God's Promises are Always True

“Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in His grace gave it to Abraham through a promise” Galatians 3:15-18.

This is so interesting to me; hopefully you’ll find it the same. As you may know, Paul writes this letter to the Galatians for 2 specific purposes. People are coming against Paul and, in his opinion, slandering the Gospel he has put forth. So, he writes to prove his apostleship and to prove that the way to salvation is by faith alone, not by the law. I’m not going to get into all the details today but this letter is truly fascinating. So much of the “how to” of Christian life can be found here. So much of the simplicity, the turning away from all the crazy things we sometimes do and follow and just “putting on Christ” as Paul continues to say in his letters. But listen to these specific verses above. He uses something apparently very common to them. Scholars don’t have a specific example of this human covenant but they think it’s something like a binding contract or final will of a person. We do know that it’s something that’s in stone, meaning it absolutely, positively cannot be changed or altered in any way. So Paul says here that the promises [notice the plural] that were made to Abraham have remained unaltered. This matters sooo much both then and now. The Judaizers of the time, the people going against Paul, were telling the Galatians that if they wanted to fully come into the fellowship of Christ [become a full believer] then they had to take on the Jewish Law AND have faith in Jesus. Essentially, the Gentile believers had to convert to Judaism and then believe in Jesus, while still keeping the Law. Paul sights all sort of issues with this but we’ll save that for another time.

Here’s Paul’s point: The covenant God made with Abraham was unchanged, as it had to be because a covenant could not change. Just because He was God and could change anything He wanted to, He did not change His promise [because He is God and perfect!]. The Judaizers wanted to say God had added the Law to the Abrahamic Covenant. The Covenant can be found in Genesis 15. Look here though, it says promises. And as you read through Galatians Paul handily supplies in that same chapter several of these promises. God promises Abraham that ALL nations will be blessed through him (Galatians 3:8; Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18). It says “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Galatians 3:6; Gen 15:6). This is faith in one of its first presentations. Abraham had faith and God gave him His righteousness because of it. This is Paul’s main point- that the law didn’t add, didn’t tack on to Abraham’s faith leading to righteousness. Again, the Judaizers were saying that yes, you have to have faith but you also have to obey the Law because God said you have to. And you know what? I bet that made plenty of very reasonable sense at the time. But Paul backs up his argument with the fulfillment of scripture. If God made this covenant with Abraham and then added the Law or added anything at all, it wouldn’t be a covenant. He would be breaking His promise if He added anything to it. This is HUGE. You can say what you want, there are plenty of evil people out there that pervert the gospel, but I think many of the Judaizers might have really wanted to follow Jesus rightly, they just thought the wrong thing (but I’m sure some were false too). But this is big! Paul’s saying that by making Gentiles follow the Law they are essentially saying God is a liar that couldn’t keep His covenant so He broke it by adding the Law to it. Do you see how crazy that is? It makes me wonder how often we add to His scriptures or try to make it say things it doesn’t. Makes me wonder if I’ve ever called God a liar. Look how easily they did it!

God didn’t change the promises. They stayed the same. The Law was a gap filler, essentially. It was a way to make sin evident and more prevalent. It was a way to make people see, without doubt, that they needed God desperately. We’re free from the Old Testament Law, all of it. Every single last letter of the Law was abolished on the cross and Jesus brought His own Messianic Law with Him that brought life, not death. God isn’t a liar. The Christian life is infinitely hard but the how-to is simple: have faith in Jesus. By believing in Him we will follow Him, which means we’ll learn about Him, get to know Him and do what He did and does. God’s promise from Abraham is extended to us: believe in Jesus and you’ll receive His righteousness [and so be able to enter eternal life with Him].

Mud Pies

"You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire...But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all the tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go...You shall not at all do as we are doing here today--- every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes--- for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide."  Deuteronomy 12:2-11 (parts).

I'm tracking the journey of the Israelites and have come to the place where they're about to enter the full promised land. They're about to cross the Jordan so the other 9 1/2 tribes can gain their inherited land as well. Deuteronomy is a fantastic book in that it so far summarizes the Israelite journey, standing as a great pillar of reminder of the good God has done and the miraculous ways He has brought His people through the hard things of life to mold them and shape them to enter His goodness (which is coming soon!).

And as I read this particular passage I find myself once again understanding similar emotions these people must have felt. At a summary level it's very easy to quickly draw the conclusion that these people were ignorant, self-serving, small-picture people who were too stuborn to follow God because they wanted the blessing immediately and wanted it without fear and possible heartache. It's easy to draw the conclusion that it was easier back then to know the Will of God because He spoke it directly to them. I often find myself thinking that even I could have followed God fairly successfully (at least more successfully than they did) back then. But then in passages like this I'm reminded that we're all human, and therefore so very similar. You'd think we've evolved over the centuries but the heart and emotional matters, the cares and concerns, haven't really changed too much, as I now see.

