Sunday, November 14, 2010
Regrettably, The Last to Come and the First to Go
If I.....have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 1st Corinthians 13:1 (in part)
As Paul in 1st Corinthians 13 points out, I can have many manifestations of my faith, but if I do not have love, then my faith, in expression at least, is empty and useless. The faith with which God gifts me gives me hope; the hope we have in Christ causes us to seek to be like Him, to seek to know His mind; and if we truly know His mind and seek to emulate Him, then we will love.
Talents such as great oration, eloquent writing, wise understanding of life and its intricacies are a resounding gong if they are not used in the context of love. In fact they are frequently misused if not used out of love, becoming weapons with which others are abused. This has been true in my life, and is notable in the lives of many who are public figures professing Christ as Lord.
Generosity, self-sacrifice, attention to tithing, all of these, if not motivated by love are just a clanging cymbal--noisy, drawing attention, but ineffective as witnesses to the love of Christ.
To know the mind of Christ requires we know how He loves. If we do not know how He loves, then we do not know His mind. We may have accepted the facts: God created us, man sinned and we along with everyone else are sinners, Christ came to redeem us out of obedience to the Father. But until we understand His love, we cannot really know Him and try to be like Him.
For some, love is a natural response to many circumstances. God has gifted many non-believers with the ability to love; that gift is part of His prevenient grace. But we may be, in our minds, committed believers, without being committed to loving like Him. If we are not naturally endowed with that gift, we have to cultivate it by asking God to shower us with His grace and love, asking Him to make us vessels of His love, to give us understanding of how He sees those around us. For many Christians, for me, loving in that way was the last thing I really understood and am still struggling with understanding.
More importantly, or as importantly, understanding and applying His love is the first thing I lose sight of when the stresses and struggles of daily life impact my emotions. I may still speak or write or read with comprehension about God and His Son, but as soon as I cease to seek to love as He loves, I become just a noisy nuisance to the cause of Christ.
For me, and I suspect for you, having the mind of Christ is an intentional act: praying in supplication daily in a quiet time; praying to act lovingly in circumstances that cause me to want to do anything but act lovingly; seeking to take an eternal perspective on things that seem so important now but that will have little significance in just a day or two except for the relational benefit or damage that can be done in the moment.
When Christ told us in Matthew to "seek first His Kingdom" I believe He meant the most significant aspect of that seeking was to know His mind, to view others as He sees them, and to change our conduct to so that we are vessels for His love. Do we risk being used by others if we do that? Absolutely. Will it matter in eternity? Well, yes, if we are self-protective and do not love for fear of being used, we will be ignoring the needs of others. Christ was used by all mankind; if He had been self-protective, we would have no hope at this point, Paul would not have had the Damascus road experience, would not have written First Corinthians, and I would not be writing this. Might we enable someone to be irresponsible and cause themselves harm? Yes, and we should guard against that; but first I have to check my motive: am I protecting another from harm or protecting myself from some imagined disadvantage?
Love, the last thing I really understood about Christ, after all the reading and studying, the thinking and writing, love was the last thing I got and am still getting. My goal now is to not let it be the first to go when life is not as I wish.
Pray that will be true for me as I pray for you.
Thank you, Jesus, for loving us first. Help us to love You and to allow our lives to be conduits of love to others. Amen.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Identity
Was at our Wednesday morning group meeting. We wear name tags and mine kept slipping off my shirt onto floor. After several times of bending to pick up the tag and replace it on my shirt, I began to think: Is this how our identity is in a fallen world?
Do we wear a label that is supposed to be our identity: Is it what we do---doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, (apologies to Hoagy Carmichael and Paul Francis Webster); is it what we have---car, house, wealth, where we were born, reared, educated, what club or church or even charity we belong to; is it our favorite hobby, food, drink, book, television show, sports team; what/who is it for you that is your false identity?
The common theme in all of our false identities is that they are like my name tag---they are part of the creation--removable, lacking permanence or transcendence, having no eternal significance,falling away when the hot fires of life's stresses reduce false identity to ashes.
