The Global Rhythm of Prayer and Praise

A friend of mine sent me the text of this hymn as she was going to bed on the other side of the world, encouraging me in my work of carrying on "the global rhythm of prayer and praise."

And now, at bedtime here in Dubai, I'm reminded of the profound truth that God's mercies are new every morning-- and it's always morning somewhere.

Enjoy this hymn written by John Ellerton (1870):

1. The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended,
   The darkness falls at Thy behest;
   To Thee our morning hymns ascended,
   Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.
    
2. We thank Thee that Thy church, unsleeping,
   While earth rolls onward into light,
   Through all the world her watch is keeping,
   And rests not now by day or night.
    
3. As o’er each continent and island
   The dawn leads on another day,
   The voice of prayer is never silent,
   Nor dies the strain of praise away.
    
4. The sun that bids us rest is waking
   Our brethren ’neath the western sky,
   And hour by hour fresh lips are making
   Thy wondrous doings heard on high.
    
5. So be it, Lord; Thy throne shall never,
   Like earth’s proud empires, pass away:
   Thy kingdom stands, and grows forever,
   Till all Thy creatures own Thy sway.

5 Ways to Set Your Heart on Heaven

In the intro of Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full, I confessed my ongoing struggle to set my mind on things above (Col. 3:2). When Mount Laundry is erupting cotton everywhere while the kids are fighting over the obstacle course they built in the living room and you’ve got company coming over and then you see an email that just makes your heart drop… it’s hard to keep an eternal perspective.

That’s why I’ve adopted this short prayer by Jonathan Edwards as my own heart's cry:

“Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.”

In his sermon, “Heaven, a World of Love,” Edwards gives five practical applications for how to “set your heart on heaven, that world of love, and press toward that better country.” In the spirit of “gospel meditations for busy moms,” here are the five applications summarized:

1.  Don’t let your heart chase worldly things as your chief good. Worldly things are not your chief good in heaven or here.
2. Think often of heaven and what it is like. Communing with God is our business in heaven, likewise let it be here.
3.  Be content in the sufferings you undergo on your way to heaven. The joy of heaven is certain and worth it.
4.  Think of Christ and all that he is. Both now and forever, Christ is our motivation, example, mediator, interceder, strength, and victory.
5.  Live a life of love toward God and men. Even now, let us live as citizens of heaven, which is a world of love.

For those who have a few more minutes to read, I’ve abridged his points a little bit for length below. And if you’ve got about a half hour, you can read the full text of his sermon HERE.

“First, let not your heart go after the things of this world, as your chief good. Indulge not yourself in the possession of earthly things as though they were to satisfy your soul. This is the reverse of seeking heaven; it is to go in a way contrary to that which leads to the world of love. If you would seek heaven, your affections must be taken off from the pleasures of the world. You must not allow yourself in sensuality, or worldliness, or the pursuit of the enjoyments or honors of the world, or occupy your thoughts or time in heaping up the dust of the earth. You must mortify the desires of vain-glory, and become poor in spirit and lowly in heart.

Second, you must, in your meditations and holy exercises, be much engaged in conversing with heavenly persons, and objects, and enjoyments. You cannot constantly be seeking heaven, without having your thoughts much there. Turn, then, the stream of your thoughts and affections towards that world of love, and towards the God of love that dwells there, and toward the saints and angels that are at Christ’s right hand. Let your thoughts, also, be much on the objects and enjoyments of the world of love. Commune much with God and Christ in prayer, and think often of all that is in heaven, of the friends who are there, and the praises and worship there, and of all that will make up the blessedness of that world of love. “Let your conversation be in heaven.”

Third, be content to pass through all difficulties in the way to heaven. Though the path is before you, and you may walk in it if you desire, yet it is a way that is ascending, and filled with many difficulties and obstacles. That glorious city of light and love is, as it were, on the top of a high hill or mountain, and there is no way to it but by upward and arduous steps. But though the ascent be difficult, and the way full of trials, still it is worth your while to meet them all for the sake of coming and dwelling in such a glorious city at last. Be willing, then, to undergo the labor, and meet the toil, and overcome the difficulty. What is it all in comparison with the sweet rest that is at your journey’s end? …

Fourth, in all your way let your eye be fixed on Jesus, who has gone to heaven as your forerunner. Look to him. Behold his glory in heaven, that a sight of it may stir you up the more earnestly to desire to be there. Look to him in his example. Consider how, by patient continuance in well-doing, and by patient endurance of great suffering, he went before you to heaven. Look to him as your mediator, and trust in the atonement which he has made, entering into the holiest of all in the upper temple. Look to him as your intercessor, who forever pleads for you before the throne of God. Look to him as your strength, that by his Spirit he may enable you to press on, and overcome every difficulty of the way. Trust in his promises of heaven to those that love and follow him, which he has confirmed by entering into heaven as the head, and representative, and Savior of his people. And, 

Fifth, if you would be in the way to the world of love, see that you live a life of love — of love to God, and love to men. All of us hope to have part in the world of love hereafter, and therefore we should cherish the spirit of love, and live a life of holy love here on earth. … Happy, thrice happy those, who shall thus be found faithful to the end, and then shall be welcomed to the joy of their Lord! There ‘they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.’”

When you think about "women's ministry"

What comes to mind?

Here's a short video of Kathleen Nielson, Jen Wilkin, and me talking about what encourages us the most about what we've seen in ministry among women.

On Efficacious Grace and Baby Bath Time

When my youngest child learned to walk and climb a few weeks ago I was reminded of a habit his older brother used to have regarding bathtubs and pajamas. Which, in turn, made me think of efficacious grace. I explained the [goofy] connection in Glimpses of Grace:

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Being conformed to the image of Christ is not an entirely passive activity, like receiving a set of genes upon conception or someone’s family name in adoption.

While salvation is initiated by God, we are not passive recipi­ents of his grace. Jonathan Edwards called this grace “efficacious,” which speaks of its effectiveness and ability to accomplish God’s purposes in our lives. This efficacious grace implies work on our part. As Edwards described it, “In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some, and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, and we act all. . . . We are, in different respects, wholly passive, and wholly active."* This change is 100 percent initiated by God, 100 percent dependent on the work of Christ, and 100 percent administered by the Holy Spirit.

God’s efficacious grace could be described in terms of the dif­ferent ways you put pajamas on a baby. My son prefers to streak after he takes baths. He even tries to climb out of the tub early before everyone is soaped up and rinsed in order to increase his odds of getting to run around in his birthday suit.

But it’s all fun and games until a naked baby has an accident on the carpet, so I quickly chase him down to put on his diaper. Some nights he runs away shrieking and hides under tables and behind chairs trying to avoid the inevitable. Some nights he quietly lies on the bed while I diaper him, and he might even stretch his legs into the pajamas I hold up.

Either way, whether I have to wrestle his clothes onto him or he peacefully submits to the work I am doing, that boy has never gone to bed without a diaper and pajamas on. Of course, we should love to submit to God’s efficacious grace as he purposes to make us more like Christ! But sometimes we’re like a naked baby hiding behind the couch, reluctant to hold still and thank­fully allow God to work in our hearts and get us ready for what he has next.

Our growth in holiness is initiated and produced by God, and we are to actively pursue holiness. The Bible uses some physically laden descriptions of our participation in grace: we “walk in love,” “run the race,” and “fight the fight of faith.” You get the idea that growing in grace is sweaty, hard work. God works in us as we work out our own salvation. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12–13).

This kind of grace frees us to love God! Because Christ acquired salvation for us, we can pray as Augustine did, “Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do what you will! . . . When your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them.”**

* Jonathan Edwards, “On Efficacious Grace,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1974), 2:557; emphasis mine.
** Augustine, Confessions, bk. 10, chap. 31.

Excerpt taken from Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home by Gloria Furman copyright ©2013. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.org.

On Labor Pain and Redemption

References to childbirth in the Bible always make me pause when I’m reading them. My personal experiences and those of the women I’ve served as a doula are brought to my mind. Childbirth in the Bible—whether it is spoken of as an event or used as a metaphor—conjures up multi-sensory memories for me.

