Mistress of His Fate

What would you say if you found out you were a queen? How would you treat the king? More than likely, with knowledge of your command. You would suddenly have more influence, and if you were a wise queen, you would wield that influence on your husband for the advantage of the kingdom: and perhaps yourself.

As I started a new year with my NKJV version Bible, I decided to highlight all of the mentions God made of women. I wanted to see how much they pervade the Bible, what women were positive examples, and which were negative; I even wanted to see how much God used females for his purpose. Did you know that the dove God sent out from the ark after the Flood was a female? She carried the message of wet or dry land back from either the olive branch or her absence. God could have portrayed her as a male dove, but it seemed unusual he decided on a female.

Obviously, God's mention of females in the Bible doesn't just associate with doves. Some of women's greatest mentions are associated with their powerful influence over some very significant men. The Genesis account of Eve offering the tempting fruit to Adam---and his response to almost automatically accept it---seems like the most startling (Gen. 3), but as Genesis continues, women continue to play a huge role of influence. The daughters of men influence angels to come to earth to be with them (Gen. 6:1-2), and even minor characters like Lamech had something to admit to his wives (Adah and Zillah) that he felt were close enough confidantes and people of influence: the murder of a man (Gen.4: 23-24). Before Sarai became the mother of nations as "Sarah", she held sway not only over Egyptian kings who desired her for her beauty, but also over her husband to a great extent. Abram had already heard that God would bless him through Sarai's children, but Sarai seemed to overpower even God's voice in Abram's head by telling Abram to take Hagar, her maidservant, as his wife and bear a child with her. Abram, like his distant relative Adam, obeyed his wife's influential voice (Gen. 16).

In 1 Peter, even though Peter is discussing women with non-Christian husbands, he seems to echo well this knowledge that women affect the men they are with.

"Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives" (1 Peter 3:1-2).

What has been most fascinating to me in this verse is recalling the negative influence of women in Genesis and yet the ability and power we have as positive influences! Whether it is a husband, brother, friend, or father, the reverence of our lives and the way we treat men can greatly effect their decisions for or against the kingdom of God.

Lost Things

I've been losing things a lot lately. A flash drive. My phone going dead on me for a solid week. One of my friends. An earring here, another earring there. A bunch of files from an old computer. A story I wanted to read. I'm normally such an organized person, losing anything used to drive me insane until I found that object again. I would literally stomp around my room (or wherever I happened to be), getting irritated at everyone around me and even crying if I couldn't find the object I was missing. "It's gone forever!" I'd bewail, allowing my human sinful nature to get a hold of me as I lashed out at innocent bystanders.

I think God knows when it's time to give his children a lesson. He chose to target the very things I hold precious---like my pair of favorite feather earrings, and the zipper on my favorite leather jacket not working so I couldn't use it. The more things I unintentionally the lost, the more I began to find it somewhat odd, even humorous, that God kept tossing those things off my materialistic radar and making me more patient. Now, when I lose something, like yesterday when I lost (yet another) earring, I looked around for it for a few minutes and then just shrugged it off. God really knows me well; he was disciplining me even in small things.

The verse that popped into my head when I was thinking over this post was Luke 12, Christ's parable of the rich fool:
    "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God" (v. 13-21).

In our lives, we may not intentionally think this selfishly---we are generous people, prone to give rather than get, tithe rather than take---but we build our own barns by focusing on the gadgets, gizmos, clothing, and objects that are only temporary comforts here on earth. When we think of the larger picture, if we lose something, we know longer think of it as so severe: it is our training for looking first to the Giver before going wild at the loss of the gift. Many people and things will pass through our lives, but we shouldn't mourn over their monetary value. We should thank God for having them, and then express in our lives a better thought process of patience when we do have to let them go.

My favorite part of Luke 12 is the preceding verse to the parable. A quibbling sibling tells Jesus that his brother won't divide an inheritance with him, and Jesus calmly replies, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions" (v.15). Even if it is not something as great as an inheritance, we are not meant to focus on the abundance or quality of our possessions, but the richness and life of glorifying God (v. 21). What is our mindset with our material blessings? Where do we find our worth and our treasure store? 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6: 19-21).

