Injustice: Where Is God?

On Saturday evening I was invited to watch The Shawshank Redemption with a group for the purpose of discussing it in light of our Christian faith afterwards. If you haven't seen the movie, it is possible that I will spoil it for you through this post so stop reading now if you so desire.

The movie is about two main characters who are in prison together- one is innocent and one is guilty. Both were convicted for murder. Beyond the stories of these two men and their friendship, the movie gives a very bleak (I would argue fairly realistic) picture of the USA's justice system.

The obvious example is that Andy gets convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and gets two life sentences even though he's innocent. It gets worse from there. The prisoners aren't treated as human beings and their dignity and identities are stripped from them. They are physically beaten by the top guard- one man loses the use of his legs and another dies after having to wait until the morning to see the doctor in the infirmary because he had already gone home.

What was perhaps most infuriating to me was every ten years the men get a release hearing in which they are asked if they feel they have been "rehabilitated." At that point in the movie I was ready to throw something. I was just thinking, "how dare they!"

How dare they ask them if they have been rehabilitated by this convoluted, twisted, unjust system! 

Many of God's prophets in the Old Testament speak on justice and it is addressed by Jesus in the New  Testament as well. And yet as I sat in that discussion after the movie, not one person mentioned it.

Maybe it's my sociological understanding and view of the world. I tend to see structures before individuals and I'm more critical of systems. But, I would also like to think it's my belief that my God is a God of justice.

In fact, the hardest part of believing in God for me is trying to understand where he is in injustice. Why does he let it happen? People are stuck in these systems. People are dying in these systems.

How are we, as Christians, letting it happen?
Are we ignoring it? Do we not see it?
Do we spend so much time in our safe little circles that we miss the hurting and the oppressed?

I don't know. All I know is, now is the time to open our eyes.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." Matthew 23:23 

"This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place." Jeremiah 22:3

Quotes of the Week

I love quotes. Love them. Here a couple I picked up this week that I thought I'd share.

         Enjoy.
             Think.

"Why do people go through tough transitions? Because they have hope. They have hope that there is something better on the other side." 

How confident are you in your hope?  

"As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates other." - Marianne Williamson

Be free. 

My Greatest Desire: Freedom

Freedom.

It's such a loaded word. In the USA we like to think we're free...free to be whoever we want, free to voice our opinions, free to worship as we choose, etc. People have and will continue to fight and die for our freedoms, but how free are we really? Not even just as citizens of the United States of America, but as human beings. 

My desire and love of freedom comes from two distinct places in my life: 1. my fear of being trapped and 2. my experience of being in bondage to an addiction. I've explained the first in a previous post and I'm sure there will be more to come on the latter.

The verse at the top of my page, or in the inserted graphic, is my life verse. John 3:8.
To me, it is a perfect image of freedom.

God has given all of his followers the gift of the Holy Spirit, who seals our salvation and serves as our guide (among other things) in life. As we grow deeper in our knowledge, understanding, and relationship with God, we become more like Him and more like the person He has created us to be. This gives us the freedom to blow wherever we please, just like the wind- without an obvious place of origin or destination.

Some of my favorite things about my freedom in Christ are that...

• I'm free to explore the desires and passions God has given me with reckless abandon. 
• I'm free to fail and not be "successful."
• I'm free to follow the Spirit's guidance even if I don't know the big picture yet.
• I'm free to make choices that do not make sense to you or to anybody else. 

What are some of yours?
Are you experiencing true freedom?
What is keeping you from it?

Turn Your Sexy On!

Today I read this blog post entitled: "Ask A Married Woman: How Did You Go From Virgin To Sexy And Seductive."  If you're a single woman (or perhaps a curious married one) and you haven't read this yet, doooo it! These are the types of things I like to talk about. 

I've often complained about the way that most girls get brought up in the Evangelical Church. Don't seduce guys. Don't wear revealing clothes. Don't be sexy. You're a girl, you don't have sexual desires- those are reserved for guys. Because of this, I have often wondered,  "How do they expect me to turn the switch on when I get married?!"

Now that I've worked my way past this, sometimes I take it upon myself to "fix" this in other people.
(We'll leave the value judgement of my actions for a later time)

There's something you should know about me: I very, very, very rarely ever feel awkward.
I have been known to sit in silence right next to a person for hours.
I have also been known to make people say rather awkward things out loud, or at least what they perceive as awkward.

My friend reminded me of an incident like this a couple of months ago.  Last summer we worked together at a program for high school students as resident assistants (RAs). I was known as the resident sexuality enthusiast and she was known for being, lets say, "sexually shy." About 2 or 3 weeks into our time together that summer she went shopping with me for the food for the week.

As we drove, I was asking her a lot of questions about her life and her past and we naturally got on the topic of sexuality (it always seems to happen). I decided that right then and there she was going to start the journey to sexual freedom and comfortability! It was kind of audacious of me, but she had willingly agreed to trap herself in this car with me for the duration of the trip so...

The way she remembers it, I had her yell, "I AM SEXY," many times in my car. I don't know if that's completely true. I don't recall anyone yelling anything! I did have her say it a few times in the car and then I told her she had to look at herself in the mirror everyday and say it 5 times. She also claimed that I scarred her, which is false! You should know that 1 year later we are close friends and she is doing just fine! She won't voluntarily say "I am sexy" yet, but she will say "I look good." That's one step closer in my book =)

Moral of the story: If you're also "sexually shy" (and want to stay that way), pray I never meet you.

But for real: Turn your SEXY on! And be okay with it =)

What are some ways that you turn your sexy on in your everyday life? 

What Are You Afraid Of?

My last post nicely provided a segue into this topic of fear. As a kid I shared some of the typical childhood fears such as being scared of the dark, thunder, and silverfish (yup, they're gross). I'm beyond thankful that in the past few years of my life I've been able to shake all of those fears...but there is one I'm still holding on to.

I am terrified of being trapped. 

The thought of being stuck or contained emotionally, physically, spiritually, or mentally literally makes me nauseous. I think the explanation of this fear is that in being trapped I experience a(n)...

                                  loss of control,
                                          inability to escape, 
                                                  and ultimately, powerlessness.

Needless to say this causes some conflict in my life. The first area that comes to mind for me is always marriage. I'm going to be stuck with the same person forever! That just sounds awful. I can't even stand to have only one group of friends or live with the people I hang out with...how am I going to date and then marry and then live with the same person without getting tired of him?!

(Before you get too concerned, I've been debriefing my thoughts and feelings on the topic of marriage for a few years now and I'm gotten my feelings of shear terror down to only slight apprehension. God is good and merciful.)

The other example that has popped up recently has to do with physical location. Now that I'm out of school for the moment and have my own apartment and job, I'm terrified of being stuck in Madison forever! And what's worse is I only get 10 days of vacation! I'm never going to be able to travel! I've been known to go places on the spur of the moment and now I'm unable to. I. DO. NOT. LIKE. THIS.

This weekend, the speaker at church taught from the story of Jonah and told us that the places we don't want to go are examples of us saying "no" to God. I realized that there aren't places I wouldn't go, but there plenty of places I wouldn't want to stay. Namely, all of them. My fear isn't of God telling me to go somewhere, but of God telling me to stay somewhere.

However, I recognize that as a Christian, I'm not called to live a life of fear or of being trapped. I am called to a life of glorious freedom. (John 8:31-36)


I have experienced the freedom in going many times in my life. I have not yet discovered the freedom in staying. I pray that God will show me. 

What are you afraid of?
Why are you afraid of it?
Where would you never want to go or stay?

Confessional: Modesty & Pride

Since I've been writing on this topic of modesty for the past 2 days, I thought I would sum up this mini series with a post about how this idea of modesty led to deep sin in my life.

Pride has always been a struggle for me. Most likely because I'm relatively quiet and reserved, people often view me as this humble, sweet, put together person. But really I'm just prideful. That's it. And I have good reason to be...I follow all the rules, I think before I speak, I'm disciplined, and above all I understand that bikinis are immodest and thus should not be worn by Christians. Fact.

I mean really, how much more straightforward do you want God to be? I had always despised people putting words in God's mouth and yet here I was doing that very thing. Conveniently, Scripture has a passage for the in Matthew:

These verses hit home for me because of my self-righteous tendencies. It's so much easier to look at the obvious mistakes others are making (or appear to be making) and avoid introspectively examining our own hearts or dealing with our own pain. By focusing on condemning others because of their choice of swim attire, I was completely avoiding addressing the hurt that I was experiencing with regards to this topic. 

It also allows us to avoid our fears. What was I afraid of? That I wasn't a good enough Christian. I reckoned that these girls who were bikini clad had to be worse Christians than I was, thus making me a step higher on the Christian hierarchy. All I have to say is, good thing there's not one of those! 

Praise God that He is gracious and that even in the midst of my sin He loves me and still bestows upon me His mercy and freedom! 

In what areas are you prideful or self-righteous? 

In clinging so tightly to your pride, what are you hiding or avoiding? 

What are you afraid of?

Modesty: A Definition

I really should have given this post a different title because there will be no clean cut definition of modesty given here. But, if you would like to read my musings feel free...

As I mentioned yesterday, I believe that modesty has very little to do with the clothes one chooses to wear. I do think that can play a part, but lets be real, the underlying motives of your choices and actions are what's really important. My choice to dress "modestly" most of my life was fueled by the idea that my body was hurting the men around me and that it was my duty to protect them. Ehh, wrong! All that caused was pain for me and pain for others.

As Christians, our motive should always be to serve God and to draw others towards him through love. In doing so we have to recognize that although we are totally unworthy of the grace He has bestowed upon us, we have been adopted into His family and are His children- justified and perfect in His sight.

That being said, the way we live should radiate from that. This leads me to some of my favorite passages on "modest" living, found in Proverbs.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life (1). Put away perversity from your mouth, keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; keep your foot from evil (2,3). Proverbs 4: 23-27 

She is clothed with strength and dignity (4,5); she can laugh at the days to come (6). She speaks with wisdom (7), and faithful instruction is on her tongue (8).  Proverbs 31: 25, 26

Here are my takeaways:

1. Don't become emotionally attached to people who aren't your spouse/significant other or friend...most people would say particularly members of the opposite sex and in most circumstances, I tend to agree. 
2. Pursue God wholeheartedly and keep yourself focused on Him.
3. Figure out what you're passionate about and do it! 
4. Live a life that is honorable- one of integrity and authenticity. (i.e. don't gossip, mislead, hang all over guys, flirt with every guy you see...you get the point) 
5. Carry yourself like you are somebody! After all, you are a child of the most high God. 
6. Don't take yourself too seriously. (I for real need help with this one!)
7. Ask God for wisdom and discernment and use it! 
8. Don't shy away from being an example to others...realize that people are always watching you. 

Ultimately, I want people to understand the immense amount of freedom that is ours because of Christ's sacrifice, even in living modestly, and I would venture to say because of it! I would encourage you not to apply modesty to one area of your life, such as the clothes you wear or the things you say or the way you interact with members of the opposite sex, but really integrate it into the person you are. Can you tell I'm a fan of holistic and integrated living?!

I think that immodest living often comes from pursuing things that can only be ours through Christ. Things like acceptance, unconditional love, significance, peace, and joy. Even freedom. Evaluate your motives. Where is your heart? What are you really searching for?

Have any thoughts on modest living or any favorite verses on the subject? I'd love to hear them!