It’s hard. No, it’s not just hard, it’s really hard. To let go. You know, any usual day, I don’t feel I have a mega challenge with letting go, but today, I am. Maybe because I feel sentimental, or maybe it’s because I really did have fun back then, but no matter how you cut the cake – it is truly difficult letting go of people from your past who prevent you from growing in your walk with Christ. You know the people I’m talking about? In your not-so-Christ-centered days, these people will drive you to the bar and rehash the entire night with you, but won’t go near church with a ten foot pole – so asking them to rehash an encounter you had with Jesus, is just out of the question.
The Reason: These people are a part of your life, or were a part of your life. They may have been a shoulder to cry on, a drinking buddy, a partner in crime, an old boyfriend or girlfriend, a former hook up, a party pal, an accomplice, former skipping-school friend, an old roommate….the list goes on. Bottom line – they become a part of your history, and this is what makes it truly challenging to move forward without them. You want them desperately to be a part of your life now and moving forward, but you know it just isn’t going to be healthy for either one of you. Why? Because when you get around each other, you don’t bring out the Christ in each other, in fact, Jesus may be miles away when you two get together. Does any of this sound familiar?
Now, I’m not saying go through your roll-a-dex or Facebook account and de-friend everyone who doesn’t text or email you scriptures, or pray with you, or come to church with you. No. What I mean here is, when we grow in Christ – as we mature with the Lord – there are some times these people, who hold a special place in our heart, who just don’t share our love for Christ. In fact, it might be safe to say, they love the “old you” more than they love our Savior Jesus Christ. These people can usually take us right back to our “old self” with one phone call, or only hanging out one time, it may not take much to give Satan that foot hold. These people mean well, and we want so very badly for them to love Christ just as much as we do – but the reality is, they just aren’t seeing Him the way we see Him. And it hurts. A lot. It may make our hearts physically hurt.
I have one of these folks in (or out) of my life, and I can tell you, it’s tough. Sure, we argue like friends do, and get into intense discussions about faith….I pray for this person deeply, all the time. I love this person, and care for them very much. However, for the last 7 years or so, it continues to hit me square in the face, I cannot rescue this person from the choices they make; I cannot save them; I cannot stay in relationship with this person because they have a unique power (which I give them) to drag me right back into my “old self” with such a careless attitude. I offered myself as an instrument of sin with this person, and ignored the Holy Spirit promptings within me to stop. I was having “fun” with this person back in the old scene. Then after a night of fun, I would wake up feeling incredibly empty. I can assure you, this feeling of “emptiness” has only amplified and increased over time, especially the more I grow in my walk with Christ, the emptiness after time with this person intensifies and causes me deep confusion. It hurts. It hurts because I want so badly for this person to see how much Jesus Christ loves them; it hurts because I want so badly for them to just surrender EVERYTHING to God and let Jesus be their Lord; it hurts because I often feel like I care about this person more than they care about themself.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, - Romans 6:6, NIV
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; - Ephesians 4:22, NIV
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices, - Colossians 3:9, NIV
The old is gone and the new is here! I have learned that these people who come into our lives for a season, have served their purpose in our lives. If they are causing me to stumble, I have to (gasp!) – let go. Even as I write that, I take a deep breath, because it is so hard. My new definition for having “fun” on Friday and Saturday nights, is not the same as it was 7 years ago – however, for these people, the definition of “fun” has not changed, it fails to honor God. When you have a desire to honor God, and these dear people do not, it is difficult to grow in relationship with this person. Therefore, we end up sacrificing our walk with the Lord, for relationship with these people – and I tell you, this is not a sacrifice we can afford to make. Why? Because God wants better for us than that, God wants better for these people in our lives too – but they need to realize that, and we can’t be their Savior, they already have a man who died on a Cross for them to know how much they are loved as their Savior.
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:11, NIV
He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. – Titus 1:9, NIV
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. – Hebrews 3:13, NIV
Friends, let’s encourage each other as His word says; let us not allow Satan to use these dear people in our lives to drag us back into sin or an old lifestyle we have been broke from; Jesus already paid the price for our sins, and for us to flee from our life of sin to follow Him. It’s like an ex-relationship, why do you want to go back? Because when things are going great with a new relationship, some times that thought creeps in, “I did have fun back then! I kind of want to go back to that, just for a little bit….” Because it feels comfortable. A life with Christ will be challenging, and it will have joy, but don’t let the challenges convince you to go back to an “old life” because it was comfortable. You are a NEW creation in Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:17) Don’t just believe in God, believe God! We can stand together as brothers and sisters in Christ and overcome the temptations to fall back into our old lifestyles. The Christ in us can defeat the enemy. If you need to let go of these lost dear people in your life who will drag you back to sin, let go. Trust me, it’s not easy, but it’s better to let go and know you are being encouraged to grow in Christ, than to hang on to these old relationships and be encouraged to fall back into sin. I know you move forward and defeat the enemy! I believe in the God who is in you!
Praying for you my dear friends! It may be hard, in fact, Christ never said it would be easy, He just said it would be worth it!
<><
KB
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Redemption: A Gift from Our Redeemer
The concept of redemption has been heavy on my mind over the last few weeks. Call it the “Easter season” or just God stirring something in my heart, but I’ve been noticing redemption – everywhere. I consider it to be one of the biggest blessings I can experience, to see people experiencing redemption and coming to know God as their Redeemer. First, let’s look the word redemption…
According to www.dictionary.com, redemption is:
re•demp•tion - [ri-demp-shuh n] – noun
1) deliverance; rescue.
2) Theology. deliverance from sin; salvation.
3) atonement for guilt.
4) repurchase, as of something sold.
5) paying off, as of a mortgage, bond, or note.
6) recovery by payment, as of something pledged.
When we claim God as our Redeemer, we acknowledge Him as rescuing us from our old self; we allow Him to deliver us from our sin; we depend on Him for our salvation; we acknowledge that He paid the ultimate price for us; it is paid. It is paid in full. He atoned for sins. We cannot atone for our own sins because the price would be too great, God already came – for you and me – and paid the price of our sins. He redeemed us. Do you see how great a gift we have? Jesus Christ, God in man form, came and was mocked, flogged, whipped, beat, spit on, harassed, shoved, kicked, jeered at, crushed, speared, punctured, and lastly, was murdered in a most grueling death because HE LOVES US. The wrath of God has already been poured out on the shoulders of Jesus Christ, so we wouldn’t have to bear it.
“He has drained the last dark drops of the cup of God’s wrath; there’s nothing left but love for me.’ Because I am justified, I will never experientially know the wrath of a Holy God. Because of the cross, I now am slowly exploring the infinite reaches of His love. Throughout all eternity I will never find the limits of His love. There are none.” – Dr. Larry Crabb
We like to think we can conceptualize God’s love because we assume we know how God thinks, and many times we like to think we know because God made us and we read His Word - and that's got to be enough? Right? We also like to think since God made us, and we are made in His image, and if we are made in His image than He must be like us. We are not the standard my friends. God is the standard and we are to be like Him, and we fail at reflecting His character every day. It’s not God failing at being like us – His love is so much greater than how we love, just as His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We will never be able to out think God or out love God, it is impossible. God’s love will not always make sense to us, just as I’m sure it did not make sense to those watching Jesus give mercy to the adulterous woman. Let's see it unfold:
In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. – John 8:5-6, NIV
Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." ……You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. – John 8:10-15, NIV
I have to confess, this is one of my all-time favorite stories of Jesus. It says so much about His character, and the character of our loving Father. Regardless of how much we have sinned and how messed up we are, God comes in and rescues us. God fights for us. HE is our knight in shining armor. He is our warrior on the battle field. He is our valiant leader. He is our great Redeemer. He takes something we might think is so ugly, used, messed up, jacked up, and horrible, and He turns it into something so incredibly beautiful. He redeems this woman, and He redeems us too - no matter what sin we have committed. He is our great Redeemer! ...and our Redeemer lives!
Let's us not forget, we have to want to be redeemed. God's love and grace is not a license to sin at wreckless abandon, we must not abuse His sweetly given grace and love. We are called to repent of our sins, and in our repentance, He grants us mercy - not judgment. We emerge forgiven, having been made new. God makes all things new and beautiful, if you let Him. He calls us to give Him EVERY area of our lives, for His glory. I do not want to hold on to any area of my life, industriously planning away for my own, when I can give it to God to plan for me. In His plan, He uses my mess-ups, my junk, what I think is ugly and shameful - He uses for His glory by turning it into something beautiful. Truly, only God can do this....He is so AMAZING! When God can do this with your sin, why would you not want to repent and let Him take all the darkness away? Trust Him, He can do it. Letting go of sin means stepping out of your comfort zone for God, but it is so incredibly, undeniably worth it! You can repent without fear of judgment if you love Him and acknowledge Jesus as your sweet Savior.
