Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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The world can seem so upside down at times. The crazy antics of a world filled of those succumbing to the false teachings of a Victim Based Society make it seem that the future is so bleak. Left in the hands of mankind, it is! But, that's not the end of the story.
Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now.
Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. Isaiah 59:15-16 (NIV)
That first line from our reading really captures the current climate when it comes to how we treat one another when trapped in victim thinking. Truth is the victim of those seeking their own way. Those who want to stand up for the truth in loving ways are shunned and persecuted by evil. Such is the way when we pledge allegiance to our Victim Based Society. Looks to me this has been the case from day one.
Our reading today was penned by the prophet Isaiah some 2500 years ago. You would think that over 25 centuries, we would be in a better position for change. Victim thinking was alive and well long ago. It is just as alive and well in today's age. Fail to learn from history and you are doomed to repeat historical events. Why can't we learn from that age old fact in ways that make victor living more of a possibility?
God, Himself is the He in today's reading. God is appalled at our apparent lack of ability to learn from our damaging and hurtful ways. It is as though He couldn't believe His eyes. That no one would be willing to step into their victor's role so completely as to bring salvation to the world was a fact that just didn't compute for our God. Amazing thing is that He chose to do it Himself. Salvation became the mission of our God. It so completely consumed Him that He gave of Himself with eternal backed consequences for you and for me.
God didn't condemn us for failing to learn from our past. He could have made things a lot easier for Himself were He to just give up on us completely like I'd have done to such an unruly and ungrateful creation. Not only did He not give up, He gave His all to make salvation possible for each and everyone of us caught in victim thinking. Why did He go to such lengths for us? One word describes God's motives - Love.
Our reading today points out an important fact about our efforts that we need to pay close attention to or we will fall right back into victim thinking ways. Righteousness is such a critical word for the person considering any path as a basis for being the foundation of who they are. It doesn't matter if you have a religious belief or not, thinking that your goodness is enough to make who you are have the kinds of impact on your live you so need is such a victim's way of thinking. Sadly, thinking that our righteousness is enough makes it so easy to cause victims of those who don't hold to what our righteous ways espouse a being truth.
You see it in religion after religion, including the Christian way at times. Thinking that our "truth" is paramount makes it so easy to disregard and even cause others pain in the process of defending that truth. The most obvious example of this fact is radical Islam. Truth, other than what is taught by radicalized leaders of this faith, is thought to be so divisive as to require death of those who hold an opposing truth.
Those that call themselves Christian aren't immune to such radical views either. From the Crusades to the bombing of abortion clinics, horrific acts of victimization have been done in the name of the truth we have taken and turned into a weapon against those who don't believe as we do.
If anyone listening to this happens to be cheering because they hate religion, you too are just as prone to atrocities in the name of your truth as is any religious person. Our views can drive us to do things that kill the spirit, if not the body, of those who dare to think differently than we do. Religious or not, letting our actions empowered by our truths turn our Victim Based Society into something that is filled with victim making opportunities.
I think that's why today's reading says, "...his own righteousness sustained Him." Our righteousness is as though filthy rags to this holy and untouchable God. This doesn't mean that we can't do good things based on the truth we hold. We can and we do. It is when we do from a place of love that a level of goodness happens that catches God's eye. That goodness will never be enough to prove who we are, but it is a start that I think we are missing today as fully as it was missing in Isaiah's time.
So, what's a person to do? I think that the ultimate action is applying trust. It is as we trust the arm of God and be covered by His righteousness that we begin to see the fullness of who we are. Identity based on something bigger than ourselves makes it easier to understand who we are when this world does things to make us doubt what we think salvation and right ways are to look like. Placing our trust in anything less opens the door to allowing our truths to drive us to do things to support that truth in victimizing ways.
Don't believe this truth that I'm sharing today? Your unbelief use to offend me to no end. It made me uncomfortable that you could believe something different than me. I wanted to think that there was something wrong with you and that it was my job to prove you wrong. I now realize my attempts at converting you were nothing more than the vestiges of victim thinking working into my relationship with those who dared to disagree with the truth as I saw it. I was willing to say and do things that might victimize you in ways I had experienced as I was victimized by others defending their truth. That strategy just doesn't work for me any longer.
I have come to a place where I see how far short all my actions at defending a truth has been. I am tired to working to make this world believe what I think my identity is suppose to look like. I'm finding that there is a peace in surrendering to the truth that I'm not enough and I need more. That peace just hasn't been matched by anything I have tried throughout my life.
I think my almost 60 years of proof of a truth shared 2500 years ago is evidence enough for me to want something different. If my choosing God being that difference isn't your cup of tea, I am completely OK with that. I would hope that we could have deep and meaningful conversations over our differences without having to defend ourselves like we might have done in the past. It isn't our job to convert one another. It is our job to relate to one another. We can't do that as we are stuck defending our position in ways fueled by victim thinking.
Our Victim Based Society is alive and well because of the fact that our truth has blinded us to a truth that matters. The reality is that we aren't capable to the kinds of love this God wants to lavish on us so completely. In fact, trying to make the kind of God's love happen in our lives is what takes truth and turns it into something damaging to those who might not hold to our truth. I sure do hope we can change this way of thinking. We change as we let God's love be more of the foundation for truth even when what we think is truth is challenged by those around us.
Whatever you believe or don't believe, I know this to be true. We have to stay open to each other. It is as we endeavor to relate to those who don't believe as we do that the world takes on a different appearance. This is so hard to do. It's a moment by moment kind of thing. It is so easy to get off track when we hold the truth we see up as being the end all and be all of what we think is behind that truth.
We aren't being asked to compromise on our truth. We are being asked to compromise on our defense of that truth. That's so hard to do because we have allowed our success at defending truth be what makes our identity be something we want the world to see. This is the pattern that makes our Victim Based Society something that is unmistakably alive and well.
As you go about your day today, realize that your truth will be challenged over and over again. When this happens, lean into God, not God's truth, but God Himself. If it is His arm that saves and His righteousness that sustains, then doesn't it make sense that we need Him? That's a good thing. Needing God is so right because His truth about us needs no defense. We are His victors because He calls us His Child. Let all you do today stand on the merits of what God says about you. Then you won't need to be in the victim making position of defending your truth to those you come against today.
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Monday, June 18, 2018
Day 357 - Understanding Love
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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A friend of mine asked me a thought provoking question the other day. We were talking about the love God has for us. He stopped in the middle of our conversation and asked, "Why can't I get this, why can't I understand God's love in ways that would make my life totally different?"
This friend is a seasoned follower of Jesus Christ. He is in his seventh decade of life. He started this Jesus thing a bit late in life. He's only been at it for just 30 years now! The older I get the more I connect with what my friend was asking.
You see, my friend knows how God's loves changes things. He has seen first hand how people make miraculous and instantaneous changes when they come face to face with the fact that God loves them. His question that morning comes from the realization that, even with as much experience and knowledge as he he has in his life, he has so much further to go.
