An angry God, really?

Jim was taught that the world was a dangerous place, that people were terrible, that God was angry.  He was told that he had to work hard to make things right, that he never could let others get ahead of him, and that he needed to be good, very good, to make God care for him. He feels guilty, hides himself behind herculean efforts to be ‘good,’ but knows he fails almost all the time.  Is it any wonder that Jim is afraid and feels powerless?  He lives behind defensive walls.  He looks for people who think and act like he does but even among them, he is fearful, unwilling to deeply love or trust.

Sam grew up where love was king. He was taught to see his world could be a beautiful place, that Creation was a gift of God given to us for our enjoyment. Oh, yes, Sam knows that things went terribly awry. The Bible taught him about the reality of evil.  Sin entered that wonderful Creation and people became Selfish, Unloving, and Cruel.  But, God, far from being angry, is broken-hearted, because above all, He is Love. 

The Creator’s greatest desire is to restore life to a dying world. His desire is to bring us to His Presence, because He made us to know and love Him. Sam learned the Gospel of Christ which says that God will give him what he could never earn- life abundant and eternal -  if he will accept it by faith.  He trusted Christ to restore him to the Father who loved him, but from whom he was alienated.  He opened his heart and mind to the Holy Spirit, asking Him to guide so that he would live faithfully and obediently to the highest calling; doing the will of a loving Father Who would allow him to find the richest life possible. As a result Sam lives joyfully, hopefully, and effectively engaged as a godly influence in his world.

Which kind of world do you inhabit- a fear filled one like Jim, or a Spirit-filled world like Sam?

Fear-based Christianity is not a new thing. For the two millennia of our faith,  there have been Christians whose message focused sin, Hell, the Devil, and death.  Why? Because, at first, fear is a powerful motivator to change. If a preacher can make the fires of Hell hot enough, he can scare people into a confession of faith. Fear also bonds people together, getting them to stick with the Church. Give them a common enemy, the Devil (or abortionists, or homosexuals, or liberal judges, or Muslims) and they will overcome their differences to fight the those enemies. Huge organizations are built around shared fear of ‘the other.’  

But, this kind of religion is flawed because it’s based on misconceptions (and outright lies) about the nature of God. He is not angry, vindictive, or capricious.  He is loving, forgiving, and trustworthy.  Besides being based on a lie, religious Christianity will fail because fear always has a diminishing return. Anyone who lives with fear, over time learns to adapt to it, to turn it off. That's why fear based Christianity ultimately fails to keep people in the faith.

Jesus does not drive people to God with fear. He calls them to God with love! Jesus' Gospel is not so much a defense as an opportunity. He says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29, NKJV) In The Message (a contemporary paraphrase of the Bible) that passage reads - "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you."

John reminds us that love perfects (completes) us. "God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first." (1 John 4:16-19, NLT) How can we miss this wonderful truth? How can we give up the rich promise of acceptance for a paranoid fearful experience of 'faith?'

Study the story of the Prodigal Son (or as I prefer to call it, the story of The Waiting Father) and let the Word and Spirit convince you of God's gracious favor.
Jesus told this ‘everyman’ story to show us God’s heart for us – even while we are rebels!  

“There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’ “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

“That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.

“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’

“But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.”   (Luke 15:11-27, The Message)  That is the Gospel!

Yes, the Devil rages, evil men seek to exploit the weak, and Nature is unbalanced by the Curse of sin. But, if we belong to our Father, through Christ Jesus, we are not afraid! Why?
Because "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:4, NKJV)

___________

How He Loves

He is jealous for me loves like a hurricane
I am a tree bending beneath
The weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of
These afflictions eclipsed by glory
I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking
So Heaven meets earth
Like a sloppy wet (unforeseen) kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way that

Oh how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us
How He loves us so

© 2005 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
John Mark McMillan
CCLI License No. 810055

Seeing trees walking?

There is a story in Mark of a man whose healing was at first incomplete.  Jesus touches the blind man’s eyes. He then asks him, “Do you see anything?” The answer is startling: “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” (Mark 8:24, NIV)  Apparently this man had not been blind from birth, as he knew what trees looked like.  The interesting fact is that his sight only returned partially until Jesus touched him a second time. "Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly." (Mark 8:25, NIV)

Sometimes we need a second touch!
We come to Christ and He changes us, heals us, sets us on the right road- but we still get things confused, our spiritual vision is still clouded by the past and by our preconceptions.

