Thursday, July 14, 2011

Bound by Desire

God did something interesting when he created us, he has bound us to him by placing inside us desires that can only be satisfied by him. In this way he has marked us as his own. Whether we recognize Jesus as Lord or not, every person on the face of the earth is trying to satisfy the desires he has given each of us. Every day we chose to pursue what we think will satisfy those desires. We may rush out the door and carry with us the questions, "who loves me? how much?am I unique? do I matter? what is my purpose? what do I have to look forward to? what will bring me joy today?

All of us are searching for love, purpose, meaning hope and we find a million and one ways to satiate these desires. We are are looking for the right people in our lives, for people to treat us better, for the right job, to find something that makes us feel good about ourselves.

But the job is not the means to fulfilling the desire God has given us, having the right people in our lives won't give us the love we are searching for, having people treat us fairly won't fill us with what we are searching for. Sometimes these "things" get at what we want and so we keep seeking them out. But these "things" are so trivial and momentary and none of them are promised to us. None of them get at the depth of our desire.

Save yourself trouble, before you rush out the door, allow God to satisfy your deepest desires to be loved, to have purpose, to have hope. Spare yourself the time asking him to give you the "things" you think will satisfy them. Understand what your deepest desires are and understand that God put them there so that you would always remember you belong to him and will always be in need of him to fulfill them.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Our call, to surrender to God's love.

The other day as I was reading I was struck by this quote, "God continuously reaches out to humans. His call is always the same. It is an invitation to come to him, to receive his rest, enjoy his love and respond with obedient service that flows out of devotion. Our response is also the same at all points in our spiritual journey. The response is to surrender to his love." - David Benner

I have been thinking about the meaning of this quote for days and it has welled up in me all sorts of thoughts and emotions. I was hesitant to believe it's meaning at first because I have never heard our call as humans put so simply; to surrender to God's love. It is the simple truth that we have nothing to offer to God except what he first gives us. Only once we have experienced God's love ourselves, do we have something genuine to offer to others. Anything else is something that we have manufactured ourselves, something that comes out of impure motives of guilt or trying to win God's favor. Nothing replaces actual knowing of God's love through experience. The true radiance of God's love is something that can't be faked, it must be experienced.

All of us have a craving for love, to be pursued, desired, noticed, favored. If we don't wait and allow God to offer us this love, we will sift for it in all sorts of places. We project our need for love and acceptance unfairly in our relationships, in our jobs, social gatherings, everywhere. We expect from others what only God can offer us. No one will ever love you like God does. No one ever can. Understand this truth and it will change the way you interact in all of your relationships. Sit, and wait, surrender to God's love and allow it to melt away every ounce of anxiety and fear you feel to be noticed, accepted, to achieve or win favor. Wait for God's love to come and settle your soul. 

May the words of this blessing comfort you and fill you with peace, "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord life up his countenance upon you and give you peace." (Num. 6:24-26). Know that God desires to gaze upon your face and to place in you all the love and acceptance you are searching for. Sit and wait for God's love to fill you every day and instead of bringing into your relationships an unmet need, you can bring the radiance of God's love.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Becoming like God

At some point in our life, all of us find ourselves asking, or rather demanding the question, “God why would you allow this to happen?” “Why me?” “Why this?” or “Why NOT this?”

I am not attempting to answer the “Why” to those questions, that would be foolish and insensitive of me.

What I do believe though can give us a certain level of peace, is understanding, what God’s desire is for our lives. First off, we acknowledge that we were created to worship God and along that with that God is giving us a gift… if we allow him, he will change us. We will no longer look like ourselves, we will become like God.

We often here the verse quoted when someone is going through a difficult time, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). It has become the “chin up” verse, “everything will be fine, God is working things out for your good.” The devastating thing is that many of us believe we know exactly what is good for us. That’s what we pray for and ask for and think that we deserve.

What is God’s good for us though? That we pass through life with as little struggle as possible? That we be protected from what is evil and blessed with what is good? What happened to Jesus?

Jesus lived a perfectly obedient life and that obedience led him to a cross… And we are offered the same thing, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matt 16:24). (That’s a stipulation we might want to clarify next time we give an altar call!)

The second part of the verse in Romans gives us a whole new level of understanding.

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29).

Those who love God…..those who have been called according to his purpose….those he predestined……
THOSE people….he has decided to conform into the image of his Son.

So God’s GOOD for us is that we would become like his Son, Jesus. And what a priceless gift that is. What greater gift could we be offered by God then to become like God?

 Perhaps this is why Paul says in Romans we ought to “glory in our sufferings.”  Next time we pray for someone, or ourselves, who is struggling we should consider this. Don’t ask so quickly that that “thing” be added or taken away, because through that struggle comes God likeness. 

