We were standing in the hall of DeMoss, the main academic building on Liberty’s campus.  My roommate and I watched in horror as a pretty brunette awkwardly toddled down the hall in four inch stilettos.  ”What’s the point?” sighed Lyndsey.  ”Her feet are going to be so sore tonight, and all because she had to look like that while walking between classes.”  ”She’s probably insecure,” I said sadly.  ”Her identity is wrapped up in those shoes!”  That made us both laugh, and we continued on to our classes.  But it made me think, too.

I have often been just like the girl in stilettos.  My security has been completely dependent upon how I look, what my grades are, who talks to me in the hall, or a host of other nominal things.  My pride is the motivator for the clothes I choose, the paper I write, and the conversations I engage in.  Thus, I awkwardly toddle down the hall of life, hoping the pain is worth the attention.

The Pharisees in Matthew 23 had a similar problem, and Jesus addressed it harshly.  I had never read this passage before, but came across it in my reading a few days ago.  It is the prologue, if you will, to Jesus’ sermon of the ‘Seven Woes’:

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you — but not what they do.  For they preach, but do not practice… they do all their deeds to be seen by others.  For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.”  (Mt. 23:2-7)

There are four aspects of this verse to observe, bolded in the above passage.  These four faults of the Pharisees, I discovered, are just as apparent in my own life.  They are still at work in our hearts today.

Notice first that Jesus addresses the Pharisees’ appearance. The phylacteries Jesus refers to were small boxes which enclosed small vellum versions of God’s commandments, according to the words of Deuteronomy 6:8:

“You shall bind them (God’s words) as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

The Pharisees took more pride in the appearance of religion than the actual practice of it.  The phylacteries were a symbol of piety, emphasizing how spiritual a person was to keep God’s commandments with him always.  However, while the Pharisees had the exterior in order, the interior of their hearts was in shambles.

For further emphasis, Jesus addressed the ‘fringes’ the Pharisees wore — tassels at each edge of their garment that, according to Numbers 15:38, were to serve as reminders of God’s commands.  The Pharisees were so consumed with the appearance of godliness that they neglected God altogether.

Secondly, Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees love the place of honor at feasts — they were attached to their status. The position they held, originally intended to be a guide of godliness to the Jewish people, instead served for them as an opportunity to gain power and prestige.  The status they held gave them control, which, combined with pride and selfishness, further sunk them into a hardened state against the God they claimed to serve.

Third, the Pharisees loved attention. They adored being greeted in the marketplaces.  Who doesn’t love that?  I know when I am in the grocery store I love to see people I know; sometimes I have even found myself taking pride in how many people I know in one given shopping trip!  How ridiculous.  Rather than delighting in the people themselves, our  nature delights in the attention we receive.

Finally, Jesus addresses the Pharisees’ love of their label. Closely connected to status, the title ‘rabbi’ meant ‘teacher’, and was considered a form of respect.  Can you picture the Pharisees, walking through the marketplace, fingering the tassles on their prayer shawl and reveling in every greeting of ‘Rabbi’ they received?  Consider how much glory God received from their attitude:  none!

So how does this apply to us, young women of God?  Today we struggle just as the Pharisees did.  We have the same four loves of appearance, status, attention, and label. How are these conquered?

“The greatest among you shall be your servant.  Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mt. 23:11-12)

The answer is humility. Humility has no need of the approval of other people, which is the root of all the Pharisees’ problems.  Pride and self-love need that appearance, status, and attention to be secure.  Humility finds its security in Christ, and because of this, is free to be whoever Christ created her to be.

So what is the motivation for the stilettos?  Are you toddling down the hall in pain because you want people to pay you attention?  Give up the appearance of godliness and seek the real thing, and you won’t just walk through life without worry, you might even run.

That first ride is usually a little rough.  The horses won’t go or they won’t stop; they buck and twist out from under you; they bolt for no reason and spook at shadows.  They don’t want to obey in any fashion whatsoever.  They want to cling to their freedom.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”  (Galatians 5:1)

Freedom is a wonderful but often misunderstood concept.  For many, freedom means the opportunity to do whatever one desires.  This is so for a horse — an animal with no soul and no moral compass.  However, the animalistic, natural desire to follow whatever we choose is not true freedom.  If this were so, Paul’s words to the Galatians would make no sense!  If we are free before Christ’s sacrifice, then what happened afterwards?

The horse, running wild in the field, may be beautiful, but he serves no purpose except to gratify himself.  He eats, he drinks, he runs, he mates, and he does it all over again.  Outside of his own desires he has no purpose.  But when a man takes that horse and trains it, taking those natural desires and bridling them, the horse becomes something so much more beautiful because it fulfills a purpose in life.

Christ set us free for freedom. He didn’t take it away from us.  Like the trainer, he sees a potential in us that we can never see for ourselves.  Before that potential can be realized, however, the horse has to be broken of his stubborn will and bent to the will of his master.  If he returns to his former state (by being out of use for the winter months) he will have to go through the whole process again.

Consider how this applies to us.  Christ set us free so that in his freedom we could realize all the potential in our lives.  We don’t always see beyond our immediate desires, but he does.  Don’t go back to where you were before!  Submit yourself to the will of our Master and let him show you what true freedom feels like.

After one semester spent practicing on Liberty’s equestrian team, I began praying about a ministry for girls that allowed them some participation with the animals I love so much.  Now in this semester, I have decided to start up a small study for girls on the campus to attend.  It’s very informal, but it will combine some teaching about the horse itself and the art and science of horsemanship with Biblical concepts pertinent to the girls’ lives.

The relationship between the horse and rider is a good analogy to our relationship with God.  Just as the horse is gradually trained to be in tune to its rider’s desires, so we are developed by the Lord to be most effective for him.  The more rebellious a horse is, the longer the training process — whether the trainer decides to ‘gentle’ or ‘break’ him.

I am so excited to see the study begin, small as it may be!  Please pray that it would be a blessing to the girls and that I would be able to bring some joy to their lives through this.

Today we had our first convocation for the semester, and speaking was Jonathan Falwell, the pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and son of Dr. Jerry Falwell.  For this semester I have registered for a three-hour night class on prayer, so I have been thinking on that subject a little bit lately.  Imagine my surprise and happiness when that is precislely what Pastor Jonathan spoke about today!

He began with a quote from Dr. Jerry Falwell, founder of Liberty University and Thomas Road Baptist Church:

“Nothing of eternal significance is ever accomplished apart from prayer.”

His passage was Mark 9, which depicts the scene of Jesus and the demon possessed boy.  Key to Pastor Jonathan’s point was verse 29:

“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

In that verse, Jesus is answering his disciples’ query as to why they could not cast the demon out of the boy.  The answer was:  they didn’t prepare.  The disciples went merrily out to do God’s work but did not have his power enabling them to accomplish it.

Rev. Falwell said, “Jesus gives us the authority to accomplish things of eternal significance but we need ability as well, which only comes through prayer and fasting.”  The only way to see miracles accomplished in and through our lives is to go to the Source of them through prayer.  The only way to stretch our faith is through prayer.  God works in our lives when we trust him to do so!

In Mark 9:19, Jesus says to the father of the boy, “Bring him to me.”  That is the call he has for us today.  He tells us to bring all of our cares to him and trust that he will work them for good — meanwhile being obedient and diligent in the place he has for us.  Pastor Jonathan’s final point was this:

A life focused on prayer is a life given to rest.

Rest is what God has for us.  We don’t need to worry, we need to pray.

Have you ever tried to go a day without complaining?  I have.  I didn’t realize how much I complain until I tried to stop.  If I can’t think of anything to say, I say something negative, just to lighten the mood.

What we say is a direct product of what we think.  What we put into our minds, what we dwell on, meditate on, and consider, is what eventually comes out of our mouths.  This morning in my devotional I read a passage where Jesus was speaking on this exact subject:

Either make a tree good, and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for the tree is known by its fruit… for the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.  (Matt. 12:33, 34b)

We are the tree — “the planting of God’s hand” (1 Cor. 3:9) — and what grows in us can be good or bad.  Just as a tree produces fruit dependent upon how much water, sun, and care it gets, the fruit of the Spirit grows in us only when we cultivate a heart where it can thrive.  If we sow seeds of negativity in our minds, we will naturally complain,  for out of the abundance of the heart does the mouth speak (Matt. 12:34).

It is a conscious decision to make our tree good.  When we seek the Lord, his goodness fills us and overwhelms our own nature, which is evil, and we can grow the fruit of his Spirit in ourselves.  Rather, he grows it in us.

*Here’s something to try if you struggle with negativity or complaint like I do.  Put a bracelet on your right wrist, and every time you complain switch it to the other wrist.  Make it your goal to keep the bracelet on one wrist for a whole day, then a whole week, and so on.