Author: Colleen Craig

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Paper, Stone, and Flesh

Dearest sister,

My 2-year-old daughter just learned how much she enjoys cutting with scissors. She cuts tiny pieces that transform our Okinawan home to a snow-covered lair. Since this month is February, I hope to help her learn to cut out hearts, a seemingly easy thing to do. This way our Valentines can be filled with pink, red, and white hearts instead of snow capped tables. I have to be honest with you, this month’s theme is the heart and I would rather simply make paper hearts than look at my own.
What is the heart? The heart is the central core and drive of our lives intellectually (it involves the mind), affectionately (it shapes the soul), and totally (it provides the energy for living. The Bible is pretty consistent with what should control our heart. God the Father declares to Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4-6 that His people are to love the Lord their God with all their heart and teach this to their children each day. Jesus commands this again in the New Testament in Matthew 22:37. Easy, right? Just love the Lord with all our hearts and we will be so affected by this that we then love our neighbors with this love. Yet, even though I know the answer, I can’t do it! Why? Jeremiah 17:9-10 declares that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” My heart, all of it, is diseased from the get go. Not only that, but it deceives me…and then the Lord gives me what I deserve from this diseased heart. How many times as women are we told to go with our heart or how we feel rather than loving the Lord and our neighbor? This can be dangerous advice when our heart is sick.

But how can my diseased heart be healed? Deuteronomy 30:6 says, “and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” Look at who starts this process? God. And here: “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart (Jer 24:7 I). And one more: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ez 36:26). This news makes my affectionate heart swell! God covenants to give us a new heart out of His grace and mercy! How? Jesus! God does this through the work of Jesus for me and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in me. He illumines my mind through the truth of the gospel, frees my enslaved will from its bondage to sin, cleanses my affections by His grace, and motivates me inwardly to live for Him by rewriting His law into my heart so that I begin to love what He loves. The Bible calls this being “born from above.” How amazing is that! It is good news. But even as a believer my heart is still prone to wander.

This is the hardest part for me. Positionally, I have a pure heart, I am sinless because of Christ. My sins are forgiven! Yet practically I still sin because I live in a fallen world and am not yet in my glorified body. So scripture says I must guard my heart. Guard it from things that easily draw me astray. That can be different for you and me as our sin snares vary. We also need to keep our hearts healthy by reading and memorizing the Word, going to church, and fellowshipping with believers. And pray. Pray that the Lord will keep your heart pure and from the evil one. Oh sweet sister, I fall away so easily. I forget to guard my heart and feed it a good diet. I want my own desires and not the Lord’s. Then conviction comes when I read the word and see that I have taken my new heart for granted. Yet this conviction is what drives me to the cross yet again. To be reminded that positionally my heart is righteous, pure, and like Christ’s. Not because I deserve it, but because of what Christ has done. I am humbled and weep at what I have settled for rather than the new heart I have. How about you?

So yes, we will cut paper hearts and scatter them around, but I pray that I will remember to look at my own heart as well and bow down and beg the Lord to guard it.

Faithfully, Your sister in Christ,

Colleen

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Imagined Image

Dear Sister,
I’m guilty. Are you? I often live my life according to how I think others think of me. I have no idea what they are truly thinking, but that does not matter. My image is formed by imagined thoughts of others. As a kid, my image was determined by having the “in” shoes and style for the first day of school, having good grades for my parents, being the best soccer player I could, and being at every church function available. My teenage image had all of those but added the desire to be liked by popular guys and girls. Onto college and my image morphed into being the most perfect person I could: from daughter to student to Christian. You see, I wanted the perfect perceived image inside and out. I wanted to make everyone happy and feel comfortable around me. Now as an “adult” my image is still formed by what I think others are thinking about me: I need to be a good mother, hot wife, best lover, best friend, thoughtful, servant hearted, and hospitable to others. At other times I want others to imagine (ha) me as not caring about any of these things so I become apathetic. This gave me a humble image, right? Are you tired? Phew I was/am. I honestly almost died trying to meet this imagined image of myself. I became anorexic and was sent away for two months to begin healing and repenting of this sinful pattern of life where I lived for an imagined image rather than for the image for which I was created. Genesis 1:26a says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” Hmmm…there is nothing in there about looks, ability, grades, or perfection. It says that our image is determined by the Trinity, not by what we think other human’s think of us. Our worth is being made in the image of God. But wait, there is more!!!

Sin tarnished our image forever, but God has told us in His Word that He made a way for our image to be restored once and for all eternity. He sent Jesus to live a perfect life and die for all sin once and for all. He rose again conquering sins penalty of death so those who put their trust in Christ will be forgiven and their image will be restored to what is was in the garden. Look at what Paul says of the image of the believer in Ephesians 1:3-14

“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 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 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard he word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee4 of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Holy cow! Do you see this? Paul is reminding believers of their identity because we forget it!

• He has blessed us in Christ with EVERY spiritual blessing
• He chose us before the foundation of the world
• We are holy and blameless because of Christ
• We are adopted into the family of God and have full inheritance
• We have redemption, we are no longer slaves to sin, we have been saved into a family because of Christ
• We are FORGIVEN of all past, present, and future sin to the riches of His grace
• He LAVISHED his grace on us

I could go on and on…and Paul does in every letter to churches. He reminds the believers in the churches of what their image truly is before correcting behavior or addressing questions. Why? Because I forget the gospels meaning and power in my life. I try to form my imagined image on my own instead of remembering who we are in Christ and letting that form my image.

Sweet sister, we act like we believe. If we believe that our imagined image is what is important, then we work at it with all our might! We buy certain shoes and clothes, we join certain groups, we eat certain food, and we behave in a certain way. I pray this New Year we will all stop. Stop letting things and behavior determine our imagined image. I pray that we will actively think on what our image truly is: we are created in God’s image with intrinsic value, we were bought with a price, we are adopted, forgiven, showered with grace and mercy, loved, and have an inheritance, all to the Praise of His glory! Now act accordingly!

Your Sister in Christ,

Colleen

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Slaves No Longer

“I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” Galatians 4:1-7

My dear sisters,
Paul is reminding the believers in the church of Galatia what they have in Christ. They were reverting back to the law to save them from their sins rather than to trust in Christ for the salvation of their sins. He tells them that the law enslaved them to the ways of the world but there was a much better way to be a son of inheritance…by the birth of a tiny baby in Bethlehem.

This child lived a perfect life honoring his earthly parents and his Heavenly Father. He fulfilled the law of the Jewish nation satisfying the Creators commandments perfectly. Then he was crucified and killed taking the penalty of sin that the law required. The final act was rising again on the third day conquering sin and death. The curtain of the temple was torn in two symbolizing access to the heavenly thrown with no more sacrifice! Both Jews and Gentiles now get God freely by faith in their Messiah…no works required.

Those who put their faith in Jesus, no matter what nationality, have been grafted into the family of God through Christ! He has adopted us as sons! That means we have access to the chosen family with all the inheritance and blessings of a son. We can’t earn this right, God has given it to us freely by faith alone in Christ alone! Wow. Slowly, the realization of the power and amazement of this passage is becoming sweeter to me.

Why has this become sweeter to me lately? We are months away from grafting two more children into the Craig family through adoption. It has taken heartbreak, tears, and years to reach this point. We have fought hard with paperwork, agencies, and even countries. When these two chosen children become Craigs, they will never be orphans again. They will receive all of our inheritance and rights as Craigs. They have been chosen not because of what they have done, but out of our love for them. How exciting! It has made me realize that I was an orphan once, living in poverty and the stench of my own sin, when my Father chose to make me His child, His son (yes, son!) with all the blessings and inheritance that comes from His heavenly home. Not for what I have done, but because of His love for me. So dear sister, rejoice this Christmas! Bask in the glory of Sonship! You have been chosen! Not for what you do or earn, but because of what Christ has finished! You are no longer a slave to the world, you are a son! By His spirit you can cry “ABBA, FATHER!” What a gift! You can come confidently before the throne of God because of your given Sonship. Run to Him this Christmas. Run to your daddy and thank Him for His unconditional love.

