again. With every action, thought, and desire, you are either yielding to God’s control of your life or ceding control to Satan.

So here, for your consideration, is a chart comparing the two, in order to help you choose which one you want to follow.

	God	Satan
What will he do in your life?	Grant spiritual abundance (John 10:10)	Steal from you, kill you, and attempt to destroy you (John 10:9)
How does he feel toward you?	Loves you deeply and forever (Jer. 31:3; Eph. 3:18)	Hates you (John 17:14)
Will he tell you the truth?	Always (John 14:6)	Only when it suits him (John 8:44)
Is he trustworthy?	Yes (Numbers 23:19)	No; he will lie whenever it suits him (see John 8:44)
Will he show you his true colors?	Yes (see: the whole Bible)	No; this would be to his disadvantage (2 Cor. 11:14)
Will he comfort and support you in times of need?	Yes (Psalm 37:39)	No; he wants to destroy you (see John 10:9)
Does he keep his promises?	Yes (2 Cor. 1:20)	No; he lies when it suits him (see John 8:44)
Can he give you everything you need?	Yes (Phil. 4:19)	No, and he wouldn’t want to, because he wants to destroy you (see John 10:9)
Can he protect you?	Yes (Psalm 121:7)	No, and he wouldn’t want to, because he wants to destroy you (see John 10:9)

I could go on and on, about how God knows everything and Satan doesn’t; about how God has all power and Satan doesn’t; about how God is everywhere, always, and Satan isn’t.

But ultimately, you are the one who has to make a choice.

So I leave it to you.

Joshua 24:15—But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. (NIV)

When You’ve Just. Got. Nothing.

Comparing Candidates

You Missed

Priorities

I Wouldn’t Do That

Little Things

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