Beloved

I put a new song on the playlist. I love Derek Webb, but beyond that, I thought the lyrics to the song are an amazing view of what I pray that I teach my daughter throughout her life - the Gospel. The story of the Gospel is the ultimate Love Story that I hope to daily tell my daughter. She is human, and she is going to sin. This I know. But, I pray that the Lord can use me to raise her in Him. Every night I am not praying that she makes the "right" decisions or that she is necessarily "happy," but that she is His and that the desire of her heart, her whole life, is to honor the Lord. This is my most intense desire for her, that she goes to the Lord with everything, and that He IS her everything.

The glory and awe of the Gospel is that it is for everyone. It is innate in humans to worship, the question is what are we worshiping? We want to listen to salesmen and thieves because it is easier than letting the Lord sanctify us. We all naturally want to listen to the world over our God - but this means we are worshiping something else. Is it science? Knowledge? Money? Work? our Kids? Food (either eating it, or fighting it?) This is difficult, because those things can never be satisfied. But, when we turn to our God and worship Him, we come to Him as we are, and there is no more wanting, because we are complete. We don't have to spend our lives tap dancing for others, wondering what is right and wrong in other's eye's, or even in our own eyes. Instead, we get the freedom to know that all we have to do is make Him our God, worship Him. It isn't a matter of whether or not our list of things we did ends up mostly "good." Did I do enough for charities? Did I help people enough today? If we live life trying to off balance our rights with our wrongs, we will always come up sinful, because that is what we are. The freedom of Christ isn't the question of our checklists, but are we one with Christ? Is He our Lord?

And so, the story of our Lord, in which Jenny Dorsey (the pastor's wife from Redeemer Pres in Indy, and whom I always looked up to) used to call a "golden nugget," is the one desire I have for my daughter. It isn't whether or not she will be successful, smart, athletic, etc, but that she will live for the Lord and have salvation in Him. If she is doing that, I know she is in good hands - which even brings freedom to me, as her mama.

Beloved these are dangerous times
because you are weightless like a leaf from the vine
and the wind has blown you all over town
because there is nothing holding you to the ground

so now you would rather be
a slave again than free from the law

(chorus)
beloved listen to me
don’t believe all that you see
and don’t you ever let anyone tell you
that there’s anything that you need
but me

beloved these are perilous days
when your culture is so set in it’s ways
that you will listen to salesmen and thieves
preaching other than the truth you’ve received

because they are telling lies
for they cannot circumcise your hearts

(chorus)

beloved there is nothing more
no more blessings and no more rewards
than the treasure of my body and blood
given freely to all daughters and sons