You don't have to be in your seventies to be asking that question. Have you ever felt dumbstruck when it comes to accepting and living in the fullness of God's love? Join the club! I believe that feeling is a uniquely human attribute.
Why is is so hard to understand, trust and apply God's love in our lives? I can think of three reasons why this might be the case. Crazy thing is that simply mastering each of these areas won't make it so that you fully live in the love God has for you. It is a we master one of these areas, another weakens in ways that demand our attention. It's as though the cards are stacked against us when it comes to fully knowing God's love on this side of heaven. Maybe they are. Let's take a look at each of the reasons I see why God's love seems to be so missing in our lives at times.
The first reason I think that God's love is so hard to understand is that we have no ability to generate the kind of love God gives all the time. I have spoken on this before but it is important that we come to grips with this fact. We simply cannot love unconditionally on our own. We weren't made to produce that kind of love. We were created to be conduit of unconditional love, not the source of that love.
God's love can be so hard to understand because of the fact that we are designed to be conduits of His love. It stands to reason that something we can't generate is likely to be quite difficult to understand, trust and apply in our lives. The more we simply give in to how God wants to love us, the more we will be able to experience unconditional love for ourselves. It is as we get use to seeing unconditional love being dispensed in our lives that the love of God starts to make more and more sense.
We find it challenging to understand God's love for us at times because His love isn't something that we naturally have at our fingertips. God is the source of that love. He has unlimited supplies of unconditional love for us to enjoy. Problem is that we put conditions on receiving that love God so freely gives to us. The second reason we find it difficult to understand God's love is that we work to box God in with our conditions on His love.
What are our conditions? We often see God's love in light of our circumstances. We have come to believe that God loves us when our lives are going well. Our expectations put conditions on God's unconditional love. Doesn't that sound completely illogical? Well it is! When you put conditions on something unconditional it kind of negates the power of that thing in the first place.
That paradox makes the power of what God's love is suppose to look like in our lives so confusing and so easily missed. We are a conditional love based kind of species. Sure we are able to love the unlovable in some pretty remarkable ways. But, even in loving the unlovable, there are areas we won't go. Those areas, as right as they might be for the situation, are conditions. When we approach God's love with conditions of any kind, the power of His love gets lost in the shuffle.
Want more of God's love? Stop making God meet your expectations of what that love is suppose to look like. He is offering an unlimited supply of His love. Our conditions do nothing but limit how much of His love we can accept and apply in our lives. The more we can lay down our expectations of what God's love is to look like in our lives, the better we will be at seeing that love in action.
The last reason I want to consider today when it comes to God's unconditional love has to do with our home. I'm not talking about the house you live in. I'm talking about this world. Christians tend to forget that they are nothing more than aliens in a strange land. This world will never be capable to fully understanding the love God has for us all. Sure we are able to drink in gigantic portions of that love from time to time, but reality is that it won't be until we are home in heaven will God's unconditional love make perfect sense.
That doesn't mean that God doesn't want us to grow in the knowledge and experience of His love here on earth. He longs for us to let that love be the driving force in our lives. I think that we need to realize that this place is too small to contain the vastness of His unconditional love. We were made to take in all we possibly can handle and let the excess spill out into the lives of those around us. The more we live that kind of life, the better we are able to see what unconditional love looks like on a moment by moment basis.
Problem is that even is we were capable of being filled completely by God's love every moment, there is so much more that this world will never be able to understand. That's the challenge when it comes to serving a loving God that is unlimited. His love is too big for us to ever completely understand, at least in our present condition.
Our Bible reading really highlights the power of God's love. It says...
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 (NIV)
Never feel shamed that you don't fully understand the love God has for you. You are in great company. None of us will fully understand His love on this side of heaven. Today's Bible reading says the answer to any shame we might feel over God's love is hope. God is pouring out His love on us constantly. Hope is only hope when what we hope for is sometimes missing in our lives. Hope is not needed when we have all we need.
The same goes for God's love for us. Sometimes we might need to feel the sting of wondering whether we are living in God's love so that we can exercise the muscle of hope. Our reading today reminds us that God is pouring into our hearts all we need. It is as we hang on to hope and listen to our hearts that the quiet whisper of love can be heard in our lives in life changing ways.
Want more of God's love in your life? So do I. It is as I drop my expectations, be the conduit for the love God made me to be and live a life of just passing through that His love becomes more and more visible to me.
Take time today to drink in all the love God has for you. He has more than you can handle. The excess will work through your life to change people's lives all around you. Let God's unconditional love for you be the power behind who you are in all you do today.
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A friend of mine asked me a thought provoking question the other day. We were talking about the love God has for us. He stopped in the middle of our conversation and asked, "Why can't I get this, why can't I understand God's love in ways that would make my life totally different?"
This friend is a seasoned follower of Jesus Christ. He is in his seventh decade of life. He started this Jesus thing a bit late in life. He's only been at it for just 30 years now! The older I get the more I connect with what my friend was asking.
You see, my friend knows how God's loves changes things. He has seen first hand how people make miraculous and instantaneous changes when they come face to face with the fact that God loves them. His question that morning comes from the realization that, even with as much experience and knowledge as he he has in his life, he has so much further to go.
You don't have to be in your seventies to be asking that question. Have you ever felt dumbstruck when it comes to accepting and living in the fullness of God's love? Join the club! I believe that feeling is a uniquely human attribute.
Why is is so hard to understand, trust and apply God's love in our lives? I can think of three reasons why this might be the case. Crazy thing is that simply mastering each of these areas won't make it so that you fully live in the love God has for you. It is a we master one of these areas, another weakens in ways that demand our attention. It's as though the cards are stacked against us when it comes to fully knowing God's love on this side of heaven. Maybe they are. Let's take a look at each of the reasons I see why God's love seems to be so missing in our lives at times.
The first reason I think that God's love is so hard to understand is that we have no ability to generate the kind of love God gives all the time. I have spoken on this before but it is important that we come to grips with this fact. We simply cannot love unconditionally on our own. We weren't made to produce that kind of love. We were created to be conduit of unconditional love, not the source of that love.
God's love can be so hard to understand because of the fact that we are designed to be conduits of His love. It stands to reason that something we can't generate is likely to be quite difficult to understand, trust and apply in our lives. The more we simply give in to how God wants to love us, the more we will be able to experience unconditional love for ourselves. It is as we get use to seeing unconditional love being dispensed in our lives that the love of God starts to make more and more sense.
We find it challenging to understand God's love for us at times because His love isn't something that we naturally have at our fingertips. God is the source of that love. He has unlimited supplies of unconditional love for us to enjoy. Problem is that we put conditions on receiving that love God so freely gives to us. The second reason we find it difficult to understand God's love is that we work to box God in with our conditions on His love.
What are our conditions? We often see God's love in light of our circumstances. We have come to believe that God loves us when our lives are going well. Our expectations put conditions on God's unconditional love. Doesn't that sound completely illogical? Well it is! When you put conditions on something unconditional it kind of negates the power of that thing in the first place.
