Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Paul’

Irrevocable Gifts

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I just realized I’ve been confusing God’s gifts with God’s tools.

Romans 11:29
For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.] [Amplified]

The parable of the talents has always been a challenge for me as I thought of those talents as gifts (like intelligence, creativity, good health, etc.) [Matthew 25:14-30] And how important it has been for me to invest these talents wisely that they may bring forth fruit. Obviously, I don’t want to be the one-talent guy who gets the outer darkness treatment.

But as I pondered verses 11:28-29, I realized the talent parable is not about irrevocable gifts. It’s about “tools” that God gives to help us accomplish whatever is laid out before us. He gives challenges and he gives equipment.

But the irrevocable gifts are wrapped up in “call.” This truth is foundational from the times of Noah and Abraham. The covenants of God are eternal. We will not be destroyed and if we accept the call to God Presence within, that gift is also eternal.

I have been too centered on what my senses can experience and not given enough place to the spirit. This is where the words of eternity have meaning. This is where faith can grow. This is where assurance, trust, and hope find root.

Glory be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Alleluia. Amen.

Read Full Post »

Windows of Opportunity

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 8, 2010| 2 Comments »

The passage I read today from Romans is not a particular favorite. Talk of cutting off and God’s sternness and unbelief is always difficult. As I contemplated these unpleasant attributes of God, I considered the importance of timing.

Romans 11:23
And if they [Israelites] do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

Each of us has windows of opportunity to experience or meet God. I can certainly look back and see some of those windows that opened and closed. They were crossroads I didn’t recognize at the time because I took the other way. As a child, I can remember going to Vacation Bible School and although I enjoyed the activities and “something to do” in the summer, I didn’t meet God there. And later in high school, one of my closest friends was a PK (preacher’s kid) and I adored her family but it never occurred to me to embrace their God. In college, I was in a sorority where many of the girls were active in Campus Crusade, but I didn’t even consider attending a meeting. There must have been more of these “close calls from Christ” in my young adult years, but I don’t remember them.

God reached out to me and for that season of time, I could have looked through and believed. Who would I have become? No telling.

I am grateful there were many windows.

If there were many windows for me, then there are many windows for others. Christians get so hung up thinking about someone who hasn’t “accepted Christ” and “oh, they will be lost forever.” But there is always another opportunity. There is always another moment in time. We just can’t see it now.

My mother was against all things religious for years and years. By the time she reached her nineties and was living with us, I assumed she would never experience God in any kind of real way. Then, as dementia set in, the likelihood seemed even more remote. But one night, while I was sitting by her bed, chatting quietly until she fell asleep, she said, “Oh, look, it’s Jesus,” and then, “Oh, he’s reaching out to me with an invitation (this was all in Latvian, so the word was specific to a card or written invitation),” and then, after some moments she said, “I think I’ll take it. Yes, I’m going to take it.” And then after some silence, she opened her eyes and told me how beautiful it all was. I was mesmerized. I thought she might die in that moment and just go on to be with the Christ. It was an amazing experience to watch her face, her countenance and to hear the quality of her voice. It was a different woman, totally coherent, and totally enraptured. She died a few weeks later.

My mother had missed ninety years of open windows, but there was still another window ready to open again.

God can be stern and even close windows for a season, but in the end, there is still that grace and mercy and kindness. God will reach in. Today or tomorrow. It doesn’t matter to God who exists outside of human time. Holy, holy, holy.

Read Full Post »

Wild Olive Shoot

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , on March 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

Consider this: all of us, unless descended from a Jewish heritage, are wild olive shoots. And yet, most believers are quite complacent about their place in the olive tree as though we are entitled. This attitude can lead to cheap grace.

Romans 11:17-18
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

It’s hard to keep appreciating something wonderful. I live a pretty easy life: middle class with upper class taste. I don’t get to eat whatever I want, but I still treat myself to expensive ice cream, craisins, pistachios, and dinner in a restaurant several times a month. We have 4 cats, 2 dogs, and three fairly spoiled teenagers. We are a two-income family. I don’t dress from Nordstrom’s, but I do refresh my closet pretty regularly. We have 5 computers and two TV sets. (Ok, so we don’t have a flat screen yet, but it’s on the list. It’s expected.) We have three cars, all used, but still, each teen expects his/her own car and when that time comes, we’ll have five. Oh, I forgot, we actually have four cars, Mike has a “collector” car (a 1962 Valiant – don’t get me started on that one). We live on a street where most of the houses look the same, in other words, a subdivision. We have 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths. We have heat when it’s cold and we have air conditioning when it’s hot. Our yard has trees and flowers and a view of the woods. It is a life of relative safety.

But grace is better than all that. Grace is better than winning the lottery.

And yet, I lose sight of this gift. I am wrapped in my comforts and forget about the wonder of my soul’s relationship with the God of the Universe. I forget I’m a wild shoot.

Give me a spirit of thankfulness this day.

Read Full Post »

Holy Roots

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2010| 2 Comments »

Isn’t the root issue always the most important? So often, we judge people and circumstances by first impressions or appearances without looking for the heart. But looking inside can be treacherous.

Romans 11:16
If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

In the plant world, roots have very particular responsibilities. They absorb water and inorganic nutrients and they anchor the plant to the ground. They also control how quickly a plant will grow and store nutrients for later use. (Wikipedia for more on roots)

This description is not much different than the work of the human spirit who ultimately directs our growth and maturation into adults. A child whose spirit is broken will not thrive. A wounded soul is incapable of experiencing the fullness of love or hope: essentials to happiness. A slumbering spirit will no longer absorb truth.

Some years ago I was active in the Elijah House ministry. This is where I first heard about the negative power of “bitter root judgments” [See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Romans 12:15]. It is so important to search out and prayerfully confront deep root problems. As long as these issues from a person’s past are boxed up and unattended, they will continue to impair and cloud daily life (sometimes without our conscious knowledge). Elijah House was instrumental in revealing some of these obstacles in my own life and how to become aware of their negative influence. Some of those roots had to be pulled out altogether and cast away. Some were cleaned and lovingly returned to the soil of my heart by the Holy Spirit: inner healing.

When a personal spirit is united with the Holy Spirit, the process toward wholeness [holiness] begins. It is just another way of explaining “sanctification.”

Sanctification works both directions, from the outside in and from inside out. Yes, we must choose to change our behaviors and extend ourselves outside the comfort zone: loving the unlovely, helping those less fortunate than we are, investing our “talents” in those people and areas that can use them. But we must also change from within, exposing our hearts and spirits to the Light of God’s Holy Spirit. And as our roots are healed, the outside choices become much easier.

Read Full Post »

Pick me! Pick Me!

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 4, 2010| 2 Comments »

Can’t even begin to say how uncomfortable I am with the phrase “chosen by God.” I think it’s supposed to be a comforting thought, instead I feel traitorous to all the “rejected” ones. After all, I grew up the last one picked for kickball, I know what it means to be left out.

Romans 11:5
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

Sometimes I’m glad I’m not Jewish and have to contend with the idea of an entire people group being “chosen.” No thanks. This chosen thing carries a lot of responsibility. It’s like being a perpetual PK (preacher’s kid). Every mistake is amplified. Every wrong word is noted. Every outfit is scrutinized. On a national level, it’s the policies, wars, peace treaties, etc. It’s being under a microscope.

Nonetheless, God is in the choosing business, whether I am comfortable with the idea or not. Some people die, some live, some people win the lottery, some lose their loved ones, some people struggle with illness while others struggle with poverty or stigmas. There are lots and lots of things that are out of our control. How we respond to our circumstances is our responsibility. That is where we choose.

Being chosen for a 4th grade kickball team was usually based on my ability (or lack thereof) to kick and catch a ball. The few times I wasn’t a default choice, but chosen at the beginning, I felt the pressure of performing. But of course, whether I was chosen first or last, I still couldn’t kick worth a toot or catch. And so the cycle would continue.

But God’s choosing parameters are outside anything we can possibly understand. Our “goodness” or “abilities” do not put us on God’s team. This is the grace part.

When I chose to follow God through Christ, I was fulfilling my small part of the equation, but truthfully, God had already done an awful lot of reaching out to me first. Am I unique because I’m a follower of Christ? Don’t think so. Am I part of some remnant? Doubt it.

This is all a mystery to me. But I do know God is a God of love and mercy and grace. This I truly know. And I believe anyone can cry out to God: Pick me! Pick me! And God will choose by grace.

Read Full Post »

Hearing

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

One thing really gets my goat at home: not being heard. The kids tune me out and apparently, they do the same thing at school (What test? What homework? etc.). My husband is in his own world and even the dogs tune me out. Is it the messenger?

Romans 10:17
So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself) [Amplified]

These verses of Romans 10 are often used to support the need for missionaries around the world. After all, they say, someone must go to preach the message, the good news, to all those unbelievers.

But the hearing part is just as essential to the equation. Why don’t people hear? Are they unready to hear? Is the message unclear or poorly presented? Is the message given in love or draped in fear?

Over the years, the messengers (ministers, preachers, missionaries, evangelists) have wrapped the good news into a variety of packages. As a result, we now have the “four spiritual laws,” Evangelism Explosion, Billy Graham Crusade, Seeker-sensitivity, Christian infotainment, Veggie Tales, contemporary, rock, and even hip-hop music, along with movies and multi-media, to name a few. All of these were created to make the “message that came from the lips of Christ” accessible.

But is it really all necessary? Have we possibly diluted the message? Or, have we lost the simplicity of the message?

Jesus came with a story. He spoke it and they listened. We do a greater service to the message of God if we simply tell our story as well. The story of God touching my life cannot be argued. I lived it, I walked it, and it’s mine.

People don’t usually tune out story unless it sounds false.When speaking the story of Christ touching me, it is important to be truthful and transparent. Truth resonates.

Read Full Post »

Freedom to Believe

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It’s ironic, when Paul the Apostle declared Christ as the Way, it was a testament of freedom to anyone who chose to believe, whether Jew or Gentile, slave or foreigner. Anyone could enter this new relationship with God. But today, the Christ message is treated as limiting, exclusive, or prescribed.

Romans 10:4
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness [right relationship with God] for everyone who believes.

Several chapters of Romans are dedicated to the logic Paul lays out for the Jews of that time, the reasons and proof texts to support the reasons a Messiah came. He wants to convince them that the way was now open to God for anyone to believe. The season of the heart had come. “For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), . . . ” [Amplified, Romans 10:10a].

Many are guilty of limiting the Christ message, perhaps Christians most of all. We have codified the process and made rules of engagement. We have created denominations that have additional requirements such as specific types of baptism, communion practices, sins by degree, and methods of confession.

Today, we would need another Paul to set the Christians from their own chains of law.

The Christ message is one of freedom. That freedom invites us to participate in an intimate relationship with God that has never been possible before. For Christians, we must return to the simplicity of belief and confession. For non-believers, we must focus on the open door of Christ. All are welcome.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »