Author: Colleen Craig

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The Kindness of God in Christmas

Dear sisters,

I just read an article on the sinking of the titanic.  The author was saying how the 1997 movie did not accurately describe those final moments when the boats were being filled will terrified people.  The movie led us to believe that brash rich men pushed their way past women and children to get a place inside the lifeboat, but in real life that did not happen.  Even one of the richest men in the world at that time, John Astor, gave up a spot for his wife and unborn child.  History records that no rich man survived that doomed vessel.  Instead, the men chose to die out of a supernatural kindness and sense of self-sacrifice that I bet they didn’t even know they possessed. These men showed kindness to those they loved and for the good of those they didn’t know.

We are not born with a desire to be kind.  This side of the fall all mankind strive for their own greatness, worth, and name. When Adam decided not to be kind and protect Eve from eating the fruit, it changed the world for all time.  No longer do we seek others more than ourselves. No longer do we love our neighbor more than ourselves.  No longer do we choose kindness over getting what we want.  Wars have and are being fought to win ultimate ruling power. People are being murdered because they look scary or are walking in the wrong neighborhood.  People are condemned before they are even asked their side of the story.  A political pundit cares more about an issue than of the people affected by this issue. Hate is the game of today.  Hate is what motivates the masses, not kindness.

Although we shake our heads and pontificate on how we’ve gotten where we are, let’s be honest, the hatred that led to murder began with Adam and Eve’s first two children.  It has not gotten better, it only spiraled from there.  God warned His people that when they forget who He was, they would become miserable, be conquered, or even die.  All but one family were drowned by a flood.  An entire generation died before the Israelites could enter the promised land. Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Rome were all used as tools to show Israel their sin of forgetting their first love. The prophets warned them to repent and they even killed the prophets.  Finally, the God who had always been there, was silent.  Silent for 400 years.  Generations heard nothing from the God who made them.  Their sorrow was great.  What was God doing?  Why were they not hearing from the One who chose them?  Had their sin finally separated them for good?

Then, in the still of the night a baby was born to a virgin.  A new star shown in the sky.  Shepherds were blinded by the shine of a choir of angles singing of this baby’s birth!  In the depth of their gross sin, a Savior had been born.  Was this Savior deserved?  Was this Savior earned by how they lived their lives?  No.  This Savior was given out of the kindness of a God who loves the unlovable.  He loves the broken, orphaned, and outcast.  Yet he chooses to provide a way for these unruly, hate filled people to be forgiven.  And it started in a little town called Bethlehem.

Sweet sister, this Christmas, celebrate the kindness of God that provided a way for you to be restored back to the fellowship Adam and Eve had with God before that fateful choice.

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”  Titus 3:3-5.

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Scared Straight

Dear sisters,

The fake cobwebs, tombstones, and ghouls have already begun to appear in our housing community in Puerto Rico.  Families, seem to compete on who can have the scariest decorations, not to deter the kids, but to bring fun to their neighborhood romps.  How often do I slip behind a door or slink low to scare my husband when he comes home from work?  Why do we do these things?  We think it’s fun to make people jump as it gives us a moment of control over them. Horror movies do the same, they manipulate our emotions in order to get a certain response from us that they dictate. Our trust in what we have known as truth has been twisted and the result can be shivers down the spine, goosebumps, or even verbal screams.

That idea of known (or even perceived) truth being skewed is what scares me. When God asks me to trust Him over my own perceived truth, that’s when I shiver, get goosebumps, and even scream.  When you boil it down, it means that He is calling me to trust Him and His word over my perceived truth of having control in areas of my life.  Can I trust Him for my salvation?  Absolutely, no doubt.  I have no fear over that.  Can I trust Him with where He sends our family through my husband’s job? Absolutely.  I have no fear with going to any duty station as God has control over that, I accept that I don’t.

But…what about me submitting to my husband when I think he is wrong and I am right?  Can I trust the Lord with the husband He has given me? Shivers.  What about my kids?  Can I trust the Lord with their hearts and minds as I see them wanting their own ways rather than obeying me?  Goosebumps. How about me befriending THAT person? The Lord knows how I feel about them…can I trust Him that He will protect me through the heartache or embarrassment that may come?  Shivers. And just recently, can I trust the Lord when cancer and sickness consumes those that I hold dearest? Screams.

This is the scariest thing the Lord has asked of me.  To trust Him in all things, not just my salvation.  Trust is when I rely or place my confidence in someone or something.  I tend to rely on myself, to have confidence on my own abilities, education, or gifts.  I don’t trust the Lord when I have confidence in myself.  I doubt Him when he says to trust Him with my marriage, kids, family, health, or even my schedule.  My perceived reality of control is skewed.  The way I think life should work is challenged and often my response is fear, not trust.  Yet I am reminded of Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Trusting in the Lord with my day to day life is the scariest thing He asks of me.  I have to remind myself that He made me, promises to take care of me, is good, is for me, and has me.  It is not a blind trust as He has proven Himself trustworthy not only to me, but for millions before me.  So sweet sister, as your perceived reality is skewed as the Lord calls you to trust Him rather than your perceived truth, you may shiver, have goosebumps, or scream, but don’t let that keep you from acknowledging Him to make your path straight. He will.

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I Am Woman!!!

Dear sisters,

As I ruminate on this month’s topic of how biblical womanhood has affected my life, I have found myself pondering over my four decades of breath.  I must admit both my family and spiritual life have been quite an influence. My first understanding was that girls can do anything boys can do.  Then it changed into how I presented myself and whether I was married or not (a stereotypical function of a woman).  Next it was simply and only that I was an image bearer of God and follower of Christ. And finally, I am coming to realize that although God made me in His image equal in worth as a man, he designed for me different functions. And this function looks different as a single woman, married woman, mom, empty nester, or widow.

This journey began with me being born into a family with two older brothers, a dad, and a mom who is still a tomboy to this day. My mom came from a line of strong women who worked hard for the family as the men of the home struggled with alcoholism and holding a job.  She challenged me to play hard in sports, do well in school, and get a good job.  I never heard that my sex could keep me from achieving anything.

Regardless, I grew up desperately wanting to be a boy, so I could finally beat my brothers at something. I did manage (or was forced) to wear a dress to church every Sunday but wouldn’t be caught dead in one any other day of the week. The color pink for me was off-limits and my toy collection was Legos, Lincoln Logs, and Star Wars.  The idea of girls being different than boys was only mentioned by my parents so that my brothers wouldn’t hit me…to which they would reply, “she’s not a girl, she’s my sister!”  and then proceed to give me a “hurts donut.”

Then I attended a Bible school after high school.  Here I had a crisis of what it meant to be a biblical woman.  I was told how to do my hair, how to clean my shoes, that I had to wear dresses to learn, and that certain body functions were not allowed in the dorm. What?  The capstone was when I heard how many girls came to this school simply to get married rather than gain an education.  Being a biblical woman, it seemed, was how you presented yourself as well as being a wife and mother.  Huh. Something about that seemed off. I realized that being a wife and mom were biblical God-given gifts, but there had to be more than this stereotypical function to biblically define me as a woman.  What if I never got married?

I graduated the Bible school not married and I continued my education at a state school to get a degree in zoology.  I didn’t date.  I was focused on ministry in the local church and getting my diploma.  I can’t tell you how often I was asked, “When are you getting married?” or “Why aren’t you married”?  Most of these inquiries were from Christian people whom I know meant well, yet I couldn’t help wondering if they were implying that I was biblically not a complete woman unless I was married?  That didn’t seem right either.  God created me in His image, was I not complete in Christ alone?  Does biblical womanhood really mean I need to be married and have children?

It took almost another decade for me to discover what the bible really teaches about womanhood.  It begins in Genesis.  God created man, male and female, after His own image.  I have intrinsic worth because God made me!  So do you.  But wait, there is more.  God created Adam from the dust and breathed life into him.  God gave him the command to be a steward of all he had just created. Part of that stewardship was naming the animals.  Adam watched a parade of animals march by him, two by two, for probably what seemed like forever.  He saw each pair were the same…yet different.  We are told that there was not a companion suitable for Adam, so God put him asleep and formed Eve from his rib.  Not from his head to rule or from his feet to trample, but from his side, an equal companion!

What was Adam’s reaction? Was it a bro hug?  No, it was amazement and happiness.  This was a woman!  Equal in worth, yet we learn different in function and role.  God said this was good!  Eve was given the same intrinsic value of Adam, yet she also complimented him. He was made to lead, provide, protect, and love Eve.  She was made to help him emotionally, physically, and mentally as he led.  Adam and Eve were both necessary to reveal God’s glory. If this was not so, then why create male and female?  He could have stopped with just Adam, but he didn’t.

So, when I was a working single woman, I was no less incomplete. Scripture abounds with showing women thrive to the glory of God in their singleness. So my functional womanhood worked itself out as I used my gifts, service, and helper status in the local church.  Here I could love God and my neighbor to the glory of God as I serve the Lord emotionally, physically, and mentally as a woman.

Then God gifted me with my husband.  My functional single woman status changed to be his helper and companion.  At first this looked like me working to help him through seminary as well as joyfully submitting to him (OK, this is still a work in progress).  After seminary we started to have kids and so my functional role went from being a helper who also works, to being a mother who stays at home.  I have to remind myself often, that me not bringing home a paycheck does not mean my worth is less as a woman.  My intrinsic worth as an image bearer never changes, neither does my worth in Christ.  But functionally I am emotionally, physically, and mentally helping my husband and discipling my kids.  There will come a day when my kids are out of the house and I can work again if Barrett and I think that’s a wise decision.  There may even come a day when the Lord takes Barrett home.  What then?  Have I lost my biblical womanhood?  Absolutely not.

