Causing Others to Stumble

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Lynn

Here’s what I think…take it or leave it.  If you cause another to “stumble” in any way shape or form…it is sin, period.  Drinking, indulging in food…even getting someone addicted to Facebook…

None of the above is “bad” in itself unless the indulgence of that one thing takes a person’s mind off of Christ.

We read in scripture that God is a jealous God.  That means that anything that distracts us from Him or His purpose for us can be considered an idol to us.  The second and third and fourth commandments in Exodus 20:3-5 clearly make that point.  Consider how important that is to God if 3 out of the 10 commandments deal with the idea of putting God first in every aspect of your life.

ANYTHING that distracts us from God (TV, computer, gaming, sports, shopping, recreation, work, school…etc. etc.) can become to us an “idol” if we indulge in that activity to the point of neglecting our time with God.  I would even say doing “church things” can be distracting, if the motivation is “doing” and not actively seeking God’s will and direction.

I am reminded of Paul’s words in Romans 12: 1-2 …present your bodies as living sacrifices, acceptable to God; and not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the “renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Do not indulge in those things that are morally wrong, that may pollute our minds and our bodies; that offend God, that demean the Word, or negate the teachings of Christ.  Our lives should be living offerings to the Lord.  If anything is amiss in our lives that we know would cause the Holy Spirit to grieve within us, we need to let it go and repent.  If anything is taking us away from building relationships with God and with others, let it go.

“He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.” Romans 14:6

“For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” v.8

Anything we do during our day should be for the Glory of God.  If we work…do it for His Glory, not ours.  If we play, do it for His Glory, not ours.  We give thanks for every good thing and we give thanks for every negative thing that comes our way, because we believe in that we are honouring God and acknowledging that He is indeed Lord of our lives.  He is Sovereign and I believe that in everything God can be glorified if we acknowledge that He is totally in control.  So if I face hardships (like cancer), I believe that God will never “leave or forsake me”, if I receive an accolade for a job “well done”…I acknowledge that I can “do all things through Him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13).

I believe God calls His people to be “lights” in all areas of life.  Some are called to minister in their places of employment.  That means we should act differently than others around us may act in the work place.  We don’t complain about our bosses to others, we go above and beyond the call of duty…because God has called us to do that.  We submit to authority.  We don’t lie or cheat or gossip (we are not of THIS world) so we need to act like it!  We avoid temptation.  We pray for those we work with, we share the love of Christ with them.  We become the hands and feet of Jesus….and in everything…good or bad….we give thanks to God!

“…walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.”  (Colossians 1:10-12)

All that said, we need to ask ourselves several questions with regards to what side of the fence we want to live or die on when it comes to some of the “world’s” more controversial issues.  Some of them are virtually no brainers – according to scripture to take a life is wrong, “Thou shalt not kill”….thus abortion is wrong, euthanasia is wrong.  Period.  Scripture is also very clear on homosexuality, greed, lust, and adultery.  They’re wrong.  Period.  If we believe that, then that answers some of the questions with regards to sex before marriage, common law relationships etc….it’s wrong.  Period. Oh, and then there are lots of other “no brainers” we’re not as keen on hearing or accepting: submitting to authority, (“rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”…ie: paying taxes); letting go of pride, honouring our parents, submitting to our husbands, loving our wives as Christ loved the church, living debt-free.  I could go on.

And then of course, the one that causes a few Christians to sit on the fence and ponder upon…to drink or not to drink alcohol.  In a nutshell, scripture is not clear to tell us one way or other if it is right or wrong to drink…what scripture IS clear about is that anything that leads to sin (or causing another to stumble) is wrong.  Do I believe that alcohol is wrong in itself?…NO.  Do I believe that indulging in alcohol can cause someone to sin?…YES.  That’s the kicker.

If I drink a glass of wine before bed so I can relax get a good night’s rest am I sinning?  No.  If I have a glass of wine with a fancy meal or to toast in the New Year am I sinning?  No.  However, if my children see me drinking a glass of wine and it causes them to want to drink it…then I am responsible.  They do not know their limits yet, they are prone to use my example as an excuse to over indulge because they are not old enough to know better.  They respect me, they watch me,…if I am to guide them I must be careful that my actions are not misinterpreted by them.  (That goes with everything I might add…kids will do as they see their parents doing…)  If I toast in the New Year with others knowing that some in the room have a weakness for alcohol and do not know their own limitations…once again I sin, by participating in an activity that may cause others to stumble.  Easy answer.  If in doubt…don’t drink.

