The Strength of a Nation

In this Independence Day UPGRADE, Dawn Wilson encourages us to focus on our homes, the heart of our nation.                

President Abraham Lincoln said it well, "The strength of a nation lies in the homes of its people."

My heart is heavy for the homes of America.

We have forgotten God, the One who built this nation.

Psalm 127:1 says, "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain."

Without the Lord, our "building" is fruitless.

We need the strength that comes from building on the solid Rock. As the old hymn says, "On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand."

Look around at the confusion and chaos in our nation. Selfish agendas and godlessness reign.

We desperately need the wisdom and peace that comes from intimately knowing the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 3:15).

Won't you take a minute in your INDEPENDENCE DAY celebration—today or tomorrow—to CRY OUT TO GOD on behalf of our homes, our churches and our nation?

Let this Independence Day be an awakening to the presence of God, and fresh DEPENDENCE on Him.

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for Revive Our Heartsand a writer at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in Southern California and have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Entab at Morguefile.

Things Unseen

Rhonda Rhea is a humorist. That means she writes to hit your funny bone while she touches your heart. But she also writes to convince people to consider the truth in God's Word—and she does so in the sweetest way. In this UPLIFT post, she encourages us to see life from God’s perspective.

“We’ve been talking about getting an invisible fence for the dog,” Rhonda said. “Then I got to thinking, wouldn’t it be cheaper to just get an invisible dog?”

I (Dawn) was wondering, “OK, Rhonda, where are you going with this one?” But as always, this girl has a point behind her punchline.

Rhonda continues . . .

Think about it. With an invisible dog—immediate reduction in food costs. And the yard clean-up? No comparison.

If your invisible dog decides to use your sofa as a giant face towel, you’re not any worse off. Not to mention, taking your invisible dog to the imaginary vet could save a boatload of bucks.

On the other hand,

• Invisible dogs are not very effective when you try to blame them for your missing homework.
• If they bark at intruders, I doubt you’ll ever hear it.
• And how about having a little beast so excited to see you that it can’t stop wiggling? I think we’d miss seeing that. 

Faith is not exactly something you can see either.

But even still, it solidifies in our minds and hearts everything that is most real.

“Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For our ancestors won God’s approval by it. By faith we understand that the universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible” (Hebrews 11:1-3, HCSB).

Everything we can see with our eyes has been created by the God we’ve not seen. The evidence brings faith. And the faith is more evidence.

Do you know what happens as we allow the Lord to grow our faith and use it in serving Him?

He gives us eyes to see people in a way we’ve never seen them before and to love them in a way we can’t in our own flesh.

God gives us glimpses of what He sees.

Paul expressed great gratitude to God for the people in Thessalonica. Why? “Because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing” (2 Thessalonians 1:3, ESV).

Singer, songwriter and—my favorite role of his—son, Andy Rhea, wrote a song about putting feet to our faith in the song “Drop Your Nets.”

In it, he writes,

            Lay me down, I will stay right where you want me to;

            Pick me up, and I will go. Oh, Lord, you know I’ll go.

            Break me to the ground so I’ll be face to face with all the ones that I’ve

            Stepped on, passed by—

            Missed their mute cries.

            Come on, people, we have eyes to dry.

Sometimes our call to faith beckons us to hear some cries and dry some eyes. It calls us to drop what might be most comfortable and to sacrifice.

The song continues:

            This is the call for disciples’ nets to fall down.

            This is the broken up soil; it’s time to seed it.

            This is the call for disciples’ nets to fall down.

            This is a vein full of love; it’s time to bleed it.

A “dogged” faith, if you will, is one that shows up in how we see people. And how we love them.

A key line in Andy’s song is, “Let’s lay down our nets and scream, ‘We were made to see things unseen.’”

Invisible. Yet seen.

As far as our invisible dog goes though, I’m still looking. But they’re just so hard to find.         

How long has it been since you’ve seen the “unseen” around you—people who desperately need God’s love? What can you do to get His perspective?

Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist, radio personality, speaker and author of 10books, including How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Person?, Espresso Your Faith - 30 Shots of God's Word to Wake You Up, and a book designed to encourage Pastor's Wives (P-Dubs): Join the Insanity. She is co-author of Turtles in the Road with her daughter, Kaley. Rhonda, a sunny pastor's wife, lives near St. Louis and is "Mom" to five grown children. Find out more at www.RhondaRhea.com.

Invisible Dog Leash at The Costumer.

Get in Line, People!

Gail Goolsby is intelligent and wise, and I'm always surprised by her fresh take on culture. In this Spiritual Life UPGRADE, she helps us see the wisdom of waiting in line, but she also applies it to a great biblical truth.

“Around the world, I observed first hand that most cultures do not line up,” Gail said. “I found myself frustrated at the crowds pushing and cramming to the front when I knew there was a better way to wait.”

I (Dawn) have been to other countries and I understand what Gail is talking about. I've thought, "How rude!" so many times.

But I never stopped to think about why people are hesitant to stand in lines.

Gail continues . . .

In my education career and particularly as a kindergarten teacher, I spent many hours explaining and training children to line up and wait for a turn.

While wiggling young bodies struggled to stand still or move in accordance to the pace of the leader, eventually even five-year olds submitted to the queue.

Lines WORK!

1. Do Lines Enhance Culture?

The success of line practice has been studied with some conclusions:

• Lines represent trust in the equal treatment of individuals in their home cultures.

Edward T. Hall wrote in his 1959 book The Silent Language, “To us it is regarded as a democratic virtue for people to be served without reference to the rank they hold…”

• Lines represent willingness to practice civility.

In 1837 France, 1944 Britain and 1970s America, citizens entered into long lines for rationed goods such as bread, meat and fuel, not knowing what they might receive for their patience.

• Lines represent the belief that first-come, first-served ideology works for all.

Industrialization and factory work schedules created crowds of people trying to acquire goods and complete personal errands at virtually the same time. Shops and businesses began the promise of fair service given in order of arrival.

When immigrants join Western societies, many countries teach the concept of lines to their new citizens.

“Lining up is seen as a universal sort of truth,” said J.J. McCullough, the Vancouver-based author of J.J.’s Complete Guide to Canada. “And if someone doesn’t adhere to them then it must be because they’re uncouth or uncivilized, rather than this is a sort of idiosyncratic tradition that we’ve internalized.”

2. Why Do Cultures Refuse to Line Up?

When I moved to Afghanistan in 2005, I was more impacted by the daily chaos than the frequent terrorist violence. As disorderly mobs pressed through passport control in Kabul airport and shoppers shoved in the marketplace, I longed for the peace of a line.

Traffic lines were completely optional, even with concrete barriers to separate lanes of cars.

In overpopulated, war-ravaged, under-resourced places like India, China, Afghanistan, and Africa, people experience starvation and death regularly. To feed their family, to arrive at work, to secure medical treatment, or to receive any type of assistance in such circumstances, citizens must aggressively push to the forefront or lose out. Any hesitation means going home empty-handed.

When necessities of life are low and lives are literally at stake, people are reluctant to trust that patient waiting will result in needed supplies or opportunities.

Desperation and lack of hope in equality of their culture prompt people to trust solely in their own effort to succeed.

3. Lines Represent a Straight Path

As Christians, we believe in the equality offered by the cross.

All who submit to the provision of Christ’s death and atonement can be united with their Creator God, secure forgiveness and life eternal. We then embark on the straight path, a line leading us to freedom from sin and becoming more like Jesus.

Those who set out on their own path—who dismiss the line of Believers—end up wandering in chaos.

They trust in their own merit and good works, not the line to the Cross.

Isaiah 59:8 (NIV) says this:

The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along will know peace.

When we realize our need for rescue, for guidance and redemption from our crazy, no-purpose life, we are on our way to the right path. We are lining up with Truth.  

Luke 1:79 (AMP) says Christ came to make a way for us: To shine upon and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct and guide our feet in a straight line into the way of peace.

Even after surrendering to Christ’s love and sacrifice, we may fall off the straight path and leave the line of life.

Thankfully, we have the written Word to correct our crookedness.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NET) tells us: Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

The word correction in this verse is not found anywhere else in the Bible. It means to restore, to set right, to repair something bent, to make it straight.

In other words, studying scripture teaches us to line up our lives as God intends.

In lining up this way, we have:

• peace with God,
• peace with our neighbor, and
• peace with ourselves.

Let’s all get in line and live well.

What is stopping you from joining the queue to God’s grace?

Gail Goolsby, MA, MEd, ACC is a lifelong educator, including past leadership at an international school in Afghanistan, and credentialed life coach with the International Coach Federation. Gail and her pastor husband of 40 years live where the wind blows over the prairie in south Kansas. Gail counsels and coaches using God’s Word to help others learn to live well.

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Wendy B. Koon at Pixabay.

How to Help Your Husband Be Holy

Julie Sanders has a knack for getting to the heart of matters. In this Marriage UPGRADE, she suggests a powerful way to strengthen marriages.

"My wants don’t always match up to God’s wants for me, but when it comes to having a holy husband, we’re on the same page," Julie says.

"We look for a mate to live 'happily ever after,' but 'happy' pales in comparison to 'holy.'"

I (Dawn) agree with Julie; and I also believe a holy husband is an integral element in a God-honoring  marriage.

Julie continues . . .

When a couple is pronounced married, some of us hear, “I now pronounce you husband and Holy Spirit.” 

With good intentions, we may enter matrimony with a plan for our mate’s makeover.

Before we say “I do,” God’s plan is underway for us both to grow more godly, producing a life more loving than we achieve on our own.

God doesn’t call a wife to change her husband.

God’s Spirit is the one who renews a life (Titus 3:5) and causes a person to become joyful, peaceful and hopeful (Romans 15:13).

Before there’s a ring on our finger or a name on a certificate, God has a plan to use our human relationships to work out His divine plan in us personally. 

1. Your MARRIAGE: a structure for holiness

Marriage results from, “what God has joined together,” (Matthew 19:6). With divine action, “they are no longer two, but one flesh,” (Mark 10:8).  

Fusing two into one isn’t easy! It creates tension and pressure as individuals learn to know each other.

To yield, share and help requires us to function in a regular structure with daily choices.

Will we respond God’s way or our natural way?

Marriage is hard, but it helps when we’re growing more holy.

2. Your HOME: a setting for holiness

A holy home helps holiness to take hold in a husband’s heart.

A house may look charming and up to date with shabby chic, whitewashed furniture or retro pieces with colors that pop. Photos with hand-lettered words like “Faith” and “Family” might adorn clean walls, and string lights may warm up the porch. 

But without hearts growing in holy ways, it’s just a well-decorated building with disappointed people inside.

Don’t get me wrong. I have string lights. A few of my colors pop, and I’m saving up to trade our sagging couch for a linen one with good lines.

But my husband’s heart is more likely to grow in holy health if I carefully curate the content of our life instead of just the collections we love. 

Even a clean house is no substitute for a clean heart.

Ask: Am I reading what is lovely and watching what is hope-filled? Am I saying what is kind forgiving?

Our hearts become what we practice. Philippians 4:8 describes the “look” we want to go for in creating a home that says, “Holy.”

3. Your LIFE: a support for holiness

A wife may not be responsible for her husband’s holiness journey, but she can cooperate with God’s plan to get him there.

Some say as a couple spends years together, they begin to look alike.  In a similar way, godly character in one spouse supports godly growth in the other.  

By removing obstacles like bad attitudes, habitual temptations, or negative influences, a wife can clear the way for God’s program of holiness in her own heart and in her husband’s.

Knowing this, “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,” (Hebrews 10:24) by the way we do life beside our mate.

Career decisions, family relationships, time management, recreational choices, health needs, and raising children together all have a way of creating opportunities to encourage each other to have a holy approach by having one ourselves.

A life lived with holy habits is a life with a holy influence.

Marriage is a structure God uses to grow us, in homes where we can practice holiness in our lives, as we support His plans for each of us.

Instead of taking on a spouse improvement plan, clear the way in your own heart and engage the power of prayer for God to do the heart work in your husband only He can do.

What habits in my life ensure my heart is clean, not just my house? When my husband takes steps towards holiness, what response from me would encourage his growth?

Julie Sanders can’t believe she’s been married to Jeff nearly thirty years. Now they call the Northwest home, where on summer nights you can find them sitting under a few string lights, talking over God’s plans for them. Julie writes from her online home, “Come Have a Peace.”

Graphic adapted, courtesy of HarveyMade at Lightstock.

Righteous 'to the Core'

In this Spiritual Growth UPGRADE, Dawn Wilson reminds us to guard our "heart"—the center of our spiritual life.

"Maybe," Dawn says, "I was trying to be cute in Sunday school—I don't know—but the Lord sure  zeroed in on my 'clever' quip."

My Sunday school teacher, Dr. Dirk Van Proyen—who is also a deep and godly seminary professor—began class with an illustration before expounding on Matthew 15:1-9 and related scriptures about how Jesus dealt with some self-righteous Pharisees.

He held up two apples. They both looked solid and inviting on the outside. But then he described how some apples become rotten from the core out. The rottenness is only discovered after we bite into the apple!

He then explained how the Pharisees stalked Jesus and tried to trap Him with a question about His disciples supposedly not following the Pharisees' "traditions."

But Jesus didn't fall for their distortion of truth. He pointed out the Pharisees' hypocrisy.

They were "rotten," Dr. Van Proyen said, "to the core!"

My teacher made his summary statement about what we could learn from the day's lesson, and class was officially over. As usual, a well-taught class challenging us to seek God and live according to the truth of scripture.

But then I raised my hand. I just had to say it.

"In other words, we need to be RIGHTEOUS to the core," I said.

Ordinarily, such a display of "brilliance" would have earned me one of the professor's coveted whiteboard stars. The class was obviously impressed.

But since it was the end of class, my husband simply leaned over to me and said, "That would normally have gotten you a star."

I smugly thought, "Yeah, I WAS pretty clever with that one, wasn't I? Bet NO ONE ELSE thought of that."

Nearly strangled myself patting myself on the back.

Then I got home and the Lord hit me squarely in my pride.

"Daughter, you need to be sure that you really ARE 'righteous to the core.'"

And I knew exactly what God meant.

Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with being clever and wise. But it's wrong to gloat, to think we're "one up" on anyone else. We're to let others praise us, the Bible says, and not praise ourselves—we're only to boast of the Lord (Proverbs 27:2; Jeremiah 9:23-24).

I argued with the Lord a bit. After all, I did let someone else praise me—my husband!

Again, the Lord nudged my heart.

Check your humility, Dawn. Check your heart.

The funny thing is, Dr. Van Proyen spoke about the heart too. I heard it, but I missed it.

I got so caught up in the academics of the lesson, I missed the personal application.

So the Lord had me revisit the lesson. And I saw it clearly. Jesus had a lot to say about the heart.

1. We can be outwardly clean, but in our hearts we can still be rotten to the core.

That was the whole point of Jesus' conversation with those who tried to entrap Him.

The Pharisees delighted in strutting around, boasting about their knowledge. With high-sounding criticism, they laid the heavy burden of man-made rules on people instead of teaching them the simplicity and wisdom of the Word of God.

But Jesus saw their hearts.

We can fool others, but God will always see our core.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our delusion about our own spiritual health, we can even fool ourselves!

The heart really is deceitful, isn't it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

2. We can worship God all we want, but if our hearts are "far from Him," our worship is empty.

As I sat reflecting on Sunday afternoon, I wondered how many times I've attended a "worship service," but—even as a believer—my heart was more Pharisaical than Christlike.

We can go through the motions and do all the "right" things—and still not be righteous.

As I read these words, tears came: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me...."

Jesus, refering to Isaiah's prophecy, said the judgmental, burden-laying, hypocritical person's worship is "vain" or worthless (Matthew 15:7-9; Isaiah 29:13). It's empty. Fake. A farce.

Oh, dear Lord. Have mercy.

3. We can choose to remain "rotten to the core," or we can turn to Christ who can make us righteous to the core!

Paul wrote,

"God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).

The word "righteous" refers to a person who is morally right or virtuous. The unrighteous, Paul said, will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9a); but—wonderful truth—Christ has become every Christian's righteousness, sanctification (holiness), and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

In His encounter with Israel's elite, Jesus said our righteousness must "exceed" that of the Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). We can't, like the Pharisees, try to earn our way into the kingdom through our own self-righteousness. We must instead trust in the righteousness of Christ on our behalf (which is positional righteousness).

Our good works (or practical righteousness) must only come AFTER salvation, because all of our own righteousness (before Christ) is like smelly, filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

And, scripture teaches, any good works done with the wrong motivation stink too! (Proverbs 16:2; Romans 8:8; Philippians 1:17; Proverbs 21:27; 1 Thessalonians 2:4)

That's too easy to forget.

We forget we have NO righteousness apart from Christ.

Yes, this side of heaven we will always face the presence of sin; but without God's merciful, regenerating and transforming work in us daily, we cannot conquer sin or live out righteousness. We cannot bear good fruit (John 15:4-6). When we are born of God, our heart changes and we no longer desire to "go on sinning" (1 John 3:9), but there is still a war within and deliverance only comes from our victory in Christ and through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 7:14-25; 8:1-13).

That is why . . .

4. We must learn to learn to walk in the Spirit if we want to live out practical righteousness.

I was a Christian for many years before I understood what that meant. I thought walking in the Spirit was only related to occasional supernatural expressions of the Spirit, as in the days of the early Church. But walking in the Spirit is meant to be our daily practice!

To walk in the Spirit, we must daily—and throughout our day:

1. acknowledge our utter helplessness to do anything good apart from the Holy Spirit's control and enablement (Romans 7:18);
2. confess sin and ask God to work—to clean and renew our heart and empower us to live righteously (Psalm 51:10);
3. die to sin's influence and be alert to the Holy Spirit—trusting Him to equip and enable us to "keep in step" with Him (Romans 6:11, 14; Galatians 5:6, 25);
4. act righteously—or practice making right choices in accordance with who we are now in Christ (Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:10; Ephesians 2:10); 
5. and express gratitude to the Lord for any wisdom, strength, power and influence we have—and any right choices we make—because He alone is our righteousness, He alone is our victory, and He alone deserves all glory! (1 Corinthians 15:57)

I "got the message" that day, and I truly want to be righteous to the core. Don't you?

How is your heart today? How is your worship? Are you walking in the Spirit, abiding in Christ?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator of the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for Revive Our Hearts and a writer at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in Southern California and have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Marlene_Charlotte at Pixabay.