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christian living

The Difference a Word Can Make

by Kelly Crawford December 7, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

“I t is difficult to articulate all the things swirling around in my head that the Lord is showing me. Everything I’ve read or heard lately seems to all tie together in an overarching connection that cannot be escaped. Let me give credit to our Bible study teacher, Mark Travers, who helped articulate some of the thoughts in this post.

First this:

“…Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Galatians 3:6

Watch this….miss this one thing and we view the entire gospel with a skewed understanding…

It doesn’t say that Abraham’s belief *in* God is what gave him a righteous standing. It was because he BELIEVED GOD.”

The difference is colossal. Consider this:

“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” James 2:19

Anyone can believe IN God. But believing God requires action of faith. When Abraham believed God, it was proven by the way he lived his life. He acted on his belief of who God is and what God said.

Do we? Faith in God changes the way we live–it just does! If affects everything.

And not just that…He believed the hard things. God commanded Abraham to do the hardest thing, hands down, that any human has ever been commanded–to take the life of his son. (And we complain about what God asks of us?) Abraham believed Him. No questions. No looking for anyone else’s opinion on the matter. Just raw obedience to what seemed grossly unfair.

There is a new-age gospel running rampant. Why? We don’t like unfair. And we’re incapable of holding a just God and a merciful God by the same hand. So we change His Word. God forbid. This new gospel is being swallowed like poison by the thousands. Why? Because it is a whole lot of truth peppered with a few lies–Christians being deceived just like Adam and Eve were. Remember? The serpent didn’t make up a ridiculous story, it would have been too obvious. He just asked questions mostly, until their thinking was just slightly off track, a subtle deception, and then THE FALL.

We must believe GOD. We must believe what He says, who He is, what He has promised, and how He instructs us to live. Be so discerning about what you hear! We must be thinking Christians!

The grace of the gospel has been stripped of its power because we have stripped God of His character. We try to serve a mutually exclusive God and Jesus. “Jesus is only love“, we say, “And God is fierce,and doesn’t like sin, so we’ll just keep Him hidden in the dusty pages of the Old Testament because that makes me feel better”.

No! Jesus and God are the same and He can only be Love because He is Just! And I can only be accredited with righteousness by believing that. My sin is an affront to a Holy God. It’s written all through the pages of Scripture. If I believe anything else, I believe no gospel at all.

My guilty record has been wiped clean because of His shed blood. Absolutely. But that acquittal changes me. It changes everything. I run out with new life and I shudder to remind him of the nails by my indifference to sin. I obey Him because I love Him. I love others because I love Him. (“If you love Me….“)

Let me never be comfortable in my sin. Sin I will. Until I die. But I pray for a heart that abhors it more and more.

“My Father, help me to believe You. All of You. Keep me from a false gospel that coddles my feelings. Let the truth of Your gospel be enough–a balm to my soul! I rejoice in Your love, Your justice, Your mercy and Your promises. May it be as You say.”

This post is not just something I felt the need to “tell”. It is a working in my own heart. My children are still asleep. When they wake up, I will wash their feet. I’ve never done that before. The Lord spoke clearly to me about it last night. I have sinned against them by my inconsistency, my impatience, my lack of gentleness. I have repented to God. But I must make restoration with them. I want them to see a contrite heart.

And please understand that I’m not writing that in some false humility. I write it as a record, and as an encouragement. I am a real mom, struggling daily to fight this weak, flesh-wrapped body whose spirit is willing. I really believe mothers–me and you–stand to receive the greatest attack of all. We are building homes. We are prone to be deceived. If we can be deceived, Satan can win a household. I am saying, and I hope you will say with me,

“Get thee behind me Satan–you may not have me or my children.”

December 7, 2009 133 comments

christian living

Parenting–The Place to Begin is the Fear of God

by Kelly Crawford November 30, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

From C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe:

The Beavers are describing Aslan to the children:

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”

We don’t fear God.

That’s why we are losing our marriages as rapidly as those outside the faith.

It’s why Christianity is not being effectively passed from one generation to another.

It’s why so many Christians suffer from foolish life choices.

It’s why the children in Christian homes are experiencing the same degree of heartache and brokenness as those who don’t know Christ.

