Boating....

I saw a commercial for boating (yeah I know it's in french but you'll get the point) where a family waved at everybody they passed, on the escalator, in a store as they drove by, or to their neighbors. In each situation outside of boating, the person they were waiving to didn’t want to wave back (except the toddler which is another blog). Is it the experience of boating that causes a person to wave to another? What is it about a boat and a body of water that would prompt someone to wave to another? I would venture to say it has nothing to do with the water but what is expected of the person because they are boating. In the same way if you golf there is certain attire that you are supposed to wear, or Monday morning at the office there is a certain cliché you are supposed to say. It is not the person that determines the action but rather the situation that determines the action. Is that what Christ taught? Do we require an activity to prompt us to reach out to people, to let people we know they are valued, to demonstrate that the grace of Christ has no boundaries? I thought we were supposed to love our enemies, teach truth, admonish evil and in all things love Him and our neighbors as ourselves. So regardless if we are on a boat or golf course, shouldn’t we all wave to each other?

Powerful Encouragement

God is absolutely amazing, perfect in every way, wisdom, love, grace, and timing. We’ve heard it before that His timing is perfect and we often accept it as a cliché, a truth that is not applicable, especially in the midst of storms. Well, I have been spiraling out of control recently, under the weight of the burden of others without a way to help, not seeing the burning bush with His marching orders, wandering aimlessly in the desert. How often have we thought of the books of Timothy as part of the pastoral letters and simply brush them off as too lofty for us? I mean who thinks they can be like Paul, Peter, Steven, or even Timothy? We have no problem associating with Doubting Thomas, but Paul or Timothy? Then, I read 2 Tim 1:1-12 http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?new=1&word=2+Tim+1%3A1-12&section=0&version=nas&language=en and God in His perfect timing speaks. So often I’ve read this scripture as command, command, command but what is it that Paul is really saying? Is that what he was intending? It seems as if Paul knew Timothy was discouraged to the point of tears and that he was sincere in his grief; it wasn’t a show. But what made Timothy cry? Was it the hungry starving for food? Was it the political junk of the day? Was it that the evil of this world was overshadowing the grace of Christ to the point where it was hardly recognizable if the Holy Spirit was at work? Was it the persecution of the position of prophet, pastor, teacher teaching the testimony of Christ? Or maybe, just maybe it was his passion for the lost, and more importantly those of whom he has either lead to Christ or those that already know Christ and Timothy has had the privilege to teach and he is grieved that they’ve have fallen away. Could that be a possibility? What is it that Paul takes confidence in? His confidence is in God in that He IS ABLE (not necessarily that He will) care for those that he has entrusted to God (of which Timothy is a member of) in the same way Christ entrusted His disciples to Him. If that be the case, man can I relate to Timothy and it encourages me to get back up, brush myself off, and jump back into the fray. I have looked back across the field far too long instead of look forward towards His purpose. So with resolve for the Lord has not given us a spirit of timidity but one of power, love and discipline, the next time I’m avoided, the testimony I share is rejected, the elect condemn my passion for knowledge of the Holy, (all of which have already happened since I’ve made this decision), I will stand tall, charge into battle and with resounding fervor embrace the encouragement Paul gives to Timothy and declare “I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day”!!!!

How marvelous!

In my personal worship time today I was reminded of the hymn “I Stand Amazed in the Presence”. While reflecting on my struggle, I began discussing the message He has put in my heart, the message of His blood, grace and His love and my desire for those around me to hear it. In the course of our discussion, He slipped in that the message was also for me and I am ashamed to say it took Him more than once for it to sink in. His reminder of that hymn cut me to the quick. The first verse purposeful and direct

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene
And wonder how He could love me
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

Dealing with my response to this world as Paul once did, I am a sinner, I am condemned, and I am unclean, I am taken back not at “how” He could love me, but “why” He would. I will admit it is hard to love those that hurt you or to love those that hurt the people you do love, so after as much as I've hurt Him, why He would love me is dumbfounding, yet expressed in the second and fourth verses

For me it was in the garden
He prayed, “Not My will but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat-drops of blood for mine. (what imagery)

He took my sins and my sorrows (of which Satan haunts me with daily)
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary
And suffered and died alone.

He chose to love me beyond any imaginable amount and I am amazed. I cried through our talk and with a broken cracking voice began to quietly sing the hymn. By the last verse my heart was swelling with such desire for Him I wanted to cry out with such force as to shake the very foundations of the earth to where I sang the refrain over and over again -

How marvelous! How wonderful
And my song shall ever be.
How marvelous! How wonderful
Is my Savior’s love for me!

- thinking of the last line of the verse my face showered by tears and as the words became so broken and unintelligible, I began to think of my song in response. Although the words are “How marvelous, How wonderful and my song shall ever be!” does that ring true from my mind…….does it resonate from my heart……..does it resound from my soul…….does it cry out in my life. How marvelous is my song wonderful? Moreover………….do those that are around me hear it?

Rest to do what?

I was reading in Leviticus today and came across an interesting verse. Yes I did say Leviticus. Chapter 16:29 it says, “On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work.” I found it interesting that God uses the words “deny yourselves” when it comes to work. The normal association I make when I hear the word deny is that it is concerns giving up something I really like and is not something that I would want to do, for example, I must deny myself chips and queso if I am to lose weight, or deny myself the 52 inch flat panel TV if I am to replace the siding on the house, but to put it in the context of work, is it hard to deny myself work? Shoot my kids would be the holiest kids in the world if holiness was based on how much we deny ourselves work, especially when I tell them to clean their room or sweep the floor. So why did God put that part in there? If I didn’t take in the whole scripture I think I could start a pretty fast growing ministry with “No Work” as its theme. Yet He explains a bit more in the next verse, “because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you…It is a Sabbath rest ” You see, my fleshly nature which is in constant battle with the Holy Spirit is to deny that I’ve sinned and need atonement. Because His knowledge of me penetrates to the inner recesses of my heart, He understands that it is enough work for me to focus on my atonement and I don’t need the distractions of earthly responsibility even if I keep my sin list short. As a result, today, the Sabbath has become a bit clearer.

Give unto...

As I have been reading the interaction between Christ and those that were around Him I have been paying attention to their responses. When some leaders tried to trap Christ concerning the Roman occupation and paying taxes Christ responds in saying, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” The result was amazement. Why? Why would someone be amazed? Was it because He called them out in their trap? Was it because He acknowledged that Caesar was a leader? We have a tendency to focus on the Caesar part of His answer and not on Christ’s main thrust, the God part, “give to God what is God’s”. But what is God’s? It’s answered right after that in Mark, “Love the Lord with all your heart mind soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself”. Yet we begrudgingly pay our taxes while we ignore the devotion to God.

Who's talking....

As I stay in the boat, a question comes to mind are the “storms” that surround me, storms that are generated by my decisions that are not apart of God’s will but rather my will? I find that this question to often makes me hesitate and sometimes even turn my back on what really is God’s will because I don’t have a burning bush in front of me telling me what to do. Is it my fleshly desires or is it His will? In a “christian” culture where you hear things are said like “you don’t have because you don’t have enough faith” or “speak it into existence” how much of that is truly His will? The storm that Jonah faced had everything to do with him disobeying God for he judged a people whom God wanted to give a second chance. The more I get to know the nature of God, like Jonah, the more I realize how much I am not like Him and His way is not like my way. I have to choose to trust that His way is best regardless of what I think the outcome may be and I must pray, as a friend said, with faith without fear that I clearly know His will and He will fulfill it through me.

Do you still...

Okay, I am still in the boat with the disciples huddled together scared of the awesome power of Christ. I’ve been focused on His question “Why are you afraid?” but to answer that question I must first answer the second question that Christ asks his disciples, “Do you STILL have no faith?” In the storm it is hard, at least for me, to see beyond the wind and the rain however I know that it is my choice to trust Him regardless if He calms the storm or not. The key to it is that my choice has absolutely no bearing upon His nature. The truth that He can calm the storm does not hinge upon whether I choose to trust Him or not. What I choose to believe in does not shape the nature of God to formulate an outcome. It would be my unfaltering trust in His will that would make the noise of the storm mute and this is blatantly demonstrated by Christ asleep in the boat. Therefore, the question Christ poses to His disciples is the same question I must ask myself as I go through storms that I face, “do you still have no faith?” My faith in Him is expressed in the way I live my life day by day, moment by moment. How I answer His question if I still have no faith will tell if I wither in failure or conquer in joy and unfortunately I have found that my answer is always changing.