The next passage in Mark’s Gospel tells us about Peter’s revelation of Jesus’ identity.  After seeing miracles, hearing Jesus teach, listening to Him pray – when the Lord asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter steps out in faith and declares that Jesus is the Christ, God’s anointed One, the Savior.  Seems that he saw things clearly, doesn’t it? Except he didn’t! 

Jesus continued to teach the disciples about His mission. "He then began explaining things to them: “It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive.” He said this simply and clearly so they couldn’t miss it. But Peter grabbed him in protest." (Mark 8:31-32, The Message)  The Messiah could not be a suffering, rejected Man. He had to be a triumphant King.  That’s what Peter’s traditions had taught him.  His vision of ‘the Christ,’ was still clouded! He needed a second touch to see that the Cross that stood on the pathway to the Throne was part of God’s plan for His Son.

How is your vision? Do you see clearly the things God desires?  There is no shame in praying for a second touch.  When it seems that the will of God has been shown to me, yet circumstances are not aligning to what I think I know, my prayer is for clarity.  “Lord, did I get the big picture, but miss the details?  Did I see only a part of the plan and mistakenly seized on that as the main mission?”  

James tells us that if we lack wisdom, if we’re stumbling along, we should ask God to clear things up. "But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind." (James 1:6, NLT)  We know that a second touch is not because God lacks power. Mark never tells us why the blind man was not completely healed with the first touch, but we know it wasn’t because Jesus failed!  Perhaps the man’s faith was wavering. Perhaps he needed to be tested to fully trust God and take ALL that was his. 

May we see with eyes of faith, beyond the obvious, as God sees. Here’s a word from the Word.  Lord, open our eyes.  “Early in the morning a servant of the Holy Man got up and went out. Surprise! Horses and chariots surrounding the city! The young man exclaimed, “Oh, master! What shall we do?” He said, “Don’t worry about it—there are more on our side than on their side.” Then Elisha prayed, “O God, open his eyes and let him see.” The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha! " (2 Kings 6:15-17, The Message)

___________

Open my eyes, that I may see,

Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me.

Place in my hands the wonderful key

That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now, I wait for Thee,

Ready, my God, Thy will to see!

Open my eyes, illumine me,

Spirit divine.

Open My Eyes That I May See (Open My Eyes)
Clara H. Fiske Scott

© Words: Public Domain

I gave up chocolate cake!

I gave up chocolate cake!

The ancient practice of fasting is little practiced in our era and when we do attempt it, it is often so symbolic that it becomes ineffectual.  Raised in a church that did not observe seasons like Advent or Lent, I was puzzled when we moved to New York and my friends, who were nearly all Roman Catholic, talked about giving up something for Lent.  Mostly they ‘sacrificed’ things that hardly made a dent in their lives – chocolate and cake; you know, the staples. 

Early in the Christian church, the 40 days leading up to the celebration of the Resurrection were set aside as a time of fasting.  In the West, it became known as “Lent” drawn from the Anglo-Saxon word for Spring (Lencten).  Why 40 days?  That number recurs in the Bible for times of spiritual growth and revelation.  The rain fell for 40 days in Noah’s flood. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.  Moses spent 40 days on the mountain receiving the Law. Jesus spent 40 days alone, fasting, and during that time experienced the temptation. Why a fast? Fasting is a way to discipline the body, to remind ourselves that we are more than the things that give us pleasure.  It is a practice that can help us to grow in Christ. Paul knew the importance of a fast. "I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:27, NLT)

We are accustomed to comfort, quick to satisfy our body’s signals for warmth, food, or drink. I hasten to add that I, for one, am very thankful for the abundance we enjoy. But, things are out of balance. The number one health issue in America in 2014 is weight, which for most of us, is directly related to a lack of discipline about our food.  Sexual sins plague Christians. Once again, because we are often unwilling or unable to say “No” to what we declare is a ‘need.’  So, during these 40 days of Lent, I am suggesting that we engage with a meaningful kind of ‘fasting.’  Instead of symbolically giving up chocolate cake, how about taking on your appetites with the help of the Spirit?

Wasting too much time watching TV?  Take up a fast.

Addicted to something? Take up a fast.

Complaining too often or too much about little discomforts or inconveniences? Take up a fast.

Match the fast with meditation on the meaning of our Christianity.  In Christ, we go from death to life, from facing an eternity apart from God to having a home promised for eternity in His Presence. Lenten fasts end before Easter so that Christians can feast with joy.  That feast anticipates the promise of life beyond death, of hope that survives the body’s demise.  Steady, rock-solid, Spirit-filled Christians must have a vision that reaches over time’s horizon.  The only reason to say no to the craving of ‘the flesh,’ (the sinful nature) is because we knew that there is a greater promise of Glory. That is why Paul starkly tells us to mortify the flesh, that is, to put it to death. "We are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." (Romans 8:12-14, NKJV)  Fasting is one way to say, “Die, old sinful nature!”

Today is the beginning of the Fast of Lent.  I hope you will use the season to grow toward the hope expressed in the word from the Word.  "It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—…  our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." (1 Corinthians 15:2, 53-58, NLT)

_____________

Feeling on Edge?

A lot of Americans are stressed and anxious. Anxiety shows up differently in our lives. Some of us become moody and withdrawn. Some eat too much! Some try to turn it off with alcohol or drugs. Some seek diversions in fun, TV, spending money, etc. Some cry.  Most do not sleep well.  

Washington D.C. psychologist Bob Rosenblatt, says that anxiety is common. “The times are uncertain," Rosenblatt tells WebMD. "The two things that create anxiety are lack of security and lack of safety. Usually that means financial issues or physical harm. And what is facing most Americans? The economy is awful, so economic security is threatened. And we're told to watch out for physical threats all the time. The only normal response to this is an increased level of anxiety."

In addition to the threats, real and perceived, that create anxiety, many Americans lead driven lives. Multiple demands on our time, combined with high expectations that we have for ourselves, will keep our motor racing and that wears us out, literally.  Throw in an experience of helplessness, an encounter with illness, a death of a friend or family member, the loss of a job – and you have all the ingredients for being anxious.

Can Christians be anxious?  Of course they can. Christians live in the same world as everyone else! Many Christians are not emotionally healthy because they 'bury' their feelings underneath the words of faith, refusing to acknowledge the reality of their emotions. Do not think you lack faith if you're experiencing elevated levels of anxiety! If you're anxious, admit it! What then?  Some choices ought to be just common sense.

Know your limits. Most of us cannot exist for any length of time on 4 hours of sleep, so turn off the TV or PC, put the phone away, take a hot shower, and go to bed! Fatigue is fuel for anxious thoughts.

Finish something.  A dozen unfinished projects create tension.  Focus on one, sticking with it until it’s done.  Then, enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that follows.

Accept imperfection. I don’t mean compromise with sin or do shoddy work but accept the fact that nobody gets everything they want every day. People will disappoint us. Illness will come our way. Plans will go awry. There is a ton of peace in letting go of the need to ‘fix it.’

Christians should make these choices, too.  They will bring the peace of God to their hearts in the middle of life's storm.

PRAY! Engage yourself with God's Presence. Speak honestly with the Lord about the state of your heart. If you're afraid, tell Him. If you're feeling hopeless, tell Him. Remember to include praise and worship in your prayer time. It is tragic that too many of us use prayer only as a kind of 'shopping' list. Set aside time to simply be with God-- perhaps in silence, perhaps in song, or maybe with your favorite worship CD playing.  urges us to get active in dealing with our anxiety!  The Spirit invites us to peace. "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

GATHER! Join with other Christians, family, and friends. God never intended for us to 'go it alone.' That foolishness about standing tall and self-sufficient is an American romantic idea far removed from real life! We need each other. Reach out in this time. Talk with others. Worship with others. Help your friends by allowing discussions go beyond superficial jokes and laughter. Do not be afraid if emotions bubble to the surface. Galatians 6:2  (NLT) teaches us that we must "Share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ."   Paul tells us that "When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow. Live in harmony with each other.  Don't try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary  people. And don't think you know it all!" Romans 12:15-16 NLT

GET SPIRITUAL, look up! We can lower our eyes until even the molehill in front of us looks like a mountain. Jesus teaches us to shift perspective. When things pile up, look higher, He says.  Here’s the word from the Word.  Take time to savor the truth here. Pray your way through His encouragement. Pause to process it.  Discover new peace for today. "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? … So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans  (people who do not know God) run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:25-33, NIV)

__________________________________

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,

Pilgrim through this barren land.

I am weak but Thou art mighty,

Hold me with Thy pow'rful hand.

Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven,

Feed me now and ever more,

Feed me now and ever more.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,

Bid my anxious fears subside.

Death of death and hell's destruction,

Land me safe on Canaan's side.

Songs of praises, songs of praises,

I will ever give to Thee.

I will ever give to Thee.

John Hughes | Peter Williams | William Williams

© Words: Public Domain