'those' people

One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus. But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is?

Luke 5:17, 21

Detractors will always show up where God’s harvest field is ready…but Gods power will show up even greater.

What if Jesus had given in to the pressure and standards of the religious elite of his day?  Think of all the people recorded in the Bible (and today) that would never have been touched, healed, delivered or given hope.  You and I would never have been offered a taste of grace because Jesus mission of why he came would never have been filled. 

There will always be well meaning friends and even coworkers within the religious establishments of our day that will try to convince us to stay within the norm, warn us to be careful or not understand our choices or decisions.  

Where is it written we must be careful of Jesus calling to “go into all the world and make disciples?”  Where is it written we will never have to give up our lives for the sake of the gospel?  Where is it written we will not be misunderstood or abandoned by others because of our choice to be a follower of Jesus Christ?  

Yes, I agree some persecution we hear about today is brought on because of foolish actions.  At the same time true persecution will always be on the heels of total abandonment of self in order for Gods work, his Kingdom (not ours) to be advanced.

Our standard and foundation must always align with what Jesus taught.  That in itself will be at odds with not only the world view but that of the established religious communities view.  Do we really want to live and be as Jesus set the example for us?   

I grew up with ‘be a fisherman for Jesus’ but with the warning  ‘don’t go into certain establishments because you wouldn’t want people to think poorly of Jesus.’  Do fishermen wait for the fish to jump out of the water or do they go where the fish live?  Didn’t Jesus go into homes and the marketplace to eat and drink with the those people of his day who were searching and disenfranchised with lifeless religion? 

Today, don’t  those people  also deserve to hear, and more importantly, see the grace of God?  And would those people actually feel welcomed in our religious establishments today?  According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life only 39% of Americans attend a church service once a week yet 92% believe in God or a universal spirit. [i]  Those people are clearly not coming into the church building.  They are not interested in a building; there is no power in a building.  They are interested in someone walking grace with them, not condoning or condemning them. When we, the body of Christ, move out of the building and show them Jesus rather than just telling them Jesus, grace begins to grow. 

What Jesus was accused of as blasphemy was the very avenue for forgiveness and healing to occur.  His actions caused those around and usually those outside the religious elite to be gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!” Luke 5:26

Jesus not only spoke grace he lived it.  He requires no less from us as his followers.

I have not yet arrived but am trying with his help to walk in grace every day.  Some days I stumble a lot.  What about you, want to walk grace together?

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[i] http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report2religious-landscape-study-chapter-1.pdf

Empyting

I’ve been reading a book about emptying oneself in order to make room for what God wants to do in and through our lives.  Must admit the self reflection has been revealing and emotionally exhausting at times.  Yet there has been, and is continuing to be, a cleansing very much like the summer rains I used to run in as a kid.  Did you ever do that?  Remember the fresh gentle rain falling on your warm skin?  Remember the relief from the heat and rejuvenation that came with the rain?  It recharged us to the point we could have run around until midnight with the energy that came from those rains.

This same kind of cleansing can come when we honestly ask the Lord to reveal things we have not let go from our past or dreams and hopes we are tight-fistedly holding onto for our future.  The wounds we never allow to heal from our past prevent us from using those as lessons in order to turn our past into opportunities to help someone else that is going through the same difficulty today.  The hopes and dreams we have do not need to hold our present in bondage if we allow the Lord to have those.  The harder we grip the less energy we have to live our today.  The harder we manipulate and work to have those dreams come to pass, the less we enjoy living our today.  We will never truly know if those dreams are planted in our hearts by the Lord until we release and allow God to fulfill his timing and his purposes in our lives. 

For me, I am learning there is a freedom in realizing I don’t have to know my future but rather trust that God will direct my current today to join paths with my future hopes and dreams.  Today I want to be open and prepared to hear God speak or see Him move in me and those around me.  Who knows, someone I come across today just may be that divine appointment from God to give clarity of his purposes for either me or them. 

Don’t dismiss the ‘outside’ appearance of a chance meeting.  God sometimes uses the most unlikely candidates to speak into each other’s life.

Philippians 1:6,2:3-4; 3:13; Jeremiah 29:11

Change

God created me at my core a unique individual, just as he has you, for his purposes and to bring him glory.  Period. 

His purpose and plan may change from time to time, day to day, and perhaps even moment to moment; our response can be interesting, adventurous and yet confusing and defiant—not on God’s part but ours or more specifically mine. 

Just the time I get comfortable it seems he changes the game plan AND without consulting me! 

Could this ‘change’ be the refreshing everlasting water[i] constantly flowing in and through me rather than stagnant and unyielding water I tend to gravitate to?  At heart, I am a very private person and like my time and my ways.  But I’m coming to realize God did not create me for…well, me.  That is not to say we don’t need quiet and/or alone times to refresh and be rejuvenated.  I’m talking about the avoidance of others just because I don’t feel like interacting or feel like changing my plans. 

Could it be that chance meeting was an ordained crossing of two paths God orchestrated for encouragement, healing or salvation?  Perhaps it was to be the exact moment in time for God’s glory to be revealed to one who is desperately seeking someone higher than their thoughts and ways.  Could it be God wants to teach me rather than the person I come across something or open my eyes in an area I have shut? 

I recently read that God could have created us with incorruptible bodies and morally flawless character but instead he created us out of dirt—clay.  Why?  So it would be absolutely obvious that anything of eternal value accomplished through our lives is from God and not from us[ii] (2 Corinthians 4:7).   

So in the end, it’s realizing my comfort is not God’s purpose for my life.  OUCH!!  Obedience and surrender are not popular topics nor are they to come from a defeatist attitude.  Obedience and surrender are costly.  They are also at the heart of understanding and accepting who God is, why he created me and how he takes great pleasure in my partnering with him for the amount of years he has given me to live.   

So at times it is with kicking and throwing tantrums that I surrender.  And with a grateful heart God doesn’t treat me as my sins deserve[iii] but rather with grace he loving opens his arms and walks beside me--wherever that may be.  Am I to do anything less for those around me? 

What about you?  Where are you in your process or should I say progress?

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[i] http://www.youversion.com/bible/John.7.38.nlt

[ii] Becoming A Vessel God Can Use by Donna Partow (pg 78)

[iii] http://www.youversion.com/bible/Ps.103.10.nlt

No Vacancy

Summer time and vacations are upon us.  While we look forward to them, if we don't make plans ahead of time we will be faced with a lot of No Vacancy signs along the roads.

Could this be the imagery we think of when reading Philippians 3:13, “…I focus on one thing:  Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.  But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.”

You might be thinking, “Where is the No Vacancy in that??”

The purpose of a No Vacancy sign is to let those seeking lodging know there is no room at that particular establishment.  Our past is a guest refusing to accept the No Vacancy sign and keeps coming back looking for a place to stay.

Our memories can become entanglements preventing us from moving out of our past and letting go of unhealthy patterns or behaviors in order to make better decisions for our present and future.

To stay in our past can be strangely comforting.  While we don’t like the end results at least we know what to expect.

Paul tells us in the above passage it isn’t easy but he focuses on “forgetting and looking forward.”  This takes a conscientious effort and determination not to invite and entertain the past but rather celebrate the change that comes from moving out of the past.  Look at change as an unexpected rain shower in the middle of summer, cleansing, refreshing and invigorating.

Once we deny our past a home we must then renew….restore…refurbish…replenish…(get the point?) our minds with new.  How do we do that?

Paul puts it this way, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”(Philippians 4:7) 

To fix our thoughts means to determine and strengthen our thought process and this takes practice.

“Those dominated by the sinful nature (which could be our past and its affects*) think about sinful things (dwelling in our past*), but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.  So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.  But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.  But you are not controlled by your sinful nature.  You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.  Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” (Romans 8:5,6,9,12) 

So when Mr. & Mrs. Past want to take up residence in your mind stand firm to the progress you are making.  You are under no obligation to let them in.  Flash the NO VACANCY sign and flex your thought/mind muscle on truth. 

*thoughts added

Bold confidence

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.  Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.  And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.  Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.

1 John 3:18b-24

Truth is our foundation for confidence, not our feelings or emotions.  When our ‘house’ is built on this solid foundation the winds of doubt, discouragement, fear, disbelief, etc. will not destroy it.  This bold confidence does not come with a spirit of arrogance in demanding our own way or dictating to God what he should do in any given situation.  Rather it is a spirit of freedom in whom and whose we are that brings an innocence of trust, of hope and of expectation. 

David said in Psalm 5:3,7 “Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.  Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.”

David didn’t live under the freedom of grace that we do today, his was a covenant of laws and regulations that brought death and guilt not life.  Yet David proclaimed this bold confidence not in his feelings or emotions but the truth of God’s unfailing love towards him. 

Today, if you believe in the name of Jesus Christ and call yourself his follower no matter the circumstances you find yourself in start building your house on truth not feelings…on hope and confidence not fear and guilt.  

M28 Discipleship Blog: The Warning Against Desiring Spiritual Success

M28 Discipleship Blog: The Warning Against Desiring Spiritual Success: The following blog is an excerpt from My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers Copyright © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Asso...

Who is your standard?

At 15 years of age Tom was diagnosed with a rare degenerative eye disease that would eventually steal his sight. Anyone who knew Tom always commented how positive his attitude was even in the face of difficult circumstance. But this was something he never anticipated nor wanted in his life. The floodgate to his emotions flung wide open in those first few days and weeks of receiving this diagnosis; shock, anger, fear, smashed hopes and dreams and anxiety to name a few. He would never be able to fulfill his dream of playing football for a big name team, never be able to drive, never see the face of the one he would hope to marry one day or even the faces of any
children God would bless their marriage with. Would anyone even want him without his sight?

His faith was tested.
Would he be able to live the words he often encouraged others with? Tom was faced with a decision we all face at some point in our lives; how and in what do we measure our value and worth? Is it in a particular physical or mental feature, a talent, a checkbook balance or material items? And what happens if one or more of these are snatched away without warning?

What we use today as a standard to measure our value and worth will either build or eventually destroy us. We must look to a standard that has always remained the same will never change according to fashion, “religious”, financial or political climates around us. We cannot look to Hollywood, a particular Wall Street or Washington, DC to determine our worth or value.

There is only one standard by which we can determine our value. God’s standard revealed in his Word. Nothing is greater than God and He holds himself true to His faithfulness and the validity of his Word. God’s value and worth He places in us is like a thread sewn throughout His word, it is strong and will never break, tear or crumble. The circumstances that come into our lives won’t scare him or change his mind about us.

God’s word says, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change is mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? (Numbers 23:19)
“And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!” (1 Samuel 15:19)

Tom came to realize that God uses difficult circumstances in our lives to refine us not to define us. He was still Tom whether he could see or not.

What about you? In what or whom do you find your value and worth, and is it reliable and unchangeable?