Embrace the Within no. 94

“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”

Tim Keller

To know love is to know God. To not know love is to not know God. It sounds really simple BUT there are a lot of simple answers to how complicated I pretend life is. I make things a lot more complicated than they ever need be.

I have spent the last few years working on simplification. I am doing this because the less distractions I have, then the less I have to turn my attention from what is important. I can get myself so busy and so worried about so many things. I can divert my attention to so many distractions and diversions. Or I can choose to simplify and find the solutions in simplicity.

God answers really simple solutions. Solutions so simple that the way of the world finds them foolish. And that is the point of the Way of the Lord. His Way looks foolish to their way. When I was in that way, all the simplest answers seemed ignorant and foolish too. I thought things had to be complicated and involve so many steps. BUT, I have learned that the simplest steps in accepting Christ and following His Commandments, as simple as they are, are extremely difficult. Those two basic commandments of loving God and my neighbor seem so basic and simple BUT are quite often a daily struggle. If I love God, then I need to follow His rules. If I love God, then I need to love my neighbor. Both sound so simple until we step outside.

I see so many broken people and broken lives in my walk. I am sure you see them as well. They have an incomplete understanding of love and you just want them to know how complete that feeling can become. And knowing that all it takes is simple obedience. All it takes is to simply SHEMA to what He says. To really listen and act on what He says.

BUT, I used to think I had better answers. I used to think I was going to bend this world into my image. I was going to make a better world. BUT the perfect world is out there and I just didn’t see it. And a lot of us still don’t see the simplicity of our walk with Him. Two simple commands that take an eternity to embrace.

“My sonne, forget not thou my Lawe, but let thine heart keepe my commandements. For they shall increase the length of thy dayes and the yeeres of life, and thy prosperitie. Let not mercie and trueth forsake thee: binde them on thy necke, and write them vpon the table of thine heart. So shalt thou finde fauour and good vnderstanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and leane not vnto thine owne wisdome. In all thy wayes acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy wayes. Be not wise in thine owne eyes: but feare the Lord, and depart from euill. So health shalbe vnto thy nauel, and marowe vnto thy bones.”

Proverbs 3:1-8 GNV

Shavua tov. Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of YHWH is now. Be a blessing to YHWH and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #NoKingButChrist #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows

Embrace the Within no. 93

“My sonne, forget not thou my Lawe, but let thine heart keepe my commandements. For they shall increase the length of thy dayes and the yeeres of life, and thy prosperitie. Let not mercie and trueth forsake thee: binde them on thy necke, and write them vpon the table of thine heart. So shalt thou finde fauour and good vnderstanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and leane not vnto thine owne wisdome. In all thy wayes acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy wayes. Be not wise in thine owne eyes: but feare the Lord, and depart from euill. So health shalbe vnto thy nauel, and marowe vnto thy bones.”

Proverbs 3:1-8 GNV

This week I took some time off my routine. I ate a lot of things that I normally don’t at a lot of different times than I normally do. I didn’t work out all week. And my weight remained about the same. I gained a little bit BUT nothing drastic changed.

I could foolishly extrapolate this brief study to mean that if I continued down this path of going backward in my routine, then all would be well with me physically. I could then postulate that all the changes I made mentally and spiritually don’t really matter either. I could fall back into those mindsets and beliefs and I would be fine. I could trust in my own limited understanding, my own verifiable proof from this week that none of this matters. I will be fine. I was fine this week. Why should that change?

Well, of course it changes. Small changes may not change my health this week BUT they will in the future. Small changes don’t seem like a big deal BUT they are. Small choices are the ones that make the biggest differences. And little choices, little changes, are all we really need to make lasting change.

“There is no feare in loue, but perfect loue casteth out feare: for feare hath painefulnesse: and he that feareth, is not perfect in loue.”

1 John 4:18 GNV

I used to rely a lot on my own understanding because I thought I was important. I thought I had to understand things in order to do them. And over the past few years, I have learned that my understanding of something does not change that thing. I can try all I like to understand many things in life without changing their certainty and truth.

And understanding God is no different. I used to think that I had to understand God in order to follow His Commandments. I had to be able to figure out why God did the things that He did. And I find that old mindset laughable today. That I thought I could figure out what God was doing was not only laughable BUT presumptuous.

How was I going to know or understand the mind of God? BUT I still wanted to wrestle with all that. I wanted to understand why God did what He did. I thought that, somehow, understanding Him was somehow going to give me some magic insight. I have patiently learned that understanding is not a prerequisite for following.

I just need to trust in Him and follow His Commandments. By doing that, by following in love, I will get to better understand Him. Just as Christ followed with a servant's heart and unquestioningly did as He was commanded, so must I.

My understanding of God is not going to make His Truth any more or less real. My understanding of God is not going to make His Law any more or less law. My understanding of God is not going to make my responsibility to Him change at all. My understanding of God is not going to change my relationship with Him at all.

“And we haue knowen, and beleeued ye loue that God hath in vs. God is loue, and he that dwelleth in loue, dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

1 John 4:16 GNV

BUT, relying on Him over my own understanding is what allows me to understand Him more. Only in the service of loving my God and my neighbor can I understand the relationship He wants me to have with Him and His image bearers. How can I love God if I don’t listen to His Law? How can I follow God if I do what I think is best? How can I follow God if I think His Law is old and outdated? How can I follow God if I don’t understand that His Law and He is the same always?

So I will write His Torah on my heart and on my mind. And I will love my God with all that is me. All my heart, all my being, all my might, is what He wants.

Shavua tov. Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of YHWH is now. Be a blessing to YHWH and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #NoKingButChrist #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows