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Thought to Ponder

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. – Genesis 2:19-20

Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. – Genesis 3:20

Have you noticed that we are still shaping our lives with names? For example, I am called daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, Constance, Pumpkin, Spaghetti-head, sis, cousin, and Val by my family. But those are only a small part defining who I am. What if I were to add things like friend, scholar, student, listener, babysitter, roommate, confidant, singer, musician, artist, Christian…? Do you begin to see the importance of a name? I am not one or two of these, but all. They shape who I am and as I grow and my life changes I will acquire even more names like doctor, co-worker, employee, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, sister-in-law…. Each name shows a different facet of who I am and who I am to become, but they all must be looked at together to see me.

But just like all these names define who I am, my names for other people define who they are. I think that one of the greatest gifts that God has given us is the ability to shape with words and names. Why are we so flippant with our gifts? Are we blinded to affects of the names we place on people?

The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and in itself set fire by hell. All kinds of animals are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. – James 4:12

We have a choice to heap blessings or curses on people with a single name. Names like son, daughter, or friend can bring joy, acceptance, thanksgiving, and love. And names like liar, betrayer, or fool bring condemnation, hate, and disregard.

Be careful what you say in anger or out of hurt because a name goes a very long way; it can build up or destroy. Which will you choose?

Logos and Rhema

A while ago, my darling and I were having a discussion. I don’t know particularly how it happened, but conversation turned to the story of the water from the rock. It’s one of the most fascinating stories for me, although it’s pretty well dispersed. In Exodus something, when Israel was first out of Egypt, they came to a place where there was no water. So they complained, and threatened to kill Moses. Moses prayed, and God directed him to a rock, and said “hit it.” Moses strikes the rock and FWOOSH! out comes enough water for 600,000 fighting men and all their families.

One of the old, anti-miracle-ist explanations for this miracle was that the rock that Moses came to was actually a great side of a mountain. Probably the person who thought this explanation up was from the Appalachian Mountains, because you see it there all the time: The drift water from the previous snows isn’t held just in the surface of the mountain, but inside every crevice of the mountain. You can drive by and see little rivulets creeping out of every minor crack in the surface of the stone. So, our anti-miracle theory goes, God directed Moses to just such a mountain, that had a vast store of water inside of it somewhere, and Moses struck it and just the right place, and all that stored water of the ages comes rushing out—enough to feed 600,000 fighting men and all their families.

The only problem with this explanation is in Corinthians 10:16, which says that “the rock which followed them was Christ.” The image of a rock following someone pretty strongly implies that the Israelites treated that rock the same way they did the Manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the Ten Commandments, and every other physical manifestation of God’s supernatural grace for them: They picked it up and carried it around with them. Which means the rock would have had to have been pretty small. It couldn’t have been much bigger than the size of a watermelon.

And then the next time Israel was stuck in a corner of the desert with no natural source of water (which would be about Numbers 20), Moses prays again, and God says to speak to the rock. And Moses, because of the lovely mood he’s in, instead of speaking to the rock, he hits it, twice. And then there’s this big section where God tells Moses he won’t get to go into Canaan because he hit the rock instead of speaking to it.

OK. So what’s the big deal? I mean, of all the dumb things Moses has probably done wrong in 80-odd years, the thing that tops the cake and kicks him out of Canaan is hitting a rock with a stick. Ever hit a rock with a stick? Watch out! Actually, one explanation I’ve heard on this goes something along the lines of “Moses represented God as angry when he wasn’t,” which I guess is pretty bad. I mean, misrepresenting God, false prophecy, false teaching and all that. But I think it’s even more significant than that.

If you look at it with a little historical perspective, and remember what Jesus said about the whole Old Testament being a prophecy (c.f. “the law prophesied until John;” “not a jot or tittle of the law will pass away until all is fulfilled;” etc.), what you realize is that Moses screwed up what was supposed to be one of the most powerful symbols in the entire book. Remember, “the rock which followed them was Christ.” God only told Moses to strike the rock once. Jesus was crucified “Once for all” (It’s in Romans and it’s in Hebrews. Go look it up.) As a Christian, what is one of the worst things you can do, in regard to your sin? Isn’t it to try somehow to earn God’s salvation? Jesus was crucified once. There is no need for anyone to do it again. It would be an affront to God to attempt to do so, like attempting to pay for your birthday presents.


