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When We Shouldn’t Share the Gospel

Jun7

I spend my Tuesday mornings intentionally engaging in conversations about God (among other things) with women who don’t share my views. Some think they believe what I believe about God, but their lifestyles communicate otherwise. Some don’t know what they believe. Some don’t really care to figure out what they believe.

We spend thirty minutes one on one, talking out problems these women are facing. They tell me about themselves. I affirm their feelings. I try to make them feel heard and understood. I try to empower them to make well-educated decisions. I interject pertinent truth when it’s fitting. And, if I feel led, I share the Gospel proper.

Thirty minutes is not a lot of time to get through all that. And I will never see the vast majority of these women ever again.

That being the case, I must ask myself, “As a Christian, whose primary responsibility to others is to share the Gospel with them, must I verbally share it with every non-Christian I meet? If I don’t have time or don’t ‘feel led’, am I shirking the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) by not laying out the plan of salvation with every non-Christian I know?”

http://samaritanxp.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.htmlimage via samaritanxp.blogspot.com

It’s true, every unbeliever’s greatest need is an understanding and acceptance of the Gospel. And it’s also true that each unbeliever is at a different point along the path to accepting truth.

If we think of a person’s journey to faith in Christ as a timeline, with their birth on the far left and their acceptance of Christ on the far right,we would do well to consider what happens in between.

As they start traveling on their path, unbelievers go through stages.

1. Ignorance. The fact is none of us are born knowing the Gospel. We have to learn it. And whether we’re 4 or 94 the first time we hear it, we all spend part of our lives ignorant of the Gospel.

Once we’ve heard the Gospel, we respond to it, for better or for worse. A small percentage of folks hear the Gospel one time and embrace it wholeheartedly. The majority of us, however, have to hear the Gospel more than 7 times before we both understand it and accept it as truth. Before that glorious day comes, we may go through the following stages in any order, each stage may last for any length of time, and we may visit any stage more than one time:

2. Denial. “That can’t be true.” “That doesn’t work for me.” “That doesn’t make any sense.” “That’s pretty far-fetched.”

3. Hostility. “I’m a pretty good person – I don’t need a Savior.” “That’s intolerant.” “Who are you to tell me I am going to hell?”

4. Conviction. “I want to believe it, but I’m not sure it’s true.” “I know I need to get right with God, but I really don’t want to live differently yet.”

If unbelievers are in stage 1, I’m convinced the most loving thing we can do is share the Gospel with them. Lay it out, clearly, lovingly, with scriptural support. To withhold that information would be unloving and in direct violation of our charge as believers.

But what do we do with unbelievers in stages 2, 3, and 4? They’ve heard the Gospel at some point, but they aren’t emotionally ready to accept it. In that case, sharing it with them again might actually turn them off. Is it in their best interest to share it with them anyway? Unless we really feel a definite leading from the Spirit to share, I’d say it isn’t.

Christians ought to do whatever it takes to move non-Christians toward the Lord, and sometimes that means NOT sharing the Gospel verbally.

If we sense they aren’t open to hearing the Gospel, although it sounds like an oxymoron, we can actually perpetuate their acceptance of the Gospel down the line by not verbally sharing it with them now.

If an unbeliever has already heard the Gospel before and chose not to accept it, what they need more than anything – even more than an additional presentation of the Gospel – is a positive interaction with someone who calls themselves “Christian”. They need to feel respected, valued, appreciated, and accepted. An encounter like that will move them farther down the timeline toward accepting the Gospel for themselves much more readily than a pushy Christian with an agenda to verbally share the Gospel with every non-believer she comes into contact with.

How to Have Hope in the Hopeless Times

May22

There are times we feel stuck in suffering. We look around and see no way out. The hurt is so deep, so constant, and everything we’ve tried to counteract the pain so ineffective, we feel helpless and hopeless. Or, as Paul put it, “in our hearts we felt the sentence of death,” (2 Corinthians 1:9).

Image via sakhorn38/freedigitalphotos.net

Image via sakhorn38/freedigitalphotos.net

That’s pretty severe.

On the heels of our discussion about whether or not God gives us more than we can handle, I find it interesting that Paul said this to the believers in Corinth, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life,” (2 Corinthians 1:8).

