The most basic and most important characteristic of the Maker of the universe is His unfathomable, unconditional, unending love. Simply put, God is love. There are many aspects of our King and Father that we can't comprehend. Many attributes that He hasn't revealed to us. But we can be positive that God is love. And God's love is a great starting place from which we can explore the rest of His being.
1 John 4:16 says; "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."
God is love, and love is God. This New Testament scripture reminds us that wherever we find love, we find God. Wherever one person demonstrates a loving act for another, we find God. Even if a man or woman doesn't believe in God, if he/she displays a brotherly love towards another person, God is in that person.
Wherever you find love, you find God. And wherever you find God, you find love.
And God's love is a special love. A powerful love. It's the greatest love of all. This isn't some romantic, I've-been-dating-some-girl-for-months kind of love, this is unchanging, unconditional love. A love so powerful that it changed the world. Christ says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends". And we know that Christ died for us. For you. For me. Willingly.
That's some great love.
And this great love is given to us unconditionally. That means there's no conditions. You'll hear my youth group students saying; "There's nothing you can do to make God love you less." God offers us this love not because of anything we did. Not because of who we are. Or what we look like. Or how we act. He showed us love "while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:8).God loves us when we're broken. I recently adopted a dog, and as I looked into the cages, I noticed that many of the dogs were old, sickly, or ugly. The reason is that cute, adorable, and playful dogs are taken right away, but nobody wants these undesirable dogs. God is the person who takes the rejects. He turned Israel, a nation of slaves and outcasts, into the most powerful nation of the Middle East.
God loves the losers.
Because God is love.
And because God is love, He feels our emotions. The eleventh chapter of Hosea illustrates God's compassion for us. The Gospels give multiple accounts of Christ's emotions of sorrow, anger, weariness. God loves us, and He empathizes with us. In fact He empathizes with us SO much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us.
John 3:16.
But the important part of that verse lies within the first 6 words.
"For God so loved the world."
Everything else God did, sending His Son, suffering through crucifixion, forgiving us time and time again, God did because He "So loved the world."
Because God is Love.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
An Understanding of Trust
Trust is a funny thing. It has the power both to bring people closer and drive people apart. Everybody wants it, but everyone struggles to give it. It's easy to lose, but hard to earn. We're all capable of utilizing trust, but few do. Like many things in life, trust is a give-and-take affair, and nobody is giving.
The problem is that God created us to be creatures of trust, but our sinful nature often prevents us from experiencing both horizontal and vertical accountability. The reason our sinful nature inhibits this crucial feature of human life is because of pride.
The downfall of trust it pride.
When you trust someone, you are giving them power over you. You are giving them control over some aspect of your life. You are sharing your life with them in such a way that they become part of it.
In a sense, trust is humility.
And this is why our prideful selves make trusting people hard. We don't want to give up that area of control. We don't want to give them power. We don't want to let them into our lives because they might discover some humbling secrets. Proverbs 3:5 says:
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight."
God clearly calls us to humble ourselves so that we can trust in Him. In His infinite wisdom, He instructs us on how to both humble ourselves and trust Him at the same time. He tells us that we can't really trust in Him until we let go of ourselves or any other earthly confidence.
Because throughout scripture, God's most important commandment is to love Him, and nobody else. If there's one thing God doesn't like, it's idol worship. The interesting thing is that idolatry and trust are very related issues.
Really.
The reason for idolatry is a lack of trust. Why did the Israelites make the golden calf? They didn't know where God was or what he was doing on the mountain with Moses. They couldn't trust in what they couldn't see. They didn't believe.
It's much easier to place our trust in something tangible. Something nearby. Something we can influence.
Why do people worship money? Titles? Power? Because they have control over it. They put their trust in their money because they have some control over their financial security. Why do they trust in people? Because people are tangible and easier to communicate with.
It's hard to trust in God when He only reveals himself and his plan to us one piece at a time. It's hard to trust Him when we struggle to hear Him.
It's hard to humble ourselves enough to give Him our trust.
It's hard to trust Him enough to submit ourselves completely.
It's hard not to "lean on our own understanding."
But God didn't call us to an easy life.
He called us to faith.
The problem is that God created us to be creatures of trust, but our sinful nature often prevents us from experiencing both horizontal and vertical accountability. The reason our sinful nature inhibits this crucial feature of human life is because of pride.
The downfall of trust it pride.
