Whoever looses his life for Me will find it (II)

I am at the age when those who I have known for half a century or more our starting, in the natural course of events, to die. Some of them know the Lord, but some likely do not, and for me this is tough stuff! In addition to wondering whether I could have done more, said more, lived more of a life that adorned the gospel, is the underlying reminder of my own mortality. Also difficult, is the pressure of our society to say nothing, since much of it regards even a remote reference to God at a time like this, as a guilt trip. But the truth of the matter is, that these things are so much easier to deal with when you know where you are going. And I do know where I am going!

In fact I have the assurance from the Lord himself who told me that since I have heard His Word and put my trust in Him (the Father) who sent Him (Jesus), then I already have everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but have passed from death into life (John 5:24). And so I need wisdom, boldness, compassion and love to speak or be silent, when I attend a funeral, where most who will be there have no confession of knowing the Lord.

And the verse at the head of this post from Luke 9:24 speaks to me again this morning as I deal with the mixed feelings of grief, guilt and anxiety for those who do not know the Lord. The point is, that if I am to deal with these things in a functional way, then I need to live in the reality of the paradox that those who loose their life for Him actually find it. It’s about living on earth, but seated in heaven (Ephesians 2:6), it’s about my life being hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3) so that what I see and hear and do is mediated through the prism of my moment by moment connection with Him.

Father, it’s hard to love as You love. And because it is so hard, it would be easy to either pretend that I don’t care, or to actually come to the place where I don’t! And I am caught again this morning Lord, between wanting to be where You are where there is no more death, or sorrow or pain (Revelation 21:4), and knowing that I have not yet completed the work You have for me to do in the here and now. Please help me again this morning Lord, to live in the tension of losing my life in order that I may gain life and in doing so bring life to others. And I give You all the honour and glory and praise again Jesus in Name Amen

Whoever looses his life for Me will find it

This quote from Luke 9:24 is the last part of one of the so called hard saying of Jesus. The full quotation is “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” It’s really about letting go! Whenever we put something or someone above the Lord in our lives, it will, in the end diminish us. For example if we put mother, or father or husband or wife above the Lord, then when we lose them it breaks our heart. I have already said in other posts, that when we love Jesus as our first priority, we will love others more than if we put them above Him. I'm not saying that we should not love our spouse, indeed we are commanded to! It’s about holding onto what is temporal loosely.

I was reminded this morning of the Stockdale Paradox. Stockdale was an admiral captured during the Vietnam War and imprisoned and tortured for eight years. He survived, many of his fellow prisoners did not. There were similarities and differences, the similarities were that they all confronted the brutal reality of their situation. They did not deny the reality of what was happening. The main difference, was that the others would set deadlines, maintaining that they would get out by Christmas, then Easter, the fall, and then Christmas again. And their hopes were dashed as each deadline came and went, and each such non-event was accompanied by an ever more broken heart, and they eventually lost the will to live. Stockdale on the other hand, while he never lost hope that in the end he would be released, did not set artificial deadlines, and so was not devastated when they did not happen!

I have been waiting over twenty one years for the fulfillment of a promise the Lord has given me. In the beginning I was doing exactly what Stockdale’s fellow prisoners were doing, setting deadlines. And it was true, as each deadline came and went, my heart became more and more wounded. But then finally I learned to let go and let God. They say what doesn’t kill you strengthens you. There was a real sense in which I was fighting for my life, and I had to essentially lose it (let go and let God), before I could find it. The key, at least for me, seemed to be to while confronting the brutal reality of the situation, at the same time clinging to the sure hope of the promises of God, and leaving the timing up to Him. It is indeed something of a paradox, but I have learned to trust that while He is never early, He is never late! Praise his name!

Father, it seems that Stockdale because of the way that he handled things, did not suffer from a broken heart. But I did! And I know for certain Lord, that if it had not been for You I too would’ve died of a broken heart. But Lord You came to heal the brokenhearted (Luke 4:18), and You do when we cry out to You and surrender to You. Thank You for your healing barm, thank You for Your amazing mercy, thank You for Your sustaining power and love and grace and peace and hope and joy in Jesus Name Amen

But godliness with contentment is great gain

The context of this quote from 1 Timothy 6:6 is, of course, Paul’s letter to Timothy. Timothy clearly has the basic necessities of life, in particular food and clothing with which, Paul says “we will be content” (verse 8). In this same context Paul gives the well known saying that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (verse 10 NKJV). It is the love of it that is the problem, and when one loves money, rather than there being great gain, there is great temptation to stray from the faith, and in doing so be pierced through with many sorrows (verse 10). As I write this morning, the pot of Lotto Canada has reached one billion dollars, and ticket sales are up, really up! A friend of mine says about this, that it is a tax on the foolish! They were saying on TV that you have a better chance of being struck by lightening! Good luck!

But we can have overcome the deceitfulness of riches and still not be content. Other things that can rob our peace are the cares of this world, and the desires for other things (Mark 4:19). In particular worry, or envy, or bitterness or impatience, any of these things can rob us our peace and joy. Paul could declare “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11), and I can say that I am learning. At some level I have great patience, waiting over twenty one years for Him to come through with what He has promised. On the other hand standing in line at the store the other day I allowed myself to become impatient. And before I knew it, my tone with the one serving me (when I eventually got there) was ungodly. It was perhaps understandable, but still inappropriate for an ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20).

But I am learning! When I saw the reaction of the girl serving me I apologized to her. It really was not her fault, she was merely the recipient of the lightening bolts of mine and others frustration (I was not the only one who was impatient with her). I have learned not to beat myself up at such times. I used to be quite good at that! But I am learning to quickly obey His command to replace my frustration, or anger, or wounded pride with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). And in this way I soon return to the great gain of contentment. The sooner I obey, the sooner the peace returns (verse 7). After all it a promise!

Father, the thought comes to me again this morning, that in many things we all fail (James 3:2). Thank You that You are not disappointed with me when I fail, but You are faithful and just both to forgive and to cleanse me (1 John 1:9). While I am so aware that I have not yet arrived, I am learning to be content with progress. I am not what I want to be (I want to be like You), but I thank You this morning Lord, that I am not what I once was. Thank You Lord for Your patience with me, in Jesus Name Amen

Intimacy with God (XIII) Commitment

I cannot leave this series of blogs on intimacy with God, without meditating on our commitment to Him. Too often in this post Christian era, our commitment in earthly relationships has become “As long as we both shall love.” The admonition of the counsellor when the husband told him “I don’t love her anymore,” was ‘Love her!’ The husband replied that the councillor did not understand, he did not love her. The counsellor replied “I understand only too well, your feelings of love have died, but we believe in a God of resurrection, and love is resurrected through the process of obedience. And you are called to love your wife as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her” (Ephesians 5:25). The point then, is that commitment is the vehicle that enables us to navigate the rough spots. It is the same in our relationship with God. The difference with our earthly relationships, is that He is never at fault, but that does not mean there will be no rough spots.

In fact, there are many things that trip us up (Mark 4:13-20). It is easy to be offended not only by what He allows, but also by what calls us to. Concerning being offended, we do not know the future. I have always wondered how I would react were I to loose a child. What I mean is that it is much easier to say that I am totally committed and will never be offended, than it is to be be that, the difficulty is in our walk matching our talk. This is one of the reasons why people hesitate to come to the Lord in the first place, they wonder if they will be able to live up to their commitment. But I cannot keep myself, all I can do is to commit as much as I know, and trust with Paul that “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). He is the One who gives grace to stand (Romans 5:2), we cannot do it without Him, I cannot. That is why I needed to get saved in the first place!