It’s why we no longer live in a Christian nation.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Why do so many Christians–often myself included–choose our desires over what Scripture asks us to do? A couple struggling in their marriage decides to justify divorce some way rather than “forgive seventy times seven”, because it’s what their flesh wants.

A man sits in front of a television night after night and watches, what he will admit is “trash”, with no acknowledgment that the Bible speaks to the details of our lives.

Day after day, incidents, seeming small, slowly erode the fabric of our faith and give birth to a Christianity today that looks strikingly different than that of yesterday, and frighteningly close to no Christianity at all.

The last post on being separate from the world–living a life that looks different as a believer–has implications here; it is harder and harder to recognize a person, a family or a church that reflects the purity of the Bride of Christ and demonstrates the power of His redemptive work.

We fear man, not God, and that single error rules everything.

This is where our job as parents plays such a crucial part. We must fight against every notion seeking to diminish our responsibility and obligation to pass the torch to our progeny. It is not the church’s job, the school’s job or the daycare worker’s job…WE will give an account of our discipleship with our children. And don’t miss this…while salvation is done in the individual’s heart, we have clear command to instruct, nurture and direct those hearts toward the Lord. (Even when Eli’s grown sons were sinning against the Lord, He called Eli into accountability.)

And of primary importance is teaching them the fear of the Lord! God is a multi-faceted Being. He is LOVE personified and yet of such holiness that anything short of absolute reverence of His name and His Word is blasphemy.

How easily our understanding of Scripture is distorted by the fear of man rather than God! We are literally afraid of saying “fear the Lord”.

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

So afraid, in fact, that we’ll go around the earth to explain away Scriptures such as these. They disturb our feelings-injected image of who we want God to be, and so we miss the glory of who He really is.

When we don’t fear the Lord, we don’t hate our sin and our lives become cesspools of lingering, unrepentant, slimy mire that bogs us down and renders us ineffective for the Kingdom.

I see the faulty pattern in the modern approach to parenting. We have failed to impart the ONE command to our children that is required of them: Honor your father and your mother.

Unless a child is able to honor and revere his parents, the lens through which he sees and relates to God is distorted. We love our children with our lives–as does God with us.

And yet BECAUSE of that great love, we should set boundaries, establish rules and expect them to be followed, chastening to bring obedience and restoration when needed. So it is with Him. And we should glory in the grave consequences of disobedience! It is purely His love for us that they are established.

“The love of God [without the fear of God] affects a carnal heart not at all; or if at all, then adversely, for the knowledge that God loves us may simply confirm us in our self-righteousness.” -A.W. Tozer

I grieve for the picture of God we have painted to this generation of children. How can we teach His love without teaching His justice? What kind of Father forgoes discipline? According to the very words of our Savior, only an illegitimate son gets that kind of treatment.

And if we love our children, as imperfect as that love, we must teach them to fear the Lord. It is the beginning. It is health and life.

“No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God.” -A.W. Tozer

November 30, 2009 13 comments

christian living motherhood/family/parenting

The Importance Of Memorizing Scripture

by Kelly Crawford November 16, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

Dallas Willard, professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, wrote,

“Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization…”

I am convinced of the necessity and power of Scripture memorization in the life of a believer. So often we want a formula, a 3-step method to make the Christian life easier, when really, it’s even more simple than that!

In Ephesians, where we are given the armor of God to effectively stand against our enemy, all parts of it are defensive except one: the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. Now it stands to reason that if the Word is our means of fighting Satan and his attacks, then that Word must be available to us in all places at every moment. And I’ll be honest, when my time comes to fight sin (say, getting dressed for church, in a hurry, the toddler has lost one of my shoes, no one else can find his shoe either…you get the picture), I’m not spiritual enough to stop and grab my Bible to engage in warfare.

But I can’t tell you how many times, thanks to the intensive Scripture memorization required of me as a child, that the Lord has brought just the right word–brought? I should say “charged in with” the ammo I needed to fight my sin at just that moment. The same sweet Word has many times come as a balm to soothe my fears and anxieties.

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

I would encourage you to guide your children in this exercise of Scripture memorization. It is SO much easier to do as a child! Very practically speaking, the best way to memorize is to hear it, say it and sing it repeatedly. (We also use whatever passage we’re memorizing for copy work.)

