You are Known!

I’ve been taking Facebook quizzes this week. So far, I’ve found out that I resemble the Muppet’s Swedish Chef (bork bork!), that I should have majored in nursing, that I belong in Romania, and that if I were one of Jesus’ disciples, I would have been Judas. I should be a writer, and if I were a country singer, I would be Tim McGraw. I am pretty sure there were others. My Downton Abbey personality. My Middle Earth personality. Which Disney villain I am. Too many to even remember.

These quizzes are fun, but hardly accurate. FB quizzes are mostly based on personality characteristics and generalities. They are guesses. Sometimes they get pretty close, but they don't know us. They don't collect enough information to peg us well. They also don't take into account a calling, passion, or the life events that shape us. They don’t take into account the stuff that bugs us. They don’t know our fears, our hopes, or our dreams, and they certainly don’t take into account a God who loves us and directs our paths.

So, why do we take them?

We want to be known. We want somebody to really see us, to understand what makes us tick, to see us as significant.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! Psalm 139:23

If the Psalmist had lived today he might have been taking Facebook quizzes, too. Fortunately, he turned to someone who could look beyond basic personality traits and see his heart. He turned to the only One who could really know him, the One who created him. 

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-16

You are known. Perfectly known, and beyond that, you are significant, created with purpose. 

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

God loved you before you ever heard his name. He wanted you, and he directed your forming. He knows your inmost being, all of it, both the good and the bad stuff. He created you with purpose. You are important to him. He loves you exactly as you are. 

We don’t need Facebook tests to tell us who we are, to be known by others, to feel significant, or for any other purpose than entertainment. Facebook is a fun way to stay in touch with people, but it will never be a substitute for knowing and being deeply known. It can never fully love us. Only God can do that. And he already does! 

We are all so busy, too busy to waste time searching for something we already have. I’m not saying Facebook is a waste of time (of course it is!). It has some good applications. We can pray together there. We can encourage each other. It’s the only way I know to get my blog out there. But if we want to know others and be deeply known, we need to get off the computer and see each other face-to-face. If we want to know the One who knows us, we need to spend time in prayer, in his Word, and with others in the body who reflect his nature. He wants to be with us. Hallelujah!

So, get off Facebook or Twitter or LinkdIn or Instagram or Pinterest. Invest in a relationship that is real. God is waiting.

Not Judged, but Saved!

Jesus is sitting in the temple.  People have begun to gather, asking Him questions, listening to His teaching.  They hear a commotion, and turning, they see their church leaders dragging a half dressed woman whom they shove in front of Jesus.  She is embarrassed.  She pulls her clothes around her and tries to straighten her bed-mussed hair.  She has been caught in the very act of adultery.  “Jesus, the law commands us to stone her.  What do you say?” 

Jesus stoops, writing on the ground, eyes firmly down.  The religious men persist, demanding an answer.  Finally he straightens up, and replies.  “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  (John 8:7)  He stoops down again, and one by one they leave, until only Jesus and the woman are left.  Why is she still there?  Perhaps she knows that her fate still rests in this man’s hands.  He was, after all, the only man qualified to throw the first stone.  He straightens up again, and she looks him, her judge, waiting. 

“I don’t condemn you.  Go your way, and sin no more.”

“There is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Romans 8:1

This is the essence of the good news of the gospel.  We have sinned.  Like this woman there is no question of our guilt.  We stand before Jesus, the only person qualified to condemn us.  We look into our judge’s eyes and find instead a savior.  We, who are so completely devoid of anything deserving mercy, find hope in Jesus alone.  This is good news indeed.

Unfortunately, some of us have forgotten from where we came.  Too often when faced with sin we respond like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.  We condemn because we feel it is our right, our duty to protect the purity of the Church.  We forget that each one of us comes to Jesus equally guilty.  We forget that the good news is that we don’t have to face condemnation.  Jesus our judge would rather save us.