Models of Christ

I was recently watching a show about America's top runway models, when I happened upon 1 and 2  Peter in my personal Bible study. In shows with models, the most important thing is maintaining beauty, while personal moral lives seem cast aside for gaining money and fame on the road to a high profile career. Although modeling is an extreme example of women pursuing beauty or career instead of character, even if we as women are not models, we can play the same game in our lives with our dissatisfaction for our looks and the way we forget what God is truly looking for.

In 1 Peter 3: 3-4, Peter points out: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

In Peter's time period, wealthy women were following the Gospel message, but were still following the ways of the world. Their extravagant plaited, knotted, and braided hair styles often took hours to complete, with weaving in of pearls in strands of hair in order to present themselves as flashy; the same went for their gold jewelry and rare clothes: everything pointed to the abundance of their possessions and their focus on something other than God. Yet God calls for us as women to dig past these temporal surface layers of beauty and cultivate the beauty of our inner person in order to truly emulate him.

I like how the KJV translates verse 4; instead of calling it 'your inner self', this version uses the term, 'the hidden man of the heart'. The people of this world who do not know our Savior falsely think that the best way to succeed TODAY is to become beautiful externally. The thought is tempting and even addictive. I know I struggle with this daily, every time I look at pictures of myself, other women, or flip through magazines of airbrushed models. Yet 2 Peter 3:17 paints a different picture of these 'false prophets' of today, with their appearance of godliness but their rashness of truth (2 Tim. 3:1-5):

"They promise [the weak-willed] freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved."

Have you ever seen a model enslaved by an eating disorder, unable to break free from the sad bondage of their illness and deprecating self image? Perhaps even less extreme, have you ever felt that very bondage yourself of needing affirming messages and 'likes' from friends before being content that you look okay? We seek it by posting new pictures, wearing new clothing, telling others we look terrible without make-up, and attaching ourselves in addiction to fashion shows.

God, instead, sees the highest form of beauty as the woman who turns her eyes to his glory and finds herself lost in his creation and holiness, gently submitting to others in servanthood and the meekness of the 'hidden man of the heart'.

Pepsi Lessons

The other day, I attended a movie premiere and brought with me a Pepsi (my drink of choice). During the evening, I ate a lot of the gummy candy I'd brought along, but the Pepsi was mostly forgotten. By the end of the evening, my loyal 16 ounces were hardly consumed. When I headed home, I put the Pepsi down on my desk and forgot about it.
A few days later I was faithfully cleaning my room when I found the Pepsi again. I was almost certain the carbonation would have gone out entirely, since I hadn't put it in the fridge. However, when I took a swig to try out my theory, the Pepsi was surprisingly fresh, fizzy, even cool from my room! Without knowing, I had screwed the cap on well enough a couple of days before to maintain the carbonation.
The thought of this Pepsi reminded me of Hebrews 2.
"Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today", that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end."
I am, as a believer, like the Pepsi. If I maintain my 'carbonation'---my connection to Christ---I will be fresh, like 'streams of living water' to those in the deserts of this world. However, if I go flat, hardened by sin, I will end up being very unproductive for the Gospel I originally held to in professing Christ as my Lord. My brothers and sisters in Christ are like the person who tightens my 'cap' again to maintain my obedience and freshness in God; without them as well, I would become flat.
The same could be said for us encouraging our fellow brothers and sisters. What can we do to be there for them? Do we pray for them, but also tell them we have been praying? Do we offer them a listening ear? Do we send them an uplifting message? Write them a letter? Give them a gift? We as brothers and sisters in Christ are called to be an example to the world of how Christ has treated us; by supporting one another and keeping their freshness for the Lord's work in their life, even if that calling is not like our own.

Smiley Morning Changes Its Tune!

