You know how there are different levels of lessons you learn? Like, there are lessons you can learn from one experience. You can learn a lesson from a series of events. You can learn a lesson from a class or a service. You can learn a lesson from someone's actions.
I've been learning a lesson for years now that I didn't realize I was learning until about a year ago. I suppose it's a lesson that I've been learning all my life, but at the same time, it's a lesson that I've really only mentally attended for about two years now.
This lesson hasn't come easily or without many smaller lessons contributing to this greater lesson. This lesson has been taught through many points of laughter… through being a part of and/or witnessing countless debates, arguments, fights!.. Through many misunderstandings.. Through many miscommunications.. many opportunities to forgive.
This lesson has had many teachers: My parents, my friends, my co-workers… that guy at Wal-Mart who apparently thought sentences are incomplete without the use of profanities.. the lady at the Cheesecake Factory who waited on my friend and me, who went on to basically tell us her life story and explain how she's barely holding on and pretty much expectant of the worst case scenario……. Basically anyone and everyone who I've encountered, witnessed or taken mental note of has been a teacher in this lesson. Then there is the author of the curriculum: Jesus.
One day I was very frustrated with a situation, a particular estrangement I was experiencing with a very close friend of mine. I was talking with the author (praying) about this when He just decided to give me a 3 word synopsis of this lesson:
"People+Are+People."
Uh… Yeah….
Those three words would put a context for many of the dealings I had experienced (including that present estrangement.) Those three words, as simple as they were (that rhymed), would give me an understanding that would help with every challenge with man I would face from then on. Every stupid misunderstanding, every personality conflict, every offense… could be explained, not answered or solved, but explained in "People are People."
THREE words! Only three words, yet so many angles from which those words could be viewed.
Every person I had ever seen, talked to, dealt with…etc.. all of them were people. All of US are people. Moreover, people are an imperfect people. Now before you start yelling at me "That's bad doctrine! I've been made perfect by the Blood of Jesus!" You are right in a sense. I don't know that I'd say we're "perfect." I believe the accurate Biblical term is "righteous." Because of the Blood of Jesus, we've been washed clean, redeemed, restored and placed back in right standing (righteousness) with God. But I like the way the Apostle Paul said it to the Philippians, - "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:12-14)
If there was someone after Jesus who could've said, "Ya know.. I've pretty much got this down" it would've been the Apostle Paul. Yet, he knew that he was not yet perfected. If you jump back to the beginning of the same letter to the Philippians, you can see where he said, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6) Paul new that God still had more work to do in him and more work to do in others. He was writing to believers, born again christians, and to them he said, "He will complete it in you UNTIL the day of Jesus Christ (A.K.A. the second coming of Jesus.) In other words, until Jesus comes back or we go to be with him via bodily death, He's still gonna be working on us.. ALL of us!
Sometimes we get all bent out of shape when someone does something we don't agree with. "Why would they do that?!?.. HOW could they do that?.." - "That's not how I was raised!" There are also all the times in which people become upset with us (yay my favorite!) "WHAT?!?!… I NEVER said that!" - "Are you serious?.. that's not what I meant!" - "I was just joking!" - "Why would that bother them so much? Anyone else would've laughed at that!" - "Surely they would know that THAT was never my intention…."
We must realize that everyone we ever encounter or witness in any manner whatsoever, is a human being. Jesus was the only human that was fully God and fully man at the same time. The rest of us are still being perfected, having to constantly put our flesh in its place, renew our mind and feed our spirits.
Sometimes we expect of people what we should only expect from God. We expect people to handle situations flawlessly and if they don't, we see them differently or do really what is called "judging." Before you get to mad at me, I'm not saying that we think they're no longer righteous or not saved… and I'm not saying that we put ourselves in God's place as "THE Judge." I'm saying that we perceive them differently. The word "judge" in verb form means: to form an opinion or conclusion about. With that definition in mind it seems like we do judge quite a bit more than we think we do. Oh I mean we'll "walk in love"…. "I'll love em, but I'm gonna keep my eye on them." A conclusion is made based on their actions. We put them in a class or category that is treated differently.
When I'm faced with thoughts of "They messed up!?.." or "they messed up AGAIN?!".. the most sobering and probably the most healthy question I can ask myself is, "How many times have you been forgiven and trusted with things AFTER you've failed?.. How many times has God forgiven you Stephen? And for the same thing!?.." I'm thankful that the Jesus who said, "forgive seventy times seven" is the same Jesus whom I've had to ask for such forgiveness. He is also the same Jesus who said, "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.." (Matt 6:15)
But the real factor here is just that we must forgive, but really the manner of forgiveness. Col 3:12-13 says, "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." Notice the wording "even AS Christ forgave you, so you also must do." So it's not just that we must, it's that we must forgive AS Christ forgave us, or the same way He forgave us.
I conclude two things about the way Jesus forgives: 1- He forgives and he forgets. Once you've been cleansed by the Blood of Jesus, you have been justified (just as if it never happened.) He doesn't hold things over our heads and treat us differently. Remember, the blood of bulls and goats in the old testament provided ATONEMENT (the covering of sins), Jesus' blood provides REMISSION (the removal) of sins. They're gone! So when He forgives us and doesn't bring out faults, shortcomings and mistakes back up, that is the same WAY we are to forgive. 2- He forgives BEFORE we ever sin against him. He gave His life for sins that we would commit 2,000 years later. His forgiveness is there, waiting for any and all who would confess their sins and receive his forgiveness. So my new position when someone wrongs me is this, "I forgive." They don't even have to ask. Even if they never ask, I want to be like Jesus and He provided forgiveness before I ever came to Him asking for it.
We must realize that the rest of our lives we will be dealing with people who are imperfect. These people, (ourselves included) that have personalities different than ours, backgrounds different than ours, weaknesses different than ours, strengths different than ours, tempers different than ours, views different than ours……. Therefore, there is no formula for our dealings with others. Each person must be treated as the unique individual that they are. I've found every time I pray "Lord change them" or "Fix them Lord" I'm usually the one that He ends up working on. When I try to show Him their laziness, He'll show me my impatience. I had to realize it's His job to work on people not mine. What is my job is to Love them.
1 Cor 13 tells us what I believe are two of the most powerful traits of Love. Love keeps no record of wrongs and Love believes all things. We are called to walk in love with EVERYONE and the in which we are called to operate is the love which keeps no record of wrongs. Just remember how much you've been forgiven and that'll really help you get over someone else's error. Consider the woman in John chapter 8. All the people wanted to stone her because she'd been caught red handed in the act of adultery (Que Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me.") When Jesus said, "Let him who has no sin cast the first stone." Funny how no one could bring themselves to stone her. Jesus told her, "I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more."
That second trait was "Love believes all things." The Amplified Bible says, "Love is every ready to believe the best of every person." WOW!.. Love not only forgets when someone wrongs them, but it also goes on to believe and expect the best from them.
I know a young man who has made his fair share of bad choices. Mess up after mess up after mess up with no sign of change in sight. One day he did what everyone was expecting him to do. He messed up. I went to talk with him. 30 minutes of listening to him vent showed me that he felt nobody liked him, everybody thought he was a bad person…etc. I gave him some counsel, ministered to him and at the end of the talk, when I had no logical reason to do so I said, "I believe in you! I know you're going to do great! I see greatness inside of you waiting to come out. You're a mighty man of God!" I kinda almost wanted to question myself as I was saying these things, but I know it was the Love of God speaking through me. When I said those things something happened. He looked at me like he had never heard anything like that in his LIFE! He smiled from ear to ear. He teared up. He hugged me like I was his "B-F-F." That was in January, it's now April and he is a completely different person now. Other people have noticed the change in Him. He's always happy. The things that he used to do in rebellion he doesn't do anymore. He has a genuine love for God. All this, because one person believed the best in them even when there was no reason to outside of love. (This isn't to pat me on the back or say it was because of me. It could've been any donkey speaking.) When one person released God's love by believing in him and not holding his past against him, it opened him up to receive the love that God had for him. As long as he thought everyone else was mad at him and hated him, he thought the same about God. But when loved and believed in by someone, he was ready to be loved and believed in by God. Love believes the best in everyone. You believe the best and if someone fails.. you forgive and go right back to believing the best! Isn't that what Jesus has done for us? :)
I love you and believe in you! And even more importantly than that, Jesus loves you and believes in you!
-Stephen
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
This One's For the People
You know how there are different levels of lessons you learn? Like, there are lessons you can learn from one experience. You can learn a lesson from a series of events. You can learn a lesson from a class or a service. You can learn a lesson from someone's actions.
I've been learning a lesson for years now that I didn't realize I was learning until about a year ago. I suppose it's a lesson that I've been learning all my life, but at the same time, it's a lesson that I've really only mentally attended for about two years now.
This lesson hasn't come easily or without many smaller lessons contributing to this greater lesson. This lesson has been taught through many points of laughter… through being a part of and/or witnessing countless debates, arguments, fights!.. Through many misunderstandings.. Through many miscommunications.. many opportunities to forgive.
This lesson has had many teachers: My parents, my friends, my co-workers… that guy at Wal-Mart who apparently thought sentences are incomplete without the use of profanities.. the lady at the Cheesecake Factory who waited on my friend and me, who went on to basically tell us her life story and explain how she's barely holding on and pretty much expectant of the worst case scenario……. Basically anyone and everyone who I've encountered, witnessed or taken mental note of has been a teacher in this lesson. Then there is the author of the curriculum: Jesus.
One day I was very frustrated with a situation, a particular estrangement I was experiencing with a very close friend of mine. I was talking with the author (praying) about this when He just decided to give me a 3 word synopsis of this lesson:
"People+Are+People."
Uh… Yeah….
Those three words would put a context for many of the dealings I had experienced (including that present estrangement.) Those three words, as simple as they were (that rhymed), would give me an understanding that would help with every challenge with man I would face from then on. Every stupid misunderstanding, every personality conflict, every offense… could be explained, not answered or solved, but explained in "People are People."
THREE words! Only three words, yet so many angles from which those words could be viewed.
Every person I had ever seen, talked to, dealt with…etc.. all of them were people. All of US are people. Moreover, people are an imperfect people. Now before you start yelling at me "That's bad doctrine! I've been made perfect by the Blood of Jesus!" You are right in a sense. I don't know that I'd say we're "perfect." I believe the accurate Biblical term is "righteous." Because of the Blood of Jesus, we've been washed clean, redeemed, restored and placed back in right standing (righteousness) with God. But I like the way the Apostle Paul said it to the Philippians, - "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:12-14)
If there was someone after Jesus who could've said, "Ya know.. I've pretty much got this down" it would've been the Apostle Paul. Yet, he knew that he was not yet perfected. If you jump back to the beginning of the same letter to the Philippians, you can see where he said, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6) Paul new that God still had more work to do in him and more work to do in others. He was writing to believers, born again christians, and to them he said, "He will complete it in you UNTIL the day of Jesus Christ (A.K.A. the second coming of Jesus.) In other words, until Jesus comes back or we go to be with him via bodily death, He's still gonna be working on us.. ALL of us!
Sometimes we get all bent out of shape when someone does something we don't agree with. "Why would they do that?!?.. HOW could they do that?.." - "That's not how I was raised!" There are also all the times in which people become upset with us (yay my favorite!) "WHAT?!?!… I NEVER said that!" - "Are you serious?.. that's not what I meant!" - "I was just joking!" - "Why would that bother them so much? Anyone else would've laughed at that!" - "Surely they would know that THAT was never my intention…."
We must realize that everyone we ever encounter or witness in any manner whatsoever, is a human being. Jesus was the only human that was fully God and fully man at the same time. The rest of us are still being perfected, having to constantly put our flesh in its place, renew our mind and feed our spirits.
Sometimes we expect of people what we should only expect from God. We expect people to handle situations flawlessly and if they don't, we see them differently or do really what is called "judging." Before you get to mad at me, I'm not saying that we think they're no longer righteous or not saved… and I'm not saying that we put ourselves in God's place as "THE Judge." I'm saying that we perceive them differently. The word "judge" in verb form means: to form an opinion or conclusion about. With that definition in mind it seems like we do judge quite a bit more than we think we do. Oh I mean we'll "walk in love"…. "I'll love em, but I'm gonna keep my eye on them." A conclusion is made based on their actions. We put them in a class or category that is treated differently.
When I'm faced with thoughts of "They messed up!?.." or "they messed up AGAIN?!".. the most sobering and probably the most healthy question I can ask myself is, "How many times have you been forgiven and trusted with things AFTER you've failed?.. How many times has God forgiven you Stephen? And for the same thing!?.." I'm thankful that the Jesus who said, "forgive seventy times seven" is the same Jesus whom I've had to ask for such forgiveness. He is also the same Jesus who said, "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.." (Matt 6:15)
But the real factor here is just that we must forgive, but really the manner of forgiveness. Col 3:12-13 says, "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." Notice the wording "even AS Christ forgave you, so you also must do." So it's not just that we must, it's that we must forgive AS Christ forgave us, or the same way He forgave us.
I conclude two things about the way Jesus forgives: 1- He forgives and he forgets. Once you've been cleansed by the Blood of Jesus, you have been justified (just as if it never happened.) He doesn't hold things over our heads and treat us differently. Remember, the blood of bulls and goats in the old testament provided ATONEMENT (the covering of sins), Jesus' blood provides REMISSION (the removal) of sins. They're gone! So when He forgives us and doesn't bring out faults, shortcomings and mistakes back up, that is the same WAY we are to forgive. 2- He forgives BEFORE we ever sin against him. He gave His life for sins that we would commit 2,000 years later. His forgiveness is there, waiting for any and all who would confess their sins and receive his forgiveness. So my new position when someone wrongs me is this, "I forgive." They don't even have to ask. Even if they never ask, I want to be like Jesus and He provided forgiveness before I ever came to Him asking for it.
We must realize that the rest of our lives we will be dealing with people who are imperfect. These people, (ourselves included) that have personalities different than ours, backgrounds different than ours, weaknesses different than ours, strengths different than ours, tempers different than ours, views different than ours……. Therefore, there is no formula for our dealings with others. Each person must be treated as the unique individual that they are. I've found every time I pray "Lord change them" or "Fix them Lord" I'm usually the one that He ends up working on. When I try to show Him their laziness, He'll show me my impatience. I had to realize it's His job to work on people not mine. What is my job is to Love them.
1 Cor 13 tells us what I believe are two of the most powerful traits of Love. Love keeps no record of wrongs and Love believes all things. We are called to walk in love with EVERYONE and the in which we are called to operate is the love which keeps no record of wrongs. Just remember how much you've been forgiven and that'll really help you get over someone else's error. Consider the woman in John chapter 8. All the people wanted to stone her because she'd been caught red handed in the act of adultery (Que Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me.") When Jesus said, "Let him who has no sin cast the first stone." Funny how no one could bring themselves to stone her. Jesus told her, "I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more."
That second trait was "Love believes all things." The Amplified Bible says, "Love is every ready to believe the best of every person." WOW!.. Love not only forgets when someone wrongs them, but it also goes on to believe and expect the best from them.
I know a young man who has made his fair share of bad choices. Mess up after mess up after mess up with no sign of change in sight. One day he did what everyone was expecting him to do. He messed up. I went to talk with him. 30 minutes of listening to him vent showed me that he felt nobody liked him, everybody thought he was a bad person…etc. I gave him some counsel, ministered to him and at the end of the talk, when I had no logical reason to do so I said, "I believe in you! I know you're going to do great! I see greatness inside of you waiting to come out. You're a mighty man of God!" I kinda almost wanted to question myself as I was saying these things, but I know it was the Love of God speaking through me. When I said those things something happened. He looked at me like he had never heard anything like that in his LIFE! He smiled from ear to ear. He teared up. He hugged me like I was his "B-F-F." That was in January, it's now April and he is a completely different person now. Other people have noticed the change in Him. He's always happy. The things that he used to do in rebellion he doesn't do anymore. He has a genuine love for God. All this, because one person believed the best in them even when there was no reason to outside of love. (This isn't to pat me on the back or say it was because of me. It could've been any donkey speaking.) When one person released God's love by believing in him and not holding his past against him, it opened him up to receive the love that God had for him. As long as he thought everyone else was mad at him and hated him, he thought the same about God. But when loved and believed in by someone, he was ready to be loved and believed in by God. Love believes the best in everyone. You believe the best and if someone fails.. you forgive and go right back to believing the best! Isn't that what Jesus has done for us? :)
I love you and believe in you! And even more importantly than that, Jesus loves you and believes in you!
-Stephen
I've been learning a lesson for years now that I didn't realize I was learning until about a year ago. I suppose it's a lesson that I've been learning all my life, but at the same time, it's a lesson that I've really only mentally attended for about two years now.
This lesson hasn't come easily or without many smaller lessons contributing to this greater lesson. This lesson has been taught through many points of laughter… through being a part of and/or witnessing countless debates, arguments, fights!.. Through many misunderstandings.. Through many miscommunications.. many opportunities to forgive.
This lesson has had many teachers: My parents, my friends, my co-workers… that guy at Wal-Mart who apparently thought sentences are incomplete without the use of profanities.. the lady at the Cheesecake Factory who waited on my friend and me, who went on to basically tell us her life story and explain how she's barely holding on and pretty much expectant of the worst case scenario……. Basically anyone and everyone who I've encountered, witnessed or taken mental note of has been a teacher in this lesson. Then there is the author of the curriculum: Jesus.
One day I was very frustrated with a situation, a particular estrangement I was experiencing with a very close friend of mine. I was talking with the author (praying) about this when He just decided to give me a 3 word synopsis of this lesson:
"People+Are+People."
Uh… Yeah….
Those three words would put a context for many of the dealings I had experienced (including that present estrangement.) Those three words, as simple as they were (that rhymed), would give me an understanding that would help with every challenge with man I would face from then on. Every stupid misunderstanding, every personality conflict, every offense… could be explained, not answered or solved, but explained in "People are People."
THREE words! Only three words, yet so many angles from which those words could be viewed.
Every person I had ever seen, talked to, dealt with…etc.. all of them were people. All of US are people. Moreover, people are an imperfect people. Now before you start yelling at me "That's bad doctrine! I've been made perfect by the Blood of Jesus!" You are right in a sense. I don't know that I'd say we're "perfect." I believe the accurate Biblical term is "righteous." Because of the Blood of Jesus, we've been washed clean, redeemed, restored and placed back in right standing (righteousness) with God. But I like the way the Apostle Paul said it to the Philippians, - "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:12-14)
If there was someone after Jesus who could've said, "Ya know.. I've pretty much got this down" it would've been the Apostle Paul. Yet, he knew that he was not yet perfected. If you jump back to the beginning of the same letter to the Philippians, you can see where he said, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6) Paul new that God still had more work to do in him and more work to do in others. He was writing to believers, born again christians, and to them he said, "He will complete it in you UNTIL the day of Jesus Christ (A.K.A. the second coming of Jesus.) In other words, until Jesus comes back or we go to be with him via bodily death, He's still gonna be working on us.. ALL of us!
Sometimes we get all bent out of shape when someone does something we don't agree with. "Why would they do that?!?.. HOW could they do that?.." - "That's not how I was raised!" There are also all the times in which people become upset with us (yay my favorite!) "WHAT?!?!… I NEVER said that!" - "Are you serious?.. that's not what I meant!" - "I was just joking!" - "Why would that bother them so much? Anyone else would've laughed at that!" - "Surely they would know that THAT was never my intention…."
We must realize that everyone we ever encounter or witness in any manner whatsoever, is a human being. Jesus was the only human that was fully God and fully man at the same time. The rest of us are still being perfected, having to constantly put our flesh in its place, renew our mind and feed our spirits.
Sometimes we expect of people what we should only expect from God. We expect people to handle situations flawlessly and if they don't, we see them differently or do really what is called "judging." Before you get to mad at me, I'm not saying that we think they're no longer righteous or not saved… and I'm not saying that we put ourselves in God's place as "THE Judge." I'm saying that we perceive them differently. The word "judge" in verb form means: to form an opinion or conclusion about. With that definition in mind it seems like we do judge quite a bit more than we think we do. Oh I mean we'll "walk in love"…. "I'll love em, but I'm gonna keep my eye on them." A conclusion is made based on their actions. We put them in a class or category that is treated differently.
When I'm faced with thoughts of "They messed up!?.." or "they messed up AGAIN?!".. the most sobering and probably the most healthy question I can ask myself is, "How many times have you been forgiven and trusted with things AFTER you've failed?.. How many times has God forgiven you Stephen? And for the same thing!?.." I'm thankful that the Jesus who said, "forgive seventy times seven" is the same Jesus whom I've had to ask for such forgiveness. He is also the same Jesus who said, "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.." (Matt 6:15)
But the real factor here is just that we must forgive, but really the manner of forgiveness. Col 3:12-13 says, "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." Notice the wording "even AS Christ forgave you, so you also must do." So it's not just that we must, it's that we must forgive AS Christ forgave us, or the same way He forgave us.
I conclude two things about the way Jesus forgives: 1- He forgives and he forgets. Once you've been cleansed by the Blood of Jesus, you have been justified (just as if it never happened.) He doesn't hold things over our heads and treat us differently. Remember, the blood of bulls and goats in the old testament provided ATONEMENT (the covering of sins), Jesus' blood provides REMISSION (the removal) of sins. They're gone! So when He forgives us and doesn't bring out faults, shortcomings and mistakes back up, that is the same WAY we are to forgive. 2- He forgives BEFORE we ever sin against him. He gave His life for sins that we would commit 2,000 years later. His forgiveness is there, waiting for any and all who would confess their sins and receive his forgiveness. So my new position when someone wrongs me is this, "I forgive." They don't even have to ask. Even if they never ask, I want to be like Jesus and He provided forgiveness before I ever came to Him asking for it.