Strike the shepherd and the sheep are scattered.
Strike the rock and the waters come.
They struck my Lord and they brought salvation.
Could they have known what they had done?

Jesus was struck once for our salvation, and out of his side, like blood and water, came an unquenchable fountain of life. Moses struck a bolder and out came enough water for 600,000 fighting men, and their families (and their sheep, and their camels, and their donkeys…) From Jesus Christ flows an unquenchable flood that has watered people in the billions. He was struck once, and now all we have to do is speak to that rock to receive anew that fresh fountain of life.

Now that was pretty good, but I’m pretty sure I already knew most of it, though it had never quite before congealed so nicely. But what happened next was pretty amazing. I dropped my darling off for the night and headed home (that’s not the amazing part), when the Holy Spirit reminded me of another verse involving water (here it comes—this has totally revolutionized my life). The verse from Ephesians 5 pops into my mind, about husbands: “love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water of the word.”

I’ve always liked that verse, because it describes the word of God as this cleansing agent that automatically draws you to holiness. I like verses like that. Like “Acknowledge God, and He will direct your path,” which had me chanting a mantra of “God I acknowledge you” for months every time I found my self going on the wrong path. I had in my mind somehow this idea, like in Psalm 119, where it says “because of Your word, I have more wisdom than my elders,” that if I just hid enough scripture in my heart, somehow those bible verses would work their way out in my life and actions, and I would be this super-righteous person. I hope you can recognize the wrong direction I’m going here. Crucifying again, making a mockery of Christ, and all that sort of thing. I had in my mind this nice little formula: Read bible, become holy. The only problem is that it never really has managed to work.

So, anyway, I’m driving home in the night and this verse pops into my head and the Holy Spirit says “What if that word there is Rhema instead of Logos?” I don’t remember if I stopped the car or not, but I do know I shouted “WHOA!!!” about as loud as I could. (I’m pretty sure all my windows were up.) Right about then 10,000 stones were falling into place.

For those of you who aren’t in the know, there are two Greek words in the New Testament that are translated into English as “word.” One is Logos, and the other is Rhema. Logos is pretty famous already, as it’s found in English words such as logic, and every word that ends in –ology. Logos is also pretty famous because John used it like crazy in the first chapter of his Gospel. “In the beginning was the Logos…” John probably knocked the socks off of some Greek philosophers with that one, since Plato had used Logos to describe both the very mind of God, and the absolute foundation of all reality. Pretty cool intro to have the absolute foundation of all reality to become flesh and dwell among you. In everyday Greek life, Logos just meant the written word. Logos means, ahem, pure text. Heh, heh. (woo. I made a funny!) Logos has the connotation of all that is orderly, organized, planned out, structured, prepared. (Which is to say that Logos signifies everything that I’m not—the great irony abounds.)

Rhema means the spoken word. Theologically, Rhema would be prophecy: the word of God for now, that still small voice, the inner light, His work in your life—every aspect of God moving in your life that does not directly involve the book. Rhema connotes something lively, something powerful, something fluid, something flexible…like water.

Again, I hope you can see where I’m going with this. If Jesus himself is Logos, which is the scripture, and he is also “the rock which followed them,” something very stable, what could that water from the rock be but the very rhema-word of God?

OK. Back to Ephesians. “love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church … with the washing of the water of the word.” Do you see how the image changes? Before I had Jesus scrubbing his bride with the sound and unchanging scriptures. Now I’ve got him veritably flooding her with a fountain of cleansing… words.