We recorded a Scripture CD for just this purpose, to help you and your family memorize large portions of Scripture. Listen to clips and buy yours HERE.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:14-17)

I can think of little else more precious to give our children as the gift of Scripture memorization. We might even blame a large part of the church’s error and going astray on the fact that so many do not know what the Bible even says, much less have it hidden in their hearts as a precaution against sin.

“I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! …Your faith will be solidified.” -Chuck Swindoll

November 16, 2009 52 comments

christian living

Come to Jesus

by Kelly Crawford November 15, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

On this Lord’s day, my prayer is for your rest….my heart feels heavy tonight. I hear from so many of you, so many with burdens too large to bear alone, for prayers too big to pray alone, and for heartache too painful to suffer alone.

May you find that Jesus is sufficient. Being broken can be the most excruciating, and yet the most wonderful thing in the world. For it is there that we are most able to hear Him, and it is there that we are most likely to reach up our arms and admit that our own strength has failed.

I scarcely knew how a blog would give me a glimpse into so many lives…real people, real needs, and real hearts.

May He bring you peace.

November 15, 2009 6 comments

christian living marriage

Marriage Problem #1: Misunderstanding of “Covenant”

by Kelly Crawford November 11, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

“I felt the need to do some unpacking with our previous discussion of hurting marriages. It needs to be said, apparently, that I’m not addressing marriages with true abuse taking place, or serious mental illness. (Although as a side note, I spoke just yesterday with a friend whose husband suffers from a mental illness, and because of her commitment to her marriage, the Lord has so graciously not only given them the grace to deal with it, but has used his illness to draw them closer to Christ than perhaps anything else could…weakness of the flesh can be turned for God’s glory.)

That Christian marriages are failing left and right is no secret. But I don’t believe the majority of them are suffering some irreparable condition. I believe they are under massive attack. I believe by and large the church is not teaching truth concerning marriage and is not equipping individuals to be men and women of God, committed to a life-long relationship. And I don’t believe proper consequences are being felt for the spouse that leaves without biblical grounds or is living in sin against his or her spouse.

Furthermore, the destructive cycle is being repeated as children suffer the consequences of broken parents and then are left even more ill-equipped to handle their own marriages.

Sometimes the issue is deep and complicated and no, I don’t believe there is a 1-2-3 step program that fits every marriage.

And sometimes, I think it is not so complicated, just hard.

I believe Scripture provides principles that when applied, would fortify most marriages. We are foolish to disregard that fact. But they must be applied to all of life. From the very onset of childhood we need to be bathing our children in the wisdom of the Lord, preparing their hearts even then, for the picture that God has reserved to reveal His glory–the picture of eternal covenant between a husband and wife.

I am presuming, first, that a husband and wife are both believers. For the Bible says, “Do no be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” If a spouse is not a believer though, there are specific principles given to that circumstance. We will assume the former for this post/series.

Understanding marriage as a “one-flesh” covenant:

“Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” “What did Moses command you?” he replied. They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,and the two will become one flesh.’So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.” Mark 10:1-12

The terms and duration of a marital covenant are set by God: 1. one man, one woman, becoming one flesh and 2. for life

It’s our starting point. It has to be. God said it. When and if we desire to obey God more than we desire to fulfill our own desires, this one definition would radically what our marriages look like.

Test your thoughts…

Do I view my marriage as a bond that cannot be broken? One that GOD has joined, not a minister?
One flesh can only be made two by a tearing apart and resulting death. Do I view my marriage covenant that seriously?
Do I understand that the marriage covenant is meant to be a picture of Christ’s covenant with His bride?

A friend said, “I just can’t forgive him again.” (The sin was not adultery.) And I asked her, “would you forgive the offense again if your child committed it? Your mother? Your sister?” “Yes” was the answer. This woman was not viewing her marriage the way God does. She was not “one flesh” with her husband.

Someone said, “we should view our marriages like a house where once entered, the door is bricked up and any conflicts just have to be worked out”. Sound harsh? Well, it’s in essence what Jesus was saying exactly.

Are there exceptions? Yes. But I dare say they should be treated with grave caution and careful discernment and counseling. This is not an exhortation to women (or men) to live in abusive situations (properly defined). Marriages can be messy and biblical counsel may sometimes warrant a divorce after separation and every other means available have been offered to restore the relationship and preserve the marriage.