Your Sister in Christ,
Colleen

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A Good Friend

Dear sister,

I always thought I knew what friendship was until I was asked to write about it. Hmmm…I know that friendship on the east coast is hard at first but lasts forever while friendship on the west coast is instant yet can be fleeting…or so stereotypes tell. I do know a bad friendship when I see one. Yet when I try to define it I come up lacking. As a Navy wife living overseas and knowing a friendship may last for only a year or three, it makes me question even more what real friendship is. So what is friendship?
Funny enough, I found myself singing a song that my two year old listens to…forgive me for quoting song lyrics in the midst of this conversation…BUT, here is what Sovereign Grace Music is teaching my daughter…and me:

A friend will always think of others
A friend will overlook a wrong
A friend sticks closer than a brother
A friend is patient all along
Jesus, let me be the friend You are to me

CHORUS
A good friend, true friend
Here to help you through friend
Strong friend, kind friend
You can have what’s mine, friend
Best friend, sure friend
Humble and a pure friend
Lord, I wanna be a good friend

A friend will help me do the right things
A friend won’t lead me into sin
A friend will help me when I stumble
A friend will lift me up again
Jesus, help me find a friend who’ll make me wise

Wow, are you as convicted as I am? A humble and a pure friend, a friend that won’t lead me into sin, a friend like Jesus. Jesus. I never put friendship into the realm of theology before this letter to you. Yet when I asked my husband how he would define friendship, the first thing he said was to be like Jesus. Jesus lovingly and humbly rebuked His friends when they were in sin or being tempted to sin. He was there in the tumultuous storms with them. He gave his life up for His friends. Would I do that for my friends? Even if I only know them for a year or three? That’s what He did. Jesus is a friend of sinners, why? Because they are the ones that need Him…we are sinners. We need Him. We need to trust Him. We need to give our lives to the only true example of a lasting and meaningful friendship. Jesus, may the friendships that I make here on earth model the one you gave to me freely when I was at my worst and was not a friend back.

Your sister,
Colleen

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The Evil Within

Dear sister,

So, I tend to limit evil to specific people. Hitler is evil. Those that take innocence from women and children are evil. Government leaders that murder their own people are evil. Yet is evil only limited to those whom we deem as really, really bad? Or is evil more prevelant than we could ever perceive? Could it be that evil is actually innately in all of us?

God created ALL things good, very good even. What happened? An angel named Lucifer proudly decided he could be like God (Ezekiel 28:11-19). Quietly, Lucifer’s heart chose to do his own will instead of the will of his Good Creator. The sad fact is, his choice not only affected him, he then decided to influence as many beings as possible to join him in this rebellion. Enter Adam and Eve, the pinnacle of the Lord’s creation. Adam and Eve were created without sin, yet when Lucifer presented himself as a serpent, he tempted them to doubt God’s goodness. The bite of that fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the action that revealed their changed heart. They directly disobeyed what their Creator commanded, thus sin entered the world until the end of time (Rom 5:12). Now all of mankind are born in sin and cannot BUT sin. The bible is therefore saying that I have an evil heart, I was born with it. I rebel against God, I disobey Him and don’t believe what He says is true. My heart is tainted with evil just as those whom I deem as the most evil villain.

But I have good news for you! Why? Because this means that you and I qualify for God’s amazing grace! Only evil human sinful hearts can receive Jesus’s great exchange, where He takes our sin that deserves death, dies that death on the cross paying the cost of sin, and gives us the righteousness of God (1 Cor 5:21)! Our hearts of stones are now hearts of flesh. Those that trust in Christ will have our evil hearts replaced for all time when we enter heavens gates where we will be like Christ forever!

But take heed, those of you who don’t trust Jesus and have not made this great exchange. This evil demands eternal death, if Jesus is not your savior, you will pay this price forever. The Creator will crush evil, His holiness demands it. The good news is, this same holy Creator has made a way for you too…in Jesus! Trust Him! Believe in The Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31)!

Sweet believer, rejoice today in your Creator who has opened your eyes to what Christ has done for you! Your evil heart has been changed forever!!! Praise The Lord! Shout it to the mountain tops! Share this good news to those The Lord puts in your path! Evil is real and is in all those who are born. But Jesus is greater than all and is our conqueroing hero! Hallelujah!

Your thankful sister in Christ,

Colleen