The Love of God

This week, a friend & I have challenged each other to spend time at the Lord's feet, and meditating on one passage of Scripture unless the Lord leads us elsewhere. So Romans 8:31-39 is the passage:

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

There are a thousand things that I could point out in this passage, but I'll just share 2 thoughts. My first thought is that God is the One who justifies us; no one else. So if God justifies us, how could anyone else condemn us (including ourselves)?

My second thought is just bkz I'm experiencing some tribulation, does that mean God doesn't love me? Just bkz I'm experiencing some distress, does that mean God has stopped loving me? Just bkz I don't have any food, does that mean the Lord has ceased to love me? ABSOLUTELY NOT! And yet, I go there often. Why God are you allowing this in my life? It is so hard. Don't you care about me anymore? Do you still love me?

Yes, absolutely, more than I could ever know. I love the verses in Ephesians 3 (14-21) that Paul prays for the Ephesians, specifically the bolded portion in vs. 19.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen

He prays that they would know (experientially) the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge (it is intellectually incomprehensible!). I pray this for myself, and for other people as well. Oh that we would really come to experience His love which is unable to be known intellectually! Only He can do that . . . I can do nothing, except come before Him on my face with gratefulness and a willingness to live in light of that love.

Pursuit of Intimacy with the Lord

I've been struggling recently with intimacy with the Lord, hence why my blogs are fewer & farther between for the last month or so. I can't tell the future, but I have this feeling that the next few blogs are going to be my journey of pursuing intimacy with the Lord again.

Emmanuel . . . God with us. He is here with me, but I have made my relationship with the Lord more intellectual again. I think some of it is a protection against my own struggles. Being a counselor can sometimes be difficult when you are struggling personally. I tend to fight off the same emotions that I encourage the people I talk to to engage with, afraid that I won't be able to think clearly enough to help them. This isn't a terrible thing, as long as I engage those emotions later, but I get used to holding them down . . . and it becomes my practice. Before I know it, everything is intellectual again.

It is easier & less draining to not engage my suffering. I often don't allow the Lord to enter into my suffering with me. Instead, I just tell myself the truth. Telling myself the truth is critical, but I can't ignore the pain in the process.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4. If I don't mourn, then I can't be comforted by the Great Comforter, Emmanuel. So today, I'm going to try to allow the Lord to enter into my pain with me, bkz then I will be comforted with His great Love.

Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Gal. 6:22-23 (NASB)

We all know the fruit of the Spirit, but Iwhen was the last time you felt at peace? joy? love? kindness? Believers should be exuding love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control.

On Sunday, I was at a bookstore around 2pm, and the cashier was trying to create some conversation by asking if we knew if the church crowd was out yet. She went on to complain about the church crowd. She said, "I've never met so many pastors and Christians that are so miserable & angry as those coming out of church on Sunday afternoons." I've heard this similar comment out of most restaurant servers. Christians can be the worst tippers, but we should be the best tippers.

Am I reflecting Christ by living a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control? I can't force myself to be these things without abiding in the Spirit. These characteristics are the fruit (or result) of abiding in the Spirit. So spend some good time with Him today, so that you can taste like the Spirit to those you come in contact with as well as having those things in your own life?

Do You Serve Wealth?

Luke 16:13 (NASB) No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth.

Yes, I serve wealth. I don't have any, but we can serve it just as much not having much of it as having lots of it. Many decisions I make are based on the financial situation. The following thoughts are common for me . . .

"I don't have enough money for my bills, can I really spare a couple of dollars for this person who doesn't have food?" "I could be making money doing things instead of resting even though I've worked 50 hours this week." "I don't have time to be in the Word this morning, bkz I have to get to work."

Who does the providing? Me or God? In case you missed those multiple passages of Scripture, God is the one who provides, not me. But again . . . I make it about me. If I don't do it, it won't get done. The pride surfaces in yet another unique way.