They are all replacements, imitations, of our true identity as children of the Most High God. He gave us all of those things and pronounced them good. But good has an extra "o" and while God is definitely good, good things are not God, they are gifts to be enjoyed, not who we are and not things to be worshiped.
Well, what label is permanent? What is your and my true identity if we are children of God? We are His creation, His beloved, the heirs of the New Earth, His Redeemed, those saved by the blood of the Lamb, those made in the image of God, the work-men and -women of God who He assigned the duty of having dominion over all His creation.
We may choose to ignore our identity; we may choose to allow the pleasures and passions of the flesh to obscure our intended purpose; we may allow the stresses of life and the worries of the day to make dim the Light that has been give to us; but He is sovereign and His purposes will not be thwarted. Our identity is not changed by our failure to see or acknowledge it.
Each morning as you go out, take time to know Whose you are; wear proudly the brand name of your Designer and Maker. Your identity, who you are--and Whose you are--has been ordained before the beginning of time. What you do today is not who your are; what you buy or sell, who you see, what you eat, what you drive, where you live, is not who you are. You are a child of God, indwelled by His Holy Spirit. True identity.
Do we wear a label that is supposed to be our identity: Is it what we do---doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, (apologies to Hoagy Carmichael and Paul Francis Webster); is it what we have---car, house, wealth, where we were born, reared, educated, what club or church or even charity we belong to; is it our favorite hobby, food, drink, book, television show, sports team; what/who is it for you that is your false identity?
The common theme in all of our false identities is that they are like my name tag---they are part of the creation--removable, lacking permanence or transcendence, having no eternal significance,falling away when the hot fires of life's stresses reduce false identity to ashes.
They are all replacements, imitations, of our true identity as children of the Most High God. He gave us all of those things and pronounced them good. But good has an extra "o" and while God is definitely good, good things are not God, they are gifts to be enjoyed, not who we are and not things to be worshiped.
Well, what label is permanent? What is your and my true identity if we are children of God? We are His creation, His beloved, the heirs of the New Earth, His Redeemed, those saved by the blood of the Lamb, those made in the image of God, the work-men and -women of God who He assigned the duty of having dominion over all His creation.
We may choose to ignore our identity; we may choose to allow the pleasures and passions of the flesh to obscure our intended purpose; we may allow the stresses of life and the worries of the day to make dim the Light that has been give to us; but He is sovereign and His purposes will not be thwarted. Our identity is not changed by our failure to see or acknowledge it.
Each morning as you go out, take time to know Whose you are; wear proudly the brand name of your Designer and Maker. Your identity, who you are--and Whose you are--has been ordained before the beginning of time. What you do today is not who your are; what you buy or sell, who you see, what you eat, what you drive, where you live, is not who you are. You are a child of God, indwelled by His Holy Spirit. True identity.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The Result of Delayed Gratification
The account of Christ’s temptation in Matthew is the greatest example that can be told in trying to understand the discipline required to delay gratification for a greater purpose. Imagine being the creator of the entire universe, the very Son of God, and then imagine willingly coming to earth to live with the limitations of humanity but with the ongoing awareness that all that you see was originally yours.
Would it not have been a natural response to Satan’s temptation to accept his offer to rule what was yours to begin with? That would have allowed Jesus to dispense with several more years of living in an arid land, with having to put up with uneducated, dense disciples, from suffering the challenges of the religious hierarchy, from being physically killed in a tortuous manner at the hands of the Romans, and from suffering spiritual separation from His Father in Heaven.
Yielding at the moment Satan tempted Him would have been pleasurable and would have bestowed earthly power unmatched in all of history.
But Jesus saw beyond the moment. He knew the price that would be paid by all humanity should He give in to Satan’s offer. Worst of all, He knew He would be disobedient to His Father and would have thwarted God’s plan for reconciliation of humanity to Himself. Jesus’ ultimate purpose in coming to earth would have been defeated just by accepting His rightful place in a manner and at a time that was not the Father’s will.
Well, how am I to apply that to my life? I think it has daily application. God bestows upon all of us great opportunities and resources. But our choices in how and when to avail ourselves of those gifts is not preordained and mapped out in a manner that is readily visible to our limited human viewpoint. In a sense, He gives us much in the way of raw material without an obvious blueprint or master plan for how to use them. There is a reason. He desires that we seek Him in the use and enjoyment of all that He has given us.
Our temptation, a microcosm of the temptation that Jesus faced, is to take shortcuts. We are prone to use His gifts in a manner that leads to temporary pleasure but defeats the ultimate satisfaction of experiencing God’s pleasure. In our seeking Him and in our obedience is the ultimate satisfaction, not in the pleasure itself.
One cannot name a pleasure—productivity in work, food, visual beauty, sexual pleasure, the beauty of music, even service to God—that cannot be perverted if the pleasure begins to be god instead of God the Father. A saying that seems to apply here is: What God has given us for our delight was never meant to satisfy*. The corollary of that saying, the Law of Diminishing returns, states it in another way: The more you do anything, the less it satisfies*. (*from Everlasting Adventures: JH Ranch.com)
Only in submitting to the Father, only in submitting all of the resources He has provided to us to His control do we have hope of achieving satisfaction, of achieving a permanent and eternal victory over the temptation to make the creation into a god. Christ knew all of this before Satan approached Him in the wilderness. We would be best served by preparing ourselves with the same knowledge. Only then can we live in the peace and joy on earth that is a foretaste of Heaven. An apparent delay in gratification, one long enough to be assured of the Father’s pleasure in our activity, ultimately results in the greatest pleasure—the pure pleasure that comes through pleasing our Father.
Lord God, help us to see beyond the immediate to the eternal. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Would it not have been a natural response to Satan’s temptation to accept his offer to rule what was yours to begin with? That would have allowed Jesus to dispense with several more years of living in an arid land, with having to put up with uneducated, dense disciples, from suffering the challenges of the religious hierarchy, from being physically killed in a tortuous manner at the hands of the Romans, and from suffering spiritual separation from His Father in Heaven.
Yielding at the moment Satan tempted Him would have been pleasurable and would have bestowed earthly power unmatched in all of history.
But Jesus saw beyond the moment. He knew the price that would be paid by all humanity should He give in to Satan’s offer. Worst of all, He knew He would be disobedient to His Father and would have thwarted God’s plan for reconciliation of humanity to Himself. Jesus’ ultimate purpose in coming to earth would have been defeated just by accepting His rightful place in a manner and at a time that was not the Father’s will.
Well, how am I to apply that to my life? I think it has daily application. God bestows upon all of us great opportunities and resources. But our choices in how and when to avail ourselves of those gifts is not preordained and mapped out in a manner that is readily visible to our limited human viewpoint. In a sense, He gives us much in the way of raw material without an obvious blueprint or master plan for how to use them. There is a reason. He desires that we seek Him in the use and enjoyment of all that He has given us.
Our temptation, a microcosm of the temptation that Jesus faced, is to take shortcuts. We are prone to use His gifts in a manner that leads to temporary pleasure but defeats the ultimate satisfaction of experiencing God’s pleasure. In our seeking Him and in our obedience is the ultimate satisfaction, not in the pleasure itself.
One cannot name a pleasure—productivity in work, food, visual beauty, sexual pleasure, the beauty of music, even service to God—that cannot be perverted if the pleasure begins to be god instead of God the Father. A saying that seems to apply here is: What God has given us for our delight was never meant to satisfy*. The corollary of that saying, the Law of Diminishing returns, states it in another way: The more you do anything, the less it satisfies*. (*from Everlasting Adventures: JH Ranch.com)
Only in submitting to the Father, only in submitting all of the resources He has provided to us to His control do we have hope of achieving satisfaction, of achieving a permanent and eternal victory over the temptation to make the creation into a god. Christ knew all of this before Satan approached Him in the wilderness. We would be best served by preparing ourselves with the same knowledge. Only then can we live in the peace and joy on earth that is a foretaste of Heaven. An apparent delay in gratification, one long enough to be assured of the Father’s pleasure in our activity, ultimately results in the greatest pleasure—the pure pleasure that comes through pleasing our Father.