I think it would be an edifying study to compile a biblical theology of this subject from the garden to the garden-city… “be fruitful and multiply,” “in pain you shall bring forth children,” “we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind,” “desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin,” “you must be born again,” “my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,” “yet she will be saved through childbearing,” “the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth”...

One such passage stood out to me this week as I was reading.

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:22-23).

Without wishing to hyperextend the metaphor, here are just two aspects of childbirth that I think help us to envision this pan-creation labor Paul is describing:

1. The pain of childbirth is all encompassing yet focused. God designed childbirth to be accompanied by a wondrous multitude of complicated processes working together to accomplish one thing. In this event, every system in the woman’s body from the endocrine system to the cardiovascular system focuses on the singular goal of bringing new life into the world.
2. Once labor has begun then childbirth is both imminent and inherently unstoppable. In other words, when a woman is in true labor then one way or another a baby is coming (and not a manatee, like I heard one woman half-joke while in labor). It is unstoppable in that the pains of childbirth can only be managed or masked until the process is over.

In this passage in Romans we read that the whole creation is groaning together in pain as we wait for one thing—our Blessed Hope. All things are aligned under God’s sovereign purpose to glorify himself through the redemption and adoption of his chosen people through the work of his Son. And though we would like to walk out saying, “That’s it; I’m done” in the middle of our pain (a sentiment I've felt and heard laboring women express), we can be assured that deliverance is coming. Lastly, Romans 8:22-23 states clearly that it is redemption and adoption that is nigh (no surprise manatees). Our groaning is not for anything less than this glorious, guaranteed, impending reality.

These hopeful thoughts put all of our present sufferings in their rightful place in God’s redemptive plan as productive, meaningful, focused, and never, ever wasted.

What does God's kingdom have to do with our family life?

Have you heard about the Gospel Project curriculum? Here's the description from their website:

The Gospel Project is a Bible study resource that invites Adults, Students, and Kids of all ages to dive deeply into God’s story of redemption through Jesus Christ. In every lesson, participants are immersed in the gospel and learn how when the gospel works on them, they become a part of the story, too, the very hands and feet in God’s gospel project.

Led by General Editor Ed Stetzer and Managing Editor Trevin Wax, The Gospel Project is designed to unify an entire church under a single Christ-centered curriculum. Separate study plans for adults, students, and kids ensure the proper focus and depth for each age group.

I was honored to contribute a blog post to the GP blog on family life and God's kingdom. Here's my intro:

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15b).

Could there be a grander vision for the family than this? It is no wonder this verse is brought up in premarital counseling sessions and emblazoned on artwork in our homes. The highest aspiration of every Christian family is to have this kingdom mentality and live rightly under the King’s rule.

But how can our family be faithful to do what our heart sets out to do? We find the answer in the story surrounding this verse.

Celebrating God's story of faithfulness together

We tend to think of our years, days, and even our moments in terms of stories. Some are mundane and some are surprising, but all of them are worth celebrating in light of God's grace.

Looking back on 12 years of marriage (today!) I have fond memories of that time I met Dave in Evangelism Explosion class at church. His reputation preceded him, because when I met Dave I thought to myself, "Oh, so this is the man I've heard about who has a discipleship group of college guys that meet early on Saturday mornings in the dorm." You just don't hear about that kind of ministry very often. What kind of coffee does this man drink and where can I get it?

It wasn't long before I understood what would convince a bunch of college guys to wake up early on the weekend to study the Bible. Dave embodies the kind of zeal that draws you in to his relentless joy-quest. If you've met Dave or heard him preach then you know what I'm talking about. And on a related note, people are always astonished to learn that he is (and always has been) caffeine-free. (Crazy!) 

As Christians we understand that the stories of our lives are guided an unseen hand. I wrote in the dedication of Glimpses of Grace that every day Dave reminds me that "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps. 118:24). Through Dave's witness over these years I've had the privilege of seeing up close what it looks like to trust God's merciful hand as he fires for us solid joys that are wrought in the furnace of suffering. From where I sit, I can see that this kind of pain hasn't dampened my husband's zeal, but lights it even brighter for others to see, marvel at, and ask him-- "Give me the reason for the hope within you."

