The Unusual Writing Journey of "The Lord Jesus Christ: Fully Man and Fully God"

by Margaret Lepke

Hi Everyone … this is going to be the fastest blog post I have ever written. Unedited, unfixed, unadorned. Not by choice, but out of necessity. It's late and I am sooo tired, and I desperately need some sleep, but tonight’s the deadline for this post...

The reason for my tiredness? My husband had open heart surgery 2 weeks ago, then a stroke, and by God’s grace I brought him home last night. I spent all day every day at the hospital – plus two and a half hours’ drive each day. And even having him home again (which is wonderful, and for which I am very, very grateful) is hard work. But for this, I have Jesus. He is there during the good times and the hard times, and He gives strength and peace and does amazing things.  

By the way, I have discovered that hospitals provide great opportunities for speaking with people about Jesus. On the morning I was waiting during the five hour operation, I was reading a commentary on Paul’s Letters to the Thessalonians when a woman sat down next to me and started a conversation because of what she had seen me read. I ended up giving her the book because I sensed that she did not have the same hope (although she believes in God). And then there were opportunities to hand out tracts my husband had written some time ago. He was a very good patient and everyone was amazed that this stroke victim had written such a beautifully presented tract. They happily received one. I even had opportunities to give my own book to people who will hopefully gain a deeper understanding about Jesus and develop a relationship with Him when (or if) they read it.

And that brings me to the main purpose of this post: the unusual writing journey of this little book. I am so glad that God sometimes pushes us to do what we are reluctant to do, even after we find a hundred thousand reasons why we can’t do it. Sort of like Jonah. Let me tell you what happened…

The Lord Jesus Christ: Fully Man and Fully God

One day last year the discussion in our Bible Study group focused on whether Jesus was truly God. Both June (my best friend and closest sister in Christ) and I had previously spoken with people who didn’t believe so, or weren’t sure, and both of us had been on personal quests to settle this question for ourselves. So when the topic resurfaced, we searched for a book that would present a biblical view, was focused on Scripture rather than lengthy theological debates, and was reader-friendly yet comprehensive and concise. A book we could hand to someone who was seeking answers. When we couldn’t find anything suitable we decided to write out own (that was my task). 

June came over and dictated all of her notes so that I would have them in typed form (she still hand-writes everything!). The mountain of unsorted bits and pieces was growing before my eyes and, together with all the research I had previously accumulated but never sorted, it seemed too much and I felt overwhelmed. I knew that the need for the book was great because many new Christians don't really grasp who Jesus really is, and even older Christians can’t always give scriptural reasons for their beliefs. And then there are all the people of other faiths who believe that Jesus existed, but they don’t know the biblical Jesus and therefore don't have salvation. Yet in spite of these incentives and my promise to pull our materials together and write the book, I kept stalling. As I said, a hundred thousand excuses. But then God stepped in...

During August and September last year I kept getting the flu, which is very unusual for me. Then, in October, I fell from a ladder while hanging up balloons for my husband’s birthday and damaged my coccyx. Something else was damaged requiring an immediate operation and, long story short, I could not sit down for almost five months. The first weeks were spent in bed while reading everything on my book stack and more, but then I began to feel restless, bored, missing my keyboard. So I rigged up a long fruit box on top of my desk, lifted my screens and started typing while standing up. My conscience had grown more and more restless and finally got the better of me. Was it my conscience, or was it the Holy Spirit? I believe it was the latter.   

Have you ever had to do everything standing up? Standing for hours, days, weeks? It’s hard (but also seems to burn more calories - yeah).  Yet somehow it helped me to collate, sort and group the biblical evidence, find a logical sequence of presenting it all, and finally design a cover everyone loved. In April this year, our little book finally went to the printer and became respectable.  We got great reviews from Dr. John Ecob (Editor of the Herald of Hope, Australia) and Dr. Gene Jeffries (Liberty University, USA), and a third of our print run has already flown the coop. 

But if God had not allowed all of my health problems – and I will be forever grateful for this time of drawing especially near to Him – I would still not have started writing our book. And without His constant prodding, I would not have finished it. Born out of pain, it now yields the glorious fruit of biblical evidence and takes the reader on a journey of discovering the greatest treasure they could ever find – the true identity of the Lord Jesus Christ; the biblical Jesus who died for our sins and who has the power to give eternal life. Was Jesus fully GOD and fully MAN? Does it matter? The answer to both questions is a definite YES! It matters because our salvation depends on it.   

You can download the free PDF eBook or purchase a print copy from http://www.biblicalpublications.org/the-lord-jesus-christ-fully-man-and-fully-god-ebook.html   

 

Margaret Lepke

Margaret enjoys being a wife, mother, grandmother and friend. But even more so she loves advancing the cause of Christ as  a mentor, speaker and writer. Her professional training includes natural medicine, counselling and mentoring, communication and human relations, research, adult education, theology and biblical studies. Margaret  blogs at Dr. Margaret's Treasure Chest and openly shares her testimony on her site www.DrLepke.com.au

A Cure for Procrastination

by Margaret Lepke

Procrastination seems to be the bane of many writers, and it was the first word that popped into my head when I asked the Lord for a topic. Much has been written about it already, but maybe another angle won’t hurt.

I used to be the queen of last minute sprints because I left things too late. ‘I have weeks to finish this... There’s no hurry... I’ll just get a drink (or a snack)... I’ll just do this or that or the other before...‘ I always had a lot of reasons why I didn’t have to start right away, and none of them were meant to be excuses. My brain just had this uncanny ability to fudge facts when it came to time management, and the result was inevitable: last minute writing dashes that just had to succeed somehow. I can’t recount how many nights I spent sitting at my computer, typing away madly, trying to make up for lost time. But most of that is now in the past because of two unexpected encounters.

The first one involved a conversation with a dear old family friend. She lives overseas, and we stay in touch by phone. Not only is she an old friend, she is also a literally old friend; in her 89^th year when she told me this story: ‘We had a festival down at the harbour yesterday, and I was looking forward to going all week. But when the time came, I didn’t feel too great and started making excuses:  I don’t feel like getting changed…I could watch it on TV tomorrow… What’s an old woman doing walking around the harbour at night anyway… But you know me; I’m like a weed that keeps popping up. My body won’t obey as it used to, but I told that inner Schweinehund of mine to shut up and ship out.' [Schweinehund = pig dog = a metaphorical antagonist that lives within.] We had a laugh. ‘You can’t allow yourself too many excuses,’ she continued, ‘otherwise life passes you by. You have to make yourself get on with it. So I told myself, Just do it!  I got up, got dressed, hopped on the 8 o’clock train, and ended up having a jolly good time. Guess when I got back home? It wasn’t before midnight.’

This old lady has always had a great deal of spunk and humour – two qualities that by God’s grace helped her survive the horrors of war. Throughout my life I have admired her for both, and so I took my cue from her spunk and started addressing the ‘pig dog’ that lives within me (don’t be fooled, we all have one). As I took charge and gained more and more control over this ugly adversary, I also remembered a folksy proverb my mother used to quote: ‘Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.’ In German it has a perfect rhyme that makes it memorable, and as you can see, I haven’t forgotten, even after many decades. Every reminder helps.

The second encounter involved the Word of God when I looked for scriptures that might help me keep up the momentum. ‘Go to the ant, you sluggard,’ I read, ‘Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.’ Proverbs 6:6-8 (NKJV). The sluggard part hit me like a thunderbolt (the NLT uses lazybones) - I certainly didn’t want to be one of those! - and then Ephesians 5:15-17 sealed the deal: “Be very careful then how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” I had no more excuses.

