synergy: the working together of two things, to produce an effect greater than each could produce by itself.
I love the book of James. I re-read the whole thing, today, for the who-knows-how-many time, and I cannot for the life of me see how some find James incompatible with the tapestry of grace found in the rest of the New Testament. James and Paul were not at odds. James and Paul didn't even "balance each other out". James and Paul, the book of James along with all other passages of New Covenant Scripture, work together incredibly harmoniously, and powerfully synergistically.
I don't worry so much about "balance" when I teach. In fact, you will almost never hear a perfectly "balanced" message, in person or in writing, from any preacher or teacher, regardless of how anointed or learned. To be "in balance" means two opposing weights (ideas, truths)more or less cancel each other out. No emphasis can be given to one side or the other - not and "be balanced". When you go for "balance", you will at some point encounter the Strain of the Artificial. (You also become quite critical...the tense sort of person who parses every word.) Anything alive is always moving around on you. Balance is a still-life painting. Synergy is art-in-motion.
The gospel isn't entirely balanced, but it is full of divine synergy. It isn't a letter, it is a spirit. The gospel can't be contained to a neat, intellectually equalized, logical, left brained package. It is both disturbing and comforting. It is living and powerful, full of concepts that, if taken separately, in some artificial effort towards balance, will cancel out effectiveness. But these same truths, if made alive in us, will work together to produce an effect much greater than the sum of their parts. No one illustrates this better than James.James 2: 17 ~ Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. {alone: Gr. by itself}Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Faith...real grace through faith...will, in time and over time, change us from the inside out. Not the outside in. The Message, in James, says it this way, "A seamless unity of believing and doing."
Synergy.
The believing part comes first, by the way. You nor I will ever live beyond what we truly believe. What we truly believe will be lived out.
You can believe what you like. As for me...I am washed. I am made clean. I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I have been bought with a price, and am of immense value to God, because of the sacrifice of His son.
If I hear the truth spoken loud enough and long enough, I just might believe it. Whatever I believe about who God is, will translate to what I believe about who I am. That sort of faith cannot help but be active, and the resultant activity cannot help but affirm and deepen what I have come to believe.
Synergy.
It all starts with the good news of the finished work of Christ. My life begins there, ends there, and will be sustained for all my days in between, by faith in that finished work.
Yeah...faith without works really IS dead.
Two Things We All Need
“Grace and Peace to you…”
Let the sheer volume of Paul’s grace-greetings to the various saints sink into your spirit:
1Co 1:3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Co 1:2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ga 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 6:24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
Php 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col 1:2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col 4:18 The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
1Th 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Ti 6:21 Grace be with thee. Amen.
2Ti 4:22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.
Tit 3:15 All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
Heb 13:25 Grace be with you all. Amen. Written to the Hebrews from Italy, by Timothy.
Friends, if you think for a moment that this was just another way for Paul to day, “Yo dude, how’ya doin’”….if you think it was just a nice little Christian-y way to say, “Hi”… you couldn’t be more wrong.
Paul blessed the saints with “grace” or “grace and peace” because this man knew grace and peace to be the crying need of the entire body of Christ, every soul in it.
I am not too proud to concur. Please read that last sentence, if you don’t mind, just once more: I am not too proud to agree. I need a deeper understanding of this grace by which I stand.
It began to be expressed in Eden. Eden was the heart of God for humanity. No sweat. No sin. No sorrow. Even after the Great Fall, we can still see glimpses of this massive, grace-heartbeat of God- as almost instantly, prophesies of a coming Redeemer were communicated to shamed Adamic mankind. Hope!
Then. Oh, then. New Covenant Moment! A light in the night sky! A party in the heavenlies! A heavenly host, appearing to common shepherds, praising God and bringing The Message: “Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace, goodwill to men!”
The message was too simple. It was a happy moment. Go figure. No words of impending judgment. No hint of any performance on our part. Just believe. The shepherds did just that…and it changed them forever. They became the first to hear the Good News.
The Bible says the law was given….but grace came.
Law = impersonal. Grace = person. One was given. One came, in person. And grace is still coming to all who will humble themselves enough to admit they can’t get enough, to all who will embrace the weakness of the cross – which is very simply to count our human effort as dung, in order to know Him, and understand the immense suffering (on the cross) He endured in order to make us the righteousness of God in Christ. Yes, I need to fellowship (get to know the real reason behind – become acquainted with the deeper issues of) with that sort of suffering – his wounds purchased my healing. I need to be conformed into His image, allowing grace to come to others through me.
Grace and peace to you, church. And if you think you don’t need it….if you think you already have a handle on it….you are the one who needs it more than most.
Let the sheer volume of Paul’s grace-greetings to the various saints sink into your spirit:
1Co 1:3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Co 1:2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ga 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 6:24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
Php 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col 1:2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col 4:18 The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
1Th 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Ti 6:21 Grace be with thee. Amen.
2Ti 4:22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.
Tit 3:15 All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
Heb 13:25 Grace be with you all. Amen. Written to the Hebrews from Italy, by Timothy.
Friends, if you think for a moment that this was just another way for Paul to day, “Yo dude, how’ya doin’”….if you think it was just a nice little Christian-y way to say, “Hi”… you couldn’t be more wrong.
Paul blessed the saints with “grace” or “grace and peace” because this man knew grace and peace to be the crying need of the entire body of Christ, every soul in it.
I am not too proud to concur. Please read that last sentence, if you don’t mind, just once more: I am not too proud to agree. I need a deeper understanding of this grace by which I stand.
It began to be expressed in Eden. Eden was the heart of God for humanity. No sweat. No sin. No sorrow. Even after the Great Fall, we can still see glimpses of this massive, grace-heartbeat of God- as almost instantly, prophesies of a coming Redeemer were communicated to shamed Adamic mankind. Hope!
Then. Oh, then. New Covenant Moment! A light in the night sky! A party in the heavenlies! A heavenly host, appearing to common shepherds, praising God and bringing The Message: “Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace, goodwill to men!”
The message was too simple. It was a happy moment. Go figure. No words of impending judgment. No hint of any performance on our part. Just believe. The shepherds did just that…and it changed them forever. They became the first to hear the Good News.
The Bible says the law was given….but grace came.
Law = impersonal. Grace = person. One was given. One came, in person. And grace is still coming to all who will humble themselves enough to admit they can’t get enough, to all who will embrace the weakness of the cross – which is very simply to count our human effort as dung, in order to know Him, and understand the immense suffering (on the cross) He endured in order to make us the righteousness of God in Christ. Yes, I need to fellowship (get to know the real reason behind – become acquainted with the deeper issues of) with that sort of suffering – his wounds purchased my healing. I need to be conformed into His image, allowing grace to come to others through me.
Grace and peace to you, church. And if you think you don’t need it….if you think you already have a handle on it….you are the one who needs it more than most.
Good Words from Other Places ~
http://churchwhisperer.com/2009/02/19/earning-the-privilege-of-healing-each-other
Earning the Privilege of Healing Each Other
19 02 2009
“…speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” Ephesians 4:15
I was maybe 9 or 10 years old. I was at church (Dad was a pastor…I was ALWAYS at church), playing with a friend out on the church playground. It had rained, so there was plenty of opportunity for slipping and sliding. One of us had the brilliant idea of using the slippery circumstances to stand up on the slide and “surf” down it. The “brilliance” of the idea, however, was soon overshadowed by the sharp pain on the back of my head after it hit the slide on my way down. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it had to be bad by the way everyone kept reacting to it, and by the way my parents threw me into the back seat of the car and sped off to the hospital.
This was a day I would face yet another fear on my long list of childhood phobias. This was a fear near the top of the list, one I had carefully and gratefully avoided until now: stitches. I can still remember the word coming out of the doctor’s mouth…He was almost apologetic about it, and yet he was certain. I wanted to ask, “Are you sure?” But I could see it in his eyes. There would be no getting out of this. I knew it was inevitable. So I mustered up all the trust I could find and I put myself in his trained and skillful hands. Mind you, I didn’t really have a choice, so “bravery” or “courage” probably are not the right words to describe it. But I did it. I faced my fear by trusting in someone else.
Pain does funny things to us. It makes us see things unclearly, it makes us recall things incorrectly, but one of the most troublesome results of pain is our unwillingness to trust anyone. When I am in pain, I just do not want to let you close, because I don’t know that I can trust you. That is a problem, because often the healing process requires that I trust someone; it requires that I let down my guard and permit someone to administer the healing mechanism. For physical injuries, that may be stitches, or medicine, or setting a broken bone. But for emotional or Spiritual injuries, it usually means a healthy dose of truth. And truth, it seems, can be the most painful of medicines.
