Truth

Truest Love

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

 

In this life

there will never be

a truer love

 

than Jesus’ love

for you

 

You may have an attentive sweetheart

You may not

 

Regardless,

Jesus is matchless

in the way He focuses

 

on your life

on your heart

on your ways

 

His love surpasses

all others

 

Vast beyond measure

Deep calling to deep

 

Aware

On purpose

Romancer of your spirit

 

Jesus,

the truest

of Loves

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.

– Psalm 36:5 (NLT)

 

God’s love is meteoric,
his loyalty astronomic,
His purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.
Yet in his largeness
nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse,
slips through the cracks.

– Psalm 36:5,6 (MSG)

 

Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

– Psalm 42:7 (NIV)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

I’m So Sorry

/ Susie Stewart / 2 Comments

I’m sorry, friend,

that you’ve felt the heavy weight

of an evangelical’s judgment

 

I’m sorry that Jesus’ followers

have made you feel less-than

and turned their backs on you

 

They’ve treated you rudely,

they’ve elevated themselves

 

and all you wanted to do

was run away from them

 

I’m sorry, friend,

that you were not welcomed

by the ones who accept God’s grace as their own

 

I’m sorry that when you entered church

you were made to feel excluded

from their sickeningly righteous club

 

I’m just so sorry…

 

As a follower of Christ

as an evangelical

as a Christian

let me say a collective “Please forgive us”

 

It’s not the way it’s supposed to be

It’s not what God would want

 

He would have reached out to you

 

to YOU!

 

and would have had harsh words

for the piously off-putting

 

those who are religiously clean on the outside

but dead and rotting on the inside

 

There was a time

when I didn’t get it either

 

I didn’t “get” grace

 

I was saved by it

but I didn’t get it

 

I looked down my nose at Christians and non

without even realizing I was doing it

 

I thought I needed to set everyone straight

 

But then Jesus lovingly and straightforwardly

showed me

my self-righteous hypocrisy

 

Realizing my attitude

I started to change through His Spirit

 

and to put thoughts of condemnation for others

out of my mind

 

replacing them

with Holy Spirit led love

for each and every one

 

by

His

grace

 

Now

I don’t want to point out

and think about

all the flaws people have

 

I just want to point them to Jesus

the One who will welcome them

 

completely

lovingly

graciously

unconditionally

 

I believe that when you start to understand grace

you realize that everyone is in the same boat

 

all of us need it

and need to be lifted out of our mess

by a gracious God

 

Judgment of another person

shows hardness of heart

 

an arrogance

 

The one who is forgiven

and saved by grace freely given

 

has no room

to look down

on a single soul

 

but should stand solidly on Truth

hold tightly to our relational God

and extend the love and grace

extended to him

 

Grace –

It

is

all

God’s

 

given to us

and extended through us

 

– Susie Stewart

 

**I am thankful to say that I am part of a church where people are welcomed and treated with grace.  I have, though, experienced churches where this was not the case.  And I don’t like hearing about people who are not used to going to church being treated badly by those in the church.

 

Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

– Matthew 7:1-5 (MSG)

 

God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

– Ephesians 2:8,9 (NLT)

 

As He was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger. They kept demanding an answer, so He stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then He stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

1“No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

– John 8:3-11 (NLT)

 

You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.

– Matthew 23:27,28  (MSG)

 

 

Self-Examination

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

May I be a follower

who examines myself 

more than I examine others

 

May my eyes be on You, God,

with Spirit-led reflection

on how I’m doing

as your follower

 

For I want to hear You, Lord,

when You are calling for change

and growth

and turning

 

I don’t want self-obsessed introspection

designed to tear me down

 

I will avoid my own voice of self-degradation

originating with the father of lies

 

The only voice I want to hear

is Yours,

loving

and for my good

 

I want to examine my own heart

by Your Spirit

so that I take my stand against the devil’s schemes

 

and so that I may repent

of all that is against You

and Your plan for me

 

and turn my face

to the Light

and the Truth

 

Help me, Jesus,

examine myself

in Your way

 

leading me closer to You

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise.

We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.

– 2 Corinthians 13:5-9 (MSG)

 

If you hear the message and don’t obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don’t just hear and forget.

– James 1:23-25 (CEV)

 

Don’t take this opportunity to think you are better than those who slip because you aren’t; then you become the fool and deceive even yourself. Examine your own works so that if you are proud, it will be because of your own accomplishments and not someone else’s.  Each person has his or her own burden to bear and story to write.

– Galatians 6:3-5 (VOICE)

 

Now let’s search out our thoughts and ways and return to the Eternal.

– Lamentations 3:40 (VOICE)

 

As your spiritual teacher I give this piece of advice to each one of you. Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you all. For just as you have many members in one physical body and those members differ in their functions, so we, though many in number, compose one body in Christ and are all members of one another. Through the grace of God we have different gifts. If our gift is preaching, let us preach to the limit of our vision. If it is serving others let us concentrate on our service; if it is teaching let us give all we have to our teaching; and if our gift be the stimulating of the faith of others let us set ourselves to it. Let the man who is called to give, give freely; let the man who wields authority think of his responsibility; and let the man who feels sympathy for his fellows act cheerfully.

– Romans 12:3-8 (PHILLIPS)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Truth

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Truth

It’s a hard commodity to come by

these days

 

It is cheapened

and disrespected

and soiled

 

And it’s hard to decipher

truth

because of the lack of it

 

Jesus is Truth

He stands for Truth

He brings Truth

 

And He tells us

that if we are willing to listen to Him

He WILL

bring the Truth to us

 

He will speak it

into our lives

into our hearts

into our minds

 

Listen for Truth

and

Be the Truth

in this world

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.”

– John 18:37 (NIV)

 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

– John 14:6 (NIV)

 

Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”

– John 8:31-32 (MSG)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Voices

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

If you are beginning this day

with the weight of how you’re not enough

with a forboding

with condemnation accusing

 

Know that this is not

the voice of your King

your Savior

your Lord

 

Your life is hidden in Christ

your sins are paid for

your day is new with His possibilities

 

and you are loved unconditionally

 

Know it

believe it

soak it in

 

And when you get to the end of this day

with the weight of how you weren’t enough

with regrets

with condemnation accusing

 

Choose instead

to hear the voice of God

who loves you

and does not condemn you

 

Choose to listen to the life-giving voice

of Truth

from beginning to end

and then start again

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

– Romans 8:1 (NIV)

 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.

– Lamentations 3:22,23 (ESV)

 

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.  And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory.

– Colossians 3:1-4 (NLT)

 

Photo by Arik Stewart

No Other Truth

/ Susie Stewart / 2 Comments

The truth of the Gospel works on so many levels.  Though some will argue that God does not exist and that man is the highest form in the universe, they will still strive for a moral code.  Challenge them to find a better moral code than that which is outlined in the New Testament.  Ask them to compare it to the other systems of morals in the world:  those of atheists, other religions, or political systems.  You will have to know it well to spell it out, but have them compare the law of love to all other philosophical systems and challenge them to show you a better one.  Ask them to come up with a better moral low than the Golden Rule of “Treat others the same way you would want them to treat you.”  Ask them to show you a country where innovative breakthroughs emerge where Christians are not in the majority.  Discuss the list of great scientists and achievers of all time and see how many of them were Christians or Jews or at least believe in God’s existence.  Do the study yourself.  Look at the top ten people of the last millennium and look at their beliefs and accomplishments.  Newton, Gutenberg, Michelangelo, Luther, Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and others you will find on any list of important people of the last one thousand years.  They all had tremendous faith in God.  Look at nations that have tried to exist without God:  the Soviet Union, China, Albania, Vietnam – which of these has been as successful as those that built their foundations on the laws of the Bible?

But then you will have to add that even though this is a great philosophy, it cannot work without its power source.  Man has no motive to be “good” without gratitude to a Savior who granted they should not have to suffer of their own sins.  Without the love of God in their hearts to motivate them to put the needs of others before themselves they will ultimately act selfishly despite what philosophies they hold on to.  The views of Marx and Lenin sound like they are a solid formulation for heaven and earth, but their applications have brought more hell than any other.  What brought this about?  When those in power saw that they could do whatever they liked and tried to force others into a mold of service to the state, selfishness took over and whenever convenient they began to reword their philosophies to justify their own selfish desires.  To free ourselves from cultural restraints to rise to a higher and better system seems a great idea, but such cultural revolutions in the Orient have done little but bathe their countries in blood.

– DC Talk & Rick Killian

 

For not only does sound reason direct us to refuse the guidance of those who do or teach anything wrong, but it is by all means vital for the lover of truth, regardless of the threat of death, to choose to do and say what is right even before saving his own life.

– Justin Martyr

 

For by whom has truth ever been discovered without God?  By whom has God ever been found without christ?  by whom has Christ ever been explored without the Holy Spirit?  By whom has the Holy Spirit ever been attained without the mysterious gift of faith?

– Tertullian

 

I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  the only way to the Father is through Me.

– John 14:6 (NCV)

 

He must increase, but I must decrease.

– John 3:30 (ESV)

 

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

– Psalm 103:8 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

Truth

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

We’ve all been in a position like this at one time or another, haven’t we? We thought for certain God was telling us something specific. We knew it. We were sure of it. The only place we got a little fuzzy was when we tried squaring it with what we knew of Scripture, or when we tried explaining our thinking to a parent or friend who lived on intimate terms with God. Then it took a lot of mental effort and self-styled logic to try holding all the loose ends together. The voice we thought we’d heard from God didn’t fare so well in the light of His Word. We were left to determine: Will we count on God’s Word as truth? Will we choose to conform to His true character despite what we are feeling?
– Priscilla Shirer

 

When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth..

-John 16:13 (NLT)

 

 

Show me the right path, O Lord;
point out the road for me to follow.
Lead me by your truth and teach me,
for you are the God who saves me.
All day long I put my hope in you.

– Psalm 25:4,5 (NLT)

Photo taken by Susie Stewart

 

The Truth

/ Susie Stewart / 6 Comments

 

The tension.

It’s everywhere.

The battle is seen, and yet so unseen.

 

And my heart longs to really see each one.

 

And each one wants to be seen.

 

The aggressor, the victim, the marginalized, the misunderstood, the confused, the angry, the hurt,

the human.

 

And I seek HIM.

 

I seek the One who sees all the earth,

and all the people,

and how we are falling apart

and ripping apart at the seams.

 

How we are lashing out at one another,

and hurting one another,

and self-destructing,

 

and blaming Him.

 

And He knows each heart.

Because He is love.

 

And when He walked this earth,

Immanuel,

He looked out at the masses

and He had compassion, and His heart broke.

We were harassed and helpless,

like sheep without a Shepherd.

 

There was a battle

and He knew it.

 

And the battle was not with flesh and blood – with people against people –

but the real battle was spiritual.

 

Spiritual forces,

angelic and demonic,

Deity and satanic,

locked in combat.

Good versus evil.

 

And there was,

and there IS,

a battle for the human mind and heart.

 

Confusion,

hatred,

discord,

violence,

abuse,

isolation,

dullness,

compromise,

doubt,

fear….

 

Truth came in human form,

and He saw through it all.

 

And He had compassion,

and He condemned those that claimed to have the corner market on truth

without truth.

 

And He stood up to temptation

 

with His sights on the goal

 

and He reached the goal

 

and He was silenced……………..

 

And humanity went on with their day

and their next

and their next

not knowing that a precious,

and holy,

and sacred

sacrifice

had been made for each of them.

 

Out of love.

For He is Love.

 

And when my Jesus,

my Jesus,

walked out of that tomb,

He had heaven’s glow.

For the weight of the world,

the weight of sin,

the sting of death,

and condemnation for wrong-doing,

had been conquered with that act.

 

And He had made it so simple!

Follow Him, trust Him, believe that

He

is the only One to save.

 

And He invited everyone to the table.

 

Everyone.

 

And He invited everyone to drink deep of His love and wisdom.

And He invited everyone to freedom from the harassment of evil.

And He invited everyone to walk in truth.

 

Truth.

 

He validated the O.T. writings.

He fulfilled the law.

God with us.

Holiness was finally satisfied with this one act,

perfect,

necessary.

 

And before Jesus

ascended heavenward before their eyes,

He charged His followers with unwavering commitment.

He warned His followers that they would be treated badly,

because although He conquered death,

the battle raged on seen and unseen.

 

Because now it was a race against time

before the end,

 

and the glorious beginning.

 

Evil knew this.

 

And a small contingent of humans

started the word

about the Word,

Indwelled by Spirit,

holy and wise.

 

And people,

all

of the people that were born into this world,

were loved by He who formed them

and who is Love.

 

And the weight of sin on this world,

and the attacks unseen,

and the choices made

that don’t follow He who is Truth,

cause the mind to battle

and cause the enemy to double-up forces

and cause brother to be against brother

 

and looking up

is what we need.

 

And we stare at our feet,

stuck and mired in mud.

 

And we embrace life in the mess.

 

And we go with the crowd.

 

And we delight in our rebellion.

 

And we are unaware….

 

That we are meant to be kept in the dark

by those who are darkness.

And that light and Light are pursuing

and offering a way out

to freedom.

 

And this man, Jesus, who mingled among us,

walked humbly and boldly,

a beautiful combination.

 

Sinners were the ones He moved in and through life with.

But He always offered His righteous hand,

to pull them out of being stuck.

 

Some would grab hold,

some would refuse.

 

And that is still the case.

 

You know the truth.

Know the Truth.

Be set free.

– Susie Stewart

 

“…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free….if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

– John 8:32, 36 (NLT)