Lord God, help us to see beyond the immediate to the eternal. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
His Grace in Daily Circumstances
Hallelujah,
Grace like rain falls down on me,
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed
away, washed away. Todd Agnew
The circumstances of life are never the same, but patterns of life are frequently similar. I am tempted, each time when presented with a familiar pattern of circumstances, to slip into old and unhealthy patterns of response. What I need at those times is not repetition of destructive responses, but a renewing of my mind so that I break a chain of sinful habits: anger, anxiety, frustration, overreaction.
How do I do that? I cannot, at least not in my own power, through shear human effort, sustain the changes that lead to spiritual and emotional health. When I recognize my helplessness to change on my own, when I repent of my propensity to force an outcome or "handle" a situation in the strength of personal force, I am left with what I have always known but too seldom admit: I need grace.
In those times, when the circumstances are so infuriating, when my urge to control is so dominant, IF--and there is a capitalization for a reason--IF I ask God for grace to pour out on me and I receive His gift of grace willingly, He transforms my mind.
The definition of a miracle is: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs (m-w.com). We typically expect miracles to have physical manifestations--a healing of a cancer, a limb restored, inevitable injury avoided. I believe that the changes God's grace produces in our heart, while less visible, are no less miraculous. There is no other explanation for the changes that occur in my life, and yours, when attitudes are suddenly or progressively altered in response to our asking for His grace.
Oswald Chambers said that God does not give us overcoming life, but life as we overcome (My Utmost for His Highest). When we submit our circumstances to God and ask for His grace to fall on us like rain, when we go forth depending on Him, we find that we have the same circumstances but a renewed mind, a changed heart, and a miracle of relational healing that is only possible because He has rained down His love upon us. He gives us new life as He gives us the power to overcome our old, destructive habits.
Father God, help us to pause in the midst of the stresses of life and ask for your grace to pour out upon us, to allow you to change our habitual responses to those that please and honor you. In Jesus's name we pray, Amen.
Grace like rain falls down on me,
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed
away, washed away. Todd Agnew
The circumstances of life are never the same, but patterns of life are frequently similar. I am tempted, each time when presented with a familiar pattern of circumstances, to slip into old and unhealthy patterns of response. What I need at those times is not repetition of destructive responses, but a renewing of my mind so that I break a chain of sinful habits: anger, anxiety, frustration, overreaction.
How do I do that? I cannot, at least not in my own power, through shear human effort, sustain the changes that lead to spiritual and emotional health. When I recognize my helplessness to change on my own, when I repent of my propensity to force an outcome or "handle" a situation in the strength of personal force, I am left with what I have always known but too seldom admit: I need grace.
In those times, when the circumstances are so infuriating, when my urge to control is so dominant, IF--and there is a capitalization for a reason--IF I ask God for grace to pour out on me and I receive His gift of grace willingly, He transforms my mind.
The definition of a miracle is: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs (m-w.com). We typically expect miracles to have physical manifestations--a healing of a cancer, a limb restored, inevitable injury avoided. I believe that the changes God's grace produces in our heart, while less visible, are no less miraculous. There is no other explanation for the changes that occur in my life, and yours, when attitudes are suddenly or progressively altered in response to our asking for His grace.
Oswald Chambers said that God does not give us overcoming life, but life as we overcome (My Utmost for His Highest). When we submit our circumstances to God and ask for His grace to fall on us like rain, when we go forth depending on Him, we find that we have the same circumstances but a renewed mind, a changed heart, and a miracle of relational healing that is only possible because He has rained down His love upon us. He gives us new life as He gives us the power to overcome our old, destructive habits.
Father God, help us to pause in the midst of the stresses of life and ask for your grace to pour out upon us, to allow you to change our habitual responses to those that please and honor you. In Jesus's name we pray, Amen.
Friday, July 23, 2010
About Panda Bears, Self-Identity, and Personal Destiny
Who you are, it may be said depends on who you love, and you become the one you authentically are only when you come to love, above all else, that which deserves to be loved above all else. Authentic self-love, then, belongs to those who love God. This is presumably why, before implying the legitimacy of self-love, Jesus commanded the love of God--with all one's heart and mind and soul. Self-love is wrong when it is love that cares nothing for God. But such a self is an imposter, pretending to an authenticity it does not possess. Such misidentification of the self is the very essence of sin, whereas accurate identification of the self, which can derive only from love for God, is at the heart of righteousness. In sum, when you identify yourself accurately, you render self-love compatible with hope. Glenn Tinder in "The Fabric of Hope"
I am not sure how many folks have seen Kung Fu Panda, an animated movie about a panda bear who is anticipated to be the deliverer for his people. He is incredulous that anyone thinks he is the "chosen one". His story struck a chord in me: his biggest obstacle in becoming who he was destined to be was not his physical ability (though his physique did not inspire confidence as a combatant). Nor was the primary problem he had to overcome the enemy that he would eventually face. The greatest barrier to Kung Fu Panda becoming who he was destined to be was his lack of identity: he had never really known who he was or what his purpose was, so when presented with what was his ultimate destiny, he was totally befuddled and in a state of panic. His mentor, who could have been viewed as a Kung Fu version of C.S.Lewis' "Hound of Heaven", is relentless in coaching and training, loving, him into being the person the Panda was destined to become.
Does that sound familiar? Does to me. Presented with a new task, a new challenge, an "unknown" that requires learning and/or applying new skills, especially if those skills are displayed in a public forum where they can be evaluated as they are used, my confidence is as solid as butter in an oven. Why? Not sure, but I think I am beginning, at age 60, to get it. For most of my life, I have adapted but not identified; I have morphed into the shape that the environmental mold dictated because I knew of no shape of my own to become. Destiny was a girl's name, not my God-ordained purpose in life.
Our indentity is formed through contact with others. Our mother first, then depending upon our gender, we develop varying aspects of our identity in relationship to both our mother and our father. If those relationships are disrupted, disfigured, incomplete, lacking altogether, then we have an unhealthy template for developing an identity with our Heavenly Father, but we will identify with something or someone, even if it is not God.
The Bible talks of offering our lives as living sacrifices for God. That is the destiny of all believers, really the planned destiny of all people, though many do not fulfill that destiny. Before we are willing to sacrifice ourselves we have to have such a close relationship with Someone we trust that we see that sacrifice as purposeful, as part of our destiny. We have to see His love as unconditional and present regardless of our success or failure.
Each day we face challenges that turn us inward and tempt us to become self-absorbed and self-protective. In these moments, if we know God as Father and Jesus as Savior, we know His love is going to be there regardless of what we choose to do. Our need to be self-protective is removed, for we trust in One Who protects at all times, regardless of the physical, emotional, or spiritual danger in which we are placed. We know, even if we die, that He is there, and that He is in control. What liberation there is in having our identity vested in the only Person Who can validate us.
Every significant decision in life brings us back to the same truth: Our destiny is to turn to Him. Do we wander about looking for something else with which to identify or do we find ourselves in Him, the Someone who has established the destiny of every person, a destiny that is lived out in the small and the great moments, the quiet and the magnificent events, the tragic and triumphant circumstances of each of our lives.
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: "O Lord, save me!" The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:1-7
I am not sure how many folks have seen Kung Fu Panda, an animated movie about a panda bear who is anticipated to be the deliverer for his people. He is incredulous that anyone thinks he is the "chosen one". His story struck a chord in me: his biggest obstacle in becoming who he was destined to be was not his physical ability (though his physique did not inspire confidence as a combatant). Nor was the primary problem he had to overcome the enemy that he would eventually face. The greatest barrier to Kung Fu Panda becoming who he was destined to be was his lack of identity: he had never really known who he was or what his purpose was, so when presented with what was his ultimate destiny, he was totally befuddled and in a state of panic. His mentor, who could have been viewed as a Kung Fu version of C.S.Lewis' "Hound of Heaven", is relentless in coaching and training, loving, him into being the person the Panda was destined to become.
Does that sound familiar? Does to me. Presented with a new task, a new challenge, an "unknown" that requires learning and/or applying new skills, especially if those skills are displayed in a public forum where they can be evaluated as they are used, my confidence is as solid as butter in an oven. Why? Not sure, but I think I am beginning, at age 60, to get it. For most of my life, I have adapted but not identified; I have morphed into the shape that the environmental mold dictated because I knew of no shape of my own to become. Destiny was a girl's name, not my God-ordained purpose in life.
Our indentity is formed through contact with others. Our mother first, then depending upon our gender, we develop varying aspects of our identity in relationship to both our mother and our father. If those relationships are disrupted, disfigured, incomplete, lacking altogether, then we have an unhealthy template for developing an identity with our Heavenly Father, but we will identify with something or someone, even if it is not God.
The Bible talks of offering our lives as living sacrifices for God. That is the destiny of all believers, really the planned destiny of all people, though many do not fulfill that destiny. Before we are willing to sacrifice ourselves we have to have such a close relationship with Someone we trust that we see that sacrifice as purposeful, as part of our destiny. We have to see His love as unconditional and present regardless of our success or failure.
Each day we face challenges that turn us inward and tempt us to become self-absorbed and self-protective. In these moments, if we know God as Father and Jesus as Savior, we know His love is going to be there regardless of what we choose to do. Our need to be self-protective is removed, for we trust in One Who protects at all times, regardless of the physical, emotional, or spiritual danger in which we are placed. We know, even if we die, that He is there, and that He is in control. What liberation there is in having our identity vested in the only Person Who can validate us.
Every significant decision in life brings us back to the same truth: Our destiny is to turn to Him. Do we wander about looking for something else with which to identify or do we find ourselves in Him, the Someone who has established the destiny of every person, a destiny that is lived out in the small and the great moments, the quiet and the magnificent events, the tragic and triumphant circumstances of each of our lives.
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: "O Lord, save me!" The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:1-7
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Doubt Overruled by Grace
He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:29-31 (NRSV)
What is it about my faith that makes me identify so much with Peter before the resurrection? When I read about his experience with Jesus in walking upon the water, I think I know exactly how he felt. Here is how it goes in my life:
"Okay, Lord, you have shown me, over and over again, your miraculous power; more importantly you have shown me grace that is free to all who will receive it; even more importantly, you have loved me so much that you were willing to die for me, and you had the power to overcome death, both in your resurrection and in bringing me 'back to life' spiritually. So, why is believing in your next plan for me such a stretch of my faith?"
For Peter, it was walking on water and accepting that Christ was not to be their earthly, political king, and many other challenges to to his preconceived ideas. What is my stretch, what is my weak point in believing? I think it is in accepting His gifts as unending, and unpredictable, and uncontrollable, and not for me to dictate, but accepting life as it comes from Him. My stretch is to live life each day without worry, without the constant anxiety that can plague my life and that of so many believers (and non-believers). My leap of faith is to accept that my 'daily bread' is more than baked food, that it is His Holy Spirit in all its power residing in me, allowing Him to overrule my preconceived idea that He is frequently displeased with me, that His love is conditional and can be withheld if I "screw it up".
Like Peter, I step out "onto the water" looking Him in the eye, then I falter; my faith is weak, blown asunder by the first breeze of circumstances that do not go my way. I look around for something to hang onto because my momentary faith vaporizes; or I see something in the water that distracts me (a shark, oil?) and I forget who invited me out for a miracle. I panic, my fears become onerous; the toxic elements of anxiety ooze from my pores and create physical discomfort. And then, I get angry at myself for my lack of faith; my anger turns inward and becomes depression, and I submerge myself in a pool of self-pity.