They have sayings about couples. One saying is that "opposites attract." So, do I, as his less-energetic-caffeine-requiring counterpart "only hope to contain him?" I should certainly hope not. As God gives me life and grace my aim is to be his helper in this race of endurance, helping throw more fuel onto his godly zeal and looking to Jesus as we lay aside every weight and clinging sin.

Everlasting joy waits at the finish line, and the pleasure of God is not absent in the journey. In every moment-- from the mundane stories of "toothbrush tangoes" fighting for space to stand in front of a small bathroom mirror each day to the surprising "Honey, can you believe this happened?" stories.

I'm grateful that we get to live out the story of God's faithfulness together. And eat fried pickles and burgers to celebrate!

Tweet-sized words of massive encouragement for overseas ministry

Here are some short and sweet words with massive, encouraging implications for people preparing to serve in ministry overseas...

You will marvel at the work God is doing in front of your very eyes… through the prayers of people who live on the other side of the world (2 Cor. 1:11).

Culture-crossing has a way of revealing just how insufficient you really are, so revel in the fact that your sufficiency comes from outside of yourself (2 Cor. 3:5).

You will never bear a single burden that is heavier than the eternal weight of glory that is waiting for you (2 Cor. 4:17).

You will never see a single need that God is unable to meet (Phil. 4:19).

Your grief will be borne by your hope (1 Thess. 4:13).

How do you do it all?

How do you do it all?

Ask any woman this question and you will likely hear a variety of responses. My practical answer today would involve disciplined routines, Curious George, and dark roast coffee. Not a day goes by when I don't need a nice, tall glass of perspective on the circumstances that give rise to this question.

This summer three of us collaborated on the ERLC blog to briefly answer: How do women do it all?

Megan Hill insightfully pulled back a few layers of our assumptions as she asked: Are we wrong about what "all" is?

I began talking about "Whose do we think we are?", circled the runway with thoughts about grass looking greener for other sheep, and suggested that we need to ask an additional question.

Aimee Byrd wasted no words and landed the plane with "Loving the simplicity of faithfulness."

So, how do women do it all? You can read our answers on the ERLC blog. 

Looking for bread in all the wrong places

Mindless snacking. Perhaps we all have a tendency to do this to some degree. I suppose it isn't too harmful if you're crunching on carrot sticks and not walnut brownie mix.

Sadly, we can even mindlessly feed junk food to our soul. A lot of times we hardly ever notice that we're doing this until a friend mercifully points it out. Those can be awkward conversations, but we all need people in our life who are willing to step into the awkward fray and bring out Isaiah 55:2 for our consideration. Friend, why are you spending your money on things that aren't bread, and working for things that don't satisfy? Eat what is good instead!

When Jesus meets people who are looking for bread in all the wrong places, he consistently points thirsty and hungry people to himself. He is the one who gives water from the fountain of life (John 4:14, Rev. 21:6) and he is the one who gives the food that endures to eternal life (John 6:27). This is no mindless soul food snacking-- Jesus is inviting us to a feast! The cost of bread in Jesus' kingdom is simply to be hungry for him.

Isaiah 12:3 says, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." Our faith does the work of dropping our bucket into the well of salvation, joyfully drawing upon Christ for everything we need.

I love how John Calvin has carefully parsed out the implications of Christ's sufficiency in the packed-solid sentences below (I added some bullet points for fun). This quote from Institutes is worth a slow read.

"We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else.

• If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is 'of him.'
• If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing.
• If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion;
• if purity, in his conception;
• if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects that he might learn to feel our pain.
• If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion;
• if acquittal, in his condemnation;
• if remission of the curse, in his cross;
• if satisfaction, in his sacrifice;
• if purification, in his blood;
• if reconciliation, in his descent into hell;
• if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb;
• if newness of life, in his resurrection;
• if immortality, in the same;
• if inheritance of all blessings, in his Kingdom;
• if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him to judge.

In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other." (John Calvin, Institutes 2:16.19)

Perhaps eternity is an eternity long because we'll need that much time to drink our fill of the infinite perfections of Jesus.