That paradox makes the power of what God's love is suppose to look like in our lives so confusing and so easily missed. We are a conditional love based kind of species. Sure we are able to love the unlovable in some pretty remarkable ways. But, even in loving the unlovable, there are areas we won't go. Those areas, as right as they might be for the situation, are conditions. When we approach God's love with conditions of any kind, the power of His love gets lost in the shuffle.
Want more of God's love? Stop making God meet your expectations of what that love is suppose to look like. He is offering an unlimited supply of His love. Our conditions do nothing but limit how much of His love we can accept and apply in our lives. The more we can lay down our expectations of what God's love is to look like in our lives, the better we will be at seeing that love in action.
The last reason I want to consider today when it comes to God's unconditional love has to do with our home. I'm not talking about the house you live in. I'm talking about this world. Christians tend to forget that they are nothing more than aliens in a strange land. This world will never be capable to fully understanding the love God has for us all. Sure we are able to drink in gigantic portions of that love from time to time, but reality is that it won't be until we are home in heaven will God's unconditional love make perfect sense.
That doesn't mean that God doesn't want us to grow in the knowledge and experience of His love here on earth. He longs for us to let that love be the driving force in our lives. I think that we need to realize that this place is too small to contain the vastness of His unconditional love. We were made to take in all we possibly can handle and let the excess spill out into the lives of those around us. The more we live that kind of life, the better we are able to see what unconditional love looks like on a moment by moment basis.
Problem is that even is we were capable of being filled completely by God's love every moment, there is so much more that this world will never be able to understand. That's the challenge when it comes to serving a loving God that is unlimited. His love is too big for us to ever completely understand, at least in our present condition.
Our Bible reading really highlights the power of God's love. It says...
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 (NIV)
Never feel shamed that you don't fully understand the love God has for you. You are in great company. None of us will fully understand His love on this side of heaven. Today's Bible reading says the answer to any shame we might feel over God's love is hope. God is pouring out His love on us constantly. Hope is only hope when what we hope for is sometimes missing in our lives. Hope is not needed when we have all we need.
The same goes for God's love for us. Sometimes we might need to feel the sting of wondering whether we are living in God's love so that we can exercise the muscle of hope. Our reading today reminds us that God is pouring into our hearts all we need. It is as we hang on to hope and listen to our hearts that the quiet whisper of love can be heard in our lives in life changing ways.
Want more of God's love in your life? So do I. It is as I drop my expectations, be the conduit for the love God made me to be and live a life of just passing through that His love becomes more and more visible to me.
Take time today to drink in all the love God has for you. He has more than you can handle. The excess will work through your life to change people's lives all around you. Let God's unconditional love for you be the power behind who you are in all you do today.
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Day 356 - Light of Life
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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I have been really drawn to John chapter 1. The book of John is a must read for Christians and non-Christians alike. It really is an encapsulation of how Jesus modeled God's love for mankind. You just can't go wrong letting John's view of Jesus sink into your life.
I am amazed at how John penned the words he did. The first 18 verses of John 1 is nothing short of melodic in how it reads. I have to admit that I find it necessary to go back and read the words John wrote over and over again. I sometimes miss the meaning as I enjoy the skill in which this disciple was able to communicate the message of Jesus in his writings.
As an example, take a look at today's Bible reading from John Chapter 1.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. John 1:4 (NIV)
This is one of John's more brief and to the point sentences describing Jesus. As short and sweet as it is, there is a lot to unpack in today's reading for those of us looking to live a victor's life. Let's take a closer look at this verse now.
In Him was life... Such an important concept for victors to get from their heads to their hearts. Life can be lived to the fullest when it is In Christ. It isn't that a walk with God through Jesus makes life easy. It is that as we lean into who God says we are through Jesus, that life seems to just make sense.
In Christ we have purpose. In Christ we have identity. In Christ we are valued. In Christ we are wanted. In Christ we are eternal. In Christ we are accepted. In Christ there is love. I can't think of a single thing in this world that brings to the table this list of benefits. Can you?
Does you job bring universal purpose, identity, value, want, eternity and/or love? Sure there are times your job might fit the bill on one or more of these benefits, but can you completely depend on your job for all these things? How about your marriage? Your kids? Your friends? Your Church? I have yet to find a worldly endeavor that brings the kind of peace a relationship with Christ has brought to my life. In Him I have found life. John really nailed it with the first four words of today's reading. Amazing thing is that he isn't done yet.
John goes on to say that the life in him is the light of all mankind. That's a pretty bold statement. to make. For those who find that their own efforts are enough to bring the peace they need in their lives, this light John introduces here is of little use. For those of us who have been overwhelmed by the darkness of this world, this light is a total life saver.
This life is the light... as a statement is beginning to make more and more sense in my life these days. I love the fact that John uses light as a descriptor of the life we have in Christ. I took a look at the Greek word used for the English translation of light. In the definition section of the tool I used to translate the Greek word for light, they used several metaphors to help identify the subtly of this word. One of the metaphors used was the following.
God is light because light has an extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality.
Light can be harsh and abrasive. Light can also be soft and alluring. In the performance world, light plays a critical role in creating the right atmosphere for what is trying to be communicated. Implement the wrong lighting plan and the message often gets lost on the audience. Same goes when using the word light to describe the life God promises for us through Him.
For those stuck in trying to make this life be all about who we are, what we do and how the world sees us, the light of God will seem harsh and unappealing. The message will surely be lost when it is bathed in a light that is the light of God. For those who have seen the futility of trying to make this life prove anything about who they are, the light of God is a safe and welcoming sight.
John goes on to talk a lot about the light of God in John chapter 1. He makes some points about God's light that make it so that we have to allow what He says sink in a bit. Today's reading opens the door to the possibility of viewing our life in a light that helps life be something that we are more able to understand. It is when our identities are illuminated by the light that is God, that a power becomes available to us like never before. That power comes as God's light opens our eyes to a different perspective in life.
As we view who we are and what we do from God's perspective, the outcomes we face don't have quite the impact they did when our light source was something other than God. Life can be such a roller coaster when we try to light our way by what we do. When things are going well, things seem bright and easy to see. When things take a turn for the worse, the darkness can make us feel lost and afraid to move forward.
Life will always be filled with ups and downs. It is such a shame to let those ups and downs be overly impacting on who we are. We allow that to happen when we look to a light other than God to make this life be what it was intended to be for us. When we allow God to light up our life, the highs are so much more impacting and the lows don't take quite the toll on who we are they once use to.
The last thing I see in today's reading is purpose. If life is in Christ and that life is the light to all mankind, we become something appealing and alluring to those around us as we let that light shine from our lives. We all want to be significant. We all want our lives to count for something. It is when we settle on letting worldly objectives be enough to make us feel significant or to have impact that victim thinking can't help but to be something we will have to deal with.
When we are living a life in Christ, we exude a light that is different in this world. That light is what the rest of the world longs for but are looking in all the wrong places to find. Your life can not be more purposed then when you let God illuminate who you are through what Jesus did for us on the Cross. It is as we live out our identity as God's Child that victor living becomes a distinct possibility.
As God's light shines in your life, know you are empowered to do more than you could ever dream or imagine. All mankind is looking for that kind of light. You may never be called to preach from the mountaintop as to what that light means in your life. What you are called to do is to let that light shine... let that light pour out of you in all that you do.
Think about what kind of light is working in you. Let the life in Him be a light to all mankind. Shine like the victor God made you to be and bask in the extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality of God's glory in your world today.
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Day 355 - Ours
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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There are times when it is so easy to believe that we just don't measure up. The world is really good at making us think that our talents, our abilities, our resources, our education, our relationships will always fall short when it comes to who we are. As we stay in that place of doubt, it gets easier and easier to let victim thinking take over in our lives.
I came across a Bible verse this morning that made me think about what it takes to make those times of doubt something different in our lives. Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 2 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV)
At the beginning of our presentation today I used a word several times. That word was "our". I said that the world is really good at making us think our talents, abilities, resources, education and relations will always fall short when it comes to who we are. I went on to say that it is when we stay in that place that we thing our stuff won't be enough to make us who we want to be that victim thinking takes over.
Our Bible reading also uses the word "our". Interesting thing is that it is only used once. Peter says that we have all we need in this world through our knowledge of Him. The difference between victim thinking and victor living can be seen as we change the focus as to what we think we can control.
In my opening paragraph I listed things that I typically look to when it comes to identity. I lean on my talents and abilities and resources and education and relationships to make who I am be seen in the light my fragile ego needs so completely. This is such a failed strategy of making identity be what it was meant to be.
I'm not saying that talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships aren't important when it comes to who we are. What I'm starting to realize is that these things need to be secondary. They need to come under the power of something more lasting when it comes to making these important items do all they need to do to make us live out who we are in this life. Peter hits on what it is that empowers all these important traits of life. It is when we allow the knowledge of God be what fuels the fire behind talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships that victor living comes out of the truth of who we are.
Our reading today highlights a reality that I think we too often miss. God's divine power has given us everything we need to life a godly life. That word "godly" comes from a Greek word that means reverence and respect. It can also be translated as holiness.
I saw something in this word today that really changed the meaning of today's reading for me. I have always saw being godly as living in a place where I have reverence and respect for God. I think this is an accurate view of what this word means, but today I saw something more for us to consider. What if reverence and respect was meant for us as well? In other words, what if the fact we have been given everything we need from God to live in this world in a way that we receive the reverence and respect our souls hunger for? That is something that I find simply amazing.
Isn't that what we look for through trying to make our identity be all it can be in our world? Aren't we yearning for a little bit of respect. Some may call it acceptance. Others may look to being loved when it comes to respect. Reality is that we want our identities to work for us in ways that make who we are be respected by others we come into contact with. Today's reading promises that that will happen. It happens as we get to know this God that empowers who we are through all He is in our lives.
I love how Peter puts it in today's reading. We get to participate in the divine nature of God Himself. There is power in God's divinity. That power is promised to us. That power comes as we get to know who this God is that calls us His Child. When we are focused on the traits of our life we always fall short at reaching who we want to be. When we focus on the power behind those traits, life turns in a direction that makes victor living possible irregardless of what our circumstances might be.
We have been given everything we need. The world tells us we are falling short. Which are you going to believe today?
Let the power of God's divine nature flow into who you are. Take time to ask God to show Himself to you. Learn about Him. Make that knowledge of Him be yours! Let that knowledge turn your talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships into what they were meant to be when it comes to who you are. On your own, these traits aren't enough. With God, these traits are more than enough to make your identity do all it was destined to do in your world today.
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There are times when it is so easy to believe that we just don't measure up. The world is really good at making us think that our talents, our abilities, our resources, our education, our relationships will always fall short when it comes to who we are. As we stay in that place of doubt, it gets easier and easier to let victim thinking take over in our lives.
I came across a Bible verse this morning that made me think about what it takes to make those times of doubt something different in our lives. Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 2 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV)
At the beginning of our presentation today I used a word several times. That word was "our". I said that the world is really good at making us think our talents, abilities, resources, education and relations will always fall short when it comes to who we are. I went on to say that it is when we stay in that place that we thing our stuff won't be enough to make us who we want to be that victim thinking takes over.
Our Bible reading also uses the word "our". Interesting thing is that it is only used once. Peter says that we have all we need in this world through our knowledge of Him. The difference between victim thinking and victor living can be seen as we change the focus as to what we think we can control.
In my opening paragraph I listed things that I typically look to when it comes to identity. I lean on my talents and abilities and resources and education and relationships to make who I am be seen in the light my fragile ego needs so completely. This is such a failed strategy of making identity be what it was meant to be.
I'm not saying that talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships aren't important when it comes to who we are. What I'm starting to realize is that these things need to be secondary. They need to come under the power of something more lasting when it comes to making these important items do all they need to do to make us live out who we are in this life. Peter hits on what it is that empowers all these important traits of life. It is when we allow the knowledge of God be what fuels the fire behind talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships that victor living comes out of the truth of who we are.
Our reading today highlights a reality that I think we too often miss. God's divine power has given us everything we need to life a godly life. That word "godly" comes from a Greek word that means reverence and respect. It can also be translated as holiness.
I saw something in this word today that really changed the meaning of today's reading for me. I have always saw being godly as living in a place where I have reverence and respect for God. I think this is an accurate view of what this word means, but today I saw something more for us to consider. What if reverence and respect was meant for us as well? In other words, what if the fact we have been given everything we need from God to live in this world in a way that we receive the reverence and respect our souls hunger for? That is something that I find simply amazing.
Isn't that what we look for through trying to make our identity be all it can be in our world? Aren't we yearning for a little bit of respect. Some may call it acceptance. Others may look to being loved when it comes to respect. Reality is that we want our identities to work for us in ways that make who we are be respected by others we come into contact with. Today's reading promises that that will happen. It happens as we get to know this God that empowers who we are through all He is in our lives.
I love how Peter puts it in today's reading. We get to participate in the divine nature of God Himself. There is power in God's divinity. That power is promised to us. That power comes as we get to know who this God is that calls us His Child. When we are focused on the traits of our life we always fall short at reaching who we want to be. When we focus on the power behind those traits, life turns in a direction that makes victor living possible irregardless of what our circumstances might be.
We have been given everything we need. The world tells us we are falling short. Which are you going to believe today?
Let the power of God's divine nature flow into who you are. Take time to ask God to show Himself to you. Learn about Him. Make that knowledge of Him be yours! Let that knowledge turn your talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships into what they were meant to be when it comes to who you are. On your own, these traits aren't enough. With God, these traits are more than enough to make your identity do all it was destined to do in your world today.
Friday, June 15, 2018
Day 354 - Cosmic Joke
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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Victor Borge, famed comedian, conductor and pianist once said, “Humor is something that thrives between man's aspirations and his limitations. There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth.”
I have often heard it said that God has an amazing sense of humor. I think Mr. Borge would agree, judging from his quote above. I love the thought that humor resides between what we think we can do and what we are actually capable of doing. I happen to think it is precisely in that place of humor that victim thinking can sneak in if we aren't too careful. Let me explain what I mean by that.
I wish it were always funny when I can't do what I think I'm capable of doing. How many times have you come to that place where your abilities seem to be dwarfed by your challenges? This is where I think God's sense of humor comes into play. You see, we have been instilled with dreams and aspirations way beyond our means. We are made in the very image of God. God is gigantic! It stands to reason that, if we carry the image of God inside of us, when why wouldn't we have dreams and aspirations that match His size? Here's where Mr. Borge's quote comes into play.
It is comical to watch something the size of an ant try and carry a dream as big as the universe. Yet, that's what we often think we are suppose to be doing in order to let victory be what defines our victor status. Thinking that it is up to us to make an identity that can make happen the God-sized aspirations placed there by Him is such a victim making proposition.
It was quoted earlier, "...humor is truth." When it comes to the humor in thinking that we can make our identities be what they need to be in order to make our destiny all it is suppose to be, truth is the foundation for this kind of comical thinking. As silly as this is, we tend to fall victim to this kind of humor over and over again. It just doesn't have to be this way.
God isn't like an adolescent bent on pulling off the perfect practical joke in you life. He isn't up there belly laughing at our failed attempts at making happen the profound ambitions in our hearts come to reality. He wants us to recognize the unbridgeable gap between our aspirations and abilities and let Him be all we need to make happen the big things He has placed in our hearts. Surrendering that gap to Him is the only way we can live like the victors He has called us to be all the time in our lives.
Victim thinking can't help but to be the result when we come face to face with the fact that we just aren't able to make happen all the dreams that are in our heart. It is when we think we have somehow failed that we surrender to victim thinking ways.
God sees it so differently. He lives in us. He is there to make those impossible dreams a distinct possibility. It is when we forget that He doesn't need us to make those dreams happen that we tend to get ourselves into trouble. God doesn't need us to make dreams happen. He longs for us to go on the journey with Him to make those dreams come to life. With God, it is always about relationship. It is never about getting things done. God is perfectly capable to do all He wants to get done in this world. He just wants us to go with Him as He gets done all He wants in and through our lives.
Today's Bible reading helps me see life from God's perspective. Take a look at our reading with me now.
He forgives your sins—every one.
He heals your diseases—every one.
He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.
God makes everything come out right;
he puts victims back on their feet. Psalm 103:3-6 (MSG)
I almost didn't put that last line in today's reading. It is way to easy to turn today's reading into a formula for success. It sounds as though God is saying that those things that make us feel like victims will be taken away. Funny thing is, they will! In heaven, we will never be victimized in any way, ever.
God's sense of humor is very obvious to me in today's reading. When it says he makes everything come out right, I have to laugh. I can list off ten things in my life right now that aren't coming our right at all. Most of those things are not happening the way I want because of the gap between my aspirations and my abilities to make those aspirations happen. It is when I focus my eyes on the real prize that this gap becomes something jokes can be made of without it seeming so hurtful to me.
What's the real prize? It is a walk with God. Our prize isn't success. Our award isn't making this life be all we want it to be. Sure, that's the award I want, but that just isn't what is guaranteed on this side of heaven.
It is this walk with God that is the complete fulfillment of what God wants for us in this world. When it comes to making our dreams happen, God's presence is the only aspiration where our ability doesn't strike our funny bone as we strive to make our aspirations happen. God's presence is always there, no matter how good we might think we are at making His presence happen in our lives.
Next time you think or say, "God has a funny sense of humor." remember what makes it possible for humor to be seen in what you do in your life. Stop thinking that it is up to you to make the dreams in your heart happen. Settle into the unforced rhythms of God's grace. Let Him lead the way. Trying to make happen all God has put in your heart with the abilities you have been given makes you nothing more than the punch line of a joke you just weren't meant to get in the first place. Be all God says you are by resting in what He does. Let your victor status come alive by allowing God to do all He wants to do in and through your life today.
**********
Victor Borge, famed comedian, conductor and pianist once said, “Humor is something that thrives between man's aspirations and his limitations. There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth.”
I have often heard it said that God has an amazing sense of humor. I think Mr. Borge would agree, judging from his quote above. I love the thought that humor resides between what we think we can do and what we are actually capable of doing. I happen to think it is precisely in that place of humor that victim thinking can sneak in if we aren't too careful. Let me explain what I mean by that.
I wish it were always funny when I can't do what I think I'm capable of doing. How many times have you come to that place where your abilities seem to be dwarfed by your challenges? This is where I think God's sense of humor comes into play. You see, we have been instilled with dreams and aspirations way beyond our means. We are made in the very image of God. God is gigantic! It stands to reason that, if we carry the image of God inside of us, when why wouldn't we have dreams and aspirations that match His size? Here's where Mr. Borge's quote comes into play.
It is comical to watch something the size of an ant try and carry a dream as big as the universe. Yet, that's what we often think we are suppose to be doing in order to let victory be what defines our victor status. Thinking that it is up to us to make an identity that can make happen the God-sized aspirations placed there by Him is such a victim making proposition.
It was quoted earlier, "...humor is truth." When it comes to the humor in thinking that we can make our identities be what they need to be in order to make our destiny all it is suppose to be, truth is the foundation for this kind of comical thinking. As silly as this is, we tend to fall victim to this kind of humor over and over again. It just doesn't have to be this way.
God isn't like an adolescent bent on pulling off the perfect practical joke in you life. He isn't up there belly laughing at our failed attempts at making happen the profound ambitions in our hearts come to reality. He wants us to recognize the unbridgeable gap between our aspirations and abilities and let Him be all we need to make happen the big things He has placed in our hearts. Surrendering that gap to Him is the only way we can live like the victors He has called us to be all the time in our lives.
Victim thinking can't help but to be the result when we come face to face with the fact that we just aren't able to make happen all the dreams that are in our heart. It is when we think we have somehow failed that we surrender to victim thinking ways.
God sees it so differently. He lives in us. He is there to make those impossible dreams a distinct possibility. It is when we forget that He doesn't need us to make those dreams happen that we tend to get ourselves into trouble. God doesn't need us to make dreams happen. He longs for us to go on the journey with Him to make those dreams come to life. With God, it is always about relationship. It is never about getting things done. God is perfectly capable to do all He wants to get done in this world. He just wants us to go with Him as He gets done all He wants in and through our lives.
Today's Bible reading helps me see life from God's perspective. Take a look at our reading with me now.
He forgives your sins—every one.
He heals your diseases—every one.
He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.