When you are called upon to administer truth into my life, when you must speak the truth in love to me, you must first remove all doubts in my mind about your motives. You must convince me that you have my best interests at heart. You must create an environment where I feel safe and where I am willing to allow you to administer painful medicine. If you do not accomplish this first and foremost, you simply cannot speak truth in love to me, because I cannot hear it.
Speaking the truth in love requires a relationship between us. It doesn’t have to be longstanding (the doctor who gave me my stitches had never seen me before), but it must be a relationship in which I trust your motives. Without that, you are not much help to me.
Have you learned to forge those kinds of relationships? Are there plenty of people in your life who trust you enough to hear the truth from you? This, I believe, is the work of the church. This is where we spend our time and our resources: relationships of accountability, relationships built on unconditional love. Because the injuries are sure to come. That is a given. The question is, when they come are the relationships in place to bring healing?
© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com
Earning the Privilege of Healing Each Other
19 02 2009
“…speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” Ephesians 4:15
I was maybe 9 or 10 years old. I was at church (Dad was a pastor…I was ALWAYS at church), playing with a friend out on the church playground. It had rained, so there was plenty of opportunity for slipping and sliding. One of us had the brilliant idea of using the slippery circumstances to stand up on the slide and “surf” down it. The “brilliance” of the idea, however, was soon overshadowed by the sharp pain on the back of my head after it hit the slide on my way down. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it had to be bad by the way everyone kept reacting to it, and by the way my parents threw me into the back seat of the car and sped off to the hospital.
This was a day I would face yet another fear on my long list of childhood phobias. This was a fear near the top of the list, one I had carefully and gratefully avoided until now: stitches. I can still remember the word coming out of the doctor’s mouth…He was almost apologetic about it, and yet he was certain. I wanted to ask, “Are you sure?” But I could see it in his eyes. There would be no getting out of this. I knew it was inevitable. So I mustered up all the trust I could find and I put myself in his trained and skillful hands. Mind you, I didn’t really have a choice, so “bravery” or “courage” probably are not the right words to describe it. But I did it. I faced my fear by trusting in someone else.
Pain does funny things to us. It makes us see things unclearly, it makes us recall things incorrectly, but one of the most troublesome results of pain is our unwillingness to trust anyone. When I am in pain, I just do not want to let you close, because I don’t know that I can trust you. That is a problem, because often the healing process requires that I trust someone; it requires that I let down my guard and permit someone to administer the healing mechanism. For physical injuries, that may be stitches, or medicine, or setting a broken bone. But for emotional or Spiritual injuries, it usually means a healthy dose of truth. And truth, it seems, can be the most painful of medicines.
When you are called upon to administer truth into my life, when you must speak the truth in love to me, you must first remove all doubts in my mind about your motives. You must convince me that you have my best interests at heart. You must create an environment where I feel safe and where I am willing to allow you to administer painful medicine. If you do not accomplish this first and foremost, you simply cannot speak truth in love to me, because I cannot hear it.
Speaking the truth in love requires a relationship between us. It doesn’t have to be longstanding (the doctor who gave me my stitches had never seen me before), but it must be a relationship in which I trust your motives. Without that, you are not much help to me.
Have you learned to forge those kinds of relationships? Are there plenty of people in your life who trust you enough to hear the truth from you? This, I believe, is the work of the church. This is where we spend our time and our resources: relationships of accountability, relationships built on unconditional love. Because the injuries are sure to come. That is a given. The question is, when they come are the relationships in place to bring healing?
© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com
The Dangerous Delight of God
I call it "dangerous" delight, because as soon as anyone begins to understand God's delight in His children, and then apply that understanding personally, both to themselves, and their relationships....eyebrows begin to raise. As freeing and exciting as the revelation is, as soon as you or I begin to take what we see of the love of God and believe it and walk in it, some will suddenly become concerned about "balance".
I can see why that is. After all, the love of God is a very UNbalanced force. It took the scales of justice, and balanced them, once and for all, in the person of Jesus Christ. No effort on my behalf, except to believe, was expended. But then, in addition to God taking upon Himself the task of my justification, He chose to heap my side of those then-balanced scales with blessing upon blessing, according to John 1: And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
My friends...those scales are now entirely, gloriously unbalanced. If it makes me unbalanced to believe it, then I'll gladly be a bit off-kilter. Crazy-good news tends to do that to people - it makes them laugh and sing and dance and hug their grumpy neighbor.
