Tag: Apostle Paul

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Wrestling, Wandering, Worry or Peace

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Dear Sister,

Our family recently returned from a trip across the eastern half of the United States. We visited Arkansas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida. We drove to those states throughout the month of September with 5 kids and a ton of luggage in one van. We survived. We had a great trip. And, I was surprised!

We had planned and prayed for this trip for months prior. We prayed throughout the trip—prayed for safety, for good attitudes, for physical and financial health, for good relationships with family and friends, for good memories. God overwhelmingly blessed us. We arrived home at the end of September without any accidents (only a cracked windshield from an errant stone), all family members are still on speaking terms with us, no one got sick on the trip, the kids did a great job sitting and cooperating on the long drives, and we came home slightly under budget. Above all, we got to spend time with many family members and great friends along the way—fantastic connections.

I mentioned we prayed. God blessed us. So, why was I surprised? Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful. We got home and I breathed a tremendous sigh of relief and disbelief. Then I stopped. I serve a big God. He delights in giving good gifts to His children, and I asked for His blessing; but I was acting as if I anticipated disaster. Oh me of little faith. Granted there is no assurance that a perfect vacation will happen; however, if He loves His children and will work all things for good, then I should rest in His provision. Breathe. Rest.

Paul accomplished his trip to Rome (Acts 27-28) with a shipwreck, snakebite, lives saved, and sharing the Gospel of Jesus. It was more eventful than ours, but full of blessings regardless. The lessons I learned? 1) Never underestimate our great God—both in His ability to give good gifts and in creating unexpected riches in the midst of seeming tragedy. 2) Stop wasting time gnashing my teeth over possibilities. Plan, work hard, and leave the rest in His hands.

Dear sister, how many times I wrestled with this trip and my wrestling was in vain. Events happened, awful or outstanding, nevertheless my wrestling. How many hours I could have chosen to smile instead of wandering around in a frowning fog of worry! Please know His peace is extraordinary and we can experience it if only we allow Him to shower us with it. Rest in Him and in His plans for you, for your family, your town, our nation, and even our world.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7

Running with you,

Rebecca

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The Greatest Gift

My Dearest Sister,

It all starts the day after Thanksgiving. Department stores are flooded with shoppers, television commercials spout the latest holiday sales, and wrapping paper is sold by the thousands of yards. It’s the season of giving and even the best of us can get caught up in the mad rush to find the perfect gift for our loved ones. All too often though, we forget the very first and greatest gift ever given. It was over two thousand years ago that God sent His Son to this world in the form of little babe born in a stable in Bethlehem. In doing so, He made a way for us to become a part of His family, adopting us as His very own children.

The apostle Paul tells us more about this gift of adoption in Romans 8:15: “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together.” To fully understand the magnitude of this adoption process, we have to consider the audience to whom Paul is writing, the Romans. In order to adopt a son in Ancient Rome, the adoptive father had to buy him three times from the biological father, selling him back again after each time. After the son was sold to the adopting party for the third time, the biological father could claim him no longer. The son was then considered to be in the family of the adoptive father and had the same inheritance rights as one of his natural-born children. However, unlike a natural-born son, he could never be disowned by his adoptive father; the adoption was permanent.

Usually these adoptions happened when a person of great wealth or influence needed a son to carry on their family name and heritage. For example, Caesar Augustus was adopted by his own uncle, Julius Caesar, who had no children of his own. As a result, Julius was able to carry on his lineage and Augustus inherited an incredible position of power. It was a win-win. Because of this custom, it was virtually unheard of to adopt a slave. After all, the adoptive father needed someone worthy of carrying on his legacy, not some poor, dirty wretch who wouldn’t know the first thing about being the inheritor of a wealthy estate or important position. Yet we know from scripture that we were indeed once slaves to sin, following the desires and whims of our flesh. What, then, does God have to gain from adopting us as slaves of sin into His powerful family? What do we have to offer Him that makes us worthy of His affection? The answer is absolutely nothing. That’s what makes His desire to adopt us so amazing!

You see, God already had a Son to carry on His legacy and inherit all of His riches and glory: His name was Jesus Christ and He was perfect in every way, the apple of His Father’s eye. And yet God chose to send Him to this world in the form of a little baby boy, so that He would grow up to be persecuted, mocked, and killed by the very people He came to save. Do you understand what a sacrifice that was? Jesus took the blame that was not His and God, not being able to look on sin, had to forsake His precious only Son on the cross. And for what? For us, sister! Just as a Roman father had to buy his adopted son three times, God bought us with three days and nights of Jesus’ death.

There is only one thing that could explain such an amazing sacrifice: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 1:3). LOVE, dear sister. God cared about us – poor, wretched slaves to sin as we were – enough to purchase our adoption with His own Son’s blood. And not only that, He made us equal inheritors with Christ. I ask you, what greater love can there be than that? So this season, let’s take a break from all the last minute shopping and present-wrapping to appreciate the greatest gift we will ever receive – our adoption as sons and daughters in the family of our ever-loving Abba Father. Merry Christmas, my precious sister!

In His love,
~ Lauren