People are not Easy to Love (no. 12)

“This Good News was entrusted to me; and I thank the one who has given me strength, the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, that he considered me trustworthy enough to put me in his service, even though I used to be a man who blasphemed and persecuted and was arrogant! But I received mercy because I had acted in unbelief, not understanding what I was doing. Our Lord’s grace overflowed to me with trust and love that come through the Messiah Yeshua. So here is a statement you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted: the Messiah came into the world to save sinners, and I’m the number one sinner! But this is precisely why I received mercy — so that in me, as the number one sinner, Yeshua the Messiah might demonstrate how very patient he is, as an example to those who would later come to trust in him and thereby have eternal life” (1 Timothy (1 Ti) 1:11-16). There are no lines with which I identify more than when scripture discusses how horrible I used to behave. I spent a great deal of my life in rebellion. BUT I knew exactly what I was doing back then. People are not easy to love because they don’t deserve grace.

I do not deserve grace. I don’t deserve mercy. I don’t deserve salvation. And neither do you. I did not earn the right to be His. There is nothing I did, nothing I can do, and nothing I will do that will ever make me deserving. And neither will you. I think that is a mental block that hinders many of us on our walk with Him. I wanted to somehow make it up to Him. I can’t. Nothing I do is ever going to make my life right. The only thing that makes my life righteous is Him.

And that isn’t only Good News, that is the best news. Once I came to terms with that concept, that there was nothing that made me worthy, then I could understand that not being special made me all the more special. It takes a lot of the ownership off of me to be perfect and do things right. And it places my trust in Him to make not only things right BUT to make me right too. And that is where my trust needs to lie. Not in what I can do BUT in what He does.

I commonly make the joke about things working out in life for His glory by saying, “It’s almost like He has a plan or something.” And when I place too much emphasis on my role in that plan, I take the emphasis off who’s plan it is and how important I really am to that plan. And the simple truth is I am not at all important to His plan. I get to be included in the plan because He wants me there. I don’t get included for any other reason. He loves me regardless.

Sometimes folks want to downplay His love. Folks want to point their fingers at sins and sinners and forget that God loves them. Folks want to focus on punishment rather than restorative justice. Folks want to limit the truly awesome scope of His love. He loves us regardless. He made me. He knows everything about me. And He still loves me. You can’t get any more unconditional.

As a teacher, I love my students BUT not as much as God loves me. As a child, I love my parents BUT not as much as God loves me. As a parent, I love my children BUT not as much as God loves me. God truly loves me despite all I have done to make a mess of everything. And He is always there to brush me off, pick me up, and set me right even though I don’t deserve any of His love.

Don’t tell me what love can do. I know what His love can do in life because I have seen and experienced that love. Sometimes people are not easy to love because they don’t deserve grace and mercy BUT none of that matters in comparison to His love.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH

People are not Easy to Love (no. 11)

“I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God’s mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please Him; it is the logical “Temple worship” for you. In other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards of the ‘olam hazeh’. Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what He wants is good, satisfying, and able to succeed” (Romans (Rom) 12:1-2 CJB). A problem that defies ages is the problem of conformity with the olam hazeh, the present world, rather than living apart for Him. Christians have been conforming when they were out of favor with the systems of the world, they continued to conform when they were in favor with the systems of the world, and they will continue to conform as the pendulum swings out of favor with the systems of the world again. People are not easy to love because they fight against becoming transformed.

God wants goodness, satisfaction, and success for our lives. Working in alignment with His Kingdom gives us those gifts. We can live a life of goodness for our family, our community, and His Kingdom. We can be satisfied and content in what He provides for our lives materially and spiritually. We can become successful in modeling His Way in this world as Ambassadors of His Kingdom. BUT all those gifts come from letting go of conformity with the world and being set apart for Him.

And that is the ongoing struggle that is readily obvious in the churches and outside the churches, conformity. Christians are fitting in more and more with the current culture. Christians are unrecognizable from the disciples and apostles of the early church. Christians became mainstream and evolved their structures to fit the systems of the world. And at what cost? Maybe the cost was suffering for what is right.

Peter wrote to the dispersed people living apart in His day, “For who will hurt you if you become zealots for what is good? But even if you do suffer for being righteous, you are blessed! Moreover, don’t fear what they fear or be disturbed, but treat the Messiah as holy, as Lord in your hearts; while remaining always ready to give a reasoned answer to anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you — yet with humility and fear, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are spoken against, those who abuse the good behavior flowing from your union with the Messiah may be put to shame. For if God has in fact willed that you should suffer, it is better that you suffer for doing what is good than for doing what is evil” (1 Kefa (1 Pe) 3:13-17 CJB). There is a lot of fear in conformity. When I started this journey over three years ago, it was fueled by fear. Fear is not a place to build a life, a family, or a community. So, that journey that started out of fear could not survive out of fear. My journey had to change away from fear of something and into love of something. BUT, too often, fear is the easiest emotion on which to latch and trust.

Turn on any news broadcast and you will find fear. Read any mainstream blog and you will find fear. Look around Christian media and you will find a lot of that same fear. Are we to be afraid? Are we to conform to the fear that pervades this world? I don’t see that anywhere in The Bible. I don’t feel fear in the promises of God. I don’t experience fear in His Spirit. BUT still that fear abounds and abides in the hearts of many within and without a church. “Moreover, don’t fear what they fear or be disturbed, but treat the Messiah as holy, as Lord in your hearts . . .”, yet we often are afraid of the same things as our secular colleagues. Is that a beacon of goodness, satisfaction, and success? Is it just more of the same? How can I be an example of His Kingdom when I am still conformed to the world?

Simply I can’t. I need to set my focus on His ability to eradicate fear. I didn’t get back into following Him to be afraid. I got back into Him because He takes away fear. He is enthroned. He is in charge. He rules. And if He doesn’t rule, then what is the point? Kenneth Wuest said, “Stop assuming an outward expression which is patterned after this world." And fear is a great way to show we aren’t any different than anyone else. When Jesus arrives on the scene and His good news journey begins, there is a lot of warning to not be afraid. Maybe we should take those warnings from the gospels and use them to help conform to a life without fear?

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH