The Lord spoke
something recently to refresh my own heart that I would like to share
with you in the hopes that if you have struggled in similar ways that
I have, you might find the courage that belongs to you in Christ ...
I'll start by
asking you this: what inspires overwhelming passion in you? What is
it that moves you more than anything else? Please take a moment to
consider ... Usually these are the things that we value most highly.
They're things that we're connected to in deep ways that inspire
powerful conviction and emotion in us. They're things close enough to
our own hearts that they can move us in ways that nothing else can.
They're things that we hold personally sacred.
In my own
little world, my family, my eternal family in Christ, and on a higher
level, my God top the list. But there used to be other things mixed
in as well. They were aspirations and goals that I set for myself,
material things, and things that I felt I needed to prove to the
world ... maybe even prove to myself. In days gone by there were many
other things on my mind ... but that was before I got a glimpse of
"reality".
Reality ... is
a word that has different meaning to different people based on what
they consider to be of value and what they consider to be true and
factual. But for myself the reality I work to achieve in my own life
these days is one that in many ways is in deep conflict with the
reality of my past. In fact it doesn't even belong to me as its
author - I didn't create it, it was created for me. It's a truth and
set of unchanging facts that existed before me ... and before any
other human beings alive today and it hasn't yielded or changed from
the beginning of man's time on the earth.
But of those
truths, one of the facts that I hold extremely close and value so
very highly, even sacred, in the reality I live now, is that of all
of the things that He could choose to love in the universe ... I ...
am ... my God's passion. As His child ... so are you! There's nothing
He will withhold from us as His children in terms of blessing or
things that are truly good for our eternal soul. We are at the
top of His list. Of all that He loves and all that He
has shown tremendous passion for throughout the ages, since He
created this world, we,
His children,
are His greatest prize and passion. We're what He's deemed worth
making such incredible investment in as powerful and awesome God that
He is. It was for us that He created and sustains this universe full
of awesome wonders and beauty. It's for us that He's offered all of
the wisdom, guidance and correction to protect us and to give us the
opportunity to flourish eternally. He's sustained us, pleaded with
us, blessed us and patiently doted on us from the beginning of our
creation. And to insure that we have an opportunity to continue to
survive to share a relationship with Him, He made the ultimate and
most sacred sacrifice. This not only to sustain the possibility of
our relationship together with Him forever, but also to show how much
He values and loves us. This is the heart of our God for us. This is
the One who woos us tenderly and calls us into relationship with
Himself in the hope that we'll choose Him with the same passion and
respond accordingly.
It seems clear
to me that one of the biggest problems that many of us have as a
people struggling to survive in this world is in recognizing the
truth of our God's reality and accepting it as our own ...
completely. Part of the reason for the problem is that we've
witnessed our own short comings, our own failures and our own sins
... and we remember. But the truth is, that if we've asked for His
forgiveness, as surely as the Lord almighty lives and reigns, He's
forgotten them completely, and He'll never remember them again. It
does not matter
who YOU are
or what YOU
have done. He chooses to do
this so that He can continue to hold us close in loving relationship
with Himself. His relationship with YOU and me is His
passion.
A part of our
problem with our ability to forgive ourselves and also to believe
God's faithfulness to forgive us is that we live in a world that has
such a tendency to be unforgiving. The world around us seems to take
more pleasure in condemning and finding fault than in forgiving. So
in real relationship and with a tender heart toward our God, we may
have trouble forgiving ourselves. This in part because forgiveness,
real forgiveness, isn't a common part of this world's mentality or
habit. It's not likely what we experience more commonly while living
here as resident aliens. In fact the world tends to lick it's chops
for an opportunity for the opposite to exist and will more likely
than not seize the opportunity to point out or even just remind us of
our flaws. At times we may even experience this in our relationship
with brothers and sisters in Christ. This might be because they've
forgotten something, but if we've honestly repented and sought His
forgiveness for our errors, we'll never experience this from our God.
His heart is to forgive us whenever we ask sincerely so that He can
continue to hold us close.
In Jeremiah 1:5
our Lord told Jeremiah
"I
knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were
born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world."
If He knew Jeremiah before
he was born, then in His omniscience, He knew us also. In fact He
knew everything about us. He knew before-hand the reality of Paul’s
words later in Romans 3:23
and
that's why He had a plan in place for our redemption from the
beginning. Paul refers to this as Gods' secret plan throughout the
New Testament. Romans 16:25 "God is able to make you strong,
just as the Good News says. It is the message about Jesus Christ and
his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of
time."
Our Lord knew before we were
born that we would struggle with the reality of law. He knew we
weren't perfect when He created us, but He created us perfectly
according to His plan. Paul says this about the law and our struggle
with it in Romans chapter 3:
19 "Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given,
for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to bring
the entire world into judgment before God. 20 For no one can ever be
made right in God's sight by doing what his law commands. For the
more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying
it. 21 But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his
sight -- not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the
Scriptures long ago. 22 We are made right in God's sight when we
trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved
in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. 23 For
all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard. 24 Yet
now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done
this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.
25 For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to
satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we
believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God
was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who
sinned in former times. 26 And he is entirely fair and just in this
present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight
because they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have
done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not
based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. 28 So we are made
right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. 29 After
all, God is not the God of the Jews only, is he? Isn't he also the
God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. 30 There is only one God, and
there is only one way of being accepted by him. He makes people right
with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 31
Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget
about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we
truly fulfill the law."
"For all have sinned;
all fall short of God's glorious standard" but then, " Yet
now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty."
What a powerful reality!
What a gift of compassion and grace to those He holds such passion
for. We have freedom from guilt and condemnation from the sins that
we've committed and we can stand blameless in His sight. He chooses
to remember our sins no more. But, there's a danger if we
forget that we've sinned.
