With Matt and Josie in Indiana

Mom and Dad and I drove out to Indiana for a week with Matt and Josie.  It was so nice to hang out with my little brother and his wife (who just happens to be my friend too!).  They cooked amazing food for us the whole week long.  We got to see their cute apartment, go to an Aisan market, do some weeding in their big beautiful garden, catch up on each other’s lives, go canoeing, discover Paw Paw trees, hear Matt’s new piece of studio equipment and Josie’s latest song she’s writing, hear an inspiring sermon at the Cicero church, and hike at “Turkey Run State Park.”  It was difficult to leave, even though I knew they would be coming to visit us in Iowa in just a week.  Here are some pictures of our time together.

The Promising Prayer

It bothers me to hear people making promises to God. “If You will heal my husband, I will go to church every week.” “If You will just get me out of this mess, I will never do this again.” “I will give one million dollars to the church, if You let me win the lottery.” But I too have prayed such “If You... then I will...” prayers!

Not long ago I had a disagreement with a lady. I knew I had to apologize for my impatience and attitude. But I knew she was going to rub it in and I would be even more tempted than before to be rude and retaliate. I found myself praying “God, please help me through this one tomorrow. I can’t be nice to her! If You will just work some miracle to get me through this one with her tomorrow, then I will be nice to her on my own from here on out.” If You... then I will...

God reminded me that day, that He would help me - because He loves me and knows that I truly need His help. And He would keep on helping me every day after that too! He is good to us without us having to persuade Him to be good! We only have to ask. We don’t have to barter with God!

Sometimes we make promises to God without “if” conditions. At Mount Sinai the Israelites promised God: “All that the Lord has said, we will do.” (Exodus 19:8) The Israelites didn’t say “If You just get us to Canaan, then we will do whatever You say.” They weren’t exactly bartering. At the moment their attitude was, “Wow, You just rescued us from slavery in Egypt. We owe You one! Whatever You tell us to do, we’ll do it!” Such promises always seem to go along with the idea of paying back a favor.

One year I made a vow to God that I would commit the whole year to only working for Him. He had been so good to me that I wanted to bless Him somehow - pay Him back something, I guess. So I vowed to not pursue any hobbies or outside relationships... that year was going to be %100 percent for God, because I owed Him a lot.

Set aside the fact that we can never “pay back” to God anything that is not already His! Now think about this idea of promising God. What else is wrong with this scenario?

Isn’t it some kind of pride that makes us think we can pay God back for His favors? We ask for things and try to assure Him that we are worthy of His help. Like the elders of the Jews who came to Jesus asking him to heal the centurion’s servant: “And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with Him earnestly, saying, ‘He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” (Luke 7:4,5) We need your help Jesus to heal this man’s servant. You should do it because this centurion is good to have around; he helps us out; You owe him one.

I think I promise things to God sometimes because I don’t realize just how good He is! He would have healed that centurion’s servant even if he hadn’t built the synagogue. He would have helped me to be nice to that lady without my impossible promise to behave on my own after that.

We don’t have to try to make ourselves more worthy in order for God to hear our prayers. We don’t have to persuade God to be good either!

Did we have to persuade God to create us? Did we have to promise Him anything before He would decide to create the earth with all its bounty and beauty? How many times has He rescued us from dangers before we even recognized them and started making promises? Did He make the sky azure blue and the sun cozily warm because we promised to appreciate it? Does He so lovingly forgive us because we are useful to Him and reciprocate (pay back) His love?

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly...

“God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us...

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.” Romans 5:6,8,10

Bringing in the Glory

I’ve been reading through the book of Revelation again and came up to the last two chapters. I admit that I thought I wouldn’t “get anything new out of it” because I have read these chapters so many times before. But, of course, God’s Words are deeper than our estimation of them! This thought was so inspiring to me. I hope it blesses you the same...

Chapter 21 is a description of the earth made new. When Jesus said “I go to prepare a place for you...” (John 14:1-6) He promised that there would be a place, a “home,” for anyone who wants to be with Him. And in Revelation, the angel who is talking to John excitedly gives him a tour of the New Jerusalem.

This “city” is being prepared as the “capital city” of God’s Kingdom. After the millennium, it will descend from Heaven to Earth. “And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband... ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, God Himself will be with them as their God.’ ” Revelation 21:2,3

Then John attempts to describe the city. The part that caught my attention was verses 24,26: “By it’s light (that of the New Jerusalem) will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it... They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations.”

The “nationS” (not just Americans!) and the “kings of the earth” (no longer the foreman’s gopher, or the company slave...) will bring their glory and honor into the New Jerusalem, the dwelling place of God.

Picture it. From your beautiful, peaceful home, you set off across the meadows and hills on one of the many paths that leads to the New Jerusalem. Others are making their way to the same place, skipping along joyfully and greeting each other with faces that no longer express any pain, tears, or death. Everyone seems to be bursting with some information that they can’t wait to share.

You yourself have something to tell. During the week you have discovered some new creation that you never saw before, or some new thought that you never realized before. It was so beautiful and so intricate and so amazingly purposeful that it awes your mind just thinking about it! You can’t wait to tell everyone, and thank the One who made such a thing available to you.

What a privilege it will be to take our glory (our praise) and honor into the New Jerusalem and express it to our God in person! We pray and sing our thanks and praise now. But someday we will be able to “bring our glory” into the very presence of God and personally look Him in the eye to thank Him. How satisfying that will be!