When you trust someone, you are giving them power over you. You are giving them control over some aspect of your life. You are sharing your life with them in such a way that they become part of it.
In a sense, trust is humility.
And this is why our prideful selves make trusting people hard. We don't want to give up that area of control. We don't want to give them power. We don't want to let them into our lives because they might discover some humbling secrets. Proverbs 3:5 says:
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight."
God clearly calls us to humble ourselves so that we can trust in Him. In His infinite wisdom, He instructs us on how to both humble ourselves and trust Him at the same time. He tells us that we can't really trust in Him until we let go of ourselves or any other earthly confidence.
Because throughout scripture, God's most important commandment is to love Him, and nobody else. If there's one thing God doesn't like, it's idol worship. The interesting thing is that idolatry and trust are very related issues.
Really.
The reason for idolatry is a lack of trust. Why did the Israelites make the golden calf? They didn't know where God was or what he was doing on the mountain with Moses. They couldn't trust in what they couldn't see. They didn't believe.
It's much easier to place our trust in something tangible. Something nearby. Something we can influence.
Why do people worship money? Titles? Power? Because they have control over it. They put their trust in their money because they have some control over their financial security. Why do they trust in people? Because people are tangible and easier to communicate with.
It's hard to trust in God when He only reveals himself and his plan to us one piece at a time. It's hard to trust Him when we struggle to hear Him.
It's hard to humble ourselves enough to give Him our trust.
It's hard to trust Him enough to submit ourselves completely.
It's hard not to "lean on our own understanding."
But God didn't call us to an easy life.
He called us to faith.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monkey Bars
Another analogy....This one comes from one of my high school students...
So go back in time and put your 1st grade shoes on....
Our faith is a lot like monkey bars. You know. Those super intimidating rungs that seemed so high and out of reach? Well it turns out they aren't that bad if you just have the guts to try it.
Sounds like faith right?
Everyone looks at the monkey bars (just like everyone looks for faith), but few try actually try it out. You get to the platform, and you put your hands on the first rung. You look across and see that it's a long way and you might not make it. But you convince yourself to step off the platform anyways. (This is the initial "leap of faith" that all Christians go through)
Now you're hanging. Good work! You start thinking it's not to bad. You're fairly comfortable. You think, "Hey, maybe I can just hang here. That's fun, right?" But you realize that there's much more to the monkey bars than just hanging on the first rung. Here's where most people fall off because they grow tired. Christians call this "burn-out." We get comfortable in our stage of faith and stop moving forward. This actually wears us out much faster.
You look up, and see that the next rung seems so far away. And the rung after that seems even further. Thankfully, you've seen others do this before (prophets, Biblical heroes, historical Christian leaders) so you have an idea what it looks like when done right. So you decide to give it a go.
This is what separates the men from the boys.
You swing one arm forward and barely clasp onto that metal bar in front of you. Some people need a bit of practice to get this motion down, but fear not! Here's the secret:
Commitment.
You have to get your whole body to swing. You have to try. You can't just half-heartily throw your hand out there. Faith works the same way. We can't just "sorta" believe in God. It's all or nothing.
Then you're in the awkward transition phase where your hands are on two different rungs at once. This is where you have to leave the comfort of that last rung behind and trust all your weight on this new rung.
Many Christians struggle with this.
We finally get out of our "comfort rung" and grab the next idea/concept, but we're still holding onto the old one. Revelation 3:15-16 warns us about being lukewarm. Often God's lessons change our lives, and we don't like that. So we grab the new lesson but forget to let go of our old ways.
Back to your monkey bar quest....You've now got both hands on the second rung. Congratulations! You're now ready to start the cycle over again. Because the most important aspect of this analogy is the fact that one doesn't go out to the third, fourth, or even fifth rung and just hang. God doesn't call us to get to a point in faith where we just "hang."
He calls us to keep moving forward. He knows that we'll fall, but He also gives us the strength to get back on. He wants us to be continuously challenged. Ever notice that right about the time you're comfortable in life, things get shaken up?
Maybe it's time to swing.
So go back in time and put your 1st grade shoes on....
Our faith is a lot like monkey bars. You know. Those super intimidating rungs that seemed so high and out of reach? Well it turns out they aren't that bad if you just have the guts to try it.
Sounds like faith right?
