watering the garden

Spring is just around the corner…can you smell it?   In fact in some states, flowers are already being planted and even blooming!

At this time of year, when the sun stays out a bit longer and shines a bit warmer, my thoughts always turn to bedding plants and what kind I want to try in my garden.  How about you?

I’ll let you in on something, though, I have no green thumb whatsoever.  Whatever plants grow in my garden do so in spite of me.  Oh, I’ve had a shelf full of gardening books and magazines, some of which make it look sooooo simple.  Not!

One of the things that I’ve never gotten right, I guess, is watering the right amount at the right time.  The perfect balance escapes me.  So my plans have to be hardy and pretty much capable of fending for themselves.  I’ve learned to stick with the “natural” plants common to this area of the country and many of them can withstand drought and early frost.

Oh, I’ve lost more than a few, especially in that brutal winter we had a couple years back.  But the wildflower seeds I planted are now taking hold and they’re going gangbusters, especially the Pink Cone Flower or Echinacea.  Also, my Honeysuckle Vine and Wisteria are about to cover the Pergola built over my front walk, although the Wisteria has yet to bloom after five seasons!

At any rate, as I said, I get to thinking about growing things and that leads me into what I don’t know about growing things!  And since I like pretty flowers, I go to the local nursery often and let the owner guide me to what might work where.

Going to scripture is kind of like that for me at times.  It’s great to have a consistent study time about specific topics or books, but I also know that finding out what works where and how in the “garden of my life” is a good thing, too.  If you feel your life is a little dry, try watering liberally with the Spirit.  The good thing is you can’t “over water” with the Spirit of God, nor can you go to it at the “wrong time.”

Spiritual watering is a way of growing things in my life that I don’t have to worry about.  I let the Master Gardener take over my soul’s garden and when I do that, I am overjoyed at what He produces….even out of the tiniest seeds!  It doesn’t take much for beauty to abound, and I can even “share” some of it with friends and the beauty keeps growing and growing.

I bet you can think of things in your soul’s garden that you can relate to read seeds, dirt, fertilizer and water, too.  While you are planning on what you’d like to see grow in your yard this season, think about what new things you’d like to learn in your spirit, too!  We might even find we have a bouquet of beauty together.

by Cindy Best

the greatest love of all

In the mid-1970’s Linda Creed and Michael Masser wrote a song that was recorded in 1977 by George Benson as an R&B hit and then again in 1986 by a young woman with a powerhouse voice:  Whitney Houston.  According to the song, “learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.”  The music is stirring and the lyrics are inspirational—but wrong.

I’m not saying that loving yourself isn’t important.  It is difficult if not impossible to love others if we despise ourselves.  But love of self pales in comparison to the truly greatest love of all:  the love God has for his creation, especially for his children.  Mother Teresa said, “We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”  What is this great love, and how is it different from other forms of love?  I think the greatest love has at least three important attributes.

First, it is the gold standard for love.  All other forms of love are measured against God’s love.  The other day I was reading an interesting article whose author made a comparison between followers of Jesus Christ and the dogs at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.  She said that the dogs in the show were not compared to each other or competing against each other; rather, they were judged against the breed’s standard.  For each breed, the dog that most closely matched the traits of the standard or ideal was the winner.  Perhaps we in the church, she wrote, could take a lesson from this:  instead of comparing ourselves to each other and competing with other believers for “best in show,” we should be judging ourselves against the ideal human being, Jesus Christ.

Second, great love is sacrificial.  When couples marry, I think the most difficult adjustment they must make early on is submitting to one another.  If you as a single person are used to doing what you want, when you want, spending your money the way you want, then having to consider another person’s priorities, preferences, and feelings can be a real challenge.  Selfishness is poisonous to marriage, as it is to friendship and parenthood.  Years ago, when I told my parents that my husband and I were expecting, my mother said, “When you have children, your life is not your own.”  I didn’t fully understand what she meant until our daughter was born.  Raising her required me to set aside many of my own dreams and desires to help her fulfill hers and to ensure that she always knew that my love was not only unconditional but unshakeable.  To prove His love for us, God made a great sacrifice.  He knew when He gave us free will and laid down the law about sin that we would have to be rescued from ourselves, and it was His plan from the beginning to demonstrate the greatest love of all by withholding nothing from us, sacrificing Himself in our place so that we could have an abundant life with Him both now and in the future kingdom.