Concerning what He calls us to, He tells me “Take up your cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). The cross was and is, a symbol of suffering. He tells us “The servant is not grater than the master, if they persecuted me they will persecute you” (John 15:20). And what He calls us to can seem unreasonable, until we realize both the price he paid for our redemption, and our rescue from an eternal separation from God. In light of these things, as I have already said, the only reasonable thing is to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). He could of course, take us out of the world the moment we get saved, but we are the salt of the earth, the light the world, and He intends that our lives reflect His glory in this way to attract the lost to Himself. He works all things together for our good, and in doing so makes us more like Christ, and we become the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:28, 29).

Father, I cannot live the Christian life without You, without a whole truckload of help from You. Thank you Lord, that You are able to save us to the uttermost, that is completely and perfectly (Hebrews 7:25). Your Word tells me that You are a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). But I know Lord, that the safest place is close to the flame. Thank You that You can save, and You can keep. You give me the very breath I breathe, You are my saviour, my Lord, my shelter, my strong tower, my deliverer, my sustainer, the One who empowers me. You are my all in all, and I love You and I give You thanks and praise again this morning in Jesus Name Amen

Intimacy with God (XII) Still more on friendship with God

Continuing my quest to gain insight about intimacy with God from insight on the subject of human intimacy, I picked up the following quote from the internet “When we're experiencing healthy intimacy, we'll tend to feel accepted or accepting, known or more knowing, valued just as the people we are, not because we did something important or something that someone wanted…” And it struck me that for His part the Lord has already put in place everything that is needed here! So starting with acceptance He tells us that we are accepted in the Beloved (in Christ Ephesians 1:6), and also that “the Father … has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:12). So then if we do not feel accepted, the problem is with us, and likely is related to the lies we have believed. In which case we need to replace the lies with the truth, and tell ourselves that we are accepted in the Beloved. And we need to tell ourselves over and over until we believe it, and then tell ourselves because we believe it!

About being known and knowing, the Psalmist declares “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them, Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand" (Psalm 139:17,18). The omniscient all knowing God knows everything about us, the good the bad and the ugly and He loves us just the same. Concerning knowledge of our fascinating God, He desires that we seek and pursue Him with all that we are and have. As I have said before He hides for us, not from us, and we need to pray with Paul that He will give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1:17). When we seek Him with all our our hears, He delights to show Himself (Jeremiah 29:13). Bless His Holy name!

Concerning value, in monetary terms, the value a thing is precisely what someone is willing to pay for it. For you and I, we were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20), and the price that was paid was the sacrificial death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. At the store when I see a child in the shopping cart, I often ask the mother “How much is that one?” What I get back over and over is “Priceless.” But what has the child done to deserve this? Well it is not about what the child does or does not do, it is the fact that he or she is her child. And if a mother feels that way about her child, is it much of a stretch to believe that our Father feels the same way about you and I? No matter what the world may think of you, in His eyes you are priceless. As for me, when I am feeling rejected, I turn to Him and meditate on the fact that what He thinks about me trumps what you think about me every time!

Father, how precious indeed are Your thoughts towards me, and how affirming it is to bask in Your extravagant healing love, morning by morning as I come to You. And continuing Psalm 139:18 I know that “When I awake, I am still with You.” I know this for You have promised never to leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5). And I pray this morning Father, for all who are struggling to know and feel You in this way, and I want to affirm for them that You are far more willing to answer this prayer than they are to pray it. And I give You honour and glory and praise in Jesus Name Amen

Intimacy with God (XI) More on friendship with God

Since the marriage relationship is a primary analogy of our relationship with God (Ephesians 5:28-32), it seems appropriate to examine some of the components of what friendship in marriage looks like. Then of course we can apply them to our relationship with God. The marriage relationship can be healthy or unhealthy, descriptions of it range from dependence, independence, interdependence and codependence. Since the basis of Biblical teaching on these things starts with mutual submission (Ephesians 5:21), then the one that is the most healthy is interdependence. Interdependence can best be described as a relationship where each one chooses to surrender part of their independence for the sake of the health of the relationship, to choose, at some level, to depend on one another in love and honour.

