Thursday's Thought

For Where Your Treasure Is...

"Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, 'Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son'" (1 Kings 11:11-12). What sad words for a king to hear! His kingdom would be wrested from the hands of his son and given to another. How had things come to this?

At the beginning of his reign, Solomon loved God and obeyed Him. In fact, God had personally appeared to Solomon - not just once, but twice! The first time God appeared to Solomon, God told him that He would give him whatever he wanted - all Solomon had to do was name it. Instead of requesting riches or power or honor, Solomon asked for wisdom. God was pleased with Solomon. The second time God appeared to Solomon was right after Solomon finished building the Temple of Jerusalem. God told Solomon that He chose to put His Name in Jerusalem and in the new temple, and, if Solomon would steadfastly serve God, "'then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father'" (1 Kings 9:5).

Solomon was truly blessed by God. His reign was the safest, most prosperous reign Israel ever saw. The citizens were safe and secure (1 Kings 4:24-25), silver was so plentiful that it was counted as nothing (2 Chron. 9:20), and Solomon was renowned by many nations as a wise ruler (2 Chron. 9:22-23). God had brought the nation of Israel a long way since the days when they were shepherds without a country!

One day the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon to see if the lavish reports she had heard of him were really true. The Queen had traveled long and far and brought with her expensive gifts. After asking Solomon hard questions and telling him everything that was on her mind, she also saw much of his wealth. After seeing so much extravagance, "there was no more breath in her" (1 Kings 10:5). Truly Solomon was at the height of his fame and wealth. All his cups were made of gold. His throne - made of ivory and covered with pure gold - had six steps and was decorated with twelve lions built onto it. Silver was as common as stone (1 Kings 10:27). He had 1400 chariots and 4000 stalls for horses. 2 Chronicles 9:22-23 says it best: "Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind." The Queen of Sheba found the reports were true.

But something happened not long after the time of the Queen's visit, when Solomon's fame and riches were at their height. Solomon turned away from serving God and began to worship false gods. Solomon had been given so much - wisdom, riches, fame, honor - how could he have abandoned the God who gave it to him? It started simply enough. In 1 Kings 10, we read of Solomon's great wealth and prosperity. Right after that, in 1 Kings 11, we read, "Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, 'You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.' Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart" (1 Kings 11:1-3). Soon Solomon started worshipping the foreign gods of his foreign wives. "[H]is heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God" (1 Kings 11:4). God saw Solomon's fall into idol worship. He was not pleased with Solomon anymore.

It's easy for us to see Solomon's fall coming in the chapters before 1 Kings 11 and not understand how someone so wise could fall so far - and fast, in our mind. But the reality is that it is easier than we think. For example, what have we been given? First of all, we have the Truth - not everyone has access to a Bible and godly teaching, but we are blessed here in America to have all we could ever need at our fingertips. Additionally, as Americans, we are some of the most materially blessed people in the world. Do we even realize how much we've been given? With all of our benefits and blessings in mind, what do we think about most, and talk about most? Is it entertainment or social circles? Is it gossip? Maybe it is our own image and reputation. Whatever "it" is, do we love it more than Christ? Oh, it is so easy to fall into loving something else more. It is very common to find Christians who love this world more than Christ. It is easier than we think. Every day our hearts seek something else. We can truly sympathize with Robert Robinson, who wrote "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing": "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love..." As we look back on Solomon's life, his fall seemed to take place very quickly. But it was a slow progress (or, should I say, regress); one decision at a time.

"Above all else, guard your heart," Solomon wrote to his sons (Proverbs 4:23). One wonders if he wrote this before or after his own heart strayed after other gods. I don't know when he wrote it; either he knew this truth from painful regret or he forgot it himself to follow his own desires. Robert Robinson's hymn and prayer continues: "Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above." "'For where your treasure is," Jesus Himself counseled His disciples about what is truly important, "'there your heart will also be'" (Matthew 6:21). While I am not sure when in his life Solomon penned Proverbs, we can imagine him sitting, gray-headed and wondering what is most important to tell his sons. "Above all else," he cautions as his mind wanders over his own experiences, "guard your heart..."

Don't Be Fooled

Rachel smiled at herself in the mirror as she got ready for Sunday morning church. I love the way my new necklace complements this dress, she thought. I wonder if anyone at church will notice? Maybe they’ll see the way the flowers on my dress bring out the blue in my eyes.

At church that morning, Rachel’s smile was as big as the sun as she basked in other’s compliments. “I love your beautiful dress,” someone would say. “Oh, where did you get that necklace?” another asked. Rachel’s favorite compliment came from Mrs. Hampton, who observed, “The blue in that dress just perfectly matches your gorgeous eyes.” Rachel didn’t really try to draw attention to herself, but others’ opinions of her was her consuming interest and the subject of her thoughts at church that day.

“Good morning, Rachel! It’s good to see you this morning.”

Rachel turned to see who had greeted her, expecting another flattering compliment. “Oh, hi, Chloe,” she answered dryly when she saw who had said her name. Rachel didn’t talk to Chloe much. She was a nice girl, but not exactly…fashionable.

Later that day, Rachel was telling her mom all the compliments she had received. “And then Mrs. Hampton commented on how my eyes match this dress so well,” she excitedly told her mother. Just as Rachel was about to elaborate on Mrs. Hampton’s comment, Rachel’s mom interrupted her.

“Did you see how beautiful Chloe was today?” her mom asked.

“Um, Chloe?” Rachel was confused at the sudden change in topic.

“Yeah – she was glowing. Everyone noticed it.”

“What was she wearing?”

“Chloe was wearing a beautiful smile. She was clothed with kindness and humility (Col. 3:12). She talked with anyone who was down or lonely, and helped Mrs. Hampton to her car,” Rachel’s mom paused before she thoughtfully finished, “Chloe had a worshipful spirit at church this morning.” Rachel didn’t know what to say. Her mom smiled knowingly at her. “Rachel, honey, outward beauty comes and goes – it really doesn’t matter. True beauty is from the heart and shows itself in the way we act. Some people think that outward beauty is all that matters, but don’t be fooled: The truly beautiful people are the wholehearted servants of God.”

Rachel had a lot to think about as she went to sleep that night. She thought about the verse she had found when she looked up the word “beauty” in the concordance. “Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised” (Proverbs 31:30, NLT). Maybe I’ll get up early and read my Bible before breakfast, she decided.

Beautiful in God's Eyes

The day started early for Ruth - as usual. At the crack of dawn she busily began preparing the morning meal.

“Good morning, Naomi,” she cheerfully greeted her mother-in-law when she entered the kitchen soon after Ruth. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Mother,” Ruth assured Naomi. “I’ll be in the fields until dinnertime, and then I’ll come home with plenty of food for dinner.”

“Bless you, my daughter,” Naomi thankfully replied.

All day long, Ruth labored in the grain fields, picking up what wasn’t gathered by the paid laborers. Israelite law at that time mandated, ‘“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands’” (Deut. 24:19). Although a foreigner, Ruth gathered alongside the native Israelites.

Ruth chose to leave her home, family, country, religion, and life as she knew it in order to serve her mother-in-law. Forsaking the false gods of her upbringing, Ruth chose to serve the One True God. Diligently, she spent her days working hard in a land not her own among a people not her own. She cheerfully gave of herself to do right. God never ignores such faithfulness.

One day the owner of the grain field, Boaz, briefly passed by the workers. “‘The LORD be with you!’” he said (Ruth 2:4).

“‘The LORD bless you,’” the poor workers replied (Ruth 2:4).

As Boaz went on his way, he noticed a young woman who wasn’t quite like the others. “'Whose young woman is this?'” Boaz asked his foreman (Ruth 2:5).

“‘She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, “Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.” So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest’” (Ruth 2:6-7).

Boaz spoke to Ruth, “‘Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them...And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn’” (Ruth 2:8-9).

“Thank you, sir, but why have you taken notice of me?” Ruth asked.

“Boaz answered her, ‘All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!’” (Ruth 2:11-12). Ruth’s example of true beauty was seen by those around her in her devotion to her family and her humble obedience to God.

Whether other people think of us as beautiful or not, we should only be concerned about what God thinks of us. God saw a beautiful heart in Ruth, just as He saw in her descendant, Mary, centuries later. He knew that her heart was submitted to His will and looked for opportunities to serve others. It shouldn’t be any surprise that a servant’s heart is a beautiful heart in the sight of God. After all, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

It Depends on Your Viewpoint

It is impossible to miss what this world thinks about beauty. Everywhere we look - in magazines, movies, and malls - we are bombarded with the world's standard of fake, unattainable, physical perfection. To the world, value is measured by physical, outward beauty. However, according to the One who made us, beauty isn't measured by appearance. “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart’” (1 Samuel 16:7). True beauty is a life fully surrendered to God's will and content to follow it. Outward beauty comes and goes, but authentic beauty is that of the heart. “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful” (1 Peter 3:3-5).

Shortly before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, He was having dinner in the home of a man named Simon. While He was there, a woman approached Jesus and anointed him with a bottle of very expensive perfume. Indignant, the disciples protested, saying that she should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor. Jesus, however, understood her act of worship. “‘Why do you trouble the woman?’” He asked His disciples. “‘For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me…Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her’” (Matthew 26:10-11, 13). Jesus could see her desire to seek Him and He declared her worshipful heart as one of beauty.

When the world sees our lack of concern for their standards, they won't know what to make of us. The lives we live solely for the glory of God, seeking His will and pleasure, will radiate a beauty the world isn't used to seeing. In God's eyes, the truly beautiful heart has a devotion to God and a love for others. They care more about others and most about God's glory. The truly beautiful person is humble and seeks what God says is important.

