Where’s the Ash?

I felt so clever hitting Wal-Mart on my way home from the late movie Sunday night.  We got water and a few groceries in case we couldn’t drive for a few days (due to the ash) and then – nothing.  It blew and all, but the ash decided to blow a different direction and (so far) has missed us entirely.

 

I’m glad I didn’t stress over it.  That would be so like me, to stress over something that never came to pass.  I did a lot of that when I was younger.  Worry seemed almost like a talisman that I evoked to feel like I was being responsible.  “Something may go wrong.  I must show my diligence by imagining it over and over so I won’t be caught unprepared,” I reasoned. 

 

In reality, all my worry made it more difficult to make concrete preparations.  It may have been meant to spur responsible and resourceful action, but I find it hard to actually do anything when I get too overwhelmed.  Worry often shuts me down right when the pressure to take action is at its height.

 

When we plan or prepare we take an educated guess about what my go wrong and take specific actions that will help make the best of the difficulty when it actually arrives.  Unnecessary preparations are no big deal.  It isn’t going to mess up my life that we have extra cereal on hand and a few jugs of water set aside in our garage.  Even the nose and mouth masks we picked up can be stored for some other catastrophe.

 

In contrast, unnecessary worry always takes its toll.  Our worst-case-scenario thinking leaves us imagining all kinds of possible problems.  We don’t get that time or energy back when the thing we worried about never comes to pass.

 

And worry is no friend in a crisis.  Planning, preparations, resourcefulness, action – these can be helpful.  So when I find myself looking ahead at a possible crisis I try to remember to ask myself, “Is there any concrete action that I could take today to give myself better resources tomorrow?”  If there is, I try to take it.  But either way, when I’ve done what I can or when there’s nothing concrete to do, I try to take a deep breath and use my imagination on something more uplifting.

 

Jesus knew how difficult it would be for us to resist worrying.  In Matthew 6:34 He tells us not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will have its own worries.  Simplicity encourages us not to complicate life unnecessarily.  Each day has enough trouble of its own without us borrowing trouble from tomorrow.  So, ash or no ash, tomorrow probably won’t go down the way I have it all planned out.  There’s gonna be some trouble and inconvenience somewhere along the line despite my preparations.  Life is messy, but somehow love plows ahead anyway.

 

Going deeper – You might want to read through Matthew 6:25-34 if you’re ready to take another swing at decreasing the worry in your life.  My only advise is this: don’t let yourself get all worried about your worrying.  Trust me.  Been there, done that; it doesn’t help!

Eruptions and other Interruptions

One of the concepts that makes itself at home in the simple life is scheduling in margin.  On a sheet of paper the margins are the areas around the edges that are left blank so that there is extra room.  This gives the page a sense of space and order but it also comes in handy when the unexpected note or correction comes along.  Having adequate margins allow for things to get outside the lines – as life so often does.

 

Let’s face it – life never goes exactly as we’ve planed.  Reality has a way of being harder, taking longer, and requiring more resources than we anticipate.  That’s where the concept of margin comes in handy.  If we’ve planned a little extra space (time, energy, resources, etc.) then there’s someplace we can safely overflow when an area of our lives turns out to be bigger than we expected.

 

We can expect the unexpected.  We might as well give ourselves a little breathing room so that life’s interruptions (and eruptions) don’t immediately throw us in over our heads.  God wants us to use wisdom in planning our lives.  Proverbs 17:21 (GN) tells us that, “An intelligent person aims at wise actions, but a fool starts off in many directions.”  There are advantages in sculpting a well-balanced life.

 

A well-balanced life isn’t something we can put our faith in, however.  No matter how wise our plans, things are going to surprise and interrupt us.  Only God knows what’s around the next corner.  God is in the planning, but God is also in the interruptions.  When something happens that we aren’t prepared for, this gives us the opportunity to react with patience and grace and flexibility knowing that God is still loving and powerful even when we find ourselves in a situation where we’re in over our heads.

 

How did Jesus handle interruptions?  Well, first of all, Jesus scheduled a life with plenty of down time – time where He could get away from the crowds with His little group and time when He could be alone with His Father.  When His ministry got especially demanding or busy, He proactively made plans to withdraw and refuel.  But God didn’t always give Him the rest He had scheduled. 

 

Sometimes when Jesus was on His way to getting away, He would be interrupted by a hoard of people who’d anticipated His direction and waylaid Him with their own needs.  The Bible tells us that Jesus looked at these people with compassion.  He submitted Himself to life’s interruptions (as long as there was glory for His Father in it – He didn’t let the crowds dictate His long-term schedule) even as He took steps to leave some margin in His life.  John 6:30-34 tells us of one such occasion.

 

So when it comes to planning our lives it’s wise to make room for the unexpected.  I try to take some advise that I heard a few years ago.  “Make your plans, but do it in pencil.”  If we aim at providing ourselves with some margin we will breath easier when things fail to go according to our plans.  And when God (or volcanic eruptions) interrupt us, we can change gears with a little less emotional upheaval.  Because let’s face it, when it comes to stress, less is better than more!

 

Going deeper – What kind of margin do you have built into your life?  Would Jesus encourage you to do a little less so that you could breathe a little easier?  Do you give yourself the time to get away and rest?  Read through John chapter 6 and ask yourself, if the Son of God needed down-time, who are we trying to keep up with?

A Simple Start

My vacation was just short of two weeks and it’s taken me almost two full weeks to recover from it and get back to my normal pace.  What’s that about?

 

The good news I realized on my vacation is that, for the most part, I like my normal life just as well as a good vacation.  There were plenty of exciting things to see and eat and do on vacation, but I looked forward to my life at home which has its own rhythm and pleasures.  That felt good to realize.

 

The bad news?  I had to admit that I hadn’t really been enjoying my life for the few weeks leading up to my vacation.  I had let my schedule get so frenetic that I found I didn’t really appreciate the good things I had going on.  There wasn’t enough space or time to experience myself living my life.  Instead it seemed like I was just rushing through it – crossing things off my to-do list and lamenting all the tasks I knew I wasn’t going to get to.

 

I came home yearning to simplify.

 

One of the things I did to take a look at what’s most important in this life (the key to simplicity I read somewhere) was to read through the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5:1+ and Luck 6:20+).  I figured it wouldn’t hurt to read what Jesus had to say about life.  I expected it to be enormously clarifying, but instead I came away like many of His followers did thinking, “Wow, that was really spoken with power, but I don’t think I understand what about 80% of it meant!” 

 

I was reminded how silly we are in modern America to think that an intellectual understanding is the key or first step to growth.  What makes us so sure of our own ability to grasp the deeper truths in life? 

 

Jesus tells us, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  (Matthew 7:7 NIV)  Perhaps Christianity isn’t something we figure out and master, but instead something we experience one step at a time on a journey of discovery with the Creator of the universe. 

 

I have to admit that I am both excited and intimidated by the Divine experiment that Jesus calls us to.  It feels much safer in my armchair with my Bible and my dictionary, but God asks us to grow through application (practice, practice, practice) rather than through masterful understanding.

 

I guess that’s good news.  I suppose I’d rather that the secrets of the universe be too powerful and beautiful and complex for me to graph out when I have a few spare moments and a highlighter.  But the experiential (taste and see) nature of following Jesus seems so messy!  How do I feel safe if I don’t have all the answers in advance, if I haven’t figured it all out?  How will I know if I’m going in the right direction?

 

Jesus told His followers that the way to evaluate any teaching is to look at the results it produces in people’s lives.  At least I think that’s what He was saying.  The NIV translates it, “By their fruit you will recognize them.  Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistle?  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”  (Matthew 7:15+ or Luke 6:43+)

 

For me that means that I can stop worrying about making a mistake (because I know my path can’t help but be full of them – I’ve seen my work!) and roll up my sleeves and get to it.  If the path is good, it will produce godly results like peace and patience and progress.  If my best understanding of what’s right only leads to frustration and frenzy and discouragement, it may be time to question my understanding.

 

God designed the laws of this universe with us in mind.  This messy and imperfect world is where God wants us to become the people He designed us to be.  We may not get all the answers up front, but our lives with God are teaching us and shaping us.  My human mind reaches out for certainty and rules, but God seems to value seeking and practicing and baby steps forward.  Perhaps what God values is more generous than what I value.  No amount of certainty ever changed the sourness of a bad apple.

 

Going deeper – You might want to check out some of the Sermon on the Mount.  That Jesus sure is deep!  Maybe you’ll get something else entirely out of what He said.  Don’t take my word for it – ask, seek, knock – and put on your seatbelt cause the truth can be a bumpy ride!

Vacation

You won’t hear from me for two weeks.  I’m going on vacation and I’m not taking my computer.  Talk at ya when I get back…

Shepherd’s little “Helpers”

Wednesday we talked about the difference between how a shepherd leads his sheep and how a butcher drives them.  Today I’d like to talk about sheep dogs.

 

Although ancient shepherds led their sheep by their voices, most modern American shepherds make use of another tool:  the sheepdog.  We had a sheepdog the summer Jonathan turned two – for about 3 weeks.  I never could figure out how to potty train a dog!  I guess I’m more of a cat person.  At night Daisy (that’s what we called her) would sleep in the truck as her kennel, but most days we just let her run around outside so we didn’t have to watch out for “accidents.”

 

We were renting the bottom corner of a four-plex out in Peter’s Creek so there was lots of room for Daisy to explore.  She wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.  She liked to lay under the big trampoline in the yard and then yelp whenever Jonathan jumped.  She never did figure out what was going on.  She also had the habit of running into stationary objects – like the porch, or on one occasion our landlord (completely took him out).  We couldn’t figure out if this was stupidity or if she couldn’t see well.

 

We finally got rid of her when it was discovered (by our landlord) that she had been chewing large portions of siding off the back of the four-plex.  Oops!  It was kinda a relief for me.  I was never a dog person.  But it also worried me the way Daisy always wanted to corral Jonathan.  They say that’s just in a sheepdog’s nature.  She’d run up alongside him and try to nudge him or grab his clothes in her mouth.  Once or twice she actually hurt him (didn’t draw blood or anything but Jonathan was terribly offended).

 

Have you known any sheepdog in your life?  I know I have.  Those “helpful” people who nip at your heels and bark whenever you’re getting away from where they think you should be.  They even bite occasionally (metaphorically speaking) because they take their job of corralling the world so seriously.  Such people often feel like they’re doing Jesus a favor.  After all, how could Jesus possibly keep up with all us errant little sheep?  Surely He could use a little assistance.

 

The problem with this is that Jesus doesn’t need or want the help (interference) because He wants to develop a personal relationship with each of His sheep.  He teaches through modeling and leads by calling us forwards toward Him and therefore toward God.  Sheep dogs (although often well meaning) distract us from direct interaction with the Good Shepherd.  They encourage us to focus on our “improper” direction and can get us stuck looking at our own shortcomings rather than keeping our eyes on Jesus.

 

Christianity is relational.  Jesus is our destination but He’s also our journey.  And He wants to interact personally with each of us.  That way He can say, “I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father.”  (John 10:15 NLT)  The force that created and sustains this universe wants to spend time with you and with me.  I can’t imagine getting a better offer.  Can you?

 

Going deeper – I’ve gotten better and better at politely ignoring the sheepdogs in my life, all except for one – me.  It just comes so naturally to me to bark a scolding comment or harass myself for getting off track.  But I am learning that Jesus is a much better and much gentler shepherd of my soul.  Not that Jesus is all sunshine and kindness.  I’ve definitely experienced some “tough love” parenting here and there. 

 

But the more I take myself too seriously, the easier it is for me to loose sight of my real guide – Jesus.  Who are the sheepdogs you have to watch out for?  If one of them is you, you might want to consider giving the job back to someone more qualified.  It’s a strange thing to really grasp, but I’m learning that Jesus is much more generous to me than I am to myself.  Go figure!