There is a saying that seems relevant to our relationship with God. It is “Without God man cannot, without man God will not!” I like to think of this as God honouring and valuing our partnership so much, that unless and until we do our part in bringing His plans to pass, they will not happen! In particular, there are many things that happen, or don’t happen which can rightly be described as being outside of God’s perfect will. Of course since God is all-powerful and all-knowing, He could simply tweak things to make them right. But to switch analogies for a moment, like a loving father with his son, He comes alongside to encourage, to lead guide and direct. And He does not, like an impatient parent might, take things out of our hands in frustration fearing that we will mess up. I am not talking here about letting a child do something dangerous. But a wise parent knows that the child will likely learn more when he is not afraid of making mistakes. And this of course involves allowing him to make them at times!

In terms our relationship with God, the thing is that even when we mess up, He is able to redeem and restore our mistakes. And we will inevitably make mistakes because our hearing, and our obedience is not perfect! But when we do things His way, submitting our plans to Him in humility, we can trust in the proverb “ We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God’s purpose prevails” (Proverbs 19:21 MSG). Perhaps interdependence with God is not quite the right word, but words are inadequate, and I hope it’s clear what I’m trying to say. Perhaps a better way to describe this is as a loving, honouring, empowering partnership. But then again perhaps this is the best description of interdependence!

Father, there are two examples come to mind this morning. The first is Abraham's unsuccessful intercession for Sodom (Genesis 18:16- 33). The second is Moses' successful intercession for Israel, where You literally change Your mind because of his pleading (Exodus 32:7-14). This gives me such hope for my unsaved loved ones. You told the Philippian jailer that if he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, than both he and his household would be saved (Acts 16:31). Thank You Lord that my fervent prayers are powerful, because I am righteous in You (James 5:16), and so Lord I intercede again this morning for my loved ones trusting that You will indeed bring them to Yourself. And I give You all the honour and the glory again in Jesus Name Amen

Intimacy with God (X) Friends of God

In a society which increasingly confuses love and lust, we have substantially weakened the glue that is intended to hold romantic relationships together. In fact there are three different Greek words in the New Testament all translated “love” in English. The first is eros, or erotic love, the second phileo, or friendship love, and the third agape, God’s extravagant unconditional love. And when we engage in eros before it’s time (Ecclesiastes 3:5b), then the friendship love is stunted. Then when the passion of the eros love begins to fade, there is no friendship love to fall back on. And too often the relationship falls apart! This phenomena of the impatience of “I want what I want, and I want it now,” too easily carries over into our relationship with God. The Lord delights to give his children good gifts, but He withholds betimes either because we don’t ask, or because when we do ask , we ask to consume it on hedonistic pleasure, or as the King James version puts it our lusts (James 4:3).

In His private ministry to the eleven (after Judas had left John 13:30, 31), Jesus tells the disciples “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:13, 14). We should not take it lightly this offer, to be friends with the living God. There is no greater friend, and the benefits are great. In particular He is ready willing and able to share His plans and purposes with us (John 15:15), and we become co-labourers with God in the Kingdom (1 Corinthians 3:9). He also takes us deeper into His embrace, where we are intended to experience the warmth of his friendship love, as well as all the benefits of His agape love (Psalm 68:19).

And these things are a strong glue that cement our relationship with Him. Indeed He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), He honours us, He rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). I love the line in the song from Godfrey Birtill which describes His love “Like a bridegroom to his bride, Like a father to his precious child. And forever we belong together.” The chorus has the Lord singing to us “I say I think you're amazing, my love for you never changes, I say I think you’re amazing.” When we sing this I tell him “I received this Lord, and I think You are amazing too!”

Father, John declares “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God and so we are (1 John 3:1 NIV). We are Your children, we are Your friends, we are Your co-labourers. You have given us such significance Lord, there is no one like You, not even close. It’s amazing Lord to realize that the son of God loved me and gave His life for me, little old me (Galatians 2:10)! In You Lord there is freedom and peace, and significance and hope, and security and Grace, and intimacy and joy. Well in You Lord there is life! And I give you all the honour and glory again this morning Lord in Jesus Name Amen