I Don’t Want to be Fake

“Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must

be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them;

they can do no harm nor can they do any good.”

Jeremiah 10:5 (NIV)

As a little girl I used to be fascinated – and a bit frightened – by scarecrows. Even though I knew they weren’t real, every time I went with my grandmother to help in her garden I had an eerie feeling that eyes were watching my every move – scarecrow eyes. And it seemed as if they were daring me to step just one inch closer to the sweet corn growing in perfect rows to see what would happen.

 

When I asked my grandmother why she put that creepy thing in her garden, she shared that birds loved to come and eat everything she was growing. “But people frighten them,” she continued. “I can’t be in the garden all day every day so I put a scarecrow – a fake person – by the vegetables so the birds are fooled into thinking I am working out there even when I’m not.”

I had not thought of that conversation years ago with my grandmother until I happened to see a huge scarecrow in a garden the other day. A fake person. It also reminded me of Jeremiah 10:5 where Jeremiah talks about idols and equates them to “a scarecrow in a melon patch.”

They can’t walk or talk; they certainly can’t wave their arms to chase off incoming birds trying to eat the produce. And, despite how important their presence is supposed to be, scarecrows do not keep all birds from sneaking in and pecking their way through a fresh garden meal. Scarecrows have no power to do either good or harm as Jeremiah says.

Immediately my Christian faith and witness to those around me came to mind. Am I, like that scarecrow, a fake person? Do I give the appearance of something that isn’t real? Something I am not?  For example, do I talk about a deep relationship with the Lord but hide that mine is superficial?

And while I have never thought of myself as an idol, I confess that I have been prideful by considering myself more important than my neighbor. And shared gossip disguised as a prayer request. To be honest, I will confess that I have put the love of money ahead of the love of my Lord more than once.

Pride, gossip, the love of money. All are idols. Worthless objects in my life. Worthless idols that can make my witness – worthless. But because of the power of Jesus and His forgiveness, I can choose to be alive and an example of Him.

No more fake person for this gal. And no more idols. Take that, scarecrow.

Father, I desire truth in my life by throwing out worthless idols and worshiping you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

• Can you think of scarecrows (idols) in your life that you have placed before God?

• Have you ever stopped to consider that they are completely powerless?

Apply

• Journal your conversations and activities for a day.

• If you can write “scarecrow” – in other words, worthless idol, beside any of them, journal today’s Power Scriptures and go to the Lord in prayer.

Power

• Jeremiah 10:5 (NIV) “Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.”

• Matthew 15:8 “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

• I John 5:21 (NIV) “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Can I Come Home?

 “. . . and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Psalm 23:6 (NIV)

My youngest daughter always got invited to slumber parties while growing up. It almost seemed like she got an invitation every week. And she truly wanted to go and to stay overnight. There was always so much fun! There were endless bowls of popcorn and cans of soda and movies and giggling and serious conversations with her friends.

Sleep didn’t come until the early morning hours. And therein was the problem: she loved it all and couldn’t wait to go . . . until it came time to sleep. She always had to come home. Not our choice, but hers.

We knew that there would be a phone call about 1 or 2 a.m. and a sweet little voice would say “Mom, I’m not feeling well.  Can I come home?” and we would quickly drive to her friend’s house and pick her up.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like her friends or that she didn’t enjoy herself at the parties. It was simply that, when it came time to rest for the night, she needed to be in her home, her bed, and with her family.

We talked with her to see if there was a fear of leaving us or another reason for her always needing to come home. She simply said “When it’s nighttime, I want to be with my family; I just want to be home.”

By definition, home means “the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.” But it meant so much more than that to our daughter.

 It was a place to rest, to relax and to know that, no matter what, her father would be there to watch over her and the rest of the family. She felt secure in knowing that when she went to sleep, she was safe in her home

.

Oh my friends, could I encourage you to never leave God’s home? I know that we live in a world that begs us to stay and enjoy what it has to offer: endless “slumber parties” with food and drink and laughter and conversations with friends.

And while those things themselves are not bad, there is a danger in thinking that this world is truly our home and what we have here will last forever. It . . . will . . . not. This world offers temporary residence while our Father offers a permanent residence within His will and in His home.

So I encourage each of you to please examine your hearts and if you realize that you are acting as if this world is your permanent residence, do what my daughter did: call home! Our Father is waiting for the call and longing to pull you back into the safety and security of His presence.

Can I come home? Absolutely.

Father, how thankful I am that you have a permanent home for me, with you. I praise you that I can call you when I am outside of your house and your will and you will pull me back into the safety of you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up. . .

Reflect

• Have you ever written down one week’s events or appointments in your life?

• Were any of those events or appointments focused solely on the Lord?

Apply

• Journal all of your activities for one week.

• Do they reflect a person who views this world as a temporary or a permanent home?

Power

• Psalm 23:6 (NIV) “…and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

• Matthew 11:28 (NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

• Psalm 90:1 (NIV) “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.”

The Candy Corn Reminder

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want

to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

Romans 7:15 (NIV)

There is a small bowl full of candy corn sitting on my coffee table. It’s almost always there. I keep it as a reminder of something that happened to me as a small child and as a reminder of my behavior as an adult.

I remember it like it was yesterday. My parents played cards with several couples and we had gone with them to the home of a family we had not met before. As we were sitting on their sofa in the living room, we spotted a bowl of candy corn on the coffee table. That was a delicacy to us and one that we seldom had at our house.

The daughter in this family frowned as she watched us dip into the bowl again and again, since we knew that we would probably not get another opportunity to eat candy corn for a long time.

           

We must have eaten almost all the sweet candy because she suddenly grabbed the bowl and shouted to her parents in the other room: “Those kids are eating ALL the candy! By the handfuls, Mom! It’s almost gone!” and gave us a look of ‘what is wrong with you’ that mortified us all.

I remember thinking as my face flushed with embarrassment that I would never treat anyone like that – ever.

Fast forward to my being a parent and buying my children a package of 12 juice boxes. I had just enough money to get them and told my kids to make them last all week. When I came in the kitchen about an hour later and saw all 12 empty boxes, I blew up.

 “You kids drank ALL the juices at one time! Every single one! Now it’s all gone!” and gave them the ‘what is wrong with you’ look. I am sure they were mortified.

Suddenly, I was not looking at 12 empty juice boxes but instead I envisioned a nearly empty bowl of candy corn and felt the sting of hurtful words and the weight of embarrassment.

The very thing I hate, I end up doing. That’s what Paul is saying in Romans 7. I know what is right. I know what I should do. But instead, I do the very thing that I hate.

Reading further in verses 18 and 19, Paul states that he has the desire to do what is good and right but he just doesn’t do it. Even Paul struggled with the sinful nature that urges us to ignore the right thing to do and instead to do whatever we want. There is an ongoing battle between our sinful natures and God’s will for our lives.

How thankful I am for the cross and for a Savior whose grace and mercy call me to ask for forgiveness and another opportunity to be Jesus to the world.

Let us keep on praying, confessing our mistakes and trying again. He who is faithful will never leave us. And His grace covers candy corn and juice boxes.

Father, how many times have I said I would never treat someone a certain way, and yet I did. Forgive me and help me to focus on you and your will. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

• Have you ever seen or overheard something and thought “I would never do that” but later found yourself doing the very thing you said you would never do?

Apply

• Find something, like my bowl of candy corn, to place on your coffee table as a reminder of Romans 7:15.

• When you find yourself, as Paul did, doing the opposite of what you want to do, ask the Lord for forgiveness and ask the Holy Spirit to redirect you to God’s will.

Power

• Romans 7:15 (NIV) “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

• Romans 12:9 (NIV) “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”

• Romans 7:18 -19 (NIV) “. . . For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.”

Dedicated to the One I Love

“He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he

who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man

of truth; there is nothing false about him.”

John 7:18 (NIV)

I am not a morbid woman but I spent one afternoon last week looking at obituaries in newspapers. I confess that I was fascinated by the content of each one. Some were very flowery and full of honors the person had attained in his or her lifetime; others were concise and to the point with no frills. But what got my attention was one particular word that was used over and over: “dedicated.”

The first obituary shared that Mr. Smith “dedicated his life to the planting of trees in his community.” Mrs. Callahan’s obituary stated that she was “completely dedicated to her bridge club for 33 years.” Yet another woman “dedicated everything she had to promoting healthier lifestyles for household pets.”

 Certainly those activities were important to those people and may have been important to others around them as well and I am equally certain that they were worthwhile pastimes. But I have been trying to wrap my mind around the word “dedicated.” It is defined in the dictionary as “devoted to a task or purpose; having single-minded loyalty, exclusively allocated to or intended for a particular service or purpose.”

So can I ask you something? What are you dedicated to with all your heart and all your life? What task or purpose fills your days and evenings more than anything else? What consumes your thoughts and plans day after day?

I asked myself those same questions and I didn’t like my answers: surfing the internet, chatting on Facebook or on my cell phone, watching one reality show after another on television. None of those activities were bad or heading me on a path straight to the lake of fire.

But where was my dedication to sharing Jesus with the elderly neighbor next door or writing a note to someone that I knew was hurting or simply spending time in the presence of my Father telling Him how much I love Him? If my obituary were written today, I fear it would read “She was dedicated to four hours on the internet every day, rain or shine.”

Not anymore. I resolve to refocus my life on the eternal.  Then perhaps one day my obituary will read “Her life was dedicated to the One she loved.”

Father, this moment I dedicate my life to you. Show me what I can change so that I am totally devoted to you and to your service. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

• What activity in your everyday life takes up the majority of your time and energy?

• Does it have anything to do with serving the Lord and telling others about Him?

Apply

• Take the time to journal your activities, day by day, for one week.

• At the end of the week, group all your activities together under two titles: “For Me” and “For the Lord.” In which group did you dedicate the most time and effort? Prayerfully change your daily focus as needed.

Power

• John 7:18 (NIV) “He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.”

• Matthew 21:37 (NIV) “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind.”

• Romans 12:1,2 (NIV) “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

An Automatic Win

“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how

will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

Romans 8:31-32 (NIV)

The strategy for picking sides for our baseball games every day in elementary school was simple: fight to get Johnny on our team. We called him “Johnny 3T” because he was tall, talented and tough.

Everybody wanted Johnny.  If he was on our team, we didn’t lose – ever. When we were lucky enough to get him, we were never concerned about the opposition . . . because we had Johnny.

He would walk up to home plate, raise his bat over his shoulder, and the infield would automatically move back several steps. Sometimes he would point to the spot where he intended to hit the ball, not in arrogance but in confidence.

The outfielder in that area would immediately punch his fist into his glove and try to get ready as Johnny hit the ball but it never mattered. Having Johnny on your team was an automatic win.

We had confidence in Johnny when we played baseball as little kids but it is nothing in comparison to the confidence we should have in the power of our Heavenly Father.

 Paul asks a question in Romans 8:31-32 that honestly does not need an answer. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Think about it. Can you name one single thing in your life that is more powerful than the Lord? That can overpower Him or beat Him in whatever He does?

Let’s see. A pile of unpaid bills? A prodigal child? The fear of failure? A marriage that is on the edge? A friend who now seems more like an enemy? Your boss who is a bully? A life-threatening disease?

God, who is for us, will never ever be overpowered by anything or anyone. Nothing, absolutely nothing can stand against Him.

We do not need a strategy or luck to get the Lord to be on our “team” because He has already chosen us as His children. God is for us, my friends. I would consider that an automatic win.

Father, thank you for standing for me against those situations in life that threaten every day. You are faithful in all things. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

• Have you ever believed that you had situations in your life that God just couldn’t take care of for you?

• Did you try to fix them on your own? Were you successful?

Apply

• Write down in your journal the battles that you are facing in your life today.

• Beside each one, write down Scripture that reminds you of God’s promises to be with you throughout everything you are facing.

Power  

• Romans 8:31-32 (NIV) “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

• Psalm 108:6 (NIV) “Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered.”

• Psalm 27:1 (NIV) “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?”