To Lead or to Drive?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Sometimes I think a good metaphor is worth about 10 pictures.  Jesus used a lot of metaphors.  He told simple stories about farmers and seeds that helped His audiences gain insights into the kingdom of God they’d never had access to before.  People were amazed by Jesus’ teachings because they communicated great wisdom and great authority through simple images.

 

One of my favorites is the metaphor of Jesus as the good shepherd.  The Israelites knew a lot about shepherding sheep.  Me – not so much.  Everything I’ve learned about shepherding I’ve learned in the context of gaining insight into my relationship with Jesus, but the stories I’ve heard about shepherds have really impacted my view of God.

 

For example, Ed heard a story about a pastor who was taking a tour of the holy lands.  (Ed would love to do that some day.  He drools at the thought of walking through some of the same places that Jesus and His followers walked 2,000 years ago.  Me, I’ve never had the desire to reenact any of Jesus’ journeys.  I picture the dust and the bugs.  Yuck!)  The tour guide (back to the story of the pastor) had a lot to say about shepherding.

 

For instance, he claimed that shepherds NEVER drive their sheep.  Instead they lead them with their voice.  Sheep learn to distinguish the voice of their shepherd and associate it with rest, food, water and care. 

 

Which is saying a lot because sheep are not the brightest animals.  In fact, I’ve heard that if a sheep accidentally rolls onto its back while it’s lying down, if its wool is very long at all, it will not be able to get up.  The weight of all that wool will keep the sheep suspended on its back.  Soon it will loose all circulation in its legs.  In order to get the sheep back on its feet, the shepherd has to first massage the sheep’s legs to restore circulation, and then bear most of its weight while he lifts it back onto its feet.  The sheep itself cannot bear its own weight until it’s been held up long enough for it to get sufficient blood-flow back down its little sheep legs.

 

I’ve also heard that sheep are easily drowned even in relatively shallow waters. Their wool quickly gets saturated if they get too far into the water and all that water-soaked wool makes them hapless victims carried often by the mildest of currents.  Without a watchful shepherd a sheep cannot be trusted to look after itself to lie down or get a drink of water without getting in over its head!

 

Yet these same helpless sheep can distinguish their shepherd’s voice form any others.  In fact, multiple shepherds often bring their flocks to the same stream to drink.  When one shepherd calls to his sheep to leave, his flock knows to follow while the other flocks stay at the stream (hoping not to get swept away).

 

So, enough stupid sheep trivia – back to our story of the pastor in the holy lands…  No sooner had the tour guide finished speaking about how shepherds NEVER drive their sheep, than the bus rounded a bend and they see a man driving a whole flock of sheep!  The tour guide didn’t seem to even notice, so the pastor interrupted him with, “Excuse me, but didn’t you just say that shepherds NEVER drive their sheep?”  The tour guide nodded.  “But isn’t that what that man there is doing?” contended the pastor in confusion.

 

“Oh,” exclaimed the tour guide.  “That isn’t a shepherd!  That’s the butcher!”

 

I can sure relate to that story!  There are so many voices vying to influence me – other people’s expectations, advertiser’s promises, and pressures to conform.  They crack their whip or shake their sticks warning me not to slow down or question the path they want me to take.  Go, go, go.  Drive, drive, drive.  Push, push, push.  And yet, up ahead of me, is a familiar voice.  One that has led me to living waters before and found me places of rest and refreshment.

 

Jesus tells us, “a shepherd enters through the gate… and the sheep hear his voice and come to him.  He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they recognize his voice…  Those who come in through me will be saved.  Wherever they go, they will find green pastures…  My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming.  He will leave the sheep because they aren’t his… he is merely hired and has no real concern for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father.  I lay down my life for the sheep.”  (John 10:2-15 NLT)

 

I may not always appreciate the similarities between me and sheep, but I sure appreciate Jesus’ willingness to lead us to real life.  Because I get sick of being driven!  How about you?

 

Going deeper – If you have the time try reading through the 23^rd Psalm.  Beautiful!

One Day at a Time

Last week we talked about the journey of faith and how spending time with Jesus is the key to growing our faith.  But often when people hear those words they think, “Oh no, more to add to my already busy schedule!  Now I gotta squeeze Jesus stuff in there too!” 

 

For me growth doesn’t mean that I do more.  For someone with my personality, doing more is often a temptation so that I can seem more significant in my own eyes.  Adding more may fill me with the thrill of old dreams of being super-Judy, but it rarely makes my life more fruitful! 

 

My life is already so abundant and full (and some days I appreciate that more than others).  The key for me isn’t in doing more, but in doing what I already do differently – more deeply connected to God through Jesus.  In fact, growth for me often means additional pruning of my schedule.  As I mature, the game becomes more about quality than quantity.  Striving for too much quantity seems to consistently diminish quality in my life.

 

So how do we do that?  How do we live days of deeper connection?  Paul put it this way when he said, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you:  Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.”  (Romans 12:1 MES)

 

God isn’t looking to be impressed with what we can do on our own.  Instead He wants us to invite Him into the heart of our moment-to-moment lives.  The old fashioned word for this is discipleship:  the decision to learn how life is meant to be lived from Jesus, step-by-step as we live out our often mundane and ordinary tasks.

 

Jesus wants to take us on as students in His master course on life.  We learn from Him and aim to become more like Him.  These lessons are not learned overnight.  We do not wake up one morning and mistake ourselves for Jesus. 

 

In fact, God designed each of us to become beautiful and unique harmonies to Christ’s melody.  There is room for variety in God’s family.  No two of His children will look the same even after a lifetime of becoming more like Jesus.  We are unique and dearly loved children, reunited with our Father through relationship with Jesus Christ. 

 

He unconditionally accepts His children just as we are, all our strengths and all our weaknesses, but loves us too much to leave us as He finds us.  He sent Jesus to meet each of us exactly where we are and lead us, step by step, on a journey closer and closer to the rich lives He designed for us.

 

Living our lives in partnership with Christ is something we grow into; it’s something we practice and exercise in our day to day lives.  We don’t have to be “good enough” or even feel ready to begin this journey.  God is right there for us, eager to participate in our lives, whether we need a gentle hug or a healthy shove. 

 

God is the excited parent hovering around us as we attempt our first baby steps.  We are loved just as we are; but we are loved too much not to be nudged toward richer and more vibrant living.  Now that’s a process I’m willing to sign up for.  How about you?

 

Going deeper – Have you ever caught yourself wanting to be more or wishing that you could be impressive all on your own?  I think that God’s decision to create us to be completed by His love is a generous one, but I have to admit that my ego can find that idea rather chaffing. 

 

Why do I sometimes feel like that two-year old who screams “No, I want to do it all by myself!”  (My nephew Caleb used to get confused between “on my own” and “by myself” and say, “No, I want to do it on myself!”  But don’t tell him I told you.)  You might want to spend a few moments thinking about your own faith journey and how the human desire for independence can keep us at arms length from many of the relationships we most value.

Complete throught Christ

Monday we talked about how God designed us to be completed by His love.  Jesus is the key to completing our true identity, like the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle.  That is why Paul wrote, “It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.  Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”  (Ephesians 1:11-12 MES)

 

When we invite Christ to occupy the “God-hole” in the heart of our identity, we also receive God’s gift of complete love and acceptance (But wait – there’s more).  That’s called grace.  Justice gives us what we deserve; mercy spares us from what we deserve; but grace is more like a gift with purchase (just like those enticing little goodie bags from the make-up counter). 

 

Jesus purchased our salvation with His life.  His sacrifice covers us like the wings of a mother hen cover her little chicks.  When God looks down at us, all He sees is Christ’s perfection, not our flaws or failures. 