Love

Something I find quite intersting is the idea that loving someone means valuing someone; showing them they mean something. Love is a validation of a person's significance. You can understand pretty quickly what I'm talking about when you think back to a time when you shared some important information about your life with another person and that person didn't didn't pay attention to you, my guess is you probably didn't feel very special at that moment. What you wanted was for that person to listen intently and to affirm that what's happening in your life, to you, matters.

Love meaning valuing someone,  helps us to truely understand our hard emotions:

Anger, although it can show itself as outrage and sometimes violent, is a response to a LOSS of LOVE. It is a boundary violation where someone has done something to make you feel that you don't matter much.

Fear is a threat of rejection, it is a LOSS of LOVE that perpetuates itself into acts of hate to try to compensate for the sting of rejection. 

Sadness is a loss of control, also a loss of love. Those who have sadness are trying to recover or get back whats been taken from them

A few weeks ago the Christian philosopher, Peter Rollins came and spoke at our church and shared a wonderful analogy that gets at this idea...

What is significant about a child scoring a goal at their soccer game? Tt's not the mere fact that they scoared the goal that is significant, it's the fact that in the stands are the child's parents who witnessed this accomplishment. If no one saw the child score the goal, it wouldn't matter. Love brings value, meaning, purpose to things.  

Another way of looking at it,

When you are in a room you do not think of the light that is making the room visible, you are thinking about the things that you can see in the room because of the light. This is essentially what God does for us. God is the one who shines on us and gives us value & purpose. It is a humble love that does not seek to recognize itself but it illuminates the other. Our duty then ought to be to give recognition to who it is that truely gives us our value.

I could go on and on about all the connections that go with this but the main thing I want to emphasize is this:

God is love.... Because of what Christ did for us on the cross, out of love, we have all become valuable in God's eye's.
We don't owe Christ anything for this, but because of it, we are called children of God and in God's eyes we appear spotless like his son Jesus.

If we ever come to question our value or significance remember what Christ did for us... And when we choose to join Christ, what continues to make us significant is the fact that we are joined with him. He lives inside of us and infuses our lives with meaning and purpose. He is present in us,  illuminating us. Don't be fooled, this alone is what makes you valuable. 

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Your Story

Yesterday was one of those days that don’t always come as often as I would like. As I was sitting in a booth sharing soup with one of my friends listening to and encouraging her, I had the most sure sense that I was doing exactly what I was meant to be doing in that moment.

I felt alive…I felt God awake in me, pushing me forward, providing me with words, wisdom, clarity and compassion. Word by word, breath by breath, God inside me spilling out.

Now if you have experienced this before you know exactly what I’m talking about. Perhaps it is every time you step on stage to speak or while you are helping set up or tear down for the next activity or when you see your spare bedroom filled with company. After being in a moment like this all you can feel is the greatest sense of gratitude…. Thank you God for making me feel so alive. Thank you for letting me join you in the beautiful things you are doing.

Here is a story that I love. (We learned about this in our latest series at church therefore I must attribute the wisdom to them, not me, woo Mars Hill.) Matthew 25 tells the parable of the “Ten Virgins.” Five were foolish and five were wise. Five virgins awaited the arrival of their bridegroom with their lamps full of oil, the other five did not prepare with extra oil for their lamps.

If you have ever been engaged you know fully well that you never forget that your wedding day is coming. You spend day after day preparing and awaiting one of the most joyous days of your life. After all, what could be more important?

The five virgins, who had their lamps full of oil, even after a long wait, were prepared when their bridegroom suddenly came at midnight. They got up, trimmed their lamps and went into the wedding banquet and the doors were shut. The five foolish virgins were not ready and missed….yes missed the most important day of their lives. The ceremony did not stop. Those who sat inside the doors continued with the celebration as planned.

This parable is a reminder of the invitation we have all received. And the question is, what will you do with your invitation? Will you get caught up in unimportant matters and forget that soon we are to be wedded to our bridegroom? Or will you accept your invitation with honor and be a part of the right kind of business?

Another way of putting it… We all are looking to different places for meaning. What we may have forgotten is that our whole purpose and meaning is wrapped up in the story of the Bible.

Here is what the story is about…God created the world, man sinned and the world became fallen, God is redeeming the world, join him… because one day he will return and it will be    the   biggest    celebration   of   your life.

The Bible is your story,    your story,    your story.   Look no further. To what extent will you join God in his Unstoppable progress of redemption? It is happening all the time, perhaps inside you or the person next to you.

When you are sitting in that booth, hosting a guest, helping set up, leading a small group…you are attending. And what could be more important? What could possibly make you feel more alive?