Third, great love is transformational.  Something happens to us, or should, when we realize that Jesus gave up his heavenly throne to become one of us, to live among us, to laugh and to cry, to feel joy and pain, to die for us so that the rift between us and God caused by our sin could be repaired.  My daughter frequently tells me that I am the best mom in the world.  Although I appreciate the compliment, it is difficult for me to accept it because I am painfully aware of all my shortcomings and failures as a mother.  She has either forgotten those failures or has chosen to overlook them, and her love challenges me to aspire to become the person she  believes I already am.  God’s love also is without condition but not without expectation.  He does not want us to be content to be less than we can be.  Once we experience His great love, we can humbly ask Him to remake us, to help us become the people He intended us to be when He first imagined us.  We can be transformed by His love into a people who go on to share that great love with others in all the big and small things we do.

If I had to choose one word to describe this greatest love of all, I would have to say “quality.”  God doesn’t just love more—He loves better.  Our love is often impure, tainted with the residue of our sinful nature.  We sometimes hold back our love because we treat it as an investment, and without the assurance of a good return we hesitate.  But love is not capital.  Its quantity is limited only by the degree of our generosity.  God’s love is not only limitless, it is also pure and freely offered.  What could happen if we accepted the full measure of this love and allowed it to overflow us, overwhelming our failures and shortcomings, drenching the world in the greatest love of all?  I believe we would call that living in the kingdom of God.

what is a life worth? (part 2)

If you were sick with the stomach flu this past week, you’d be treating yourself as symptoms arose: stop eating, rest, and as soon as possible begin drinking hot tea or some fluid to replenish your body. If you found out your illness was not just the flu, but something very serious, you’d get yourself to a doctor, maybe even a specialist. If you’ve discovered that your life is in danger of a spiritual death from an illness you can’t begin to cure, you can at once call for the Perfect Physician and as soon as that Healer is allowed into your life, the spiritual malady is cured. There will be no “death” from this disease.

Are you at a point where you need to be assured you are healed from the disease of spiritual deficiency, unrighteousness and therefore, death? Is it all real? Well, I can share what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans so long ago: “Now God says He will accept and acquit us and declare us ‘not guilty’–if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; yet now God declares us ‘not guilty’ of offending Him if we trust in Jesus Christ who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.” (Romans 3:33-34, Amplified Version)

You know if you are healed of a tumor or appendicitis, or even a decaying tooth, there is pain involved. Healing is not always painless. With spiritual healing there is the painful act of humility–the conscious agreement that you cannot heal yourself. God must perform His miracle in your life in only one way: you must admit defeat in your own ability, your own “cures.” 1 Cor. 1:10 says, “For God says, I will destroy all human plans of salvation no matter how wise they seem to be, and ignore the best ideas of men, even the most brilliant of them.” (The Living Bible)

When the vaccine to prevent Polio first came to the world, we felt so fortunate that this horrible, crippling and killing disease could be halted. People flocked with their children to receive this “miracle vaccine” to protect themselves from this illness. Now there are vaccines for most diseases that used to plague children–and now we make sure our children get them!

What a pity those who are afflicted with diseases of the spirit don’t flock to the One who can provide the miracle of grace as the cure to the release from the crippling effects of a burdened and aching spirit within.

How simple the story of the stricken daughter and her illness seems, and the answer also. The problem was in the discovery of the seriousness of the disease. If you know you or a loved one is suffering from a fatal spiritual  disease, call in the Specialist. There is no cost. Salvation is free and available to all. “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13, Living Bible).

by Cindy Best

thanksgiving and prayer

³ We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. ⁴ Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

¹¹ With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. ¹² We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

from 2 Thessalonians 1, New International Version

what is a life worth? (part 1)

Many years ago, a young girl was extremely ill. When her father
learned just how serious the illness was, he spent over $70,000 to
bring a specialist from another country to cure his daughter’s disease.
Even decades ago, that amount of money is beyond most of our personal
financial ability, but what father wouldn’t give his entire worth
for the life of his child?

This incident pricks our own hearts, because we instinctively recognize
that if one of our children had a fatal disease and the family doctor or
local specialist couldn’t help, we would immediately seek help from a
physician with greater experience in the specific area needed. And our
acknowledgement of the need for this person and the urgency of the
moment would be obvious. A good father would not wait to call for
help until a child’s illness was past the point of recovery.

What do you think makes thousands and thousands of people turn
away from accepting the free grace, love, and salvation provided for
the asking from the Great Physician? Instead of receiving healing for
their soul, they turn away to certain death and eternal separation from
God and family and friends who’ve already become children in God’s
immense family.

Why deliberately refuse to call in a specialist for your spiritual illness?

Personally, I think it’s because people don’t realize they are gravely–
fatally–sick in spirit. They don’t realize their illness is an illness leading
to a “forever death.”

