Posted: December 1st, 2011 |
Filed under: life | Tags: divisions, faith, grace |
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Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,… -Revelation 12:7
We know the war, we feel it in our bellies. Some will say, “Go easy, you’re treading dangerous ground.’ I say, “I will not go easy because I know the ground on which I tread.”
Some want things to be less controversial. The Gospel is controversial. They want the message to be easier to take. The Gospel wears a person out. It’s hard for the brain to stretch for the fit.
The war doesn’t rest. Coddling the status quo is a win for the other team.
Peace between good and evil is an impossibility; the very pretence of it would, in fact, be the triumph of the powers of darkness. -Charles Spurgeon
These things aren’t said to echo for no end. These things are said to wake them up, those who want to nurse at a breast instead of pick up a sword. If it hits home, then do something about it. It’s uncomfortable because it makes religious busy work look like kindergarten finger paintings. Countless broken people are out there and they need to know what has been done on their behalf.
The mother bird pushes her babies out of the comfortable nest to make them fly, not to kill them.
What would you say to the baby bird who clings to the nest and curses the mother? What kind of world would we live in if birds did not fly? They would be trampled by their predator.
What kind of people use His name, but do not know His voice?
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ’Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ’I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ’We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ -Luke 13:24-27
The ‘narrow door’ is Jesus. It’s so narrow that you cannot fit through it. You can do a lot of work in His name. You can eat and drink in His presence. You can hear His teaching your whole life. You can do all of these things and still not know Him. He’ll say that He doesn’t know from where you come. “Workers of evil.”
Softening this message is like censoring the Cross. Too many people are in their own personal hell and a censored message can’t compare.
A few years ago I was driving home from a Bible Study I taught at my church. A woman in attendance took issue with some things that I taught. I was praying and asked God, “How do I explain you to them?” I was having a hard time because I know what the message sounds like. His response was, “Don’t apologize for me.”
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” -Jesus, Matthew 10:34
A storm rages around an off-course ship. Are you a ‘beacon’ on the shore or are you the storm? A traveler chased a mirage into a scorching desert. Are you a well-keeper or are you a vulture waiting for your next meal? A soldier is wounded on the battle field. Are you going to drag him to the Healer or are you going to finish the enemy’s work with your bayonet?
The sailor finds the beacon only to not be dry enough for the lighthouse keeper’s fancy rug. The parched traveler finds the well only to be too thirsty for the stingy well-keeper. The soldier is too hurt to get out of the way while the others march past him.
Teach the sailor to be a lighthouse keeper, he knows the storm better than anyone. Teach the traveler how to draw from the well. Living Water never runs dry. Help those who fall on your path. They’ll be there to help you when you fall later.
The Gospel is divisive and can’t be divided. It’s divisive in the way the Sword divides flesh from Spirit. It can’t be divided because if you water it down, no one will recognize it. It becomes religious fluff.
“…when we preach the Gospel to every creature, the Gospel makes its own division and Christ’s sheep hear His voice and follow Him.”-Charles Spurgeon, Too Little for the Lamb
Posted: November 23rd, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: aftermath, faith, grace, purpose, sin |
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Broken One,
I’m thinking about you today. Holidays don’t make everything better, do they? Holidays only stop the routine distractions that keep you from thinking and shove the reality into your tiny tent of safety. Reality echos off the emptiness. The things you used to bake aren’t welcome on that table anymore. Life goes on without you and you’re still here to feel the loss. They have each other and you have your emptiness.
Something I learned in that tent is that all the meaning I used to give these weeks of whirl are drowned out by the deeper meaning of what they’re really about. Instead of my ability to create a magical experience, I was whittled down to complete inability to right my wrongs and fix my mistakes. When I was unable to create meaning, Meaning found me. The removal of routine distractions forced me to see what had real Meaning.
It’s a quiet voice that won’t let you die. It’s as without effort as your heartbeat and your never ending breath in and breath out. You can’t stop life no more than you can create it. You can’t will yourself dead just like the dying can’t will themselves more time. The fact that you’re still alive is proof that you still have purpose. It all has purpose. The pain of emptiness, loneliness, and brokenness have a purpose and no one can save you from it. You may not know it right now, (I’m almost positive that you don’t), but your pain is your salvation…real salvation, not sentimental salvation. No one can save you from what becomes your salvation.
The fact that you’re still here is proof that your story isn’t over. That kind of hope is stronger than your strength to make it out of the desire to make it. You know you’re at the bottom when you no longer have the desire to make it, but life won’t let you go. There is still hope of rescue when physical death won’t rescue you.
I want to challenge you to reject self-pity. I know, at times, it has become your comfort. I know that self-pity carries a cheap hope that someone will see your eyes and do something to take your pain away. But, if someone can do that for you, then it alleviates your need for Jesus. Don’t do that. Don’t look to a person to do what only He can. I promise you, even though He feels like He’s keeping His distance, just like everyone else, He’s not. Your suffering is only for a moment in the big collection of moments.
Suffering from your own failure is aggressive because there is no relief to be found in guiltlessness. Guiltlessness doesn’t exist.
This is me offering a silent nod in your direction because I recognize where you are. I know how bad it hurts. But, more than knowing the suffering, I know the rest. I know what is coming and I have no doubt in your survival. I see your suffering as birth pains. You can’t rescue a woman from labor because you would take the new life away from her. Like a woman in labor, embrace the suffering with hope. Hope is the balm for the pain.
You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does. -1 Peter 5:9-11 MSG
Those of us who have been through it, like women who can recount every moment of childbirth, sit and marvel at the miracle. You don’t fully understand unless you’ve been through it, and those who have love to tell the story. You’re going to have your own story soon. You’ll be able to sit around a table of Thanksgiving with new meaning and new life. All the old that you thought was real will fade in comparison.
Will you do something today? I know you don’t feel like it, I know it seems useless, but will you bake something? Bake something as a testament to the fact that you’re still alive. Eat at a table even though some of the chairs are empty. They won’t always be empty. Bake a meal as a labor of hope. It lets the wolves know that they have not yet sucked every last drop of blood from your veins.
Take this promise from God and use it to get through the next few weeks. I know it hurts, but there is hope. I know this because I have seen it. He knows where you are, that you’re in exile. He knows that everything has been destroyed, and He knows how bad it hurts. He’s not leaving you there, He’s making something new. He’ll never leave you, even if everyone else does.
This exile is just like the days of Noah for me: I promised then that the waters of Noah would never again flood the earth. I’m promising now no more anger, no more dressing you down. For even if the mountains walk away and the hills fall to pieces,
My love won’t walk away from you, my covenant commitment of peace won’t fall apart.” The God who has compassion on you says so. -Isaiah 54:9-10 MSG
The God who has compassion on you says so.
Posted: November 16th, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: faith, purpose |
17 Comments »
When I fell, I walked through years of condemnation and rejection. Those closest to me thought that they were making a stand for God. They wrote words to me saying that they were speaking the mind of Christ, “What hell to have to hide the truth of what you’ve done. Your guilty prayers of forgiveness are empty.” They enveloped me in hopelessness. They carried my bed to the other side of the gate and stood guard around the Cross. They would not let me near, but I was too weak to crawl anyway.
The fire raged around me. Entities that were not friends screamed at me from the inside out and from the outside in. I was being consumed.
They said that they believed they were doing what God would have them do. I know how it sounds and if ‘here and now’ is all there is, then they would be horribly and blatantly wrong. But, you must know, I believe they were doing what God wanted them to do. Not because it was right in and of itself, but because of what God brought out of it. I do not believe that God worked in spite of their mistakes. I believe that God wanted them to reject me, …even in His name. It was a fire of condemnation that needed to be fanned to rage.
Every single bit of false that was in me was consumed. I believed them when they told me that I could not be sorry enough to be forgiven. I believed them when they told me that I was further from God than I had ever been. The false that was consumed was the hint of hope that I could be sorry enough to be forgiven. My hope in myself, my ability to pay, and my ability to, in time, bounce back was destroyed. I, all that remained in all that “I” was, was completely destroyed.
It’s normal to think that kind of hopelessness is not from God, but I have been there and I can tell you that it was. It’s not because of them. Their words and attitudes are full of disgusting pride and fat on self-righteousness, but it’s not about them. It’s about what they were used for. The hopelessness that I felt was not a destination, it was a tool to get me to a destination. I had to feel every moment of it so that I would know what I was rescued from. If hell is separation from God, then I got to eat a full meal of it.
If I look at them without considering the sovereignty of God, then I am repulsed. But, when I consider the garden that grew where the fire once consumed, then my mind goes directly to a God. He knows exactly what it takes to break the steel chains of self-inflated lies that keep you from being free. I am a very strong-willed punk. It took a dose of hell to break me. Who better to use than the people who will discern His voice and obey? While I can see their lies, I can see the way God used those lies. I can thank God for it and forgive what they inflicted.
Sometimes God instigates a hellish time for you, but if your faith is nearsighted you will only see your circumstances and the purpose will be blurred. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart on purpose. It caused Pharaoh to make the Israelite’s life hell. When Moses cried out to God, “Does this look like rescue to you?” (Ex5:22, The Message), he wanted to know the “why?”. God made it clear that He wanted the Israelite’s to know what they were being rescued from, just in case they were tempted to go back (Ex6:6, 7:4, 14:4, 14:18). He wanted them to know who He is.
There is no point when God is not in on what is going on with you. It’s not about looking at everyone else and concerning yourself with how wrong they are. God is using every bit of it to lead you somewhere, or burn you, or break you. Do you want in on this or not? That’s the real ‘coming to Jesus’ moment.
Look at what Job said when he figured this stuff out:
You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose. -Job 10:12-13
I love the way The Message puts it: “You gave me life itself, and incredible love. You watched and guarded every breath I took. But you never told me about this part.”
I am trying to get you to see that you cannot look at your circumstances, at the people who wrong you, or at your own failures and think that this is all there is. This is a moment in a lifetime of moments. In all of it, there is never a point where things get out of God’s hands. He’s God. Nobody wins against Him.
He’s not going to rescue you out of your circumstances. He’s using your circumstances to rescue you.
You build a shelter to sleep under at night. Then, you go out during the day to find Him. You look everywhere, working sun-up to sun-down, only to go back to your shelter defeated. You will never find Him until you realize that He is where you are. He is the shelter that keeps you covered at night. He sits where you’re real and waits for you to come back. He wants to heal you where you’re broken and you’re broken where you don’t want to be.
Though he slay me, I will hope in him… -Job 13:15
He wants you to trust Him like that.
Posted: November 14th, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: faith, grace, purpose |
10 Comments »
“Beware of being obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are a saint and say, “I will never do this or that,” in all probability this will be exactly what God will require of you. … The important consistency in a saint is not to principle but to the divine life.” -Oswald Chambers
People believe more in a necessity that life be guided by religion than they do in the reality that life is guided by the Holy Spirit. God is asking these people to do something they said they would never do. They’re tormented right now because the choice won’t go away. God is trying to teach them to trust His voice, but they can’t make it line up with what they think. And so they’re tormented.
God told Ezekiel that he had to eat something that would religiously defile him. Ezekiel responded by saying, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never defiled myself (Ez 4:14).” God couldn’t possibly be asking him to do this. But, He was. There was a much bigger purpose for it than Ezekiel could see.
He had to let go of his religion in order to obey the God of his religion.
God told Balaam to go somewhere that was ‘forbidden’. Remember the story about Balaam’s donkey talking to him? Balaam was doing what God told him to do and an angel stood like a road block on the path. The angel called Balaam’s journey ‘perverse’ and said that God was angry. But…God told him to go. It made no sense. A donkey spoke, Balaam was a mess, and the angel ended the conversation by telling Balaam to continue the journey. Balaam had a job to do, though he didn’t know what it was yet. He had to trust God’s mercy and he stuck as close as he could to Him. (read Numbers 22)
I know the fear and trembling that blankets obedience.
Peter had a vision where He was asked by God to eat something that would religiously defile him. He responded by saying, “By no means, Lord…(Acts 10:14)” God taught Peter that life in Him is not about the ‘don’t's’ and the ‘musts’. It’s about His purpose for you, but you get used while you’re struggling with Him, so it’s hard to see the purpose until you can look back on it with some distance.
Every step is a choice and we struggle to never misstep with the wrong choice. You know when God is leading you down a path you said you would never travel and you remain where you are in misery. You have to see, in these stories, that God sometimes does lead people in directions that force you to rely on His mercy and His grace.
When you are in that place, your life is not your own.
You are completely dependent on Jesus. You are exactly where you are supposed to be when you move beyond yourself like that. It gets easier to trust Him the more you let go. It feels unmapped, but it’s not. When you get in there, the map you’ve been using all along starts to become a lot more clear. It doesn’t take long before you find yourself chasing trails all over the map like it’s all new again.
You have to let go of the idea of what your life should or was supposed to look like. Here and Now life happens and you don’t get to write it. It’s time to step beyond yourself and trust that He knows what He’s doing. In that life of complete dependance on Him, you’ll lose the ties that are binding you. Sometimes those ties are people, sometimes they’re something else. You will suffer loss, but it’s only to learn what it means to say:
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”-Philippians 3:7-11
Posted: October 14th, 2010 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: faith |
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“So—who is like me? Who holds a candle to me?” says The Holy. Look at the night skies: Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name—so magnificent! so powerful!” – God through Isaiah 40:25-26
God’s hand holds this back and releases that. He speaks and earth shudders. He whispers and peace falls like flakes of snow with a promise to blanket. He shuts out the sky and opens up the earth. With a shrug, it could all be over. With a nod, it could all begin again.
There are those who argue that God does not impose His purposes on those who want to go their own way. But, He can dry a path in the sea only to release the dam of His purpose like a monstrous swallow. Sometimes God shows up like a relentless avalanche of discomfort and a slow moving ambulance.
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days. -John 11:5-6
He does whatever He wants without apparent regard to how you feel, what you treasure, or who you love. He has a purpose that reaches beyond your thread count or your blueprints.
The infringement. The disregard. He gives you a glimpse, only to make you wait so long you lose it. He makes you work out only to cancel the race. He fans your excitement and makes you watch the fire die. The wild goose chase of faith and certainty.
Of what are you certain? Certain that He’ll show up on time? Certain that He’ll pave your path? ‘All you have to do is ask’, so you ask and ask and He returns your prayers with silence.
Why does the God, who has storm clouds at His feet and a saddle for cherubim (psalm 18), seem to saunter when you call?
“Master, save us! We’re going down!” -Matthew 8:24-25
You’re a storm inside. Your hopes are in a boat that is being overtaken by the Sea of the Unknown. What good is the power of prayer, the power of having the Creator at your beck and call, if He doesn’t pick up the phone?
Then [Lord] call and I will answer, or let me speak, and You answer me. -Job 13:22 AMP
We know we have an audience. We know that when we whimper, His throne room shudders. We believe in His sovereignty when it serves us. We trust His control, when it works in our obvious favor. When things go wrong, we give homage to evil and to ungodliness. Our half-developed faith has us missing God in the silence. Missing God in the waiting…in the pain of struggle.
Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for believing.” -John 11:14-15
You can’t control God. Evil isn’t winning. There is a reason for death. There is a motive for the end. There is purpose in your pain, use for your failure and guidance in your brick walls.
We’re told to fear God. Why fear a god who is tied up by the wrong prayers? ‘Get it right and all your dreams will come true.’ I would have more respect for the prayers. We’re told to trust God. Why trust a god who cannot impose his will on a willful race? I would trust human nature more.
God is not a domesticated beast who sits when He’s told to sit and fetches what you tell Him to fetch. If anyone is on a leash, it’s you. You talk a good talk. Can you stand?
“Gird up your loins now like a man; I will demand of you, and you answer Me.” -God in Job 40:7 AMP (emphasis mine)
He wants you to know Him. When you know Him, you’ll trust Him. His reasons go far beyond your awareness. He is trusting you with His silence.
The death of self. The mourning of loss. The waiting. The doubting. The tear bruised cheeks. And then the dust coming up the road. The thunder in the dark clouds. The same voice that commands the sun to rise and kneel and the stars to gather and glitter is the very voice that ends the pain with a dominating….
“Remove the stone.” -John 11:39
“Silence!” The sea became smooth as glass.-Matthew 8:26
But, where is hope when circumstance controls?
“Master, by this time there’s a stench. He’s been dead four days!” -John 11:39
Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” -John 11:43
Life from death. Freedom through pain. Grace made evident by failure.
“What’s going on here? Wind and sea come to heel at his command!” -Matthew 8:27
“Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” -John 11:40
Posted: May 24th, 2010 |
Filed under: life | Tags: faith |
9 Comments »
…do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ … your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. -Matthew 6:31-33 ESV
There are times when we have to believe in something even though it goes against everything we can see. It’s hard when you are trying to push through something in faith and you’re not even certain it’s something that you’re supposed to push through.
How often are we brought to the end of the line and still have further to go? How can you keep walking when there is no road? How can you take the next step if there is nothing to stand on?
Human beings need to at least see the next step, but in this life we’re a part of, ‘seeing’ is not as important as stepping in faith. It’s draining to rely on faith.
In my own struggles, I don’t hold back my frustration with God. He made me, He can handle me. I’ve been brought through too many lessons of real faith to expect anything for myself from God. My journey has brought me to cliff edge after cliff edge where He’s told me to jump. I’ve jumped every time and a lot of them has left me with broken legs. As I heal, I am always posed with a question: ‘Do you still trust me?‘
‘I am not being a martyr. I’m the victim. God is a mean kid over an anthill with a magnifying glass, and I’m the ant. He could fix my life in five minutes if he wanted to, but he’d rather burn off my feelers, and watch me squirm!’ -Bruce, ‘Bruce Almighty’
Sometimes it feels like He’s just pushing me around to see how much I can take. My faith is strong and I know it and sometimes I feel like He’s just testing it all over the place. The stronger the faith, the bigger the test.
Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities! -Luke 12:48
He keeps me at the end of myself. It feels like I’m always in the ‘eleventh-hour’. I keep thinking that if life were easier, I’d be more useful to Him. But that’s not how it works.
But he said to me, “… my power is made perfect in weakness.” -2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV
The fact is, I do still trust Him. I can’t retract the measure of faith that He has given to me as a gift. I know it’s a gift. I can’t un-believe something I know is a certainty.
Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. -Matthew 6:34
I’m at the end of myself. The end of my means. The end of my self-confidence, understanding and sense of entitlement. I am just trying to get through today as I whisper to myself: ‘God help me,’ before I scream to the sky, ‘Bring it on!’
Posted: May 10th, 2010 |
Filed under: life | Tags: faith |
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As much as I think I understand certain glimpses of God, I still come to the place of understanding nothing.
It’s one thing to read scriptures like these…
Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more. -Luke 12:24
If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? -Luke 12:28
…but, it’s another thing to believe them when you can’t make the ends meet and threats to crush you are mounting.
We’ve seen threats keep their promises. We’ve been cancelled on, unplugged, and sought after by heartless collectors. No matter how hard we try, these things are here and now and they don’t care what you’re intentions are. We’ve been left sitting in the dark hanging on to scriptures that tell us that God will take care of us, but it’s evident that His timing doesn’t work with our schedules. He tells us once and the threats remind us over and over. The squeaky wheels in our lives are louder than the still small voice and we start to panic and doubt.
I hate that feeling. We’re supposed to be living with ‘spiritual’ vision, but physical circumstances make it nearly impossible. Then, we feel like we’re failing spiritually because of doubt. It’s a helpless feeling and I don’t like feeling helpless.
Have you ever noticed that relying on God often has us in the position of accepting kindness or generosity from people? It’s one thing for an answer to need or prayer to just materialize and nobody knows the difference. You can walk among people and none of them have to know that you’re struggling. But, more often than not, God uses other people to meet your need. Accepting it is humbling. Putting off pretense of ‘having it all together’ is hard.
I’m a much better giver than I am a receiver. I can give until I’m empty, but I can’t take. I can’t accept. I don’t like to feel indebted. Some people have a hard time giving and no problem receiving. I think that God walks us through terrain we try to avert.
And now I’m about to show him what he’s in for—the hard suffering that goes with this job. -God to Ananias regarding Paul in Acts 9:16
In taking us through places we don’t want to go, God is shaping us. He never promised to work in our strengths, but promised His strength in our weakness. To constantly feel the weakness and never be able to get our footing in this terrain of living by faith is tiresome. It’s crushing at times. It’s ‘hard suffering’ in a sense.
I often wonder if it will always be like this. I ask questions in my head and Wisdom shows up to ask questions, too.
Always be like what?
Needing to rely on…
Me? Needing to rely on me?
In one way or another, we will always be weak and will always need to rely on Him. We can float between courageous and feeble faith, but that’s just our dance. He stays in one spot. Quiet knowing and unmoved confidence.
He shows up. We’ve nicknamed Him the Eleventh-Hour God, but He shows up.
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” -Matthew 14:31 ESV
When He shows up, we’re face to face with our lack and have to apologize for being so…human.
What did you learn?
To hold out in faith a bit longer.
Okay, let’s run it again.
If the goal is faith, then comfort isn’t important. Maybe we, I, can look at struggle and discomfort as exercises of faith rather than evidence of abandonment.
“God always ignores your present level of completeness in favor or your ultimate future completeness. He is not concerned about making you blessed or happy right now, but He’s continually working out His ultimate perfection for you.” -Oswald Chambers
Posted: May 1st, 2010 |
Filed under: life | Tags: faith |
5 Comments »
Something that I think about a lot has to do with God’s control and my effort. I wonder how hard I’m supposed to try and if I’m wasting my time when I’m trying my hardest. Sometimes I’m sure that I’m headed in the right direction and other times I think I walked off the edges of the painting.
[God's] purpose is not a hit-or-miss thing dependent on what we do or don’t do, but a sure thing determined by his decision, flowing steadily from his initiative. -Romans 9:11
God has a purpose and it doesn’t depend on me. Yet, I still feel a sense of direction and I feel the responsibility to respond to it. I don’t shy away from extremes and I love the adventure of faith.
Sometimes I wonder if God tells us to do things just to test our faith, not to actually carry out what He asked us to do. Kind of like God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son.
God tested Abraham. -Genesis 22:1
He said, “Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I’ll point out to you.” -Genesis 22:2
The sense of direction Abraham had was crazy. But, it was clear.
I think people tend to hear this supernatural voice of direction and then put on their stubborn blinders. They position themselves to not see or hear anything that contradicts with what they know God told them to do. They mistake stubbornness for faith. They’re immovable and unbending. Even to God.
Abraham’s faith was fierce. He knew what he heard from God and he had every intention of carrying it out.
What if he thought that the only way he could please God was to not listen to anything that might contradict what he believed?
When he was questioned, his response was: ‘God will see to it…’
Abraham had an immovable faith in God, not in the certainty of himself or his understanding. He was movable. If your faith is in your own understanding, then it’s likely you’ll reject God when he tries to redirect you beyond your understanding.
God redirected Abraham when he was three days down a path, after he built an alter and tied his son to it. Who knows the sweat that Abraham bled. I can only imagine the exchanged looks between father and son or if Abraham looked Isaac in the eye at all. Abraham did not put his faith in his work, clearly from God, but in God Himself. Moveable and bendable, but still full of the faith that overthrew common sense.
And God saw to it.
Sometimes I feel like my life is a wild goose chase. I know when I hear from God. I know that I’m supposed to run to this corner, then travel to that corner. But, when nothing happens…I have to wonder. What is the point in all this? Is it just to see if I’ll do it?
Several years ago I read a book called ‘Hind’s Feet on High Places’. The main character was traveling a path that ‘The Shepherd’ led her down. He promised to give her purpose and lead her to her ‘heart’s desire’ which was a visible mountain top off in the distance. After a long and tiresome journey, she was about to enter another dark valley and couldn’t bare the thought of having to go through it again. She looked around to see how close she was to the mountain top and found it behind her. The dark valley in front of her seemed to be leading further away from her destination.
She cried out to ‘The Shepherd’ and asked Him if He was sending her on a wild goose chase. She wondered if He was telling her to go places just to see if she would go. He responded with a question that dug all the way to the intentions of her heart and the reasons for her obedience.
He asked, ‘What if I am?‘
It’s an interrogation of motivation.
We have no idea what God’s purposes are. We make decisions the best we can, but still question them. I have to come back to the verse I used earlier and take my stubborn blinders off so I can see to follow.
‘[God's] purpose is not a hit or miss thing dependent on what we do or don’t do…’
Is the journey of personal sacrifice for nothing? Would you follow even if you didn’t get anything in return?
I’m too far on this journey to turn back now, but I’m looking for the ‘ram caught by his thorns in the thicket.’
I don’t care if it’s all for nothing and that’s what keeps me resilient. I have no faith in my shape, but a crazy amount of faith in the one who shapes me at whim.
Posted: February 17th, 2010 |
Filed under: life | Tags: faith |
7 Comments »
I think emotional hell is in the absence of hope. The product of perceived separation from God. With no God, there is no forgiveness of sins. There is an eternal weight of failure that you can never unload whether you want to or not. There is no sorry that is sufficient, there is no rebuilding, there is no remaining chance. There is no opportunity to reach the destination your entire awareness has been reaching for your whole life and hell is knowing you have more life to live.
Hell is being awake to feel the most dreadful things. It’s the cramping and convulsing of knowledge that you have gone too far.
It’s screaming from behind a sealed off room.
Hope hangs on if there’s a chance that nobody has heard your cries yet. However, if you are heard and still sealed away, then that is where hell is.
Hell is not in knowing that no one can save you. It’s knowing that no one wants to save you. It’s the belief that you are not worth saving.
Separation from God is found in your faith. You find the object of your faith when you find the reason for your hope.
- If you hoped in your capacity to succeed. Your god is your potential.
- If you hoped in your license to be forgiven. Your god is your worth.
- If you hoped in your ability to earn back your standing. Your god is your appeal.
I think God lets us feel hopelessness because it’s the ultimate purification of faith.
When you are at the very end of yourself and all of the things that gave you hope are gone. What if everyone washes their hands of you? What if the mountains, after seeing you, pick up their skirts and walk away from you? What if the stars stop glimmering and blooming flowers lose their smell? Where does your hope come from then?
No one to remind you, nothing to look forward to, no songs sang for you, no letters written to you. Nothing giving you value or, even, evidence of your existence. You’re the ashes of a burned picture, the footprints from an estate sale, an empty crematory incinerator.
Where does your hope come from then?
Have you ever been so lost that your own thoughts are a startler to the otherwise ‘nothing’?
Don’t be afraid to doubt what you thought you knew and question your faith. Doubting everything is the precursor to finding the authentic Truth. Don’t fear questions about what you believe. If the Truth is true, then no question can unravel it.
In all of your doubting, questioning and thinking, it must, at some point, occur to you that you do exist. If you exist, then there must be more. If there is more, then there must be hope.
If hopelessness purifies faith, and mature faith is the goal, then were you put in this place for that reason? You can say that your own failures got you here, but since when was Jesus death not enough to put an end to sin as the end? If sin isn’t the deciding factor regarding you, then it has lost its power.
He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. -Matthew 3:12
Where do they go from here? They’ve lost their good name, their faith in themselves and now sin can’t even define them.
He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned. -Matthew 3:12
The only thing left is hope because this time as an outcast has proven to be crucial. If you hadn’t gone through the dark, you would not know what you know. If you had no reason to doubt and question, you wouldn’t have found the answers that changed everything. There is always hope because not only does your failure say nothing about you, but it’s actually sovereignly used to make you real. And we need more real.
Let the Truth breathe new life into your death. When what you thought should have ruined you didn’t, then what is there left? Nothing but hope that your own personal hell has a purpose. Your faith has been purified and made mature.
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. -James 1:2-4
Posted: January 28th, 2010 |
Filed under: life | Tags: faith |
6 Comments »
You have to think about what you believe, look at the way you express that and see if they line up. There is always a beginning of simplicity, but it’s so decorated with fancy speech, smart suits and flashy teeth that it becomes something else. Separate the affects from the requirement. Keep it simple-faith and practice-otherwise faith becomes ‘the result of practice’ and practice becomes criteria.
You know this has happened to you, this mix up, if you are telling someone that they have to ‘do‘ something to increase their faith. You know that you have stepped on the sidelines if you have perceivable standard for a believer.
When a person eats food, they must, somehow, put the food in their mouth, chew it up and swallow it. As a result, the body takes the food, breaks it down, uses what it needs and gets rid of the rest. The only requirement for the person to receive the nutrients is to get the food in their body. If they get that one thing right, the other things require no discussion. They are all a given.
If the criteria is to get the food in your body, then the way you get it in your body is not a requirement. Your body breaks down food on its own. It’s an effect that is completely involuntary by the host. Discussing the requirement of that process as though the host had something to do with it is a waste of time.
We can discuss the methods of chewing and divide ourselves on the proper ways to chew and how many times to chew before we swallow. We can form groups of people who agree that the saliva begins the digestion process. We can even assume that those with the most saliva may have an edge on this whole process so we find ways to increase our saliva.
There are so many ways to separate ourselves over the process and so many levels of understanding that can polarize. Those who know that saliva starts the process feel smarter than those who think stomach acid starts the process.
Arguments about spit and bile. Crossed arms, furrowed brows, split families and polarized towns over a system no person can control.
This is what our ‘churches’ have become. Split apart, segregated, segmented, divided, opposed, offended, polarized and full of pride.
The requirement is belief. Some will say that you must ‘confess with your mouth’ and then ‘believe’ (Rom10:9). People can have a conversation all day long about ‘confessing’ until it turns into an insurmountable argument, but it’s like saying a person must get the food in the body before it can be digested. It’s a given. Take away the requirement for ‘belief’ and you do not have the requirement for salvation.
In the same way, you can no more tell your digestive organs how to do their job than you can tell your spirit how to come alive. You are a ‘new creation’ by no doing of yourself. If you could manage that process you would not need belief and with no belief, you need no object of faith. With no object of faith, you do not need Jesus. Anything other than belief is absolutely moot because it’s either a given or an involuntary response.
moot: |moōt| adjective: subject to debate
If there is only one point that is not open for debate, then that should be the only thing we stand for. The only thing we’d risk our lives, social positions, family alliances, finances and credibility on: Jesus is the Son of God. He died for the sins (past, present, future: ALL) of every single person and if you believe that, it’s yours. Period.
1) When you stand for what you believe, what belief are you standing for?
I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. -1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV
No amount of wisdom in practice or maintenance will ever inspire faith. Going to church does not save you. Refraining from any activity will not earn you ‘eternal life.’ Reading your bible, feeding the hungry, being ‘joyful’, an ‘example’ or any other kinetic energy will not secure your ‘inheritance.’
God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. … He will never give up on you. Never forget that. -1 Corinthians 1:8-9
If nothing else but ‘Christ and him crucified’ can save, then why would you stand for anything else? How do you stand up for the belief that Jesus ended sin as the end all? How do you stand up for your belief that Jesus is the son of God and He came, not to condemn, but to rescue (John3:17)?
When someone falls, do you doubt their salvation or do you thank God with them, over them, before them, after them, that Jesus paid for their failures? Do you stand up for your belief by refusing anything less than perfect effort and remarkable delivery? Or do you stand up for your belief by refusing sin as an end?
God stays beside us, keeping us on track. It’s not by what we do, it’s by Who is beside us. He never gives up on us. If you believe that, then show it.
2) How do you do that?
You don’t stand for what you believe by paying attention to yourself. That is the exact opposite of what you’re supposed to be doing. Stop trying to be something you think you should be and just do this:
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. -Colossians 3:12-14
Wear these things:
- compassion: tender mercy, tolerance and fellow feeling
- kindness: warm generosity, selfless concern for others
- humility: submissiveness, your importance is always second to all
- quiet strength: stamina that never lets others know the cost
- discipline: obedience and self control pertaining to these things
Do these things:
- even-tempered: easy going, laid back, not easily offended or quick to assert yourself
- content with second place
- quick to forgive
The way to stand for what you believe is to Love. Be disciplined in Love. Love is all you have to do. The criteria is found in 1 Corinthians 13. You cant’ escape the command to Love. Everything else you do is empty and lost without it. Resolve to do nothing else so that the rest can fall into place.
weighing down the truth with commands other than belief keep the drowning from the only thing that can save them. if they grab on to the Truth, the other ‘effects’ are involuntary responses.