Sounds pretty bad, doesn't it? But all the while, even in the worst of those moments, I have knowledge of His love; that is the unsinkable life preserver that I cling to day in and day out. My personality, your personality, may lead to all sorts of doubts and frustrating points of inconsistent faith. But He stands ready and waiting, not willing that we should perish, and always loving, not because of our behavior, not because of our success or failure, not because of our obedience or the lack thereof, but because He is love, and He loved us first.
Our salvation is complete; our temporary doubts do not change Him; the devil prowls to distract and discourage us, to have us view life as a performance to be graded and to expect a failing grade. That is not how the Jesus who predicted Peter's failure dealt with Peter; He knew he would panic on the water; He knew Peter would deny Him three times; He knew Peter better than Peter knew Peter, and He restored Him, lovingly, poetically, "Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep," in a three-fold cadence of graceful instruction.
He will restore us, too. He knows where we will falter; He knows our weaknesses; He loved us before we were born and knew all this would happen; and His grace is constantly at work restoring our lives to the place that He planned for them all along. Take heart, He has overcome the world, just as He said, and the Creator of all we see is actively restoring you and me, recreating us in His image.
He is the great I AM. And He loves you and me. Glory be to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who was, and is, and is to come. Amen.
What is it about my faith that makes me identify so much with Peter before the resurrection? When I read about his experience with Jesus in walking upon the water, I think I know exactly how he felt. Here is how it goes in my life:
"Okay, Lord, you have shown me, over and over again, your miraculous power; more importantly you have shown me grace that is free to all who will receive it; even more importantly, you have loved me so much that you were willing to die for me, and you had the power to overcome death, both in your resurrection and in bringing me 'back to life' spiritually. So, why is believing in your next plan for me such a stretch of my faith?"
For Peter, it was walking on water and accepting that Christ was not to be their earthly, political king, and many other challenges to to his preconceived ideas. What is my stretch, what is my weak point in believing? I think it is in accepting His gifts as unending, and unpredictable, and uncontrollable, and not for me to dictate, but accepting life as it comes from Him. My stretch is to live life each day without worry, without the constant anxiety that can plague my life and that of so many believers (and non-believers). My leap of faith is to accept that my 'daily bread' is more than baked food, that it is His Holy Spirit in all its power residing in me, allowing Him to overrule my preconceived idea that He is frequently displeased with me, that His love is conditional and can be withheld if I "screw it up".
Like Peter, I step out "onto the water" looking Him in the eye, then I falter; my faith is weak, blown asunder by the first breeze of circumstances that do not go my way. I look around for something to hang onto because my momentary faith vaporizes; or I see something in the water that distracts me (a shark, oil?) and I forget who invited me out for a miracle. I panic, my fears become onerous; the toxic elements of anxiety ooze from my pores and create physical discomfort. And then, I get angry at myself for my lack of faith; my anger turns inward and becomes depression, and I submerge myself in a pool of self-pity.
Sounds pretty bad, doesn't it? But all the while, even in the worst of those moments, I have knowledge of His love; that is the unsinkable life preserver that I cling to day in and day out. My personality, your personality, may lead to all sorts of doubts and frustrating points of inconsistent faith. But He stands ready and waiting, not willing that we should perish, and always loving, not because of our behavior, not because of our success or failure, not because of our obedience or the lack thereof, but because He is love, and He loved us first.
Our salvation is complete; our temporary doubts do not change Him; the devil prowls to distract and discourage us, to have us view life as a performance to be graded and to expect a failing grade. That is not how the Jesus who predicted Peter's failure dealt with Peter; He knew he would panic on the water; He knew Peter would deny Him three times; He knew Peter better than Peter knew Peter, and He restored Him, lovingly, poetically, "Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep," in a three-fold cadence of graceful instruction.
He will restore us, too. He knows where we will falter; He knows our weaknesses; He loved us before we were born and knew all this would happen; and His grace is constantly at work restoring our lives to the place that He planned for them all along. Take heart, He has overcome the world, just as He said, and the Creator of all we see is actively restoring you and me, recreating us in His image.
He is the great I AM. And He loves you and me. Glory be to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who was, and is, and is to come. Amen.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Yes, but...
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30.
What is the greatest obstacle in my life--what prevents me from being yoked with Jesus in daily life? It is the "yes, but...'s" of my life. I read His words, and in my heart I believe them: if I walk with Him, go in His direction, pull with Him the burdens that He has chosen for me, He will make life less burdensome than I can imagine. My mind loves the theory; in fantasy I rejoice at the relief of following Him in everything I do. In practice, when I do follow Him, I find peace and joy.
Then my emotions redirect my spirit. Can He really take care of this relationship? No, I will take over here and resolve this conflict once and for all; my way or the highway. Will He provide for my needs? Well, maybe, but what about those things that are wants that I have converted to needs in my head? Is He really in control of the circumstances of my work? No, He needs my help; not my cooperation, my help since I am so experienced. Is His timing perfect in all things? Well, maybe, but I think I need to push this along just to be sure it gets done on time.
Yes, but....that is how I respond to His invitation to share His yoke. Each time I really say yes and set aside my own agenda, I find peace and joy and knowledge of His love that goes beyond my feeble understanding. Each time I say "yes, but.." I am in effect lying to Him and deceiving myself, for the affirmative followed by "but" really means "no", especially when the "yes" that is called for is one of unconditional faith.
So what's the answer to eliminating or at least reducing the "buts" that follow my "yes"? Prayer...prayer...prayer...layered upon reading His word and topped with a curative dose of humility--asking Him to "help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24), to acknowledge that "in me dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18), and to recognize that His "grace is sufficient" (2 Cor 12:9)--to the extent that I allow Him to lead, to the extent that I pray as I breathe--continually and naturally, to the extent that I lose myself in His sovereignty and trust His omniscience and omnipotence, my burdens become His and I become His more fully than ever before.
Lord, the process is not complete, but You are able to bring us all to completion in You, if not in this life, then as we totally yield in the next. Let our yes's be just "yes" now as in eternity so that we may serve with joy, now and forevermore, and have the peace that only you can provide. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
What is the greatest obstacle in my life--what prevents me from being yoked with Jesus in daily life? It is the "yes, but...'s" of my life. I read His words, and in my heart I believe them: if I walk with Him, go in His direction, pull with Him the burdens that He has chosen for me, He will make life less burdensome than I can imagine. My mind loves the theory; in fantasy I rejoice at the relief of following Him in everything I do. In practice, when I do follow Him, I find peace and joy.
Then my emotions redirect my spirit. Can He really take care of this relationship? No, I will take over here and resolve this conflict once and for all; my way or the highway. Will He provide for my needs? Well, maybe, but what about those things that are wants that I have converted to needs in my head? Is He really in control of the circumstances of my work? No, He needs my help; not my cooperation, my help since I am so experienced. Is His timing perfect in all things? Well, maybe, but I think I need to push this along just to be sure it gets done on time.
Yes, but....that is how I respond to His invitation to share His yoke. Each time I really say yes and set aside my own agenda, I find peace and joy and knowledge of His love that goes beyond my feeble understanding. Each time I say "yes, but.." I am in effect lying to Him and deceiving myself, for the affirmative followed by "but" really means "no", especially when the "yes" that is called for is one of unconditional faith.
So what's the answer to eliminating or at least reducing the "buts" that follow my "yes"? Prayer...prayer...prayer...layered upon reading His word and topped with a curative dose of humility--asking Him to "help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24), to acknowledge that "in me dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18), and to recognize that His "grace is sufficient" (2 Cor 12:9)--to the extent that I allow Him to lead, to the extent that I pray as I breathe--continually and naturally, to the extent that I lose myself in His sovereignty and trust His omniscience and omnipotence, my burdens become His and I become His more fully than ever before.
Lord, the process is not complete, but You are able to bring us all to completion in You, if not in this life, then as we totally yield in the next. Let our yes's be just "yes" now as in eternity so that we may serve with joy, now and forevermore, and have the peace that only you can provide. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)