What sort of words to you suppose Jesus is using, to wash over his bride? I’ll give you a hint: probably not many of them start with the word “woe.” Jesus himself said he came to save the world, not to condemn it. His purpose is to sanctify the church, to make her holy, and as I’ve pointed out before, to be Holy is not “to be a better person” or to change who you are, rather it is to become more distinctly who you already are. So the rock of our salvation is constantly pouring out the living water, which washes away all the things in our environment that have tried to change us. He’s saying, “Your feet aren’t dirty, that dirt isn’t part of who you are. Here, let me show you what beautiful feet you have. There, isn’t that good news?”

That’s a pretty powerful image, just as an injunction for husbands in regards to their wives. The manner in which we are supposed to demonstrate our love is not by brandishing them about with the order and understanding of heaven, but rather through life giving words. Not only that, but our words are supposed to be used to define our loved one’s very nature. Do you love the way her not-quite-long-enough hair gets tousled around and curls behind her ears in her frustration? Tell her. That’s who she is. Do you love the way she can put the fear of God and hell in any man, woman or child who comes near to hurting her children? Tell her. That’s who she is. Does her worrying about the future disturb you? Wash off those worries and remind her: that’s not who she is. If the rhema is the prophetic word, then it’s important to remember that to prophesy is to speak “edification and exhortation and comfort.” If it isn’t edifying, it probably isn’t rhema.

But it doesn’t stop in the natural. Husbands and wives are called to be a to the world of Christ and the church. If it’s powerful when a husband washes over his wife with the water of the word, how much more when Christ washes us?

Can we go back for a minute to that whole “water from the rock” thing? The thing that always bothered me when I was in my “read the bible and you’ll become holy” phase, was that I couldn’t quite understand the exact mechanism by which me reading my bible was going to miraculously produce a holy life and a better relationship with the living God. This Rhema and Logos bit really clears a lot of that up for me.

Let me just run through a couple of metaphors, and we’ll see how many of them I can mix in a single paragraph. Jesus is the “rock which followed them.” He is also the “manna from heaven.” In communion, or the Passover feast, “this bread is [his] body,” and the wine is his blood. But if the blood of Christ is the fountain of our salvation, then his blood is also the water from the rock. So, the solid rock is the Logos, and the flowing water is the Rhema.

So there’s a very interesting irony in the fact that, when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, the first thing he said was to turn stones into bread, since both stones and bread can be said to represent the logos of God. Fittingly, Jesus replies that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Want to guess which Greek word here is translated “word”? Would you believe… rhema? Which makes it pretty clear to me that Jesus was saying that the text is not enough alone, but it must supplemented by the daily specific direction of the Holy Spirit. You might say that logos, the rock, is like vitamins (life-minerals), and that some vitamins must be dissolved in water before we can use them (other vitamins must be dissolved in oil, but I’m not even going to try to make a distinction here between the symbol of oil for the Holy Spirit, and the symbol of water for the Holy Spirit). It’s also interesting to point out that both the bread (logos) and the wine (rhema) are present at communion.

So, no matter how you look at it, you need both the scriptures (logos), and the Holy Spirit’s daily leading (rhema).

But how do we get from the text to revelation, from Logos to rhema? I mean, the text is already sitting right in front of me. But how can I be assured of God speaking through it to me on a daily basis? Where is this unending flood that is supposed to be coming out, washing over me, making me holy and reminding me of who I am? This is probably going to be a no-brainer for you, but it came as a huge… erm, rhema to me.

In John 4:10, Jesus says to the Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Duh. Ask! Moses struck the rock when he should have spoken to it, a horrible crime against the revelation that God was trying to demonstrate: if we would just keep on asking, he would give us so many good things. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” If we would just speak to him, asking him for revelation from his word, then He (the Logos himself, Jesus) would give himself up for us, washing us with the living water we need.