They didn't want the hard times, the sadness, the pain and trouble. They didn't want to spend all their time honoring God and supressing all their humanity. They didn't want to persevere, they wanted the blessing immediately. It reminds me of the psychology study done years ago with the small children. The adult tester put some type of treat (like a hershey kiss or something) in front of the child. The adult then left the room, telling the child that if the treat was still there when the adult got back the child would get double treats. The idea was to see if the child could hold out and be disciplined enough to get more in the end. If you watch the video you see kids struggling to hold out, trying their best but odds were good they'd eat the candy before the adult returned.

It reminds me because far too often we're that child that tries for a short time to do good, to act justly and to love mercy but we get off the path. We start to see the gray areas and we take baby steps off the narrow road without even realizing the cost. We focus on that one piece of candy (immediate pleasure and ease to our desires and wants) instead of focusing on the long-term, better reward. And in our case, that long-term reward is eternal, not just double the immediate pleasure with 2 candies.

But I look at the Isrealites and that's the exact summation of their problems.God had promised them this grand inheritance filled with peace and prosperity. He promised them abundance. And I pity them because so many times it was within their grasp and they still couldn't set aside their humanity for long enough to take up God's free gift.

And then I take a step back and realize I'm to be pitied too. I can't set aside my earthly pleasures for the eternal reward. I've sunk too far into the American way of life and grown too accustomed to luxury and ease. We want our cake and we want to eat it too- right now. And yet we think these things will make us happy; we think they'll satisfy us, even if just for the moment until we find the next thing to work. But as C.S. Lewis says, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and immorality and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like a ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

They had no idea the actual glory God had in store for them if they'd just obey Him. If they'd just follow Him and trust Him He had exceedingly great joy in store for them. And yet we, like they, continue to fool about and seek pleasure here, too often forgetting we're setting our bar way too low.

A Moment that Changes Your Life

I've always looked for a moment that would change my life. A moment that would alter my reality and set me straight. A moment that I would always look back on and say that was the day that things changed, things became different, and I forever steered my life in the right direction. But I now realize the deep problems with that sentiment.

As I grew up most people I encountered in the Christian life pointed to a particular calendar day in a particular year where they were saved- at summer camp or sitting in the pew at church or in the desperate hours of loss. They reference that day as when life changed. They were lost but now they're found. And as much as I've been totally ok with not having a particular date I look back on to mark my Christian start, I think I've subconsciously still been waiting on a day that would alter my existence.

That may sound strange and you may be wondering if I'm saying I'm not "saved." I'm not saying that. I've been redeemed, no doubt. I'm saying though that we hear so many testimonies about I once was lost but now I'm found and we're prone to want that huge jump start so much so that we sit around waiting on it, all along letting life and love pass us by.

Everyday I wake up wanting that miraculous event to occur that will alter my existence. But I read a verse just now and it occurred to me that the event has already happened. And it's not the event that I want, it's the shedding of all the human weight I carry around each day.

"For the grace of God has appeared; bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodlinesss and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age"  Titus 2:11-12.

The life altering change has happened. Jesus lived perfectly, died to take my place and defeated death by rising from it. The grace of God has appeared. It's happened and salvation has come. But what I didn't learn very well is that once I come on board with this belief (getting saved, that is) I've now entered a new fight. It's fight against evil, against our humanity, against myself. You may be different, but my ungodliness and worldly desires didn't go anywhere after I became a Christian and no matter what miraculous events happen in my life, they'll always be hanging around. And until I shed this earthly body I'll continue on in my humanity, unable to escape it's grasp without Jesus.

But the key to the battle is not some one-time, life-altering event. It's the day-to-day struggle, the moment-to-moment defeat of selfish desires, evil thoughts, slothfulness and materialism. It's not some event that's going to happen; it's my daily decision to be like Christ and to honor Him above myself. It's my committing to let Him do it because I'm continuing to remind myself that I can't do it. It's not a cop out; it's not laissez faire; it's not taking the easy road. It's actually taking the really hard road by letting Him do all. I don't think it's something you can really teach kids or new Christians. I think it's a surrender you've got to feel, to realize and recognize when you get so tired of fighting the battle on your own. That's the spot where God really works.

Life's about the day-to-day struggles and tribulations that make us more like Him. A moment probably won't change your life, but a lifetime will. A lifetime of combating the worldly desires knowing that He's working and He's doing and He's providing much, much more than we could ask or hope for.

Fair

"If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount...Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:32-34, 38.