I think the one thing we have neglected in all of this is listening to the Holy Spirit.  He will guide and lead you in everything.  If you are in a quandary about something, don’t lean “unto your own understanding” but in ALL things acknowledge that you have a Counsellor Who is more than able to tell you what you should or should not do.  If you feel that nagging, squirmy feeling of guilt whenever you drink…that’s the Holy Spirit telling you to NOT drink.  Doesn’t matter the circumstances…whether you’re home alone, or in a crowd.  If the Holy Spirit tells you to stay away from something…STAY AWAY.  To ignore the Holy Spirit is disobedience to God.  Scripture is pretty clear on THAT particular subject too!

Jesus drank wine…and good stuff too (according to scripture), yet Jesus never sinned.  Why?  He never over-indulged, He never forgot Who He was, Who the Father was, and what His purpose was.  Jesus hung out with prostitutes and “sinners”…yet He never sinned.  Why?  He never forgot Who He was, Who the Father was, and what His purpose was.  You too, can drink wine and not sin.  How?  You must never over indulge, you must always remember Whose you are, Who the Father is, and what His purpose for your life is.

That’s my opinion.  Take it or leave it.

 

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Hunger Games – Yay or Nay

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Lynn

education-book-coverAs a writer of Young Adult fiction, I try to read anything and everything that is in that genre to keep current with my reading audience.  That also means, even though I write from a Christian world view, that I read secular books (oftentimes paranormal) so I know what is “trending” with that age group.  I read all the Harry Potter Books, the Twilight Series and most recently the Hunger Games.

I will admit I quite enjoyed the Harry Potter series.  I even liked the Twilight series (go Team Jacob!)…so I had high expectations for the Hunger Games.

They say that books (and movies) define a societal thinking at the time the books are written.  For example, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) was a scathing commentary on racial tensions at that time; The Diary of Anne Frank (1947) was released shortly after the Holocaust; The Feminine Mystique (1963) was the “spark” that lit the feminist movement of the 60’s.  Books give a hint to how people view society and if I take that theory and run with it, based on the Hunger Games, society is at its most hopeless state ever.

I was surprised, no…shocked at the violence in the books.  These are not books that have a classic “good vs. evil” theme with “good” ultimately triumphing over evil.  This is a corrupt, futuristic world that pits children against one another in gladiatorial combat games to the death.  Innocents placed on the altar to appease the “Capital” gods.  It is a society that has absolutely no morals or ethics.  It is bereft of hope…and turn away now… (*Spoiler Alert*…there’s not a happy ending).

Is this the way that our young people view today’s society?

Recently I came across a discussion between a few Christian parents on Facebook about whether or not they would allow their children (12 years and under) to read books (or go to movies) that show people killing other people.  Right away I thought about the Hunger Games.  The books are intended for a Young Adult audience but I know for a fact that children much, much younger have read the books and are lined up with their parents now to see the movies.  It does concern me, I’ll admit.

If I expand upon my initial theory and determine that books (and movies) hint at societal mores at the time they are written; if the Hunger Games are indeed a snapshot of how youth perceive the world around them today, then we as adults must take note.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

“And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.”  (Jeremiah 7:31)

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Would you give it up for Me?

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Lynn

I am a first generation Canadian, my parents came to Canada from Denmark in the 50’s and I was born in Calgary 6 years after they arrived.  I think as soon as I was weaned from a bottle, I was immediately introduced to coffee.  I don’t mean the Tim Horton’s coffee we all know and love, no, I mean black, thick, strong coffee…the kind of coffee that a spoon would have a hard- time-stirring-through coffee!  When I was about two years old I would get about a quarter of a cup coffee, and the rest of the cup was made up with cream and sugar.  Every year after that the mixture got blacker and blacker, thicker and thicker.  Ever since I was a little girl I can remember drinking coffee.

It was a cold Sunday morning early into January of 2000 and I was putting on my makeup and fixing my hair and trying to finish quickly so that my husband, Charles and I could have some time to enjoy our second cup of coffee before heading off to church.  This had been our usual custom for 21 years.  As I was combing my hair and looking into the bathroom mirror I heard a distinct voice around me saying: “Would you give it up for Me?”  I thought Charles had spoken to me so I turned around but saw no one.  Then I heard the voice again very distinctly say, “Would you give it up for Me?”  I stopped brushing my hair, and said, “What?  Give what up?”  The voice again said, “Would you give it up for Me?”  I don’t exactly know, but I felt more than understood that I had just had an audible encounter with God and for some reason the Holy Spirit was asking me to give up coffee.

I went downstairs where my husband was and I told Charles what I had just experienced and I told him that I needed to stop drinking coffee immediately.  Charles did not question my sanity, as I thought he might, but he said, “If you think God is telling you to stop drinking coffee, you must stop and I’ll stop too, to support you.”

Well, over the course of that year, many times I wondered why the Holy Spirit had asked me to stop drinking coffee, but I would not question God’s wisdom.

We had the youth group come to our home for a New Year’s party to usher in the year 2001 and as we prayed together, our youth pastor’s wife, Cathey said something that remained in my thoughts for a very long time.  “We welcome in the New Year,” she said, “But even as we do that, we think about how we need to stay focused on God throughout this year.  This might be a year of challenges; of good times and of bad times.  We might be called upon to offer help and support to each other.  We might have to say, “Good-bye” to friends.  Some right here in this room, may not be here with us next year…”  I thought about those words, and even as I knew that she was thinking more along the lines of kids moving away than anything more ominous, a month later I suspected God used Cathey to prophesy what the future year was to hold for me.

In January of 2001, I had a full physical at the doctor’s and I was sent for a routine mammogram.  The technician normally does not reveal findings to patients but she let on that she thought she saw something unusual in one of the pictures and sent me immediately for an ultrasound.  Three weeks later a biopsy confirmed I had breast cancer and on March 6th of 2001 I underwent a mastectomy.  Four days later I danced at my brother’s wedding as we welcomed not only his wife but her thirteen year old daughter into our family!  There are countless of stories I could relate during that two year battle with cancer, where God spoke to me through prayer, scripture, and God’s people…as Cathey had prophesied, the youth group was instrumental in lifting me before the Lord in prayer that year.  Her words were remembered by many of those young people and they banded together to surround one of their own, my daughter, with unconditional support as our entire family experienced my cancer together.  My entire church family ministered to me through random acts of kindness and service, while I went through the chemotherapy treatments and the worship team even came to my home and led a mini-worship for me when I was too exhausted and weary to venture to church.  I received countless emails from friends around the world and truly God used them all to encourage me through the entire experience.  I could and probably will, write a book someday about my journey with God through that cancer experience, but I know that the first chapter would focus on why God told me to give up coffee in the first place.

I didn’t know it at the time, but doctors, nurses and technicians told me after, that the lumps that were discovered in my right breast at the time of my mammogram were so small that the technician almost missed seeing them.  She had asked me before the test if I was a coffee drinker and I had told her I had given up drinking coffee the year previously.  Again, I didn’t know it at the time, but discovered later that in some women, heavy coffee drinking can cause little fatty cysts to develop in breast tissue because of the caffeine.  This can sometimes throw off a mammogram reading.  If I had not given up coffee, the technician may have thought that those tiny lumps were nothing more than cysts caused by my caffeine intake, however, since I was not a coffee drinker at the time of the test and had been off of coffee for over a year, she decided to investigate those minuscule lumps and as a result that early detection of cancer saved my life.  I was told by my surgeon that my particular form of breast cancer was extremely aggressive and had the lumps not been detected when they were, I would probably not have survived the year.

This past week I have Facetimed with my daughter several times.  She is gloating over the daffodils sprouting up in her yard there in Louisville, Kentucky while we’re still on “snow watch” until April here in Alberta.  Jaxon, my grandbaby, is walking now and whenever he sees me (on their iPad) he says, “Gaaah!” and laughs.  They’ll be home for the summer and I am counting down the days.  My youngest child, Carmen is heading to Guatemala next week on mission with her grade eleven class.  She’ll have millions of stories to tell when she gets back.  I am so looking forward to hearing them all!  My son, Brett brought home an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen the other day, declaring that he just thought we might like a “surprise”.  Such a treat!  Such a blessing!  Life has indeed come around full circle.  The little everyday things – memories – that I count as treasures.  How does one adequately thank God for this gift of life?

I have thought often about God telling me to stop drinking coffee.  It sounded like a strange thing at the time but I obeyed without hesitation.  God asked, “Would you give it up for Me?”  The more I have thought about it over the years, the more I am sure that those words at the time didn’t have as much to do with giving up coffee as it was my giving up everything to God.

Henry Blackaby says in Experiencing God that if you have heard from God, what you do next, determines what you believe about God.  The moment God speaks to you is the time He wants you to respond to Him.  I had no idea what was happening within my body, but God did.  His timing was perfect.  Had I disobeyed, I would not have lived out that year.  It was a life or death decision for me and I didn’t even know it at the time.

I have learned since then whenever God speaks to me, He may be waiting for me to give Him a “life or death” answer.   I pray that in the large things and small things whenever He asks me to “give it up for Him”, no matter what He asks of me, I will respond immediately, “Yes, Lord!”  God will then respond, “That’s thanks enough!”

“Lord, by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too.  You restored me to health and let me live.  Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish.  In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.  For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who got down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.  The living – the living – they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell your children about your faithfulness.”     Isaiah 38: 16-19

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