Many times symptoms of an actual disease are treated as they appear.
First a couple pills for a headache and fever. Then a capsule for allergies
or a cough syrup for a bad cough that keeps sleep from coming.
Finally, there’s a diagnosis that instead of a cold, the person has
pneumonia and needs an antibiotic and maybe even hospitalization.
By treating the symptoms, some relief came, but the total cure
couldn’t happen until a proper diagnosis was made.

How similar is the spiritual sickness so many endure. The symptoms
are treated sporadically. Heartaches, depression, loss of purpose, confusion,
loneliness; all these can be treated as they occur, but never
really cured because the disease itself is never properly diagnosed.
“Spiritual Unrighteousness” carries with it the prognosis of death. The
death of the body is just the beginning, because the spirit keeps on
living, only without God, it is a death that never stops giving pain,
heartache and loneliness.

In Romans 8:2 and verse 10, the Amplified Bible translation tells me
“The power of the lifegiving spirit–and this power is mine through Jesus
Christ–has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death….Yet
even though Christ lives within you, your body will die because of sin;
but your spirit will live, for Christ has pardoned it.”

How often we see others, adults and children, with spiritual disease
spreading through them virtually to the point that the illness so overtakes
them they no longer see the need for a cure. They become used
to their illness and therefore die with it. How tragic that the mind can
become so crippled it lulls the spirit into thinking no help is needed.

Possibly they think their illness can be stopped by ordinary “symptomatic”
measures. Some small thing they can do, some law to follow,
some amount of money given to charity. Something will certainly cure
their malady.

They never think they need a specialist.

by Cindy Best

psalm 19

A psalm of David.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the LORD are firm,
and all of them are righteous.

¹⁰ They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.
¹¹ By them your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
¹² But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
¹³ Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

New International Version

STOP talking!

In Matthew 12:37, we are told, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

What a sentence to contemplate.  Only sixteen words, but two of them are the same and command our attention: “words.”  And what accompanies them, other than a few prepositions and conjunction, is an emotional “slap in the face,” a contrast so large it should wake you up!

Justified.

Condemned.

For a moment, flip to an oft-occurring scene in American households.  How many parents have heard their teenager plead excuses after putting a dent in the family car?  “It wasn’t my fault!”  “I couldn’t help it!”  “Dude, it wasn’t me who designed big cars and small parking spaces.”

The undeniable fact is, however, the dent is a dent is a dent and someone has to pay for the repair.  In such situations, the parent is always grateful that the only damage is to the automobile and not another person.

Isn’t it easy to use a teenager as an example of some behavior we dislike?  So what happens on the day we are standing before God explaining why we haven’t done more for Him during our life?  I can just hear myself:  “There wasn’t time to help many people–I hardly had time for myself.”  “I always thought about praying more.”  “You know how hard it is to be honest; times have changed.”  “Look at all the money I gave; doesn’t that make up for my lack of involvement in Christian activities?”

Just like the teen, I could keep on talking.  The damage would still be done.

My human tendency is to try to justify my actions on the outside even when I know deep down that I am in the wrong.  It seems old and young alike want to make up excuses for the way in which their lives are conducted.

What then is our way of escape from the web of words we seem to spin around ourselves?  We find ourselves crying out with Paul, “Oh wretched man that I am!  Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24).

Well, it’s time to grab hold of another verse of Paul’s, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 7:25) and grasp the joy of knowing Christ.  And knowing I do not have to talk my way out of all the mistakes in my life.  My Heavenly Father has graciously taken care of all the accidents that happened and all the dents I made.  He paid the price to repair every single one of my damages.

Today I pray that God will help me think about my words–those I shouldn’t speak and those I should–so that I will glorify Him by my life.  Knowing He has taken care of everything for me, I can praise Him with a glad heart.

by Cindy Best

don’t be stubborn

Anyone who has children or has ever been a child is well acquainted with stubbornness.  Although stubbornness and determination could be considered two sides of one coin, stubbornness has a less-than-positive connotation.  We’re all familiar with the shouted “No!” accompanied by the stamp of a foot and the scowl on a small face.  We hope that as we mature, our stubbornness mellows into determination as we learn to choose our battles and dedicate ourselves to the causes that matter.  But stubbornness can rear its head when we feel powerless in a situation, when someone wants us to do one thing and we are inclined to do another (sometimes ANY other), and the only recourse we have is to grab onto our position with our teeth and refuse to let go.

But what do we do when that someone is God?  I would like to think that if I ever heard the actual voice of God telling me to do something, I would set down my pride and my stubbornness and be obedient.  But I know myself too well.  “How can I be certain that’s really you?” I would ask, and I would need some kind of a sign because heaven knows I wouldn’t want to deviate from my own wandering-in-the-wilderness path on unreliable information.  I like to think that I have a modicum of faith, surely a mustard seed’s worth, but really, in the times I’ve been tested I’ve usually felt as if I got moved by the mountain instead of the other way around.  So I have to wonder how hard I am listening for God’s voice if I am pretty sure I would ignore it even if I heard it.

If you hear God speak today, do not be stubborn. Hebrews 3:15

Like many of my friends, I stayed home to raise my child, intending to return to the outside working world “someday.”  Now that my daughter is nearly grown (I say nearly because she is a college student, and I think that puts her in that weird zone between childhood and true adulthood), I have been pondering what I am good for.  A 15-month stint in a data and call center convinced me that I don’t belong there, doing the same thing every minute of every day with two short breaks and a half hour for lunch.  After dedicating my life to the important work of raising another person from helpless infant to productive member of society (and, though I don’t take the credit, a wonderful, talented, intelligent young woman who wants to make her own mark on the world), I just can’t dig up much enthusiasm for helping some company make more money.  It’s hard to figure out how to transfer my gifts and talents from a relationship-based world to an output-based one, and I’m not sure I even want to try.  But there’s a nagging little voice inside my head that tells me I should be contributing to the household income, building our savings back up, getting ready for the next economic meltdown or the next layoff or the next whatever dramatic event nearly wipes us out.  So I start getting nervous.

My prayer is that God would reveal to me what I am, what He made me to be at this stage of my life.  And, like a lot of people, I look for signs and try to listen for His voice, hoping that one day it will just hit me:  oh, right, THAT’s what I should be doing; why didn’t I see it before?  Maybe I’m just dense, but it’s not happening.  Am I being stubborn?  Is God trying to break through all the noise in my head to tell me what to do, where to go, but I’ve already decided that I couldn’t possibly do whatever that is or go wherever He’s pointing because, well, I’m just not capable?  There’s an old saying:  God doesn’t call the equipped; He equips the called.  But is He calling me?  And if He is, to what?  Maybe it’s to a season of regrouping, of immersing myself in His word and in prayer, getting back to the basics of a closer relationship.  Could it be that simple?  Why would I resist?  Because I am stubborn.  I don’t like the not knowing.  All I really want is to KNOW.  I want to know what the goal is and how I’m supposed to get there, step by step.  I want to know what obstacles to expect along the way so I can plan for them.  I want plan B and plan C and whatever other contingency plans I’ll need.  I want a straight path with no unpleasant surprises.  I want.  I want.  I WANT!  Boy, am I stubborn.

Does God not care what I want?  Sure, He does.  But when I’m honest, I know that it’s more important that He cares what is best for me.  That means that I should be able to be confident that whatever happens, if I allow Him to, God will use it for my benefit.  If only I can get past my stubbornness and my pride and my fear, maybe I can just take a step in any direction and it will be okay because I am not alone.  The God of the universe is with me.  Where might we go together?

Where, indeed.

pride: where will it get you?

What do the Costa Concordia and Titanic have in common?

Hah, “easy,” you say!  They both sank.

True.  But I think more than that, it appears they both had Captains steering them who had way too much pride.  And the book of Proverbs says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (16:18).

The two ships were awesome vessels.  The Titanic was the epitome of cruise ships in its day.  It had winding staircases, chandeliers, orchestras, rich woven carpets…and rich people on board.  All of those people had utter confidence in the ship…it was “unsinkable” according to its builders.

photo from Dover Publications

Rev. Stuart Briscoe said, “My sin is not that I do things wrongly; my sin is that I deny God the right to be God in my life.”  And it is the one sin we all commit and the one we commit over and over without even realizing.  We want to be “Captains of our own souls.”

Pride overcomes us in many ways.  We don’t have to consciously think, “Wow, aren’t I great at this,” in order to be full of pride.  Often it creeps in on cat’s feet and takes captive our mind and blocks out God’s thoughts by substituting our own.

Basically, I would define pride as just that: letting our thoughts control us, believing we have the “right” to think as we please.

Constant vigilance would’ve helped the Captains of the two sunken ships avoid icebergs and coral reefs.  Constant vigilance is what we need to keep God in control of our thoughts and lives…not us.  Instead of telling God how to be God in our lives, we need to listen to His voice as He directs us where to go and where to turn in the course of our living.

The God of Creation has “built” us, and we are eternally unsinkable.  But HE is the “captain of our souls.”  When we deny God control of our lives, we lose control.  Running aground is inevitable.

Please, God, help us value Your ways.  Help our ears to be deaf to our own thoughts, and our eyes open to your vision for us.  And our wills to seek your control.  Keep the sin of pride from our lips and minds.

by Cindy Best

psalm 121

A Song of Ascents

¹ I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
² My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
⁸ The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

New King James Version (NKJV)