Sometimes our desire to hold on competes with our desire to be held. We strive to fix what can't be fixed, understand what can't be understood, or change what can't be changed in a desperate rush to control that which can't be controlled.
All our white knuckled grasping betrays a central reality we both crave and fear most of all. The reality is that we long to simply let go. We are so tired. So often confused and failed. We long to rest...and yet we are terrified of letting go. We fear if we let go all will crumble and fade. We long to let go but fear that life truly does depend on us. We fear that if we let go we will find that we are all alone, that we have been abandoned and forsaken. We are like inept children condemned to care for ourselves in the absence of a loving parent. Our striving and clinging betrays a fundamental fear.
However the truth is that what we crave most is not the control that would allow us to order our lives completely rather we long for the assurance that even if we can't (and we never can) perfectly order our lives there is someone else who is strong, wise, and loving who is in control. Someone who is so committed to us that we never need fear being abandoned ever again. We long for a love and strength that is greater that our fear and weakness.
"The Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says, “Only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you! One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make all of you flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a distant mountaintop.
But the LORD still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for him to help them." -Isaiah 30:15-18
"Turn back to him whom you have deeply betrayed, O people of Israel. For on that day all of you shall throw away your idols of silver and idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you." Isaiah 31:6-7
"I know, O LORD, that the way of human beings is not in their control,
that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps." - Jeremiah 10:23
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. "
-Matthew 11:28
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Recieving or Grabbing
We are at any moment either demanding what we see as justice or pleading for mercy. We are asking for a gift, or striving to get our "just desserts". The problem is that what is most important in life can never be earned or obligated. We all are in need of mercy more than power whether realize it or not.
"What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
"So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy."
- Romans 9:15-16
"What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
"So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy."
- Romans 9:15-16
Monday, January 21, 2008
The Image of God
If man, the image bearer, was created to glorify God (that is accurately reflect Him), then it must be noted that every human we have ever encountered in a very real sense represented to us the face of God.
In this sense if ever we experienced wounding and sin from our fellow man it was in fact the image of God that was marred. Those to whom it was granted to display the glory of God mislead us as to the nature of the One whose image they bore.
When one person sins against another, through omission or commission, they are showing God to be corrupt. The wounds inflicted by sin teach us that what we desired most from others; love...the surest reflection of God, is foolish, dangerous, false, unobtainable, and shameful.
If anyone has harmed us it is our longing for God, our hope for a taste of His Spirit, that has been most assaulted. We come to distrust our longing for Him and flee from the vulnerability that is required to both seek out and receive such tenderness and mercy. We learn to hate our neediness and the desire that points to Him.
To reconcile our hearts to those who have wounded us, to embrace forgiveness, is not simply to reconcile with those who have sinned against us, but it is also to reconcile our wounded hearts to God. It is to resurrect those long hidden desires that always pointed toward Him, and in so doing resurrect the fallen image of God in our lives. It is to give back to God our deepest most vulnerable desires and afford Him all the hope, trust, and love He so richly deserves.
"How long, O you sons of men, Will you turn my glory to shame?" Psalms 4:2
"When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed..." - Ezek 43:8
"All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." - John 10:8-10
In this sense if ever we experienced wounding and sin from our fellow man it was in fact the image of God that was marred. Those to whom it was granted to display the glory of God mislead us as to the nature of the One whose image they bore.
When one person sins against another, through omission or commission, they are showing God to be corrupt. The wounds inflicted by sin teach us that what we desired most from others; love...the surest reflection of God, is foolish, dangerous, false, unobtainable, and shameful.
If anyone has harmed us it is our longing for God, our hope for a taste of His Spirit, that has been most assaulted. We come to distrust our longing for Him and flee from the vulnerability that is required to both seek out and receive such tenderness and mercy. We learn to hate our neediness and the desire that points to Him.
To reconcile our hearts to those who have wounded us, to embrace forgiveness, is not simply to reconcile with those who have sinned against us, but it is also to reconcile our wounded hearts to God. It is to resurrect those long hidden desires that always pointed toward Him, and in so doing resurrect the fallen image of God in our lives. It is to give back to God our deepest most vulnerable desires and afford Him all the hope, trust, and love He so richly deserves.
"How long, O you sons of men, Will you turn my glory to shame?" Psalms 4:2
"When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed..." - Ezek 43:8
"All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." - John 10:8-10
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Self Imposed Barriers
"But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’" - Matt 9:13
"So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy." - Rom 9:16
"And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry." -Luke 15:21-24
“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.'" -Luke 15:28-31
"What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”" Romans 9:30-33
It is better to be loved than to be worthy. Yet when we desire justification more than mercy we allow our desire to be held in honor outweigh our desire, our deeper desire, to simply be held.
It is never our sin or failure that keeps us from receiving love, rather it is our grasping for righteousness and justification. We insist on obligating others and attempting to earn what can only be given freely as a gift. In so doing we render ourselves incapable of receiving love.
"Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due." Romans 4:4
"So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy." - Rom 9:16
"And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry." -Luke 15:21-24
“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.'" -Luke 15:28-31
"What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”" Romans 9:30-33
It is better to be loved than to be worthy. Yet when we desire justification more than mercy we allow our desire to be held in honor outweigh our desire, our deeper desire, to simply be held.
It is never our sin or failure that keeps us from receiving love, rather it is our grasping for righteousness and justification. We insist on obligating others and attempting to earn what can only be given freely as a gift. In so doing we render ourselves incapable of receiving love.
"Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due." Romans 4:4
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Loving the Unlovely
Self-esteem, however highly touted, means nothing if one is entirely alone. What good is self-love among the truly unloved? The popular saying "I am enough!" is utter rubbish. Just ask anyone who has no-one. We were not created to be alone; value and meaning is derived from the context of meaningful relationship.
True self-love, or self-esteem, rather than a result of psychological discipline and positive thinking, is a product of actually being loved and esteemed. The power of self-love is not rooted in the self at all. The power of true self-esteem is external and objective. I can love and accept those less lovely aspects of myself only because those aspects of myself are, in actuality, loved and accepted. Because I am loved I am therefore lovable...irrespective of my opinion.
"Love comes from God...
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect...
We love Him because He first loved us." - 1 John 4:7, 16, 19
Our ability to love ourselves as we are is found in our willingness to allow ourselves to be loved as we are. Love comes from God.
True self-love, or self-esteem, rather than a result of psychological discipline and positive thinking, is a product of actually being loved and esteemed. The power of self-love is not rooted in the self at all. The power of true self-esteem is external and objective. I can love and accept those less lovely aspects of myself only because those aspects of myself are, in actuality, loved and accepted. Because I am loved I am therefore lovable...irrespective of my opinion.
"Love comes from God...
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect...
We love Him because He first loved us." - 1 John 4:7, 16, 19
Our ability to love ourselves as we are is found in our willingness to allow ourselves to be loved as we are. Love comes from God.
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