But let’s think rightly, and start rightly. And let’s help others around us do the same. Starting with our children and extending into relationships where we have opportunity, let’s take this matter seriously and help restore marriage to its place of intended glory.

I’ve got several more marriage problems on my mind…will share.

November 11, 2009 102 comments

christian living political

Relativism: The Most Perilous Threat to a Free Society

by Kelly Crawford October 29, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

Relativism: a theory that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them. Great, 3 min. clip warning us to fight relativism. And may I add my own reminder…as goes the church, so goes the culture.

Interesting…a reader sent me this quote:

“We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desires.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI

October 29, 2009 5 comments

christian living church/children's ministry motherhood/family/parenting Voddie Baucham

Parent’s Duty to Disciple and Why Our View of Children Should Be Elevated

by Kelly Crawford October 18, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

Readers often challenge me with questions/comments that I need to ponder seriously. They are questions that matter, I am thankful for them and they need to be answered.

“Kelly, you seem to elevate this topic over the others…”

“Kelly, why do you interfere in personal matters?”

“Kelly, why don’t you just live and not talk about these things, and let the Holy Spirit work as he wishes?”

The Lord providentially brought this message by Dr. Voddie Baucham into my hearing (without my looking for answers), and I could barely contain the outpouring of my soul about “why” indeed, I am compelled to talk about the things I do. In his profound message lies the answer.

Just personal matters?

It’s interesting that all throughout Scripture, instruction was given to the people of God as a group–a body. Suffice it to say, our personal choices profoundly affect the “body”. We are not separate entities, no more than your arm is separate from the rest of your body. And while it is true, each man will stand or fall before the Judge, as Christians, it would be naive to assume that the body will not suffer if its members have a skewed, biblical world-view. This, I believe, is the reason that Paul so carefully instructed Titus to “teach sound doctrine”; specifically as it relates to personal, daily living. It’s the reason God repeatedly sent messengers to instruct His people. (We are all messengers now. And I believe our lack of understanding of that has caused the church to indulge in error without check. We no longer “admonish one another” or check each other–which is why I said I’m thankful for the above questions and challenges some readers are willing to make.)

Why do I seem to elevate some topics?

The topic of children has mainly been the brunt of this comment. It is important to understand a few things…one, I don’t discuss matters of salvation much here–admittedly the most important topic–because my blog is directed toward believers. Hopefully, we’re beyond the fundamentals.

Secondly, I think few people realize how profoundly important our view of children is to the Kingdom work of Christ. I truly believe a wrong view of children is one of the foundational errors in the church and has had enormous implications for our evangelism and spreading of the gospel. We like to think it’s an isolated issue of privacy, irrelevant to anything spiritual. And as Dr. Baucham so passionately articulates in his message, nothing could be farther from the truth. God has written in our very bodies His will for us concerning children. He didn’t even have to mention it in Scripture, yet He continued to reinforce the importance of a right view of children. Forget the details! They are so often what create the controversy during these debates. The details can, indeed, be left for individuals to make choices regarding their family’s circumstances. But let’s get our over-arching view of children right, consistent with God’s view of children! After that, the details are going to work themselves out. I’ll let Dr. Baucham “bring it home” 😉

His message–if we could just get this one thing– would radically change the face of our culture. It’s big, ladies, it’s big!!! Perhaps the family could gather around and listen during family time, but whatever you do, make time for you and your husband to listen to this 20 minute message. Then pass it on! It is so passionate, so encouraging and it’ll make ya wanna shout!

Dr. Voddie Baucham’s message:

The Centrality of the Home in the Evangelism and Discipleship of the Next Generation

October 18, 2009 22 comments

christian living large families motherhood/family/parenting

Rich Americans Say the Dumbest Things

by Kelly Crawford October 13, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

Lately I’ve been catching myself listening to conversations–many of my own–with different ears, and I am aghast at what I hear. We are supposed to be in an “economic recession”, and I understand for many the very real difficulties that brings, and yet I keep comparing our lives to those in other countries where owning a computer would seem like winning the lottery to us.

I mean, isn’t it all about perspective? My dad was recounting a missionary’s biography and the description of a typical family in the area where he lived. He said,

“To get a picture of how they live, imagine getting rid of every item in your house–everything–even the food out of the pantry. Then turn off the power and water. Then move out into the shed in your back yard. Then get rid of your shoes–none except the head of the house could afford to wear shoes–now you’re close. There may some left over potatoes starting to ruin for dinner.”

