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.

Answered Prayer

I've been thinking a lot about prayer. Having been a Christian for about 30 years you'd think I'd be better at it. That's the thought, right? Or more predominantly in my case, I throw a little prayer up and instantly want to take it back, of sorts. Something more important may come along that I'd rather have.

Silly- right?

As though God's some genie? Like you only get a certain number of "yes" prayers and as the day goes on you've used up your allotment. Or he's irritated, like I would be, for your wishes and is now teaching you a lesson to ask better or for better things. Stop bothering him, he's saving people from real things.

Super silly.

"But Gideon said to him, 'Please my lord, if the LORD is for us, then why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wondrous works which our fathers told us about when they said, "Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?" But now the LORD has abandoned us...'" 

I believe in God. I believe He can do mighty things and is all-powerful. I believe He did everything the Scriptures say and I believe He's so big our imaginations can't contain all His ability. But when you're reading scripture and you're exploring the hundred or so years of slavery, the decades of servitude between judges, and the pretty silent period between the Testaments, it can feel like God does abandon His people, or those are the clips of life I feel like I live in.

Because life is about me, right? How I got along today. How people treated me. Depending on my mood the slightest thing can stress, a glance, a tone -especially a tone- or a perceived slight. And it's not because of self-grandeur but selfishness. It's a coping mechanism, a defense system.

But it doesn't work, really. I can assure you of that. It's a stopgap that won't last and won't work.

We need only seek Him until we're confident we've found Him. He's always there. A-L-W-A-Y-S. But since we're mostly about ourselves we have to wade through all the false emotions, pressing on toward Him. If you fail to reach Him each day, and I mean each day, you've missed out on what He was offering you that day- peace. joy. calm. truth. love.

And He'll help you wade through and He'll fight the battle for you- you need only be still, ask or really, simply accept it.

Grandfather

I often think, as much as I hate to admit it, that I have a very wrong picture of God. You see, one of the ways I let the world in is letting parts of its definition of God creep into mine. He's this grandfatherly, Santa Claus-like figure sitting high up in heaven waiting on me to do things and then blessing or cursing them, not always for a good reason- not to mention the world is so big he's often doing other things and not even helping out with the chaos.

And while the world says this (although it's increasingly less shameful about not acknowledging a god at all), it seems pathetic.

God either exists or He doesn't. And if He exists where do we get His definition or parameters? Society and life have rules necessary to its existence (hello, constitution) so it's reasonable to conclude God-following must too.

But a big wonder of mine about the world is whether the few remaining people that even occasionally acknowledge there's a god believe in a little-g one that's really a figment of the imagination to keep the boogeyman away, to feel more confident, to get what we want, to push away the horror.

And about half the time these fleeting pleas of breath work (law of averages and all) and we've gotten so used to the feeling of chaos that while it's sucking away our lives it's an inevitability so c'est la vie. After all, god might make our lives harder if we don't throw up a prayer, right?

Wrong. He loves us more than we can possibly imagine. And He forgives us. He loves in spite of who we are and what we do. He created a world knowing He would have to slaughter His own child to save us, how far do you think He's willing to go to save you?

"Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them...They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses."  Judges 3: 1a,4

This is not cruelty or trickery on the Lord's part. This is cleansing. And it's tough stuff. It's gut-wrenching and life-taking. It's the refining process where the Potter (God) shapes the clay (us, His children) in order for something better to emerge. 

He's not sitting atop the chaos wondering whether the Israelites will or won't obey. He's the author of life, in every detail but loving us enough to grow us to obey His commandments so that our lives may be fuller. The Israelites chose wrong most of the time, as they did just 2 verses later. But we don't have to find ourselves in slavery, we need only ask Him to be free and our powerful God will rescue us.