The Alabaster Jar

She knew she was a sinner 
As she came to Him that day 
Broken and rejected, 
Guilty and ashamed 
As she humbly fell before Him 
Her sorrow and her fears 
Fell down upon the Master's feet 
As she bathed them with her tears 

She saw their disapproval 
And she felt their angry stares 
As she touched the feet of Jesus 
And dried them with her hair 
Their contempt was spoken loudly 
Her desire, a silent plea 
As she wept in her repentance 
The Saviour saw her need 

She broke the alabaster 
The fragance filled that place 
To her, an act of worship 
To them, a shameful waste 
But as she kissed the feet of Mercy 
Her heart was filled with faith 
As she anointed Him with fragrant oil 
His heart was filled with Grace 

Her many sins forgiven 
She loved Him much indeed 
She heard His words of blessing saying 

"Go and live in peace" 
Forever she'd remember 
The Man who took her shame 
And carried it to Calvary 
So she would live again! 

YOU ARE NOT YOUR MENTAL ILLNESS

 I'm definitely going to get into trouble for this one...but I can't not say it.

𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝙈𝙀𝙉𝙏𝘼𝙇 𝙄𝙇𝙇𝙉𝙀𝙎𝙎

We tell people with mental disorders all the time ‘𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠’. We tell them this to enable them to accept treatment and to help them to see that they are, in fact, suffering from an illness.

We spend a fortune on mental health services and counselling to help people to separate their perception of reality from actual reality. We have psychiatric services, hospitals, clinics, and doctors all dedicated to helping people to bring their thoughts in line with reality.

There are many examples of how we do this. I’ll list a few in 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 basic terms:

• We tell people with anorexia they are not fat.

• We tell people with schizophrenia that there is nobody whispering into their brain.

• We tell those with OCD that nothing bad will happen if you don’t flick the light switch 4 times.

• We tell those with depression that life will get better for them.

• We tell those who are suicidal that we wouldn’t be better off without them.

• We tell those with PTSD that the situation is in the past and is not happening right now.

• We tell those with illusions that what they see/perceive is not real…

There are, of course, many more examples of how mental illness is treated by trying to align the patient’s thoughts with their surrounding reality.

However, there is one notable exception that is becoming more and more difficult to ignore…

𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗬𝗦𝗣𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗔

I am not trying to pretend that I am an expert, I cannot imagine the mental anguish of people who suffer from gender dysphoria and I genuinely sympathise with their plight.

However, from my point of view, this is the one area where the entire medical establishment seems to have broken from the mantra ‘𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.’

With the issue of a person feeling like they are in the ‘wrong body’, there is becoming less of an effort to align that person’s feelings with reality.

The reality is that they are either male or female. That is a biological reality (with the exception of the miniscule number of physically intersex people). When a person ‘feels’ they are in the body of the wrong sex, there is an obvious break from reality. This used to be fully accepted by doctors and lay people alike.

What changed? What happened that those same doctors will now join in the delusion that a person can be born in the body of the wrong gender?

Far from saying ‘𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠’; many are now saying ‘𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚.’

Bᴜᴛ ᴏɴʟʏ ɪɴ ᴛʜɪs ᴏɴᴇ ᴀʀᴇᴀ.

And not only that. Now the doctors, politicians, activists etc are trying to make it mandatory that we all enter into the delusion too. Now I must suspend my actual, tangible, observable reality (on pain of imprisonment in some countries) so that the gender dysmorphic person is made comfortable in their delusion.

Surely there is something wrong with that?

Or are we now supposed to tell people with schizophrenia that the tv is actually sending them messages, or tell the person with an eating disorder that they are fat and ugly etc??

If not, why not?

Where does it end?

It's Time to Behold!

 

 

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!

I have been meditating over this verse for a while. It blesses my heart no end! My girls used to listen to Psalty in the car and this was one of my favourite songs.

Let’s take it apart to see the fullness of this encouragement. I love this.

Behold!

Look at this, marvel at it, wonder at it, contemplate it…it is a thing worthy of stopping and considering. What are we told to behold?

What manner of Love!

What kind of love does God have for us? All encompassing, never-ending, sacrificial, secure, one-sided, unconditional... Human love is conditional, but God’s love is not. It does not depend on my goodness, thankfully.

God’s love is not based on our personalities, our actions, our promises etc… That is not to say that God doesn’t love us, but He loves because He chooses to, not because we are lovely. We, of ourselves, did nothing to attract the love of God.

That thought might sound harsh, but it really isn’t! I think there is wonderful liberty in that thought because it means that we can also do nothing to lose God’s love. It’s not earned, so that we could lose it if we don’t keep up the thing that attracted His love. No, it is freely given because God is love!

‘And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Romans 8:38-39

We have security that God’s love is unchanging and independent of us. We cannot lose God’s love. How wonderful!!

The Father has bestowed on us:

God is the Father and as a father he has given his love.

What is a father’s love? Many don’t know the love of an earthly father, but God is the Father against whose love we can measure all earthly love. 

He has given it to us through the death of Jesus on the cross who died for us while we were still sinners, far from Him.

He has given it to us in the resurrection, by accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for us, he guarantees the acceptability and sufficiency of that sacrifice.

He has given His love in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to empower us, enable us, strengthen us, and seal us for eternity.

He has given it to us in the church, the Body of Christ. We are set within a family, both local and global, for love, support, fellowship and shaping.

That we should be called the children of God.

AND WE ARE!

We are His children. We belong to Him and have been adopted into His family. We were all without a true father until we came to the Father.

John 1: ‘But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God…’  We are no longer slaves, or even servants; we are His children. We are co-heirs with Christ Jesus and we belong at the Master’s table. We have been plucked from obscurity and sure destruction and given a place in the King’s inner court. Why? Because He loves us, chose us, and saved us unto Himself. Amazing!

Back to ‘behold…’

Think about this truth. You know yourself; you know what you’ve done, thought, said, and how far you’ve fallen from God’s standard of perfection. We know, if we’re honest, that we deserve death and judgement, but God did not give that to us. Instead, He had mercy on us and has given us beauty for our ashes. He poured out His grace and mercy upon us when we least deserved it.

This is what we need to behold. We should never become complacent and forget to behold. God has saved us from hell, saved us for eternity, strengthened us by His Holy Spirit and made us holy as He is holy! WOW!

Think about that. Does that not make your heart sing? Does that not fill you with gratitude and love? Does that not spur you on to want to live a life worthy of the amazing love that God has poured out upon us?

Be blessed as you behold!