by Donya Dunlap | Jul 1, 2016 | The Single Life, The Spiritual Life
If social media had 10 Commandments, “Thou shalt be perfect” would be number 1.
Thou shalt have the perfect body, the perfect job, the perfect spouse, the perfect children, and the perfect house. You must say the right things, follow the right people, and agree with the right politics OR you will not be accepted. You will be an outcast.
Sadly, this rejection happens frequently in the church as well. When it does, it’s a small leap to feel rejected by God. We believe that our looks, education, personalities, or our past prevents us from being used by God. We accept these lies and act accordingly, walking in shame when God has already given us victory, power, and purpose in Christ!
Israel’s Outcasts
Isaiah records two groups of people that felt like outcasts in his day: foreigners and eunuchs. Today’s equivalent would be non-“church people” and singles.
If you didn’t grow up in church and you don’t know the lingo, when to stand, when to sing, and where Ecclesiastes is in the Bible, you can quickly feel like you don’t belong.
As a single person in the church, you can feel shunned by the Sunday School classes for parents and ladies events geared towards married people. You start to believe the lie that if God hasn’t blessed you with a spouse and children that you are being punished.
Thankfully, God doesn’t see either group the way we humans often do.
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
“Behold, I am a dry tree.”
For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give in my house and within my walls
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 56:3-5 ESV
What a powerful promise! God looks at the foreigner and makes him family. God looks at the eunuch and gives him an everlasting name—one better than having offspring would have provided.
How is this possible?
Grace.
For years I had the mindset that God saved me by grace, but that I had to earn His favor through my good works. I was consumed with trying to be everything I thought everyone else wanted me to be. The ghost of perfection haunted me and made me feel like a failure.
Then I began to learn one live-giving truth.
God’s acceptance of us is based in His grace—period.
When I accepted God’s gift of salvation, my sin was exchanged for Christ’s righteousness. All of it. When God looks at me He doesn’t see an outcast. He sees the perfection of His beloved Son. I am accepted and loved by God because of Jesus’ work on the cross, not any work that I have done or ever will do.
Living under the guilt of things already forgiven is disregarding God’s grace. Striving to earn His pleasure by doing good works is calling God a liar. To quote Jesus:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
Matthew 22: 37-38
The 10 Commandments prove that following a list of do’s and don’ts is impossible. Rules cannot make us holy. Only Christ’s righteousness can make us holy. Trying to “do better,” “rededicating our lives to God” and all other similar mindsets only set us up for failure. The problem is continuing to focus on ourselves.
Putting our focus on Christ is the only way to walk in victory.
Will we still sin? Yes. But when we do, we do not roll about in it, convinced that we are worthless. We confess it—accepting His forgiveness and putting our focus back on Him. Our failures do not define us. We must accept Christ’s forgiveness and grow in thankfulness for His grace.
The world, and even other Christians, may still consider you or me to be an outcast, but God calls us His own. If you haven’t received God’s gift of salvation, you can do so today. According to the God “who gathers the outcasts of Israel,” all are welcome to receive His grace.
Thank you for reading! If you would like to discuss these truths further, you can post a comment below, or take part in the Facebook Live video about this post happening at 10:00 a.m., Friday, July 1. Get a reminder by liking this page and clicking to receive notifications in your newsfeed.
by Donya Dunlap | Jun 28, 2016 | How Great is Our God, The Spiritual Life
BUT GOD.
Don’t you just love those two little words? Two little words can change everything in an instant. Two little words that cause the blind to see, the lame to walk, the barren to be a mother of children, and the dead to live again!
Joseph had a BUT GOD testimony that resulted in an entire nation being saved from a slow death by starvation. The children of Israel had a BUT GOD moment, delivering them from the Philistines after leaving Egypt. Samson had a BUT GOD moment bringing him refreshment and encouragement after a difficult battle left him depleted. David had a BUT GOD moment when he was told Solomon would build the temple in his place. All wonderful examples of God’s sovereignty and intervention in the lives of His children, but my personal favorite is recorded in Acts 13:29-31:
And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. BUT GOD raised him from the dead.
Forgiveness of sin, a home in heaven and endless fellowship with our Creator for the whole of mankind was made possible by those two little words. Even in death, God can bring new life.
Sometimes the end is just the beginning.
On Friday, all hope was lost. The Messiah was mocked, beaten, crucified and placed in a tomb. His disciples were frightened, disillusioned and hopeless with no where to go, but back to the Upper Room. It was there that they shared their last meal with Jesus, but then moments later, failed Him when He needed them most. BUT after all this GOD raised Him from the dead! Hope was restored, lives were made new and a world was turned upside-down with the Gospel.
God is in the business of redirections.
In the midst of the darkest of times, if you pay attention, you can feel the gentle hand of an all-knowing God on your back, leading you to places of blessing and glory to His name. Many, many times God said no to my plan so that He could show me that His plan was far more than I could have imagined.
Life is full of illusions.
There will be days when it seems all is lost. There will be seasons where Satan sends the floodwaters of doubt and pain sweeping through your life, taking from you all you hold dear. You may face years where your children abandon the truths you so diligently taught them. You may wake up one day and learn your spouse doesn’t love you anymore. Your business may crumble. Your checkbook may be in the red. Your internal landscape may seem forever painted in gray. Don’t lose hope! God’s strength is not determined by how you feel and what you face. He can and will carry you through it all.
What you see is not always what you get. These two words tell me that God can use my disappointment to set the stage for a bright tomorrow. This is where faith enters in. Will you choose to trust in the hope that you cannot see? Will you praise Him in your storm?
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Psalm 107:8
Do you have a special “but God” moment in your life? If so, I’d love for you to share your testimony in the comments below. You never know how your story can encourage someone in pain today.
by Donya Dunlap | Jun 23, 2016 | The Spiritual Life, Write Hard Things
In 1873, Horatio Spafford planned a trip to Europe with his family. They were to leave Chicago and cross the Atlantic by boat to join his friends DL Moody and Ira Sanky at an evangelistic crusade they were having in England. The time away was meant to help the family grieve the loss of their son two years earlier, and the later loss of much of Spafford’s real estate holdings that burned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Just before their departure, Spafford decided to remain at home to attend to some last minute business. He sent his wife and four daughters ahead as scheduled, promising to join them shortly. Some days later, Spafford received a telegraph from his wife reading, “saved alone.” An accident mid-voyage caused their ship to sink. The Spafford’s four daughters drowned.
Spafford immediately left to join his grieving wife in England. At the proper time, the captain of the ship called for Spafford to inform him they were sailing over the location believed to be the final resting place for his daughters. Reeling from his loss, Spafford wrote to a family member,
On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down in mid-ocean, the water three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs, and there, before very long, shall we be too. In the mean time, thanks to God, we have an opportunity to serve and praise Him for His love and mercy to us and ours. I will praise Him while I have my being. May we each one arise, leave all, and follow Him.
spaffordhymn.com
Horatio Spafford personified the words of Jesus spoken to His disciples.
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Life accounts such as Horatio Spafford’s and the book of Job bring us face to face with tragedy and suffering that is unimaginable, and yet a part of every Christian’s life. We each experience waves of great loss and pain that sweep over us, making us feel as if we are drowning in grief. We look to heaven and question why God allows such sorrow. We doubt His love in the depths of our despair. Jesus’ response is always the same.
Jesus wept. John 11:35
Isaiah reminds us that Jesus is “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3) The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is able to be our Great High Priest precisely because He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses having experienced them Himself. (Hebrews 4:14-16) Jesus did not shy way from the pain of the cross, but embraced it, considering the joy to come, knowing that through His suffering we would be made free. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The Christian life is a commitment.
Just as in marriage, if we enter into our relationship with Jesus carrying expectations of an easy, pain free life, we are going to grow disillusioned and feel cheated. But, if we rejoice in the fact that we can endure the trials of life together, gleaning strength from our union, then we will be able to endure with joy as Jesus did.
Moments after crossing over the waters that had claimed his children’s lives, Horatio Spafford penned these words:
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea-billows roll,
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to know
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Tho’ Satan should buffet, tho’ trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed his own blood for my soul.
spaffordhymn.com
Spafford, like the Apostle Paul, had learned to be content in any state of wealth or loss God allowed for him. (Philippians 4:11)
Sorrows are inevitable.
Trials will come. They will roll over us like ocean waves, the undertow pulling us down into depression, allowing us to surface just long enough to catch a breath before crashing over us again. It is the curse of sin upon the earth that we must endure. Psalms 30:5 reminds us that “weeping may tarry for a night, but joy comes with the morning.”
Every midnight has its sunrise. Your determination to be true to Christ in the night will be a beacon to others, shining hope into their storms as well. Cling to Christ in the dark. He understands your grief and He weeps with you. Pray to the Holy Spirit who comforts you and to God the Father who loves you. You are not alone. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8)
by Donya Dunlap | Jun 21, 2016 | The Spiritual Life
Compartmentalization is not surrender. Shutting down pieces of your heart is not trust.