 

Grace redeems us, but it does not stop there.  Our gift with purchase is having the same power which raised Christ from the dead unleashed in our daily lives to help us take the next step in our journey.  Christianity is not about how, it’s about who – who will we trust to be the shepherd of our souls?

 

At the core of Christianity is a relationship.  If we live exemplary moral lives, understand the most complex of doctrines, and take an active role in our church, we still cannot call ourselves Christians if we fail to relate with Christ.  Christianity is relational above all else; it is being “of Christ,” living as His followers and disciples. 

 

Our faith grows as we embrace Jesus’ role in our redemption.  The more we interact with Jesus, the more we come to have an appreciation that He is working out everything in everyone who has invited Him to.  Faith grows as our relationship grows, because Jesus is the vehicle of redemption that God has given us to put our faith in.  We cannot guarantee our faith.  That is part of faith’s definition.  But I’ve never found anyone or anything else that proved to be worthy of my faith.  How about you?

 

Going deeper – Inevitably faith comes from opening ourselves up to hope and then having the source of our hope be faithful.  I don’t think that God asks us for blind faith.  Blind faith would be foolish.  Putting our complete faith in someone or something just because it seems like a good idea is taking quite a risk.  Instead, we learn to have faith in those things or people that are faithful.

 

Even in December, I don’t really doubt the existence of the sun, even though I hardly see it (although some days you’d think so from my whining).  All those years of the sun’s constancy have trained me to expect the sun, even if I haven’t seen it for a few days.  The sun has been too faithful.  Similarly, God is faithful.  The fastest path to faith for me came from being willing to open up to the possibility of God’s care and then observing what happened – the good, bad and the ugly.

 

Take a few moments to reflect on the experiences in your life.  When have you seen God being faithful and caring for you, even in some small way?  How easy/difficult has it been for you to open yourself up to the hope of a good and loving God?  There have been some times in my life where I was so afraid to “hope for too much” that I protected myself from such “dangerous” hope by holding God at arms length.  What has your journey of faith looked like?  

Completed by Love

Plato recorded a story from ancient Greek mythology about a people called the “split-apart” – a race that lived when the earth was young in utter wholeness and happiness.  Each individual of this race had everything they needed within them (even the ability to reproduce on their own) and lived in complete contentment. 

 

But the gods grew jealous of their joy and divided each of the (whole) individuals into two separate beings, splitting them apart from themselves and scattering them to the four winds.  According to the story, that is why human beings, as their descendants, feel such longing and discontentment – we spend our lives searching for our missing half, aching for the one who can restore us to wholeness.

 

I believe that yearning for wholeness is part of what it means to be human.  I’m not suggesting that we each have a single soul-mate to whom we must proclaim (as Tom Cruise did to Renee Zellweger in Jerry McGuire), “You complete me!”  If you ask me, that seems like a tall order for any human being!  Instead, I think that we all ache to feel complete because we were designed to live in deep connection with God.

 

Paul wrote, “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.”  (Ephesians 1:4 MES)  We were designed to be the focus of God’s love, a love that longs to make us complete and whole and blessed.  God doesn’t want us to settle for empty, broken lives.  His plan is much more generous than that!  He created us to be completed by His love. 

 

It’s like we are all designed with a God-shaped hole within us aching to be filled; but it cannot be filled by our efforts.  It is tempting for us to try to impress God, try to earn His love, but that will only cause us to feel frustrated and inadequate (or falsely superior if we are delusional about our success!). 

 

Like our salvation, God’s love is a gift (an expensive gift purchased with Jesus’ blood).  We are asked not to earn it, but to receive it.  We receive God’s presence within us when we put our trust in Jesus to make us right with God.  Christ alone has the ability to place redemption into our hearts like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle, completing the picture of our true identity.  This becomes our new reality, a constant presence deep within us regardless of where we are or how we feel at the moment.

 

For me this is a leap of faith.  I choose to believe that God (through Jesus) is making me functionally whole in this lifetime.  That means that I don’t have to be “enough” (good enough, smart enough, gracious enough, patient enough) on my own.  It’s ok when I make mistakes or don’t “feel” my faith.  In this life, my personal wholeness is something I’ve put in Jesus’ hands.  What about you?

