God has OCD
Do we really understand the enormity of what God has done in Christ? Without the human race lifting a finger..God has simply dropped all the rules and regulations and laws and requirements we always thought were necessary to get God to accept us. God has just flatly ended the whole game in Jesus and niftily blanket pardoned the human race. This is audacious and is outside our understanding of what a proper God would do. Robert Farrar Capon (from whom I have lifted these ideas almost verbatim) calls this God a crook. Why? Because He really operates outside the normal range of human values. He did not wait for us to straighten out our ways, in fact, in some ways our brutality toward each other seems to be increasing (Khmer Rouge,Rhwanda). . He didn't give us a "You do this and I'll do that for you" task. No; while we were completely ignoring the Creator (or uncaused cause), He simply made us His blameless children. He dropped all the accusations against us, all of our sordid Historys, all of our empty promises down the great hole of Jesus's death. Then as a sign of this blanket pardon, this new day for the human race, He entered History and let us kill Him!
When we killed Him He didn't lift a finger to stop us. We whipped Him, beat Him, stripped Him, mocked Him and He simply said "Father forgive them" (and He did ). This was the flagpole that God planted on the earth for all generations to see. This unforgettable mysterious story stands in history to confound
Who is this guy? Remember the great line from the 70's movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, when Butch asks Cassidy about the guys who keep relentlessly chasing them and never give up? He said "WHO ARE THESE GUYS?? "
Who is this person who chases the human race and never gives up? Jesus used to tell these little cartoon stories that are often misunderstood, that give us insight into this strange person. One of my favorites is about a poor little old lady ( what a strange God figure!) who lives alone and loses a coin. She relentlessly turns the house upside down looking for this lost coin. She sweeps everywhere looking for it till she fimds it. God basically has an OCD personality to seek His lost coin(s); us.
Another even stranger story Jesus told was of a lonely shepard who tends a flock of 100 sheep and notices one is missing. He immedietly leaves the 99 (to the wolves?) to find the one. I think this again is OCD behavior. This creator being simply cannot get us out of His system and acts against His own best intersts to find us.
Now if I was a normal Christian this is the part where I would say "OK now that you know all this, get your act together and straighten up and get right with this God. But the fact of the matter is you don't have to lift a finger. I hope that bothers you. It bothers me. Surely there is something I can contribute to this relationship of acceptance. Surely I can con this fella into liking me.
But the fact of the matter is if we ignore this good news, its still true. He has accepted you and made you His child. He will never stop looking for you, Like the Butch Cassidy movie, if you climb a mountain, hide behind a rock, or even jump in the sea, He is right there holding you.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
He jumped in the pool!
Jesus became a Human being, what more can be said about this? This is the most covered event in the history of the planet. He for better and mostly for worst joined Himself to the human race. That human race He joined would include Hitler, Mother Theresa, and Ted Bundy, Gandhi and You and I. You see he wasn’t choosey and He wasn’t leaving anybody out. We will get to the Hitler and Bundy part in a bit (it’s not the most important part!).
He chose you and me as we are. He chose us not on our best days, nor our worst days. He chose the muddled mass of who we really in total are, the good and bad, and the mostly in between. Jesus Christ loves the gritty human race. He is not stuck on the overachievers who manage to get their acts together sort of. He is not stuck on the disciplined and the noble. He is stuck on YOU.
He is stuck on you who have thoughts you wouldn’t want anybody to know. He is stuck on you who chooses X box game boy over prayer, or me who chooses NBA playoffs over bible reading. He is weirdly, completely stuck on us. I can’t stress His commitment level to the Human race enough. He chose us on our worst days, not our best days. He didn’t just sit on his big chair in the sky and pick the few the brave and the courageous. He jumped in the crowded soiled kiddy pool with the bullies, the cowards, the splashers and all the rest. When he got in the pool he didn’t blow His lifeguard whistle and make everybody behave. He just swam around the pool loving each one; including the one who held Him under till He expired. That’s Jesus. He is completely approachable, completely forgiving, tirelessly swimming toward us, His one love.
This commitment level is unexplainable and like nothing we have ever seen or experienced. We simply do not believe there is a love like this. The only thing we know to do is fear a being like this and distance ourselves a little. We distance ourselves a little so we can start our little efforts to control him. This usually boils down to religion.
Religion is the human races constant struggle to control God through some kind of ritual, behavior or creed. We find it way too scary to just walk unprotected into His presence, which Jesus (who tells us to call God Our Father) and Paul (enter his presence boldly says Paul) insists is freely given to us.
This love precludes any of our efforts because he chose us before we had done anything good or bad and made us blameless. He took care of all your sin problems, your laziness, my selfishness, my betrayals, before during and after we did these things.
This is crazy! He loved the world, the real Auschwitz, Chernobyl, Sistine chapel world to the point of death on a cross. He would do anything to rescue this world and show its citizens that He is not scary and not judging us! What are his last words as the bully held his head under water in the pool? “Father forgive them; they really don’t know what they are doing.”
Before I sign off let me say this about Mr. Bundy and Mr. Hitler. He loves them too. They may not choose to be a part of this forgiveness party; but they are invited. It’s important they are invited because it’s one more proof that those of us who aren’t mass murderers might get a free pass also.
Oh one last thing. I too struggle to get comfortable with this love. It’s hard to take. So when I am choosing to ignore this love and living in the dark; I am really in the Light of His love as he waits patiently for me to enjoy Him. That’s our Jesus, the Light and savior of the world!
He chose you and me as we are. He chose us not on our best days, nor our worst days. He chose the muddled mass of who we really in total are, the good and bad, and the mostly in between. Jesus Christ loves the gritty human race. He is not stuck on the overachievers who manage to get their acts together sort of. He is not stuck on the disciplined and the noble. He is stuck on YOU.
He is stuck on you who have thoughts you wouldn’t want anybody to know. He is stuck on you who chooses X box game boy over prayer, or me who chooses NBA playoffs over bible reading. He is weirdly, completely stuck on us. I can’t stress His commitment level to the Human race enough. He chose us on our worst days, not our best days. He didn’t just sit on his big chair in the sky and pick the few the brave and the courageous. He jumped in the crowded soiled kiddy pool with the bullies, the cowards, the splashers and all the rest. When he got in the pool he didn’t blow His lifeguard whistle and make everybody behave. He just swam around the pool loving each one; including the one who held Him under till He expired. That’s Jesus. He is completely approachable, completely forgiving, tirelessly swimming toward us, His one love.
This commitment level is unexplainable and like nothing we have ever seen or experienced. We simply do not believe there is a love like this. The only thing we know to do is fear a being like this and distance ourselves a little. We distance ourselves a little so we can start our little efforts to control him. This usually boils down to religion.
Religion is the human races constant struggle to control God through some kind of ritual, behavior or creed. We find it way too scary to just walk unprotected into His presence, which Jesus (who tells us to call God Our Father) and Paul (enter his presence boldly says Paul) insists is freely given to us.
This love precludes any of our efforts because he chose us before we had done anything good or bad and made us blameless. He took care of all your sin problems, your laziness, my selfishness, my betrayals, before during and after we did these things.
This is crazy! He loved the world, the real Auschwitz, Chernobyl, Sistine chapel world to the point of death on a cross. He would do anything to rescue this world and show its citizens that He is not scary and not judging us! What are his last words as the bully held his head under water in the pool? “Father forgive them; they really don’t know what they are doing.”
Before I sign off let me say this about Mr. Bundy and Mr. Hitler. He loves them too. They may not choose to be a part of this forgiveness party; but they are invited. It’s important they are invited because it’s one more proof that those of us who aren’t mass murderers might get a free pass also.
Oh one last thing. I too struggle to get comfortable with this love. It’s hard to take. So when I am choosing to ignore this love and living in the dark; I am really in the Light of His love as he waits patiently for me to enjoy Him. That’s our Jesus, the Light and savior of the world!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God."
The above is another weird cryptic St. Paul quote from the bible book of Galations. So what was this first century Christian Apostle talking about? If you stopped and interviewed 20 people at the mall and asked them what this statement above means they wouldn't know and probably wouldn't care. Yet this death to the law concept is stated over and over by multiple writers in the most read and highly regarded literature in the entire western world..the Bible. Now I'm definetely not saying because its in the bible it's true. I am however saying 40 million frenchmen can't be wrong..the bible must have something in it which has rung true to a good share of humanity for thousands of years.
So...what can a modern person take from this statement above (I died to the law)..2000 years old? OK here goes: All the term died to the law" above means is that mankind's multiple numerous ways of climbing up to God through the major religions of Islam, Christianity,Hinduism, Bhuddism,Freud, Marxism, diet, excercise, yoga, doing good, charity work, eating twinkies, you name it..accomplishes nothing. There is nothing you can do..no religious or psychological or physical act can put you in a good relationship with God.
So dying to the law means accepting there is not a dam thing you can do to be in that relationship you "may" want with God. I say may because you may not and in fact are probably not even interested.
Well thats not a bad place to start. Even a lack of interest in a relationship with God is a little closer than all the religious ways of approaching God I named above.
Not being interested in a way is a death to the religious ways I named above. In one of the books of the New Testament Bible Paul gives us some insider information on this strange God I am trying to tell you about. I'll paraphrase it. The Jews, arguably the most religious group or nationality on the planet, the actual chosen people, missed the boat. The Jews, the ones ones most interested and zealous for God, missed the boat. So what does God do..He goes to those who aren't even interested in Him..us! He says I am having this grand universal eternal party and my first choice invitees (the Jews) never really understand me so I will invite the unvarnished masses. I will give them an absolute free ticket to my eternal party..and I won't be mad even if they aren't interested. They won't know it but I will put a ticket to the banquet right in their backpocket (so it won't slip out when they are drinking or fighting). All they have to do is step in and have a shrimp cocktail and glass of champagne. They will all know they don't deserve an invite, but everytime they pull the ticket out of their pocket..yes..it still has their name on it. So they just shut up and put it back in their pocket and enjoy the party. PS God has not forgotten His Jewish Children..He is just waiting till they drop their resistance to his way of doing things (giving tickets indiscrimanently)and step into the party. Oh by the way...the Jews will come to the party..because God the Host of the party won't start the real entertainment till they do. So we just drink our champagne and mingle and stay out of trouble till the most honored Son (Jesus) gets out of His limo and enters the party to mass applause and cheers and music and dancing. What a day that will be. More later.
The above is another weird cryptic St. Paul quote from the bible book of Galations. So what was this first century Christian Apostle talking about? If you stopped and interviewed 20 people at the mall and asked them what this statement above means they wouldn't know and probably wouldn't care. Yet this death to the law concept is stated over and over by multiple writers in the most read and highly regarded literature in the entire western world..the Bible. Now I'm definetely not saying because its in the bible it's true. I am however saying 40 million frenchmen can't be wrong..the bible must have something in it which has rung true to a good share of humanity for thousands of years.
So...what can a modern person take from this statement above (I died to the law)..2000 years old? OK here goes: All the term died to the law" above means is that mankind's multiple numerous ways of climbing up to God through the major religions of Islam, Christianity,Hinduism, Bhuddism,Freud, Marxism, diet, excercise, yoga, doing good, charity work, eating twinkies, you name it..accomplishes nothing. There is nothing you can do..no religious or psychological or physical act can put you in a good relationship with God.
So dying to the law means accepting there is not a dam thing you can do to be in that relationship you "may" want with God. I say may because you may not and in fact are probably not even interested.
Well thats not a bad place to start. Even a lack of interest in a relationship with God is a little closer than all the religious ways of approaching God I named above.
Not being interested in a way is a death to the religious ways I named above. In one of the books of the New Testament Bible Paul gives us some insider information on this strange God I am trying to tell you about. I'll paraphrase it. The Jews, arguably the most religious group or nationality on the planet, the actual chosen people, missed the boat. The Jews, the ones ones most interested and zealous for God, missed the boat. So what does God do..He goes to those who aren't even interested in Him..us! He says I am having this grand universal eternal party and my first choice invitees (the Jews) never really understand me so I will invite the unvarnished masses. I will give them an absolute free ticket to my eternal party..and I won't be mad even if they aren't interested. They won't know it but I will put a ticket to the banquet right in their backpocket (so it won't slip out when they are drinking or fighting). All they have to do is step in and have a shrimp cocktail and glass of champagne. They will all know they don't deserve an invite, but everytime they pull the ticket out of their pocket..yes..it still has their name on it. So they just shut up and put it back in their pocket and enjoy the party. PS God has not forgotten His Jewish Children..He is just waiting till they drop their resistance to his way of doing things (giving tickets indiscrimanently)and step into the party. Oh by the way...the Jews will come to the party..because God the Host of the party won't start the real entertainment till they do. So we just drink our champagne and mingle and stay out of trouble till the most honored Son (Jesus) gets out of His limo and enters the party to mass applause and cheers and music and dancing. What a day that will be. More later.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
An unlikely story
“This righteousness is given through faith inJesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” This is a verse from the bible..Romans to be exact.
