The Lazarus Effect

By Marty Norman –

Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him”(John 11:35-36 NIV).

Jesus had many friends. But Mary, Martha and Lazarus were counted among his closest. So it is no surprise that when Jesus arrived at the tomb after Lazarus died he wept, for he loved much. Even the Jews saw how much he loved him.

As we enter into the month of February, the world’s epitome of and definition for love, we hear repeated commercials and advertisement regarding expressions of that love through the gifting of candy and flowers, valentines and gifts. It might do us well to stop and compare scriptural love to worldly love.

Recently I watched a rerun of “Shakespeare in Love” with Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes. A fun movie, although fictional, its viewing prompted research on my part of the play it depicted.  According to worldly standards and reviews read, “Romeo and Juliet” is a portrayal of true emotional and spiritual love.

The story of love is birthed in the midst of chaos and broken relationship as two members from feuding families find each other and fall in love. Residents of a broken world they are unable, because of prejudice and judgment, to come together in freedom. They, therefore, choose to die in order to not be separated. It is through their love experienced in death that their families reconcile as they set aside differences and forgive.

Although awe-inspiring and spell binding, Shakespeare misrepresents real love.  His love is based on emotion, a worldly romantic, passionate, love at first sight kind of love, unselfish but limited by the boundaries and stipulations of others.

Contrast that with scriptural love. Unconditional, it is self-sacrificing the kind of love God has for his children. Pure and without judgment it is uplifting. According to I Corinthians 13 this kind of love is patient and kind. It does not boast nor is proud, rude or self-seeking. Rather it rejoices in truth, protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres.

First John 4:19 (NIV) tells us that “we love because he first loved us.” A clearer statement can’t be found. We love as we are loved. One cannot give love if one has never received it. Even in the best of circumstances, there is no way that worldly love can express or portray this kind of supernatural love. For real love is a commitment and a covenant. Rather than a feeling it is a decision, based on an act of the will. Denying self, one chooses to put others first. We choose to love by serving others. We put ourselves second, sacrificing in ways that are at some cost to ourselves.

John tells us that Jesus was love. He demonstrated the extent of his love by sacrificing himself. John 15:23 (NIV) says, “Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.” That is what Jesus did for us on the cross.

One of the most beautiful examples of love in scripture is the story of the sinful woman who anoints Jesus before his death with a vial of perfume. Some report that this was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. As she anoints Jesus’ feet, this woman never stops kissing him. Her gratitude for his love and forgiveness has no bounds. Of her Jesus says, “Her many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47 NIV).

The Lazarus effect is very powerful. Applied to our world today, this unconditional, selfless, protective love can change the world. The Bible illustrates that love heals all things, even to overcoming death. Here the love of God, the love of Christ himself, brings life, not death. In this type of love God is glorified.

As humans we often need a physical manifestation in order to understand a spiritual principal. But in this case, one need only look into the eyes of a baby or small child. The light, love, hope and trust seen in their depth will bring one to his knees. I am blessed to see this manifestation on a daily basis from my grandchildren.

Let us learn a lesson from the story of Lazarus. Even in the depths of our prisons, tombs of death in which we reside, let us listen for the voice of the one who loves without measure. When he calls, “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43 NIV), let us hear our own name. Let us set aside our grave clothes and move into the light of love that is Christ.

And having experienced the Lazarus effect, let us pass it on to others by loving them unconditionally as we introduce them to Jesus. By doing so, they too will be brought out of the darkness of the tomb into the light of eternity.

Marty Norman is a wife, mother, and grandmother of five, who lives in Fort Worth, Texas.  She is the author of “Generation G – Advice for Savvy Grandmothers Who Will Never Go Gray.” You can learn more about her at:   www.martynorman.com, http://martynorman.blogspot.com, http://savvygrandmothers.blogspot.com.

Someone to Hold

By Heather Allen –

This summer I met a stocky toddler with honey brown eyes. She and her baby sister are wards of the state.  Over the past year I have spent some time with foster children. In the sadness of their situation there is also joy.  Many believers open their lives and homes to help care for these children. The duration is uncertain; it can be weeks or years. A housemother from a children’s home said girls in her care are constantly moved, often with only ten minutes to gather their belongings and adjust emotionally. I think about my belongings filling shelves and closets and counters while theirs fit in a solitary bag. What would it be like to not know the people you live with or how long you will be with them?

My friend Stephanie is fostering two little girls, and knowing their time together may be short, she longs to give them hope. Zephaniah 3:17 is painted on their temporary bedroom wall.

“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” (NIV)

Hurting over the toddler, who insists on keeping every possession by her side, Stephanie asked, “If that were you or I, stripped to one small bag that held all our belongings, would we still believe we were loved?  Would we believe our life had purpose? And how tightly would we cling to that bag?” She went further. “Imagine everything you hold is lifted from your grasp. Who would you be?”

In Egypt, the Israelites cried for a deliverer. They prayed God would rescue them. He did. Plagues that struck the Egyptians did not touch them. They were set apart but it was not because they had done anything right, they simply belonged to Yahweh. There was a distinction made. Sadly, knowing they were set apart was not enough to keep them content in the wilderness. Instead a generation fell.

I wonder if the longing to be free ever went beyond idealism.  Instead of having a micromanaged life, they could choose. And in choosing they longed for the certainty that captivity had provided. I feel conviction as I write this, compelled to admit that I sacrifice freedom for certainty too.

I think about that small bag of belongings and my hope that Stephanie’s tot will know there is more. I wish she knew that her little bag held no assurance, that Jesus is enough. And I wish that took the ache and loneliness from her small heart. If it would make a difference, I’d put my hands on her cheeks and kneel and say “let it go sweetie, let it go.”