 

Going deeper – Critics of faith in God would contend that it would be selfish of God to design human beings to be incomplete without Him.  But to me such a belief can only be held by those who prize independence over connection.  I agree that it would be selfish of God to make us incomplete if we would be better off without Him.  But God knew the blessing of community because God lives in community within Himself.  He gave us what would be the greatest blessing to us, the most loving option – the opportunity to be completed by Him in community. 

 

How do you feel about the concept of needing God to be truly complete?  I know that my ego has strained against the sheer vulnerability of it!  In order for me to go there I needed to allow myself to bet on a God of love.  But it seems to me like the critics of faith are equally attached to the idea of an ugly God.  After all, if they don’t believe that God exists, why do they seem so angry at Him?

Unconditional Love

I really liked one of the slides that Jeff had up Sunday morning.  It was a black and white photo of an infant holding onto the finger of a grown-up’s hand.  Something about it seemed so tender and yet so solid – an image of complete vulnerability before a benevolent strength.  It reminded me of Psalm 139:13-16 where David talks about how God saw him before he was even born.

 

When I was in my early twenties I went to a class at a lectureship series.  The author talked about a loving God and the whole concept seemed so foreign to me that I waited to talk to him after the class.  My question was, “How do you teach someone about the unconditional love of God if they’ve spent their lives believing that God only loved them when they were good enough?”

 

His answer was that you show them what God says about Himself.  He even took the time to sit down with me and look at a couple of passages in the Bible where God talks about being a loving Father to His people.  After all, “God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself…”  (Genesis 1:27 NLT)  After designing the solar system He designed his true masterpieces:  you and me.

 

     As Pierre Teilhard De Chardin put it, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.  We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”  For God this world is all about us, even if the earth does revolve around the sun.  He designed the laws of the universe and the miracle of our planet because He wanted to create a place where His children could learn what life is all about.  And as the sing team sang this morning, “It’s all about love.”  Love is our Father.  Love is our heritage.  Love is the lesson we’re here to learn.  But love isn’t as “soft” as it sounds.

 

Like a small child, I’ve sometimes confused love with one’s willingness to give me my own way.  (Personally, I’ve lamented, “If my mommy really loved me she would let me have all the ice cream I want!”  I was in a similar frame of mind when I reasoned, “If God really loved me He wouldn’t allow me to be having this painful experience.”) 

 

God’s love is generous, but it’s not indulgent.  You see, indulgence has at its heart the illusion that having more will make it all better.  “If I could just get my way,” we demand, “if I could have it easy, then I would be happy.”  But sadly, reality doesn’t cooperate.  And that fact is for our ultimate benefit; because indulgence doesn’t lead to satisfaction, it leads to insatiability. 

 

If God were to accommodate our every desire (to have whatever we want, to always get our way, to make our road easy and cater to our comfort) we would become less – less happy, less resourceful, less significant and less satisfied.  God is not a permissive parent.  He loves us far too much not to care about who we are becoming.

 

     God is the ultimate parent, always balanced with His love.  He is not permissive and indulgent, giving us whatever we want to shut us up without looking to see what we truly need.  He is not authoritarian and conditional, caring more about whether or not we make Him look good than have our needs met.  He wants us to grow and to learn, but He doesn’t expect us to be more than we are.  God showers us with His mercy and unconditional support even when we’ve blown it.  But God loves us too much not to ask us to take our next step toward growth.  As Max Lucado put it in the title of one of his books, “God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way.  He wants you to be just like Jesus.”  Now that’s the kind of God I want to put my faith in.  How about you?

 

Going deeper – Take a few moments to read through Psalm 139:1-17.  It absolutely blows my mind that God takes such an intimate and detailed interest in every single person He’s created!  I think if we spent more time really appreciating how valuable we are in God’s eyes that we would find the courage to be gentler with everyone, even ourselves.