This unbalanced message of a God who loved us while we were yet sinners, who no longer counts the sins of the believer against them, (all sins - past, present, and future), this message of a God who "rejoices over us with joy" (which, by the way, is "joy squared." Joy times joy. Dangerous delight.)...this message is the gospel message. This is the message we are to continue in, every day. This is the message that will lead you to repentence. It is what you will find in God's word, from Genesis to Revelation - some form of this message is to be discovered.
The love of God for you and I (our sons and our daughters, our friends and our brethren) is not an angsting love. It is not a worried love. It is a love that is best thought of as delight. The Lord rests in His love. He knows that He has saved us to the uttermost...we who come to God through the prescribed door of Jesus Christ. Do we know we are utterly saved? Do we live, thus loved?
Zep 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
I can see why that is. After all, the love of God is a very UNbalanced force. It took the scales of justice, and balanced them, once and for all, in the person of Jesus Christ. No effort on my behalf, except to believe, was expended. But then, in addition to God taking upon Himself the task of my justification, He chose to heap my side of those then-balanced scales with blessing upon blessing, according to John 1: And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
My friends...those scales are now entirely, gloriously unbalanced. If it makes me unbalanced to believe it, then I'll gladly be a bit off-kilter. Crazy-good news tends to do that to people - it makes them laugh and sing and dance and hug their grumpy neighbor.
This unbalanced message of a God who loved us while we were yet sinners, who no longer counts the sins of the believer against them, (all sins - past, present, and future), this message of a God who "rejoices over us with joy" (which, by the way, is "joy squared." Joy times joy. Dangerous delight.)...this message is the gospel message. This is the message we are to continue in, every day. This is the message that will lead you to repentence. It is what you will find in God's word, from Genesis to Revelation - some form of this message is to be discovered.
The love of God for you and I (our sons and our daughters, our friends and our brethren) is not an angsting love. It is not a worried love. It is a love that is best thought of as delight. The Lord rests in His love. He knows that He has saved us to the uttermost...we who come to God through the prescribed door of Jesus Christ. Do we know we are utterly saved? Do we live, thus loved?
Zep 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Re-opening the Wells of Grace
Isaac, child of promise, re-opened the wells (the good things of God) dug by the generation gone before:
For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. Ge. 26: 17,18
Oh, this grace-thing, this message, is not some latest discovery. It is the greatest, but it is not the latest; nor is it a fad, nor is anyone preaching any new message. These wells have been dug before, by our fathers in the faith. We, in this generation, are re-opening the wells. Hear the words of a message preached by George Whitfield, in the 1700's!
The Lord, the Lord Christ, the everlasting God, is your righteousness. Christ has justified you, who is he that condemneth you? Christ has died for you, nay rather is risen again, and ever liveth to make intercession for you. Being now justified by his grace, you have peace with God, and shall, ere long, be with Jesus in glory, reaping everlasting and unspeakable fruits both in body and soul. For there is no condemnation to those that are really in Christ Jesus. Whether Paul or Apollos, or life or death, all is yours if you are Christ's, for Christ is God's.
My brethren, my heart is enlarged towards you! O think of the love of Christ in dying for you! If the Lord be your righteousness, let the righteousness of your Lord be continually in your mouth. Talk of, O talk of, and recommend the righteousness of Christ, when you lie down, and when you rise up, at your going out and coming in! Think of the greatness of the gift, as well as the giver! Show to all the world, in whom you have believed! Let all by your fruits know, that the Lord is your righteousness, and that you are waiting for your Lord from heaven!
To all this, we at Harvest Church say, "Spring Up, Oh Well!"
For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. Ge. 26: 17,18
Oh, this grace-thing, this message, is not some latest discovery. It is the greatest, but it is not the latest; nor is it a fad, nor is anyone preaching any new message. These wells have been dug before, by our fathers in the faith. We, in this generation, are re-opening the wells. Hear the words of a message preached by George Whitfield, in the 1700's!
The Lord, the Lord Christ, the everlasting God, is your righteousness. Christ has justified you, who is he that condemneth you? Christ has died for you, nay rather is risen again, and ever liveth to make intercession for you. Being now justified by his grace, you have peace with God, and shall, ere long, be with Jesus in glory, reaping everlasting and unspeakable fruits both in body and soul. For there is no condemnation to those that are really in Christ Jesus. Whether Paul or Apollos, or life or death, all is yours if you are Christ's, for Christ is God's.
