10-23-2012
Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Bible verse of the day: 1st John 4:19 " We love because He first loved us."
Can you imagine the state we would be in as humans, full of our guilt and sin, if God had told us that before He could love us, we needed to get ourselves cleaned up, straightened out and rid of all the junk in our lives that keeps us from closer fellowship with Him? He would be a very lonely God because there would be no one that He could love. But thankfully for us, God is merciful and desires above all else a close and intimate relationship with His people who populate the earth. In fact, he loves us so much that rather than making us do anything to be more loveable, he sent His only begotten Son in Jesus Christ to earth to take care of our sin problem and our unrighteousness right here on earth, so that we could be reconciled back to him and His love right in the place where we were. In other words, in our sinful nature. Romans 5:8 proves His immense love for us when it states that " But God demonstrates His own love for us for us in this; While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Wow, that is a powerful verse. It says to me that God so understood the depth of our sin problem and our inability to do anything about it, that He sent us a life line in Jesus Christ, to bear the burden of the world's sin on His own shoulders and paying our sin tab in full. The message is clear, we are powerless to deal with sin, except through the strength, grace and wisdom found in and through Jesus Christ. All other religions of the world are reaching out to God in their guilt, trying to earn their way out of their sinfulness by the good deeds they are doing in their own eyes, hoping to get that insurance policy in the sky to cover the wickedness of the hearts. But Isaiah 64:6 shows the ineptitude of that approach " All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our good deeds and righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." What we see as good works, God sees as filthy rags. They are literally nothing when viewed through His eyes. They are an affront to Him, They can never compare and measure up to His holiness, when He was willing to risk it all and take the sin of the fallen world and place it on his Son on the cross. So while the other religions of the world struggle to feel ok about their guilt, and themselves, through their fruitless efforts to please God, God reaches out to us in His Son and says here is your salvation, sent just for you, take and drink of Him, who alone can save you. He is available to all people, and only your foolish pride can keep you from accepting His redemption for your sinfulness. He alone can set you free, will you let Him? So, my natural response is, what should we do to respond to a love that is so great and so undeserving? Well, in the verse of the day, 1st John 4;19 he tells us what to do: Love others. Because He loved us first, we must love others and share with them the good news of the gospel. In fact, he warns us later in 1st John 4:20-21 how serious He is about us loving others when he says " If anyone says I love you, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." We are freed up to love others, even those who are unlovable, because deep down in the depth of our souls, we have been set free by the fact that He loved us first. The world needs to know this kind of love, for it is the only true love that exists in the world. Augustine said there are only two types of love: The love of God unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self unto the forgetfulness and denial of God. Which way are most of us living today? As selfish lovers of self, and it is literally starving the world of the ral love found only in God. As humans, our love is imperfect. It is jealous, anxious and often flawed. But God's love is perfect, holy and ever lasting. Human beings are prone to hurt one another. We tell each other mean, judgmental things, like that we no longer are in love with you. Things that cause pain and hurt and agony. God says just the opposite. In Hebrews 13:5 He says that no matter what you do or have done " I will never leave you or forsake you." There is another assurance we can bank on in Romans 8:1 ' Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." He has removed all of our sins as far as the East is from the West. Why would we not want what God is freely giving and what this world so desperately needs? Unconditional love, free from guilt and shame. Hebrews 2:3 says " How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" The answer is we wont. Romans 14:11-12 assures us " That as surely as I live says the Lord, that every knee will bow before me and every tongue confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God." Why not freely accept the love of God found only in Jesus Christ." Now go and love one another so that people can see the love of God in you. Fathers love your children and your spouses and keep the place in your family that is of vital importance. Children love your parents for they are doing their best to help you deal with this darkened world. Love those who persecute you, for then you will be aligned with the selfless love of God. God cares about our heart alignment and wants us to reflect his gracious heart of forgiveness and humility. Humility onto love on the cross. Love so amazing. Love so amazing.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
The Judge Without a Court
10-8-2012
Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Bible Verse of the Day: Romans 2:1-4 " You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things. Now we know that God's judgement against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgement on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgement? Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you to repentance."
I am a man in dire need of repentance based on the verse above because I am guilty in my sin of judgement. I live my life in a way that is at odds with this teaching, even if by my power I try my best not to. And you see, that is where the problem lies. I cannot live the life I am called to live as a Christian, as a follower of a Christ, on my own terms and in my own power. My self-righteousness quickly gets in the way and condemns me of being guilty of judgement of others. Who am I, a mere man, to judge others and where does that lack of tolerance come from? I believe it comes from allowing the world in which I live to corrupt my thinking and from not being grounded deep enough in the true teachings and understanding of who Christ is and how he taught. He taught nothing but compassion and tolerance. In every person he saw a child of God who was worthy of His calling and time, and never did he judge someone based on their past behavior without throwing them a life line to a new life of hope in him. He understood fully our human weakness and our moral frailty. Brenning Manning, in the book Abbas's Child, points out the paradoxical challenge of Christ's life on earth to His followers by noting how He got involved with the " moral failures, the irreligious and and immoral people; so many dubious, obscure, abandoned, hopeless types, existing as an eradicable evil, on the fringes of ever society." My God, if Jesus Christ himself was so compassionate and patient towards those people in his time on this earth, turning towards them with gracious kindness so that they may still be "saved" up and until their last dying breath, who am I or is anyone else to cast our own judgement upon those same people when we don't even have a court in which to judge? Lord have mercy on me and forgive me of my sin! In today's world, the AIDS carriers, the drug addicts, the sexual predators, the dregs of society, would be the first ones that Jesus would probably reach out to because of their being ostracized in society. How hard of a message is that to hear with our human understandings and limitations? Impossible! According to Manning, "the Pharisee lurking within all of us shuns sinners, while Jesus turns toward them with gracious compassion." The only way we can ever get to the place where we can look at things through His eyes is to totally surrender to our way of thinking and to remove all pride from our lives that assumes that we have some moral authority over those whom have chosen to reject God. We are so quick as Christians to judge those that have chosen to live their life in a way that doesn't measure up to our own make believe standards. What a joke that is and an insult that must be to the Risen Lord. As a matter of fact, it is those same people who Christ may put in our path so that we can illustrate to them what true, non judgmental, love looks like. Romans 5:5 says " The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us." The challenge is do we use that love of God to the best of our abilities and in a way that would be pleasing to him? I am first to admit that I often fail in this area, as I am way to quick to cast dispersions on those who I deem as unholy. Just typing that makes me sick to my stomach when it becomes apparent that next to Jesus Christ, who reveals in His human life what it looks life to live a divine life, full of compassion, grace and mercy, just how guilty in my human ignorance I am. I fully realize that we as sinners our never able to even come close to approaching the life of God incarnate on this earth, but yet my utter lack of tolerance in some situations still startles me. I am reminded to run to the cross and repent when these episodes of judgement are revealed to me, so that I can live a radical life as one who is beloved by a God who forgives me of ALL of my sin through the blood of my savior Jesus Christ. Without that assurance, I would be truly dead in all my transgressions, with no hope for redemption or eternal life. God calls us to a life of forgiveness, which is counter cultural in a world that demands an eye for an eye at best, and a much more uneven retribution against those who have harmed us at worse. In the Lord's prayer, we ask God to "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." We have seemed to forget what He is really teaching us here, that He forgives us without limit, an unpayable debt ( The meaning of 70x 7 ) and expects us to have our hearts positioned in the same manner. Only a complete and radical trust in a Source greater than ourselves, and a total abandonment to our own flesh, can empower us to truly forgive the wounds inflicted upon us by others. May the Lord of all strength, power and glory give us the ability to do so. For there in lies true freedom, free of judgement and revenge, the truest Christian who can say they did their best to follow the example for which He died upon the cross, forgiveness of our sins. For even in His last breath, in Luke 23:34 Jesus turns to His accuser and says "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Bible Verse of the Day: Romans 2:1-4 " You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things. Now we know that God's judgement against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgement on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgement? Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you to repentance."
