LBY Session 6 and some Mother's day anecdotes

Today is Mother's day and I went to my mom's for Chinese food and a movie. We watched a terrific flick (Really perfect for mother's day) called The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio which is a true story about a woman named Evelyn Ryan who by the grace of God (And some talent for wit) was able to support her family of TWELVE by winning contests with her jingles back in the fifties. The part of Evelyn was immaculately played by Julianne Moore and the husband was played surprisingly well by Woody Harrelson. It was an all around feel-good movie with an excellent moral. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, it'll make you miss your mama.

Now onto LBY.

Since I did the homework and watched the video for this on Friday or something like that the oomph that I felt has passed and now this entry will probably be a bit more cerebral than most.

Day one of our homework dealt with A Divine Hope. Divine hope, or biblical hope means, "The desire of some good with expectation of obtaining it." For the most part people in general think of hope as just being positive. Having an upbeat attitude towards life. However, the biblical concept of hope is deeper...We don't just wish things will turn out our way, we KNOW it. We expect it. With this kind of hope, perseverance and endurance is inspired within us.

Beth used Job as an example for biblical hope. Satan came to God and stated that Job only loved Him because He had given him everything. Satan was of the opinion that if God allowed him to basically ruin Job's life, Job's undying loyalty would whither away. So of course God; knowing all things, knew that was a crock of shit and sent Satan away to do his worst.

Job suffered the loss of his crops, the death of his livestock and more tragically - the death of all his children. He was covered with painful, hideous boils - all over his body. He was so horribly ravaged that even his close, personal friends couldn't recognize him and they wailed with grief in his sight.

Regardless of what God allowed Satan to inflict upon him Job's faith - his hope, never faltered. Even though he cried out to the Lord to let him die, not once did he denounce Him. Job knew that with patience he would persevere and achieve glory in the end. What doesn't kill you will make you stronger...

I wonder if that is why they call work a "job."

The final summation of day one is this: "Without hope, no patience; without patience, no maturity; without maturity, no reflection; and without reflection, no glory." -Beth Moore

Day 2 Be Still, Be Filled

Beth discusses the differences between the Greek word makrothumia and hupomone. Makrothumia is "patience," and hupomone is "endurance." The concept of patience is in relation to dealing with people whereas endurance deals with situations or circumstances. Endurance is inspired by hope and patience is inspired by mercy.

We learn in day 2's homework that God is grieved when we are not patient with people. When we don't show "mercy, compassion, active pity (empathatic motivation to help someone), with the sense of goodness in general, especially piety," God experiences Nacham which is a Hebrew word meaning "the expression of drawing breath and groaning as one would do while sobbing with grief." We basically cut God's heart out and serve it on a platter with all our sin and selfishness. (Parenthesis and italics mine).

Ideally we'd have the patience of God. However, that is impossible because we are mere humans so we could at least be grateful for the mercy He's bestowed on us, because of His Patience.

Day 3 Lest You Be Judged

Owie, owie. As Rachel is fond of saying, "Beth poked me." This was an awesome day. I will be a bit emotional for a few minutes and explain a little background on my thoughts on the whole judging thing. My whole life I have been running away from Christians because I felt they were too judgmental. Even when I was first coming around to Christ, I refused to call myself a Christian because I didn't want to be categorized like that. I am really sleepy so I'm not going into detail right now, suffice it to say that:

1. I no longer believe that ALL CHRISTIANS ARE JUDGMENTAL HYPOCRITES because of the wonderful women I've met during this study. I mean, honestly...If there is anyone for you to judge out of all of us it would be me. I'm not very wholesome, I probably have the most torrid past out of anyone here, I find mixing politics and religion to be quite secular...Yet I have not once felt judged by any of you. You have all made me feel welcome and loved and I am honored to be here.

2. I still don't call myself a Christian, I have decided to say to people that I am a Messianic Jew, if asked about my religion.

3. I am a total HYPOCRITE because I judge people every day. I judge the thirteen-year-old who wears a mini skirt and too much make up, I judge the old guy driving 30 miles per hour in the fast lane on the freeway, I judge my sister for yelling at her boyfriend over something pety and meaningless, I judge my mother for her complacency, I judge my husband when he drinks, I judge my friends when they make choices I wouldn't have. I judge, I judge, I judge. I am guilty here and I hate it. It is a horrible habit and I MUST get rid of it. Whenever a sarcastic comment comes out of my mouth I feel dirty and unworthy. I am a lowly human being with the pea brain we all have, I have NO right to judge anyone for any reason.

SIX REASONS WE MUST NOT JUDGE OTHERS (By Beth Moore, taken from Romans 2: 1-5

1. When we judge others, we cause God to be harder on us.
2. We do many of the same things we condemn in others.
3. We do not know the whole truth.
4. We are mere humans.
5. When we judge others, we are judging God.
6. God's judgment is always righteous. Our is tainted by the flesh. It is colored by our attitudes, our pasts, our personalities, and our positions. Only God is the perfectly righteous Judge.
(emphasis mine).

THE FINAL REASON NOT TO JUDGE
Just like Christ's, our judgment would have to be completely consistent with God's. He must agree with us for our judgment to be valid. And well, considering reason number 6, it is highly unlikely that he does. I think personally, it would be a total sin to even assume to know the will of God in relation to the judgment of anyone. Ultimately it is up to Him and we have no say in the matter so we might as well mind our own business.

I do think though, that if someone tried to shoot themselves in the head I'd probably but in a bit. Or, like if someone were trying to rob an old lady of her handbag, I'd probably use some of that Kung Fu and Jujitsu I studied for years to help her out :)

Day 4 Have Mercy!

It is so late, I have to work very early in the morning (I greet the sun well into work everyday) and it is after eleven (I originally wrote elven) so I'm going to push forward with some short summaries and bullet points. (All taken from Beth).

FORGIVENESS, PATIENCE AND MERCY
If we neglect the necessity of forgiveness, we fail to complete the portrait of biblical patience. Patience is the vessel through which God pours His mercy. Mercy is fueled by forgiveness.

1. What is biblical forgiveness?
In essence, the intent of biblical forgiveness is to cut someone loose. Unforgiveness is the means by which we securely bind ourselves to that which we hate the most.
2. Who and What must we forgive?
Everyone and everything.
3. Why must we forgive?
Because unforgiveness spreads. You cannot be free to keep in step with the Spirit when you are encumbered by the load of unforgiveness.

You see, forgiving someone doesn't make the the sleight against you OK. Forgiving someone makes you OK. Holding a grudge against someone only hurts one person...The one holding it.

Day 5 A Clean Slate
God's forgiveness is so great and immediate, it blows my mind. After all, sinning brings great sorrow down on God, but if we truly feel sorry, we are forgiven immediately. God doesn't keep a record of what we've done wrong. He doesn't hold it over our heads. He doesn't punish us later for what we've done once we're forgiven. And people, He forgives anything and everything. But we must be able to forgive BECAUSE we have been forgiven. I mean, what hypocrites we'd be to run around holding grudges against the world, when we have been completely forgiven.

We must forgive as the Lord has forgiven. We must not hold someone's wrong over their head the rest of their lives. We must not bring it up again. Once you forgive someone, that's it. Move on. You must forgive and forget or it will fester inside you and mutate and make you bitter. If you don't know how, I beg you to pray about it, because holding onto that kind of hurt is like carrying a dead body on your back the rest of your live-long days. That burden is far too heavy, I suggest you give it to God and let it go.

As for the video, there are a few things I made notes about that I wanted to share with y'all. Here's my speech:

You can't situate your life avoiding all conflict. Sometimes conflict is there to teach you or to help someone else learn a valuable lesson. "Convenience never produces character," as Beth says and conflict and commitment always prompts change. You can't just try to fix things all the time. You can't just try to "keep the peace." Sometimes a good fight brings all that yucky stuff you don't want to deal with out and kills it all till it is dead and bloated. God wants you to engage the people who drive you crazy, God wants us all to just drive that junk on out.

Keeping the peace, isn't the same as making peace.