For those of you who are interested in actual strategies for managing procrastination, here’s a great link: http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/infopax.cfm?Info_ID=50. As for me, I decided to follow my friend’s Just do it! method and determined not to let that pig dog win. I now write to-do lists and place the most unpleasant tasks at the top. Then I take a big breath and tell myself, “Just do it!” and get started. Once on a roll, it’s fairly easy to keep going, and I love ticking off task after task and having a clean slate by nightfall (most nights, anyway). No more big projects looming over my head, misplaced anxieties or late-night pressure sessions. If I do stay up late these days, it’s because of choice, not because of necessity.  

And finally, the biggest bonus of all: I achieve so much more! I’ve even found time to develop a new website to publish resources by various authors. It’s a work in progress, and there are lots of articles and eBooks on my list still waiting to be polished and uploaded, but without procrastination I will get there in good time – and that’s exciting. You may like to download and study the FREE eBook  Eternity to Eternity by Dr John Ecob. He did a superb job and included many excellent charts.

Now I will schedule this blog post for Monday and hope that at least some of what I have written will be of benefit to you...

Margaret Lepke reaches many people through her blatantly Christian professional website.

She blogs at Dr Margaret’s Treasure Chest  and is currently developing an Internet platform for sound Christian teaching at BiblicalPublications.org

Thank You, Lord!

by Margaret Lepke

This year has been full of ups and downs for me. There have been times when I felt like a spring chicken - ready to chirp and run and play - but also times when I felt like a tired old mare, ready to be put out to pasture. Too much to do, too many things to contend with, never enough time. Just stop the world, I want to get off... But through it all I have tried to thank the Lord in (not necessarily for :) all circumstances and kept reminding myself of two things: that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13), and that godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Tim. 6:6). Thank You, Lord, that You know best how to order our lives. 

http://1thessalonians417.wordpress.com/tag/thank-you-lord/

One of my Bible studies this year focused on the book of Job and I concluded that I am blessed beyond measure. Thank You, Lord! This patriarch suffered terribly for almost a year. His repeated cries for help seemed to fall on deaf ears, his questions were left unanswered, and the heavenly scene that could have explained it all was hidden from his sight. In other words, God seemed to be absent. Did Job curse Him and die as his wife suggested? No, his faith endured despite incredible heartache and physical pain.

When Satan was allowed to remove Job's worldly attachments, Job’s faith did not crumble. When Satan attacked Job’s body with almost unendurable pain, Job remained steadfast. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble? And throughout all of this Job did not sin in what he said (Job.2:10)! What an example to us... thank You, Lord!

Then the final test arrived: a prolonged attack on Job’s integrity by those whom he counted his friends. Their psychological assaults would have hurt just as much as the physical and emotional pain Job endured. If only they had remained silent! But when his time of trial was finally over, Job’s faith had grown and his understanding of God had deepened. In his suffering he had sought God like never before, and his reward was a more intimate knowledge of the Almighty as well as physical blessings. His attitude would have been, "Thank You, Lord!"

I am so glad that God answered Job’s cry, Oh, that my words were written! That they were inscribed in a book! (Job 19:23). The record of this faithful man encourages those who suffer and gives a rare insight into Satan's involvement in human affairs.

Satan was given power over the elements, marauding people and physical illness, and he was able to use Job's friends for an attack on his integrity. While their assumptions were well meant and based on cultural norms, their reasoning couldn’t have been more wrong in this particular case. Let’s remember not to be like them when we take on the role of comforter. Let’s never assume, never offer cliché answers, and instead be willing to listen without judgement and to love without giving advice.
 

Friends that are tuned to God are worth their weight in gold. They accept one another, help one another and love one another at all times (Prov.17:17). The kisses of an enemy may be profuse, but faithful are the wounds of a friend (Prov. 27:5-6). Two are better than one, and they have a better return for their labor. If either of them falls (or is discouraged, or goes down the wrong path), one can help the other up (Ecc. 4:9-10). 

 

We all need friends like that in our lives. People who influence us to become what God intended us to be, who fill us up when we are empty; people whom we can trust and be ourselves with, and those who encourage us to stretch and expand not only our faith but also our God-given abilities. We can thank the Lord for each true friend He has given us.

 

And this is where I would like to take the opportunity to thank you, dear writers, for your encouraging, inspiring, insightful and soul-searching blog contributions throughout the year. As fellow travelers along the narrow road, I count you my friends. And while I rarely have time to comment (and for that I apologize!) I do read your posts when they arrive via email. 

 

Please know that your thoughts and challenges have left their mark... As the writer of Ecclesiastes puts it: As iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other (Prov. 27:17). I believe that this writers' blog is capable of sharpening minds and encouraging hearts, and for that, too, I thank You, Lord.

Margaret Lepke is a Christian educator, counselor, naturopath and freelance writer. Enjoy the resources on her website.  http://drlepke.com.au

Self-Determination (by Margaret Lepke)

Thirty years ago, self-determination was one of my goals. It meant autonomy, self-rule and independence. People all over the world are striving for it because they think it will make them happy. But then I learned that true happiness flows from a different source.

One day, one of my clients produced a Bible from her handbag and read me this verse: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:36). I didn't object to a God of love, but then she started talking about sin: There is no one righteous, not even one (Rom.3:10) - and I quickly protested. "I'm not a sinner! I'm not a liar, a thief or a murderer! To the contrary, I am a nice person. I help others!"

My lovely client was wise and did not argue. Instead, she read from Isaiah 53:6 that all of us like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him (meaning Christ) the iniquity (sin) of us all. And there it was: my own way. SELF-DETERMINATION. What I thought to be a virtue, God declared to be sin. And it bugged me. A lot! The Holy Spirit used this verse to convict me, to show me that self-rule - in the sense of not wanting to submit to a higher authority - was the very essence of sin.

This conviction immediately led to fear. Jesus once said: Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 20:28 and Luke 12:5). So if the God of the Bible truly existed, then I was truly in trouble because then I was guilty. I needed a pardon, and that very evening I turned to Jesus who had paid for my sins in His own body on the cross. I handed over the reins of my life and self-determination turned into God-determination. I thought that was the end of my 'self' determining things. But was it - really?

In regard to trusting God and following His lead it was. However – and this is a big however – when reading the Bible I soon discovered that I still had the responsibility of determining things. For example, Rom.12:2 told me that I should NOT conform to the pattern of this world, but that I should be transformed by the renewing of my mind. It wasn’t a passive thing that would just happen, but in obedience I had to actively do it myself. God is in the renovation business. He wants to renew my mind and my life and has given me all the tools I need. But it’s my responsibility to pick them up and put them to use so that I might run my race here on earth effectively. The Bible puts it this way:

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it (1Cor.9:24).
And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown (victor's wreath), but we for an imperishable crown (1Cor.9:25).

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil.3:14).
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done (Matt.16:27).

It became clear to me that my eternal reward is determined by what I do. Just as my eternal destination is determined by what I believe. Once I truly grasped this concept, it changed my whole attitude to the here and now. It's up to me to determine my future! Paul said in Phil.1:21, For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And a plaque in our kitchen reads, Only one life, it’ll soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Do YOU think God's rewards are worth striving for? I certainly do. I gave up self-determination in order to follow Jesus, but then I took it back under God’s guidance to use for His eternal glory because any reward (or crown) I might receive will prove my gratitude and love for Him through my actions here on earth. What a glorious turn-around for self-determination! Praise God from whom all blessings flow…  

PS: 
My apologies for today’s topic not being on literary quests. I have recently had a new vision of the importance of providing for our eternal future and thought I might share it with you instead.

May your future hold great rewards for you - eternally!

With Christian love,
Margaret
www.drlepke.com.au