Posted: March 22nd, 2011 |
Filed under: life | Tags: grace, judgment |
13 Comments »
When I write, it’s after I’ve been studying scripture. I discover words to build my life on and I want to write them down so that I don’t forget. I want to know the truth and I don’t care what it is. If there is something I should be doing, I want to do it. If I am wrong about something, I want to know it. Truth doesn’t start with me, it changes me. The more I know, the more it becomes a part of me, the harder it is for something or someone to take it away.
I find freedom in the scriptures. Freedom is a hard thing to believe when I’ve had so many reasons to feel shame, guilt, and uncertainty. I study scripture because, if left to my own devices, I will slip back into self-doubt, which is a symptom of doubting Jesus. If my identity is only understood through His, then I need to continually remind myself of who He is.
If the Truth that has been revealed to me can set me, –flawed-scarred-strong willed me– free, then I can only imagine what it can do for someone else. So, I write…
Instead of writing a message inspired by what I learned, I want to let you in on my thought process as I was learning it:
I was having my devotion the other day and the scripture my devotion book used came out of Romans 6. So, I read Romans 6. I was barely through the first few scriptures when things started standing out to me. I decided to read them in translations that provide more insight (cross-reference scriptures and commentaries) and different phrasing so I could see if my initial interpretation held up.
Here we go:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? -Romans 6:1 ESV
Everybody knows this scripture. It’s used by people on all sides of the issue that grace creates. My thoughts: Of course grace isn’t to be used as an excuse to sin. I’ve never thought that was the problem, but as I talk to people and hear their worries, I realize that there are people who do view it that way. Apparently, there were people in Paul’s day who did, too. It’s not a new problem. However, I never feel like it’s my message to tell people what they’re supposed to do, the pressure on my chest is to tell them what grace does. That is my message because I believe in the power of grace to transform lives. It’s not my idea of ‘right living’, when it pertains to the things God has told me to avoid, that I feel the burden to share. I have them, I obey them, but, when I don’t, I don’t kick myself or doubt my relationship with God. I accept grace, learn from my mistakes (gain wisdom), and move on.
There is a cross-reference for this scripture and it’s this one:
And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just. -Romans 3:8 ESV
That’s interesting to me because I have been ‘charged’ with the same thing. I knew I had to read that chapter so I could see how Paul handles the backlash against the message of grace. How does he explain it? And what does, “Their condemnation is just.” mean?
I read that scripture in a different translation and figured out that Paul was saying that if he were teaching to go ahead and sin because ‘grace abounds’, then anyone who condemned him for that would be right. Then he explains that that is not what he’s saying.
Two more verses stood out to me:
What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,”That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” -Romans 3:3-4 ESV
This is awesome because it confirms that God doesn’t take Himself away from us when we mess up. This also references a sentence previously written in scripture and it is found in here:
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. -Psalm 51:4 ESV
David is saying to God: “I have sinned against You. You are right and I am wrong.” He goes on to say that acknowledging when he is wrong teaches him wisdom. He learned his lesson and became wiser for it. Then he asks God to “create in [him] a clean heart.” He knows that he can do nothing to make himself clean. He even goes as far as saying that trying to do it on his own is not pleasing to God.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. – Psalm 51:16-17 ESV
Another cross-reference scripture is this one:
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. -Proverbs 28:13 ESV
God wants a broken spirit, a broken heart, and for you to know that you are guilty. Sin enables that. You would not be broken if you had not failed. You have to go through the brokenness to know what grace is. When you say it that way, it sounds like sin is ‘good’ because it puts you where God wants you. When you are fully aware of your guilt, it’s a source of hope. However, when you shrug your shoulders at your sin by saying that God will forgive it, you bypass the brokenness and and claim freedom. It’s true that God will forgive, but brokenness is where grace comes to life. It doesn’t make sense to look for freedom when you don’t acknowledge that you have been taken prisoner.
When I write, I write to and for those who are devastated by their sin. I remind them of the hope because they believe they are beyond it. I write to the broken. However, I can’t choose who reads and what they take away from it. If you walk in on a conversation that doesn’t concern you (meaning in this context: you do not see that you are depraved and you are not broken), you will misunderstand what is said. The message of grace is offensive and viewed as ‘dangerous’ to those who don’t feel they need it.
Here is where the trouble comes. There are those who know that grace is the only reason they have legs to stand on. There are those who are in the middle of their own personal hell, brought on by their sin. They desperately need to be told about grace in a way that they believe it and accept it. Then, there are those who have not seen their personal worst just yet and don’t understand the magnitude of grace at all. These are the ones who need a crazy amount of patience because they can be horribly judgmental and end up kicking someone who is broken, making getting back up even harder for them. I say ‘patience’ because if they knew what they were doing it could tear them to pieces. They would need what they refuse to offer from those they refused to offer it to.
There is not a person on this planet who gets it right. That is why passing judgment on another is a death sentence to those who pass the judgement.
All of my cross-referencing, reading, and studying led me to this:
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. - Romans 2:1 ESV
That’s the death sentence to those who try to size up another’s life and decide it’s not good enough. The point is, no one is good enough so when someone declares that over another, it falls back on them.
Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? - Romans 2:3-4 ESV
That last part is exciting to me because it confirms what I have been learning for several years now. “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.” Telling someone that they are not good enough while pointing out their flaws does not lead them to repentance. Kindness does. Mercy and grace do. Telling someone about God’s love for them leads them to repentance.
The religious want to know about God’s wrath. They cast judgment to further inflict wounds as if being aware of sin alone were not good enough. They judge the past as though it could not possibly be covered by the blood of Jesus. They state what they believe when they rub dirt into the wounds of the broken. If you are saved by what you believe (Whom you believe in), then they condemn themselves. God’s wrath falls on that.
Paul, still talking to those who pass judgment on those with broken spirits and broken hearts says this:
But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. – Romans 2:5 ESV
False teachers do exist and this is what Paul says about them:
Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— – Galatians 2:4 ESV
False teachers lead people back into slavery. They make people doubt the freedom they received from the grace of Jesus. That’s how you know who is false. When you want to know who is true, look for the opposite of that: People who lead you to Jesus and freedom with the gentle tether of grace. Whatever illuminates the distance between you and God’s love for you is a lie. Whatever draws you to Him, like a child running in tears to safety, is the truth.
Posted: January 5th, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: grace, judgment |
14 Comments »
Every once in a while someone will let me know what they don’t like about me as a writer. Either I’m too heavy on grace or I don’t talk about God’s wrath enough. If I engage them, I find that they are usually people who don’t believe in God’s sovereign power, especially pertaining to His foreknowledge, time transcending control, and purpose in choosing and orchestrating.
From where I stand, grace is the nectar of the Gospel, so there isn’t much else to talk about when grace enters the scene. Also, my belief in God’s sovereign control keeps me from drifting off into cul-de-sacs of confusion and fear.
But, for those who wield a hammer for judgment purposes, lovers of wrath, I found a passage of scripture that refers to God’s wrath. Here goes my best swing at the the hammer of God…
For God’s [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative. -Romans 1:18 AMP
We have some ‘holy wrath and indignation’ to work with here. Perfect terminology for those looking forward to seeing ‘God’s adversaries’ fry. The only stipulation is, the ‘holy wrath and indignation’ are for those who ‘hinder the truth and make it inoperative’. So, now we have to figure out what the ‘truth’ is, that way we can make sure to properly condemn the guilties.
The following scripture says that the ‘truth’ has not been hidden, so there is no excuse for those who suppress it.
…that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God [Himself] has shown it to them. -Romans 1:19 AMP
We need to know what ‘has been made known’. That’s what is going to help us understand what ‘ungodliness’ the wrath of Romans 1 wants to lay into.
For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). -Romans 1:20 AMP
The ‘truth’ that ‘has been revealed since creation’ is God’s eternal power and divinity. The truth is, there is no limit to Who God is and what He does, allows, and uses. His divine nature is a mystery and instead of embracing the opportunity to worship ‘in Holy fear’, people trivialize everything to the point of making God someone who resembles themselves. They do this so that they can effectively control their version of ‘the mind of Christ’ and ‘go therefore’ to preach condemnation to sinners. There are many versions of the street corner brimstone artist.
So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification]. Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened. -Romans 1:20-21 AMP
People sit on their throne of judgement with their scepter of wisdom petting their bobble head lion of Judah and consider the shortcomings of others in order to determine their eternal position. The disease of the religious insider is the complacent familiarity with the profound evidence, turning the sovereign power of God (which should scare the skin off of us) into pathetic beliefs based on ‘vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations.’ They would much rather serve a god who sits on their mantel, over seeing their living room lives with stoic approval. They don’t hear God speaking any more, their ‘minds have been darkened’, so they feel compelled to speak for Him.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves]. And by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, resembling mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles. -Romans 1:22-23 AMP
Not everybody who claims to have godly wisdom and ‘the mind of Christ’ is speaking for God. You have to study scripture for yourself. Develop your own relationship with God so that you can turn to the lying voice and say, ‘My savior has never spoken to me in that way.’
People who have created god in their own image think that God is displeased with the same people they’re displeased with, that God follows them as they walk out on you, and that God can’t hear your cries for mercy because they can no longer hear you.
‘Claiming to be wise, they have become fools.’ Exchanging God for something that better resembles man. It’s easier for the fool to understand.
You know who has exchanged God for their own version of god because Romans 1 tells us how these people behave. They’re heartless and cruel and they give God the credit for it. They’re an excited mess as they grasp at bits of gossip mixed with truth in order to build a better case against another. They’re arrogant as they revel in the strife of another, boasting in their own blameless ways as they ignore mercy, compassion, and love. (verses 28-32)
I think I failed to empower those who want less grace from me and more judgement. They’re counting on God’s wrath to vindicate them.
The only people Jesus condemned were the religious know-it-alls.
But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.
So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” -Romans 1:18-24 MSG
The hammer fell on innocent hands so that the guilty can go free.
Posted: December 23rd, 2010 |
Filed under: book, life | Tags: grace, judgment |
27 Comments »
My heart is breaking. I have nightmares that wake me up with a memory of the terror I felt when I fell. The thoughtless words of fellow Christians were being used by the shrieking demonic attackers who don’t seem to need rest. People spouting off condemning scriptures with the hope of the Gospel buried in the mud. The very mud that Blood made.
I had a horrible dream that left me wide awake and in tears. The terror has stayed with me all day. I just got an email. It was from someone in a very real hell because of their own sin. I believe God gave me the dream to remind me of what His grace has taken away. The night tremors. This person doesn’t need to be told that they were wrong. They know they were wrong and it’s tearing them apart. Stealing their sleep and their health. They’re emotionally shredded and they need hope and someone to guide them to the feet of the forgiving Savior. Not because what they did was okay, but because what He did was big enough.
People. Stop standing between the sinner and the cross. What are you doing?
I can’t stand the hypocrisy of claiming to be saved by the very thing they’re withholding from the one they watched fall.
I’ll try to use an analogy to show you what is happening to them. It’s from my dream:
Imagine finding out that your child has died. That moment of denial and shock and then the overwhelming onslaught of fear and hopelessness. Pain is not a strong enough word. Terrifying shrieks. Scratching at the walls. No one can reach you. No one can make it okay. No one can turn back the clock and make it go away. Your screams can’t go deep enough. Crawling on your hands and knees because you cannot stand. Screaming for help knowing that no one can help you. There is no one to blame because blame won’t take it back. The sky, once blue, has gone black. Life is a mockery to the death. You can’t sleep, you can’t eat, you can’t crawl out of your skin to find solace. You vomit. You lie lifeless. You curl up inside yourself and shut down.
No one should have to go through that. The unrelenting cruelty of simply being alive.
I am not writing about the death of a child. Please don’t let my analogy get you off track. I’m writing about a feeling that maybe you could let yourself imagine. I’m in tears allowing myself to go there, but I have to try to get you to understand. In order to make this analogy work, imagine that it was your fault. You could have done something different, but you were being selfish and careless and you didn’t.
Now, the others come in. They’re blaming you, and rightfully so. They’re telling you all the things you did wrong and asking you why you didn’t do what you should have done. They’re talking about the empty bedroom in your house. They’re shunning you at the funeral. They’re not comforting you because it was your fault. When you cry, they tell you that you’re just feeling sorry for yourself. They’re reminding you that you can’t undo what you did and your pain is your own fault.
The worst part: The one thing that can save you from yourself, that can carry you through your hell, is the one thing, Person, they tell you that you can no longer reach.
Jesus is real. God is real. And satan is real. It’s all real and if you don’t get that, if you don’t get that satan is doing absolutely everything he can do to destroy them and their faith, then you will be used by him to do his work.
The damage of sin is something that no human can fix. But God can and has. Jesus and His overwhelming grace, love, and mercy are not exclusive rights to people who avoid pitfalls. Jesus’ work on the cross is for the pitfalls. The unrelenting cruelty of simply being alive. Sin is inevitable, even sin hidden behind the twisted mask of religion. It’s as much a part of being alive as being born.
Reminding the person of their sin won’t take it back. The focus is: ‘what now?’ What in the heck are they supposed to do now? If they can’t go to the Savior, then where are you sending them?
We all sin and that’s why Jesus came. Grace is for sinners.
Jesus says: “Come to me.” (mat 11:28)
You want to be like Jesus?
Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. - Jesus, Matthew 11:29
Posted: December 8th, 2010 |
Filed under: life | Tags: grace, judgment, sin |
29 Comments »
I get a lot of questions from people who are watching someone else make bad choices. They want to know about grace: whether or not they are supposed to offer it, how to offer it, and what it will end up looking like if they do. It’s awesome that they’re aware that they could handle this whole thing wrong, but there is a deeply rooted issue that they are completely forgetting. (I need you to know that I’m not angry, but I am very passionate about this subject.)
What do you do when another Christian knowingly disobeys God?
We all knowingly disobey God. We are always in a current state of wrong and in desperate need of Jesus at every moment. You could argue that, but you’re only arguing to reach the result of not needing Jesus in moments and spaces.
It’s so much easier to see the failures in others than it is to see them in yourself. Go ahead an argue the types of sin, but they are all equal. As bad as you make the person next to you is as bad as you are. You are not independent of the worst of them. You are their worst. It’s like your right eye trying to get all of us to join you in shaming your left eye. The left eye doesn’t bow to the right.
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. -Romans 14:4 ESV
Even with both eyes you can’t see everything. It’s absurd and laughable for you to expect the right eye to accurately monitor the errors of the left eye.
Here is a promise: if you can see a splinter in you friend’s eye, you can be absolutely certain that there is a plank in yours. I would be really slow to start calling out the sins of others. It’s like taking a black-light to your own secrets. Things are there that you don’t even know about. Just go home and be thankful that God doesn’t show you your own crime scene photos. If you’re so bothered by the failures of others, then you’d be devastated by your own.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. -Matthew 7:3-5 ESV
You have enough of yourself to keep you busy thanking God for grace for the rest of your lives. If you can finish being thankful and make time to start looking at the others, then something is wrong.
What does grace look like?
Let’s say you have a pretty, middle-class neighborhood of law and covenant abiding citizens. In that neighborhood, one of the family’s has a kid who is terrorizing the local cats. His behavior is unacceptable and not conducive to the environment you’re all trying to keep.
You could talk about him at your barbecues, feel sorry for his parents or drag them through dirt with him, and you can even be audible and visual about your displeasure. Taking a ride down the path of self-importance and comparison is a cheap way to cast a shadow over your poor lawn and hole digging dog. No one is paying attention to the cars illegally parked on the street because there is a bigger sinner among you. The relief you feel in not being the one not liked is enough to water down the bigger picture and strengthen your self-preservation resolve.
That bigger picture being that this kid has an issue that has nothing to do with cats. People don’t sin without there being something deeply hurting within them. A child can go into adulthood never dealing with the pain of their childhood and it manifests itself in a sin that doesn’t seem to be tied to anything but selfishness. Selfishness is a cry for love. If you would find out what hurts and fix that, then you fix the sin that is showing up on the surface.
No one can heal the hurts and brokenness of life like Jesus can. Pointing out the superficial layers only intensify the alienation and lack of love that is causing the problem in the first place. In my analogy of the kid in the neighborhood, maybe he is left alone too long because his parents are working their heads off to make ends meet. He’s bored, lonely, and needs his community to step in and take up some of the weight he and his family are unable to carry on their own.
Grace gets to the root rather than excusing and ignoring the behavior. It’s a tough job being a part of a community that is tied together by love rather than by performance and appearance. Grace always comes at the cost of self-preservation.
Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. -Galatians 6:1-3
Do you challenge them?
Challenge them to not give up on themselves or their faith in God in spite of everything inside them that is proving how unworthy they are. Faith in God’s grace is the biggest challenge of all.
Do you keep them in your life?
Does Jesus keep you in His?
Does it appear that you are supporting their behavior if you maintain a friendship?
It doesn’t matter how it appears. Appearances are the biggest obstacle in front of a person who wants to stand up for Jesus but is afraid of what people will think. Stop worrying about what people think. You can’t please everybody. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you’ll be able to get on with the more important aspects of this life we live in Jesus. This isn’t a country club. Salvation is a messy business. If you’re too afraid of getting dirty, then get out of the way.
Give me your thoughts on being obedient to God and to His word.
For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? -Galatians 5:14-15
Love others as you love yourself. Do you want people to give up on you because you have issues? Do you want people to talk about your dirt behind your back? Do you want to feel like you’re not welcome at your own church? Can you actually listen to these people who are in their own phase of junk? Can you put yourself in their place and take a turn walking in their crooked and ill-fitting shoes?
It’s horrible to be in the valley of your own stink. It’s terrifying to not see a way out and to watch every single person, who claimed to love you unconditionally, walk out on you. God allows us to go through the wicked hall of mirrors. He has a purpose for us seeing our worst. What’s worse than knowingly choosing wrong? If they had someone other than themselves to blame, then threshing process wouldn’t be happening.
God doesn’t leave us as victims or casualties. He allows the fire to burn holes in everything false. You can’t sit there and decide that a living, breathing person is finished with their life and they’re done for. The only person who would want to convince a wounded soldier that they are dead is the opposing army.
It’s time to take the spiritual battle for our faith seriously. Is there any sin known to man that could make God walk away from someone and never look back?
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. -God, through Isaiah 54:10
What part of your relationship with God makes you think that you should give up on someone? When you walk away from the fallen, you are walking away from God because He is carrying them.
Posted: January 23rd, 2010 |
Filed under: life | Tags: judgment |
9 Comments »
Sometimes I get letters from people who want to bash their fellow Christians and think I’m game for a little stone slinging.
I am not here to give anyone the ammunition to return the condemnation. I offer evidence of an ocean of grace for the purpose of showing you the unlocked shackles and pointing you to the light under the door. We move in whispers and don’t waste time with small talk and tea, much less showers. This is gritty business.
It angers me to watch the newly free immediately capture a religious bully and shove them in the prison they’re barely out of.
Did they learn nothing during their stay? It’s not possible to receive grace and still want others to suffer. Faith in your own salvation and gift of grace is dead without working out that truth for others. What you give is only the overflow of what you’ve been given.
You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? -James 2:18-20
‘Faith‘ is in Jesus as the savior. ‘Works’ is never denying that to anyone regardless of how they’ve hurt you. When you receive that gift, don’t sit around and start pointing your fingers at others who don’t get it because, then, you’ll be lost to it.
This is important: you are weighed on your own scales and then some. If it’s good, it’s better for you. If it’s bad, it’s worse for you.
“Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” -Mark 4:24-25
If you have written off a fellow believer who does not understand grace the way you do or they’ve been rude or condemning toward you, then you have set one side of your scale on perfection and put him on the other. When it’s your turn, you’ll be weighed against perfection, too. You are choosing prison over freedom. You have to change what you’re measuring. You can’t remove ‘perfect’ and replace it with you, either. You remove them and put Jesus in their place. That way, when you get weighed, you get to have Jesus in your place, too.
