Lesson from a Fearful Feline

When worry and free-floating anxiety assault us, it is crucial to reject them immediately. In most cases, what we worry about will never happen and worry won’t help anyway. Instead, it can keep us from dealing with the situation in a balanced, decisive way. Anxiety is definitely not from God. It saps away our productivity and joy and is a frequent tool of Satan. It can enlarge into a phobia that traps us in a fear-filled world and limits our contact with others.

A story is told of the cat that disappeared from home. One day it returned, only there was something different about it. One side of the wayward feline was completely devoid of fur. There was nothing but bare skin. Something else was strange, too. While the cat previously spent most of its time outdoors, now nothing its owner did could coax it outside. If he tried to pick it up and put it outside, it bit him.

A short time later, the cat’s owner was sharing the situation with his neighbor. “I’ll bet I know what is wrong with your cat,” he said. Then he told him about a snake called a pine snake that emits a scent similar to catnip. When a cat smells it, the snake opens its mouth wide and swallows the animal. “It sounds like your cat ran into a pine snake,” said the neighbor.

The encounter with the snake so traumatized the cat that it decided that going outdoors was not safe. The same thing happens to  some people. Because of a traumatic event, they decide that a certain person or place is unsafe and they wall themselves in.

The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:6 that we are not to be anxious about anything, but in everything turn to God with thanksgiving and prayer and he will provide the peace we seek. We are to pray and turn the situation over to God, and then trust him to work it out.

                                                                                                   ©2011 Laura Allen Nonemaker

Discipleship and the Kingdom Life

Too many Christians live in a state of nagging angst, longing to experience the abundant life spoken of by Jesus in John 10:10. They reach intermittent high points of victory along their Christian walk but frequently exist in emotional and spiritual doldrums. They are missing the inner joy and fulfillment they long for.
 

When we consider those who have fulfilled a God-ordained destiny, such as a Mother Teresa or a Billy Graham, it is tempting to assume that some divine force field dropped over them that protected them from emotional and spiritual  fluctuations. The truth is that usually we see only the high points in the lives of these disciples of Christ. We are not privy to the behind-the-scenes struggles they faced as they lived out their calling. Hidden from our eyes are their Gethsemane’s, when they chose to lay aside their own desires to submit fully to God’s will.

Matthew 6:33 reads, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (NKJV) The last thing the enemy of our soul wants is for us to grasp fully the connection between first living a discipled life submitted to God and experiencing the abundant life. He does not want us to make the daily sacrifices necessary to follow Christ faithfully and without compromise. He waves earthly pleasures before us and goads us with our own desires for gratification until  the goal of kingdom life is a hazy blur.

Sally Hill, author of Living from the Life of Christ, says, “To be a disciple is to be devoted to Jesus Christ in total abandonment to His purposes for your life.” Discipleship requires that we be willing to subvert our own desires and inclinations to God’s way of doing things. Romans 14:17-18 tells us, “...for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.” (NKJV)  When we make the daily choices to live God’s way in front of God and man, we are true disciples. This is the kingdom life, which is the abundant life Christ promised.

                                                                                                            ~ Laura Allen Nonemaker

From Glory to Glory

Looking in the mirror this morning, I saw a face that is changing daily, and with increasing speed. It is not that I am neglecting my appearance. Anyone who would dare to peek into our bathroom could tell that from the full basket of “jams and jellies” sitting on the vanity. However, in spite of my best efforts, time is leaving its indelible imprint on this pot of clay.

I am reminded of when my dear mother came to visit some years ago. I was in my thirties, she in her sixties. We were preparing to go out to dinner and she looked with dismay into the dresser mirror and said, “Oh, Laura, where has the time gone. I look so old.” She fussed with her makeup.

“Here Mummy, let me help.” I picked up the eye shadow and applied the light blue pigment to the lids of her azure eyes, still her most striking feature. “I think you look beautiful,” I said, and gently dabbed at her fragile eyelids. You will always be beautiful to me, I thought.

Now, many years later, I understand how she felt. It gets more and more difficult to hold back the hands of time.  Of course, that is an exercise in futility, anyway. Because of sin, these earthly bodies are programmed to gradually self-destruct. We don’t live in the Garden of Eden, and our flesh is relentlessly bombarded with free radicals and countless other substances that age us.

Increasingly, I find myself looking for encouragement to the passages in the Bible that speak of the blessings promised to us as we grow older. Psalm 92:12 (NKJV) tells us, “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.” While I don’t think this passage tells me the lines around my eyes and mouth will disappear, I believe it does say that as I root myself in the Word of God and honor the Lord with my life, I can be an influence for good as long as I live.

I have had the privilege of meeting older Christians who, although their bodies are aging, have a peace and joy that radiates through their eyes and speech. We read in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 

My ultimate desire is to lift up the Lord Jesus in all I do and reflect Him to the world around me. As we move closer to that promised time when our physical bodies will be changed into heavenly bodies that will never age or die, may we allow the precious Holy Spirit to transform our spirits from glory to glory.

                                                                                                     ©2011 Laura Allen Nonemaker

Guest Blogger, Ellen Boyer, Says...

Sometimes it is difficult to sort out who we are and what makes us tick. A common way of considering what God did when he made us in His image is to think in terms of humans as triune beings; that is, we live in a body, have a soul, and we are a spirit. It is easy to understand the body component: the “shell” we, the individual, present to the world around us. We are unique corporeal entities easily recognizable to one another; but what about the soul and the spirit.

In Genesis we read that after God formed man of the dust of the earth (the body), He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Since the formation of the body and the process of man becoming a living soul are described, it seems that “the breath of life” must refer to man’s spirit. Theorizing that man can be described as three distinct parts combined to produce a living, breathing soul inhabiting a recognizable body allows us to discuss who we are and what makes us the unique individuals we are forever becoming.

So what is this soul – this distinct component of humanity that develops over our lifetime? You may have heard it described as the mind, the will, the intellect, the emotions, and that place in each of us that learns, develops values, and becomes the center of our character; but where is it? How do we get in touch with the “who” we are now? Perhaps the soul can be better understood when visualized as a garden. A garden produces exactly what is sown; and reflects most precisely the amount of work that has gone into it. Its health and productivity requires weeding and tilling, feeding and watering, time and much care. A good crop demands the removal of rocks that block the seed as it is sown. Stubborn old roots must be pulled out to make way for new, healthy growth. Carefully chosen seed is required for the prepared soil; and the gardener must be on the alert ready to protect all that has been planted. The well-tended garden provides food for the gardener with enough left over for others who are hungry or are in need of the encouragement a perfect bloom can provide.

Have you checked your garden lately? Have weeds grown up to choke out your choice flowers or vegetables? Is tilling in order? Has an insignificant plant overrun what could be a prizewinner? Have pests entered and destroyed the harvest? Perhaps it is time to go to your garden – alone and while the dew is still on the roses. Talk to the Master Gardener there and discover who you are now and what He would have you do to prepare the garden of your soul for the coming harvest.