Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Lent Words Day 13: Atonement


"God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—"
Romans 3:25

Webster's dictionary defines atonement as: "Reparation (making amends for, payment for) an offense or injury; reparation for sin; the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ." Synonyms for atonement are: Penance, redemption, amends, payment, propitiation, restitution.

In the Old Testament the shed blood of sacrificial animals as offerings brought about atonement. The animal substituted, took the place of the person's sin. In the New Testament the shed blood of Jesus on the cross brought atonement, once and for all (Hebrews 10:12). We see this description of atonement in today's passage in Romans 3:25. Let's look at it in its context. Romans 3:21-26:

"21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."

I'm just going to walk through this passage as I would when I study it and let it speak for itself - with a few notes for definition's sake.

A righteousness apart from the law (works done to earn God's favor) has been revealed - 
a righteousness that is given by God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. 
ALL of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 
And ALL are justified (made right, made righteous) freely - through no work or standing of their own - we are made right with God by God's grace through the redemption (deliverance from our sin) that came by Jesus Christ. 
You see, God presented (offered, gave up) Jesus Christ as an atonement (payment for our sins) through the shedding of His blood, which is to be received (it is a gift) by faith. 
He did this to show (reveal, make known) His righteousness, because in his forbearance (refraining from enforcing the payment of a debt, overlooking for the time being) he had left  the sins committed beforehand unpunished - He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just (righteous, virtuous) and the one who justifies (makes righteous) those who have faith in Jesus.

Jesus took our place as a sacrifice of atonement for our sin. Jesus paid it all, once and for all.


Friday, February 23, 2018

Lent Words Day 9: Guest Post by Bernice Hopper

Today's Lent Word is Compassion.

Today's post is written by Bernice Hopper. Bernice and I met a number of years ago online through a class she was leading through her blog. Bernice was one of the first women I met who was also combining her faith with her art journaling. We have journeyed together in the online world through the founding of the His Kingdom Come community in 2015, various guest posts on each other's blogs, and currently we are co-leading an online group on Facebook with Valerie Sjodin called Everyday Journals and Living Your Word for the Year. In addition to our online friendship we have had a number of opportunities to be together in person taking small road trips and creating our own personal retreats. Please visit Bernice on her blog Newly Creative.

Read Psalm 103:8-14 1 Peter 1:8-9
My church doesn’t follow the church calendar very much apart from Christmas and Easter. So apart from having pancakes as close to Shrove Tuesday as I can, I really don’t have much experience of following a Lenten tradition. However I feel that the word Mary chose for today – compassion – is
a year long, lifetime word. A bit like the ‘A dog is not just for Christmas’ campaign, I believe compassion is not just for Lent’.

God is a God of compassion. One of His names is Rakhum which is sometimes translated as Merciful God but can also be translated as Compassionate God.

In Deuteronomy 4:31 (NASB) we are told ‘For the LORD your God is a compassionate God;He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which Heswore to them’.

Psalm 103:8 (NIV) describes God this way: ‘The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love’.

Throughout the Old Testament we see God showing compassion to His people. We see people struggling through hard times but God always shows compassion and comes to their rescue. And then the most spectacular rescue of all is Jesus dying on the Cross for us. I find it really hard to grasp the depth of compassion God felt for us that He sent his Son to die for us. I could hardly bear to see my son hurt in any way and nothing that happened to him compared with what Jesus did for us.

We often use other words for compassion: pity, sympathy, feeling, empathy, understanding, care, concern, solicitousness, tender-heartedness, soft-heartedness, warm-heartedness, warmth, love, brotherly love, tenderness, gentleness, mercy, tolerance, consideration,kindness, humanity, kind-heartedness, benevolence.

But when we feel compassion (or any of those other words we use) we need to do something. We can give money to aid charities and think that is enough. But we need to act. We can show compassion in the way we live our lives, in the way we speak to and about people and in the way we pray.

We are made in God’s image so compassion is a trait we should embrace. 1 Peter 3:8 (TPT) says
‘Now, this is the goal: to live in harmony with one another and demonstrate affectionate love, sympathy, and kindness toward other believers. Let humility describe who you are as you dearly
love one another’.

Everyone needs compassion.

Mighty to Save https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lab0SHGXkA

I have been following along with Mary's Lent Words and writing one verse each day in my EveryDay Journal.

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.


Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Also, join us for Lent Words 2018 -  A Creative Challenge Through the Season of Lent. More about it in this post. There is  a private Facebook group for the Lent challenge:

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Lent Words Day 8: Joy


Joy seems like an odd word for the Lent season with its emphasis on repentance and sacrifice, mourning our sin and fasting. But the writer of Hebrews gives us a different picture of joy than ones we might imagine.

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
Hebrews 12:2-3

Jesus endured the suffering and shame of death on the cross because He was looking ahead to the great joy that was before Him: The joy of being seated at the right hand of the Father, as well as the joy of fulfilling the Father's will. Paul says this of Jesus in Philippians 2:8-11:

"And being found in appearance as a man,

    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death
        even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father."

And earlier in the book of Hebrews it says,
You made them a little lower than the angels;

    you crowned them with glory and honor
    and put everything under their feet.”
In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Hebrews 2:7-9
Joy is not like happiness. Happiness is often based on our circumstances. Good things happen and we are happy; bad things and we are not happy. But joy is a state of mind that comes from the confidence and hope we have in our relationship with God through faith in Christ. Joy is evident in our lives despite our circumstances. So, in times of suffering we can still have joy, because we have a higher hope. We, like Jesus, can look at the circumstances in our lives and go through hard times and have joy because of what we have to look forward to. We will be in glory with Christ. 

"But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." 1 Peter 4:13

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2 Corinthians 4:17

I can easily grow weary and lose heart. I get discouraged because of circumstances, being hurt, people letting me down. In the context of today's passage in Hebrews Paul is using a race as a metaphor for the Christian life. The way we don't lose heart or grow weary, especially in hard times, is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. To look at Him with undivided attention; with a steady gaze. In a race, when the runners look at those around them or look at things off the track, they get tripped up. They have lost focus. It is the same in our life. Don't get tripped up and take your eyes off of Jesus - don't focus on other people, or circumstances, or even your own perspective. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. 

I cannot read this passage without thinking of the refrain from "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus":

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.




Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Everyday Journal Update & Repair


The photo below shows different page sections from my current Traveler's Notebook insert. This is a sketch notebook insert with heavy weight paper, similar to mixed media paper. Soon after I reached the halfway point some sections of pages started coming out. I repaired them with a long stapler designed for creating booklets, but soon more pages began coming loose. So this weekend I decide to resolve the issue more permanently.



I prepared each of the sections that had come loose and the main portion of the journal with holes and then sewed it all together like a book signature. Nothing fancy or pretty, but it's now nice and tight and I should be able to finish filling it just fine. The Midori Traveler's Notebook inserts I've ordered are assembled with staples, so I ordered some from a different maker who sews her notebook bindings. They should stand up better to the many layers I place on my pages. :)


We are almost a week into Lent and most of my posts have been about the Lent Words creative challenge, which I am doing in my Everyday Journal as well. I am also trying to keep up with my weekly page spreads. Here are the past two weeks:



Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.


Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Also, join us for Lent Words 2018 -  A Creative Challenge Through the Season of Lent. More about it in this post. There is also a private Facebook group for the Lent challenge:


Monday, February 19, 2018

Lent Words Day 5: Fast


“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
Isaiah 58:6-7

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, 
for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. 
Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 
But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 
so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, 
but only to your Father, who is unseen; 
and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, 
will reward you."
Matthew 6:16-18

I have this thing. I don't exactly know what to call it. An issue, a pet-peeve, baggage - I don't know. Anyway, here it is: I don't like to do things just because other people are doing them. My husband and I don't observe days like Sweetest Day or Valentine's Day. I don't want a gift or a sentiment simply because some holiday (or card company) said to do so. I want something that expresses love from my husband on a random Tuesday simply because he was thinking about me. That speaks volumes of love to me!

So, as a result of this "thing" I'm a bit adverse to traditions. I'm also ambivalent about the times in our church services when we are asked to respond in some way that is visual or verbal. I'm afraid of doing something that might not be true, because we are being asked to. I struggle with the possibility that people are not participating out of authenticity. So, I feel a kind of rebellion stir up in me about corporate responses, traditions, even some holidays.

This has also been true for me in the past about Lenten fasting. I don't want to do it simply because everyone else is. I don't want to fast from something convenient, like sweets.  Because, quite honestly, I need to loose some weight and sweets are a big barrier and combining this with Lenten fasting would kill two birds with one stone. I'm just afraid that action may end up being selfish and hollow and not honor God. Please, please, please don't take offense if you are fasting from sweets! What I'm trying to get at here is motive and heart.

Today's passage in Matthew 6 is a part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus took many of the traditional religious practices of his day (and ours) and turned them upside-down. Where people were following laws that they thought were making them holy, Jesus now points them to examine their motive and heart. Throughout the Gospels Jesus comes up against the Pharisees, the religious leaders and teachers of the day. They regulated keeping the over 600 laws that the Jewish people had established as the guidelines for holy living. The problem, Jesus would point out time and time again, is that often following laws or rules can lead to hypocrisy - actions without meaning. Jesus addressed this issue with the Pharisees in Matthew 23, often called the Seven Woes. Matthew 23:23 for example,
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. 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. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."
There's a Pharisee hiding in each one of us. We too, face the danger of having good practices, such as tithing, fasting, Bible study and prayer, becoming meaningless practices that have lost their purpose in shaping us for holiness. We need to continually examine our heart and motive and place ourselves before God for His examination of our heart and our actions (Psalm 139:23-24), so that we do not become cups that are clean and shiny on the outside, yet full of dirt on the inside. See Matthew 23:25-26.

I have to say that this is not where I intended to go when I first thought of writing this post. But it's where I've landed as I've read the above verses and have thought about fasting. I spent time in prayer prior to the start of the Lent season seeking God on what to fast from. My desire was to practice both of the disciplines known as the disciplines of abstinence and engagement - both removing something and adding something. And they had to be something that would position myself for further work of the Spirit in areas where God is calling me to have a change of heart. The reality is that I cannot change my heart, only God can do that. But I can position myself through spiritual disciplines and decisive actions, so that I open myself in obedience to God changing my heart and shaping me into Christ-likeness.


Join us for Lent Words 2018: A Creative Challenge Through the Season of Lent. Private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LentWords/


Saturday, February 17, 2018

Lent Words Day 4: Repentance


"Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
    rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
    and relents from punishing."
Joel 2:12-13 (NRSV)

Joel 2:12-13 paints one of the best pictures of repentance in the Bible. To repent is to turn away from sin and to turn back to God - to return to Him. As we saw in Thursday's post, turn/repent in Hebrew is the word Shuwb, pronounced shuv.

"Repentance is not so much an emotion as it is an attitude toward God. It is a reorientation of life from self to Him. It denotes a willingness to change and be changed." Bob Utley, Bible.org

Walk with me through today's passage: God, speaking through the prophet Joel, says to His people, "Yet even now". The first thing we learn about God in this passage is that no matter how many times we fall back into sin, God's grace and love continually calls us back to Him. 

"Return to me with all you heart". Return is a command in this verse. We are called by God to action. The very notion of repentance in the Bible means a change of action. We turn from what we are doing (sin) and change to a new action  - God's way. Repentance requires both actions; turning away from sin and turning back to God. Note that He adds "with all you heart".  God wants our whole heart and devotion. (Deuteronomy 6:5). Mere actions will not please Him, The condition of our heart is what He desires. "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Psalm 51:17 (NRSV)

And how are we to return to Him with our whole heart? "With fasting, with weeping, with mourning."  At it's root, sin is rebellion against God. For true repentance to take place there must be deep sorrow over our act of rebellion. Sin grieves the heart of God. In Ezekiel 6:9 God says, "I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me..." Repentance begins with sorrow and mourning.

"Rend your hearts and not your clothing." To rend something means to tear it or rip it apart. Tearing a garment at the neck was an Old Testament mourning ritual. The problem with external rituals is that over time they can lose their significance, become rote, and do little to render heart-change. God is not looking for us to simply go through motions. He wants heart-change. When our hearts change by the power of the Holy Spirit, then our actions will change as a natural result.

Again, in this passage, God calls us to return to Him, this time making a more personal appeal: "Return to the Lord, your God." His appeal to us is based on our relationship with Him, as a Father appeals to His children. In our rebellion, His love calls us back to Him. God then reminds us that it is because of who He is that we can return to Him. He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, He relents from punishing. This list of God's characteristics is taken from Exodus 34:6-7 and are God's own words in response to Moses asking God to show who He is. The words from this passage in Exodus are then repeated time and time again throughout the Bible as a reminder to God's people of who He is. 

God's character encourages and draws us to repent and return. We bear a responsibility to repent for our sin and change our action, but it is not our behavior that draws the grace and favor of God. In repentance we receive the grace and favor of God because of who He is. Grace and compassion, forgiveness and love are God's nature. 

Lent is a season of repentance, heart-change, and returning to the Lord. We mourn over our sin, fasting from the things that turn us away from God in order to return to Him wholeheartedly.


Today's page with yesterday's.

Join us for Lent Words 2018: A Creative Challenge Through the Season of Lent. Private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LentWords/







Thursday, February 15, 2018

Lent Words Day 2:Turn


"Direct me in the path of your commands,
    for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes
    and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
    preserve my life according to your word."
Psalm 119:35-37

I originally wasn't planning on doing a post today, but today's word and this verse struck me. In Hebrew the word turn is also the word used for repent.(Shuwb, pronounced shuv). Although it is not the same word used for turn in the above passage, it carries the same meaning. To repent is to turn away from sin and to turn your heart to God. It's a fitting word for this day after Ash Wednesday when we are reminded of our sinfulness. This awareness is meant to help us turn back to God - toward His statutes, His laws, His ways. Take some time to turn your heart toward God today.



If today is the first day you are reading about Lent Words 2018: A Creative Challenge Through the Season of Lent,  then I invite you to join us. There is a private Facebook group where you can join the conversation:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/LentWords/

Another group I am co-leading this year is called Everyday Journals ~ Living Your Word of the Year.
Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.


Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:
Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/
Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/