God makes everything come out right;
he puts victims back on their feet. Psalm 103:3-6 (MSG)
I almost didn't put that last line in today's reading. It is way to easy to turn today's reading into a formula for success. It sounds as though God is saying that those things that make us feel like victims will be taken away. Funny thing is, they will! In heaven, we will never be victimized in any way, ever.
God's sense of humor is very obvious to me in today's reading. When it says he makes everything come out right, I have to laugh. I can list off ten things in my life right now that aren't coming our right at all. Most of those things are not happening the way I want because of the gap between my aspirations and my abilities to make those aspirations happen. It is when I focus my eyes on the real prize that this gap becomes something jokes can be made of without it seeming so hurtful to me.
What's the real prize? It is a walk with God. Our prize isn't success. Our award isn't making this life be all we want it to be. Sure, that's the award I want, but that just isn't what is guaranteed on this side of heaven.
It is this walk with God that is the complete fulfillment of what God wants for us in this world. When it comes to making our dreams happen, God's presence is the only aspiration where our ability doesn't strike our funny bone as we strive to make our aspirations happen. God's presence is always there, no matter how good we might think we are at making His presence happen in our lives.
Next time you think or say, "God has a funny sense of humor." remember what makes it possible for humor to be seen in what you do in your life. Stop thinking that it is up to you to make the dreams in your heart happen. Settle into the unforced rhythms of God's grace. Let Him lead the way. Trying to make happen all God has put in your heart with the abilities you have been given makes you nothing more than the punch line of a joke you just weren't meant to get in the first place. Be all God says you are by resting in what He does. Let your victor status come alive by allowing God to do all He wants to do in and through your life today.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Day 353 - Adding To This Life
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
**********
I have spent the better part of this year talking about how we add to the plan God instituted when it comes to who we are. It is easy to think that it is Jesus plus success. We look to Jesus plus holiness when it comes to walking out this life with God. We seek after Jesus plus purpose to find meaning in this world. We yearn for Jesus plus our comfortable life as proof that God loves us in life changing ways.
Anything we add to the fact that Jesus did it all for us become stumbling blocks when it comes to walking out our victor status. This is the case with our identity as God's Child. It is just as true when it comes to our ability to relate to this God that made us. When it comes to who we are, and who this God is in our lives, it is a Jesus plus nothing strategy that makes victor living something we can experience no matter what our lives look like.
I have a friend who has suffered a moral failure. His entire world is crumbling around him because of the sinful things he has been doing that have come to light. Right now this friend is battling the natural thoughts that it is Jesus plus getting his life back into order. In other words, this friend is being told that until he gets this mess cleaned up, he isn't worthy of much in the Christian world. That's a lie from Satan that I don't think the Christian Church is too good at recognizing.
Many of his Christian friends have abandoned this fallen man. Some are even advocating that others leave him high and dry as well. I totally get their anger and frustration at the craziness of this situation. I'm angry too. What I don't think they can see is that they are living a Jesus plus something kind of life that just isn't part of what I see the good news of Jesus is to be all about.
I think this is why Christians have been accused of shooting our wounded at times. You see, this man who has fallen is wounded. It is my guess that he has been so for quite a while. He has been living a Jesus plus something kind of life by allowing sinful coping mechanisms to help him deal with the feelings that something is missing in his life. That emptiness in this friend's life that led to sinful coping mechanisms are in us all. It is when we turn to things of this world to help deal with the pain of feeling that emptiness in our lives that we let victim thinking take over in victimizing ways.
It is much easier for us to just pretend that everything is OK. I have to look as holy as my other friends in the church seem to be. I can't share how unholy I feel at times because that might make the fragile identity I've worked so hard to build and maintain collapse in ways I just can stand. I pretend it is Jesus plus nothing but let my coping mechanisms be the plus that dulls the pain of loneliness and shame that are too deep to share. If I were to share them there is a good chance I'd be shot! Not literally, but figuratively. I'd be rejected. I'd be labeled. I'd be sidelined. I'd be judged and sentenced in ways the church has been way to quick to do to too many of its own.
You see, even in the aftermath of this friend's sin being uncovered, God still sees him as blameless and without fault. I know how shocking this sounds, but it is true. Jesus died for ALL our sins. This includes the sin of friends that betray us in the right here and the right now. That's why I can say with confidence, that for my friend who is disgraced by sin, it is Jesus plus nothing. It isn't Jesus plus repentance. It isn't Jesus plus restoration. It isn't Jesus plus reconciliation. It is simply Jesus that makes it possible for this man to walk as the victor I know him to be in spite of the consequences of the failures he has lived out in his life.
This doesn't condone what he has done to bring such disgrace on him and his family. What he has done is so completely wrong! This friend will face serious, and potentially irreparable, consequences due to his actions. But, for us to treat him with such disdain is a sin in of itself. It is telling this friend and the world that it is Jesus plus a perfect life that is required to be the victor God calls us to be. I'm sorry, that just isn't something that the Bible supports. Praise God it isn't because we all would be doomed to victim thinking if it was.
There is nothing wrong with being angry at my friend as a result of his actions. There isn't anything incorrect with being frustrated to the point of needing to take a break from relating with this fallen man. Maybe that's what this man needs right now - time alone with God. But expecting something other than what God expects is adding to the powerful message of Jesus Christ in ways that I just can't be a part of.
This begs the question, "What does God expect?" Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now and let's see if we can't see some of what God expects from us.
Thank God! Pray to him by name!
Tell everyone you meet what he has done!
Sing him songs, belt out hymns,
translate his wonders into music!
Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs,
you who seek God. Live a happy life!
Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;
be alert for signs of his presence.
Remember the world of wonders he has made,
his miracles, and the verdicts he’s rendered Psalm 105:1-5 (MSG)
I have to be honest with you. There are plenty of verses in the Bible that speak to obeying God's laws and keeping our lives pure that could be taken as what God expects of us. Of course God wants us to walk with Him in purity and honesty. What we too often do is make these self focused actions be what it takes to make relationship with Him something we can attain to. That's a failed way of living that Jesus came to replace.
Think of it this way. If your relationship with your spouse or your child was dependent on them doing everything you expect them to do perfectly and without question, do you think you'd be in relationship with those people right now? There is no way! Our spouse and our kids are just like us. They are prone to failure. They are prone to going in their own direction. This fact makes our works based strategy so completely useless when it comes to the foundation for relating to one another in any meaningful and long-term way.
Same goes with God. Our reading today points to something that can be so hard to define. Love is the basis from which we are to be in relationship with this God and with others. We are to look for the works of love God performs in our lives. We are to share those works of love with one another. Why? So that we all will be better able to let doing take a back seat to being when it comes to who we are. Love is to be the foundation of a Jesus plus nothing kind of life that makes us victors at every turn.
My friend who has fallen did so because he failed to see God's love in his life. That makes him no different than you and than me. We are lousy at seeing the love God has for us. That's why we add so much to the Jesus plus nothing equation. When we are in that place where we doubt the love God has for us we can be driven to do some pretty victimizing things as a result of our victim thinking fueled ways.