Everyone looks at the monkey bars (just like everyone looks for faith), but few try actually try it out. You get to the platform, and you put your hands on the first rung. You look across and see that it's a long way and you might not make it. But you convince yourself to step off the platform anyways. (This is the initial "leap of faith" that all Christians go through)
Now you're hanging. Good work! You start thinking it's not to bad. You're fairly comfortable. You think, "Hey, maybe I can just hang here. That's fun, right?" But you realize that there's much more to the monkey bars than just hanging on the first rung. Here's where most people fall off because they grow tired. Christians call this "burn-out." We get comfortable in our stage of faith and stop moving forward. This actually wears us out much faster.
You look up, and see that the next rung seems so far away. And the rung after that seems even further. Thankfully, you've seen others do this before (prophets, Biblical heroes, historical Christian leaders) so you have an idea what it looks like when done right. So you decide to give it a go.
This is what separates the men from the boys.
You swing one arm forward and barely clasp onto that metal bar in front of you. Some people need a bit of practice to get this motion down, but fear not! Here's the secret:
Commitment.
You have to get your whole body to swing. You have to try. You can't just half-heartily throw your hand out there. Faith works the same way. We can't just "sorta" believe in God. It's all or nothing.
Then you're in the awkward transition phase where your hands are on two different rungs at once. This is where you have to leave the comfort of that last rung behind and trust all your weight on this new rung.
Many Christians struggle with this.
We finally get out of our "comfort rung" and grab the next idea/concept, but we're still holding onto the old one. Revelation 3:15-16 warns us about being lukewarm. Often God's lessons change our lives, and we don't like that. So we grab the new lesson but forget to let go of our old ways.
Back to your monkey bar quest....You've now got both hands on the second rung. Congratulations! You're now ready to start the cycle over again. Because the most important aspect of this analogy is the fact that one doesn't go out to the third, fourth, or even fifth rung and just hang. God doesn't call us to get to a point in faith where we just "hang."
He calls us to keep moving forward. He knows that we'll fall, but He also gives us the strength to get back on. He wants us to be continuously challenged. Ever notice that right about the time you're comfortable in life, things get shaken up?
Maybe it's time to swing.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Living Water
After nearly 5 months of working as a youth pastor, and spending the past 2 months without a head pastor, this is one servant of God who is tired.
I love what I do. I love caring for the youth of God's family. I love preparing worship services and leading God's people on Sunday mornings. I love being a part of God's family and tending His flock. But I'm doing it wrong.
I am working out of my own strength. My own reserves.
In Christ's ministry, He got his strength, wisdom, and direction from the Father. Christ couldn't do it on His own (John 5:19). He needed strength and guidance from our Father in heaven. So if Christ needed God's help, how much more do I?
And perhaps that's why me (and so many other servants of ministry) suffer from burnout and weariness. We try to refuel on coffee. Use vacations and retreats to replenish our reserves. But these things are just well water. Christ told the lady at the well;
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst."
(John 4:13-14)
We need to seek our strength from Christ. Not from our well. When Christ tells us to lay our burdens on Him, he means it (Matthew 11:28-30). It's important that we recognize our place in God's kingdom. We aren't caring for God's sheep out of our own compassion and love, but rather God's love. We only love our congregations because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
We aren't the source of water to give. We aren't giving ourselves to our congregation. We're giving Christ. And so we need to take the living water, because everything else is going to leave us thirsty and coming back for more.
I love what I do. I love caring for the youth of God's family. I love preparing worship services and leading God's people on Sunday mornings. I love being a part of God's family and tending His flock. But I'm doing it wrong.
I am working out of my own strength. My own reserves.
In Christ's ministry, He got his strength, wisdom, and direction from the Father. Christ couldn't do it on His own (John 5:19). He needed strength and guidance from our Father in heaven. So if Christ needed God's help, how much more do I?
And perhaps that's why me (and so many other servants of ministry) suffer from burnout and weariness. We try to refuel on coffee. Use vacations and retreats to replenish our reserves. But these things are just well water. Christ told the lady at the well;
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst."
(John 4:13-14)
We need to seek our strength from Christ. Not from our well. When Christ tells us to lay our burdens on Him, he means it (Matthew 11:28-30). It's important that we recognize our place in God's kingdom. We aren't caring for God's sheep out of our own compassion and love, but rather God's love. We only love our congregations because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
We aren't the source of water to give. We aren't giving ourselves to our congregation. We're giving Christ. And so we need to take the living water, because everything else is going to leave us thirsty and coming back for more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)