As I was teaching my daughter the differences between consonants and vowels today, I came across this analogy in her spelling book, “All people are either male or female. Each has strengths and weaknesses, and together we make up the human race.  We would not last long without each other.”  The analogy was trying to show that just like words cannot be made up of consonants or vowels alone, the human race would not survive with only male or females. God created male and female partners to compliment each other so that God’s full glory can be seen in our functional roles, no matter if you are single, married, a mom, work, unemployed, soldier, young or old.  When I realized that me being a woman has unique and special capacities that are different than a man and that they can be celebrated no matter what season I am in, I was overjoyed at God’s creative genius.

My journey of understanding biblical womanhood has been serpentine and at times, confusing. Yet God has used this sojourn to show me the brilliance of his creating man, both male and female after his own image and helping me to see the importance of my role.  I hope you do too.

Your sister in Christ,

Colleen

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New Beginnings

Dear sister,

After a not so patient four year wait, my husband Barrett, my four- year old daughter Annabelle, and I finally landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  We had no time to refresh before heading to the transition home where our family’s dynamics would change forever.  We stunk, my hair was huge from tossing and turning on the flight, yet we all had bellies full of joy, anxiety, and anticipation.

Meanwhile, a set of eighteen month old twins, brother and sister, had no idea what was about to happen. It was like any other day for them in that smelly home.  They woke up to a room full of babies who cried and yelled just like them.  Their cloth diapers were changed, they were given a formula bottle, and were kept in a crib.  Then, something new happened.  They were given a pamper diaper, dressed, and carried outside…weird. They see a strange white person who reached out to them with tears.  She hugged them close, but they just looked around wanting to explore the dirt and be free from the tiny room they were just in.  Everything that was familiar and loved by them was just about to change forever.

They were chosen before they were born to be a part of our family.  We had to wait for the fullness of time for our family to be complete. All that they knew: abandonment, no mom and dad, no siblings, no freedom, no home, no inheritance, no given family name, was now gone.  Their new beginning had begun.  They were given a name, a home, a mom and dad, a sister, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and an inheritance that could never be taken from them.  They were loved before they were in our family. They didn’t need to be cleaned up or have good behavior before we chose them.  We simply chose them to love forever, no matter what.

Our Savior loves new beginnings.  He gave new beginnings through Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Ruth, David, disciples, Saul, and all those who have trusted in Christ since then.  These new beginnings were not due to the actions of these people (because some of their actions were pretty rotten), but rather because of the choosing of our Creator to love us.  These people (and us) did not have to clean up their lives to be chosen and loved just like Ronnie and Lydia could not be cleaned up before we chose them.  Like Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17;

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  Now Ronnie and Lydia are in the Craigs, their old Ethiopian reality is gone, their new beginning of American life has begun.  But more than that, when they trust in Christ as their Savior, their new beginning and adoption will be complete.  Our Creator loves this new beginning!  So much so that He died for these new beginnings.

What about you friend? Have you had this new beginning? Have you trusted in Christ to have your old ways tossed aside and your new life given?  There is no need to get cleaned up before this new beginning, your new life is given to you in full once you trust Christ.  He did it all for you when he nailed your sins to the cross. He rose again on the third day showing he conquered the penalty of your sin.  Now you are clean and righteous before God.  Your new beginning will be complete.

And what about you believing sister?  Are you encouraged each day by the new life He has given you? Allow Paul to remind you of what your new beginning has given you:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.”(Ephesians 1:3-9, emphasis by me).

Your new beginning was given to you when you were dirty and dead in your sins.  Then you were adopted and grafted into this forever family. You have all the rights of the firstborn son who died for you!  Praise and worship him for this today!  Live a life of joy and thankfulness knowing you were given this new beginning out of a loving Father who calls you his own.  Just like Ronnie and Lydia, we have a new name, new Father, new siblings, new family, new inheritance, and new home to the praise of his glorious grace.

Your sister in Christ

(and newness of Life)

Colleen

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You Thought Love Was Easy

Dear sister,

I have three vivacious children whom I love deeply.  One just turned seven and the twins just turned four.  Each have their own distinct personality that leave us both laughing and banging our head numerous times throughout the day.  We practice catechism questions during our breakfast time to inform our effervescent and willful kids of who our God is, why he made us and all things, and also to give me wisdom in how to teach them about how to do life from a biblical world view. Today we worked on our sin questions:

  • What does every sin deserve? The wrath and curse of God
  • How sinful are you by nature? I am corrupt in every part of my being
  • What is the sinful nature that we inherit from Adam called? Original sin
  • Can anyone go to heaven with this sinful nature? No. Our hearts must be changed before we can believe in Jesus and go to heaven
  • Who can change a sinner’s heart? The Holy Spirit alone

Whoa.  These questions often remind me of the weight and hopelessness of sin and informs my children of what their sins deserve.  A needed fact to help them ask themselves how they can be free of this wrath and curse.  My heart longs for this wrath and curse of God to be turned away from my kids and others who have not trusted in Christ.  This holy heat of wrath is real.  But how do we comprehend his wrath and its purpose?  It’s helpful to look at God’s love, righteousness, and jealousy to gain this understanding.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians that God is love.  His love is the foundation of all his qualities…it is not his only quality…it holds up his others.  His love is good.  His love is righteous.  His love is jealous.  His love moves him to wrath.  But how?

Let’s look at his righteousness first.  John Frame defines God’s righteousness as how God “acts according to a perfect internal standard of right and wrong.  All his actions are within the limits of that standard.”  That God is good is the foundation of his righteousness.  We find his standard for law and justice in his law. Where is this law?  It’s the Word of God!  Not only does he give this law, he follows it as seen in Christ.  He does what is right and just.  This implies that righteousness is seen in actions. This is important because unrighteousness will also be seen in actions.  God always does what is right.  Humans do not.  And God cannot condone what is not right, sin as sin is lawlessness and lawlessness must bring some kind of penalty.  Hmmmm…a penalty has to be paid.

Next lets look at how God’s law is jealous.  He is jealous for his great name, he will not give his glory to another.  Moses describes his jealousy as a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24).  His jealousy is focused specifically on the sin of idolatry.  He has an exclusive love for his people and he demands reciprocal love from them, too.  If they give glory to another, watch out!  His jealous love will be seen fiercely, and rightly so.  His jealousy demands wrath.  He made a covenant with his people that demands exclusivity.  If his people are unfaithful to him, he is fiercely angry and jealous, just how a wife would be if she discovered her husband was unfaithful.  This is how God’s wrath comes on those who put idols before his name.  The penalty for loving something or someone more than God is his wrath.

This brings us to wrath. Jealousy and his standard of complete righteousness being broken are motives for wrath.  Wrath opposes our unrighteous sin in general and executes the punishments severely (Num. 11:33; 2 Kings 22:13, John 3:36, Rom 1:18, Eph. 5:6, Col 3:6, Heb. 3:11; 4:3, Rev 14:10, 19; 15:1, 7; 16:1, 19:15) Remember that our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).  So God’s decisions of salvation and wrath are made from His good and righteous personal decisions that are grounded in his love. We cannot separate out his character to make him all of one character and nothing of another.  He is all of these all of the time.  I love how John Frame says, “There is something wild, mysterious, and threatening about God’s wrath, which makes it difficult to reconcile this with his love.”  We struggle with how a loving God can give holy heat.  It helps to remember that he is also patient and slow to anger (Ps 103:8, Joel 2:13).  He gives sinners many opportunities to repent.  His love actually postpones his wrath…like how I warn my children about their behavior before disciplining them.

We need to remember that Hell is real.  It’s the ultimate place where God’s wrath will be unleashed and fully experienced forever.  Those who do not repent and trust in Christ “will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (2 Thess. 1:9).  This brings us back to his righteousness.  The loving part of righteousness will forgive all when a sinner repents, yet this righteousness also calls for a just punishment for those who do not repent.  This is made clear at the cross.  Where Christ sacrificed himself to pay the wrath of God sinners deserve thereby satisfying the just portion of righteousness.  He did this out of love for the Father which is the loving part of his righteousness.  This proves that if there is no wrath against sin, there can be no righteous love. John 3:16 explains this best, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.”  What this means is there is a way to escape the wrath of God in hell – through the cross of Christ!  There is hope for my kids and there is hope for you if you have not trusted him.

And for those of us who have placed their trust in Christ, it is true that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1), but that does not allow us to openly sin or rebel against God.  We no longer have to fear the wrath of hell, but He will discipline us when we do not live a righteous life out of our gratefulness and love for Christ.  We would do well to escape this judgement by looking daily to Christ.  We need to run our race with fellow believers who will encourage us on this lifelong journey (Heb. 10:25, Phil 3:14).

We teach our kids how their sins deserve the wrath and curse of God because we love them.  They need to know that hell is real…that his holy heat will come.  They need to not want that.  We want them to see their need for a Savior…THE Savior.  That Christ satisfied God’s justice by his suffering and death as a substitute for sinners of which they are.  He took God’s wrath and curse for them.  Then we beg them to trust Christ.  And then we tell ourselves the same thing, we deserved that wrath but Christ took it for us.  How can we not live out of a thankful heart full of love for this God who gave His only son to take our wrath out of His love for us?  Sweet sister, trust him afresh!

Yours In Christ,

Colleen