First Mother

I’m happy to welcome guest blogger today, Brenda Aman. As Lead Director of Operations, Brenda shares the second-highest leadership role at Neighborhood Church with Todd Skinner. She is one of the best leaders I have ever met, with a passion for health in the church. She is also a wise mentor, and just a lot of fun to be around. Brenda shared this devotional with our staff on Thursday, and with her permission, I am excited to share it with you.

First Mother

“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” Genesis 3:20 

There are people all over the world, past and present, who have wanted to be the first at something; first to reach a mountain top or the first man in space. There are many “firsts,” but one first I do not think I would want was to be the first mother. I’m glad Eve had that first for all women.

I had been thinking about Mother’s Day, and my thoughts kept turning to Eve and how things must have been like for her becoming a mother for the first time. Of course, Eve was the first to sin, but being the first mother must have made life interesting for Eve. Because of Eve’s sin, we know there is pain in childbirth, but she still was the very first to go through it and I wondered what it must have been like for her:

• She did not have Lamaze classes she could attend
• She did not have pregnancy books, a doctor or another woman around that could be a mid-wife
• And just think…no epidurals…poor Eve
• Eve did not have anyone with her when Cain was born telling her, “Eve, women have been doing this for thousands of years. It will be alright”
• No birthing coach
• No hospital staffed with nurses to bring her baby boy when he wanted to be fed or needed his diaper changed
• Other than Adam, no one to take care of her and he was the “first” husband, and new to fatherhood. I wonder how he handled being a new father?  That is for another discussion
• Eve did not have any books to read on raising kids
• No famous child psychologist to fill her mind with all sorts of theories on the best way to raise a child
• No Facebook friends with whom she could share with and discuss her children
• No play dates at the neighborhood park with other mothers and their children
• No online support groups
• She did not have Babies “R” Us to shop at for all the needed and must have baby supplies
• She did not have a babysitter so she could have a date night with Adam
• Eve did not have a mom she could call up and ask advice. Not even a mother-in-law, although some may think that would be a good thing

I’m sure in spite of all this; Eve enjoyed her children like all mothers do. I’m confident that Eve had wonderful moments and created beautiful memories with her children, as we all do, when they were babies, toddlers, and small children growing up.

Although Eve’s life seems far away and long ago, she was still a woman who went through all the things we do and experienced emotions, feelings, childbirth, motherhood, child raising, and the joys of being a grandparent. Eve was the first woman and mother to go through all those things associated with being a woman.

I do not think we need to worry about concentrating on any “firsts” ourselves, but we should concentrate on is WHO we keep first in our lives. When we keep Christ first, it is then we begin to handle our lives as they should be handled. It is then we can be the wife, mother, mentor, and women that the Lord would have us be.So today… We thank you. We honor you. We celebrate you.

Happy Mother’s Day!

They Always Blame the Christians

The corrupt leaders of ancient Rome wagged the finger of blame at Christians, making them convenient scapegoats for society’s ills, ranging from run-away taxation to crop-failure. Because Christians have a built-in mechanism to admit their imperfections, they didn’t defend themselves very well. This, in turn, made them food for lions.

I witnessed yesterday yet another popular Christian author piling-on the church as the “main cause of atheism.” His quote made the rounds on Facebook. If we Christians weren’t so dang un-Christian, the popular author implied, the atheists of the world would quickly bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not so fast.

Thinking Like a Renter

“Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. (Matthew 13:22, NKJV).

My wife and I own our house — at least the part of if the bank doesn’t own — and that is an incredible blessing.

It is also a burden.

It’s the Church, Stupid

In Bill Clinton’s first campaign for president, chief advisor George Stephanopoulos, famously wrote, IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID in a prominent place on a markerboard. By keeping the main thing the main thing, he kept the campaign on message and won the victory.

As a Christian, I look at a world in its accelerating swirl down the toilet. It’s enough to make you dig a fallout shelter in the back yard and join the Preppers. Economic collapse. Impending austerity measures. Domestic terrorism. Wars and rumors of wars. Sexual mores abandoned on an epic scale. Christianity under attack. The rise of false religion. Bold-faced corruption in the highest places in our land.

Hand me an antacid, please.

Sunday: Why the Resurrection?

Scripture is clear: if Christ was not raised from the dead, the Christian faith is worthless.

And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! (1 Corinthians 15:17, NKJV).

What does the resurrection of Christ accomplish that his cross didn’t?

Friday: What Does Christ’s Death Mean?

On Friday — the day we call Good Friday — Jesus Christ was nailed to an old, rugged Cross. I can only imagine. The cosmos paused in stunned silence to see the Son of God, bearing our sin, forsaken of God, torn by a whip and hounded by Satan. There he hung, the God-man, winning the ages-old battle for souls. There has never been a moment like that moment — and all the ages of eternity will echo with ceaseless wonder at what happened the day Jesus died.

I thought it would be good to apply our minds and hearts, on this day, to that central day of history when our Savior died for us all.

There has never been a message so amazing as the gospel. No religion offers anything like it. Its astonishing gift of grace sets the gospel of Jesus in a class by itself. Paul summarized the gospel in one sentence, so simple we easily overlook its riches:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4, NAS95.

Thursday: How is Christ’s Death Remembered?

God is into commemorating because we are into forgetting.

On Thursday of Holy Week, our Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper, also called communion and the eucharist (which means thanksgiving). Scripture describes the scene:

Wednesday: What is Christ’s Death Worth?

On Wednesday of Jesus’ last week, he again told his disciples he would be crucified: “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” (Matthew 26:2, NKJV). They didn’t get it, or if they got it, they didn’t like it.

Two equal & opposite events immediately happened, side by side:

1. A woman anointed Jesus for burial from an expensive alabaster flask. The disciples were offended: “But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, ‘Why this waste [loss]? “For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.’” (Matthew 26:8, 9, NKJV). Jesus correct them, saying she had done a “good work” for him.

2. Judas bargained with the chief priests to betray Jesus. They settled on the standard price of a slave, 30 pieces of silver. And said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:15, NKJV).

What is Christ’s death worth?

Sola Scriptura? Five “Texts” that Compete With Scripture

The Reformers cried, “Sola Scriptura!” Latin for Scripture Alone! By it, they planted the Bible at the top of the heap when it comes to ways Christians obtain truth. The Scripture texts get the final say. When Paul and Silas came to a pretty hill-town called Berea, here’s what happened:

Writing Tip: Me, Myself, and I

You don’t have to be a writer, or know the picky rules of grammar, to enjoy good writing. But if you want to create the good writing, a few bits of grammatical knowledge can do miracles. Grammar came alive for me — yes, it’s as weird for me to write that as it was for you to read that — during two punishing years of Latin at my Chicago public high school. Thank you, Ms. Shirley Robeson, Phi Beta Kappa. Since then, I myself, have dedicated myself to the endless delights of grammatical nuance — something that helps enormously as I tear into the Greek and Hebrew sentences in the Bible. [Dear Pastor Friend, it's worth reading John Piper's convicting challenge here.]