Our Biggest Problem: Part 2

"The greatest peril facing every person (of every sexual persuasion, of every gender), in every ethnic group, in every place on earth, and at every time in history, is the righteous wrath of God against guilty sinners, leading to everlasting suffering — unless God himself rescues us from his own judgment. Poverty, hunger, disease, war, crime, climate change, addictions, homelessness, ignorance, sex trafficking: these bring great global suffering — and they pale in comparison to the peril of being under the wrath of God. They are all tragic, but they are all temporary. They may last a lifetime, but the wrath of God lasts forever." 

-John Piper, pastor, theologian, scholar

The wrath of God - the concept is laughable nonsense to some, debilitating terror to others. 

To prevent misunderstanding or confusion it's important to flesh out what "the wrath of God" means. This has been done well here: Five Truths About the Wrath of God

One last thing from Piper: “Now, let me make something really clear here, because this is so important. Don’t make the mistake of defending the love of God by denying the wrath of God. Because what you do when you try to defend the love of God by denying the wrath of God is destroy the love of God. Why? Because in the Bible, the highest point of the love of God is his rescue from the wrath of God. If there’s no wrath, the whole fabric of the Bible unravels. The greatest love that God ever showed you was rescuing you from wrath.” 

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:  sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:5-17 

ok, child?

There was song playing earlier this morning and this lyric stood out: "give me a childlike heart."

I feel like we're constantly told to mature, grow-up, handle it, be independent, be strong, if you aren't progressing or advancing or hitting it with maximum effort every second - you're failing God, failing the world, failing your family, failing your friends. 

In a class I was in recently the teacher said she wants God to look at her and be proud of what she did at the end of the day. That rubbed me wrong. As if our own efforts and actions are to be praised and found what, worthy of what we don't deserve in the first place? Found worthy by our efforts of what we mercifully have by God's grace through faith in Christ? Who am I to say that I did "good" today; what do I know of good but what I know through Jesus our savior. 

Life is hard and complex and messy. It's a wrestling match. Found best in the struggle, the weighing tensions of life. 

“Give me a childlike heart” with that I felt something inside saying:

I don’t need you to be Me. 

I’m the Father. 

That makes you the child. 

And with Me, that is ok, right, and safe.

Ok, child?

xo

Our Biggest Problem: Part 1

What do you think is the biggest issue facing our society?

There are no shortage of problems to pick from - racisim, gun violence, lack of political civility and cooperation,  intolerance, sexism, homophobia, inequality, inadequate evironmental stewardship, the opiod crisis, alcoholism, sex trafficing, pornogrophy, domestic violence, abortion, COVID are just from todays headlines alone. 

What do you think your biggest personal problem is?

Maybe a health diagnosis or a certain relation situation comes to mind. Maybe its your empolyment circumstances or perhaps a financial difficulty. 

Let me ask us both this question: does the wrath of God even make the list? 

Remember your first Love

“learn to do good; 

seek justice, correct oppression; 

bring justice to the fatherless, 

plead the widow's cause.”

Isaiah 1:17 

I remember one of things that first drew me to the God of the Bible was the fact that this is a God who cared about the poor, oppressed, hopeless, and those that society had forsaken. 

Think about it. Do you know another god so interested in the welfare of humans that they give up the glories of their heavenly thrones to became human?

  

And if by some chance their was another story of such a god, did this other god come in the humblest way possible - born to a poor virgin, with a homeland conquered and occupied by ruthless foreigners, and their birthing table a stable floor? Are their testments to a God with greater gentleness, holiness, humility and wrath?

 

What other immortal real or imagined cares about humanities selfmade plights and grueling misfortunes?

The Bible tells us this God does. 

And His desire/command/intent is that we be like Him in that way. We are commanded to love one another with the same kind of love He had for us. This love is not an ethereal loose thing but tangible, solid, and firm. It’s love with action. It’s built on blood and sweat, suffering and waiting, obedience and sacrifice.

It was my need that drew me to Him and it does still when I allow myself to remember it. Need is not something we should allow ourselves to push aside or forget, but I think vulnerability is something so hard to bear much less show to others, that we forget it’s ever-present reality. 

  

What made you first fall in love with Him? 

Remember your first love today and my we never forget Him again. xo

Because of God, be brave

My desk calendar had this encouragement today “…believers are brave for their confidence comes from God alone”

That really struck me today because sometimes it seems like fear is all that is around us. “Will my loved ones catch COVID? Will my work furlough me?” “What will happen if there is surge of new cases?” “When will it be “safe” again?” “What happens when we run out of masks?” Those are our newer fears.

But there are of course the “old fears” – “Will I be single forever?” “What will happen if my parents get sick?” “What if the test results come back positive?”

Whether they are new fears or long held ones, examining our fears is important because only when they are known, can we take that self-identified frailty and lay it the feet of our strong Savior, who never grows weary and is never caught off guard.  

Isaiah 41:8-10 “But you, my servant, whom I have chosen, the spiritual offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Come and have breakfast.

John 21:11-13
So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

I hope this Easter you find yourself having breakfast with the Lord. He is with us always and at every moment, but may we be conscious of that all the more today, as we celebrate His life, death, and Resurrection. How amazing it will be when we actually sit and eat with Him in Heaven! Even though distancing might be changing normal Easter plans, reflect on Him today. We thank You Jesus, honor You, and we love You. xo

Who do you say He is?

These last couple week have been filled with a lot of things many of never imagined would happen. Unprecedented events, great uncertainty, and inconsistent information has swirled since the Covid-19 Pandemic. Now the latest shelter in place orders from many state  governers have ramped up the anxiety meter at least for me. It's one thing to say stay-at-home it's another thing to order people to do so. 

Amid all the fear and anxiety the place where I have found comfort and courage during this time is in my faith in Jesus. I know some of you who read that might scoff and think to yourself oh no another Christian or shrug and say that's fine for you but I don't believe in religion

I totally get the scoffing. Likely you have encountered your share of "Christians" who judged without a speck of compassion, threw unloving unkind words at you or those you care about, left you to struggle in darkness as they placidly said they'd be praying for you. I get it. Believe me. If that's what Christians are like, no way you might think to yourself, would I want to be one. 

I get it. I really do. I've been the outcast. The misfit. And I want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for any Christian that failed to represent who Christ is to you. I'm sorry for the times I have failed to show you with my words, my actions, and my thoughts who Jesus is and the unfathomable depths of His Father's love. 

Christians are people and people mess up. Don't misunderstand, I'm not making excuses, I'm not saying the wrongs committed by Christians is ok. By no means. It's not ok. I'm just putting the all too factual reality of human fallibllty and frailty out there. Christians don't always get it right 100% of the time. But that doesn't mean Christ doesn't.

Sometimes the kindest most helpful people I have ever known weren't Christians at all. And sometimes the stingiest, most materialistic, harshest people were found at church. 

But Here is the Heart of the Issue: Who do you say Jesus is? Because at the end of it all (and all of us have an end which is still as 100% true today as it was before Covid-19) it's not about who they said or showed Jesus to be, it's about who you say Jesus is. I implore you, I plead with tears as I write these words, open The Gospels and read through what Jesus said and did. He asks each of us - Who do you say He is? Will you put your faith in Him? xo

Mark 8 — And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 

Matthew 16 — When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.