Author Archives: Karla Jo Wasion

I love Jesus and His Church. His Word is Truth, His heart is good, and His return is sure.

Heroes: Cain & Abel—What are you pointing at?

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did.

I’ve read commentaries. Looked up the original words in Hebrew. Tried every way I know to peek underneath this verse, but the fact is, God never tells us why He preferred Abel’s offering over Cain’s. But we can still go deeper and find the treasures hiding here.

Cain’s response to God’s rejection of his offering is anger. Not repentance. Not humility. Anger and pride. And God took it as a teaching moment and said to him ‘If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Cain did not take it as a learning moment, and instead, killed his brother.

I think, and it’s just opinion talking here, that Cain’s offering was like a man going through the motions with God. It was made more out of obligation than faith. And when he saw Abel, and not himself, receiving the approval of God, he showed his true heart.

It’s almost like Cain’s offering is pointing directly at a spirit of religion. And a spirit of religion is always a mask worn by pride. Note that Cain did, in fact, bring an offering to God, giving the appearance of obedience and reverence. But then God unmasks Cain’s pride by refusing his offering. Once unmasked, we see Cain’s anger and petulance toward God, even when God questions him about the disappearance of his brother.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

Unmasked, Cain’s true attitude is on display. And then, we see even deeper, when God tells him the consequences for killing his brother.

“But Cain answered the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great to bear! Since You are banishing me today from the soil, and I must hide myself from Your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.’”

Again, no repentance. No sorrow for his sin. Only prideful concern for self. And while we can see this on the backside of this story, we know that God knew it before it ever happened. 

In contrast, Abel’s offering was given by faith. And his offering was “some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions”.  The fat is defined as the best, or most excellent of any kind. 

So Abel’s offering, by faith, was a blood offering, made from the sacrifice of the first-born, the best, or most excellent of any kind. And, ultimately, Abel was persecuted for his faith, was he not?

So, if Cain’s offering points to a spirit of religion, is it possible that Abel’s offering points to the Gospel of Christ, and His Church?

jesus-cross

For some reason, this makes me weep, this treasure buried back in the beginning. Not just a collection of stories that we blow the dust off every now and then, but markers pointing to the cross and to the Firstborn, the perfect lamb, who offered the Father His life as our ransom. So that we could become His Church.

And I am compelled to ask God, what about me? What do I take from this for my own life?

Slow down and take a deeper look at what you do ‘for Me’. Do your offerings point to the Gospel of Christ and His Church, or do they point to a religious spirit? Simply put, are your offerings to Me coming from faith, or from pride?

This question goes far beyond tithes and offerings. It seeps into our ministries, into our volunteering, into how we operate in our giftings, our prayer lives, our giving, and even in our presence on social media. The question goes deep into everything we do, including our relationships with others and with God. Because our whole lives are to be the offering.

Are we bringing offerings that please God? Or do we just assume He accepts whatever it is we do in the name of Jesus?

There’s a good chance someone may discover the answers on the backside of my story. But what makes me stop and need to put my face on the floor is this…

God already knows.

church huddle

huddle-upCan we just huddle up for a moment, Church? You, me and Jesus…can we make a plan, get our story straight? Because it’s about to become very armageddon-ish out there, and I think we just need to set the ground rules, do some pinky swearin’, re-up on who we are, you know? Because it’s goin’ down tomorrow, and we can be sure of one thing — emotions will be running high on both ends of the feeling stick. So we’ve got one day to make a decision.

As the royal priesthood of God, those who have been entrusted with the gospel, with the very message of Christ, those who are called to walk in love, in mercy, in kindness, and in compassion. As children of the unmoving, unchanging, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present King of kings — how will we respond?

If we don’t know how we’re going to handle it if one candidate wins instead of the other, then I’m thinking we need to introduce our faces to the carpet and let them meet together until we reach a decision. We have the mandate to walk in the Spirit but you and I both know the temptation to walk in flesh will be oh so strong. We are human, and we’re about to have some very human emotions, so we need to figure out what we’re going to do.

We need to decide today who we’re going to be tomorrow.

So, since I’m the one with the talking stick at the moment, here I go.

mean-kidsNo name calling. No accusations of self-righteousness, idiocy, traitor and the like. I know, it shouldn’t even need to be said, but it does. Because I’ve been on the playground too and I’ve heard it. From us. Let’s just go ahead and decide now not to be the mean kids.

No fear mongering. No throwing our hands up and saying all is lost. We are not chicken littles and the sky is not falling. We are the Church, and God is in charge of the sky staying where it is. Or not.

No gloating. If the person you voted for wins, you will not act like you parted the sea and saved our country. You did not. At best, you obeyed God in the voting booth. Any and all glory for anything whatsoever always belongs to God. Amen?

No political party blaming. That’s right. We don’t do that because that is beneath who we are. We will not attempt to accuse or blame people who have a different political persuasion than us that they have just ended the world as we know it. We will not throw dramatic hissy fits. Or hissy fits in general. It’s unattractive.

We will not engage in senseless arguments that end up pushing others away as we try to make ourselves feel better, validated, vindicated or better than, letting our flesh have a dance party all over the place. Seriously. No one wants to see that.

We will, as God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Because this is what we do, this is how we live. This is who we are.

We will be at peace because we were called to peace.

We will dwell on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable. 

We will maintain our stance, not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. 

That’s right. Whoever wins the battle for the White House, we are still at war. But we do not fight on the enemy’s terms. While he would have us drawing blood from one another, leaving him unscathed and uninterrupted, we are the Church and we. don’t. play. like. that.

We will take our fight to the battlefield on which we are most equipped for victory. As those who are called by His name, we will humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. Because we know, don’t we Church? We know His promise.

…then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

We will take up our cross and deny ourselves. We will love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind, and we will love others as ourselves. We will not return evil for evil, but will overcome evil with good. We will speak the truth in love, not shout it in anger. We will do this in our own lives, in our homes, in our cities, and in our country. Because that is how the Church does war. That is how we refuse the enemy’s attempts to drag us through the mud during an election.

Whatever happens, Church, we don’t break rank. We do not behave as people we are not. No matter what, we will conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Yes? Let me hear you, Church.

Good huddle everyone. You are awesome and I know that, by the power and grace of God, we can do this!

 

eph-3-20

Chloe

Dear Chloe,

Someday, you will read about these events, but can I just give you my account of what took place? You will read about it in far more historical detail, I’m sure, but these are my observations, for the record.

So it came to pass that it was time for a new president. To be honest, it felt like our nation was coming apart at the seams. Depending on which side you took, we were either spiraling into the depths of complete moral decay, or we were on the brink of change that would make us better than ever. But there is no denying that we were not a united nation, by any stretch of the imagination. And since this is my accounting, I will just say that it felt like we were a country on the verge of imploding, and I knew better than to hope that a new president would change that regardless of who they were or what party they represented.  Chloe, never put your hope in a president, a political party, or any other world system. Your hope will only be unshakable when it rests firmly on God, who is never, ever shaken.

campaign-2016Anyway, it was time for a changing of the guard, and the race was on. First, who would run? The blue party held no surprise, nor was it even a contest. But the red party, oh my. Out of the pack of twelve shiny choices, emerged the “least likely to ever be nominated for President”. And that’s when everything started shaking, Chloe. That’s when this race for the White House went from an event in history to a historical event.

Democrats were horrified then humored, confident that this thing was now in the bag. Republicans seemed to be somewhat dumbfounded in a ‘what just happened?‘ kind of way, but finally said ‘we meant to do that‘ to the watching world, and the dogfight race was on.

Oh, Chloe, this was a grievous, vicious time, the likes of which I personally had not witnessed in my lifetime. From both sides, the character assassinations were in big, bold headlining script, while digging-at-nightthe issues were sent to the small print area. And the country took their cues and jumped in, holding their own excavations, and the deeper they dug, the more sins they found. But that isn’t the saddest part. The world’s actions are not what grieved me so deeply.

It’s the Church, Chloe. It’s how we responded that broke my heart. It’s the picture of the people of God giving way to headlines, to all of the ‘what if’s’. Giving way to fear. Frantically turning to human reasoning, to our own wisdom. It’s the sound of brothers and sisters name calling and belittling one another. Pointing fingers. Using words like “what kind of Christian…” which is a polite way of calling into question someone’s sincere faith in Jesus. Judgment and anger and fear were all over the face of the Bride, Chloe, and that frightened me far more than either candidate did.

And I just kept thinking, what if this election isn’t really about either of the candidates? What if God is doing something that seems inconceivable to us? What if God has not entrusted the nations to humanity, but has retained His sovereignty, His right to outvote us? What if we, His Church, asked Him who to vote for, and then simply obeyed, regardless of what we thought about His choice?

What if His ways really are higher than ours? What if His thoughts aren’t our thoughts at all?

And this…both sobering and comforting…what if God isn’t using these times and these events to change a nation, but to change the Church so that the nation can change? What if we are what this election is all about?

What if judgment really does start in the house of God?

Here’s what I want to leave you with, Chloe. Hope. Hope and even joy. Because we are the Church. His chosen vessel to light up the world. His beloved to whom He is forever committed. His faithfulness is for us. We are His people and we have been lavished with His love and His grace, set apart for Him, to be holy and blameless in His sight. We are cared for, provided for and fought for by our mighty God and loving Father. We are His hands and feet, His ambassadors to a dying world. We know Him and are known by Him. We are the joy set before Him as He gave His life on the cross. We are His body, and we have been given everything we need for life and godliness (regardless of who is president). We have every reason to hope, to rejoice, to trust, because we belong to and serve the Creator and Ruler of every nation, including this one. We, you, have nothing to fear.

Chloe, you will live with the future fallout of this election, no matter which way it goes. But know this, God never let go. He never turned away and left us to our own devices, our own ability to choose a leader. He is far too faithful for that. The person who became the 45th president was by God’s choosing. If I don’t believe that, then I cannot believe that He is, as He claims, the sovereign ruler of the nations. But the most important lesson I hope you take from this time in history is this…

The throne of God is in Heaven, not the White House. And He will never give it up. 

…and he said, “O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.

~ 2Chronicles 20:6

*Chloe is my imaginary friend from the future. It happens.

this is me now

“I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” – Psalm 119:11

Hidden it. Treasured it. Stored it up in deep places.

Years ago God whispered this into my soul…

Theology will not keep you from sinning.

My theology on submission in marriage was good, but I was not submitting.

My theology on loving my neighbor was good, but I was not loving.

My theology on the faithfulness of God was good, but I was not trusting.

Believing the right things about God is not the same as believing God, and there is a difference between knowing what the Bible says, and having His Word hidden in your heart.

Night and day. Darkness and light. Freedom and bondage. That’s the difference.

So I learned to hide Truth in deep places where lies had been living, and submission became something to protect me instead of something meant to break me and everyone is my neighbor and God is more than worthy of my trust.

That was then, but this is me now and a fight has been brewing and no, I’m not ready to rumble.

But God is whispering to my soul again.

Theology is not your sword.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,  and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…~ Ephesians 6:14-17

take-up-the-swordWhen the devil picks a fight, it’s best to be holding something besides what I know about God. A sharp theology will not take him down.

So this is me now. This is where I am. God is good, but what is that to me? God heals, but what is that to me? God loves, but what is that to me? Is it my theology, or is it my sword? I am convinced that we do not live out of what we know, but what we truly believe, and if that is true, then I need to determine if I know God is good, or if I trust Him to be good. I’ve been turning Words over and over and asking my heart the hard questions, while God has been near, waiting and whispering.

And this is me now. Like a dog with a bone, I am hiding truth. Storing things deep. Choosing to believe. Choosing to trust. Finding my sword.

“He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.'” Mark 5:34

“And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.'” Matthew 8:17

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.“ Isaiah 41:10

warrior

The whisper of God is louder than the shouts of fear in my soul. I am done beating the air. I am done wondering. This is me now.

“Jesus said to her, ‘Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?'” ~ John 11:40

what’s on the inside

“He is not impressed by the strength of a horse;
He does not value the power of a man.
The Lord values those who fear Him,
those who put their hope in His faithful love.– Psalm 147:10-11

strength-1Our outer world is not what is most delightful to God. Our displays of strength and fortitude do not move Him. Our positions of leadership, how hard we worked to get where we are, how much our shoulders can carry, how many times we get knocked down and get right back up. None of that impresses God.

stand-in-aweIt is our inner world that catches His eye. A heart that obeys Him out of reverence, that goes to its knees in awe and worship of His greatness and His power. A heart that trusts God’s love, no matter how big the storm, how desperate the times, how bleak the outlook. When our hope is firmly anchored in His mercy and loving-kindness, in a love that is faithful to His promises, our inner world will stand strong through anything that comes.

And that is where the delight of God is found.

this uterus and the hard parts of the story

On Friday, September 30th I had some tests done, including a biopsy. On October 5th I was told I had complex endometrial hypoplasia, which is a thickening of the uterine wall. The complex part means it is abnormal and “suspicious” of cancer, even though the biopsy did not show any cancer cells. So, on October 25th I will meet with an oncologist, who is likely to highly recommend a hysterectomy. So be it. Goodbye, uterus.

So I’ve been processing all the thoughts and all the feels. At first, fear hit and made it hard to breathe. I thought of the people I know who have succumbed to cancer in the last year, including my older sister. But since then, I’ve talked to a couple of other women, including my younger sister, who had this complex endometrial hypoplasia and are fine. No cancer. So my fear has subsided considerably. But through all of the processing, talking and crying to God, I’ve learned a few new things…

okay

I can be afraid and still trust God. At first, I felt ashamed of being scared of this thing. My faith should be stronger than this, what will people think if they see fear in me, what kind of witness would that be, I need to be an example. But trying not to be afraid didn’t make me less afraid, it just kept my mind focused on the fear instead of on God. So I went to my favorite place in scripture, the Psalms, and discovered that often, David was afraid while he trusted God.

“Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking; my whole being is shaken with terror…Turn, Lord! Rescue me; save me because of Your faithful love.” – Psalm 6:2-4

“How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day?…But I have trusted in Your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in Your deliverance.” Psalm 13:2,5

God, not fear, was always David’s final answer to his circumstances. Being afraid doesn’t mean fear gets to occupy the biggest place in my heart. It means that when I am afraid, I turn to the One I trust the most and I remember Him. I remember that Jesus holds my days, every single one.

When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. – Psalm 56:3   

created-for-his-glory

“Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—  everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.”     Isaiah 43:6-7

This has to be my bottom line, otherwise, my bottom line will be me, and that never turns out well. But if I allow this to be more about God than it is about me, my perspective shifts and I stop projecting this thing out to the worst possible outcome. Instead, I whisper to God, and pray that my whole heart believes it…“whatever this is, whatever comes, my life is Yours and You get to decide how You will be glorified through it.”  The greatest desire of my heart right now is that whatever comes, God will be seen for who He is in the midst of it.

{Honesty check:} Actually, that’s not quite true. My greatest desire is that my uterus would stop being suspicious, and all of this would magically go away. Barring that, then by all means…let God be seen and may great be His glory.

change

Whether this turns out to be a simple deal or the worst case scenario, one thing is absolutely certain.

It will change me, but it will not change God.

God will remain exactly who He was before October 5th. Before my uterus became such a big deal. He remains trustworthy and good. He will do what is right, what is good, what pleases Him. His love for me has not wavered, His plans for me have not been derailed. Fear will try to tell me otherwise, but I have determined in advance where I will stand. My legs may shake, but I will stand on the unchanging goodness of God.

“ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.“   James 1:17

The problem with God speaking truth to us is that He doesn’t speak it to just make us feel good.

Truth must be lived out if it’s going to change us. 

This life is my journey to walk out, but it is not my story to write. If it were, I would write out all the hard parts, the painful parts, the parts that scare me. But those are the very parts that bring me to the place of surrender, that force me to choose faith again and again, that bring me back to the reality that I am not in control, but I belong to the One who is. As difficult as it is to walk in those places, I have become convinced that He casts His shadow deep and wide over the hardest parts of our story.

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. (Ps. 36:7)

on the other side of parenting and the rhythm of peace

maegan youngCodi littleI love my children. Love being their mom. I just wish I had listened when my own mother kept telling me how quickly the time would fly. I wish I had understood that here, on the other side of mothering, I would want every memory I could get.

It seems our days were made up of hurry up, get up, sit up, stop that, come here, go to your room, don’t jump on that, stop pulling on that, it’s not a toy (boys!). Put that down, put that away, clean that up, you can’t wear that. Or that. Don’t roll your eyes at me, why are you bleeding, stop shooting that thing in the house. You drank what?? Wake up, get up, hurry up or we’ll be late.

Those days seemed endless but they weren’t and one day I found myself on the other side of parenting trying not to wish I could go back. Trying not to wonder how much I missed while I was rushing to get on with the next thing. Wondering why I was ever in a hurry.

I wish I had known that the place I was in such a hurry to get to would make me miss the place I had been.

I’m no longer wishing for the next place. I now know that time goes much faster than we ever thought and that it’s the little things that bring the most joy, that what we end up regretting the most is how much we hurried through it all and how much we missed.

lucy-fridgeThese babies will grow up soon enough. For now, it’s good to sit on the floor and play, rock for as long as they need it, let them get dirty and make a mess and then watch them sleep while I whisper thank You, God. And when they leave my house to go back home, I can look around at the mess and smile, because I have the memory of how it got messy. The bottles of water all over my kitchen floor are from an intense exploration of the inside of my refrigerator. The basket of toys dumped all over the living room floor is because real fun requires silly things like a little container of tic-tacs, a belt, a rag, a tube of diaper cream and a toy telephone. The papers lying everywhere are there because it’s delightful to stand up at the coffee table and sweep everything to the floor.

I’m in no hurry to clean it all up. I savor the mess because I savor the memory of how it got there. It is the rhythm of peace that would have made life easier on the front side of parenting. That peace would have helped me savor more and worry less about what needed to get done.

Before the grandbabies came, the other side of parenting was so bittersweet. I had a hard time closing that chapter of my life. But now, God has given me a new chapter and I want to hang on every word written in it. I am no longer longing for the past because what is here now is so very sweet. (I also realize that raising littles full-time is hard, hard work and I really just don’t want to work that hard again.) I pray for the young moms in my life because I know it’s taking everything you’ve got and then some to do it well. So I pray for strength, for grace, and for unhurried moments to enjoy the wonder of it all.

Being older has, thankfully, slowed me down. Not just physically (I would be no challenge to anything chasing me), but in every way, including my walk with Jesus.

I am finding that a frantic, get it all done pace of life was mostly my offering to Him, not His to me.

In those early days, I wanted to get to the next place with Him. I wanted Him to hurry and fix what was broken, heal what was hurt, so that we could move on to the next thing, the next part of the plan for my life. But Jesus has never been in a rush. His is a rhythm of peace. He knows that the time will go by quick enough, and there is so much to miss by hurrying it along. 

Wisdom is priceless, but often hard-earned.  And wisdom is telling me to slow down, savor the journey, sit at His feet more. Hang on His every word. Enjoy His rhythm of peace and the moments that come and then are gone.

Be in no hurry.

Ellie.Lucy.bathtime