Rhonda Rhea :: New Hope Digital

by Rhonda Rhea

My wonderful hubby surprised me a while back with an anniversary cruise. Hawaii, baby! We had the most marvelous time just being together for 7 glorious days.

I admit it, I’m a cruise fan. I love everything about it—especially the food. A cruise and overeating go together like a hand in glove. Well, more accurately, they go together like a size 10 hand in a size 2 glove. I guess I was just asking for a trip back to maternity pants. I now refer to myself as “17 years postpartum.”

The staff on the ship said that the average person gains 7–10 pounds on a 7-day cruise. But then, I’ve always considered myself an overachiever.

On prime rib night, my husband and I were walking out of the dining room and, even though he was about to let his belt out a notch, Richie said he was thinking of ordering yet another prime rib. Another one! I figured that could cost him at least another 2 belt notches. I told him I thought that would be a mistake. Get it? Prime rib? “Mis-steak”?

If we’re going to overdo, though, it’s good to make sure we’re “overdoing” in the right areas. Exceeding calorie limits? Not such a great thing to consistently overdo. But 1 Thessalonians 4:1 talks about living right to please God and then it says, “Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more” (NIV1984).

To do and then do some more. It’s an encouragement to keep growing. Not so much growing in the “bring on the elastic waistbands” way, but rather growing in maturity—sanctification.

Paul goes in verses 2–3 to say, “For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified” (NIV1984). The Amplified Bible calls that sanctification, “consecrated (separated and set apart for pure and holy living).”

We grow as we seek to stay in the light, dwelling in the presence of the Lord, making sure our lives are for Him and all about Him. Our growth is not an option. It’s a command. Verses 7 and 8 in that same passage in 1 Thessalonians say, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit” (NIV).

It can be a little startling to think about the fact that to reject His instruction and to reject the call to pursue a holy, consecrated life is to reject our heavenly Father Himself. And that rejection means we’re ignoring the Holy Spirit He gave to help live that life. A mistake of the highest order.

Dwelling in His presence results in a life in which growing “a notch or two” spiritually—the good kind of growth—is a regular occurrence. And we need to seek that consistency in growth even more diligently than we would seek the biggest everything-fried-to-perfection buffet.

There’s a lot at steak—I mean, stake.

Editor’s note: This article was adapted from chapter 14 of How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Person?

Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist, radio personality, and author of multiple books, including How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Person? You also may enjoy her articles “Skittles: The Secret Measure of a Person’s Love” and “Stretched: Fears Fade in God’s Light.”

by Rhonda Rhea

OK, I realize some of you hardly ever wear tights so you probably won’t totally get this. But anyone else who’s suffered from “medium denial” will sooo feel my pain.

Especially when I mention that whole song and dance number a girl’s got to do to try to writhe into one of those pair of tights that’s gone completely rogue size-wise. It’s bad enough that as soon as we arrive in that between-size zone, there’s a mind game that begins. At the first realization that we’re in grave danger of going up a size, fear gets us in a grip that’s tighter than an XS.

Sometimes there are even voices in our heads. And they don’t whisper. They’re yelling “No! Not going to happen! I will stretch these size small tights from here to Guam if I have to. I’m 5 feet tall and I positively refuse to be a medium!”

I’m not sure how I figure that stretching those small tights within an inch of their poor little elastic lives is going to make me look like I did 20 pounds ago anyway. That really is a stretch.

Oh well, maybe I’m just revealing entirely too much from my own little stockpile of personal fears.

Fears Flee in His Presence

Fear, from the trivial to the deadly serious, can be startlingly powerful. It can absolutely surprise us as we sense it squeezing the breath right out of us and pinching our attempts to walk out our life of faith. But isn’t it amazing that as we breathe in the presence of the God of light, our fears immediately begin to fade away?

In Psalm 27:1 (HCSB), David gives himself a bit of a pep talk when he reminds himself, “The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom should I be afraid?”

When we know His saving grace and have experienced His life-changing light, fear suddenly seems silly. And when we think about the fact that our all-powerful God manifests Himself in radiant light and then consider all the amazing things light does, we can’t help but see our courage bolstered, just as David did.

Light illuminates so we can see where we’re going. Light helps protect us from danger. It provides security. Light even enables growth and warmth. Any time we’re afraid, as we look to Him in all His light and ponder His power, we can find the Lord stretching us. Fears fade. Courage is renewed.

We can see the truth and can think more clearly. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (NKJV). By His marvelous light, He provides the good kind of stretch in every tight situation.

And also in every “tights” situation.

Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist, radio personality, and author of multiple books, including How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Person? You also may enjoy her article “Skittles: The Secret Measure of a Person’s Love.”

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Archive for Rhonda Rhea

In His Light, We Grow More and More

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Fears Flee in His Presence

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