…because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! – James 2:13, NIV
Right there, plain as day. Grace triumphs over judgment! God’s grace, what He did on the cross, covers our sin – no wrath for the believer, the price has been paid in FULL. Wow, the phrase “amazing love” doesn’t even do it justice. That is a love which not only knows no bounds, but has limits we cannot even fathom. Our finite human minds cannot even comprehend the amount of God’s love for us. No matter how much we try, I do not think we can fully know the depth of God’s love – it is just so big, so great, so beautiful. Don’t you want to follow a God who keeps no record of wrongs for those who love Him? Loving like God is something I undoubtedly fail at every single day. One exercise to try is this:
Think of it like a “test” of sorts. Since we know God is love (1 John 4), we can be fully confident knowing exhibits this as His character. This little “test” is one I learned from Dr. Ed Young, when he mentioned it during a sermon on love in Fall 2009. Give it a try! In the verse below, for each word that says “love” or “it” exchange it with your name. For example, “Sally is patient, Sally is kind” (and so forth…).
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NIV
How did you do? I know I have a lot to work on! Now exchange the word “love” or “it” with God, and you will see a glimpse of His character. Isn’t He just so good?!
Don’t be discouraged! We can work on this as a church, together, learning to love how He loves and give grace how He gives grace. We are without a doubt called to speak truth in love to each other, however, we need to remember Jesus was not a critic. Jesus was instructive, not destructive when He spoke the truth in love. He is our ultimate counselor, and those He was most angry with were the Pharisees – who thought they were doing everything right by simply abiding by the Law. Let’s focus on the Cross! We can learn how God loves and how God shows mercy by studying His word, which inherently helps us in studying His character. We can also know His character by our personal experiences with Him – which is what He deeply longs for most, to have our hearts.
Friends, I love our Lord so much. And I want to love like He does, and give grace like He does. Will you join me in wanting to be more like Him? Let’s give it our all, Jesus gave us His all. Let’s join in being more patient, more kind, releasing jealousy, releasing record of wrongs; let’s be more trustworthy and rejoice in the truth; let’s not boast, let’s not be proud, let’s not be rude or self-seeking; let’s not get easily angered; let’s always hope and always persevere. We can do this! We can love because He first loved us. We can’t have that kind of love on our own, we need our Heavenly Father to love like He does.
Love you friends, and praying for you! We are redeemed because He loves us more than we can imagine! He is our great Redeemer!
<><
K
According to www.dictionary.com, redemption is:
re•demp•tion - [ri-demp-shuh n] – noun
1) deliverance; rescue.
2) Theology. deliverance from sin; salvation.
3) atonement for guilt.
4) repurchase, as of something sold.
5) paying off, as of a mortgage, bond, or note.
6) recovery by payment, as of something pledged.
When we claim God as our Redeemer, we acknowledge Him as rescuing us from our old self; we allow Him to deliver us from our sin; we depend on Him for our salvation; we acknowledge that He paid the ultimate price for us; it is paid. It is paid in full. He atoned for sins. We cannot atone for our own sins because the price would be too great, God already came – for you and me – and paid the price of our sins. He redeemed us. Do you see how great a gift we have? Jesus Christ, God in man form, came and was mocked, flogged, whipped, beat, spit on, harassed, shoved, kicked, jeered at, crushed, speared, punctured, and lastly, was murdered in a most grueling death because HE LOVES US. The wrath of God has already been poured out on the shoulders of Jesus Christ, so we wouldn’t have to bear it.