Look at the 3 quotations above. In the first one, it is more important for me to take care of me instead of taking care of the need that God has presented to me to love someone else. Interestingly enough, I have plenty of food, I could even afford to go without some food, but my bills are more important than this person's life. In the second one, it is about not taking care of my body and insisting that I am the one who should be making the money instead of God. In the third one, I'm prioritizing making money, or my priorities, over God and my relationship with Him.

He tells us that the greatest commandments are to love Him with all of our being & love our neighbor as ourselves. I see the exact opposite in those quotes.

So who are you really serving? God or money (or something else).

Forgiveness of the Father

As I was reading the story of the Lost Son this morning in Luke 15, I was confronted again with how forgiving the father is. My initial judgmental thought was "this kid went out and squandered his inheritance, and the father actually ran out to meet him & hugged him." As soon as the father saw that the son was repentant, he ran to meet his son.

God reminded me that that is how much He loves and forgives me. Even though I keep falling back into my sin, He still comes running to take me back when I repent of that sin.

The key is my repentant spirit. Am I really sorry that I've sinned? I get comfort from my sin. No . . . comfort comes from God. Does my sin really disgust me as much as it disgusts God? Remember what He did for you, and it will help you be disgusted that your sin is the reason He died such a terrible death.

Preach the gospel to yourself today, and remember the sin, the payment, the forgiveness, the positional holiness.

Counting the Cost

This morning I was reading Luke 14. There are a number of familiar verses in this chapter to me, but I was intrigued about the placement of these particular verses:

"For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'"(v.28-31)

I thought this was a good passage on being a good planner. Put some thought into things before you do them. And yes, we should put some thought into things, but this is in the context of the cost of discipleship. True discipleship is costly! Look at the previous verses:

"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." v.26-27. V. 33 continues, "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions."

Jesus is telling us that we need to really think through if we are willing to pay the cost for being His disciple. Being His disciple isn't something you just do on the side or when you feel like it. It requires your life. You no longer matter in the grand scheme of things. Yes, He loves you, and you belong to Him. He has given you value, forgiveness, etc, but it is all about Him . . . not me. It is about Him who grants me those things, not about the receiver of those gifts.

Forgive me John MacArthur for this very loose quote, and I'm not even certain of the source, but I believe it is in The Gospel According to Jesus. He says something to the effect of: "We don't explain the gospel well enough to give people a chance to not choose it." We water down the gospel so much that people say, "Yes, I want to go to Heaven or have my sins forgiven or have joy, etc.", but they don't see that we need to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.

Have you counted the cost, or are you trying to be a disciple half time (which isn't a disciple at all)?

Better is One Day in Your Courts

I was reading in Luke 9 this morning, and Jesus was talking about discipleship. Following Jesus isn't easy. He requires alot of us. The people that He invited to follow Him made excuses "Let me bury my father first" (v.59). In v. 61, they wanted to go and say goodbye to their family first. I understand from many theologians that these people weren't saying, "Wait a minute, let me literally go say goodbye, and I'll be right back." They were saying, when my dad dies, then I'll come follow You. Regardless of what is literally being said here, Jesus requires His followers to be fully committed to Him. Nothing is priority over Him. I remember saying, "God don't come until I graduate from school or until I get married or until I have kids." The reality was that this life was more important to me than He was.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't fully arrived. One day, when I get to Heaven, maybe I will have arrived . . . but for now, I struggle on . . . daily battling my fleshly desires. I have graduated & I have gotten married. I don't have any kids, and I'm not financially secure, but I battle daily to make sure that my priorities are His priorities. I battle daily to be sure that I don't wish my life away so that I can finally give my everything to Him. I hear often, "Well, I'm too busy. School (or work, or family, or church activities, or tv shows) takes too much of my time." Guess what, your life is never going to slow down. You need to make a choice to make His priorities your priorities.

I was listening to Pandora this morning, and Better is One Day in Your Courts came on. I'm finding that it is much better to be in His courts for a few minutes than a lifetime anywhere else.