Guilty by Association

Think about the kid in your 2nd grade class that ate the paste. You know the one I mean. Now imagine all these years later that someone suggests you name your child (or dog) after this person. Ewwww! Not that name. I could NEVER pick that name. That's the kid who ate the paste!

I got my toe nails painted coral at the salon the other day. Women's Day magazine said coral was "THE" hot color for summer. When I got home, my daughter said "That looks like the color Nanny always gets." It did. Suddenly I didn't feel stylish, but grandmotherly.

In both these examples, the item itself is fine, but by association becomes "guilty."

Did you know that as Christians, we are the only bible some people will ever see? So what are you saying about Jesus, by association? I know I have a tendency to come on strong. I am hot or cold, black or white, should always or should never. I have recently come across a verse that convicted me.

1 Peter 3:15 says "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." Oh, I've given alot of answers for my reasons for believing in Christ. But I haven't done it with gentleness and respect. I've come on strongly, and I may have turned some people off.

And Jesus was found guilty, by association.

The irony is, that just as Jesus is found guilty by his association with me; I have been found not guilty by my association with him. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) Jesus died on the cross, found guilty of my sins, so that I can stand here now and say NOT GUILTY...by association. And so can you.

1 Corinthians 15:51 - - It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God! (The Message)

James 2:10 -- For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

John 3:16 - - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

REJECTED!

Have you ever been rejected? Have you ever felt rejected? What does rejected mean? Well, according to Webster's Pocket Dictionary it is "to cast away as worthless." OUCH! I believe we have all felt that sting. But lately I'm setting my self up for some rejections.

You see, writers write. BUT published writers submit. (I learned that at my writers conference). So I have been submitting some articles for publication. And guess what. I have gotten rejected...cast away as worthless. Ouch.

But I'm in good company. In the bible, David was rejected. He was rejected by his father & brothers as the littlest - yet he was chosen by God. How about Jesus? Talk about rejected, he was crucified. And yet, he is God's son; and will live and reign forever. I'm certainly not comparing myself with either of these bible greats. No, I fall far short.

My point is, we have all felt the sting of rejection. Perhaps you were rejected by your number one college choice, perhaps that cute boy from your 7th grade class rejected you, maybe you were the last picked in gym class - rejected, or maybe that person you admired and worked up the courage to introduce yourself to made you feel rejected. But you don't need to feel cast away as worthless.

We have been chosen by God, as adopted heirs to the throne. If we get rejected 1 million times, we are still children of God. So - hooray for us!

The dictionary showed me something else about the word reject. It's the word that follows it: rejoice. Isn't it ironic that rejoice should follow rejection? But I can rejoice, in spite of being rejected.

I may not be the best writer in the world...but Jesus loves me. This I know.

***One Last Thought - this blog is not looking for comments on how foolish an editor was for rejecting my piece or anything of that nature. Being rejected is how I will learn to improve my writing, and what a particular editor is looking for. It is a learning process for me, and the wonderful lady who recently rejected my work reads my blog. So no negative comments please. This is a blog to comment not on the fact that I was rejected - but that we all were chosen. Chosen to be children of God!***

Isaiah 41:9 -- {the Lord said} "I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you."

Galatians 4:7 -- So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

John 14:23 -- Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Tuesday Bonus Blog

Question of the Day, as posed to me by my nearly 9 yr old daughter:

"Is the reason dogs don't wear clothes, that the Adam Dog and the Eve Dog didn't sin against God?"

Okay, who can answer that one for me?

Proverbs 10:1a -- The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son {or daughter} brings joy....
Proverbs 15:30 -- A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.

Are You Connected?

Ah Technology. Last week my family headed to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to enjoy some R&R. Before we left, I wrote my 3 blogs for the week and set them to auto-publish at the correct time. I was feeling techno-fabulous. I was still getting responses ("comments"). I could stay connected to my bloggie friends and they'd never even have to know I was gone.

Oh Technology! The internet at the beach house was S-L-O-W. I'd send out my log in and password, but it didn't seem to get there. While I could visit my bloggie friends' blogs, I couldn't comment! I was NOT connected. And interestingly, without leaving comments on others' sites, my own site's visits dropped by 1/3! I felt seriously out-of-touch. And after a while, I just gave up trying.

Sometimes my prayer life can mirror my techno-life. I'm shooting up prayers, getting responses and feel oh-so connected with God. I am feeling faith-fabulous. I am on the high speed prayer connection with my knee mail.

Other times, however, it seems I'm on dial up faith connection. I am sending out prayers, but they just don't seem to get there. My responses drop. I feel seriously out-of-touch. I'm like the verizon phone guy, calling out to God "Can you hear me now?" And sometimes, I hate to admit, I just give up trying.

I need to follow the Jesus' example of prayer: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." (Mark 1:35). Having small kids, its hard to find a solitary place. Even the bathroom isn't! But, if I would get up very early in the morning, perhaps I could find that solitary place.

My prayer life is a lot like my technology life. To keep connected to God, I need to make sure I keep reading his comments (the Bible), and I need to keep sending Knee Mail.

How about you? Are you connected?

Psalm 66:20 - - Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!

Luke 5:16 - - But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Romans 12:12 - - Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.