:: In.a.Mirror.Dimly ::

When I released Coffeehouse Theology back in 2008, I realized that while I read the books of female theologians (see IVP’s epic commentary by female scholars for instance), I only read a few female bloggers. One of the first female bloggers I read was Amy Speigel, the wife of my former professor at Taylor U. and award-winning author Jim Speigel. It has been a ton of fun seeing Amy crush it as a blogger, and now she’s written a book. I’m happy to have Amy as today’s guest blogger:

Surprise! Ed is taking the day off and graciously allowing me this opportunity to share a little about my new book, Letting Go of Perfect. It isn’t just the title of my book but also a summary statement of what God has been teaching me over the last few years.

Let me first say that, with a title like Letting Go of Perfect, I think a disclaimer is in order:

• I don’t know Perfect.
• Perfect wouldn’t give me the time of day if I say her walking down the street.
• Perfect won’t give me her telephone number or accept my friend requests on Facebook.

The perfection referred to is not my own, not something that I once possessed and have since decided to let go of. It is my pursuit of perfection, my Pharisaical life under the law of which I am desperately trying to be free.

One night I sat in my car outside a friend’s house too tired and scared to go inside. You would have thought I was heading into an angry mob rather than going to prayer meeting.

I should have been overjoyed at the opportunity to fellowship with other women and unburden myself of the cares and concerns I was facing. But all I saw was judgment. A firing squad ready to shoot down my fragile ego.

What if they see through this façade? What if they realize that just how not all together I really am? That night was a turning point for me. Because I did go in. And I did admit to be not all together. And what I discovered was none of us have it all together. None but one and He is all we need.

I have been surrounded by the Gospel my whole life. I am one of those people with the super boring testimonies (except for my high school and college years, but that’s a discussion for another day).

• Raised in a Christian home by loving and godly parents.
• Attended a Christian university where I had the opportunity to interact with wise and godly professors and fellow students.
• I’m now a part of that university community as a professor’s wife with the opportunity to raise our kids among dedicated and godly people who care for us all.

I am not a part of some unreached people group who have yet to hear the Good News of Jesus, His life, death and resurrection. But despite all these advantages, I often live as though the Messiah has yet to come.

I affirm the truth of Jesus with my mouth, but it often fails to reach my heart. I have accepted God’s grace when it comes to my eternal destination but fail to fall back on it in my everyday life. I strive to obtain perfection in my relationships and vocation without recognizing that perfection on my own is unobtainable.

That might not sound like good news but in fact this is the Good News-that we were lost but are now found. I don’t have to strive for perfection because it has already been obtained on my behalf. On this journey, God has shown me how my service and worship of Him as well as my service to others had become a burden, lacking in the joy and freedom we are supposed to have in Christ.

If you are struggling to balance a desire to serve Christ with excellence and a longing for the freedom and authenticity, I encourage you to check out my book Letting Go of Perfect. It is a book about the good news of grace and how we can let it not just save us from eternal damnation but how it can work its way into every aspect of our lives. It’s about how we can stop working harder under the burden of the law and start living freer under the umbrella of His grace.

You can learn a bit more about Letting Go of Perfect here.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

About Today’s Guest Blogger

When Amy Spiegel was growing up, she dreamed of someday writing in a white farm house in her beloved Appalachian mountains, surrounded by animals and lots of offspring. Currently, she is writing in a house nestled among the cornfields of Indiana with one lizard and kids with allergies. Well, one out of five isn’t so bad. She bakes a mean coffee cake, has read all of Jane Austen’s works more times than is healthy and refuses to acknowledge snow as a good thing. She authors the blog ahcrabapples.wordpres.com and co-authors the blog wisdomandfollyblog.com with husband, author and college professor Jim Spiegel.

Another installment of my fictional series Sarcastic Saturday:

Earth–In a surprising development for Christians devoted to social justice and loving one another, the Kingdom of God appeared because enough Christians have taken a bold stand for the truth. Michael the Archangel appeared in the heavens and proclaimed the victory of truth over error and relativism.

People who love truth everywhere are rejoicing that they were right. “We knew that if we exposed enough error and took a bold enough stand for truth, sound doctrine, and watered down Christianity emphasizing service that God’s Kingdom would show up,” said one self-proclaimed truth activist. “I’m not surprised that we were right,” he added.

“Here I thought my worship was meaningless because of the injustices Christians have been ignoring,” shared one pastor who works among the homeless. “As it turns out, the only thing God has cared about all along is if we get our doctrines correct.” 

Christian social justice ministries have since shuttered their operations, opting to commit to further study in order to sort out their doctrines in light of the Messiah’s second coming.

“What a shocker,” shared one member of Christians for Social Action. “The next thing they’ll say is that sarcasm can be redemptive.”

Continuing my series of meditations on the book of Romans…

Paul continues to explain the mysteries of Jews and Gentiles being in Christ, the place of the Jewish people now that Jesus is the Messiah, and the nature of salvation in Christ. Instead of keeping the law, ascending to heaven, or descending to hell, God has made salvation within easy reach. It’s on our lips as a confession that Jesus is the risen Lord.

When comparing the marks of God’s covenant people now with the marks of God’s covenant people before Christ, Paul makes the nature of salvation simple to grasp: believing in one’s heart gives right standing before God. Confessing with one’s mouth brings about salvation.

This is God’s plan for all people now, and Paul wanted to emphasize its simplicity and access. This is something for the Romans to meditate on and to share. In fact, God has been moving in this direction for quite some time. Through a series of OT passages Paul proved that the Jewish rejection of their Messiah was foretold long ago.

The problem isn’t that messengers failed to go out or that God didn’t communicate with his people. The Jewish people looked for God, but with the wrong zeal and expectations, missing God’s real plan when it was revealed. In fact, the biblical proficiency of the Jewish people should give all followers of Jesus pause today. If they could miss God’s plan after essentially having the Bible memorized, there is more to being God’s people than study and knowledge.

The expectations of the Jewish people prevented them from accepting God’s salvation. Ironically, the people without knowledge or expectations received the Gospel message. God showed himself to them, hoping that this transfer of the Gospel to the Gentiles would call the Jews back. The people who should have been demonstrating God’s work among the Gentiles switched roles because of their unbelief.

There is a sadness in Paul’s words here. He sees the zeal and knowledge of his own people, and their tragic rejection of the Messiah. Nevertheless, he places his hope not in their knowledge, but in the power of the Gospel at work in the Gentiles—hoping the Jews will become jealous of God’s favor and turn back to God.