Too often we play the part of the church leaders who brought the woman before Jesus. We seek to judge, or we seek to test Jesus. We judge based on contrived evidence, or on partial facts. Where was the man this woman was in adultery with? Why was only the woman condemned? Was it a set up? We often see things in people that we expect or want to see. We condemn the poor without addressing the wealthy who exploit them. We condemn the fallen without removing whatever it was they fell over. We judge quickly. We judge based on surface facts. We judge to make ourselves feel better. Jesus didn’t judge. He came to save us instead.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

When someone looks into our faces, what do they see?  If we are reflecting the nature of Jesus, they will see the good news of hope and compassion rather than condemnation. May we never forget what we were and what but for the grace of God we would still be; lost and hopeless. 

Salty Salt

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again?  It is good for nothing, except to be thrown our and trampled under foot by men.”  Matthew 5:13

            There are few things better than salt. Chocolate, maybe. Dark chocolate, with thin layer of caramel and sprinkled with sea salt can cure any ill. Salt enhances flavor. 

            Salt was a very valuable commodity in Biblical times, valuable enough to often be used in place of currency for trade. Salt was used to season and preserve food, an important function in a hot land with no refrigeration.  Salt was an ingredient in the sacred anointing oil and in sacrifices. It represented purity.  Newborns were rubbed with salt, and it was considered a cure for toothache and decay.  Salt was an important ingredient in the sealing of an agreement.  The details of the agreement had to all be hammered out and the parties had to be at peace with each other before sharing a meal with any salt.  Once the meal was eaten, both parties were under a “covenant of salt” and the visiting party was under his host’s protection.

            Jesus said that we, His followers, are the salt of the earth.  Just as salt was an integral part of society and daily life, so we are to permeate our society.  We are to flavor everything we touch.  We are part of what preserves our society and keeps it from becoming rotten.  Our influence should be felt everywhere we go.  Like salt, we can help restore good spiritual health.  Those who enter our hospitality should know that in us they have found safety and peace, a place where they can find truth and purity.

            When salt lost its saltiness, when it could no longer perform the functions of preservation and health, it was not thrown away.  It still had value.  It was collected in large earthenware jars and stored in a room in the Temple.  When winter rains came and the marble and stone floors became wet and slippery, salt was spread on them to reduce slippage, thus it was trampled under the foot of man.

            We are the salt of the earth.  God will use us in this world to draw men to Himself.  When we choose to live in a way that no longer points out the difference God makes in our lives, we lose our saltiness.  If we have lost our ability to function as salt, we will still be used by God, but not in the way we were intended to be used or for our original purpose. 

            Once again, the choice is ours.

            Lord Jesus, I want to be salt for You.  I want You to use me however You have purposed.  Open my eyes to sin in my life, and to the attitudes and actions that reduce my effectiveness for You.  Use me as You will.  Purify me and make me willing. 

Pray like this...

“Pray then, in this way:  Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”  Matt. 6:9

            The Lord’s Prayer is one of the best known passages in the Bible.  Children memorize it in Awana Clubs and confirmation classes.  Churches the world over recite it every week.  Many of us have reduced it to a vain repetition, words often spoken but rarely thought about or intentionally prayed.  Tertullian, a church father, said “How gracefully has the Divine Wisdom arranged the order of the prayer; so that after the ‘Name’ of God, the ‘Will’ of God, and the ‘Kingdom’ of God – it should give earthly necessities also room for a petition!”

            Jesus instructs us how to pray.  We are first to focus on who we are talking to.  “Our Father, who art in Heaven.”  Prayer begins with a humble faith in God, that He is, and that we have a loving relationship with Him.  We cannot come to God any other way, for without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb. 11:6).  We must come to Him as trusting children come to their father.

            Next we are told to make God’s name holy.  “Hallowed be Thy name” puts the emphasis on God and His nature.  To ask that His name be holy is not to imply that it is not holy already, but instead to ask that it would be held as holy by men, specifically by me.  To pray “Hallowed be Thy name” is to pray that God be given the unique reverence that His holiness demands.  It is to pray that my life would honor His holiness in every action, in every word, and that I would be ever conscious of His nature. It is to ask that the whole world would make his name holy, would kneel in worship of him.

