Luke 5:32 - I Have Come to Call Sinners

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

Luke 5:32

 

 

As Christians, it is our highest purpose and greatest responsibility to display Christ's love here on earth. He is our model for action on every level since He, as both God and man, was the only person able to ever fulfill God's standard of righteousness. Through coming to faith in Him, I have the standing of being right with God without having the actual ability to be perfectly righteous, as Jesus was. It's through God's grace that I can be His child. Not through anything that I have done besides confess Jesus as my own.

The hard part about being a Christian, to me, is walking out my faith in today's world. I take my faith seriously. I want to share it. I want others to love God as I do. Not because of some domineering reason but because I have tasted and seen God's goodness and genuinely believe that a relationship with Him is the best way to have a fulfilled, whole life. In this sense, I view truth as extremely black and white. A relationship with Christ is what is needed for true life in this world and for eternal life in the next.

Period.

Others don't believe this. That is plain to see. The fact that America is no longer a "Christian" nation is a fact so old that I'm surprised that people are somehow shocked by this. That Christianity is being attacked more heavily in recent days is also very obvious. I can feel the hatred directed toward anything having to do with the biblical concept of God and especially even the name Jesus. As an idealist, I could be paralyzed, angered, disturbed, or frightened by this (as I have been at different times), and I could dig in a trench and parrot my (true) black and white views and demand that everyone else see the world the way I do OR ELSE...

But...

Looking at everything that Jesus did, who He was, I simply can't do that.

That's not what He did.

Jesus was completely perfect and sinless. He is fully God. Fully in the right. He had every right to stay in heaven and leave man to their sinful selves. He even had the right to destroy the earth the second the first sin was committed. But that's not what happened. From the foundations of the world, the plan was that Jesus was going to come down into this messy, disgusting world in order to redeem it.

He was inherently misunderstood. The religious rulers who should have been able to pinpoint every prophecy speaking of Him from their sacred texts were the very ones who believed he was a blasphemer, who believed He was sinful because he was too close to those they considered "less than" - the prostitutes, the thieving tax collectors, the adulterers. Jesus spent His time speaking the gospel largely to the most unlikely people who, in turn accepted Him, moved by the love He showed that made them beautiful. The ones who had a price on His head were the ones saying long elaborate prayers in the streets, showing off their piety for all to see.

Jesus said, "I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32) and "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you"  (Matthew 21:31).

He ultimately died because He got involved in this world and its messiness. He didn't compromise one ounce of His righteousness to hug, heal, and associate with sinners. He confirmed the glory of who God truly is. Not some distant father who WANTS to fry everyone's shorts. The Bible states that Jesus is the express image of God the father. He displays what God is truly like.

The glory of God, his pure righteousness and pure love and pure grace mingled together, is what makes Him worthy of worship. This is what Jesus's life, death, and resurrection showed.

In many political issues, I find myself pulled in two different directions. To those who believe, it often seems as if I'm caught up too much in shades of gray. To those who don't believe, my views are not relativistic and thus do not suit them. I'm not too concerned with what either side thinks of me, to be honest. I want my life and behavior to line up with scripture, and I want my behavior to be a copy of Jesus.

I ask myself the hard questions every day. Would Jesus be more outspoken about homosexuality than I am? Would he be disgusted that I often argue on the side of gay rights and transgenderism simply because I feel that, in the Christian community, they have no advocates? Where are the Christians concerned with sharing God's love to them. Why is there so much disgust and hatred toward this group when, according to my Bible, we've all sinned and fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23)?

I really have no exact precedent in the Bible for how Jesus would treat these issues. But I know that he did reach out to the Samaritan woman at the well who had had five husbands and was living with someone who was not her husband. He didn't start tearing into her. He acknowledged the wrong of her situation, but then he engaged her in a conversation about worship. And she went away from that well a changed woman who ended up evangelizing her entire city simply because of the love and insight He had shown her.

Jesus was the one that stood between an angry mob ready to stone an adulteress caught in the act. According to the Old Testament law, God's standard, she was guilty and should be stoned. But did Jesus say, "Sure, you guys are technically right on this. Go ahead and kill her?" No. He wrote words in the dust (much speculated over), and told the one without sin to cast the first stone. Did that woman die? Nope. Did Jesus excuse her sin? Nope. He told her to go and sin no more. I can only guess that his grace and protection fused with truth caused a transformation in her life.

So if Jesus walked into a bathroom with a transgender person, I really can't see Him acting disgusted. He knows all of us. All of our sins, imperfections, hang ups. Everything. I can honestly see Him engaging that person for His kingdom - wherever their need is. Obviously, a bathroom is not a great conversation area, but you get my drift.

Politics aside, the actual people who make up the gay, lesbian, and transgender community are not going to see the beauty of the gospel until they see it in the eyes of a Jesus-follower who cares more about a soul (that does not understand the truth about the fierce, impassioned love that God has for all people) than about a label (given falsely by a society that also doesn't understand the depths of his love).

In good conscience, I believe the best thing I can do is treat everyone I meet, no matter their labels, as a fellow traveler in need of God's grace. If this means abandoning politics or angering people who want to raise the mote and live with a sense of superiority, then I guess that's what I'm going to have to do. I'm trying to live for an audience of one.

Again, walking this narrow, narrow road, I still feel uncomfortable and can only pray that God is pleased, or at the very least not extremely offended. Am I denying the lordship of Jesus in this? Am I excusing people's sins? God, after all, does love people enough to have tough love. Am I becoming morally relativistic? Shouldn't I be loudly and proudly affirming that sin is sin? I still believe God's plan for marriage is the way marriage works best and is what pleases Him, but, frankly, I feel that the LGBT community pretty much understands that Christians believe that at this point.

An experience I treasure is when a coworker came out to me, stating that she didn't want to tell many other people at work but that she felt comfortable telling me because she knew I wouldn't start treating her differently. She knew all about my convictions and beliefs. We'd had tons of conversations about faith by that point. I felt honored that she felt being authentic with me was safe. I'd like to think that, at some point, that sense of safety she felt would also be connected to Jesus.

Because He's the one who loves us the way we are - too much to leave us that way.

[Disclaimer: If I, in any way, sound like I think I have anything together about this issue or life, then 1) I failed in what I was trying to convey in this post, so 2) please realize I am a wreck still trying to live life day to day and have absolutely nothing together. 3) Whatever I might happen to have together is because God rearranged it into being into a semblance of not being a crappy mess. 4) If I am in serious error, I apologize to God because I am not trying to misrepresent Him in any way.]

Joel 2:25a - Restore to You

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten...
Joel 2:25a

We all have those days that we just can't forget. The anniversary, the first I love you, the birth of someone special. But we also have those dates that are not so beloved, remembered for deaths of loved ones, of heartaches, of disaster.

This past week last year marked the beginning of an ordeal that I will never forget. Each time I write the date, I remember where I was last year at this time, and believe me, each time it feels like a victory. Like a "look who's laughing now" in Satan's face.

I am glad I am not where I was then. It was my absolute lowest, most vulnerable state. I didn't think I would be walking back in the doors of my house in peace and safety - EVER. To put it in perspective, I recently survived a near miss of a tornado dancing closely around my house with a lot less fear than others find normal, and it's due to how terrified I was of the fallacies my own mind created for the 12 days (and longer) surrounding this ordeal last year.

Writing the dates in this new year reminds me that we get a new start with God and that he can and does replace what the enemy destroys in our lives. Last year, if you would have told me I'd be sitting here at my computer lazily typing these words, wondering how much of this story to include and how much to leave out like I was selecting pictures for a photo album, I probably would've been too much out of my mind to even understand what you were saying.

But here I am.

A person satan didn't destroy.

A person that will keep getting up again and again.

Maybe I will have another crazy, manic episode like that.

Maybe I won't.

But I'm going to continue being a picture of the person God restores because I'm never giving in.

Philippians 3:13b-14 - Forgetting the Past

I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philippians 3:13b-14

One thing has been brought to my attention lately, and it's pretty self-explanatory. You can't move forward into what God has for you if you're always looking back into the past. Even if whatever happened in the past was traumatic and haunts your mind, even if it was angering and that person still hasn't made amends, even if it was wonderful beyond belief, if you plant yourself there, you're stuck.

The freeing thing about looking forward to what lies ahead is that you can, through God's help, free yourself from guilt over past failures. So you totally blew it? Learn from it, and start again tomorrow with that much new knowledge about yourself and what trips you up.

I love the race metaphor in this passage. Just like any good racer, you aren't going to be looking back. You're going to be ever longing to get to the end, but you can't use all your energy in one speedy burst at the beginning and then fall down in defeat because you feel tired. It's about persistence. You train, treading the same path again and again until you master your breathing and your stride and how to hydrate properly.

And it's all about the riches that God wants to give us. It's His plan. 

This year is all shiny and fresh and new. The goals I am continuing are well-worn.

I pray that by God's help I can forget about the failures I have experienced in certain areas in the past and focus on doing the next right thing. 

I hereby strip off any labels I have accepted that are not of God and will determine to view myself as He views me.

We don't need a new year to make new goals. 

We just need a new mindset - that of relying on God to show us what areas we need to change and of trusting that He, through the Holy Spirit, will  complete the work that He began (Philippians 1:6).

1 Chronicles 16:11 - His Strength

Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

1 Chronicles 16:11

This year I refuse to make a new year's resolution. I can't presume to know if my house will even be standing from one day to the next, let alone know what sort of journey God wants to take me on this year.

I do know that right now I am feeling called to STAY THE COURSE.

I want to remember that the little, daily disciplines in life are more important than can be imagined, not just the big things that get a lot of attention.

I want to make sure I am spending my time with my son in a way that will leave me no regrets when he's older. 

I want to be a wife that loves my acts-of-service dude in a way that leaves no doubt of my love. 

I want to make my house friendly and open and inviting to others so that I can always feel comfortable inviting others over. 

I want to continue my goal from last year to pursue health - mind, body, soul, spirit - however God sees fit to connect the pieces of that journey.

Most of all, I want to seek God's face in whatever situation comes my way. I praise Him for sustaining me through trials in the past couple of years and making this past year one of the best despite some bumps in the road.

1 Corinthians 12:18 - Members of the Body

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

1 Corinthians 12:19

The passage leading up to this likens each person in the church to a part of the body of Christ and establishes that all are important and necessary - we shouldn't be mourning the fact that we aren't an eye or a foot or whatever part of the body we want to be. Not every person in the church is meant to be a missionary or a singer or an up front person who typically receives a lot of recognition for whatever they do. 

God knows each person and gives them a calling and a purpose that is theirs. Some people have humble callings, things that they or we may never know were important until we see that person being rewarded in heaven for being faithful to the task they were called to do. Each act of obedience and worship creates a ripple effect of fruitfulness that there is no possible way for us to discern from of limited perspective here on earth.

This is really encouraging. After prayer and seeking God's direction, if we faithfully do whatever God calls us to do at any given moment, we are pleasing Him and making a difference in eternity. Seeking his will is not that hard. We start with the Bible, move out in to a more specific area where we are gifted and passionate, and then get to it.

One thing that is difficult in churches sometimes, is dealing with others. We often don't understand others' perspectives or feel that what they are doing is not important when, in fact, we, again, do not have a qualified perspective to judge what a given person is doing for Christ at a given point in time. 

1 Corinthians 4:6 says:

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

We may not always perfectly understand or appreciate the people we rub shoulders with from Sunday to Sunday, but the fact of the matter is that GOD has placed them in the body for reasons of His own. If we find ways of empathizing with each other, of putting ourselves into each others shoes and appreciating the gifts that each person possesses, we will become more effective for the cause of Christ and bring more glory to Him.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 - Let Your Words Be Few

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
Ecclesiastes 5:2

I haven't blogged in a while because I feel that I have, over the course of my life, thrown words around without really pausing to consider their greater meaning or consequences. Just because I can write doesn't mean I am called to write. Just because I have a thought doesn't mean everyone needs to know about it. When I'm presenting words in this blog regarding faith and my relationship with God, I need to more carefully consider this fact. The internet makes the words more public, more resounding (even if I have just a tiny audience).

I have learned many things in my Christian walk this year, and this - keeping my mouth closed - is one of them. God is sovereign, and we, as mere humans, cannot presume to understand his mysterious ways or what he may be doing in our lives. Today I just read the portion of Job where Job gets a big dressing down from God for all the complaints he has brought before him.

God is GOD. 

Sitting on His throne in heaven.

Just this fact alone hurts my brain a little to a lot. 

Yes, God does want to hear our hearts and our complaints even in the hardest times, but ... this focus verse suggests we need to keep our mouths shut if and when possible.

We should keeping silence before the holiness of God at times, not requesting something that, in all practicality, may not be the best for us or may be harder to deal with than we imagine from our finite perspective.

At the outset of this weird, challenging, and still extremely blessed year, I pledged before God and the world that I wanted to get healthy in mind, body, soul, and spirit. Great goal. But do I perfectly understand how those things are woven together? Can I presume to tell God want I, a peon made of dust, want to work on this year? 

God is leading me and guiding me in the areas that I asked and prayed for, addressing some long term strongholds. But it's in a way that I did not expect. Definitely, it's not in a way I would have chosen if I were writing the story.

Still, I am excited to be led by his hand in a way I do not know.

And I'm trying to remember to keep silent and listen, to let God teach me.

Life Verse: Isaiah 55:8-9 - Beyond Anything You Can Imagine

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

As sinful, imperfect humans, we often try to take God's job away from him. We use our own methods of logic, applying what we can see now and what has happened in past experiences to determine how we think God should work. We direct our prayers simply to get one result - whatever it is that we want or need at the time. This isn't necessarily bad. God wants us to call on Him in the places of our deepest needs, interceding on behalf of those we love and pleading for aid in our own problems.

Sometimes, instead of submitting to God's will in prayer, however, we attempt to force God's hand in a situation. We try to manipulate Him or others so that we get our desired result, much in the same way that Sarah tried to give Abraham a child through her servant girl, Hagar, thus "helping" God in his promise to provide Abraham with a son. We often act on opportunities we see as good while forgetting that God knows what's best and that we need only to wait on Him.

God's way is not the easiest way. It requires patience and faith. The daily lifting of one's eyes to the heavens to see what type of deliverance God is going to provide for that day. Sometimes it's a miracle that blows our minds, but often it's just strength to take another step in the direction He is leading us. Following Him takes discipline, denying ourselves of what we want most in order to receive what he has for us, which is far better.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

It's courage to submit to His will even when we believe there is no way His plans for us could outweigh the beauty of our own dreams and our own aspirations for ourselves. We may have awesome dreams, but unless we are dreaming with the Father's heart and will in mind, we are settling for less than God intended. As the old saying goes, "God saves His best for those who leave the choice up to Him."

If we have the ability to dream good dreams, how much better dreams for us can God have? As I used to say in college all the time, God wants to knock our socks off. We just have to be patient and let Him do it.

This reminds me of a favorite poem (actually a hymn):

He leads us on by paths we did not know.
Upward He leads us, tho' our steps be slow;
Tho' oft we faint and falter on the way,
Tho' storms and darkness oft obscure the day,
Yet, when the clouds are gone,
We know He leads us on.

He leads us on thro' all the' un-quiet years;
Past all our dream-land hopes, and doubts, and fears
He guides our steps; thro' all the tangled maze
Of losses, sorrows, and o'er-clouded days
We know His will is done,
And still He leads us on.

And soon or late the rugged field of strife
Shall catch the sunlight that transfigures life;
The heart shall win the discipline of pain,
And know the struggle has not been in vain;
Its doubts and fears shall cease,
And Christ will bring it peace.

-Hiram O. Wiley