I am a man in dire need of repentance based on the verse above because I am guilty in my sin of judgement. I live my life in a way that is at odds with this teaching, even if by my power I try my best not to. And you see, that is where the problem lies. I cannot live the life I am called to live as a Christian, as a follower of a Christ, on my own terms and in my own power. My self-righteousness quickly gets in the way and condemns me of being guilty of judgement of others. Who am I, a mere man, to judge others and where does that lack of tolerance come from? I believe it comes from allowing the world in which I live to corrupt my thinking and from not being grounded deep enough in the true teachings and understanding of who Christ is and how he taught. He taught nothing but compassion and tolerance. In every person he saw a child of God who was worthy of His calling and time, and never did he judge someone based on their past behavior without throwing them a life line to a new life of hope in him. He understood fully our human weakness and our moral frailty. Brenning Manning, in the book Abbas's Child, points out the paradoxical challenge of Christ's life on earth to His followers by noting how He got involved with the " moral failures, the irreligious and and immoral people; so many dubious, obscure, abandoned, hopeless types, existing as an eradicable evil, on the fringes of ever society." My God, if Jesus Christ himself was so compassionate and patient towards those people in his time on this earth, turning towards them with gracious kindness so that they may still be "saved" up and until their last dying breath, who am I or is anyone else to cast our own judgement upon those same people when we don't even have a court in which to judge? Lord have mercy on me and forgive me of my sin! In today's world, the AIDS carriers, the drug addicts, the sexual predators, the dregs of society, would be the first ones that Jesus would probably reach out to because of their being ostracized in society. How hard of a message is that to hear with our human understandings and limitations? Impossible! According to Manning, "the Pharisee lurking within all of us shuns sinners, while Jesus turns toward them with gracious compassion." The only way we can ever get to the place where we can look at things through His eyes is to totally surrender to our way of thinking and to remove all pride from our lives that assumes that we have some moral authority over those whom have chosen to reject God. We are so quick as Christians to judge those that have chosen to live their life in a way that doesn't measure up to our own make believe standards. What a joke that is and an insult that must be to the Risen Lord. As a matter of fact, it is those same people who Christ may put in our path so that we can illustrate to them what true, non judgmental, love looks like. Romans 5:5 says " The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us." The challenge is do we use that love of God to the best of our abilities and in a way that would be pleasing to him? I am first to admit that I often fail in this area, as I am way to quick to cast dispersions on those who I deem as unholy. Just typing that makes me sick to my stomach when it becomes apparent that next to Jesus Christ, who reveals in His human life what it looks life to live a divine life, full of compassion, grace and mercy, just how guilty in my human ignorance I am. I fully realize that we as sinners our never able to even come close to approaching the life of God incarnate on this earth, but yet my utter lack of tolerance in some situations still startles me. I am reminded to run to the cross and repent when these episodes of judgement are revealed to me, so that I can live a radical life as one who is beloved by a God who forgives me of ALL of my sin through the blood of my savior Jesus Christ. Without that assurance, I would be truly dead in all my transgressions, with no hope for redemption or eternal life. God calls us to a life of forgiveness, which is counter cultural in a world that demands an eye for an eye at best, and a much more uneven retribution against those who have harmed us at worse. In the Lord's prayer, we ask God to "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." We have seemed to forget what He is really teaching us here, that He forgives us without limit, an unpayable debt ( The meaning of 70x 7 ) and expects us to have our hearts positioned in the same manner. Only a complete and radical trust in a Source greater than ourselves, and a total abandonment to our own flesh, can empower us to truly forgive the wounds inflicted upon us by others. May the Lord of all strength, power and glory give us the ability to do so. For there in lies true freedom, free of judgement and revenge, the truest Christian who can say they did their best to follow the example for which He died upon the cross, forgiveness of our sins. For even in His last breath, in Luke 23:34 Jesus turns to His accuser and says "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
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