            Jesus goes on in this model prayer to teach us to align ourselves with God.  Before we ask for earthy needs, we are taught to ask that His kingdom would be established, that His will would be done.  Only then do we look to our physical needs, and then only briefly.  We are led on to pray for each other, for forgiveness, and then for deliverance from spiritual battles.  The prayer ends with amen, not as a statement that says “that’s it.  That’s all I have to say or ask for”, but instead “May it be so in accordance with Your will.”  Our focus is to remain on the Father.

            Prayer is not a shopping list.  Prayer as Jesus taught is to bring us in line with the will and purpose of God.  It is not of way of presenting what we are going to do for God and asking Him to bless it, but instead is a means of bringing us, actions and attitudes, into conformity with the mind and heart of God.

            It has been said that prayer changes things.  Mostly, prayer changes me.

You are deeply loved!

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I hesitate to write anything about it, as so many other people already have. My daughter, in one of her boyfriend-less periods, renamed it Single Awareness Day, or SAD. Many of us have mixed or ambivalent feelings about the day, and the emotions come in a wide array. Most of you know that I am divorced. Valentine’s Day is sort of irrelevant to me.

What isn’t irrelevant is love.

There is a fairy tale about a woman who lived a blah and colorless life. She dreamed about a prince who would love her so much that he would risk his very life to save her. He would ride in and save her, killing the dragon, and swoop her off her feet and take her to the palace, where they would marry and live happily ever after.

The thing is, this isn’t a fairy tale. We live lives of quiet desperation. Jesus, our prince, loves us so much that he not only risked his life, but also gave it to save ours. Some day he will ride in, kill the evil dragon, sweep us off our feet, and take us to the palace, where he has prepared a place for us. We will be the Bride of Christ, and will live happily ever after. It is true.

The best thing about this truth is that we don’t earn it. We don’t have to be pretty enough or sing well enough or be perfectly slender and make all our own clothes. We don’t have to have fairy godmothers or magical fairies who work on our behalf. We don’t even have to love him first.

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

He loved us, without any expectation that we might love him. He died for us with no guarantee that we would respond. He loved us perfectly, knowing how badly we would fail at loving him and loving each other. And still, he works in us and uses us to accomplish his work on earth.

This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. I John 4:10, 11

We have the perfect valentine. There’s even dinner and a love letter in it for us. We call it the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his word tells the story of how high and wide and deep is his love for us. No one else could love us like he does. And to top it off, he gives us each other.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
 we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39

Happy Valentine’s Day. May you know how deeply and completely you are loved.

We are his Beloved!

In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.”  John 14:2

In New Testament times when a young person came of marrying age, his or her parents would select an appropriate mate and negotiate a bride price to be paid to the bride’s father to repay him for the loss of a daughter.  When the price was agreed on, a betrothal ceremony would take place.  The young man would offer the young woman a cup of wine, saying in essence “By offering this cup, I vow that I am willing to pay the bride price and to dedicate my life to you.”  The young woman had the right to refuse the cup.  If she chose to accept the cup, she also vowed to dedicate her life to him.  From that moment on, they were considered married, even though the wedding had not taken place yet.  To dissolve this agreement required a divorce.

The young people would then return to their parents’ homes to prepare for their wedding day.  The woman would put together all the things she would need for her household, would make her dress, and would learn all the things a bride would need to know to run her house.  The groom would begin to add on to his parents’ home.  Homes were often built around large courtyards where the family would gather for meals and celebrations.  Off of this courtyard were wings or rooms belonging to other family members.  The groom would begin building the rooms he would bring his new bride home to, preparing them just for her and for her pleasure. 

There was no official wedding date.  The only one who knew when the wedding would take place was the father of the groom.  He watched the preparations, and when he decided that the groom had added sufficient room on and that adequate preparations were made, he would announce that today was the day, the shofar would blow, and the groom and his friends would sweep through the city to collect the bride.  

The bride price has been paid; Jesus paid it with His blood.  Those of us who have accepted His cup are the bride.  Jesus has returned to His Father’s house, and is preparing our rooms, our dwelling place, and we await His return.  Only the Father knows the day.  Only He decides when the preparations are ready and the Groom can collect His bride.