One last point, and then I think I’m done: In James it says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” Would you like to take a guess which “word” is used here? That’s right friend, rhema. I always thought that was a nice injunction to adhere to the bible, even though the metaphor made absolutely no sense. What does what you look like have to do with following orders? I thought it meant that a person who reads the bible, but then doesn’t adhere to it, is deceived. Well, yeah, but then we’re all deceived, and in a very general sense. But since it’s rhema that James is talking about, it starts to fall into place. Jesus washes us with the rhema and lifts away the conforming influence of our environment. The rhema renews our mind and reminds us of who we are. But if I get a revelation from God that I am a person who draws near to Him, and who asks for revelation from his word, and I don’t immediately draw near to God and ask for revelation, then I have forgotten who I am. I’m just not acting like myself at all. The rhema reminds us of who we are (in Christ, I guess I should say), and if we immediately go off acting like somebody else, then we are exactly like a person who looks in the mirror, sees that he’s a man, and then turns away and starts looking for an appropriate evening gown.

It simply isn’t him.

Thought to Ponder

“The wind blows. Jesus said, the wind blows. And you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. You only know the wind blows.” (One Voice and Easter Production)

Where is the wind/breath/Spirit of God blowing you? Are you willing to follow that direction? Are you willing to trust the direction of the wind even though it looks like it leads in the opposite direction of the calling God has placed in your life?

We are constantly being led/sent through twisting turns on our path so that we can be changed into the likeness of Christ. Each person has unique gifts and talents, and, therefore, has unique tasks and obstacles to overcome. Don’t be discouraged; he never gives us anything we cannot handle through his strength. He doesn’t want us to fail. Are you willing to trust?

Thought to Ponder

Just some lyrics to think about today:

“Colors of Forgiveness” by FourGiven

“You didn’t have to touch the sky with softness, Mold the mountains in your hand, Weave the tapestry of life with love of family and friends, Change the beauty of each season, Or send the waves upon the sand. We would have never know (any difference).”

Isn’t it wonderful that God made all of the little things that make our lives that much more special? Sometimes it’s good to focus on the small things because it makes what he did for us that much more important.

Thought to Ponder

Many people are familiar with the song “As the Deer” which comes from Psalms 42:1-2. The song is very nice but misses the full meaning of the song that is written in Psalm 42-43.
One of the first things to recognize is that this song is a maskil, which means it is a teaching song. Another thing to recognize is that this song says so much more than the first two verses. Now I’m not saying that the first two verses don’t paint a powerful picture, I am saying that they don’t encompass the entirety of what we need to learn from this song.

The refrain of this particular teaching song sums up what the sons of Korah were wanting to impart:

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, For I will yet praise him, My savior and my God.”

When read with the rest of the verses of the song, this command becomes extremely potent. When it seems like our “tears have been (our) food day and night” and our “bones summer mortal agony as (our) foes taunt (us),” we can rejoice as we remember that He is our Savior and our God.

So, let not your heart and soul be downcast by the weight of the world and all the evil things in it, but “put your hope in God” who is the wellspring of life that we should pant for.

Thought to Ponder

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” –Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)

Isn’t it sad that this statement is just as true today as it was then? We are doing a study on what it means to be a Christian in my Sunday School class, and while I might complain a bit now and then that I feel like I’m being fed information below the level that I’m at, there are still some pearls of wisdom to be gained even if something is taken to a simplified level.

We forget that just because we’re Christians it doesn’t mean that life gets any easier. In fact, it probably gets harder because Satan is now focused on messing up out testimony and trying his hardest to make us feel so completely inadequate that we become paralyzed when it comes to doing God’s work.

We live in a society of convenience and want our relationship with Christ to be as easy to form as it is to microwave a meal. We’ve got to remember that it takes time to learn what God wants us to do. It requires time, patience and willingness to read and listen to what he’s saying. We can’t instantly understand what we’re told, in fact, sometimes we never “get it” and simply have to go on our faith that God is seeing the “big picture” for us. But it doesn’t stop there; John G. Miller said that “learning is not attending, listening or reading. Nor is it merely gaining knowledge. Learning is really about translating knowing what to do into doing what we know. It’s about changing.” How can we accomplish that change if we insist on having a fast-food relationship?