A friend told me that back in this part of history when you went market to get grain you requested it in measure. You held your tunic out (your garment) and the seller heaped the grain into it and you took it home for your family. The interesting thing is that apparently there were many ways to cheat someone of a full measure. The seller could short measure, not pack it down or shake it thus leaving pockets of air and emptiness and I'm sure a plethora of other conniving practices. But here, in this passage, God points out to us the importance of being generous.

I find it interesting how few of us Christians do much above what everyone else in society does. We speak to people that speak back, we lend to people that we expect to be repaid from and we usually adopt the "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine" theory. We've let too much of our world creep in to our Christian thinking. I often attribute it to Southern culture. Here in the south most people would refer to themselves as "Christian" regardless of even owning a Bible (which almost everyone has one sitting on some shelf) or being in the practice of Christ-following. It doesn't require church membership, community engagement, honest living or even kindness. I hear people all the time talking about siblings and friends living very clearly outside of Christian beliefs yet we're so inclined in speaking about these people to give them the benefit of the doubt, as in "of course they've saved." It's a part of the southern life to add "getting saved" to your life checklist:  they've had their moment alone or in church where they "gave their heart to Christ." Check. Set for life.

But if God says I'm being judged according to the measure [I] use, I'm in trouble. We're easily jaded by people taking advantage of us and vow to not be outsmarted again. We adopt the theory "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." And while I think there's still a place for that, it's not what the passage here says. It says, how are we lending and loving, giving and showing generosity to people again and again, without judgment, above the norms of society? How are we showing the kindness of a Savior? How are we different from everybody else? Luke tells us- it's when we give a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over that we're doing the work of Christ and fulfilling his order. And did you catch it? It's a good measure that's not just fair and equal, it's a measure that's running over and so a little beyond fair. It's a measure that shows Jesus' love and compassion, a little more than people expect or even need so that they can know the abundance that the Savior has and wants to give. It's a lot harder than we might think sometimes to live generously but I'm betting the reward will be worth it.

Biblical Meanings

"Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load" Galations 6:1-5.

This past Monday I had the opportunity to attend a small group of women. It was a sweet group of girls who seemed to truly love and respect each other. They were finishing up a study from before Christmas, rounding off Galations. They've been following some book, never really caught the name- seemed to be a commentary of sorts. Anyway, as we came upon this particular passage everyone began, as we commonly do, to toss out their opinion of what they think it means. One by one each opened up her statement with "Well, I think..." or just simply "I think" or "I believe it means." But as I listened to each speak and tried to absorb, reflect upon and occassionally respond, I realized there were a lot of opinions circulating around. And then I realized that's a skill we've been taught since infancy- critical thinking. We're taught to examine things and find the probable and logical meaning. We're taught to find the reasonable conclusion, the one that makes the most sense to us. We're taught that God is a God of compassion and great grace and to be very conscious of that "plank in our own eye" and not criticize others for their tiny speck (Matt 7:3). But I think, and there I go thinking, that we take these passages sometimes far away from their original meaning to make them make sense to us in our humanity.

Here is a fact I'll struggle my entire Christian life grasping: God is not a reasonable God. He's just God.

As I sat listening around the circle at small group or as I listen to other group discussions on spiritual things, we seem to insert our own opinions a lot instead of seeking and finding the original meaning, as best we can, and allowing that to intersect and change our current thinking.

We want a reasonable God. We want a God that makes sense, that we can predict and that will provide for all our wants.

If you look at the passage above in Galations it begins with "Brothers (and sisters)." So, in order to find the meaning of who we're to hold accountable and how we're to hold those people accountable, we've got to first define who this passage refers to as our "brothers and sisters." Then, we've got to dig up whether the "anyone" (Brothers, if anyone...) refers to "anyone" of the brothers or "anyone" of anyone on earth. Then, it's the "spiritual" people who are to help guide the others. So, we've got to define whether we're actually pursuing Christ and His law at the moment and "keep[ing] watch on [ourselves]," which is another requirement for being able to be a restorer to those fallen off the way. We've also got to see what our "spirit" or purpose is in calling that brother out. Is it of "gentleness" to restore them to the brotherhood of Christ or some ulterior motive?

So we're bound to draw the conclusion that we've got to be perfect before we can call someone out in love by much of this passage and therefore excuse ourselves from having to deal with other people's issues. But then we read verse 2: "Bear one another's burdens." Everyone has burdens, everyone has struggles and no one is perfect, ever (well except Jesus of course). Our job is to bear each other's burdens, support each other when we fall, speak in gentleness and hope, and know that the favor you're giving will be returned in no time at all considering how much we fall and need help to get back up.