Our challenge, our call, is to prepare ourselves for the day of His return through study, prayer, and faithfulness to His direction in our lives so that when that day arrives we can meet our Bridegroom, arrayed in our wedding clothes, ready for eternity.

“Hallelujah!  For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.  Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready…”  Rev. 19:6-7

People of Distinction

The land has been conquered.  Joshua stands in the middle of the nation of Israel, dividing the land among the tribes.  In the midst of this, Joshua establishes the Cities of Refuge, as per Moses’ direction. 

Killing a human was considered a terrible offense that polluted the land because man was created in God’s image.  Among the Semite peoples when a person was killed it was regarded as the duty of the nearest relative to avenge him.  An avenger of blood was appointed whose job it was to hunt down the killer and kill him, with no distinction being made between willful murder and accidental manslaughter.  This was the beginning of many blood feuds between tribes.

“You shall not defile the land in which you live, it the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.”  Numbers 35:34

As God established the nation of Israel He determined that they would be different.  He established Cities of Refuge, three on each side of the Jordan River, with no part of the country more than thirty miles away.  A man who had accidentally killed another would run to the nearest City of Refuge and find justice there.  Roads were made and kept up to each of these cities, with bridges built and clear signs marking the way.  These cities were open to all, Jew or not, and the doors were never locked. Justice was built into the system God set up, and was for everyone, regardless of nationality.

When a man arrived in a City of Refuge he was given asylum until a fair trial could be held.  If he was proved innocent of willful murder he could live in the city until the death of the current high priest, at which point he could return to his home.  If he left the city or was found guilty he was turned over to the avenger of blood.

Jesus is our City of Refuge, with one important difference.  We are unquestionably guilty.  We run to Him, and He is accessible, open to all, and without him we have no refuge.  Because of His sacrifice, we have a totally sufficient salvation.  Because of His work in our behalf, we have hope in an otherwise hopeless situation.  In spite of our willful sin, God has provided a refuge for all who would accept it.  What are you waiting for?  Run!

“-we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us.  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul-”  Hebrews 6:18b-19a

There is an example for us who have already found our refuge in Jesus. We have an obligation to work for justice for all people. Our hearts should break for the orphan and widow who have no resources. We should stand for the people of color who are incarcerated due to lack of adequate legal council. Injustice is all around us. Will we be people who are different, who stand for God’s way of doing things and loving people, all people? Will we love with the heart of God?

How big is your heart?

“I shall run the way of Thy commandments, for Thou wilt enlarge my heart.”  Psalm 119:32

God desires obedience.  “Be holy as I am holy” says God in Lev. 19:2 and again in I Peter 1:16.  Holiness demands sinlessness, an adherence to God’s commands. We need to “run in the way” of His commandments, understanding and obeying them.  Many of us work hard to be obedient, believing that the key to obedience is self-discipline and prayer. I am a fairly disciplined person, but when I think of being sinless, of being holy, I am overwhelmed. There is not enough discipline in the world to make me always obedient.   The Psalmist suggests that the key is to be found elsewhere.

           

Jesus said that the whole of the law could be summed up in two phrases: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.  He also said that He didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.  The key to obedience to God is to embrace and live by the committed and self-sacrificing love to which Jesus refers. 

           

Love goes beyond the rules and straight to the heart.  Love tells us not only to love our neighbor, but to love our enemy and to pray for him.  Love tells us to go beyond human response and to instead respond like Jesus would the same situation.  Love does what the law could only hint at; it changes us at the heart level.  Love remakes us in the image of God because God is love and the author and originator of love.  Love obeys the spirit of the law, and so obedience is achieved.  We can run in the way of His commands because we reflect the image of Jesus, and fulfill the commands.

           

The reason we struggle to live in obedience is because our hearts are too small.  To become more obedient, we need to become more loving.  To overcome temptation, we need to see things through the eyes of the other, to love enough to do the right thing, to live as Jesus would.  We need Him to enlarge our hearts.

Dear God, enlarge my heart.  Give me enough love, for You and others, to be obedient.  Make me holy.