Now even though that is extreme, it is real. And there is everything in between, with Americans being pretty much on the top of the social scale–the richest in the world, no matter what your current situation.

And I complain daily about something as trivial as the switch on my hair dryer being broken, or my computer being too slow, or my hair being too–whatever my hair is 😉

It’s shameful. And then I hear someone say “we can’t afford more children”, and it breaks my heart. It sounds noble to say it, but taking a different look, doesn’t it just reveal the depth of our selfishness? And my selfishness, when I say “we can’t afford to give”, whatever the need is?

Americans–the richest people in the world. Could our prosperity possibly have made us the most complaining, the least hardy, and the greediest people in the world?

And to wrap the whole thing up in tragic irony is the idea that somehow our children will be better if we give them more things, more opportunities, more fill in the blank. We all know deep down that often it is the very thing that makes them worse! The only thing that makes them “better”–and we’ve seen it proven!–is more of our time, more of Jesus, and more of simple living.

Thinking about taking a mission trip during Christmas…

October 13, 2009 72 comments

christian living motherhood/family/parenting

Wisdom…We Aren’t Born With It.

by Kelly Crawford October 11, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

(This may possibly be a record for shortest post 😉

“I think God gives us the wisdom to make choices…”

I disagree with that statement. I think God gives us the capacity for obtaining wisdom, but we aren’t born with godly wisdom; we’re born with human wisdom, the one thing God warned against all throughout Scripture.

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;” Isaiah 53:6

“Get wisdom! Get understanding!” Proverbs 4:5

“Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:3-5

Did you pay attention to the language? “If you CRY OUT”…this is the language of urgency and pleading!

How many of us are crying out for wisdom before we make decisions? How many of us are searching for understanding, for the “knowledge of God” like we would search for gold?

As a mother with little ones, are we crying out for wisdom? As parents making decisions about our children’s lives, are we pursuing discretion with everything in us?

Or are we letting the world dictate our choices without a second thought?

Do we even believe that God has an answer for every detail of our lives?

Do you think the world would look different if every Christian everywhere approached life this way?

God is ready to pour out His wisdom…the question is, are we ready to pursue it?

October 11, 2009 7 comments

christian living

The Forbidden Fruit

by Kelly Crawford October 9, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

While reading John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the greatest epic in English literature according to many, I discovered this truly simple yet profound connection between man’s eternal struggle to justify his disobedience with “wisdom”.

Listen to this account of Eve’s temptation by the serpent in the garden…

Serpent:

“Queen of this universe, do not believe those rigid threats of death; ye shall not die; How should ye? By the fruit? It gives you life to knowledge; by the Threat’ner? Look on me, me who have touched and tasted, yet both live, and life more perfect have attained than fate…God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;”

Eve:

“In the day we eat of this fair fruit, our doom is, we shall die. How dies the Serpent? He hath eat’n and lives. And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns. Irrational till then. For us alone was death invented? Or to us denied this intellectual food, for beasts reserved…”

Do you see this? Look from a human perspective. God said “eat this fruit and you will die”. The serpent said, “look, I ate it, and I didn’t die…logically speaking, God is a liar”.

Eve reasoned, and from a HUMAN standpoint, the logic was there; so she took a bite, and guess what? She DIDN’T die! And how easy, then, it was to convince Adam that God’s words were incorrect, and that their wisdom seemed, for the moment, to outwit His.

This dreadful, innacurate perception of truth set the whole course of mankind on a downward spiral to death; and Adam and Eve, in their short-sightedness, didn’t even know it.

God works that way. We would do well to comprehend it. He wasn’t a liar, and we know that now. When He said “you will surely die”, He didn’t specify the time.

Just because we disobey and don’t reap immediate consequences (or obey and don’t reap immediate rewards) doesn’t mean God is a liar.

Eve had no business reasoning about anything concerning that tree. There are some things God has said, and that’s that; there is nothing to question or to “apply wisdom” to.

Where God has spoken, leave logic alone. Don’t trust your human wisdom. Don’t trust the immediate consequences. Trust Him and obey.

October 9, 2009 10 comments

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“No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God.” -A.W. Tozer

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