Thought to Ponder

I found out the other day that another of my friends/study partners/people I come in contact with rather frequently is homosexual. She asked me if I hated her because I had recently told her of my faith and that I was Southern Baptist. I told her that I didn’t hate her.

I couldn’t help being reminded later that we are called to “hate the sin and love the sinner.” I couldn’t think of a truer command. What is the point of having a belief based on love, when you can’t see the person behind the sin? And yet, I still hesitate in loving sometimes. It’s very hard to be slapped in the face by reality sometimes and find out that what you think isn’t necessarily what is real. My nature says, “hate and distrust” things and people who are not like me, but the Jesus in me says, love anyway like your father loves you. I never realized how difficult that could be until high school and now another layer has been added to what happened then. I know what I’m supposed to do, it’s just complicated sometimes.

Lord, help me to be your missionary of love by breaking my heart and showing me how to pour my love into the lives of others

Thought to Ponder

Will you be a people pleaser or a Father pleaser?” (Hagee, 27)

What is it about us that craves the attention of others instead of the attention of a loving God? He can be so much more attentive than we can ever dream of and yet we still try to find solace with others. We become content with “our lot” and don’t even realize that it’s not “our lot” at all. He wants us to be and do so much more than we are capable of and I think that scares most of us to petrification. We don’t die to what he wants to do in us, but we can become so rigid in our “normal” routines of going to church, volunteering with children and youth events, singing in the choir, etc. that we deny the fact that he wants more of us. We lie to ourselves saying, “I’m doing enough or I’m doing too much and no one else is helping.” It’s not about how much we feel is enough but about how much God wants us to do. Now don’t take that to mean that you should be doing everything at once either. We are not a one man band; we are a body and each part needs to work together in order to glorify God.

Thought to Ponder

I’ve been reading Diana Hagee’s The King’s Daughter: Becoming the Woman God Created You to Be and am inspired. I thought I share a bit today for you ladies reading (sorry guys…I’ll try to put something else up for you later):

Hear Him speaking directly to you in this letter:

When I created the heavens and the earth, I spoke them into being. When I created man, I formed him and breathed life into his nostrils. But you, woman, I fashioned after I breathed the breath of life into man because your nostrils were too delicate. I allowed a deep sleep to come over him so I could patiently and perfectly fashion you.

Man was put to sleep so that he could not interfere with the creativity. From one bone I fashioned you. I chose the bone that protects man’s life. I chose the rib, which protects his heart and lungs and supports him, as you are meant to do.

Around this one bone I shaped you. I modeled you. I created you perfectly and beautifully. Your characteristics are as the rib – strong, yet delicate and fragile. You provide protection for the most delicate organ in man: his heart. His heart is the center of his being; his lungs hold the breath of life.

The rib cage will allow itself to be broken before it will allow damage to the heart. Support man as the rib cage supports the body. You were not taken from his feet, to be under him, nor were you taken from his head, to be above him. You were taken from his side, to stand beside him and be held close to his side.

You are My perfect angel. You are My beautiful little girl. You have grown to be a splendid woman of excellence, and My eyes fill when I seen the virtue in your heart. Your eyes — don’t change them. Your lips – how lovely when they part in prayer. Your nose, so perfect in form. Your hands, so gentle to touch. I’ve caressed your face in your deepest sleep; I’ve held your heart close to mine.

Of all that lives and breathes, you are the most like Me. Adam walked with Me in the cool of the day, and yet he was lonely. He could not see Me or touch Me. He could only feel Me. So everything I wanted Adam to share and experience with Me, I fashioned in you: My holiness, My strength, My purity, My love, My protection and support. You are special because you are an extension of Me. Man represents My image. Woman, My emotions. Together you represent the totality of God.

So Man, treat Woman well. Love her, respect her, for she is fragile. In hurting her, you hurt Me. What you do to her, you do to Me. In crushing her, you damage your own heart, the heart of your Father and the heart of her Father.

Woman, support Man. In humility, show him the power of emotion I have given you. In gentle quietness, show your strength. In love, show him that you are the rib that protects his inner self.