What can you see?

At A Holy Experience Jennifer Rothschild is the guest blogger today.

Often, when we’re down, all we can see is the valley, the wasteland – we feel like our lives are a mess. But our loving God does not see us and our low places that way. The stuff you think may be just too messy, too ugly, too far gone is the stuff God is infusing with purpose.

The sorrow that hurts you? God fashions it into faith that sustains you.

The sin you’re ashamed of? God uses it to create beautiful humility.

The failures you regret? God turns them into wisdom.

The grief that shattered your heart? God crafts that into unshakeable faith.

The missed opportunities? God uses those to make you reflect His grace.

The loss you never expected? God molds that into strength you can’t explain.

God can make your low place a stepping stone to climb higher with Him.

Read more here.

Deluding ourselves

Ross Pomeroy reports at Real Clear Science about some scientific studies:

Duke University psychologist and behavioral economist Dan Ariely has spent a lot of time studying dishonesty. He and his colleagues have tested thousands of subjects from various countries under controlled condition, and have arrived at an intriguing conclusion.

"We find that almost everyone cheats but only by a limited amount.

People behave dishonestly enough to profit but honestly enough to delude themselves of their own integrity."

Read the science here.

Why we are all insane

Kathryn Jean Lopez interviews Peter Kreeft about his new book on ourselves via the wisdom of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Lopez: How does Thomas Aquinas say the Eucharist keeps one from sin? And how is he so sure sin is the worst thing in the world?

Kreeft: The Eucharist keeps us from sin because the Eucharist is literally Christ, whose given name, “Jesus,” means “savior” — from sin. And that means not just salvation from sin’s punishment (hell) but from sin itself, i.e., He sanctifies us as well as justifying us, makes us heavenly here as well as taking us to heaven there.

He is sure that sin is the worst thing in the world, even worse than pain (which very much surprises and discombobulates nearly everyone in our culture) for the very simple reason that sin means separation from God, and God is the supreme good, joy, happiness, and fulfillment. Sin is much worse than just disobeying laws; sin is the dying of the soul, the personality, the Who, the I, the self. God is the source of all life and joy; sin cuts that umbilical cord. We’re all sinaholics. And quite insane, by the way; for we know, by experience, not just by faith, that sin and selfishness (“my will be done”) always bring us misery, in the end, and that unselfish love and faith (trusting God: “Thy will be done”) always bring us joy and peace, in the end. So the next time you’re tempted to sin, think this way: God, in giving you free will, is asking you: “Which hand will you pick? In my right hand is the key to joy, in my left hand is the key to misery. You know that every time you picked my right hand you got joy. What about this time?” And we say: “Hey, God, let’s try the left hand; maybe it will work this time.” We are quite insane.

Read more here.

Listen for the soft sound of His sandalled feet

Ann Voskamp writes:

Parenting’s this way of bending over in humility to help the scraped child up because you yourself know it takes a lifetime to learn how to walk with Him.

How’s it going? I guess it’s always just about going to Jesus.

I just desperately need the perfect, sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ who can take all my broken messes and make them into mosaics of Grace.

I just desperately need to come to His table of communion so I can celebrate one ridiculously messy life. Because this is how the dictionary defines a celebrant: “The person who stands at the table of Communion is a celebrant.”

The person who lives in communion with Christ is a celebrant! The one keeping company with Jesus is a celebrant — is the one who gets to always celebrate grace!

A celebrant is one who celebrates the extravagant grace of Christ.

A celebrant is the one keeping her eyes on Jesus and His perfect sacrifice — precisely because she isn’t perfect.

Grace lets those whose messes and wounds are many — simply see Jesus and Him only.

It’s the sinners and the sick, the broken, the discouraged, the wounded and burdened — we are the ones who get to celebrate grace!

Christ invites us to celebrate the full life as the celebrants — not because we’ve got it all together, but because He’s finished it all at the Cross!

The Art of Celebrating Life isn’t about getting it all right — but about receiving all His Grace.

Regardless of the mess of your life, if Christ is Lord of your life — then you are the celebrant out dancing in a pouring rain of grace!

When sin threatens to deafen you — listen for the soft sound of His sandalled feet coming to literally hold you away from the lies that threaten to condemn you.

The only thing you require to get His grace — is that you get that you’re a mess.

Thanks Ann. I really needed your words today.

Christians who wound Christians

Billy Graham's daughter talks about cruelty. People who get hurt by Christians! Jesus understands. They crucified Him! Who is the church? People who have personal relationships with God. Can we see our own sins? Do we have spiritual Macular Degeneration? Can we forgive? Can we reach out with forgiveness and do something for the person who wounds us? We need to extend that grace to other people.