“He has drained the last dark drops of the cup of God’s wrath; there’s nothing left but love for me.’ Because I am justified, I will never experientially know the wrath of a Holy God. Because of the cross, I now am slowly exploring the infinite reaches of His love. Throughout all eternity I will never find the limits of His love. There are none.” – Dr. Larry Crabb
We like to think we can conceptualize God’s love because we assume we know how God thinks, and many times we like to think we know because God made us and we read His Word - and that's got to be enough? Right? We also like to think since God made us, and we are made in His image, and if we are made in His image than He must be like us. We are not the standard my friends. God is the standard and we are to be like Him, and we fail at reflecting His character every day. It’s not God failing at being like us – His love is so much greater than how we love, just as His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We will never be able to out think God or out love God, it is impossible. God’s love will not always make sense to us, just as I’m sure it did not make sense to those watching Jesus give mercy to the adulterous woman. Let's see it unfold:
In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. – John 8:5-6, NIV
Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." ……You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. – John 8:10-15, NIV
I have to confess, this is one of my all-time favorite stories of Jesus. It says so much about His character, and the character of our loving Father. Regardless of how much we have sinned and how messed up we are, God comes in and rescues us. God fights for us. HE is our knight in shining armor. He is our warrior on the battle field. He is our valiant leader. He is our great Redeemer. He takes something we might think is so ugly, used, messed up, jacked up, and horrible, and He turns it into something so incredibly beautiful. He redeems this woman, and He redeems us too - no matter what sin we have committed. He is our great Redeemer! ...and our Redeemer lives!
Let's us not forget, we have to want to be redeemed. God's love and grace is not a license to sin at wreckless abandon, we must not abuse His sweetly given grace and love. We are called to repent of our sins, and in our repentance, He grants us mercy - not judgment. We emerge forgiven, having been made new. God makes all things new and beautiful, if you let Him. He calls us to give Him EVERY area of our lives, for His glory. I do not want to hold on to any area of my life, industriously planning away for my own, when I can give it to God to plan for me. In His plan, He uses my mess-ups, my junk, what I think is ugly and shameful - He uses for His glory by turning it into something beautiful. Truly, only God can do this....He is so AMAZING! When God can do this with your sin, why would you not want to repent and let Him take all the darkness away? Trust Him, He can do it. Letting go of sin means stepping out of your comfort zone for God, but it is so incredibly, undeniably worth it! You can repent without fear of judgment if you love Him and acknowledge Jesus as your sweet Savior.
…because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! – James 2:13, NIV
Right there, plain as day. Grace triumphs over judgment! God’s grace, what He did on the cross, covers our sin – no wrath for the believer, the price has been paid in FULL. Wow, the phrase “amazing love” doesn’t even do it justice. That is a love which not only knows no bounds, but has limits we cannot even fathom. Our finite human minds cannot even comprehend the amount of God’s love for us. No matter how much we try, I do not think we can fully know the depth of God’s love – it is just so big, so great, so beautiful. Don’t you want to follow a God who keeps no record of wrongs for those who love Him? Loving like God is something I undoubtedly fail at every single day. One exercise to try is this:
Think of it like a “test” of sorts. Since we know God is love (1 John 4), we can be fully confident knowing exhibits this as His character. This little “test” is one I learned from Dr. Ed Young, when he mentioned it during a sermon on love in Fall 2009. Give it a try! In the verse below, for each word that says “love” or “it” exchange it with your name. For example, “Sally is patient, Sally is kind” (and so forth…).
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NIV
How did you do? I know I have a lot to work on! Now exchange the word “love” or “it” with God, and you will see a glimpse of His character. Isn’t He just so good?!
Don’t be discouraged! We can work on this as a church, together, learning to love how He loves and give grace how He gives grace. We are without a doubt called to speak truth in love to each other, however, we need to remember Jesus was not a critic. Jesus was instructive, not destructive when He spoke the truth in love. He is our ultimate counselor, and those He was most angry with were the Pharisees – who thought they were doing everything right by simply abiding by the Law. Let’s focus on the Cross! We can learn how God loves and how God shows mercy by studying His word, which inherently helps us in studying His character. We can also know His character by our personal experiences with Him – which is what He deeply longs for most, to have our hearts.
Friends, I love our Lord so much. And I want to love like He does, and give grace like He does. Will you join me in wanting to be more like Him? Let’s give it our all, Jesus gave us His all. Let’s join in being more patient, more kind, releasing jealousy, releasing record of wrongs; let’s be more trustworthy and rejoice in the truth; let’s not boast, let’s not be proud, let’s not be rude or self-seeking; let’s not get easily angered; let’s always hope and always persevere. We can do this! We can love because He first loved us. We can’t have that kind of love on our own, we need our Heavenly Father to love like He does.
Love you friends, and praying for you! We are redeemed because He loves us more than we can imagine! He is our great Redeemer!
<><
K
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)