My brethren, my heart is enlarged towards you! O think of the love of Christ in dying for you! If the Lord be your righteousness, let the righteousness of your Lord be continually in your mouth. Talk of, O talk of, and recommend the righteousness of Christ, when you lie down, and when you rise up, at your going out and coming in! Think of the greatness of the gift, as well as the giver! Show to all the world, in whom you have believed! Let all by your fruits know, that the Lord is your righteousness, and that you are waiting for your Lord from heaven!
To all this, we at Harvest Church say, "Spring Up, Oh Well!"
Squirrels and Grace
One day, a few years back, I took my customary walk. My walk is my treat to myself. I walk for exercise, but I also walk to get time to think my own thoughts. As this walk was underway, and the sweat began pouring (always the best, most productive part of exercise - every relaxation chemical your body makes, begins to flow when you exercise to the point of a light sweat) I realized I was enjoying the Lord and this day more than usual. I had been fighting some pain and sickness, and so did not expect this walk to feel that great. I began to contemplate the promises of God, to praise Him, to adore my heavenly Dad.
Suddenly, a pile of dead leaves rustled to my left, and I saw the very tip of a gray bushy tail disappear under them. I stopped on a dime, and stood, catching my breath, and watching this. I had never seen a squirrel tunnel under leaves before. He scurried along in a straight line, a moving lump under the leaf pile. It was hilariously cartoon-ish. He was headed straight for me, and I nearly laughed out loud at the mental picture, if he were to bump right on into me.
POP! Up came his little head and arms and chest. He was holding a small berry, and he was now so close to me I could have stooped down to touch him. No lie. Oh, his tiny chest was so silvery white, and his eyes so bright! He was just about the cutest thing I ever saw. He looked right up at me, munching away on his berry. He seemed to think he was safe, for the moment. I made little noises to him, and he calmly looked me in the eyes, and ate and ate. I do not know, honestly, how long I just stood there with him.
I was in love. I was overwhelmed with the desire to pet this squirrel. Foolishness, I know. I reached up to wipe the sweat from my brow, and still he was not afraid. I actually began to wonder if he was someone's escaped pet. I squatted down slowly, to get a better perspective, and marveled at the fact that still - he did not run away! I was painfully, delightfully close to him. I began to believe he might let me touch him.
Then, some nameless fear gripped him, and he ran off and up the nearby tree.
In that moment, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind the Scripture, "All of creation groans and waits for the manifestation of the sons of God." The air around me seemed infused with a certain sweetness as the presence of the Lord flooded my heart. I don't know if I can put into words the "squirrel metaphor", but I will try.
That garden of Eden in Genesis was God's heart - His desire - for us. (You could have pet a fuzzy squirrel in Eden!) All creation fell when Adam fell - we lost our Eden. And just as every human being has that "God-shaped vacuum", that hole in our heart that only the love of God can fill, many animals also might long, in some way, to be cared for and protected by this higher creation called "man". But most will never experience it. (No, I'm not an animal rights person - this is going somewhere MUCH better than that...)
That squirrel was under a curse - the curse of Adam. That very curse was the "nameless fear" that gripped him, even when just inches away from someone who loved him. I realized, that day, that tiny squirrel would live its whole short life and die, never once knowing how he was an object of my delight. He would die, never knowing how good a gentle petting feels, never tasting the amazing things I could have fed the little guy, had he only hopped into my arms and come home with me.
I was sad. I felt downright stupid to be sad, but I was. There. I said it.
But don't you know? (deal with it- you knew this was coming...) We are that squirrel. We draw so close to God, maybe closer than we ever have before. Our faith increases, and He is so near! But one "move" on His part that we are not familiar with or comfortable with sends us scurrying to our tree, questioning His motives. We too have a "nameless fear" when it comes to God. Some people actually live and die never knowing they were objects of His delight. They never know His gentle touch, and have never been fed from His hand those delicious things like "the finest of the wheat", and "honey from the rock".
Not me. Never let that be me! I told Abba Dad that if no one else from Adam till that point had ever truly believed that He is good, I was going to believe it. If no one else in history had ever taken the promises of God, and simply trusted Him, I would. I was "having a moment", you see. But even one step in the right direction is better than going backwards. I am not at all ashamed of having spoken that way to God. I think He was smiling.