The gift of Christs'
sacrifice is not a gift that lasts for only a moment and is due only
a moments' gratitude. It's an eternal gift and therefore one due our
eternal gratitude. But if we ever forget our forgiven debt, the sin
that keeps us humbled and grateful in our posture before our Lord,
then how can we be truly grateful and truly humbled before Him? Make
no mistake, I believe fully that we're forgiven and free of
condemnation and I don't believe that we should continue to punish
ourselves for what no longer exists in God's sight. But I do believe
that if we ever forget the magnitude of His grace toward us
individually, there are consequences.
There are some who like to
focus on "feel good" messages that may not like what I'm
saying here, but it doesn't negate the truth. If I forget the
mountain of debt that was once my own and the payment that was
mandated by our God to be exacted for it, then my relationship with
Him and even with His people will suffer for it. If I
forget, then the meaning of the cross, Christ's suffering, and the
loving generosity of our Father's heart pale in me along with my
gratitude and humility because of them. I will fail to have a proper
posture and brokenness before Him and I will fail to have the honest
and sincere response to His mercy. So my countenance before Him will
likely be one lacking the proper gratitude and humility that He
deserves. As the old saying goes, "no one likes an ingrate"
and if you'll remember, we were created in His image - our ability to
have emotions came from Him. On the level of such great importance as
what we're discussing here, we cannot afford to send a message of
ingratitude or arrogance to the Almighty God of the universe for such
an awesome and eternal gift.
1 Peter 3:8 "Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of
sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and
humble minds." and 1 Peter 5:5 "You younger men, accept the
authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in
humility, for "God sets himself against the proud, but he shows
favor to the humble."
We have so many reasons to
be humble and forgiving also. Here's just one of many examples ...
James 2:10 - 13, 10 "And the person who keeps all of the laws
except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God's
laws. 11 For the same God who said, "Do not commit adultery,"
also said, "Do not murder." So if you murder someone, you
have broken the entire law, even if you do not commit adultery. 12 So
whenever you speak, or whatever you do, remember that you will be
judged by the law of love, the law that set you free. 13 For there
will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others. But
if you have been merciful, then God's mercy toward you will win out
over his judgment against you."
Humility and humble spirit
are common themes that our Lord stresses throughout scripture. It's
because we have a place in the universe before Him and it's not one
of equality to Him. But if we forget our sin, our sentence, and the
gift of His grace ... we'll have a harder time finding it. Arrogance
and condemnation toward others for the sin we ourselves once carried
will come much easier to us and will live to be our offensive and
repulsive spirit - a filthy stench in the nostrils of our Lord. In
part it was Christ's humility to suffer and sacrifice
His own life that saved us and even though He is the awesome Son of
God, it was a humble spirit that He demonstrated for our example as
He walked the earth among us.
There are some
who have struggled to gain approval in order to feel accepted and
have some sense of self worth or value ( ooh ooh Me! Pick Me!). In my
former reality, I invested much in gaining the approval of people in
general. It was important to me to not only meet the expectations of
the people around me, but to exceed them whenever possible. I
struggled with my own value and self worth, but this was due in part
because I failed to realize the identity and value that is mine by
our Lord's grace. I'm still continuing to learn who I am in Christ,
but much is also clear. The value our God chooses to place on each of
us was worth Christ's willing sacrifice of His own life and the
Father's suffering to allow it to save us. And if you're struggling
to gain our God's approval, I believe you already have it.
Think about it,
why would the unlimited, all powerful God possessing all wisdom
create something He didn't want? He created you because He desires
you. And if you've heard His calling and have responded to accept
Christ's atonement for your own sin, it wasn't by accident. It was
because He purposely gave you revelation that secured you in His
house forever because He wants you not only now, but forever. You
have been created, chosen and accepted by the greatest power in the
universe. You have His
approval.
When you really think about it, what greater approval could you
possibly need?
So
often some of us may feel the need to have the approval of other
beings that are just as flawed as we are and we're encouraged to feel
that way by the world. The world today has this whole system related
to material possessions, appearances and levels of coolness that we
must have in order to have its approval (most all of it's all related
to just getting your money by the way because that's what it values).
But God chooses us just the way we are. He maintains that He created
us perfectly and that all of the worlds junk doesn't matter to Him.
In fact, it just clutters our lives and complicates our ability to
focus on what's really and truly important. So what's up with the
need to have ..., the need to look ..., the need to drive ..., etc?
And who's opinion really matters anyway? His? Or the worlds
(remember, the world's mentality is not under the rule of our God at
the moment)? The two aren't related, in fact they're not even close to
being friends - they're enemies. By choosing to follow one, we make
ourselves enemy of the other. I'm sure that you know which side of
that battle line you want to be on ...
How many people
intimately familiar with all of your past flaws and sin in your
lifetime have willingly and knowingly sacrificed their own life to
save yours for eternity? How many of them were mere mortals? So why
do we tend to place importance on the value of what "they"
think? We know for a fact that if our God has said it, then it is
absolutely reality and that if we repeat it or live by it, then we're
merely echoing the actual real truth. So why do we care what the
world would have to say? It's not we who are deceived at that point,
but the world in it's own arrogant intelligence. The world and the
father of it's thinking will pay the price.
But you, you
are an example of your Father's glory - chosen to reign
in heavenly places by the creator of all that exists. You are
heavenly royalty and heir to the kingdom of the most high God who
will survive the day of judgment to be lifted up and joyfully exalted
by your Father in that day. When the earth and its wisdom perish and
are consumed by the wrath of our God, you will be standing by His
side rejoicing that He chose you and gave you revelation of His
calling and the wisdom to respond - that He gave you His seal of
approval ..
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