To the Promise

"If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return." Hebrews 11:15

Oh this is such a great verse. It feels like an odd thing to say, as do many parts of Scripture, although admittedly more odd plucked out of context like I have done here. This part of Hebrews is showing the faith of those that have come before and how their faith had not been disappointed. It was faith in a promise. A promise they did not receive in their lifetime because it was yet to come. And yet, it was not disappointed.

It was a faith longing for something better, perfect. A place to call home and dwell in perfect security, in love and without fear.

This world does not contain that place. We're post-Jesus so we arguably have more resources at our disposal than those counted in this chapter and yet, does it make us less likely to think of the country we had left? 

I'm so prone to seeing the trees instead of the forest. I have really no hesitation believing everything will be ok in the end. My doubt emerges in so often having great concern with the path to get there. I so easily doubt the Creators love, over dumbs things, you see. I'm like a child who's riding a 7-second emotion-span.

When in faith we committed our lives to the Lord and asked Jesus to come in, we left everything behind- the "country [we] had left." We left it all at His feet and He nailed the bad parts to the cross. But we left it all, even the parts we might consider good. We submitted and have committed our lives to continually, each day, each moment, submit to His authority and plan. Submit to His deep love for us and in the submission find vulnerability as strength. You see, that vulnerability whether is our lack of control of this world or occasionally of a realization of just how mighty and powerful God is, can often, in human fear, give us opportunity to return from the country [we] had left." We're afraid and we turn back to old habits that we know; we turn back to what we think makes us happy; we turn back to seemingly safe things.

Nothing is safe outside of God. Nothing is eternal or worthwhile. He's very clear in scripture that our earthly lives will not look like what we think and there may be great heartache. But to turn back would be a mistake. We must in faith look ahead to His promises. We must live in assurance of a loving, faithful God and that He, in His infinite wisdom is the sovereign, almighty God we need Him to be.

In the Garden Again

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened..." Genesis 3:1-7a

We read the Creation Story, the Fall and other parts of the Bible and we too often miss their significance and reality in our lives. They're nice stories but did they really happen? How could anyone talk to a snake, much less think it's totally normal and then eat some fruit and plunge all of humanity into eternal damnation. Wow. 

Here's the truth- the Bible is a set of writings composed over a few thousand years that lets us know God intimately- His creation, His plans for us, His covenants with us, His path for it all, His authority.

When Satan (the serpent) approached Eve he posed a question he knew to be untrue. She answered with an untrue answer (God didn't say anything about touching the trees). She was drawn to the excitement, the power, the desire. She let her emotions take over. She let the lies in and ahead of the big picture. Her life was so good. She had more than she could ever want. She risked everything to do something she knew factually was wrong and didn't know absolutely anything about what would happen.

Robert Jamieson in his commentary puts it so well, "Her imagination and feelings were completely won; and the fall of Eve was soon followed by that of Adam. The history of every temptation, and of every sin, is the same; the outward object of attraction, the inward commotion of mind, the increase and triumph of passionate desire; ending in the degradation, slavery, and ruin of the soul."

And yet I keep finding myself back in the garden. Back at the beginning, caught up in the desire, curious, thoughts clouded, terrible foresight and swept away. I do it over and over again. In the moment we're such poor decision-makers and afterward, if we're truly fortunate, we have a great God that let's us see things clearly, and with great remorse (hopefully) and repentance we are able to seek and be granted forgiveness from such an awesome God.

I'll sadly be back in that spot a million more times in my life. I'd like to think I'm better than that but having lived 34 years I know better. I'm so prone to selfishness, so prone to fear. I'm doomed and unable to save myself, truly. Perhaps some of the degradation and slavery will help me some- to be better and do better. But the great news is, God saved me while I was still a sinner (Rom 5:8). He didn't save me after I started doing some good or after I got a job and made something of myself. He didn't save me because my good outweighed my bad (no one's ever will). He saved me while I was contemplating the consequences and reaching for that fruit tree. He saved me when while I was eating in temporary, blissful delight. Because nothing...will be able to separate us from the love of God...(Rom 8:35-39). So all the sin does is make my life on this earth ruined. What a waste. God give us eyes to see.

The Complete God

"For I, the Lord, do not change..." Malachi 3:6
"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:8

Recently I've been thinking a lot about the completeness of God. It's probably because I'm reading The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer but perhaps more significantly it's because God wanted me to do so. We would like to think we have a part, perhaps the larger part, in our salvation and entrance into heaven. Perhaps we find great control in this world, with high-paying jobs and/or great power or simply that we've got things well in hand and can rely on ourselves come what may. Perhaps we're whitty, smart, capable - jobs and relationships come easy. What need do we really have for daily bread?

I've seen recently how easy it is to hide our sin (to ourselves and/or those around us). Or even to not realize we're sinning until hindsight or the fear of getting caught. I think my entire life I've been more afraid of getting caught (by the world) than facing the consequences with God (it's death, by the way). Is it then to be supposed that I must have great faith and trust mightily in God's great grace and mercy that He will redeem me from death so then my gaze fixes on earthly consequences? I would like to hope (sort of). But I think the sad reality is, I'm so easily tossed by the wind of perceptions and others' judgements that my human small-mindedness so easily blocks me from seeing the wonderful, awesome, terrifying God.

The God who doesn't change. Sit with that for a second. He doesn't learn. He doesn't hear a different perspective and change His mind. He doesn't get mad and lash out irrationally. He doesn't grow. He doesn't know one person better than another. He has no need of anything- He is complete in Himself. The Trinity is not a tribunal deciding our fate by vote. He is three-in-one that operates in perfect unison and harmony. He does not make mistakes.

When you pray you do not change God's mind or alter what will be. He doesn't love you because He created a world that went awry and He's making the best of the situation- and you're more good than bad- and certainly better than most. That's not it at all. God has always been. He is mighty and infinitely powerful. Our yesterdays, todays and tomorrows are reigned over at all times. He is not bound by time or space or anything else.

And instead of wondering why pray, why make an effort at all, what's the point then if He and life are unchangeable? Because He is love. It's not a characteristic that decreases with irritation. He's incapable of being irritated. Love is His nature. He cannot part from it so everything He does is perfectly love. What great comfort we ought to feel in the deep vulnerability (in reality, perfect security) of knowing we control nothing and God controls all. And as His children He will love us and save us and everything will be ok. Lord, let us rest in that today and every day. Let us pray and spend time with you so that these words might grow in us and cause us to know you more and more.

Enmity Between Us

"Do not lose sight of the fact that you were born 'Gentiles,' known by those whose bodies were circumcised as 'the uncircumcised.' You were without Christ, you were utter strangers to God's chosen community, the Jews,  and you had no knowledge of, or right to, the promised agreements. You had nothing to look forward to and no God to Whom you could turn. But now, through the blood of Christ, you who were once outside the pale are with us inside the circle of God's love and purpose. For Christ is our living Peace. He has made a unity of the conflicting elements of Jew and Gentile by breaking down the barrier which lay between us. By His sacrifice He removed the hostility of the Law, with all its commandments and rules, and made in Himself out of the two, Jew and Gentile, One New Man, thus producing peace. For He reconciled both to God by the sacrifice of one Body on the cross, and by this act made utterly irrelevant the antagonism between them." Ephesians 2:11-16

Racism. If we truly think about it, it's a completely ridiculous notion. One person is born better than another? Isn't that exactly why America started- to escape tyranny? Shouldn't America, the land of opportunity and freedom, be the exact place people can be all they can be, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, attain the American Dream and all that? But life is hard, we say, so we make it easier by putting others down to build ourselves up. We enslave, both literally and metaphorically, people we think as inferior. In reality, it's because we're afraid.

Fear. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of people disliking us or not thinking we're special. Fear of not being special. Fear of failure. Fear of not being the best or not being smarter than someone or better looking. I don't know about you, but I can literally be fearful every moment of my life about something. And it manifests in the worst ways (see racism, bullying, lying, cheating, etc.).

Paul in the Bible passage above talks about the New Man (he means person). The only difference God ever saw in people wasn't our skin color, our nationality, our familial status, etc. but that we were Jew or Gentile (all non-Jews). And prior to Jesus, most every Gentile didn't stand a chance of knowing God. But we, by God's amazing grace, live in a time after Jesus- which means we can know Him and be saved from all our fear. Speaking as a Gentile, it's such an incredible gift to think of the time God let me be born into, Post-Jesus, and that because of that I can be part of the New Man and I can be completely a child of God. As a child of God I have no other home, no other distinction or barrier. He made us all one and produced peace.

He brought us peace, people. Peace. Jesus reconciled our differences, forgave and saved us from ourselves. And this path we walk as Christians should demonstrate that great change every day. We've got to do better. We've got to fall as His feet and beg to be continually transformed to more like Him- a God who sees no difference in us and loves all His children the same.

Despised and Rejected

"He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief; and like One from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him. But in fact He has borne our griefs, and He has carried our sorrows and pains; Yet we ignorantly assumed that He was stricken, struck down by God and degraded and humiliated." Isaiah 53: 3-4

Recently I've experienced a lot of anxiety and passages like this sum up my deep humiliation as a human. I am guilty. I am a deep sinner. I lie, cheat and steal when I think those things can help me get ahead. And yet often I'm ashamed of the perceptions I think people have of me more so than the acts I've actually committed (or not committed). And how often we get it wrong about other people or people get it wrong about us. We judge things we don't completely understand. We make snap-judgments. We take people's past behaviors, or what we understand about them, and hang them as permanent dark clouds over someone's life.