We must realize that the rest of our lives we will be dealing with people who are imperfect. These people, (ourselves included) that have personalities different than ours, backgrounds different than ours, weaknesses different than ours, strengths different than ours, tempers different than ours, views different than ours……. Therefore, there is no formula for our dealings with others. Each person must be treated as the unique individual that they are. I've found every time I pray "Lord change them" or "Fix them Lord" I'm usually the one that He ends up working on. When I try to show Him their laziness, He'll show me my impatience. I had to realize it's His job to work on people not mine. What is my job is to Love them.
1 Cor 13 tells us what I believe are two of the most powerful traits of Love. Love keeps no record of wrongs and Love believes all things. We are called to walk in love with EVERYONE and the in which we are called to operate is the love which keeps no record of wrongs. Just remember how much you've been forgiven and that'll really help you get over someone else's error. Consider the woman in John chapter 8. All the people wanted to stone her because she'd been caught red handed in the act of adultery (Que Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me.") When Jesus said, "Let him who has no sin cast the first stone." Funny how no one could bring themselves to stone her. Jesus told her, "I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more."
That second trait was "Love believes all things." The Amplified Bible says, "Love is every ready to believe the best of every person." WOW!.. Love not only forgets when someone wrongs them, but it also goes on to believe and expect the best from them.
I know a young man who has made his fair share of bad choices. Mess up after mess up after mess up with no sign of change in sight. One day he did what everyone was expecting him to do. He messed up. I went to talk with him. 30 minutes of listening to him vent showed me that he felt nobody liked him, everybody thought he was a bad person…etc. I gave him some counsel, ministered to him and at the end of the talk, when I had no logical reason to do so I said, "I believe in you! I know you're going to do great! I see greatness inside of you waiting to come out. You're a mighty man of God!" I kinda almost wanted to question myself as I was saying these things, but I know it was the Love of God speaking through me. When I said those things something happened. He looked at me like he had never heard anything like that in his LIFE! He smiled from ear to ear. He teared up. He hugged me like I was his "B-F-F." That was in January, it's now April and he is a completely different person now. Other people have noticed the change in Him. He's always happy. The things that he used to do in rebellion he doesn't do anymore. He has a genuine love for God. All this, because one person believed the best in them even when there was no reason to outside of love. (This isn't to pat me on the back or say it was because of me. It could've been any donkey speaking.) When one person released God's love by believing in him and not holding his past against him, it opened him up to receive the love that God had for him. As long as he thought everyone else was mad at him and hated him, he thought the same about God. But when loved and believed in by someone, he was ready to be loved and believed in by God. Love believes the best in everyone. You believe the best and if someone fails.. you forgive and go right back to believing the best! Isn't that what Jesus has done for us? :)
I love you and believe in you! And even more importantly than that, Jesus loves you and believes in you!
-Stephen
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt
I recently had a friend message me about some doubts that they were facing and battling. They had asked "How do you know God is real beyond the shadow of a doubt?" and stated how they were struggling with not feeling God in their life.
I prayed about what to say, asked the Holy Spirit to lead me, then began typing. 3o minutes later what you are about to read was done. I have removed their name of course and anything that would allude to them. But I do believe the Lord wants me to post this to help anyone else who is struggling with the same things. Sure, possibly more or less could've been said, but I believe the Lord said what He wanted to be said. I hope and pray that this ministers to you as well.
BEYOND THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT:
I've wondered before, "God, why don't you just show yourself to us? Why don't you just reveal yourself to the world? I know you're capable. You could show yourself to the whole world in 2 seconds and EVERYONE would know that you are real and that you are God! It would put to end any and all religious debates and wars. And your Word says that you desire that all would come to repentance and to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That would happen if you would show yourself to people."
It seems so easy.. so simple right? If he would just do that, all the problems in the world would just end right? No more questions.. no more doubts…
But then I think about this, as we are told in the account of Genesis, God created everything that exists, including Adam and Eve. It goes on to say that He walked and talked with them in the cool of the day. Adam and Eve saw and knew God in a way that we cannot until our time on this earth is over. They knew God very well in the way that you are asking about (beyond the shadow of a doubt) and in the way that I was referring to in my previous wonderings.