Paul. Super apostle. He had experienced Jesus in an incomprehensibly amazing way during his salvation experience. Yet, when the crap hit the fan, even Paul “despaired of life.” Sometimes life is just too hard. For all of us.

So what do we do when the pressure of circumstances are “far beyond our ability to endure”? We still have to live the day to day. Make choices. Accomplish tasks. Take care of families. Go to jobs. Participate in life. How do we do these things when life feels like a death sentence?

Paul says hardships and unbearable pressure happen, “that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead,” (2 Corinthians 1:9).

When we feel like life is a death sentence, we are to rely on Him who literally raises the dead. 

God is in the business of redeeming that which seems unredeemable. That includes people, yes, but it also includes hardships and pressures, circumstances that seem too far gone or too overwhelming to overcome.

It’s true that you and I cannot raise anything from the dead. We cannot go to a funeral, stand over the casket, call out the person’s name, and tell him to arise. But Jesus literally did that (Lazarus, John 11:38-44). God the Father literally did that too (Jesus, Matthew 28:5-6).

Just as God is capable of resurrecting dead people, He is capable of resurrecting the “dead” parts of our lives. Dead relationships. Dead careers. Dead ministries. Dead communities. Dead parts of ourselves - from physical infirmities to emotional sinkholes. Anything that is dead, He came to give it life.

We’ve seen that in our pasts. We can all come up with a time or two when we “felt the sentence of death”, and God, somehow or another, delivered us. (If you’re having trouble seeing past your despair to remember such a time, think about your salvation story. He delivered you from a literal death sentence – Hell – and gave you eternal life when you “got saved”.)

Paul encourages us to reflect on redemptive moments in our pasts so, in our current hardships and pressures, hope will well up in our hearts. “He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,” (2 Corinthians 1:10).

If life is unbearable right now, take heart. Remember how He has taken great care of you in the past, and set your hope on His goodness and power to deliver you from your current plight.

As long as God is still God, nothing is hopeless. Nothing.

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Why I Think Judas is in Heaven

Mar29

Today is Good Friday, the day Christians mark the anniversary of Jesus’ crucifixion. To focus my heart on the event, I cracked open Matthew 27 to read about the details. I got 5 verses in and stopped to ponder Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus to the Jewish leaders who wanted Him dead.

I think a lot of Christians assume Judas is in hell. After all, he betrayed God. That’s kind of a big deal sin. He also committed suicide, which some brands of Christians wrongly consider an unforgivable sin. For these reasons, I think if you polled your church, the majority would say there is no way Judas is in Heaven.

But I think they’re wrong.

When he realized the Jewish leaders weren’t just going to give Jesus a talking to, Judas freaked out.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” “What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.” Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself. -Matthew 27:3-5

Judas screwed up. He let greed get the better of him. He chose to turn on his friend for money. Several sources on the Google tell me 30 pieces of silver in New Testament times was the equivalent of about 4 months’ wages, so a few thousand dollars, depending on the profession to which they are referring. It would have been a nice chunk of change, but nothing too life-altering. But money wooed, and Judas’ true allegiance won out.

To be fair, Judas didn’t seem to realize he was turning his friend over to be executed. He probably was thinking Jesus was going to get some church discipline for bucking the established rules, like healing on the Sabbath and speaking out against traditional Pharisaical thinking. Judas may have envisioned Jesus being put in religious time out, but being put to death was not on Judas’ radar. A few thousand dollars in exchange for Jesus’ chastisement seemed worth it. Judas may have even rationalized that the disciples were poor and could use that money to minister to even more people once Jesus got ungrounded.

But once the reality of the situation set in, Judas was filled with remorse. He called his sin what it was – sin. He confessed his belief in Jesus as Messiah by calling Jesus innocent of the charges – namely, that He was falsely claiming to be the Messiah.

In my estimation, Judas repented and acknowledged Jesus as God. And scripture tells us that’s all we have to do to be saved.

I cannot wait to get to Heaven and see Judas and Jesus laughing together. That picture of grace overwhelms my soul.

How great is our God that He would forgive even the likes of Judas!

(Shortly after I published this post, I changed my mind. See the comments below to understand why.)

Hope in the Struggle

Feb23

I was all set to write an article about how there’s no such thing as a “good Christian.” It was going to be all about how oxymoronic that phrase is – none of us are good, that’s why we need Christ in the first place.

Except I didn’t actually write the article. I just thought about it a whole lot. I never made the time to sit down and hammer it out. So you know what happened? Someone else beat me to the punch.

A friend who knew nothing of my latest blog idea shared an article called The Myth of the ‘Good Christian Girl’ on Facebook. And aside from the fact that my article wouldn’t have been gender specific, this article said a lot of what I was thinking, and it said it much better than I imagine I would’ve said it.

Good writing, for me, always has to have a fresh phrase that sticks with me days later for it to be worthy of the adjective “good”.

This piece had this little nugget in it: the “real you/me/us” is a “struggling saved sinner.”

I love the phrase because each word depicts a part of me in a unique way.

I struggle. I struggle to discern right from wrong. I struggle to get this rock of a heart to choose right on a consistent basis. I struggle to flee temptation and pursue righteousness. I struggle to make sense of pain and evil. I struggle to understand what I struggle with.

But just because I struggle doesn’t mean the offer of salvation and relationship with God is revoked.

I am saved. I have asked the Lord for grace through Jesus, and He gives me more than I can stand. I am saved from eternal damnation, but I am saved for so much more than “just” Heaven. I am saved for living, breathing relationship with the God of creation. I am saved for interaction with God this side of Heaven. I am saved for the pleasure of the One who says to me, “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life,” (Isaiah 43:4). (For us AD folks, substitute Jesus for “men” and “people”.)

Just because I am saved, however, doesn’t mean I don’t struggle. I wish it wasn’t so, but it is so. Why?

Because of that last word – sinner. I am a sinner. It’s what I do. I was born sinning, and I’ll die sinning. There’s not an hour that goes by where I don’t choose selfishness over service (Matthew 20:26-28), or laziness over the good I ought to do (James 4:17), or think curse words instead of blessings (James 3:10).

Just because I am saved doesn’t mean I don’t sin. But just because I sin doesn’t mean I am not saved. The author of Hebrews tells us, “[Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them,” (Hebrews 7:25). Completely!

I am a constantly struggling, completely saved, carnal sinner.

And I hope you are too.

Because the only other option is a constantly struggling, completely lost, carnal sinner.

I was that once.

Do you want to know the difference, besides all that Heaven/Hell business?

Hope.

Being saved allows me to have hope for the now as well as the future (Romans 15:13, Titus 3:4-7).

Being lost left me devoid of any reason to believe this life mattered at all or that it could get any better, and there was no “next life” to bank on (Ephesians 2:12).

I hope it’s clear I’m not promising roses and sunshine to you if you choose Christ today. The world will still be broken and so will you, making for some pretty rough days. But with Jesus, there is hope in the struggle.

 

Boundaries in Church

Feb18

image via CloudTownsend.com

Years ago a book called Boundaries was released. I haven’t read it, but I hear it helps you decide when relationships are harmful and how to enact healthy limits to prevent permanent damage to your soul. There have been a bunch of spin-offs – Boundaries in Dating, Boundaries in Marriage, Boundaries with Kids, etc.

To my knowledge, Boundaries in Church has yet to be written. But I’ve been considering the concept quite a bit lately.

I attend a large church in a Memphis suburb. Like most churches, our staff is over-worked and under-paid, and they rarely say no to meeting a need inside or outside of the church. In order to address all those needs, the staff constantly appeals to the church members for help (as they should).

I’ve heard it said that 20% of the people do 80% of the work, and I’m feeling it.

Week after week, I receive email after email with opportunities to serve inside and outside of my church. And every time I read a request, my first thought is, “How can I fit this in? How can I rearrange things to make room for more service?”

Similarly, I learn of financial needs within my small group, within my church family, within my community, and abroad on the mission field constantly. And my first thought is, “Where can we find $10 a month to contribute to this cause?”

A lot of times I’ll say yes to that service need or commit to that financial need because I want to help and because I take seriously the Bible’s commands for believers to serve others and take care of those in need.