So what's a girl to do? There is a constant pull for us - will our focus be beauty as the world dictates or that which is truly beautiful in the eyes of God? It is not an easy choice. The hardest part is that we have to answer the same question every day; it is a daily decision. However, as we follow God’s standards of beauty and obey His calls for obedience, we will find ourselves rejoicing in the blessing He has given us. We will find new freedom in bucking the world’s standards and submitting to the words of Christ. Submission to the way of God brings joy...and beauty.

Amma

It was a typical day in the small community in India. “Amma,” a middle-aged woman from Ireland, was spending her day the way she spent all others: teaching young girls, caring for babies, training new helpers, and carrying out the innumberable other duties taht come with having a “family” with well over fifty members. Plainly dressed in a white sari, the Irish woman had chosen to dress as the poor of the poor did, refusing to pay more for a brighter color. Amma’s real name was Amy Carmichael.

As Elisabeth Elliot, herself a missionary as well as one of Amy Carmichael’s many biographers, said of Amy, “The preoccupations of seventeen-year-old girls - their looks, their clothes, their social life - do not change very much from generation to generation. But in every generation there seem to be a few who make other choices. Amy was one of the few” (Elisabeth Elliot, A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael). That attitude stayed with Amy throughout her life. Never concerned about the opinions of others, Amy simply didn’t bother herself with others’ judgments of her. Her concern was the will of God and how He wanted her to serve and glorify Him.

As is true of all undertakings that gain world-wide attention, Amy Carmichael’s work in India attracted many hopeful helpers - some valuable, others only adventure-seekers. Unfortunately, numerous newcomers found themselves disillusioned with the countless menial tasks required of them - they felt that such work was beneath them. Leading by example, Amy showed those around her what it means to do everything - even cleaning and caring for messy, crying babies - as working for the Lord. In her devotional book If, Amy observed, “If by doing some work which the undiscerning consider 'not spiritual work' I can best help others, and I inwardly rebel, thinking it is the spiritual for which I crave, when in truth it is the interesting and exciting, then I know nothing of Calvary love.” Willingly, Amy labored at whatever work God brought her way.

Amy spent her life selflessly laboring to bring other people to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Even if her clothes were lowly, even if her work was often menial in our view, in God’s eyes, her life was a beautiful act of devotion to Him. “How lovely...are the feet of him who brings good news...who announces salvation” (Is. 52:7). Amy Carmichael did not pursue attention or worldly beauty. By living a life obedient to the will of God and solely for His glory, Amy became a glowing illustration of true beauty - of what God performs with a heart wholly committed to Him.

Thursday's Thought

I have not been able to figure out how to center this video correctly! If you would like to see all of the video, you can see it at Leslie Ludy's blog, Set Apart Girl (click here for the video).

Hope and Headlines

When we open a newspaper or watch the news, we are assaulted with tragic story after depressing story. Many reports about America today are pessimistic, to say the least. Some news items involve national tragedies, such as plans for a mosque at Ground Zero, evangelists arrested for evangelizing in Michigan, or the current president's steady stride toward socialism (not to mention the flourishing national debt). Other news items are calamities in others' personal lives that don't involve us but move our pity: a police chief's son killed in a shoot-out with police, children harmed by those who should be caring for them, or any other unwise decision and its fatal consequences. It seems every headline is disheartening.

Headlines, however, aren't always reliable reporters. In 1776, the news wasn't any better. The only government the colonies had ever known - the British king - was refusing to acknowledge their basic rights. The colonies had tried in insist on their freedoms by committing small acts of civil disobedience. Now a group of visionary men were faced with the dilemma of committing the most defiant act yet: the signing of a document legally separating the colonies from the only government they had ever known. Thousands of the world's best-trained and best-supplied soldiers would assuredly soon be knocking on the door of the fledgling nation that had only a small (albeit dedicated) band of underpaid, undersupplied, undertrained men. It did not look good.

Despite the danger, fifty-six dedicated reformers still signed the important piece of paper. They knew the risks. This paper would cause war. The signers also knew that they would see their fair share of danger, discord, and shortages of necessities. However, there was something else they knew, too. "But where, say some, is the king of America? I'll tell you, friend: he reigns above," (Thomas Paine, Common Sense). The founding fathers of America knew that God is always on His throne. He is always working behind the headlines.

At first glance, things don't seem very promising in America today. More and more complaints with our government and the current administration are surfacing often. America faces daunting challenges - both from without (such as hostile countries with nuclear capabilities) and within: our own children murdered before they are born, our own religion silenced, our own heritage all but erased. Things don't look good for America.

But no matter the threat, no matter the headline, our hope is as firm as ever. "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God" (Psalm 20:7). Just as God was working in the past during the birth of a nation in the midst of tumultuous circumstances, so He is working in our present and in our future. No matter how menacing the future sometimes seems, God knows what it holds, and He holds us. Some rest their futures and safety in multi-billion-dollar defense systems, hefty retirement plans, or constitutional rights and government programs, but that is not so for Christians. While those are needed, we must realize that they can never assure our security. But even so, we have no cause for worry. No matter the threat, no matter the headlines, Christians can rest in the hope that we have, because as for us, IN GOD WE TRUST.