Yet, even though they knew Him in such a way, satan still deceived them and caused the greatest tragedy that ever happened in history, "The Fall of Man." How could he do such a thing? He deceived them. Yet, it's difficult for me to understand how he could've been successful in doing so when they walked with God, knowing Him beyond the shadow of a doubt. God had told Adam and Eve a very small list of "to do's": Be fruitful and multiply..replenish and subdue the earth, watch and keep the garden, exercise dominion and authority in the earth, and DO NOT EAT OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. That's it. Very clear. Yet the serpent came and what did he do when deceiving Eve? He got her to question God's Word; "Did God REALLY say that?… no no no.. He doesn't want you to be like Him knowing both good and evil." Now Eve knew better. She knew what God's Word was because she said, "He has told us that we should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for the day we eat of it, we shall surely die." Even though she knew what God said, she was still deceived because she did not exercise the dominion she was given and say, "NO YOU STUPID SNAKE! I told you GOD said, you shall not eat of that tree! Now you are a liar and I have dominion so you get the heck out of here and don't ever come back!"…. Oh what life would be like right now had that happened.. haha! But we know what did happen.
What am I trying to say?.. What am I getting at? Deception and questioning God's Word is satan's first and most common weapon. He is a liar, always has been since his fall and always will be. The Bible tells us he is the author of all lies. Now, when Adam and Eve believed the lie they empowered the liar. (You believe a lie you empower the liar - Bill Johnson.) They HAD authority and dominion because it was given to them by God. But when they believed the lie and neglected God's Word, they then empowered the liar. They were born of God. They were God's children. When they ate of the fruit, exactly what God said was gonna happen, happened. Did they fall over dead? No. Their spirits died and the downward spiral of death began in their bodies. At that point, they were no longer God's children. They became the devils children. Sounds kind of harsh and drastic right? But it's the truth. Think about it, why did Jesus tell the pharisees in the new testament (who were not saved and hated Jesus) "If you were of my Father you would love me… you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do!" Every person born from Adam and Eve inherited the new family genes, being the sin nature instead of God's divine nature as was originally planned. Everyone from then on out was a child of the devil. Stinks for us.
Enter the need for the miracle that has become a spiritual cliche to many: being "born again!" Why is it that this was the wording that Jesus chose to describe salvation in John chapter 3? Because that was what was necessary. Because of sin, man was separated from God because sin cannot exist in God's presence and neither can death. When they disobeyed God, their spirits died. Now someone had to pay the bill. As it tells us in Romans, the wages (or cost) of sin is death. It also tells us that sin entered the world and death by sin, or death entered the world through sin. All that to say, that's what Jesus was talking about when He told Nicodemus, "You must be born again." In essence He was saying, "You're dead and unless you are born, you can't live, especially not in God's Kingdom."
Forgive me if you're sitting here scratching you're head saying… "Uh.. DUH! Elementary Stephen…"
But here is the catch. Millions of people in the world today, don't understand christianity or receive it because they perceive it as a religious system in which you must be good and if you are then you can receive Jesus and He'll accept you. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Jesus came to pay the bill. Man racked up the bill with sin and the payment was death. God being good and merciful and loving beyond mental comprehension, sent Jesus to pay what man could never pay in his best efforts. The wages of sin: death. The (free) gift of God: eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23). The greatest tragedy: man being separated from God. The greatest triumph: Jesus paying the price so that broken, hopeless and dying man could once again, have access to God and have the God kind of life; abundant life.
What made Jesus different from everyone else? Is it that He was God/man? Yes and no.. the real difference is found in the virgin birth. Why was that so important? Because as stated earlier, everyone was born from Adam, therefore receiving the sin nature from their father the devil. Jesus, on the contrary, was not conceived by a man, but by the Holy Spirit as it tells us in Matthew chapter 1. Therefore, Jesus was born of God. And here is the beautiful part, the very same Holy Spirit that conceived Jesus in Mary's womb, is the very same Jesus who conceives life inside of us, birthing God's spirit inside of us once again. Also the very same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus up from the dead. Also the very same Holy Spirit that dwells in us. (Rom 8:11) Romans chapter 8 tells us that NOW, when we've been born again, we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry "Abba Father" or "Daddy God!" The essence of our new life in Christ is that we are children of God! What a miracle. It's not just a bunch of stupid spiritual cliche's. It is an absolute spiritual truth. When you receive the payment of Jesus and His perfect blood and then allow the Holy Spirit to begin His good work in you, you are at that moment a child of God. 1 John 3:1 tells us that this is really the ultimate understanding of God's love; "Behold, what manner of love is this, that we should be called sons of God!" I can hear him saying that in just utter awe, "Do you see this?! What kind of love is this? That we are children of God?!"
(Once again this is all potentially stuff we've been hearing since childhood Sunday school classes.)
Then going back to Rom 8, it tells us that as we've received the spirit of adoption (God adopting us out of our terrible tragic state) it goes on to say that the Holy Spirit now bears witness with us IN OUR SPIRITS that we are sons (or daughters) of God. There is an inner witness in your spirit that you are a child of God. Is it in your head? NO! None of this makes sense to your head. It never will. That is why the Bible says that He has set eternity in our hearts (Ecc 3:11). Because our heart is capable of receiving what our mind is incapable of understanding. It doesn't make sense… IT MAKES FAITH! Faith is everything to God! Why? Why is He so big on faith? Because it was a lack of believing what He said in Genesis, that caused the original fall. Adam and Eve didn't believe what God said above the liars words. THAT is why God chooses to operate in faith and without "beyond the shadow of a doubt" proofs. He takes pleasure in the lives of those who will simply believe His Word. Think about it, if you told someone something and they didn't believe you but you were telling them the truth and you knew also that it was for their well-being, you would be very upset and frustrated. God wants us to have faith in Him and in His word without having to see it. Hebrews 11:6 tells us "without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God because he who comes to Him must first believe that He is (that He exists) and that He is a rewarder of those who DILIGENTLY seek Him. Jesus told the Pharisees "it is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks a sign." Why is that? Because that is a generation that does not put it's faith in God's Word.
So many people get "saved" with this idea that "I have to be good and God will save me." Even if they know that Jesus paid the price, they still have that in the back of their mind. It's like cleaning yourself before taking a shower. The purpose of a shower is to get clean. Jesus came to change us from the inside out. Even the concept of salvation being available because you're more qualified than any other is the law and cannot save anyone. You receive Jesus and then you are a child of God, whether you feel like it or not. I'm not married, but I do know that a husband and a wife do not always FEEL in love. There are MANY times where love is a choice within a marriage. Feeling has nothing to do with it. Whether they feel like it or not, they are husband and wife. Those are the days, when love is tested. The days they don't feel like loving each other. It's the same with God. The days we don't FEEL christian, the days we don't FEEL like God is anywhere close… it's those days that we have to tell ourselves, "I am in covenant with God! I am a child of God! Whether or not I feel like it… I AM! Why? Because God's Word says so!" Faith has NOTHING to do with feeling and EVERYTHING to do with what God's Word says.
2 Corinthians chapter 5:10 says, "Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God; bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." We have the same authority and dominion that Adam and Eve had, since we are now children of God, just like they were before the fall. According to that verse in Corinthians, we have the right to cast down thoughts and arguments and ideas that enter our head that do not line up with God's Word. You don't feel God or feel close to God? Cast those thoughts down! And then replace them with what the Word of God says about you! If you've received Jesus and are born again, then YOU ARE a child of God! You ARE righteous, no matter how many mistakes you've made. There is nothing you can do wrong that Jesus can't make right! He's more of a restorer than we are broken. He's more of a healer than we are sick. He's more of a pursuer than we are lost. He is better than we are bad!
This all comes easier with the more of God's Word that you know. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. The more truth you know the less likely you are to be deceived. The more time you spend meditating on the Word of God, when a thought comes that doesn't line up with the truth, you'll know the truth and you can say, "NOPE… that's not what God's Word says. I believe God's Word!"
I hope that helps some! I'll be praying for you. I guess the ultimatum is, You can only know by faith. And that faith pleases God. And when you step out in faith to believe Him and IN Him, then His spirit bears witness with your spirit. I know NOW beyond all shadow of a doubt because I KNOW Him. I have a relationship with Him. I talk with Him and He talks with me. I know His voice. It's not an audible booming voice. It's once again, a inner voice I hear by faith in my spirit. The same way no one can ever convince me that you don't exist, because I know you… No one can convince me that God doesn't exist.. because I know Him.
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