As I contemplate what might help, a holy hushed whisper asks me the same question, “What would it take for you to lay down your bags and just hold on to me?”

I am bereft and filled with an intense longing for that to be our reality, hers and mine.

Heather Allen spends most of her time caring for her hubby and 3 kids.  Check out her blog: http://www.theknottedapron.blogspot.com/

I Will Find A Way!

By Nina Medrano –

Do you ever find yourself repeatedly hum a familiar song, absentmindedly, singing only parts of the lyrics that come to mind?  Often, when this happens to me, I am preoccupied and therefore miss the message of the song stirring in my spirit.

It has been three days now that my spirit has been stirring this song in my gut.  Like a scratch on a CD, the same lyric is stuck, repeating itself over and over—unable to skip to the next stanza.

“Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be your name”

I’m sitting traffic, singing the same lyrics over and over when suddenly the Holy Spirit descends upon me a heaviness of heart for those whose road is marked with suffering and cannot bless His name because of the pain in the offering.

It’s hard to lift your arms in praise when they have grown weary year after year waiting for breakthrough.  It’s hard to praise God when you are losing your home; when your husband did not come home last night; when you can’t pay the electric in the winter; when you cannot afford to get septic; when your teen-age daughter gets diagnosed with pre-cancer cells; when your wife leaves you with three small children to care for; when your First Time Home buyers credit check is delayed—going on a year.

“…When the darkness closes in, Lord
I WILL FIND A WAY… to say…
Blessed be the name of the Lord”

Often, life’s challenges leave a mark in our lives that render us stuck and unable to skip to the next stanza of God’s “streams of abundance flow.”

The power of praise is the weapon that releases God’s power to move on our behalf.  No matter what the circumstance, whether He gives or takes away, whether there is more pain than joy in the offering, we must resolve in our heart to FIND A WAY to bless His name.  With teeth gritting, FIND A WAY!  As if your life depends on it, FIND A WAY to say “Blessed by Your Name” and watch God move like a mighty warrior on your behalf.

^“You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah” (Psalm 32:7 AMP).

Nina Medrano lives in Lubbock TX with Pepper Jack, her rescued Jack Russell Terrier.

Song lyrics from “Blessed Be Your Name,” by Matt Redman.

Get the Brush Out of Your Life

By Teresa G. Lusk –

My middle child has hair just liker her mom’s, thick and long. Brushing her hair is an ordeal daily. To make the hair brushing process smoother, I asked her not to bring me the little blue brush she likes so much and instead use only a large squared brush that hurts less and gets tangles out quicker.

The explanation to why she should use the large brush had been something she heard several times and there was no doubt to why she should use it, to keep her from pain.  Still, she often chose to bring the little hurtful brush and all I heard was crying and complaining as was the ritual.

In our home, we try to use simple opportunities to teach life lessons as we did that day when I had had it. Again, she brought the little blue brush shortly after the tears rolled in. I began to explain that the brush was like sin in our life. That we have a choice to do the right thing or the wrong thing according to the expectation God has for us. If we continue to choose the wrong thing, then we will have pain in our life. That brush was like sin in her  life and when something is causing her pain, she needed to do something about that.

Then, the big question proceeded. I said, “If your brush is causing you to hurt, what should you do with it”? She said, “Get rid of it”! That is right! Get rid of the brush that causes pain in your life. To the trash the brush went and we added on more life lesson to her little heart and mind.

Teresa G. Lusk is the author of Good Enough to be a Homemaker and CEO and a Motivational Speaker. Visit www.teresalusk.com for more information.

Better Part of Valor

By Jane Thornton –

Prom night, thirty years later, still resonates with emotions. Mostly self-mockery at this stage, but I remember the heightened feelings of anticipation and giddiness. Hours spent applying my first set of fake fingernails, a mad dash to the florist for the forgotten boutonniere. For years I planned to wear the floating dress of a southern belle, but, as an oh-so-adult senior, I switched to the sleek, sophisticated look of polyester.

That night, adorned in chic maroon (not pastel), I traipsed into the ladies’ room with a friend to freshen my makeup. Among the throng in front of the mirror, I spotted a dress with vaguely familiar lines.

I elbowed my friend. “Look at her dress. It’s an awful lot like mine except hers vees in the front and mine in the back.”

Eyeing the unaware target of our interest, my friend nodded. “It even has the little cape top.” (I told you this was thirty years ago).

A disdainful sniff scrunched my nose. “The vee in back is much more original.” But my eye was continually drawn to the similarities. “Lisa, I think it’s exactly the same, but she’s wearing it backward . . .”

Slowly an inkling of the mind-boggling reality seeped into my consciousness and horror dawned. “Oh no! I’m wearing my dress backward!”

My awkward words spilled into a sudden silence.

So many lessons can be drawn from that day and night. Vanity. Priorities. Friendship. The list continues. But the moral that resounds over the years is that I should have kept my big mouth shut.

As James 3:2 says, “For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way” (NLT). The price on prom night was just a few moments of excruciating embarrassment followed by a hands-on tutorial in learning to laugh at oneself. At other times in my life, the damage has been much worse.

I have lost count (and hope my children have also) of the number of bedtimes where I had to apologize for my harsh words during the day. I fear my example for handling stress has put the penalty for my loss of control onto my kids.

Although I know I’m forgiven, I still wince at certain memories. More than once my attempts at humor have resulted in a lack of discretion. My unruly tongue has victimized my husband, my friends, my siblings, and my children. Not malice, but a quick and thoughtless mouth, is the culprit.

Let’s not turn this into the tirade I deserve, but thank God for His incomprehensible grace in forgiving each stumble and listen to His guidance for the future:

“Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.
A dream comes when there are many cares,
and many words mark the speech of a fool” (Ecclesiastes 5:2-3 NIV).

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