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Yesterday we took a look at a verse that holds the key to being a safe person. Let's read that verse together again.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NIV)
We spoke on what it means to dwell with one another in yesterday's podcast. This is the most challenging of the characteristics for those of us given the honor of helping others in this life. I'm starting to realize that we really aren't that good at dwelling. We like more of a hit-and-run kind of strategy when it comes to being part of another person's life. Sometimes it just takes time. Am I willing to give God my time the way Jesus was willing in His ministry here on earth? The honest answer is - not as often as I would like. Dwelling is a characteristic of being a safe person that we need to come face to face with in our lives.
The second characteristic of a safe person is summed up in today's reading by the word, grace. Grace is giving someone something they do not deserve. Dwelling and grace are closely tied when you consider the definition of grace. Our giving time, extended time to those who need to see God's love is a grace beyond compare. They don't deserve our time. In fact, if you look at their actions, that might be steeped in sin, time is a gift that they really don't deserve.
Yet, grace is the hallmark of a walk with God. We have done nothing to deserve all God has done for us. I don't care how holy you think you are, your holiness, right at this moment, deserves complete condemnation and abandonment. It is when we start to get into touch with how much grace we have been given that we realize the grace that we have to give to others.
Grace gets exhibited as we dwell with others and accept them just where they are at. That means the person stuck in porn is just as worthy of our time and effort as the person set free from that addiction. It isn't the absent of sin that makes grace powerful. It is when we exhibit God's love in the middle of sinful behavior that makes grace what it is meant to be in our lives. I heard it once said something like the following, "Thank God for sin in my life. Without my sin I wouldn't be able to experience the amazing grace of God."
As we dwell with one another we are extending grace. We are able to extend more and more grace as we stand with those we have been entrusted to do life, with in attitudes of acceptance and tolerance. Jesus is a "come as you are" kind of savior. He didn't come to dwell with the healed. He came to be with the sick. Are you willing to dwell in this kind of grace required atmosphere? That's what it takes to be a safe person in this world.
The last characteristic of being a safe person from our reading is one we gravitate to way too quickly. The characteristic of truth plays a powerful role in being a safe person if truth is bathed in love.
We are way to quick to jump to the truth when it comes to counseling one another. It is much easier to skip dwelling and grace, and just slam one another with truth. Where's the grace in that? Did God slam the woman at the well with the truth of her sorted living arrangements? Did Jesus condemn the woman caught in adultery for her sin? As Christ hung suffering and fading away on the cross, did He shove truth down his killer's mouths? Absolutely not. He dwelt with them. He got to know them. He spoke to their hurts. Then, at the God-directed time, He gave them a Heaven filled dose of truth that they could handle.
That's what a safe person does. He waits on God to show him the exact right time to deliver truth. I have to tell you, that time is rarely at the first meeting. It isn't like those we are counseling don't know the truth. Don't you think that that person stuck in porn is filled with guilt and shame. Do they really need us to tell them they are in the wrong? God's truth is that, even in their current condition, they are loved, they are valued, they are wanted and they are needed.
People don't really need to be told they are doing wrong. They know they are in the wrong. People need to be told they are considered blameless and without fault in the eyes of a loving God. Though the actions of our sinful ways don't deserve God's love, His grace trumps the truth that we all know to be all too true in our everyday lives. Our actions never seem to rise to the level of the love God has for us. Reminding each other of this truth does nothing but drive us deeper and deeper into our independent ways of applying coping mechanisms to deal with the pain of feeling separated from our God.
We are safe when we tell people the whole truth. It is way to easy to show people they are in the wrong. This is just part of the truth. It is when we spend time being the hands and feet of God and loving those stuck in sinful patterns of life that our safety pays off in Kingdom building ways. The whole truth starts and ends with God loves us. The whole truth is based on the fact that God sees us as righteous even though our actions fly in the face of how we see ourselves. The whole truth has to be founded on our standing in Christ. Anything short and we are just kicking a person when they are down as we tell them to shape up and just stop sinning.
I just took a moment and read back over everything I just presented in today's podcast. Wow, do I feel guilty! I have failed at dwelling, grace and telling the entire truth way too many times in the lives of those God has given me to be a part of walking this life out with. I have been and will continue to be an unsafe person. I want that to change. It changes as I realize that, I too, am a person in transition. God loves me just the way I am. Best news is that He loves me too much to keep me this way forever. His dwelling, His grace, His Truth is making my life different. I hope I'm becoming a more safe person to be around. I want that because I see how it is making my life better. I hope to be a part of God making the lives better for many others in my world as well.
If you feel any guilt from this presentation, please forgive me. Remember that God loves you. He stands with you through thick and thin. He wants the best for you. Hold on to that truth and let His grace pour over you as He tarries with you at this point in your life. You aren't a victor because you are completely victorious over the shortfalls in your life. God sees you as a victor because you are His Child. Let that be the power that drives your being a safe person to others that need to know their standing before this God that made them victors as well.
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