How could anybody get what incredible good news this is? God just accepted the entire world no strings attached. You can’t even say “well there is a catch, you have to believe.” Believe just means you accept this gift. There are no strings …just accept the gift. The bible does say repent..which means change your mind. You change your mind about God. He is not a demanding despot who needs you to keep His rules. He accepts you gratis.
Now when somebody accepts you for free, just loves you, when you know in your heart you really haven’t given them the time of day, its embarrassing. It’s hard to just accept that love. It kind of makes you look bad. Surely there is something you can do to be worthy.
I know I hate it when I owe somebody money and I forget to pay them back. It’s completely embarrassing. I make it a huge priority to remember to pay them next time I see them. Why? Because I am such a great guy? No I pay them back because I want that person (and myself) to think well of me.
Well I have forgotten to pay God back for everything my entire life. However He still treats me as if I have been the most faithful son imaginable (he treats me like His very own Son Jesus!).
This Father is a very disconcerting person. I don’t understand him. There is no bargaining with Him, He sets the rules and the rules are He has accepted me (and you) freely as a gift. His ways are not our ways. We live by deals and transactions. We say you do this for me and I’ll do this for you. With God its one way; His way, or the highway. He says shut up... I do this for you.
Wouldn’t this be very easy to abuse? Well we killed His son when he told us about this love. The rule keepers said..this upsets our entire system. We have our entire legal (do this do that)system here and it works very well.
So the lawkeepers killed him. So you probably can't abuse grace anymore than that. Yes the dead god on the cross does open Himself to being abused, taken advantage of and forgotten. He even says go ahead and eat my flesh and drink my blood poured out for you.
So just saying yes to this kind God seems kind of wrong. You know you really haven't done enough. You haven't given a dam about this God..and surely you better straighten your life out a bit before you just dive in. And even if you have the guts to just accept this unbridled acceptance, your a little afraid this God may suck you in and then ask something of you you don't want to do.
Yet what does he say? "Behold I stand at the door and knock (very gently), if anyone opens the door I will come into his house and dine with him and he with me." Whats the harm in that? He is saying "I find you appealing. I want to get to know you..and you to know me." Do you remember Jesus' complaint at the last day? when He said many will say to me "hey I talked about you all the time and called myself a Christian." What does he say? I never knew you. Thats what bothered Him..they really did not know Him (and He them)
So what is the one requirement? Believe IN Him, know Him. Believe yourself into Him and He into you. Remember the old story of the garden of Eden? Remember when God came looking for them in the garden after they sinned. Remember they were hiding? If you read the story, God is sad..they are now hiding from Him and afraid! They no longer are comfortable around their creator, and they are ashamed. So God kindly makes them some clothes to warm them..and says they must leave the place of comfort and warmth...This is really symbolic..for once they mistrusted their friendship with Him..and saw Him as a crabby despot, they had left the warmth of His friendship.
I don't have time to tell you how he gets them back, I have to go to a Christmas play at church about an audacious story of God sneaking back onto the planet as an infant in a normal human family in a nondescript little town, telling people god loves them and they can return to him without fear. Ridiculous.
How could anybody get what incredible good news this is? God just accepted the entire world no strings attached. You can’t even say “well there is a catch, you have to believe.” Believe just means you accept this gift. There are no strings …just accept the gift. The bible does say repent..which means change your mind. You change your mind about God. He is not a demanding despot who needs you to keep His rules. He accepts you gratis.
Now when somebody accepts you for free, just loves you, when you know in your heart you really haven’t given them the time of day, its embarrassing. It’s hard to just accept that love. It kind of makes you look bad. Surely there is something you can do to be worthy.
I know I hate it when I owe somebody money and I forget to pay them back. It’s completely embarrassing. I make it a huge priority to remember to pay them next time I see them. Why? Because I am such a great guy? No I pay them back because I want that person (and myself) to think well of me.
Well I have forgotten to pay God back for everything my entire life. However He still treats me as if I have been the most faithful son imaginable (he treats me like His very own Son Jesus!).
This Father is a very disconcerting person. I don’t understand him. There is no bargaining with Him, He sets the rules and the rules are He has accepted me (and you) freely as a gift. His ways are not our ways. We live by deals and transactions. We say you do this for me and I’ll do this for you. With God its one way; His way, or the highway. He says shut up... I do this for you.
Wouldn’t this be very easy to abuse? Well we killed His son when he told us about this love. The rule keepers said..this upsets our entire system. We have our entire legal (do this do that)system here and it works very well.
So the lawkeepers killed him. So you probably can't abuse grace anymore than that. Yes the dead god on the cross does open Himself to being abused, taken advantage of and forgotten. He even says go ahead and eat my flesh and drink my blood poured out for you.
So just saying yes to this kind God seems kind of wrong. You know you really haven't done enough. You haven't given a dam about this God..and surely you better straighten your life out a bit before you just dive in. And even if you have the guts to just accept this unbridled acceptance, your a little afraid this God may suck you in and then ask something of you you don't want to do.
Yet what does he say? "Behold I stand at the door and knock (very gently), if anyone opens the door I will come into his house and dine with him and he with me." Whats the harm in that? He is saying "I find you appealing. I want to get to know you..and you to know me." Do you remember Jesus' complaint at the last day? when He said many will say to me "hey I talked about you all the time and called myself a Christian." What does he say? I never knew you. Thats what bothered Him..they really did not know Him (and He them)
So what is the one requirement? Believe IN Him, know Him. Believe yourself into Him and He into you. Remember the old story of the garden of Eden? Remember when God came looking for them in the garden after they sinned. Remember they were hiding? If you read the story, God is sad..they are now hiding from Him and afraid! They no longer are comfortable around their creator, and they are ashamed. So God kindly makes them some clothes to warm them..and says they must leave the place of comfort and warmth...This is really symbolic..for once they mistrusted their friendship with Him..and saw Him as a crabby despot, they had left the warmth of His friendship.
I don't have time to tell you how he gets them back, I have to go to a Christmas play at church about an audacious story of God sneaking back onto the planet as an infant in a normal human family in a nondescript little town, telling people god loves them and they can return to him without fear. Ridiculous.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Show us the Father!
The diciples wanted to see and know this Father Jesus talked about. Jesus was always talking about His Father. He was after his Fathers will..He gave them the Lords prayer.."Our father". He said "in my Fathers house are many mansions", and on and on.
Think what a seismic shift in human religious consciousness this Father concept was! The Jewish conception of God was the fiery Jehova, ruling from on high. He could be mercifull, but more likely He was distant and unapproachable and a punisher of His enemies. Of course there were hints of the Father of Jesus in the Old Testament as in the tender relationship of Abraham with God, and David's friendship with the Lord among others.
The Asian concepts of God at that time, as evidenced for example in Buddism, saw God as total consciousness and Being (true). Then there were the multitudes of other dieties worshipped around the world in many forms. There were Sun Gods, moon Gods, the Great Spirit of the North American Indian and of course the great Greek mythical Gods as in Apollo and Zooks.
All of these Gods had various hints of the Father that Jesus showed us. There was not one earthly God at the time however that was remotely like the Father of Jesus.
This Father that Jesus showed us was as powerful and omnipotent as Apollo and Jehovah yet as tender as the dearest earthly Father. Jesus, in the story of the prodigal son, shows us a Father who runs down the road to greet a wayward son who had squandered the fathers's money and disgraced Him. Instead of being angry, the father showers the delinquent with hugs and parties (and no mention of the transgression!.)
Show us the Father the diciples say and yet 2000 years later we still cannot comprehend a God/Father like this one Jesus showed us.. We still placate Him as we would a Jehovah or a Zooks. We make our little offerings (church attendance, offerings, charity work etc) to keep Him off our backs. We look for Him within ourselves through mysticism or psychology or self help books.
Yet there He stands offering everything He has, arms open and we will not recieve him. He can't figure out how to get closer to us so He gets this great idea. " I will become one of them! I will get in their skin and be born and go through all they go through including taxes and death."
"I will become a man and tell them about my self and my Fatherhood. Maybe if I drink wine with them, fish with them, go to weddings with them they will trust me! Maybe they will just drop their tired excuses ( I have to bury my mother, I have a business to run, you God, will send me to Africa) as to why they can't be close to me."
"Maybe if I die for them they will believe I am holding no sins over their head. They can come to me without shame. Even if they can't drop the shame..I will accept them and wash them and restore them."
Way to simple you think? Well He says.."look I stand at your door and knock and if you open it..we will have a meal together and talk about anything you like..anything! And whatever you tell me..I won't judge it; I won't even tell you what to do. I will just be with you. I just want you to let me in (to your life).
Way to simple.
The diciples wanted to see and know this Father Jesus talked about. Jesus was always talking about His Father. He was after his Fathers will..He gave them the Lords prayer.."Our father". He said "in my Fathers house are many mansions", and on and on.
Think what a seismic shift in human religious consciousness this Father concept was! The Jewish conception of God was the fiery Jehova, ruling from on high. He could be mercifull, but more likely He was distant and unapproachable and a punisher of His enemies. Of course there were hints of the Father of Jesus in the Old Testament as in the tender relationship of Abraham with God, and David's friendship with the Lord among others.
The Asian concepts of God at that time, as evidenced for example in Buddism, saw God as total consciousness and Being (true). Then there were the multitudes of other dieties worshipped around the world in many forms. There were Sun Gods, moon Gods, the Great Spirit of the North American Indian and of course the great Greek mythical Gods as in Apollo and Zooks.
All of these Gods had various hints of the Father that Jesus showed us. There was not one earthly God at the time however that was remotely like the Father of Jesus.
This Father that Jesus showed us was as powerful and omnipotent as Apollo and Jehovah yet as tender as the dearest earthly Father. Jesus, in the story of the prodigal son, shows us a Father who runs down the road to greet a wayward son who had squandered the fathers's money and disgraced Him. Instead of being angry, the father showers the delinquent with hugs and parties (and no mention of the transgression!.)
Show us the Father the diciples say and yet 2000 years later we still cannot comprehend a God/Father like this one Jesus showed us.. We still placate Him as we would a Jehovah or a Zooks. We make our little offerings (church attendance, offerings, charity work etc) to keep Him off our backs. We look for Him within ourselves through mysticism or psychology or self help books.
Yet there He stands offering everything He has, arms open and we will not recieve him. He can't figure out how to get closer to us so He gets this great idea. " I will become one of them! I will get in their skin and be born and go through all they go through including taxes and death."
"I will become a man and tell them about my self and my Fatherhood. Maybe if I drink wine with them, fish with them, go to weddings with them they will trust me! Maybe they will just drop their tired excuses ( I have to bury my mother, I have a business to run, you God, will send me to Africa) as to why they can't be close to me."
"Maybe if I die for them they will believe I am holding no sins over their head. They can come to me without shame. Even if they can't drop the shame..I will accept them and wash them and restore them."
Way to simple you think? Well He says.."look I stand at your door and knock and if you open it..we will have a meal together and talk about anything you like..anything! And whatever you tell me..I won't judge it; I won't even tell you what to do. I will just be with you. I just want you to let me in (to your life).
Way to simple.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
He is Pleased!
Paul tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God.
Well the negative take on this is that it is possible to displease God. But the upside is not even that we could please Him..but that he could be possibly pleased with us! He really takes pleasure in us..He is literally obsessed with us. Remember the Jesus parable of the woman sweeping her house endlessly to find her lost coin; or the crazy shepard leaving 99 sheep alone to find one??
Jesus used these parables to illustrate His fathers illogical passion for His creatures. And when the Father finds us..and we dare to trust him..he is pleased!
But lets get back to him being pleased. I don't know the greek on this word pleased..but I know that the scriptures tell us He delights in us. Isn't that delicious? We have a creator who is passionate for our well being and derives pleasure and satisfaction from relating to us. He is not an old curmudgeon with whom we have to cajole and manuever and bargain for his favor. When this Father/Grandfather comes to our house at Thanksgiving, He enters and we bound into His lap with gales of laughter.
If you want to piss Jesus off, suggest to him that his Father is a hard man and a miser, or that we must placate Him with our good behavior. It takes a lot to get Jesus mad but that will do it!
This upsets Jesus because it is a character assasination of the one who has filled our universe with air and stars and birds and wheat and love and music in staggering amounts.
When we treat Him (God) as a demanding despot, whom we must trick into accepting us through our religiuous efforts, we miss The Thanksgiving turkey dinner completely.
We please Him when we bound into his lap without fear, even though we have no right to be there. We know we are cowards and liars (even little ones) and scaredy cats and cheaters and lazy yada yada. But we bound into His lap because we believe in His eternal love for us more than our unworthiness..and this my friend pleases Him.
Remember what the great Apostle of love, John says? He who fears is not perfected in love; because fear has to do with punishment. John expresses it in an even more radical way: God IS Love.
Paul in Hebrews gives us a different set of images to show us what faith looks like: He tells us to enter the throne room boldly (gulp!). I think this suggests this faith stuff is not that easy.
Imagine a homeless person with rags (us) boldly entering the kings throne room and getting into His lap.
Faith takes guts and audacity and shamelessness. It really is more difficult than works..where we think if we press certain levers (obedience, prayer, etc) God on a string will dance our dance.
No we boldly throw ourselves fearlessly into His mercifull lap. Talk about bungee jumping from the High bridge!
So I dare you..enter the room of grace boldly. Jesus has gone before us and made things right. The father is dying (literally) to see you.
Well the negative take on this is that it is possible to displease God. But the upside is not even that we could please Him..but that he could be possibly pleased with us! He really takes pleasure in us..He is literally obsessed with us. Remember the Jesus parable of the woman sweeping her house endlessly to find her lost coin; or the crazy shepard leaving 99 sheep alone to find one??
Jesus used these parables to illustrate His fathers illogical passion for His creatures. And when the Father finds us..and we dare to trust him..he is pleased!
But lets get back to him being pleased. I don't know the greek on this word pleased..but I know that the scriptures tell us He delights in us. Isn't that delicious? We have a creator who is passionate for our well being and derives pleasure and satisfaction from relating to us. He is not an old curmudgeon with whom we have to cajole and manuever and bargain for his favor. When this Father/Grandfather comes to our house at Thanksgiving, He enters and we bound into His lap with gales of laughter.
If you want to piss Jesus off, suggest to him that his Father is a hard man and a miser, or that we must placate Him with our good behavior. It takes a lot to get Jesus mad but that will do it!
This upsets Jesus because it is a character assasination of the one who has filled our universe with air and stars and birds and wheat and love and music in staggering amounts.
When we treat Him (God) as a demanding despot, whom we must trick into accepting us through our religiuous efforts, we miss The Thanksgiving turkey dinner completely.
We please Him when we bound into his lap without fear, even though we have no right to be there. We know we are cowards and liars (even little ones) and scaredy cats and cheaters and lazy yada yada. But we bound into His lap because we believe in His eternal love for us more than our unworthiness..and this my friend pleases Him.
Remember what the great Apostle of love, John says? He who fears is not perfected in love; because fear has to do with punishment. John expresses it in an even more radical way: God IS Love.
Paul in Hebrews gives us a different set of images to show us what faith looks like: He tells us to enter the throne room boldly (gulp!). I think this suggests this faith stuff is not that easy.
Imagine a homeless person with rags (us) boldly entering the kings throne room and getting into His lap.
Faith takes guts and audacity and shamelessness. It really is more difficult than works..where we think if we press certain levers (obedience, prayer, etc) God on a string will dance our dance.
No we boldly throw ourselves fearlessly into His mercifull lap. Talk about bungee jumping from the High bridge!
So I dare you..enter the room of grace boldly. Jesus has gone before us and made things right. The father is dying (literally) to see you.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
"For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through Him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." Colossians 1:19
While swimming laps today I began to think about the above verse from Colossians. In this new testament book Collosians, Paul makes some very grand statements about Christ. Examples: He fills all thinsg..in Him all things consist etc.
When I thought about all things being reconciled..I thought of all the things and relationships in my life that I could not really call "reconciled". For example I thought of choices I had made as a youth that I still wish I had done differently. Here I am 58 years old and I still wish I had another chance to do some things differently from when I was 18 or 19! I continually dream of having that chance and trying to change a choice or a relationship..but I just can't get there. My dreams haunt me.
So although God has reconciled all things to himself..through the cross, how do I reconcile my lost dreams and live in peace with them.
Well I don't have this all worked out yet..but I'll bet the answer is faith. Faith is the magic key to all things..(correct faith in the right person!!).
So could this inward trial or affliction of wishing for another chance to do things different really be the Spirit groaning within me? Paul tells us in Romans 8 that the Spirit helps us pray..and we don't know how..so the Spirit groans within us, with pleadings too deep for words.. Is it God's kingdom coming into view where we are all reconciled to each other as we are to Him? Is this the prayer of "thy kingdom come"? Is it the the hope of the Lion lying down with the lamb?
The reason I say all this is I/we so often see ourselves so independantly from this world Paul describes in Colossians where Christ is all in all..where Christ fills all things. Maybe this isn't some hopeless unending dream I have every few weeks, where I miss the boat again on a life choice; but the Spirit slowly pulling my little corner of this tattered universe into full reconciliation with myself, and others ( I am allready fully reconciled to him case closed).
Paul a few verses later in Colossians talks about filling up in his body the afflictions of Christ which are lacking!
Now I don't pretend to have any idea of what Paul is talking about in this puzzling verse; but could these inner groans we all have of sadnesses and regrets perhaps be the Spirit knitting a new creation in us and our fellows.
Well I sure like thinking that rather than the fact I am an aging man..getting to the later
stages of my life, with an unreconciled past that I can't do a damn thing about.
The whole creation is groaning, says Paul, until the Sons of God are revealed. The earth is in the first stages of childbirth and from what I hear that is a long painful labor. The good news is that the beautiful baby is coming! The joyous reunion with our friends and family and enemies and best of all our sweet Lord Jesus is at hand. For now we live in faith and patience with our inner afflictions..experiencing the first fruits of the Spirit..the down payment on our inheritance.
Ok Scott B. whats your point?? Well what I am trying to say is when you suffer internally over some unreconciled fact in your life..a past event or present, know that you are not alone. The Spirit is bringing forth the peaceable kingdom in His due time and he is doing it possibly..just possibly... through you.
While swimming laps today I began to think about the above verse from Colossians. In this new testament book Collosians, Paul makes some very grand statements about Christ. Examples: He fills all thinsg..in Him all things consist etc.
When I thought about all things being reconciled..I thought of all the things and relationships in my life that I could not really call "reconciled". For example I thought of choices I had made as a youth that I still wish I had done differently. Here I am 58 years old and I still wish I had another chance to do some things differently from when I was 18 or 19! I continually dream of having that chance and trying to change a choice or a relationship..but I just can't get there. My dreams haunt me.
So although God has reconciled all things to himself..through the cross, how do I reconcile my lost dreams and live in peace with them.
Well I don't have this all worked out yet..but I'll bet the answer is faith. Faith is the magic key to all things..(correct faith in the right person!!).
So could this inward trial or affliction of wishing for another chance to do things different really be the Spirit groaning within me? Paul tells us in Romans 8 that the Spirit helps us pray..and we don't know how..so the Spirit groans within us, with pleadings too deep for words.. Is it God's kingdom coming into view where we are all reconciled to each other as we are to Him? Is this the prayer of "thy kingdom come"? Is it the the hope of the Lion lying down with the lamb?
The reason I say all this is I/we so often see ourselves so independantly from this world Paul describes in Colossians where Christ is all in all..where Christ fills all things. Maybe this isn't some hopeless unending dream I have every few weeks, where I miss the boat again on a life choice; but the Spirit slowly pulling my little corner of this tattered universe into full reconciliation with myself, and others ( I am allready fully reconciled to him case closed).
Paul a few verses later in Colossians talks about filling up in his body the afflictions of Christ which are lacking!
Now I don't pretend to have any idea of what Paul is talking about in this puzzling verse; but could these inner groans we all have of sadnesses and regrets perhaps be the Spirit knitting a new creation in us and our fellows.
Well I sure like thinking that rather than the fact I am an aging man..getting to the later
stages of my life, with an unreconciled past that I can't do a damn thing about.
The whole creation is groaning, says Paul, until the Sons of God are revealed. The earth is in the first stages of childbirth and from what I hear that is a long painful labor. The good news is that the beautiful baby is coming! The joyous reunion with our friends and family and enemies and best of all our sweet Lord Jesus is at hand. For now we live in faith and patience with our inner afflictions..experiencing the first fruits of the Spirit..the down payment on our inheritance.
Ok Scott B. whats your point?? Well what I am trying to say is when you suffer internally over some unreconciled fact in your life..a past event or present, know that you are not alone. The Spirit is bringing forth the peaceable kingdom in His due time and he is doing it possibly..just possibly... through you.
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