I told Him that I wanted His touch - believed in His love - would trust in His tender care - would never run away. I confessed that I had been redeemed from the curse, from every named and nameless insecurity that tempts me to distance myself from God. I said I'd been redeemed even in my faith: I would choose to believe Him, not my circumstances.
I had to say it. I had to remind myself of In Whom I Have Believed, because this world and the circumstances it generates, exactly like that squirrel, is in a cursed state. None of it will ever line up with God's heart unless and until a child of God comes and in childlike faith, begins to take dominion. Churches won't get built. Some orphans won't get fed. Habitations of cruelty will continue in cruelty. The gospel won't get preached - not without a child of God, believing God.
I decided I was going to take some dominion (which again, means simply to believe God) and jump right into His hands, and find out what He wanted to do with me and for me. After all. His eyes are always friendly, so full of love, and He is so close already, anyway. Why not throw caution to the wind?
I decided that if no one else had ever made that final leap.....I would.
Suddenly, a pile of dead leaves rustled to my left, and I saw the very tip of a gray bushy tail disappear under them. I stopped on a dime, and stood, catching my breath, and watching this. I had never seen a squirrel tunnel under leaves before. He scurried along in a straight line, a moving lump under the leaf pile. It was hilariously cartoon-ish. He was headed straight for me, and I nearly laughed out loud at the mental picture, if he were to bump right on into me.
POP! Up came his little head and arms and chest. He was holding a small berry, and he was now so close to me I could have stooped down to touch him. No lie. Oh, his tiny chest was so silvery white, and his eyes so bright! He was just about the cutest thing I ever saw. He looked right up at me, munching away on his berry. He seemed to think he was safe, for the moment. I made little noises to him, and he calmly looked me in the eyes, and ate and ate. I do not know, honestly, how long I just stood there with him.
I was in love. I was overwhelmed with the desire to pet this squirrel. Foolishness, I know. I reached up to wipe the sweat from my brow, and still he was not afraid. I actually began to wonder if he was someone's escaped pet. I squatted down slowly, to get a better perspective, and marveled at the fact that still - he did not run away! I was painfully, delightfully close to him. I began to believe he might let me touch him.
Then, some nameless fear gripped him, and he ran off and up the nearby tree.
In that moment, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind the Scripture, "All of creation groans and waits for the manifestation of the sons of God." The air around me seemed infused with a certain sweetness as the presence of the Lord flooded my heart. I don't know if I can put into words the "squirrel metaphor", but I will try.
That garden of Eden in Genesis was God's heart - His desire - for us. (You could have pet a fuzzy squirrel in Eden!) All creation fell when Adam fell - we lost our Eden. And just as every human being has that "God-shaped vacuum", that hole in our heart that only the love of God can fill, many animals also might long, in some way, to be cared for and protected by this higher creation called "man". But most will never experience it. (No, I'm not an animal rights person - this is going somewhere MUCH better than that...)
That squirrel was under a curse - the curse of Adam. That very curse was the "nameless fear" that gripped him, even when just inches away from someone who loved him. I realized, that day, that tiny squirrel would live its whole short life and die, never once knowing how he was an object of my delight. He would die, never knowing how good a gentle petting feels, never tasting the amazing things I could have fed the little guy, had he only hopped into my arms and come home with me.
I was sad. I felt downright stupid to be sad, but I was. There. I said it.
But don't you know? (deal with it- you knew this was coming...) We are that squirrel. We draw so close to God, maybe closer than we ever have before. Our faith increases, and He is so near! But one "move" on His part that we are not familiar with or comfortable with sends us scurrying to our tree, questioning His motives. We too have a "nameless fear" when it comes to God. Some people actually live and die never knowing they were objects of His delight. They never know His gentle touch, and have never been fed from His hand those delicious things like "the finest of the wheat", and "honey from the rock".
Not me. Never let that be me! I told Abba Dad that if no one else from Adam till that point had ever truly believed that He is good, I was going to believe it. If no one else in history had ever taken the promises of God, and simply trusted Him, I would. I was "having a moment", you see. But even one step in the right direction is better than going backwards. I am not at all ashamed of having spoken that way to God. I think He was smiling.
