A talk about encountering the love of God and then being the encounter with God’s love that others so desperately need:
I recently came back from a men’s retreat. As soon as I got home I started judging in my heart other guys that I knew who had no interest in serving or loving God. I got angry… and then I realized something. These guys just don’t know how much Jesus loves them and some don’t even know that he loves them at all. We cannot and should not expect anyone to love Jesus or serve Jesus without first encountering his love. Right? After all, “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John)
But, in our self seeking and sinful hearts, we tend to avoid the love of God like the plague. Even as Christians we sidestep his love, avoid intimacy, and incessantly distract ourselves from God’s love. I think many of us are afraid of the perceived “strings attached” to his love (little knowing that there aren’t any – please disagree with me and comment if you can think of any), OR, that we will only disappoint God.
This is one of my greatest fears. That I will fail him. That I will be a sad disappointment to him. And that he will abandon me. I fear his rejection. But here’s the truth that calmed this fear:
Jesus suffered all of my rejection for me already.
Yes, I absolutely deserved rejection by this Holy God because of all the shameful things I’ve thought, done and said but I can instead rest assured of God’s glad welcome and open arms for me!
Why?
The cross.
So, what are we so afraid of? 1 John 4 tells us that God’s perfect love drives out all fear. Don’t you find it odd that the very think we avoid because of fear is the very thing that will drive out all fear?
Do we trust him? Do we believe that God loves us so much that he would rather die than to be without us? Why don’t we really believe he has our best interests at heart?
It seems to me that most people hold out from giving ourselves or surrendering to God’s love and instead pursue the fleeting pleasures that sin can offer us, little knowing that it is our sin that prevents us from experiencing the lasting pleasure of knowing God and his love.
God’s challenge for us is this: “I dare you to trust in my love for you. Just the way you are.”
Say it with me. “God, I trust you. Jesus, I receive your love.”
We need to be pursuing encounters with the love of God. While it is awesome to get alone in prayer and experience the love of Jesus, or to seek out an encounter with Jesus and his love in a time of worship, we often neglect the best way and the way Jesus reveals to us to experience and to remain in the love of Jesus. It is simply this: To be the experience and encounter of God’s love to others. This is the very thing Jesus tells us is the primary way to experience his love.
“Abide in my love”, Jesus says. How? “By keeping my commands”, Jesus says. What are your commands? “To love others”, Jesus says. (John 15)
“The story starts in 1815 in Digne. The peasant Jean Valjean has just been released from imprisonment in the Bagne of Toulon after nineteen years (five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family, and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts). Upon being released, he is required to carry a yellow passport that marks him as a prisoner, despite having already paid his debt to society by serving his time in prison. Rejected by innkeepers, who do not want to take in a convict, Valjean sleeps on the street. This makes him even angrier and more bitter.
However, the benevolent Bishop Myriel, the bishop of Digne, takes him in and gives him shelter. In the middle of the night, Valjean steals Bishop Myriel’s silverware and runs away. He is caught and brought back by the police, but Bishop Myriel rescues him by claiming that the silverware was a gift and at that point gives him his two silver candlesticks as well, chastising him to the police for leaving in such a rush that he forgot these most valuable pieces. After the police leave, Bishop Myriel then “reminds” him of the promise, which Valjean has no memory of making, to use the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself.” (From Wikipedia)
This “encounter” with the grace and love of God changed Jean Valjean’s life. We too can be encounters with the love of God that others need for it is only the love of Jesus that can transform our lives and make us into the loving people God created us to be.
So, what do you think? Does this ring true? How will this affect your approach to experiencing the love of Jesus?
Jesus shared the story of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son to illustrate the attitude of the Father (God) toward all his lost children. He is waiting and watching and doing everything possible to bring them home. Yes, he has done everything! The cross accomplished more than we will ever know. When Jesus said, “It is finished” he meant it. On the cross God Himself bore our shame, our pain, every last lustful look and judgmental attitude. He bled for every murder, every rape, every homosexual act, & every word of gossip so that we might be saved and have hope & redemption.
God respects our free will. He will never force us to come. He simply invites…
Be reconciled to God today! Stop everything and take a moment and connect with him right now. Talk to him.
“I have done nothing at all in my life, to earn your favor
I have done nothing at all in my life, to earn your love
I have been broken and bruised by my sin and my folly
But you have been broken for me redeeming me with your blood
And how is it that I am accepted?
How is it that I am made clean?
Why should you even care for a wretch like me?
And how is it that I am made righteous?
And how is it that you have saved me?
Why would you choose to die for a wretch like me?
You have been longsuffering, as I have tested your patience
You have been calling to me, as I have wandered from you
But you go to great lengths to prove that you still care
And you went to great lengths to woo my heart back to you
Your blood cries out Father forgive them
Your blood cries out Father I love them”
(Lyrics to “Nothing at All” – a song by Daniel & Catherine Lovett which appears on their latest album, “I Will Bring You Peace” – See the Support our Music link above to learn more about this project! Or visit: www.reflectworship.com)
Here is a video of this song on Youtube:
Several years ago, I had an epiphany – an insight into something that was ingrained in my thinking patterns. I know that I had learned this same lesson on several occasions before, but a dialogue I had with my wife drilled it home once again. Here is how that went down:
My wife and I were visiting with my sister-in-law Stacy. During our visit, Stacy told us that she had felt ill for the past few months and after many visits to the doctor she was just told that she has cancer. The doctor had given her about a year to live. Of course this news was a blow to my wife and I. We couldn’t imagine how they were handling the fact that she was facing imminent death.
The thing that amazed me the most was that she was more worried about her husband having to raise the kids by himself than the fact that she was going to die. During our visit I did not sympathize as I should have. Instead I said something like, “Well, we all are going to die.” I went on to philosophize about death and how we are all living on borrowed time anyway and how fragile life really is and what a miracle it is that any of us are breathing. It was very eloquent.
On the way home my wife confronted me about my lack of compassion. I became instantly defensive, and then went into a tirade of how I must be condemned because I have no love in my heart and where is the activity of God in my life anyway that I should be such a heartless jerk? I was being slightly facetious because, in fact, I really did love myself and thought very well of me. I must humbly admit in retrospect however, that I was very wrong. Anyway, most of what spewed from my mouth left me feeling terrible and alienated from God.
The next day I started once again in the new mercies of God, but I had to ask myself why did I react in this way? Then this thought hit me:
“Will my good deeds outweigh my bad?”
I realized then that I had been carrying around this idea of a “scale” that weighed and measured my good deeds against my bad deeds. My worth depended on how well I performed and how well that scale was balanced.
This mentality was so deep-seated in me that I reacted badly when anyone dared to confront me with a fault. It was as if they were adding one more brick to the ‘bad deeds’ side of the scale. For this reason, I hated taking responsibility. In fact, I hated words such as “responsible” and “accountable”. I didn’t want to face the punishment for my own sins, much less be held responsible for someone else and have their blood on my head. This was why I, in the past, I didn’t function so well as a worship leader in “church leadership”. I felt that I was responsible for people’s souls and I could not cope with that. I would even wish for sickness or a broken down car at times to escape the constant pressure. Of course this is just one of the many ungodly beliefs that over my lifetime have become embedded in the gray matter.
I began to recognize that I was not alone. Many people operate out of this mentality in which they “hope” that their good deeds will outweigh their bad in the end. Whole religious systems of thought are based on this idea. As I thought this way it led me to try to seek approval through doing good and performing well. I thought that by just adding more good bricks to the good side of the scale that things will all work out in the end, and in the meantime, I will feel better about myself and be accepted.
My good bricks were my good deeds. For instance, if I played spiritual concerts for the elderly at nursing homes, then I would finally be accepted and approved by God. Each “successful” concert left me feeling much better. In fact I only considered a concert a success if it left me feeling better about me. I had to feel good.
It was thrilling for me when I preached my first sermon, because in my mind this was a good and heavy brick. I would definitely be in God’s favor now! I called my mother and left a message for her, “The most exciting thing had happened to me! I just preached my first sermon!” A few days later she called me back and told me how proud of me she was. As she was telling me that, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. As I reflected on my initial reaction to “my first sermon” and how excited I was about it, I realized that yes, I could be excited about it, but not for the reasons that I was. I now see that the Lord is just as offended by the good bricks as he is by the bad ones. Trying to earn God’s favor is an insult to his grace.
Radical New Perspective
I have come to see that God doesn’t want us burdened with any bricks (good or bad) that weigh us down and keep us from following him. Besides, the constant balancing act is no way to live. Jesus wants to liberate us and he invites us to drop all of our “bricks” at his feet and learn to walk with him and live for him as we are meant to.
At one point after about nine months of playing hymns for the old folks several times a week the Lord asked me, “So when are you going to start doing these concerts for me?” Wow. His question cut me to the heart.
I was playing these concerts for me. It is true that I became free from a long seven year stretch of chronic depression when I first began to bless the elderly with music. How could I not be changed by a constant interaction with, not only the liberating truth that is in so many classic hymns, but also the love and support of so many of my elders? How could I not be blessed when I have a hundred year old lady shake my hand and say, “God bless you”?
In spite of all the good things that came from all my good deeds, my performance mentality still stood in the way of the relationship that the Lord desired to have with me.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul comments about his Jewish brothers. He says, “I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:2-4 NIV)
I could identify with this Scripture but I didn’t know how to change. Ever since I became a “Christian” I was always trying to establish my own righteousness. It’s not even that I was raised to think this way, but perhaps this is just a universal human default mentality to want to (or feel like you have to) earn God’s favor. I even once caught myself praying, “Lord, make me worthy of your grace.” I was missing the point of grace altogether.
My own grandfather was once presented with the good news of Jesus by my parents. At the time he told them, “If I can’t have a part in my own salvation, I am not interested.” He has since passed away, and it burdens me now more than ever to think where he might be.
Why is it so ingrained in human nature to want to earn our own way? Why is it so difficult for us to receive God’s saving grace – his unmerited favor and blessing? Our own pride is the enemy of our own salvation.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6 NIV)
We must humbly admit that we cannot do a thing to save ourselves (be “poor in spirit”). We must humbly admit that we cannot even add an ounce of our own righteousness to the scales that will somehow make us acceptable to God. On our own, the scales will always be out of balance and never in our favor. Thank God that he does not leave us on our own.
Of course the Lord knows our desperate situation and has given Jesus as his answer. I believe he is telling us to abandon our scales and bricks once and for all and then simply come and follow him. Jesus will teach us how to truly live. He will teach us the “unforced rhythms of grace”. See Matthew 11:28.
THE EXAMPLE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL
The apostle Paul had a pile of good bricks. He was a pure blooded Israelite. He was able to say that he kept the law faultlessly. He was a Pharisee, the most zealous and strictest sect of the Jewish spiritual leaders. By all appearances he was a model example of spirituality. Yet he says, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Philippians 3:7-9 NIV emphasis mine).
Paul abandoned his bricks for a new approach to spirituality. A spirituality based on and flowing out of an affirming love of God that is entirely separate from any good deeds.
Think about it. Before Jesus had even begun his ministry, his Father spoke from heaven affirming him with his love saying, “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” (Matthew 3:17)
As you trust in Jesus, the Father will speak those same words over you. You become the delight of his life. As you trust in Jesus, you become his beloved. As you trust in Jesus, you become a member of Christ’s body – part of Christ himself! As you trust in Jesus, the Father says that he loves you as much as he loves Jesus! Because you are one with Christ and in Him!
This is the ‘mystery’ that Paul keeps referring to throughout his letters. This is what Paul was so excited about that even imprisonment, beatings, persecutions, and all the other sufferings and hardships that Paul experienced did nothing to dampen this flame of Christ within him! This was Paul’s cause to live and to die for – Christ, the one new man – “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3 NIV).
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O God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that we no longer need to sweat about our own efforts and our lack of “measuring up”. Thank you for Jesus, your gift to us, who did all the measuring up for us on our behalf. Thank that as we simply trust Jesus, we are included in all that you have planned – all of the wondrous and beautiful and glorious blessings that you delighted so much in planning for us to experience.
We trust you. We trust in you our kind Creator and our good shepherd. We trust your good intentions for us and in your salvation which runs far deeper than we can even or ever imagine. We thank you that our salvation is not depended on our own efforts, but that you have freely given salvation to us all who least deserve such a gift. Help us to receive your grace well and learn to, once and for all, lay down the scale and the bricks at your feet… at the cross.
This is from the vault. One of the oldest blogs I ever posted. There is still so much truth in it and the issues that I discuss here still come up for me all the time.
Baring My Soul
Feb 4th 2006I want to talk about the power of Gods promises. But first, I must premise with the following disclaimer: I find it difficult and intimidating to write or share anything spiritual with anyone. I feel this way mostly because I have suffered in the past (and still recovering) from a very serious condition known as hypocrititus.
For those of you who are in the same boat, I feel for you. I know how hard it is trying to keep up a facade of being a Christian and feeling your life slip away as you become an empty shell of the person you hoped to be.I came to the realization and the relief, that it is not my job to make God look good. He looks good all on his own. After all he is, “beautiful beyond description, to marvelous for words, too wonderful comprehension, like nothing ever seen or heard.”
A note to those also afflicted with hypocrititus:
I recently watched, which I cannot in good conscience endorse, and probably shouldn’t have watched due to the pervasive foul language, a movie called “Phone Booth”. I was very moved and inspired by the ending which I will now ruin for you by telling you. A man is provoked, by the threat of death by a sniper, to bare his soul to the world. He confesses all and it truly was beautiful…
He says, “I’m a fake… I lie to my friends, I lie to everyone… I haven’t done a thing for anyone when it hasn’t benefited me…
He breaks down in tears and tells his wife, I come here every day to call another woman from this phone booth and I wanted to sleep with her. All I have is weakness and I am sorry. I love you.”
So often we live our lives grasping for some shred of dignity, when in reality, none of us have earned any. So we lie.
When the truth finally does come out, we find ourselves accepted and loved and standing in grace instead of judgement… and it is beautiful.
You may find this surprising but the bible supports this idea of public confession:
The bible tells us to, confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed (James 4:16).
The apostle John writes to us these encouraging words with a promise, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
And finally, Paul writes to us telling us that he boasts of his weaknesses so that Christ’s power may be evident in him. (Making it obvious that is Christ alone who is the source of all that is holy, righteous and good.)
So here I am following suit:
I have nothing but weakness in me. I have nothing to offer anyone. I am a self centered proud hypocrite. I am by no means a spiritual giant. I am often prayerless, faithless, and loveless. I am a fake. A phony. I often love other things more than God. He hasn’t been the center of my life… I have been. He hasn’t been the love of my life… I have been. My motives have been acceptance and approval by others, recognition, fame, and even money. “But I want to start over now, hear me God I calling out for mercy, your sweet forgetfulness…” (sorry, I broke into some lyrics to a song)
We are all human beings. God is the only God of the human race. Jesus is the only Savior of the human race. And though we are frail and weak, we are offered hope by the promise of God in the gift of the Holy Spirit whom God sends to live in us as we place our faith in Jesus. And it is by the Holy Spirit working in us that we reflect His glory. And what is his glory? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The fruit of the Holy Spirit, not the fruit of you or I. This is the Holy Spirit of Jesus living in us, living out his life in us, reflecting the image of God in us!
I want to share one final promise of God that I have found to be a lifeline when I was feeling helpless and hopeless:
Ask (*and keep on asking) and it will be given to you; seek (and keep on seeking) and you will find; knock (and keep on knocking) and the door will be opened to you If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! (Luke 11 – *Persistence is implied here see Amplified Bible)
God will freely give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Luke eleven begins with a parable about persistence, and the Greek word for ask implies a continual act. I have been praying this each morning as I wake up and have noticed my life begin to change, but until death I will never stop asking (so help me God) because I know how desperately I need Gods best gift in me every moment of every day. And praise God we ALL (yes you too) have a Father in heaven who loves us and longs to bless us with the best!
Thank you so much for listening I pray that all who read this will be blessed and respond with faith in Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, and that Jesus will live his life of love through you for all your days until his return when he sets up His kingdom on earth. And on that day may you stand blameless in His Presence.
(From the vault – posting some of my past journal’s best entries)
My wife and I recently discovered the TV series Lost. We “rented” the entire first and second season from the library and watched it all in the span of a few weeks. We got so involved with the characters that at one point I was so exasperated and frustrated at what Jack or Locke or Charlie had done that I threw up my hands and ending up knocking out a few lights in our chandelier. There was one episode that really rocked my world. It was called “The Moth”.
Charlie, a musician who was addicted to heroin, was trying to get away from the others (not the “others” but the others – if you know what I mean) to get alone so he could get a fix of heroin from the bag he was carrying with him. Locke, the ‘father figure’ of the show, observed Charlie’s behavior and knew what was going on. He confronted him and told him, “Your stash will run out sooner or later, so why don’t you just hand them over? I want to help you through this.” After some thought, Charlie handed over his drugs. Locke then told him that if he asked him three times for the drugs back that he would give them to him.
Over time, and in the discomfort of de-toxing, Charlie broke down and asked twice for the drugs. Locke pointed to a moth that was struggling to free itself from its cacoon. He explained that he could help it in its struggle but that it was the struggle that made the moths wings strong and ready to fly. If it was freed prematurely without that necessary struggle it would be weak and unprepared to face the world. Charlie finally came the third time and said, “give me my drugs.” Locke replied, “you know this is the third time?” Charlie said, “I know. I have made my decision.” Locke gave it to him. Charlie, right then and there, threw it into fire. Locke said, “I knew you could do it. I am so proud of you.”
Wow.
So what does this speak to you about? I’m interested to hear from you – leave a comment!
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Here are a few of my thoughts and reactions:
I usually process things that really move me, whether it is in a book, blog, TV show or a movie through the grid of my relationship to God. Like Locke was to Charlie, God is my father figure. He doesn’t just instantly resolve all our problems or give us a struggle free, pain free existance. Yes, we often wish he would, and we often pray incessantly to that end, and then when he “doesn’t come through for us” according to our expectations we often get bitter and dissappointed with God and wonder what good is God if he won’t do such and such a thing for us?
What if he did? A scene from Bruce Almighty just flashed though my mind where Bruce says yes to everyones prayer and bedlam ensues complete with riots in the street, etc…
Often the best thing God can say to us is no, or wait. Yes, God will say yes, in fact, I believe he loves to say yes! But are there people still asking or praying anymore? Are we all still bitter about the time he said “no” or “wait” and so like a spoiled child we don’t talk to God anymore?
So what if, in a moment, he freed you from the cacoon of that vice or that disease, or whatever it is that we are struggling through? What would have failed to happen in our lives? Would our character somehow have failed to be developed from that trial by enduring that temptation or pain? I think so.
It is true that God can and does free people instantly from a vice (be it a drug or porn addiction) or from our suffering (such as cancer), and perhaps this is exactly what he wants to do in your life right now, so by all means keep asking, but also keep fighting. (Paul talks about our fight for the faith – I think this is basically hanging on to the truth that God is love and good and kind in spite of all the supposed “evidence” to the contrary. In this broken fallen world, occupied by enemy spiritual forces of pure evil, all “evidence” is suspect. As someone once said, “Don’t confuse life for God”.
I believe that like a loving understanding father, he is here for us in our trial. He knows far better than we do about what is best for us. I believe God gives us the freedom and strength to endure, to stand strong in it and through it. This strength is something we would not have had on our own… but now we do. Not only that, he promises to never allow us to go through anything that we couldn’t bear, that we couldn’t endure.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (New International Version – NIV)
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Isn’t this amazing? Our Soveriegn God will never let us go through anything that we can’t bear. So if you are really going through it – he has great faith in you!
I recently watched, which I cannot in good conscience endorse, and probably shouldn’t have watched due to the pervasive foul language, a movie called “Phone Booth”. I was very moved and inspired by the ending which I will now ruin for you by telling you. A man is provoked, by the threat of death by a sniper, to bare his soul to the world. He confesses all and it truly was beautiful…
Daniel Lovett 