I'd like to believe because of God I can be better. I believe and have hope He's as sovereign and big as I read in this passage. When He came to earth the Jews were looking for a king to lead them out of captivity into power and glory. And in all their digging in about this perfect picture, so many missed the perfect God that came. And He came in the greatest power and might- as a vessel that understands us, that willingly walks alongside our terribleness and instead of rejecting us, carries our sorrows and pains.

His life on this earth, His power creating this earth, His ongoing love and splendor in this world are fascinating to me. He built a world that would fall, that would be sinful and degrading to Him. He came willingly to be despised and rejected. He came willingly so that His love, deep grief over how ugly we make things and His truth would shine through all the confusion, all the misplaced anxiety and through all the fear.

We are so constantly confused and afraid. And yet, Jesus is such a bright guiding light that deeply wants to show us a clean, simple path of following Him in this life into the next. He was despised and rejected and willing to endure sorrows and pain so we can know Him. He's got such love and hope for us that He willingly came here to save us from ourselves.

He is such a treasure, our only hope. Lord God, teach us how to appreciate your worth. To esteem you. To see beyond our fears, our worldview, our biases. Lord teach us how to be like you, that in your great love you willingly entered a world that would hate and reject you. And yet you didn't hate us first or gather up your defenses. You let it crush you and you loved us still. You forgave us because you see the deep weakness in our humanity. Teach us how to forgive others like you forgive us. Teach us to ask you for forgiveness and live out of sanctification. Teach us how to be fully reliant on you and know that we are saved by grace alone. And in that, to do better and be better not because it gets us salvation but because it's what you did and that's the only way to live.

Turn

"And the hand (the power and presence) of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord [for salvation, accepting and drawing near to Jesus as Messiah and Savior]."
Acts 11:21

So in this part of Acts we're in the midst of discussions over who all gets salvation- is it for God's historically chosen people only or has that net widened outside the Jews? But we're not here to discuss that right now- mainly because the answer is obvious (or this non-Jew is cooked).

I wanted to talk about something I noticed in this single verse of Acts 11:21: "...a great number who believed turned to the Lord..."  The way this sentence is structured is super interesting.- because it says a there's a group of people who believe and a great number of them turned to the Lord. So that means that while a great number of them turned, not all of them turned. For that matter, why does "who believed" have to be in the passage at all?

But don't miss that it is because it gives us this simple, yet necessary prescription to salvation that we get wrong a lot. (1) Believe (2) Turn.

Believing is fairly easy upfront. Even Satan believes. And frankly, isn't it easier to believe in someone that could protect and love us forever than the alternative of what, chaos? But often when we talk to people about Jesus the conversion, the believing, is the discussion. And it is a huge part. But the thing is, if people can believe and not be Christians, then the turning is equally important. And important to note that without the turn, you're likely not a Christian. And what is the turn? Turn from who you are and be like Jesus. Let him mold you. Study scripture and learn. Pray and listen. Turn.

And I don't know about you, perhaps you're a better follower than I am, but for me, the main believing happened at first but the reminder happens daily. And the turning happens all the time. And the good Lord who bled to take away my sin defeated death so that I might have a chance to believe and turn and for that to matter enough for me to spend eternity with Him instead of what I deserve.

Believe. Turn. Believe. Turn. Turn. Believe. And keep going.

Love One Another

I get mad at other drivers, especially the bad ones.  Drive slow in the left lane. Pass me, then get in front of me, then start going slower. Are you kidding? I get impatient when meetings run over. I get frustrated at slow walkers. Actually, you do you- be a slow walker. But it's much like slow drivers, get over so other people can pass.

I can go on but I believe you get the idea but probably not my point. You see, I spend an absurd amount of my day having opinions about various things, feeling irritated at someone doing something. Feeling accomplished at what I get done. Feeling dissatisfied for the things left unchecked. I'm up, I'm down, I'm all around.

Frustrated. Frustrating. This hard thing called life. These crazy people of earth.

But with all my opinions and frustrations, I find my vision to be small. It's like I'm hiking focused on my feet instead of enjoying the view.

"By this everyone will know that you are my  disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35.

It's simple. Despite my good and/or bad motives, despite my emotions, my intolerance, and all other various behaviors, it's simple. Love others.

And sometimes my decent motive is real. I do think there's not enough honesty in our world and the people that really love us should help us be better people. And that's true. But am I pointing something out because I'm irritated or because I love you? Does love take priority?

If the people around me could describe me would the first thing they say be that I love them? Or I even care about them? Or would it be something more about me like my accomplishments, my intelligence, etc.?

There's nothing wrong with doing well in a career. Or having a lot of money. Or passing someone on the highway. But first, love. Care about people and things outside yourself. It's the only way to really live. Or so I'm working toward everyday.