Those friends of this fallen man that are rejecting him are failing to see God's love just as completely as my fallen friend. The sad reality is that they are leaving as wide a wake of victims in their failure as this sinful man has wound up leaving in his life. When we add to Jesus, anything in this world, the results aren't something God is all that pleased for us to be a part of in this life.
It's Jesus plus nothing. That's it. That's all we have when it comes to who we are. That's all we have when it comes to who this God is in our lives. The troubles we face can easily be traced back to adding something to the Jesus message. You are a victor because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. Stop adding to that amazing sacrifice and live in the power of who you are as God's Child today.
**********
I have spent the better part of this year talking about how we add to the plan God instituted when it comes to who we are. It is easy to think that it is Jesus plus success. We look to Jesus plus holiness when it comes to walking out this life with God. We seek after Jesus plus purpose to find meaning in this world. We yearn for Jesus plus our comfortable life as proof that God loves us in life changing ways.
Anything we add to the fact that Jesus did it all for us become stumbling blocks when it comes to walking out our victor status. This is the case with our identity as God's Child. It is just as true when it comes to our ability to relate to this God that made us. When it comes to who we are, and who this God is in our lives, it is a Jesus plus nothing strategy that makes victor living something we can experience no matter what our lives look like.
I have a friend who has suffered a moral failure. His entire world is crumbling around him because of the sinful things he has been doing that have come to light. Right now this friend is battling the natural thoughts that it is Jesus plus getting his life back into order. In other words, this friend is being told that until he gets this mess cleaned up, he isn't worthy of much in the Christian world. That's a lie from Satan that I don't think the Christian Church is too good at recognizing.
Many of his Christian friends have abandoned this fallen man. Some are even advocating that others leave him high and dry as well. I totally get their anger and frustration at the craziness of this situation. I'm angry too. What I don't think they can see is that they are living a Jesus plus something kind of life that just isn't part of what I see the good news of Jesus is to be all about.
I think this is why Christians have been accused of shooting our wounded at times. You see, this man who has fallen is wounded. It is my guess that he has been so for quite a while. He has been living a Jesus plus something kind of life by allowing sinful coping mechanisms to help him deal with the feelings that something is missing in his life. That emptiness in this friend's life that led to sinful coping mechanisms are in us all. It is when we turn to things of this world to help deal with the pain of feeling that emptiness in our lives that we let victim thinking take over in victimizing ways.
It is much easier for us to just pretend that everything is OK. I have to look as holy as my other friends in the church seem to be. I can't share how unholy I feel at times because that might make the fragile identity I've worked so hard to build and maintain collapse in ways I just can stand. I pretend it is Jesus plus nothing but let my coping mechanisms be the plus that dulls the pain of loneliness and shame that are too deep to share. If I were to share them there is a good chance I'd be shot! Not literally, but figuratively. I'd be rejected. I'd be labeled. I'd be sidelined. I'd be judged and sentenced in ways the church has been way to quick to do to too many of its own.
You see, even in the aftermath of this friend's sin being uncovered, God still sees him as blameless and without fault. I know how shocking this sounds, but it is true. Jesus died for ALL our sins. This includes the sin of friends that betray us in the right here and the right now. That's why I can say with confidence, that for my friend who is disgraced by sin, it is Jesus plus nothing. It isn't Jesus plus repentance. It isn't Jesus plus restoration. It isn't Jesus plus reconciliation. It is simply Jesus that makes it possible for this man to walk as the victor I know him to be in spite of the consequences of the failures he has lived out in his life.
This doesn't condone what he has done to bring such disgrace on him and his family. What he has done is so completely wrong! This friend will face serious, and potentially irreparable, consequences due to his actions. But, for us to treat him with such disdain is a sin in of itself. It is telling this friend and the world that it is Jesus plus a perfect life that is required to be the victor God calls us to be. I'm sorry, that just isn't something that the Bible supports. Praise God it isn't because we all would be doomed to victim thinking if it was.
There is nothing wrong with being angry at my friend as a result of his actions. There isn't anything incorrect with being frustrated to the point of needing to take a break from relating with this fallen man. Maybe that's what this man needs right now - time alone with God. But expecting something other than what God expects is adding to the powerful message of Jesus Christ in ways that I just can't be a part of.
This begs the question, "What does God expect?" Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now and let's see if we can't see some of what God expects from us.
Thank God! Pray to him by name!
Tell everyone you meet what he has done!
Sing him songs, belt out hymns,
translate his wonders into music!
Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs,
you who seek God. Live a happy life!
Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;
be alert for signs of his presence.
Remember the world of wonders he has made,
his miracles, and the verdicts he’s rendered Psalm 105:1-5 (MSG)
I have to be honest with you. There are plenty of verses in the Bible that speak to obeying God's laws and keeping our lives pure that could be taken as what God expects of us. Of course God wants us to walk with Him in purity and honesty. What we too often do is make these self focused actions be what it takes to make relationship with Him something we can attain to. That's a failed way of living that Jesus came to replace.
Think of it this way. If your relationship with your spouse or your child was dependent on them doing everything you expect them to do perfectly and without question, do you think you'd be in relationship with those people right now? There is no way! Our spouse and our kids are just like us. They are prone to failure. They are prone to going in their own direction. This fact makes our works based strategy so completely useless when it comes to the foundation for relating to one another in any meaningful and long-term way.
Same goes with God. Our reading today points to something that can be so hard to define. Love is the basis from which we are to be in relationship with this God and with others. We are to look for the works of love God performs in our lives. We are to share those works of love with one another. Why? So that we all will be better able to let doing take a back seat to being when it comes to who we are. Love is to be the foundation of a Jesus plus nothing kind of life that makes us victors at every turn.
My friend who has fallen did so because he failed to see God's love in his life. That makes him no different than you and than me. We are lousy at seeing the love God has for us. That's why we add so much to the Jesus plus nothing equation. When we are in that place where we doubt the love God has for us we can be driven to do some pretty victimizing things as a result of our victim thinking fueled ways.
Those friends of this fallen man that are rejecting him are failing to see God's love just as completely as my fallen friend. The sad reality is that they are leaving as wide a wake of victims in their failure as this sinful man has wound up leaving in his life. When we add to Jesus, anything in this world, the results aren't something God is all that pleased for us to be a part of in this life.
It's Jesus plus nothing. That's it. That's all we have when it comes to who we are. That's all we have when it comes to who this God is in our lives. The troubles we face can easily be traced back to adding something to the Jesus message. You are a victor because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. Stop adding to that amazing sacrifice and live in the power of who you are as God's Child today.
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Day 352 - Life & Death
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
**********
I came across this Bible verse this morning.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 (NIV)
For some reason, I really stopped and thought about what Paul was writing in today's reading. When you think about it, this is an impossible standard for us to live up to. Paul, was in essence saying, that this life has nothing for him. He so banked on the promise of what was to come that whatever came his way in this life didn't impact him quite the way it did before he met Jesus.
I think this is how we all are suppose to be when it comes to viewing our lives. Let me ask you a pretty direct question. How are you doing at living this kind of life right now? In other words, how much of death being a gain do you believe given where you are at this moment?
I have to tell you, that question has been on my mind quite a bit after reading this verse this morning. Do I really see leaving this life as a gain? Less than three weeks ago my second granddaughter was born. Would I really see death as a gain if I knew that I would die tomorrow? I'm not so sure I could hold on to this view.
I really want to live. I want to see my grandchildren grow. I want to be there for those milestones of life that they will get to experience. I hope to be part of helping them see love in action as the love God has given me for these precious little gifts of life blossoms into something even more beautiful than what it is now. I want the time to see that love come alive in these kids's lives. That makes death seem like an obstacle, not the opportunity Paul seemed to see it to be. Is there something wrong with me?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to live. I think Paul make that clear in today's reading. He said, "...to live is Christ..." I take that to mean the wanting to live is totally a God centered thing to do if we make God the center of the life we want to live. It is when I use this life as proof that I'm somehow OK in the eyes of this God that loves me that life becomes the center, rather than God being that center. It is when I depend on how this life turns out to make it so that my identity be what I expect it to be that victim thinking tendencies come rushing in.
We often look at life as being the blessing and death as being a curse. I think Paul is trying to get us to see things differently. Paul isn't saying that life is a curse. I think he is trying to get us to see that being with God is the biggest blessing we can ever expect to have. He can be with us in the joys and trials of this life. He will certainly be with us when our final breath comes. It is as we learn that God is always there that life and death can take on a different perspective.
We have allowed what we do in this life to be the basis for our victor status. Show me a person with a good life and I can more easily understand how they have lived victoriously. Today, Paul helped me see that victory has so much more to do with God than with the life God has given us. Isn't it always about the giver of the gift more so than it is about the gift itself?
I think that is why Paul could see death as a gain. When his time on earth was up, he knew that God's presence would be more readily available to him than it is in this life. Win or lose, life or death, Paul knew he was a victor. He knew his victor status came as a result of God' calling him His child. What Paul did might have been important for the moment, but his eternal position before God was secured no matter how what he did turned out in this world.
To live is Christ...to die is gain. This is a victor's way of living. God isn't asking us to give up on our dreams for this life. He doesn't expect us to not seek the joy of watching our children and grandchildren grow into the people He has made them to be. He is asking that we see things the way He does. Just like we long to be here for the long haul with our offspring, God longs to be with us forever!
I want to see death in a different light. I want to be like Paul and see passing from this life to the next as a gift, not a curse. Though it may be a gift that I don't want too quickly, it is a gift that I don't want to fear and be driven to avoid at the expense of the important relationships around me. It is as we waste time worrying about death that life turns in directions that God never intended. There are way too many victim thinking actions being driven by those of us dreading death in life robbing ways. God wants that to change.
Live big today! Live like it is your last moment. Let the joy of this life fill you in ways God wants for you, His child. But, don't let life be all you have. There is so much more. As the victor God sees you to be, death isn't a punishment. Death is a gift that we all get to experience. Let the presence of God be what your life is based upon. When your time here on earth is up, God's presence is exactly what we all will experience every moment of every day in eternity. May you walk in the power of God's presence in all you do to live your life today.
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I came across this Bible verse this morning.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 (NIV)
For some reason, I really stopped and thought about what Paul was writing in today's reading. When you think about it, this is an impossible standard for us to live up to. Paul, was in essence saying, that this life has nothing for him. He so banked on the promise of what was to come that whatever came his way in this life didn't impact him quite the way it did before he met Jesus.
I think this is how we all are suppose to be when it comes to viewing our lives. Let me ask you a pretty direct question. How are you doing at living this kind of life right now? In other words, how much of death being a gain do you believe given where you are at this moment?
I have to tell you, that question has been on my mind quite a bit after reading this verse this morning. Do I really see leaving this life as a gain? Less than three weeks ago my second granddaughter was born. Would I really see death as a gain if I knew that I would die tomorrow? I'm not so sure I could hold on to this view.
I really want to live. I want to see my grandchildren grow. I want to be there for those milestones of life that they will get to experience. I hope to be part of helping them see love in action as the love God has given me for these precious little gifts of life blossoms into something even more beautiful than what it is now. I want the time to see that love come alive in these kids's lives. That makes death seem like an obstacle, not the opportunity Paul seemed to see it to be. Is there something wrong with me?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to live. I think Paul make that clear in today's reading. He said, "...to live is Christ..." I take that to mean the wanting to live is totally a God centered thing to do if we make God the center of the life we want to live. It is when I use this life as proof that I'm somehow OK in the eyes of this God that loves me that life becomes the center, rather than God being that center. It is when I depend on how this life turns out to make it so that my identity be what I expect it to be that victim thinking tendencies come rushing in.
We often look at life as being the blessing and death as being a curse. I think Paul is trying to get us to see things differently. Paul isn't saying that life is a curse. I think he is trying to get us to see that being with God is the biggest blessing we can ever expect to have. He can be with us in the joys and trials of this life. He will certainly be with us when our final breath comes. It is as we learn that God is always there that life and death can take on a different perspective.
We have allowed what we do in this life to be the basis for our victor status. Show me a person with a good life and I can more easily understand how they have lived victoriously. Today, Paul helped me see that victory has so much more to do with God than with the life God has given us. Isn't it always about the giver of the gift more so than it is about the gift itself?
I think that is why Paul could see death as a gain. When his time on earth was up, he knew that God's presence would be more readily available to him than it is in this life. Win or lose, life or death, Paul knew he was a victor. He knew his victor status came as a result of God' calling him His child. What Paul did might have been important for the moment, but his eternal position before God was secured no matter how what he did turned out in this world.
To live is Christ...to die is gain. This is a victor's way of living. God isn't asking us to give up on our dreams for this life. He doesn't expect us to not seek the joy of watching our children and grandchildren grow into the people He has made them to be. He is asking that we see things the way He does. Just like we long to be here for the long haul with our offspring, God longs to be with us forever!
I want to see death in a different light. I want to be like Paul and see passing from this life to the next as a gift, not a curse. Though it may be a gift that I don't want too quickly, it is a gift that I don't want to fear and be driven to avoid at the expense of the important relationships around me. It is as we waste time worrying about death that life turns in directions that God never intended. There are way too many victim thinking actions being driven by those of us dreading death in life robbing ways. God wants that to change.
Live big today! Live like it is your last moment. Let the joy of this life fill you in ways God wants for you, His child. But, don't let life be all you have. There is so much more. As the victor God sees you to be, death isn't a punishment. Death is a gift that we all get to experience. Let the presence of God be what your life is based upon. When your time here on earth is up, God's presence is exactly what we all will experience every moment of every day in eternity. May you walk in the power of God's presence in all you do to live your life today.
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