We need help. We need each other. But we need each other to do so Biblically and with pure motives and heart. Not in a spirit of perfection but in a spirit of gentleness, testing our own selves and searching out our own faults first. We need to stop thinking so much and let God tell us what's best and do that.

If God is for me

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31b

I've always had a great problem with church division, denominations, high-powered leaders and the like. I have a hard time with many people, believing many different, sometimes very contradictory things, all attaining eternal life. I have a hard time being wrong.

But here's the thing, and please correct me if you disagree. We think that if we pray, if we read God's word, if we give our money and time and follow as dedicated followers of God that we will always be right about the important stuff. Now this may be an overgeneralization but I know it's pretty true in my life. It seems we've taken the above verse out of context. If God is for me, who can be against me is the feel-good phrase we've taught our youth to courageously fight off spiritual bullies. And with even just the change of "us" to "me" it still holds the same value and definition. But the problem I've found is that when we believe ourselves to be firmly planted in Jesus we think that our way is the right way. We unconsciously change the "if" to "because" or just leave it out altogether. Is God really for us all the time? Is God really for me when I intentionally commit some ugly sin, well aware of what I'm getting myself into? Is He for me when I do very human, dumb things? I'm not asking if He forgives me, He knows me utterly, but I'm asking if He's for me in those ugly moments rooting me on in what I'm doing.

I don't believe He is. I believe He'll never leave me or forsake me. I believe He knit my inward parts and He knows all the sins I'll ever commit even before He called me to Himself. I believe He's an all-knowing, all-loving, all-encompassing God, and I believe He's cheering for me to root me out of those deep, dark places of sin. But I don't believe He's for my actions in all circumstances. But I think that's the difference in our often human definition of this passage and God's point. If God is for us, who can be against us? First, we have to look at the "if" and figure out if we're in a situation where God is for our actions. Second, we've got to divide God being for us and being for our actions. Those are two separate things. God is for the rescuing of our souls and He's always "for" us in that capacity. He's not always for our actions (and mine that's most of the time!). The last point I see here is piecing together who actually is being referred to as candidates that would be against us.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" Ephesians 6:12.

We're not fighting other people. We're not fighting ourselves. We're not fighting our church, our government, our neighbors or our people adversaries. We're fighting evil. We're fighting the darkness and the power it takes on. Those people that you're fighting right now, yeah they don't apply to this verse. It doesn't necessarily mean you're fight is in vain, but it needs to be contextualized to find if it's really worth the effort you're putting in to be right and for them to be wrong. It all needs to be contextualized to see if our pride is really the thing getting in the way of making peace in our churches, in our neighborhoods, in our nation above what we think is the narrow way to eternal life. We need to come back, refocus and find out what God is for and stick to those things to advocate.

My Hiding Place

"They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him, 'Where are you?' He said, 'I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself'" Genesis 3:8-10.

I know the exact feeling Adam and Eve felt that day. I can feel it in my bones almost everyday. It's terrifying having someone really know you- know your thoughts, your deeds, your very core so well that you can't run or hide anything from them. It takes a pretty intimate relationship to reach this point and oftentimes we rarely have even one person in our lives we might let in this much. But then there's God.

In my experience this attribute of God is what's so terrifying, but yet awe-inspiring and freeing about Him. He knows my thoughts; He knows my heart; He knows my inner-longings and my goals; He knows my very frame. (Acts 15:8, Ps 44:21 and 103:14 , 1 Corinthians 3:20, Matt 9:4) He knows everything. All the yuckiness that I still hold inside. All the slander, malice, jealousy and anger. All the slothfulness, gluttony and resentment. All my shortcomings and faults. He knows it all. He knows when I give someone advice that I myself am not following, He knows the fronts I put on and the great acting ability I have sometimes. He knows. And He still loves me.

To me, that's the miracle. HE isn't frightened or looking on me smirkingly as He comes to cover my frailties. He isn't wincing because He HAS to love me. He had a choice and He chose me. He picked me out and molded me. He may me perfect, and although I've done an excellent job messing that up, He still calls me whole and puts me back in His arms day after day, despite my carrying on and running after lesser things, and makes His mercies new again.

He sees my nakedness and isn't ashamed- for Himself or for me. So why should I be so afraid? I can think of a thousand reasons still but if you think about it, they all fall short. He already sees all those things. We should find comfort in that nakedness with God, not fear. Because in that comfort we can find forgiveness. And in that forgiveness we can find peace. And in that peace we can find a way to heal and not continue to pile on the clothing layers of self-preservation and acting like we're better than we are. We can come to Him as we are, since He already knows, and find the courage to be better, to do better and to accomplish more for His glory- all the while watching and realizing our other layers are shedding away.

Psalm 32 sums it up perfectly - "You are my hiding place." Adam just picked the wrong one.