I have a dear friend I have never met. Why, do you ask, is he a dear friend? Because he is full of the humility and grace of Christ, in passionate pursuit of him by attempting to integrate Christ's Word into his personal life.
Lately I have been convicted, especially from reading this young man's blog and another Jewish young woman's blog, to begin my own journey in speaking about the things that Christ has brought me. I intend on being regular with my commitment to this by using Smiley Morning to share (perhaps every Sunday) the things I have learned from Scripture. My goal in this is not to encourage comment participation, excessive blog response or attention, or even my own peace of mind, but to grow consistently in Scripture. Although Scripture memorization is important to me, I have found that reflecting (teaching) on Scripture, and writing it down over and over again has been most helpful and productive to me in the long run for my knowledge of Scripture. I wish to do this on Smiley Morning: reflecting on a particular Scripture that stuck with me, either due to its relevance in my life or what it could mean.
I am a busy college student consumed with academics, so as the spring semester starts in January I desire to have more dedication to this blog in order to grow in the Lord and his mighty words. I will attempt not to neglect my weekly duty on this blog unless a weekend getaway calls me elsewhere, or severe circumstances permit me otherwise. If I can submit my mind to the useless mental propensities of Facebook, why can't I do the same with a more edifying purpose as an end result?
I look forward to beginning this journey. My first installment should be this weekend. Until then, I will depart!

Monks and Nuns: Biblical Ways of Being Single?

I've had humorous discussions before with my sisters and mother about starting a nunnery after the lack of quality guys in my area (which, I admit, never came to fruition after both my sisters got engaged/married)---but in all serious, I have thought over the concept of women and men dedicating their lives wholly to God.

I am not a Catholic, so it would be impossible theologically for me to accept all of the views of Catholicism if I ever even considered the process of becoming a nun, but I'm curious as to what your position about nuns and monks is.

As some of you will reiterate, I'm sure, the apostle Paul understood that God called most of us to marry (those with the physical desire to do so) in order to avoid immorality, while he called others to celibacy. ("Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion."1 Cor. 7:8-9). This echoes Christ's statement in Matthew 19: 12 as he discusses marriage with the Pharisees, where he states, "...there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven."

Paul's passage in accordance with Christ's words seem to indicate to me that chosen lifetime singleness should only be a step made when a man or woman is able to completely cut themselves off from physical (passionate) desire for a spouse. All other men and women, it would seem, who cannot entirely suppress such a desire entirely (which seems to be the majority of the population, since God created us with that innately) are not 'called to be eunuchs'.

There are certainly some very admirable Catholic monks and nuns (Mother Theresa and Brother Lawrence, as some of many numerous examples) who have built legacies and saved thousands through their dedication to God as single people. However, although some of these felt that personally their ministry would be more effective through singleness, and perhaps considered themselves 'eunuchs', there is also the controversial Scripture in 1 Timothy which disagrees with the Catholic church's institutionalism of singles in ministry (nuns and monks).

1 Timothy 4:1-5 states, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer."

In some sense, the Catholic church appears to be doing just that: forbidding men and women to marry in order to serve God in supposedly more righteousness and purity. However, as I mentioned earlier, I think only certain men and women are called to a life of singleness, while others would serve God more appropriately (and in more holiness) by being married. To pin such a burden of singleness on hundreds of men and women whose deepest desire is to serve God---but who must give up a natural desire they were not meant to simply because they believe they would serve God better--appears inaccurate to me.

So,

Do you consider monks and nuns as correct biblical interpretations of singleness?

If so, what Scripture or knowledge do you consider coincides with your view?

One of the ways I thought of improving happiness besides positivity is treating my health correctly. Things I've gleaned over the years have increased my knowledge of general health---including taking more control over my eating habits and exercising.

Some of the ways I'm looking to improve my general health is eating less meat (except for lean meats, like grilled chicken and turkey) and also being able to run a mile without stopping. Over the next four weeks, I'll be running and cross training on run-rest days to improve my stamina.

I feel kind of like a health nut, but really all I'm doing is lessening the amount of time I'm spending sedentary (except for schoolwork) and making some meal changes.

Here's to accomplishing some goals and getting started over spring break!