Holy sheep

Yep. I said it to get your attention. 

For my whole life, I have used the letters “HS” as an abbreviation for “Holy Spirit.” 

Like a lot of things in our English language, apparently those letters are now a texting term that means something VERY different! 

Last week, I was speaking at our chapel service at Possum Kingdom Lake. I have a lot to do in the next two months and I had given myself several days out there to be still, think, pray, write, and prepare to teach Bible studies. I am recording four Bible studies out of Psalm 23. 

I won’t title the study “Holy sheep,” but I could have! 

We often associate the twenty-third psalm with a difficult time in our lives, and it is often quoted at funeral services to give comfort. It is a good psalm for those times, but it is equally important that we use it as praise for God’s care in our lives today. David actually wrote it as a praise.  

The real key to the blessing of the twenty-third psalm is this: The Lord can’t be your shepherd until you admit you are a sheep. The point of the psalm is to teach you how to be a “holy sheep.” (Hence my blog title!) 

Before he was a king, he was a shepherd

David was the youngest son and unable to go to war against the Philistines. That’s probably why he was in the fields, watching over the sheep. Sheep were a valuable asset to a family for food, clothing, and income. Anyone who has raised a son knows a young boy gets easily bored and looks for something to do. 

David didn’t have a video game or an iPad so he challenged himself with his slingshot. David was smart. He knew if he got talented with the slingshot, he would never have to get too near to a wolf in order to chase him off. 

David was very brave when he laid down Saul’s armor and just took his slingshot out there to defeat Goliath. David knew he was good at hitting what he aimed at. That said, he also knew that without God’s help to guide his aim, he would probably die. Faith + talent = success. 

David had learned a lot from caring for his sheep. He knew his sheep needed a shepherd to find a green field, still waters, and the rest they needed to stay safe and healthy. David also knew that a shepherd needed daily help from the Good Shepherd along the way. 

Psalm 23

Theologians believe that Psalm 23 was written as David’s praise for God’s provision and protection in his life. David was forced to run from Saul for many years. It was the Lord who had protected David from Saul and other enemies. Sometimes God protected David from himself. David’s praise in the psalm can be ours today. 

The twenty-third psalm begins: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1–3). 

Psalm 23 is a unique song of praise because of the word translated as my. Usually, psalms were written as corporate praise. In other words, typically the psalm would have said, “The Lord is our Shepherd.” Instead, it is written about David’s personal relationship with God. Psalm 23 describes the personal relationship God wants to have with each of his sheep so that they can live a holy life. 

You and I are sheep, in need of a Shepherd. A relationship with God has always been a personal, private decision to choose God’s provision for our souls. The rest of the psalm is the praise able to be offered only by those able to say “The Lord is my shepherd.” 

Our Good Shepherd

Why does God want us to consider ourselves sheep in need of a shepherd? 

Like David, each of us has talents and abilities. David knew he was good at slinging stones and hitting his target. The real story of David and Goliath is the strength and trust it must have taken for David to face a giant, knowing his talent would only be successful if God used it. David understood he was a sheep so he trusted his Shepherd. 

When we place our faith in God as our shepherd, we have everything we need. Contentment in life is about enjoying what we have instead of striving for something we don’t really need. “I shall not want” is the choice to be contented with all that God has provided. 

God leads us to green pastures and still waters. Sheep were constantly moved around from place to place. They would eat everything and then move to a new field to do the same thing there. Sheep didn’t know which direction to wander so they had to be led. Sheep have no real way to defend themselves so they needed a shepherd with a rod and a staff. And Israel is full of wadis that could turn from a dry riverbed to a quiet stream and then to a roaring river. If their coats were wet and heavy, the sheep would easily be swept away.  

Our Good Shepherd wants to guide our lives so that he can provide us the care, provision, and protection we need. But he would rather guide us along his paths of righteousness instead of calling us back from our own paths of independent, self-reliant strength. 

The Shepherd’s goal

God wants us to be holy sheep. A good shepherd knew how to separate his sheep from others and keep his flock secure while he led them to their pasture. The word holy means set apart. The shepherd’s job was to guide and protect his flock. 

God wants us on the path of righteousness, the path that makes us right with God, for his name’s sake. God wants us to be his sheep so that we will follow his Shepherd, Jesus Christ, all the way to heaven. 

If you wonder how much God values his plan for your life, just remember the parable Jesus told about the lost sheep. Jesus would leave everything to come find you! 

Can you say “the Lord is my Shepherd”?

The whole world is mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II. She will always be one of the most unique stories in world history. She faithfully attended chapel services, and her faith was an important part of her life.  

When she passed away, I thought about what it was like for her to enter heaven’s gates. She had once said, “For me, heaven is likely to be a bit of a come-down.” She had the best this world could offer, but I bet if she could, she would say, “I was wrong about that.” 

The Good Shepherd has led her to the “green pastures” of heaven and there is nothing left to want.  

Can you say “the Lord is my shepherd”?

 If so, just remember you are called to be a holy sheep! 

Stick to his paths of righteousness and his mercies will follow you all the days of your life. You will one day live like a queen or king when you “dwell in the house of the Lᴏʀᴅ forever” (Psalm 23:6).  

We don’t stay sheep forever!

Same God, new year

It felt good to put the last box of Christmas decorations in the attic and shut the door. I love the newness of January. Every year God hands us a winter reset and we need it. Almost all of my plans for the Christmas holiday blew up and we had to make quick adjustments. I couldn’t help but think about the Janet Denison version of Jeremiah 29:11: “I know the plans I have for you,” says your mother.  

Plans, especially plans that include lots of people, should be held loosely. Something will always change! But, as I sit under my new soft throw, enjoying a newly clean and organized house, and writing my first blog post of the new year, I am enjoying some new thoughts.

Same God, new year

We have a God who makes all things new, including this new year. I was thinking about last January when we were looking forward to a world with no more COVID-19. This January, we know that COVID just keeps reinventing itself. But, this new COVID doesn’t appear to be too bad. The “new thing” might actually be a “good thing” in the long run.  

I love that we have an unchanging God who can change anything. God makes all things “new.”  

God told the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). As I’ve listened and read what various people are saying about this coming year, I’m sensing a lack of hope and optimism. I’ve felt down and discouraged at times too. 

This is my go-to reminder: God is not the author of discouragement. 

So then, why should discouragement drive our thoughts or attitudes? 

The next time you feel your hope or optimism sinking, remember what God has said: “Behold, I am doing a new thing.” He would ask the same question of us he asked of Isaiah: “Do you not perceive it?” 

We need to look for God in everything. He is either the motivator or the redeemer of all that we see and experience. God is making a way for us to journey through the wilderness. He is providing for us in the desert times. And God is leading us forward to our new life, the life Jesus has prepared for us. 

It’s a new year, but we still serve the same God who spoke to Isaiah. God’s message to the prophet is his message for us today: “Do you not perceive it?”

New year, same calling

God is doing a new thing and it will spring forth. But, there is an important thought for the new year. We have a culture that is increasingly unsettled with some new ideas that actually aren’t new at all. Why did God allow a virus to impact the entire world? Why has the world responded in so many different ways? Why is there so much confusion and dissatisfaction? Why do people look to politicians to fix the world instead of God? 

The angst in our culture should stand in sharp contrast to the peace of God’s people. But, do we perceive “peace” in God’s people? 

We have a new year, but Christians have the same calling. Peter said it this way: “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

New year, same goals

January is a perfect month to hit the reset button in our lives. It’s kind of like resetting our phones to the manufacturer’s settings. What does that mean spiritually? 

According to Peter, these are our goals for every new year: 

  • In our hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy.
  • Always be prepared to explain and defend our Christian faith and values.
  • Always speak to others with gentleness and respect.

Which one of those statements stomps just a bit? 

All of us who are reading Peter’s words probably have some work to do in at least one of those areas. Why does this matter? 

Our unchanging God has an ever-changing family. If we live as Peter encouraged, God will have a larger family by next Christmas.  

Christianity works when Christians allow God to work through their lives.

God makes all things new

God wants to reset our thoughts, our attitudes, our optimism, and our hearts. I could fumble around all day with my phone and never figure out how to do a reset. On the other hand, I can give it to an expert and watch what happens in his hands. 

God makes all things new. We need to ask him, then allow him, to make us new. We need revival and restoration. We need hearts that honor Christ as holy. We need to be ready and able to offer the world an explanation for the joy, hope, and peace in our lives. We need to speak to everyone with gentleness and respect, as one sinner to another. 

I want God to do a new thing in all of us so that he can do a new thing through all of us. Our culture deserves his answers, his love, and, most importantly, his eternal salvation. 

God is doing a new thing. 

Do we perceive it? 

If we start looking around prayerfully, we will.

With joy and gratitude

My thanks to all of you who generously responded to my end of the year “ask.” We are a donor-based ministry and your offerings serve God, who makes everything possible. Thank you for caring and wanting to help. God will do “new things” through what you have given. 

Praying that 2022 will be a wonderful year, with our God who continues to make all things new.

Are you comfortable with holiness?

Quick note: The Bible study videos will post on Mondays, beginning next week.  The videos are free to everyone but in order to view them you will need to register your email address at: https://janetdenisonbiblestudy.com/ 

We have the study guide, Foundations of Faith available at our cost and we can ship them immediately.  I look forward to sharing this study with you….Janet

Do you remember when Christians were occasionally accused of having a “holier-than-thou” attitude?

Holiness became something we thought we were supposed to avoid in order to make others feel better about themselves. 

Sadly, holiness is our calling and our great gift. 

To start with, what is holiness? 

Most of our discomfort with the word can be cured with a right understanding of the definition. 

We need to define the word like Scripture defines it and not as our culture does. 

The biblical meaning of “holy” 

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for holy, qodes, meant “things belonging to God.” 

There were altars, places, the temple, and items involved in worship that were to be “made holy” by consecrating them only for God. 

In addition, God told Moses, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). The people of Israel were set apart and asked to live holy lives because they belonged to God and therefore were consecrated for his holy work. 

In the New Testament, the word for holiness is similar but not exactly the same. Hagiazo meant “things that are made holy.” A person is made holy through the blood of Christ, and we are set apart from others in our world as a result. 

According to the New Testament, those who have received the Holy Spirit of Christ have been made holy. 

Christians are holy. 

We don’t need to work to be holy. We work to live as holy. 

Are you comfortable with your holiness? 

It’s not easy for Christians to see ourselves as holy, but we are. 

Jesus paid for our eternity. We have a new name. We are the adopted children of God. We have a first-class, paid-in-advance room on the ark. 

In other words, we survive the world’s upcoming flood eternally. For now, holiness means we live on the ark, separated from the world but still in it. 

The only remaining questions are: When will the rain begin, and when will God shut the door? 

Holiness is living our redeemed life 

I really enjoyed watching A Rush of Hope over the Labor Day weekend. 

According to reports, thousands of people gave their lives to Christ for the first time because they watched. Greg Laurie’s message was clear, biblical evangelism. A lot of people “booked their room” on the ark. 

I also watched I Can Only Imagine one more time. Laurie used clips from the movie in A Rush of Hope. I Can Only Imagine is a great reminder of the power of God to change a person’s life. 

In the movie, Bart Millard said something like, “My dad was a monster. But he became a good man through his faith in Christ. If Jesus can change my dad from a monster to a good man, Jesus can redeem anyone’s life.” 

If you grew up in the church like I did, our redeemed lives probably don’t look drastically different than our lives before salvation. But they are. 

Do you ever think about what your life would look like if you hadn’t met Jesus? 

Maybe we should rewrite the first line of Millard’s song with that thought: I can only imagine what it would be like If I could never walk by his side. 

We are called to be holy

I wrote a book more than a decade ago and titled it Content to be Good, Called to Be Godly. 

I was a preacher’s wife who felt like God’s church was headed in some wrong directions. Evangelism had often been exchanged for tolerance, and tolerance had offered inclusion. The problem was, some felt included by the church who might not have been included on the ark. I wanted to write a book to help people understand what God wants for our lives. 

God’s standards are high and holy. Jesus came to be both Savior and Lord. We aren’t allowed to lower God’s standards of faith in order to make people more comfortable. 

Why do Christians want to believe we are supposed to try to fit in with non-Christians? 

Why do we think we are supposed to act more like the world so that the world won’t think of us as “holier than thou?” 

Arrogance isn’t godly, but neither is pretending to be less than holy. 

Our faith in Christ sets us apart from the rest of the world. We have been “made holy.” Jesus paid the ultimate price for our safe passage on the ark. 

We shouldn’t want to go swimming in the floodwaters. 

Get comfortable with holiness

The point of this blog post is this: if we are uncomfortable with holiness, we probably won’t wear it. 

First Peter 5:5 tells Christians to “clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” In other words, holiness looks a lot like humility. We are supposed to wear it so Jesus will be noticed, not us. 

We didn’t earn our passage on the ark; it was a gift from Jesus. Let’s wear our gratitude for his gift each day. 

It isn’t comfortable at first, but, like most well-made garments, it gets more comfortable over time. In fact, if we wear our holiness every day, it might begin to feel like our favorite old T-shirts. 

People are observing our lives, and we will have the opportunity to help some gain safe passage on the ark. Everyone has been offered a ticket, but each person needs to get on board—before the rain starts and God closes the door. 

Get comfortable with your holiness. 

God paid a great price so you could own it. 

When the gate closes and the ramp is withdrawn, everyone will be wearing holiness. 

Then we will feel like we belong in the crowd. 

Until that day, get comfortable with feeling set apart, consecrated to God. 

God’s People Need a Time-out

All kids need a time-out once in a while. 

We had a chair in the utility room that served that purpose. The only things to look at back there were the washer and dryer. The “fun” was a few yards away, and the offender could hear it but not be part of it. 

Fifteen minutes on the time-out chair seemed like an eternity to a young child, but it was usually enough time to think about their mistakes and how to ask for forgiveness. The discipline served as a reminder that the bad behavior just wasn’t worth repeating. 

All of us need a time-out chair in our lives if we want to live a life of obedience. 

What should God’s people look like? 

God’s people aren’t quite as easy to distinguish in our world today. 

Years ago, we were told to be “seeker friendly” instead of “holier than thou.” We didn’t want the people in the world to think they didn’t belong in our churches. We wanted them to know that we didn’t think we were better or more loved by God than anyone else. We wanted everyone to know that they could bring their sin to the altar just like we did.  

We stopped dressing up for church because we didn’t want people to feel uncomfortable or be able to say they didn’t have the proper clothing for worship. We stopped singing hymns because visitors to our churches didn’t understand them and it was difficult to sing them. We wanted to make non-Christians feel more welcome, and they did.  

A lot of good things happened when we “relaxed the rules,” but some wrong things happened as well. 

Our churches look more like the world these days, but so do God’s people. We didn’t want to look “holier than thou” so we stopped trying to look holy. 

The problem is, that was never a biblical idea. 

The Bible says God’s people are supposed to look holy to a world that isn’t. 

What does “holy” look like? 

Recently, I gave myself a time-out. I just sensed that God wanted to make some adjustments in some of my behaviors. The time-out chair wasn’t particularly comfortable. It felt a bit isolated from what everyone else was doing. And, I wanted down before God said it was time. 

I hope I spent enough time to think about the mistakes, think about how to ask for forgiveness, and remember that the bad behaviors just weren’t worth repeating. 

I became particularly fond of 1 Peter during my time-out. 

Peter knew about “misbehaving” and he knew how to fix it 

Peter told the early Christians, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:14–16). 

So, what does “holy” look like? 

Actually, the rest of 1 Peter describes it. The next time you sit in your time-out chair, spend some time in those words. It isn’t hard to know what holy looks like; it’s just hard to look holy. 

Peter had made his share of mistakes, so his words are the voice of experience. 

We all need a spiritual time-out chair once in a while 

When we sat our kids in time-out, we usually told them to think about what they had done and what they needed to do in the future. That’s the purpose of a spiritual time-out as well.  

Christians wanted to be more seeker friendly, but the result was that many of our churches started looking more like the seekers than the One we were supposed to be seeking. 

We need to take some time and think about our most important purpose. God said we were supposed to be holy. Jesus said we were supposed to “make disciples.”  

Consider these questions in your spiritual time-out chair: 

  • Does my life indicate that I am a holy child of God?
     
  • Is my calling about making friends or disciples? 

Hopefully, we can make disciples and friends. However, practically speaking, some friendships will suffer if we choose to be holy. Holy and popular don’t always run in the same circles. 

If our churches and our people want to be holy, some of the seekers won’t think we are very “friendly.” 

When the fifteen minutes are up

The time-out chair usually did the trick. I could put a wailing, misbehaving three-year-old in the time-out chair and, after fifteen minutes, he was like a different child. 

Sadly, he might end up back there later in the day. Consistent good behavior requires a lot of maturity, but there is grace for the growing. 

Spiritual time-outs take time, but the goal is maturity. Thankfully, there is a lot of grace for the growing. 

And Peter told us what to do when we are ready to get out of time-out. He said, “Preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). 

When the fifteen minutes are up, we should be wiser and ready to go. 

We have prepared our minds to fulfill our purpose. We are sober-minded, knowing our goals are more like God’s. And we have been recipients of the grace that we are to give to others. We are focused on the revelation of Jesus Christ and ready to live the holy life “our Dad” wants us to live. 

We are called to be holy

Why did God give his children such high standards for our lives? 

Why did God think we should be, or could be, holy?  

Peter answered those questions like this: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). 

He loves us and wants us to be holy 

I imagine my kids thought I was too hard on them at times. But, I adored my boys and had really high standards for their behavior. 

So does God. 

My boys learned a lot sitting in time-out—and so will we. 

If you need an “attitude adjustment” or some changes in your behavior, head to the time-out chair to think. God will tell you when you can get down. 

We are all on the road to spiritual maturity, and those rest stops come in handy. Holiness is hard, but it has been promised that we will grow up one day. 

We will be holy because he is holy. 

What does God hate?

I considered taking another week off but knew I should write. I need to say something you are unlikely to hear or read about in the news. I don’t want to speak about the sins of the El Paso shooter. 

Instead, I want to speak about the sins of the saints, myself included.

I have been floating on a cruise ship, watching the whales and the wildlife. I wish I were still enjoying the majestic beauty of Alaska, where the sun only set for a few hours before the next morning rolled around. 

But, we don’t live on a cruise ship. We live in the real world.

The sin born of righteous anger

As Christians, we should view the mass shootings on Saturday with God’s perspective and be incredibly cautious to live today with his holy standards. Satan doesn’t care which side of “right” you stand on, as long as you sin where you stand. 

James 1:20 is an important reminder to each of God’s children today: “For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

I can testify that some of my greatest sins were born of righteous anger. All of us have a right to be enraged at evil. 

The important question for all of us today is this: Is our rage producing the righteousness of God?

God hates too

Did you know that God hates? 

Solomon knew that and left us with that knowledge. He wrote: “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16–19). 

God hated Saturday’s news about the El Paso shooting more than we did. I cannot fathom the controlling evil filling that young man’s heart and mind. It is beyond understanding. God hated the shedding of innocent blood and the heart that devised such a wicked plan. God hates the lies and the false witness that was breathed out as a manifesto.

But there is a glaring caution in Solomon’s words for every Christian today. 

God also hates the haughty eyes of those who think their sins don’t harm. God hates our lies when we say things we have no right to say. 

And it is the seventh “hate” that each of us should carefully consider today. God hates it when we sow discord.

If my Facebook page looks a little like yours, there is plenty of sin born from righteous anger among the family of God. 

We need to realize that God hates our sin too.

Redeeming hate

If you read this blog, you know that God wants you to love. God wants you to care. God wants you to think before you speak, type, or share. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 

But you can count on this truth: The Holy Spirit can handle your hate. He can redeem it and produce the righteousness our culture needs to witness from God’s people. 

My husband, Jim, and I were talking about the shooting last Saturday and realized we had the same thoughts. We weren’t as shocked by the news as we had been in the past. It wasn’t a shooting; it was another shooting. It was disturbing to realize we weren’t surprised by the news, just saddened. 

We wondered what Christians had previously crossed that boy’s path. Did they have an opportunity to reach out to an angry child but spoke words of contempt or rage instead? How many Christians had turned away from that boy in the past, with disgust or distaste, thinking they were giving that kid what his behavior deserved? 

Who could have offered the grace that none of us deserve instead?

Is the next shooter your neighbor?

That “kid” lived near my part of town. Maybe I sat in a movie theater with him. Maybe I watched him act up at a mall. Maybe he saw me roll my eyes or turn my head away when he cursed or acted out. Maybe I had a chance and missed it. 

Maybe I will have a chance again, with another child, tomorrow.

What does God hate? 

Anger that does not produce the righteousness of God. 

The cruise ship isn’t home

What are you going to do with your anger now? 

That question is what led me to write this blog. 

A lot of God’s people would choose to live on a cruise ship. It’s easier to sail through this life sheltered in the church and avoiding realities. But, while a cruise ship is a great place to visit, it isn’t where God has called us to live.

This world will always have evil. It always has. But, it can also be filled with God’s powerful love. 

What are God’s children contributing to the culture today? Is it their righteous anger or the righteousness of God? 

If God’s people won’t share the light, we are just increasing the darkness.

Again, it doesn’t matter that we stand on the side of right if we’re sinning where we stand. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to redeem our anger. 

Who knows? The kid or neighbor who receives our words and attitudes of grace may be forever changed.

God would love that.