Where will you be 30 trillion years from now?

If you are "in Christ" then you will still be there 30 trillion years from now. Our identity in Christ is fundamental both now and forever. I hope I never get tired of hearing this truth and being reminded to live rightly in accordance with it.

I had the privilege of sitting down with Jamie Ivey and Fabs Harford to talk about this and more in this podcast for Verge Women (11 minutes).

4 Tips for Bible Memory

Why is Scripture memory like the unicorn of spiritual disciplines?

The seemingly magical prize of a heart brimming with Bible is a treasure that many of us long for, but few profess to have found.

If the Word of God is our very life (Deut. 32:47), why is storing it in our heart so hard for us? Lots of reasons come to mind. One reason is that despite our good intentions, we are very easily distra-- Squirrel!

I can certainly identify with the struggle of being distracted from pursuing the good things I want to pursue-- like Scripture memory. But rather than dismiss this "unicorn" as a myth, or a creature of a by-gone pre-Internet era, I think our distracting circumstances can be leveraged to serve us. Not only that, but I've even gone on record to say that I think God intends for the circumstances he brings into our lives to propel us-- to lead us-- to draw us into meditation on his Word.

Over at the Crossway blog I've written down four ways that our distractions can serve our efforts in memorizing God's Word. It's a short, non-comprehensive list I made up with an acronym to help me remember today what God has said in the P.A.S.T. 

Don't Tell God He Can't Give You Good News

We rightly spend a lot of energy talking about our duty to respond rightly to the gospel. But have we given adequate air time to talking about God's right to give grace to sinners?

How does this perspective reshape and refresh the way we share the gospel with our family, friends, and neighbors?

Watch this 2-minute clip from John Piper's conference plenary at the TGC women's conference last month. You can watch the whole thing here.

Confidence in the Wake of Easter

Sometimes when we survey the landscape of missions we feel a tremor of despair in our hearts because of either the magnitude or the complexity of the task. My own feelings of boldness come and go for different reasons, and I felt the familiar tremors of discouragement as I read the news this week.

But there is a heart-lifting truth that holds us fast in the midst of the ground-shaking wars and rumors of wars. There is one piece of earth-shaking news that our forgetful hearts need to always remember. We live in the wake of Easter. Two thousand years ago the ground shook as the Son of God died on a cross, and three days later the earth trembled again as he walked out of his tomb never to die again. Our confidence is not in our earthly circumstances, but in a Person.

Here are just a few reasons we can have that assurance:

1. We’re assured that Jesus has authority over all things because he made us. “The earth is the Lᴏʀᴅ’s . . . the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it” (Ps. 24:1-2).
2. We’re assured that Jesus has authority to save sinners because he redeemed us by his work on the cross. “You were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9).
3. We’re assured that the gospel is for all people; we are all among the nations for whom Christ died, and all the peoples will praise him. “Let the peoples praise you, O God;let all the peoples praise you!” (Ps. 67:3).
4. Sheep are sheep, and sheep will do what sheep do; all who belong to the Good Shepherd will follow him. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Our confidence in spreading the good news of reconciliation with God through Christ is founded on Christ’s confidence. He will receive worship for he is the Lamb who was slain for us and was exalted above every name. And all those whom his Father gave him, will be assuredly kept forever (John 17:11).

Christ is confident so we can be confident in him. He is our confidence who settles our nervous hearts as we implore our neighbors to repent of their sin and cling to Christ. He is our confidence who strengthens our spirit as we endure the suffering that marks our path.

The Day is coming soon when the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father (Matt. 16:27). What a Day of rejoicing this will be for all who eagerly wait for Christ’s return! And what a Day of distress it will be for all those found outside of Christ. Until that Day, God’s message of peace through Christ rings in our ears and sets our hearts ablaze. “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:10).

Missional motherhood's one message

Is living “on mission” compatible with motherhood?

I spoke on the subject of “Missional Motherhood” in a workshop at the TGC women’s conference in Orlando. I made the case that our mission to obey Jesus’ “Great Commission” to make disciples everywhere (Matt. 28:18-20) doesn’t merely rise to the top of the list of our priorities, but it informs the way we think of everything, including motherhood.

As a mom I have a lot of responsibilities, priorities, and messages. One time at a church potluck my preschool-aged son was standing by the dessert table that was piled high with donuts. (Ok, this scene probably happens at all of our church potlucks.) A woman saw him eye-ing the donuts like he was a three-year-old standing next to a table of donuts. (You get the picture.) She asked him, “I don’t know if you can have that, little guy. What does your Mommy say?” With great flourish and conviction my son answered, “What my Mommy says? My Mommy… she says to me, ‘Judson! Flush. The. Toilet.’”

We have a lot of different things we tell our kids, don’t we? The things we communicate ebb and flow in urgency, frequency, and tone. But there is one message that we hold out to everyone around us as the most urgent, most relevant, and most important message.

Being a disciple-maker means that the gospel is that one main message. It’s what we are to be most zealous for. It’s what we labor to communicate clearly. It’s what compels us to dream big, creative dreams about how we might invite the world to worship together with us at the feet of Jesus for all eternity.

Making disciples according to Jesus’ Great Commission is the priority of missional motherhood and the gospel is the message.

The gospel is not nice advice from the Bible, is it life-giving news. It is something we herald. It’s an announcement.

The good news isn’t just for our kids, as though we were morally superior to them and have matured past having a need for the good news. Moms need to hear, believe, remember, and live in light of the good news, too. As we go about our days and nights as those who have been saved by the shed blood of Jesus we remind ourselves:

God is utterly holy and he cannot abide the presence of evil. This is bad news for sinners like us: “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap” (Mal. 3:2).

God is holy. Our only hope is that he would show us mercy. And this very thing he planned to do since before time began. Before we ever sinned, the Triune Godhead devised the plan of redemption: “Even as he chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph. 1:4).

Malachi asked, “Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand in his presence when he appears?”

God’s gospel supplies the answer. The answer is Jesus Christ: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:24-25).

God is extending his mercy to us through the death and resurrection of his Son. Jesus died for sinners, and through faith in him we can stand in God’s presence justified. When we repent of our sin believing this gospel we have Christ to gain.

Since Christ is the end of righteousness for everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4), his person and work is the message we communicate to our kids and neighbors. How does that old hymn go?

“For my child’s pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the fact that my kid earned the Respectfulness Award in her class?
For my child’s cleansing, this my plea,
Nothing filthy like Cheetos has touched my son’s lips?”

Of course not! We hold out the gospel- which is the same good news that we believe for ourselves and live in the light of every day,

"For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus."

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! (Rev. 7:10)

July is "Women of the Word" Month at Crossway

Don't miss this month-long campaign to help encourage one another to dive into God's Word!

You can sign up on Crossway's website to get free resources (devotionals, blog posts, videos) in your inbox during the month of July. Click here for more info.

Assurance and Salvation Statistics

I bet it has been statistically proven that you can find a statistic for just about everything.

There are even statistics regarding parenting and the likelihood of your success as you attempt to “train up a child in the way he should go” (Prov. 22:6). As Christian parents we resolutely affirm that “salvation belongs to the LORD” (Ps. 3:8), but sadly, we are tempted to place our trust in our ability to fit in with statistics.

Recently I read a stat that said two out of three children who are missionary kids grow up to be faithful church members and marry believers. But I’ve got four kids, so…?

How is a mother’s heart supposed to respond to “statistics” like these?

We can certainly learn a lot from considering statistics, provided they are based on truth. Ed Stetzer has written a helpful article on how to recognize bad stats.

And with that said, I think one of the best ways to set your heart aright if you’re tempted to rest in your ability to fit a stat is to meditate on these kinds of “statistics” instead…

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“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:37-39).

“And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand” (John 10:28-29).

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him” (John 17:1-2).

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matt. 28:18-20).

“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Rom. 10:12-13, see Joel 2:32).

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Rev. 7:9-10).

So, if we want to gain assurance from a statistic, Jesus has been given 100% of authority over 100% of everything, so we can trust him with 100% of our concerns.

On Flying with Babies

What is often a novel thing for a mother to do, flying with babies is something that is part and parcel to what I get to do as someone who lives and works overseas.

Lord willing, next week on my way to Orlando for the TGC women’s conference I will embark on my 77th flight with a baby in tow. However, these upcoming flights next week will be quite special since I will be flying alone with only one child, which is something I haven’t done since 2007!

Just for fun and in honor of this especially laid-back flying occasion that I am looking forward to, I would like to share with you some of my very exclusive best-practices tips for flying with babies.

First things first—the question that everyone always asks:

“What do I need to bring on the plane?”

My answer is always: A sense of humor. If your sense of humor has been feeling a bit out of whack lately then you must borrow someone else's. Think of it—you are about to walk inside a metal tube holding a baby and sit on a tiny foam square in rows with a few hundred other people who are sitting on tiny squares and spend the next twelve to twenty-ish hours of your lives together. You may have a brief (or not-so brief) respite on a layover, but for now 37F is your new, temporary parenting cubicle while jet engines propel you through the air over oceans and continents. You have to admit, that’s kind of funny. Don’t leave your sense of humor at home! And don't forget the baby(ies) either.

Next, use this scientifically-proven formula to determine the number of diapers you need to put in your carry-on bag:

1 diaper per 3 hrs of travel + 2 extras

Expert tip: for easy access during the flight(s), put a few diapers and a baggie of wipes in the seatback pocket in front of you.

Third, don’t over-pack or you’ll regret carrying (and losing under the seats) all the stuff you didn’t need. You need far less than the advertisements and marketers would have you believe. No one is paying me to say that (because no one would pay me to say that.)

This afternoon I asked my bigger frequent-flying kids what their favorite things are about flying on international flights:

• Judson (3) – “It makes me go to Grandma’s house. I fly around like that [swish]! I get headphones and I don’t share; they’re just mine.”
• Norah (5) – “I like the juice they bring you in cups with ice cubes. Ice cubes you can even eat and it's okay. My favorite thing is watching movies, but sometimes a little plane doesn’t have any movies.”
• Aliza (7) – “Movies, food, and sleeping time, in that order. No, wait! Food, movies, and sleeping. Yeah. Oh! And showing them my passport is fun but Daddy always holds it.”

Will you please pray for me as I'm knee-deep in packing and preparing for this quick trip? And pray for my gracious husband who will stay here in Dubai with our three big kids.
 

Tell Me Something #GOOD

Desiring God and CBMW have teamed up to provide a new FREE ebook, available for download here.

Good is about the joy (but of course!) of Christian manhood and womanhood. Every page is overflowing with good news, which is a welcome relief in a world that is confused and conflicted about what it means that God created us male and female. I was delighted to contribute a chapter on the nature of a woman's nurture.

"This new resource — the collaboration of 14 contributors — seeks to cast a vision for manhood and womanhood that is rooted more in beauty than mere ideology, more in gladness than mere position.

The book’s aim is to capture and highlight the glorious reality that God, after creating humans male and female, looked at his creation and called it good."

Wisdom for Social Media (HT: King Solomon)

If you read James 3:5 from the perspective of a person holding a smart phone in their hand, you can see that we have a need for wisdom regarding our words (and the Lord's deliverance!):

So also the thumb is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!

The wisdom of God displayed at the cross of Christ delivers us from even the restless evil that overflows out of our hearts and is announced by our tongues. We see in the book of Proverbs a store of wisdom that helps guide even our digital communication. I’ve listed a few of the words-related proverbs below - if it appears without quotation marks then I've subbed in a social media word (direct quotes are noted with “”).

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When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his thumbs is prudent. (10:19)

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the thumb of the wise brings healing. (12:18)

“Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” (12:25)

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh comment stirs up anger. (15:1)

“To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!” (15:23)

Better is writer’s block with quiet than a blog full of content with strife. (17:1)

“Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.” (17:27)

“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.” (18:2)

My inmost being will exult when your status updates speak what is right. (23:16)

A word fitly tweeted is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. (25:11)

“Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” (27:2)

“Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” (29:20)

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” (31:26, MT: King Lemuel’s mom)