In other words, I feel a responsibility as a follower of Christ to say yes all. the. time. Don’t get me wrong, I want to serve and help. But I am getting tired. I am getting tapped. I am starting to respond to emails requesting help with, “UGH! Why can’t others step up?” instead of, “Yes, I’d be happy to sacrifice my time and money to help the Gospel go forth once again.”

And that’s where Satan and my flesh both step in and battle each other for control of my soul.

Satan wants me to feel guilty for even considering not serving or giving this one time. “You can always find $10 more and one more hour to donate to a worthy cause…. but you don’t want to… you don’t really love Jesus… you’re a fraud.”

My flesh swells with pride and says, “You already serve in so many ways! You LIVE at that church. You already give X amount of money to the church and missionaries and other charities. That 80% of the church members that don’t do or give jack need to quit being so selfish and step up! YOU do plenty. Sit back, feel proud, and refuse to do anymore!”

I don’t believe God would have me embrace feeling guilty or excessively prideful. He wants a different response from me.

But what?

As I think about priorities, I’ve been taught they should look something like this:

  1. Personal relationship with God (spending significant quality time with Him in prayer and individual study of the Scriptures daily)
  2. Family (spending significant quality time with them and making sure all their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs are sufficiently and exceptionally met daily)
  3. Occupation (accomplishing #2 requires money, and obtaining money typically requires working)
  4. Serving outside the home (inside the church, in the community, or abroad)

Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God and love others. #1 and #2 accomplish that, and #3 and #4 can also be focused on that if we so desire.

The Bible also commands Christians to use their gifts to build up the church (Romans 12:4-8), serve others (Matthew 20:26-28), take care of those who can’t take care of themselves (Matthew 25:40), and share the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ with others (Matthew 28:19-20).

Certainly, these things can be exponentially better accomplished if our #1 priority is attended to. If we have kids, the biblical commands to serve others, take care of those who can’t take care of themselves, and share the Gospel can ALL be accomplished within our immediate families as well (#2). Once our family members each enter into a personal relationship with Jesus, we’ll have to move outside of our families to fulfill the mandate to evangelize, but we don’t have to look too far: neighbors, our kids’ friends, their parents, etc.

Depending on your job, some or all of the biblical mandates can be lived out in our #3 priority.

And so our 4th priority is left as a kind of a catch-all. Whatever biblical commands we didn’t satisfy in priorities #1, #2, and #3, we can fulfill in #4. But if we’re not doing #1-3 well, maybe #4 shouldn’t be on our radar.

Maybe we shouldn’t use our time and money to serve outside of our family if we aren’t taking sufficient, no, exceptional care of our family with the time and money we have.

(Note: I am not talking about tithing in this conversation. I believe a 10% tithe is a non-negotiable no matter what state your family is in. When I talk about giving money in this article, I am only referring to giving above and beyond our tithe. (Leviticus 27:30))

All this to say, when an opportunity to serve or give comes our way, we should disregard Satan’s attempt to make us feel guilty and our flesh’s attempt to make us feel prideful and look at our priorities. Before we commit to service of our time and money, we should ask ourselves if we’re spending enough alone time with God, if our family is getting the best physical care we can give them (fast food is toxic, ahem), the best emotional support and spiritual training we can offer (this takes TIME), if our family has enough money to take care of itself (if not, consider using your extra time to get a J.O.B. before volunteering for something else).  If we can answer yes to all these things, and we still have time and money left, by all means, serve and give.

But if serving and giving means these other things suffer, even if these other things suffer because you are emotionally and physically exhausted from all the serving and the giving you’ve been doing, STOP IT! Cut back. Give yourself grace. Know that God understands. Know that God loves how much you desire to pay more attention to your relationship with Him and to take better care of your family He’s given you as a gift and responsibility.

Give yourself permission to set some limits. And give the 80% a chance to up their game ;)

Prayer = Service

Aug28

I’ve been considering the idea of prayer as an act of service the past couple of weeks.

There’s no telling what got this idea rolling in my head. In fact, I’m not entirely sure it’s my idea. I may have heard it from Kennon Vaughan and mistaken it as my own. If so, thanks, Kennon!

Either way, I like it. Prayer as an act of service.

“Service” isn’t real palatable to most of us. “Being served” is more up my alley than “serving others”. I make lots of excuses for why I can’t serve if someone asks me to serve in a way I don’t want to.

I can’t volunteer in the church nursery because I am around kids way too much as it is – my sanity depends on me not serving in children’s ministry.

I can’t help at the local food pantry because my children are too young to bring with me. They’d just get in the way. And it’s not like I have free childcare available anytime I want it… … … (please don’t mention the 4 grandparents, the aunt and uncle, or the numerous friends that would gladly watch my kids while I serve somewhere…)

I can’t pick up trash around my neighborhood because eww. Yuck.

But prayer? as an act of service? Sure! I can pray on behalf of others. I do it all the time.

Well, not all the time. I mostly pray for myself, come to think of it. But if all I have to do to check the service box on the list of things Christians ought to be doing is pray, I can handle that.

Except my kids are too noisy and needy for me to get time alone to pray for very long. And when I do get a quiet moment, I’m more apt to fall asleep than pray for others. I can’t help that God made my body need sleep. And I need to take care of my body – that’s in the Bible.

Sometimes I get tired of my excuses. That’s when I know it’s time to change.

Why do we serve others? Because Jesus served us and asks us to serve others (Matthew 20:28). Jesus’ love for us drove Him to sacrifice all for us. Likewise, our love for Jesus ought to drive us to serve others sacrificially.

And praying for others is a sacrifice. It takes time and mental fortitude. We must make it a point to pray for others – it doesn’t just happen naturally. We have to prioritize prayer if it’s actually going to get done.

Intentionality. For others. Effort. Sounds like service to me.

I can serve the street children in Ethiopia by praying for them.

I can serve the missionaries in Uruguay by praying for them.

I can serve my church by praying for it.

Who will you serve through prayer today? How can I pray for you?

Lose Yourself

Jul16

God has been trying to teach me something huge the past 18 months.  And, in pure human fashion, I have been slow to learn.  It got to the point where a couple of weeks ago I more or less pleaded with the Lord, “WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TEACH ME?!  I DON’T GET IT!  MAKE IT CLEARER!”

And because God loves me, He did.

He has spent 2 weeks making it perfectly clear that I am selfish, and it’s time I change.

Through scripture, sermons, Bible studies, friends, and the Holy Spirit, God has been gently but clearly saying, “Life isn’t about you.”

I suppose He has been saying this for the past year and a half, but I’ve been hearing it as a polite opinion instead of a non-negotiable fact.  Most of the time opinions go in one ear and out the other.  What really gets my attention is someone with a megaphone 3 inches from my face belting out, “LIFE IS NOT ABOUT YOU, KELLY!”

God is too polite to go that route himself, but preachers often do it for Him, and I am thankful for that.  Because the majority of my American life tells me life IS all about me.  So I need someone louder than the noise of the world and of my own selfish nature to get my attention.

Philippians 1:21, it turns out, does not read, “To live is Kelly, to die is gain.”  No, “to live is Christ…”  The very point of our existence is to glorify Him, not satisfy ourselves.  Every choice we make should be with Him and furthering His agenda in mind.  Where we live, what we do with our money, how we spend our free time…  We are to live every moment with Him in mind.

Philippians 2:3 doesn’t say, “Do everything out of selfish ambition and vain conceit.”  No, “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…”  Not one single thing!  NOTHING we do should be motivated by what’s in it for me.

Gonna brush your teeth?  You shouldn’t do it to have a pretty smile; you should do it to take care of the body the Lord has given you.  Gonna apply for a higher position at work?  You shouldn’t do it so you’ll have more money to buy more things you don’t need; you should do it to have the opportunity to bring a Christlike influence to more people in your company.  Gonna have that third kid?  You shouldn’t do it because you have two girls, and you really want to have a boy; you should do it because you are committed to raising children who love Jesus and make an impact in this world for Him.

The rest of Philippians 2:3 doesn’t read, “In hubris consider yourself better than others.”  No, “in humility consider others better than yourselves.”  Not equal to, not the same as, but better than you!

The elderly person driving 20 under the speed limit in front of you?  Better than you.  Your spouse that won’t clean the bathrooms?  Better than you, too.  Your boss that drops huge projects on you at the last minute with no regard for the 1,000 other things you are in the middle of?  Also better than you.

(Ok, they aren’t actually better than you, but you’re to act like they are, per scripture.)

Jesus said if we want to follow Him, we have to deny ourselves (Matthew 16:24).  He wasn’t speaking in some spiritual hyperbole.  He wasn’t referring to abstaining from things for piety’s sake or to earn religious points with God.  He was referring to serving Him and others with our whole beings.

Because Jesus knew what we/I often forget.  LIFE IS NOT ABOUT ME!  It is about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  This whole circus we call life is for Him – to know Him and to make Him known (John 17:25-26).

Let’s operate through that filter today…  and every day.

Who Do YOU Say I Am?

Apr3

It’s a big week for Jesus.  You know, Easter and all that.  So, as long as we’re all thinking about Him to one degree or another, He’s got a question for us.

(Actually, it was initially for Peter.  But it’s for you and me, too.)

image via pisteuo.wordpress.com

Jesus was standing around shooting the breeze with the disciples one day, and He asked them who people thought He was.  They offered the most recent results of the Gallup Poll – John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets (Matthew 16:13-14).

It’s interesting to me that popular opinion thought it was more likely Jesus was one of these guys REINCARNATED than the Son of God.  I mean, wouldn’t both ideas be pretty far-fetched?  If you’re gonna believe Jesus was a reincarnated prophet, why not go ahead and make the “leap” that He is who He says He is – God’s Son…

Anyway, after the disciples offer these conjectures on Jesus’ true identity, Jesus says to the group, “But what about you?  Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15).

Jesus wasn’t concerned with the world’s perception of Him.  Not so much, anyway.  He wanted to know what His most intimate followers – His closest friends – understood about His true identity.

Peter responded, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Imagine, if you will, that you are standing there with that group of disciples, listening to this conversation.  And Jesus turns to you.  His strong, yet soft, brown eyes meet yours.  And He says, “But what about you?  Who do you say I am?”

You know exactly who you think He is.  Whether you are a believer, a skeptic, or an apathetic, you have an opinion about Jesus.

Was He a great teacher?

Was He a good man?

Was He a lunatic?

Was He a con artist?

Was He the Son of God?

Was He a prophet?

How do you answer His question?

Jesus didn’t offer any documented response to the ideas that He was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.  But to Peter’s statement that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, Jesus replies, “Blessed are you…” (Matthew 16:17).

Jesus clearly accepts Peter’s answer as correct.  All other answers are incorrect.

But you and I weren’t there.  We’ve never seen Jesus.  We’ve never talked to Him.  On what, then, do we base our answer to His question, “Who do you say I am?”

Christian or not, you need to have an answer and a basis for your answer.  Know why you believe what you believe about the most important and influential person in history.

I am the Solution

Jan27

Last week I was wracking my brain, trying to solve a problem.

Fix.

Win.

End.

A problem.

And in so doing, I communicated with several friends about the problem. My friends have been a vital part of my sorting out the problem.  I owe them a debt of gratitude for grounding me when I am flying away and pointing me toward the Lord when I am spinning around in circles, trying to regain my bearings.

That being so, I noticed something last week that just didn’t feel right.

(I know, feelings can be deceiving and should be the last thing by which we measure truth.  But this time, my feelings were on to something.)

When I shared my most recent feelings of hopelessness and discouragement regarding my problem, my friends responded with many reasonable ideas of what I should be doing differently.

Helpful hints.

Attitude adjustments.

Action steps.

While I believe their ideas hold potential, while I believe they were telling me truths I needed to hear and remember and act on, I couldn’t help but notice their advice was all about DOING.  “Do this; do that; do more.”

And I got exhausted just thinking about it all…  All the things I needed to do and change and become…  It was overwhelming.

My mind went to bad self-talk, “If I would just DO better, my problem would GET better.  What’s my deal?  Why can’t I just DO better?  I suck.”

My mind went to religious legalism – DO!  DO!  DO!  “I can perform my way out of this situation.  I just have to DO better.”

It was during these thoughts that I found myself wondering how Jesus was interpreting all of this advice I was receiving.  I wondered if He was sitting in Heaven, shouting down at me, “NO!  They’ve missed the point AGAIN!  Just as it is with salvation, you cannot DO anything to get you out of this problem.  You, more than anyone else, KNOW you have no more emotional energy to throw at this.  No, the solution is NOT more DOING.  The solution is ME!  Come to Me.  Be with Me.  I am the solution.”

Just like Pharisees placing the burden on themselves to earn God’s love, I realized I was putting the burden on myself to fix a problem that was bigger than me.  And THAT is a losing battle.

Yesterday in our Bible study, Iva May said something like, “It’s up to God to fulfill the promises He makes to us; He doesn’t need our help.  He just wants our faith.”

So when we encounter problems that seem insurmountable, and when we recall a promise the Lord has made us – like, “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:6) – we don’t have to worry about how He will make our paths straight.  That is for the Lord to figure out.  We don’t have to be able to see the path or imagine what the path might look like or give the Lord suggestions as to where we think the path should lead.

None of that is our concern.

God promised to make our paths straight.  Our job is to believe that promise and wait for Him to do it.

“But, Lord, I am standing in a dense, dark forest…  I just don’t see how you can make a straight path for me out of here…”

Jesus looks at us and says, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

God is the solution to whatever problem you may be up against.  Believe His promises, and let Him worry about keeping them.

 

 

It Takes Time

Nov27

The majority of the time my posts are hard to stomach.  I often write about getting real.  And the reality about getting real is that it means we have to call sin sin.

When we stop to read the scriptures, we see ourselves on the pages.  We see the Bible call our sin what it is – destructive and evil.

That can be quite sobering.  And depressing.

But I’m not going there today.

In fact, I am swinging back to the other side of the pendulum and considering the mystery that is God’s grace.

I often believe that if I am not fully satisfied with God, then I have failed the faith test.  If I cannot always say that my Jesus makes my heart soar no matter the circumstances, then I have failed at being a Christian.

(Note: When I say “Christian”, I don’t mean lukewarm church-attender.  I mean full-hearted follower of Christ.)

Lucky for me, I am my biggest critic.  Meaning that God is NOT my biggest critic.  Meaning that He doesn’t come down on me nearly as hard as I come down on myself.

In fact, just the opposite.

God knows something I rarely remember.  He knows that sanctification is a process.  He knows that my becoming more like Christ – that my becoming more and more satisfied in Him no matter my circumstances – is a life-long development.

Sometimes I read verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, which say, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” and I think, “LORD, what a FAILURE I AM!’

I begin to loathe myself.  I just don’t measure up to such lofty goals.  Yet, I cannot ignore the fact that THIS IS GOD’S WILL FOR ME.  I cannot pretend like I don’t need to measure up or that I can’t measure up.  Scripture clearly says God wants me to be joyful and prayerful and thankful.  And when I am not these things, I feel like an utter failure at being a Christian.

Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  Really?  Well, what does that mean for me when I don’t feel filled?  Am I hungering for lesser things?  Am I using lesser things to try to satisfy my appetite?  Is there something wrong with my faith?  Am I sinning?  Is there something wrong with me?

It’s in the midst of these rambling thoughts that the Lord says, “Don’t be so hard on yourself.  I am not that hard on you.”

In other words, God knows my heart.  He knows I am trying.  He knows, despite the fact that I fail a lot, my innermost desire is to obey Him, please Him, and rest in a love relationship with Him.

And like the good Father that He is, He speaks grace to me.  He says, “All of these things – being joyful and prayerful and thankful and satisfied in me – all of these things are goals.  The process to become these things is just that – a process.  And a long one, at that.”

Even Paul, a Super Christian if ever there was one, had to “learn to be content” (Philippians 4:11).

It’s ok if we don’t have it down yet.  We aren’t expected to.  Well, we might expect ourselves to, but God doesn’t expect us to. And how crazy are we if we expect more of ourselves than God expects of us?

Crazy.

I think if we can say, “I am more joyful/prayerful/thankful/satisfied with God than I was last year,” God is pleased with us.  We’re moving in the right direction.  Our heart of hearts is longing for Him, and we are looking more and more like Him as time moves on.  That’s all He asks of us.

And that’s all we should be asking of ourselves.