What's wrong with YOU?

We live in a time of a strange collision of values. On one hand we teach tolerance, insisting that people be given freedom to be who they are, that we accept others. At the same time, there is unwillingness to allow for human imperfection.  A poor choice made by someone decades past gets dragged into view and, regardless of what he has done or who he has been for the last 20 years, the drumbeat of condemnation starts.

I know that I am not yet all that I will be, therefore, I believe in redemption!

If we search for perfection in ourselves or demand it from others, we create an impossible standard and become angry and discouraged. Why?  Because, we are all works in progress! We know that maturity results from a process called growth.  What a foolish Grandfather I would be if I demanded that little Gio (age 4) act like a self-sufficient adult.  If I did not understand his crying when he’s tired, or his failure to pick up after himself, criticizing him for ‘lack of maturity’ you would wonder about my grasp of reality. We realize that maturity arrives slowly, over time, as we instruct and train, while experience is reshaping behaviors.    

In a similar way, Christians grow through life. I sometimes ask the Lord, "How long will it take for me to overcome this thing in my life?"  Sometimes I find myself wondering "Why is she still acting that way? When will they change?"  The pattern is growth, not perfection! Yes, I know that Jesus told us "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48, NIV)  His words are misunderstood to mean ‘flawless’ when it fact the intent is more about ‘becoming whole, reaching full maturity.’  The work in the original NT language (Greek) is telios.  The word has nothing to do with impeccable behavior. It is about the process that leads to completion.

God desires that we give ourselves to a life-long process of growth in the Spirit which only ends when we finally are 'perfected,' by our transition into eternal life. In 1 Corinthians 13 we read of the ongoing work which leads us to God's Presence - "Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little! But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear. It’s like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now." (1 Corinthians 13:9-12, NLT)

What peace we can know if we patiently let the process be worked out – in others and in ourselves.  Ask any parent about the need for that kind of patience. Who doesn’t say, “Oh, I wish he would just grow up,” as she deals with the tantrums and messes of a toddler!  Who doesn’t occasionally tire of working out the implications of God's salvation?   

Mastering the lessons of the Spirit-filled life can be a tedious process involving instruction, experience, and discipline. Paul found himself frustrated and said, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" expressing exasperation with the sins that marked his daily experience. If we look at the work in progress too critically, demanding too much too soon, we will give up. James encourages us "let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:4, NKJV) The meaning comes through more clearly in The Message where we read, "don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."

Are you searching for perfection?  Just make sure that what you’re aiming at is growth, not flawlessness.  God wants us to become mature Christians, people who can endure disappointment, who are developing the spiritual gifts He has placed in us, who are overcoming the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the Devil. He desires productive and effective people who are ‘in process’ to become mature; like Jesus before the world. Remember, it is a process; in you and in others. While we are working it out, here's good advice, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins (times when we miss the bull's eye on the target)." (1 Peter 4:8, NIV)

Here's a word from the Word for your meditation. "But you, friends, are well-warned. Be on guard lest you lose your footing and get swept off your feet by these lawless and loose-talking teachers. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever!" (2 Peter 3:17-18, The Message)
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Reckless Love

(a beautiful celebration of God’s patient love)

Before I spoke a word You were singing over me

You have been so so good to me

Before I took a breath You breathed Your life in me

You have been so so kind to me

 (And) O the overwhelming never-ending reckless

Love of God

O it chases me down fights 'til I'm found

Leaves the ninety-nine

I couldn't earn it I don't deserve it

Still You give Yourself away

O the overwhelming never-ending reckless

Love of God yeah

When I was Your foe still Your love fought for me

You have been so so good to me

When I felt no worth You paid it all for me

You have been so so kind to me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

Caleb Culver | Cory Asbury | Ran Jackson

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Look, experience awe.

At dinner last night the conversation included some memories of a cross country trip in 2010, when we drove from Los Angeles to Washington, DC.  The amazing reds and oranges of the Utah desert blazed in our minds while we talked. The stunning vistas at the Continental Divide in Colorado filled our thoughts, remembering the meadows of the summer day, the breeze, the wonder of the Rocky Mountains. 

Last week I stood at the edge of the vast ocean, looking out at the sun’s reflections dancing across the restless waves, the ceaseless sound of the surf washing over me.  What a world God has made for us.

Then, there is the intricacy of our bodies. What a wonder we.  The heart pumps, moving blood through a network that carries nutrients and oxygen to every cell, sweeping away the waste.  Nerves flash signals to our brain, muscles respond. Our eyes take in light and color. And, for most of us, until there is some breakdown, there is virtually no awareness of just what a wonderfully complex organism we are.

Paul says that all this wonder is prime evidence of the existence of God, pulling us towards knowing Him.  "For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused." (Romans 1:19-21, NLT)  

One of the tragedies of our time is the collision of faith and reason, making these gifts to us into enemies rather than seeing them as complementary. At the end of our understanding, there is mystery. Even as we delve into those mysteries, uncovering the patterns and plans, the design in all of it, we find cause to believe. True science does not destroy faith, it increases it! The universe should fill us with awe, cause us to place our arrogant sense of control to the side and humbly acknowledge that there is Someone, the First Cause, the Designer of it all.

Elizabeth Barret Browning is poetic in her recognition of the failure of awe.
Earth's crammed with heaven,

   and every common bush aflame with God.

But only those who see take off their shoes;

   the rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Have you become like a worker bee, so taken up with the tasks of life, your eyes seeing only your own circumstances, your ears full of the buzz of the small circle that surrounds you?  You need to take a wonder break, a time to look beyond, to think more widely, to allow yourself to experience wonder once again. Wonder will set the stage of our lives for worship. Instead of trying to reduce everything to the small bits that you think you need for understanding and control, let the immensity weigh on you, the mystery envelope you, and surrender to the confession – God is!

C.S. Lewis wrote of his own surrender. A young atheist teaching philosophy and literature, he resisted the idea of the Divine. But, God pursued him. In Surprised By Joy  he says “You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me.”  

Yes, God does not abandon us and hope that we might somehow find our way to Him. He draws us, paints the wonder of life around us, sometimes squeezes us with discomfort. Why? That we will, at last, allow Him in.  Lewis so poignantly reveals the moment of his conversion to faith. “In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms.”

Look, experience awe! He is there, will we perceive His Presence?

Here is a word from the Word.
"O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and

crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

(Psalm 8, NIV)

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God Of Wonders

(an older song of worship, but still full of truth)

Lord of all creation

Of water earth and sky

The heavens are Your tabernacle

Glory to the Lord on high

God of wonders beyond our galaxy

You are holy holy

The universe declares Your majesty

You are holy holy

Lord of heaven and earth

Lord of heaven and earth

Early in the morning

I will celebrate the light

When I stumble in the darkness

I will call Your name by night

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

You are holy

God of wonders beyond our galaxy

You are holy holy

Precious Lord reveal Your heart to me

Father hold me hold me

The universe declares Your majesty

You are holy holy holy holy

God of wonders beyond our galaxy

You are holy holy

Precious Lord reveal Your heart to me

Father hold me hold me

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

Marc Byrd | Steve Hindalong

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