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Posts Tagged ‘God’

The Gift that Scales

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

In telecommunications or engineering, scalability is a desirable property of a system, a network, or a process, which indicates its ability to either handle growing amounts of work in a graceful manner or to be readily enlarged. [wikipedia]

Romans 5:15
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Grace is scalable. Forgiveness is scalable. The Christ [anointing] is scalable.

For me, this is the point that God is driving home into my soul. There is no sin that cannot be covered by Gift. There is no mistake that cannot be redeemed in some way by Christ. There is no heart that cannot be softened or broken open.

The silly part of me just watched a YouTube video from Annie Get Your Gun and the song, “Anything You Can Do.” The Gift is the same way, ready to step up and “do anything better” than sin. Grace abounds [Romans 5:20].

I struggle so much with “condemnation,” a voice that is constantly reminding me how I fall short, how I sin, how I judge others, how I fail. But today, the message of Romans 5, though layered in hundreds of words, is the lifeline: the gift scales and overcomes my sin. There is nothing I can do that grace can’t do better.

This is not given to encourage bad behavior but to build confidence in the grace of God. As I participate in the dance of grace, letting go of sin through confession, there is room for other things, other thoughts, other behaviors.

As long as I continue to covet the things and abilities of others, I cannot appreciate what I already have. As long as I judge another, I cannot see their sacred heart. As long as I gossip, I cannot hear the still small voice of God.

I open my hands to your gift this day.

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Road to Hope

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2010| 2 Comments »

I actually selected this verse on suffering and hope yesterday but couldn’t bring myself to write about it. I don’t go easily into the realm of suffering and pain.

Romans 5:3b-4
. . . we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

I suppose I’m doing better. For years, my mantra was “avoid pain at all cost!” And as a result, I would run away from challenges and opportunities. I was afraid. Primarily, it was emotional pain that kept kept nipping at my trail, trauma from my past. I suspected, if I acknowledged the pain in any way, I would be overwhelmed. At one point, I though my body would explode. I had pushed down so much sorrow, disappointment, resentment, and fear, that the pressure on my soul was severe; it was like a geyser preparing to erupt. That’s chaos. It is not the road to hope.

What is suffering then? We recognize it most easily by example. Surely, the people of Haiti are suffering after the great earthquake. So many have lost everything including loved ones. They are sick, malnourished, exposed to the elements, and grieving all at the same time. And yet, we also know, that recovery from such a horrendous ordeal, can only be done through perseverance and hope.

Perseverance is the human piece of the equation. To get to hope, we must choose to press on. As soon as we decide that we will not give up, then hope can find purchase in the soul.

This is the story of Haiti as well. How else could a young woman survive beneath the rubble for 15 days and come out alive.

Hope, by its very nature, is hope in God to intervene. Since hope is about the unseen, the future, the unknown, only God operates freely there.

Why does God allow so much suffering? I don’t know. It’s a mystery. But God has provided a way out of suffering, step by step. Every time a person can make a choice toward healing, perseverance grows in strength. And as perseverance grows, that person’s character is formed and built on the backbone of faith.

In the past two years, two of my colleagues from work have died of colon cancer. Both walked the journey of suffering and although they died, their struggle was a testimony to the survivors who saw perseverance and character and hope never falter. They are the heroes. They are my teachers.

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Peace with God

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Why is peace so elusive? Positionally, I should be good. And I certainly have faith in God. But peace of heart and mind eludes me more often than not.

Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ . . .

What challenges my peace? I think it’s my over committed mind. I fill my days with so much activity, how can I expect to experience peace with God? I’m so good at “doing” while I’m terrible at “not doing.” I mean purposefully choosing to be quiet, to be still, to commune with the Holy Spirit.

I used to go away for a long weekend to All Saints Convent, just to be still. But I confess, the first day, I usually slept most of the time. My mind tends to be like a light switch: on or off. And when it’s off, I crash.

Oh I know that “peace with God” is not just being still. It has to do with relationship. That I am not in an adversarial relationship with God because of my faith in Jesus who opened the door to the inner sanctuary. But, all the same, how often do I really walk deeply into that sanctuary?

Having access to a place is one thing but actually using the ticket to go in is another.

It’s like going to the health club … or rather, not going. I paid the money up front and I was given cart blanche to use the facilities anytime. And I started out great but eventually, I lost my momentum. Other new activities take away my time. And soon, I’ve disconnected from both the routine and the desire to go.

Theoretical “peace with God” is useless. It’s experiential “peace with God” that can enhance my daily life. Oh heart, seek peace and dwell there.

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There is only one God

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 29, 2010| 3 Comments »

I love this. God is God: there is only one God. And it doesn’t really matter what name is given to God or whether one believes “in” God or not, God is still God, in fact, the God of all gods. My faith in God does not change God, it only changes me.

Romans 3:29-30
Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome . . . [Deuteronomy 10:17]

Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. [Psalm 136:2]

The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings . . . ” [Daniel 2:47]

So, here’s this God of all gods willing, able and ready to accept the faith of the people, all people. When anyone puts his/her faith in God, a way is opened toward justification, toward relationship.

Jesus says in John 14:6 that “he is the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me.” and I believe him. The promise is that relationship with Jesus opens the door to relationship with God as Father.

But, it rankles most non-Christians and non-believers that Jesus would claim to be the “only way” to God (both then and now). Even I am uncomfortable with this strict “way.” So, what is there to say?

Jesus is a sure thing. If a person wants to know God, to experience God, to be in relationship with God, then follow the way of Jesus and you will find what you seek. It is a promise. And I can testify to the truth of it. I was lost and through Jesus, I found my way.

But I will give an additional interpretation: Since God is God of all… then who am I to say that Jesus does not manifest alternatively to others? Said differently, if a person truly seeks God, then I believe that person will also find Jesus on the way. But it is more difficult.

The way of Jesus is easier, more direct. It is not burdensome. And in it, there is freedom.

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Presenting Justice

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Justice has gotten pretty fuzzy in our current culture. How often do the guilty go free if they simply have a good lawyer? How can we expect a modern world to connect to the concept of God’s justice and actually appreciate true mercy and atonement?

Romans 3:25
God presented him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, . . . to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished . . .

Even in Bible times, the Apostle Paul spent a lot of his time convincing people that the long-awaited Messiah had arrived in Jesus of Nazareth. But the Jews had built an entire culture and way of life around the observance of “law” and a complex set of requirements to exact justice with various acts and sacrifices. Did they really believe the Messiah would come or had they put the idea so far into the future that such a reality was unimaginable?

In essence, no matter when the Messiah would appear, the prophecies promised that his arrival would wipe out the old ideology and replace every sacrifice, every payment, and every atoning act, with his own blood. It would change everything. Justice would have new meaning.

If they had accepted the “fact” of a Messiah then, their entire temple system would have been obliterated in a single day. Is there any wonder the priests and accompanying temple staff were resistant? Their livelihood, their routines, and all of their traditions were in danger of collapse if they accepted this man Jesus as the Messiah.

To accept the atoning act of the Messiah is to have faith in a new execution of justice. To appropriate the ultimate sacrifice/justice of the Messiah requires a person’s confession of sin and lawbreaking.

Unlike a court of law where the defendant is trying to convince everyone that he/she didn’t really “do it,” this court is strictly for those willing to say, “guilty as charged.” And through that personal confession of guilt, suddenly, there is mercy and grace in a way that is beyond our understanding.

This is justice without fear. This is justice married to mercy. This is justice covered by love. Thanks be to God for the Anointed One whose sacrifice made it possible for me to live under a banner of justification.

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There is No Difference

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , on January 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Our human nature tends to put emphasis on the differences. That person is not like me. Another person is intolerable. Another is irredeemable. This is where grace must step in.

Romans 3:22b-24
For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, . . .

It’s a good thing God doesn’t depend on me for this grace business because I’m not very good at it. I try to keep my eye on the heart of the “sacred other” but I’m always thrown off by the words, the actions, the sounds: all those 3D things. I am particularly rough on my own family. Everything seems to be wrapped up in expectations.

People are constantly making mistakes. Some are trying harder than others to avoid or fix their errors, but still, the mistakes come. I am doing the same thing. I am tripping up all the time but my errors may be more covered up. I am a good chameleon. So, why am I so hard on others?

Some of this stems from a life-long struggle with “performance orientation.” I grew up in a household where my performance was constantly judged and compared to my sibling or others around me. Love was attached to performance. I was lovable if I was good or capable or smart. And as much as I know this about myself and my history, the same standards creep in as I deal with myself and others around me.

Stop! I really want to stop that. I want to become an instrument of grace.

I remember, I once worked in a temp job as a secretary for a man who was quite the perfectionist. He even made me re-do postage stamps if they weren’t completely aligned and perpendicular to the corner of the envelope. It was crazy-making. But so is my version of perfectionism and performance-based assessments.

Everyone has the potential and desire to love and be loved. Everyone can enter the glory of God through faith in the Christ, who God provided as a way. This is not about religion. This is about relationship. This is about sacredness within. This is the story of grace.

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Caretakers of the Word

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

A believer, grafted to the tree of faith, still has some responsibility despite all that grace. I do, after all, need to participate in the tree… “be a tree” and not something else, like a mushroom or a dandelion.

Romans 3:2b
First of all, they [the Jews] have been entrusted with the very words of God.

When I accepted Christ, I agreed to give up some things in exchange for the embedded words of God. Those words have power and can transform a life. I agreed to keep them safe by treating them reverently.

Oh, it’s not like the “words” will go away if I am faithless. I can even cast them aside and God will not be changed in any way. But I will have broken trust… it’s a type of betrayal, a broken covenant.

God is teaching me about God through those words. And Jesus is teaching me. And the Holy Spirit is teaching me. And as I learn, I become a stronger part of the tree.

An image that comes to my mind is the great tree in the movie, Avatar. It was a life force, a home, a safety net, a fortress, a symbol… it was all of these things and more to the native peoples. And so is the tree of life for me. Unlike Pandora’s tree which was destroyed by evil, our tree of life lives on forever. But it really thrives when the parts contribute to the tree with love and joy and obedience and faith and truth and confession.

As a believer, I have been entrusted with the words of God. They are only seeds. The life of those word-seeds must be planted and nurtured to manifest.

Similar metaphors are used throughout the scriptures to help us understand. Do we? Do we take these gifts seriously? Do I? If I truly understood the words of God to be like the metaphors that Jesus used about the kingdom (e.g. a mustard seed, yeast, treasure in a field, a pearl [Matthew 13]), would I sell everything to gain the full value of this treasure?

Oh Lord, give me a love for your words that will bear much fruit. Give me wisdom and understanding. Help me to be a better caretaker of your truth.

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