A View From The Sycamore Tree: Lip Labor

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Lip Labor - Isaiah 29

"Then the Lord said:

'... this people draw near with their words

and honor Me with their lip service,

but they remove their hearts far from Me,

and their reverence for Me consists of

tradition learned by rote."

(vs 13)

We love games! Far too often we play the part that we want others to believe about us. We vainly think that perception is reality. Reality is that which is known by God. What He knows to be true about us is that which is truly true. We may fool men but we will never fool God Who alone searches the heart and weighs the mind. "Nothing can be hidden from God" including my motives.

The people of Jerusalem are playing their little "God games" here in chapter 29. They draw near to him in lip labor, saying the right things and singing the right songs. In reality their religion is only from their tongues forward. It is merely wind that they blow not breath that they breathe! Here is a vivid description of hypocrisy. They honor God with their words "but they remove their hearts far from Me."

This morning the question before me is - how is my heart? Am I living my life for the praise and confirmation of men or for the glory of God? Do my lips and my heart align? Do I truly love the LORD my God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength? Am I loving my neighbor as myself in word AND in deed AND for the glory of God alone?

Truthfully, there is a root of "people pleasing" in all of us. We like the applause of men. We are naturally lip laborers. Look long enough and you will see some remnant of hypocrite in me - for I am a sinner. I am ever in need of grace. Perhaps the honest acknowledgement of that is what separates the ruined hypocrite from the redeemed hypocrite.

O LORD, please make my lips and life and mind and heart to match up and overflow with the reality of what You have done and are doing in me. Make me to live my chief end which is to "glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." Make my heart near to You my Lord and my God! May my lips and my life be in union with love for my Lord.

Thankful for sanctifying grace,

Lori

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Here We Go!

This is a blog about the goodness and grace of God, even amidst the angst of autism.

So ... how did this whole thing start?

Well, I said I'd never do this but obviously here I am. After being challenged, encouraged, goaded and double dog dared, several years ago I began to blog.

Near the end of 2008, I found myself with renewed passion for God's Word, Kingdom, and people and I was stirred, through nothing other than the simple means of grace, to a hunger and thirsting for righteousness unlike any other time in my 20+ years as a Christian.

During that period, I began typing out the things that were striking me the most in my quiet time each morning. Honestly, I started because I wanted to have a written record that I could pass along to my children one day - lettered Ebenezers reminding them of how much their Mom loves God and His Word.

While doing that I found myself so excited on certain days that I began to email my musings to some of my girl friends, hoping to encourage them even as Christ was encouraging me. Many of those gals challenged me to put these things online in a blog form so others could have access to them. That's how this site started.

Now, to shoot really straight with you, that personal "revival" of mine has pendumatically ebbed and flowed over the course of the days, months and years since 2008. For a prolonged period after that initial renewing surge I actually found myself in an utterly antithetical place. God, in His wisdom, was pleased to grant me a substantial season in the dark dungeon of "doubting castle" - those days were some of the hardest of my life post-Jesus but were providentially ordained days ultimately used for my good and for my God's glory.

"Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come" by nothing but the amazing grace of an amazing God.

I've learned that even in the midst of the darkest of days there's just something about the light of God's Word that is powerful. The Scripture has been an anchor for me in the storm surge of life. Even when my eyes have seemed to be rather veiled and my vision somewhat dimmed, there has still been a re-focusing force that has risen when I have gazed long and hard upon the Word of God. Thus, even as a saint who struggles, I continue to write of my God, my Redeemer, His promises, and His truth.

I'm not always very regular at posting here because there are many more important duties in my life right now than blog uploads - ie. being wife, mom, housekeeper, cook, taxi service, chief bottle washer, and laundry lady - along with that music thing I do as a side gig! But, as time allows I'll be cutting and pasting from Joshua and Elizabeth's future journal gift and sharing some of it with you as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Who's Doing This?

Lori Sealy is daily amazed at the grace of God in her life. Adopted as an infant and raised in an evangelical church, she rebelled against the things of Christ during high school and considered herself an atheist. Upon entering college, the God who ordains our steps ordained that her path would cross with several students who loved Christ and loved His Word. During that first year of college, she set out to destroy the faith of these young Christians. They set out to pray for her salvation.

Knowing that "faith comes through hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ," six college students daily confronted her sin and challenged her with the truths of God's glorious Word. Their obedience in proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Christ bore fruit in August of 1988 when by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, she was adopted for the second time in her life - this time into the family of God.

Lori is now the wife of Phillip Sealy. They live in Sylva, North Carolina where Phillip has been called to plant a new church for the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) - Redeemer Church Sylva. The Sealys have two children Joshua (14) and Elizabeth (12). Lori and Joshua both live with autism.

In her spare time (what little there is) Lori masquerades as a part-time songwriter/singer and performs on a limited monthly basis. Lori's newest CD, "The Strife is Over," has recently released. Hard copies of it, along with her last release "Begone Unbelief", are available through CD Baby and Lori's own website. Digital downloads are available through iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon mp3!

Be sure to visit http://www.lorisealy.com/ to learn more!

Why the Sycamore Tree?

Zaccheus, the wee little man, wanted to see Jesus and so he climbed into the sycamore tree in order to get a good look. Lori, the wee little wife and mom, longs to see Jesus as well. I realize that the place where I will catch a true glimpse of Him is in the pages of His Word.

The Bible is my sycamore tree and I find myself longing more and more to climb up into its branches that I might see Christ more clearly. This blog is simply a record of what God is teaching me as I spend time in "the tree" of His glorious Word. If anyone reads it I'll be amazed; if anyone profits from it I'll be humbled; and if anything good is found in it Soli Deo Gloria!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Lip Labor - Isaiah 29

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