It’s easier that way. It’s easier to pretend you don’t really care, to act as if that thing can’t get to you or that person doesn’t turn your heart inside out. It’s easier to box up hope and wrap it in cynicism than to feel the hurt of unfulfilled dreams. The easy road is far more travelled, but God calls us to a different path.
On my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:5-10 ESV
BibleGateway.com
God calls us to surrender.
Three times the Apostle Paul pleaded with God. For three seasons of time he begged God to remove something that gave him pain and frustration. What was God’s response? No. his explanation: My strength is made perfect in your weakness.
We often sing songs like, “All to Jesus I Surrender” and “White Flag” as part of our worship, but surrender itself is not a Bible word. I did a search for the word “surrender” in Scripture and found it only a few times, all related to Israel’s military endeavors. Merriam-Webster defines surrender as:
Surrender
: to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc., because you know that you will not win or succeed
: to give the control or use of (something) to someone else
: to allow something (such as a habit or desire) to influence or control you
“Surrender.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 21 June 2016.
Surrender sounds like giving up. It smells of defeat. I fought this war and lost so I surrender. But God has a different view. God sees strength in our weakness and possibility in our pain. When we surrender, when we turn to God instead of continuing to run from Him, God draws near to us, pouring healing over our open wounds.
Surrender > Self Defense
Self defense is taking those dreams of love, hope for a different future, or desire for a different outcome and hides them away. Self defense says if I don’t admit how important this is to me, then not having it won’t hurt so badly. Unfortunately, self defense keeps us from a full and healthy life. It keeps our wounds hidden from the Healer. Like a dark secret, self defense allows our wounds to fester and contaminate our lives.
God calls us to bring our desires to Him in prayer. He welcomes our broken hearts with open arms. Sometimes He chooses to grant our desires and sometimes He says no. But all of the time He gives us strength to face tomorrow.
Surrender isn’t the coward’s way out. It seems spiritual to muscle through, to keep fighting for what you believe in—to plan for all the variables and overcome all the odds. And sometimes it is. There is a time to fight the good fight of faith, and there is a time when it takes every ounce of faith you have to let go.
Surrender is the Christian’s source of strength.
Surrender is for the one unwilling to walk the Christian life alone. Surrender says, “this thing I crave, this person I long for, this outcome I desire—it’s yours, God. Nothing is more important to me than walking hand in hand with You.”
Self defense keeps God at arms length. Surrender invites Him into our pain, our hopes, and our dreams. Surrender holds up messy, raw, fragile hearts and calls the Great Physician to make them pure, whole, and stronger than ever before.
Come out from your hiding place. Open the compartments of your heart. Give your broken parts to Jesus. Let Him make all things new in His time. (Revelation 21:5)
by Donya Dunlap | Jun 16, 2016 | Book Reviews
Corban Addison burst upon the literary scene in 2014 with A Walk Across the Sun. This beautiful, heart wrenching novel follows two orphaned sisters into a life of human trafficking. The book is so much more than a well-written piece of fiction, although it is that. Addison goes behind the scenes to expose the dark secrets of India’s brothels, the hidden rooms of America’s sex trafficking operations, the inhumane methods of international drug trafficking, and the hopeless slavery of forced labor around the world. Addison translates the real horror so many face into realistic fiction, inspiring readers to defeat the darkness of the world with love.
Similarly to A Walk Across the Sun, in The Garden of Burning Sand Addison again tells a dark story with golden threads of hope woven throughout. The backdrop is sub-Saharan Africa. The cornerstone, a young girl with Down Syndrome found wandering the streets after a vicious rape. Addison weaves together Kuyeya’s story of stolen innocence with the stories of those trying desperately to bring her justice. Along the way he describes the breathtaking views of Victoria Falls and Cape Town, the maze-like slums of Zambia, and the inner workings of the African legal system. Addison’s own knowledge of the law and the efforts of the International Justice Mission provide the foundation for the harsh realities his characters face.
Though the books are not for the faint of heart, they are vital for the truths they represent. The wealthy of this world have an obligation to bring justice and generosity to the oppressed. Though the books are not Christian in nature, they teach the biblical truths of caring for orphans and seeking justice for those in bondage. Beyond being excellent novels, these books force readers to face their responsibility for their fellow man. Addison also offers practical solutions for engaging in the fight for justice.
I highly encourage readers to get all three of his titles, as I am quite sure his third book will follow in the footsteps of the other two. I look forward to reading it myself soon.
*Affiliate links used above.