I told Him that I wanted His touch - believed in His love - would trust in His tender care - would never run away. I confessed that I had been redeemed from the curse, from every named and nameless insecurity that tempts me to distance myself from God. I said I'd been redeemed even in my faith: I would choose to believe Him, not my circumstances.
I had to say it. I had to remind myself of In Whom I Have Believed, because this world and the circumstances it generates, exactly like that squirrel, is in a cursed state. None of it will ever line up with God's heart unless and until a child of God comes and in childlike faith, begins to take dominion. Churches won't get built. Some orphans won't get fed. Habitations of cruelty will continue in cruelty. The gospel won't get preached - not without a child of God, believing God.
I decided I was going to take some dominion (which again, means simply to believe God) and jump right into His hands, and find out what He wanted to do with me and for me. After all. His eyes are always friendly, so full of love, and He is so close already, anyway. Why not throw caution to the wind?
I decided that if no one else had ever made that final leap.....I would.
Puppies, Cookies, and Grace
I've heard some incredible teachers and preachers in my (short...ahem) time on this planet. I've heard them use majestic metaphor and substantive simile. I love the depth that has been illustrated for me, time and again, by solid thinkers in The Faith - some are well-known, some, like my own husband, little-known.
Try as I may, my mind won't work majestically. I sigh and I try, and therein lies the problem. When I tune into my life as it really is, in all its quotidian acedia (oh, do look the words up - they are delicious to say, but bitter to live) the revelation of grace can come honestly. Like the revelations to be found in puppies and cookies.
It is no secret that I adore my puppy. He is a teacup poodle named Rambo, and he is aptly named. Just you try to touch me or especially my husband, when we are holding our 2 pounds of fuzzy furry...the itty bitty silver bullet....the Rambo Beenie. He will snarl and lunge like a warrior-rottweiler.
In fact, my puppy sometimes acts appallingly, and I still smile. I delight in this little dog no matter what. Not long ago, I examined this anomaly. You see, I am known to be ever-working to improve myself, and therefore take unbridled delight in only a few things. But I take disturbing delight in my poodle...everyone finds it disturbing, because his misbehavior has no affect on me whatsoever.
I decided this is because I have no fear for this animal's future. God bless all those who believe that puppies have eternal souls: I do not. Therefore, no amount of spoiling on my part will send Rambo's soul to the Lake of Fire. In essence, this dog is "eternally secure", in that his future is fully known to me: he will live in the lap of luxury and love, and one day die. That will be that (and yes, I will grieve terribly). Nothing in terms of Rambo's ultimate destiny is up in the air. He can't misbehave his way into Canine Judgement. He can't bite hard enough to hurt a toddler.
I am utterly free to delight in my dog.
It was then, when I stopped to consider these majestic metaphors, that I realized: the Lord delights in me! He knows the plans He has for me. He has forever settled my ultimate destiny. No amount of "misbehavior" on my part can shake Him from His love for me, in Christ Jesus. Far from being antinomianism, (and unlike Rambo) this kind of good news actually makes me want to "heel" - to follow close by my Owner's side forever.
Poodles and antinomianism and eternal security aside (after all, a mind can only take so much splendor) I also began to wonder why baking cookies for the kids wasn't so much fun anymore. In fact, I was just pondering this tonight. Used to be, a batch of cookies was a day-maker. Making a couple of sheets of home made chocolate chip cookies had the potential to bring inner healing to four children who, on some days, were fraught with naughtiness and discord.
Ah, but now they are All Grown Up. They are adults, three of them, with jobs and net spendable income. They can buy these treats for themselves, anytime they want. They can work for them.
As it is with the free Gift of Grace. It is precisely when we think we have matured our way "past" it, that the gift begins to lose its luster. The fun is taken right out of living in it. The truth that used to make our day and heal our hurts, now is something we can earn for ourselves. If we can get it for ourselves, it must be pretty common and obtainable. When God offers it to us, His grace is reduced (in our minds) to merely The Nice Gesture. A Nice Gesture is entirely unable to change us.
Hear me - hear me well! Don't rob God and yourself of the delight and fragrance that should characterize piping hot, fresh from the heart of God, sweet grace. You will never be able to work for it, you cannot obtain it on your own, all ideas of any righteousness of your own are a dangerous illusion.
This is where the metaphor breaks down, as it isn't dangerous at all for my children to make their own cookies. See why I sigh? My metaphors just aren't majestic enough.
Oh well. It is what it is. Puppies and cookies and grace.
LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me...
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