Tag: grace

God’s choice

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IMG_1403 For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. – Jesus (Matthew 5:45 ESV)

On our vacation trip, we witnessed this marvelous image somewhere in Arizona.  There is rain and sun originating from one sky.   I imagine many are scrambling to stay dry while others, miles away, are basking in the sunlight. One sky, two perspectives, on source, one God.

Then on our way home, we saw this.

IMG_2722
Rain on the right, rain on the left, smoke from a wildfire in the middle. We prayed the rainclouds would hover over the fire, but as far as we could tell, it never did.

Many questions arise regarding the sovereignty of God. He is powerful enough to create rain, enough rain to flood the entire earth, and certainly enough to douse a fire that is but a tiny candle beneath His feet.  Yet he does not. Not this time.  We believe He's powerful. We believe He's good. We know He's good because these rain clouds are healing someones parched land. We don't know what good, if any, this fire is accomplishing. So far in the distance, we are unable to know if someone is losing their home, their memories. We don't know if a farmer is losing his crop, his business. We also don't know if this fire is sweeping away an unknown pestilence which brings longer term grief. 

We're confident this fire-ravaged land was once the recipient of healing rainwater and sunlight and perhaps the rain soaked land itself once experienced flames.  In this life we may never know what God is accomplishing with this rain and fire.  For eternity, the echoes of "where were you?" might ring as an incessant salve to our souls.  But denying His supreme sovereignty on this side, without the benefit of His vision, is not an option.  Thankfully, mercifully,  I don't have to choose between his sovereignty and His love.  I don't have to choose how God's will is accomplished.  It's God's choice. His alone.

I’m dead

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Raising-lazarus When I was little kid and we would play games like cops and robbers, we would shoot our pretend guns at each other.  Whenever I was shot, I would fall to the ground and as my friend approached me to finish me off, I would say in a low voice, "I'm dead".   Oh, the silliness of a dead man informing others of his demise with a confirming voice.  It's silly because dead men don't whisper "I'm dead", they just are.  They don't whisper anything!
In the New Testament a guy named Lazarus was dead.  He didn't whisper "I'm dead" to his friends and family.  No, he was unable to do so. The bible makes it obvious when it reports that Lazarus was in a tomb for a few days and as the KJV eloquently puts it.  "He stinketh".   When Jesus arrived, as the rest of the story goes, Lazarus was resurrected from his tomb completely wrapped in his burial garment still emanating the stench of death.  How did he rise from the dead?  Simply by the word of God, namely the phrase "Lazaurus, come forth". 
You see, if Lazarus couldn't tell people he was dead, then he sure couldn't ask Jesus to bring him to life. It just wasn't in him. He was dead.  It's the same with spiritual birth. Dead in our sins, we carry its stench  upon us until one day uninvited grace comes upon us and our hearts are regenerated and our faith is awakened.  This is the greatest miracle God performs!  I don't understand it fully, I just believe it!

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following  the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature  children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even  when we were dead in our trespasses,  made us alive together with Christ—  by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable  riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved  through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.   – Ephesians 2:1-9

Even our faith is a gift from God!  If you are struggling with doubt, don't look back on some decision you made, whether you made it or not, if you followed some formula, or whether it was authentic.  Look to the mercy of God!  A.W. Tozer reminded us in "The Attributes of God", that God doesn't just have mercy, HE IS mercy!  That means His mercy is infinite! We need to stop listening to the accuser who wants us to look to ourselves, and listen to God's Word which states emphatically that salvation is from Him.  Not only do unbelievers need to hear that salvation is from God (the gospel), but believers likewise need to hear that their salvation was from God,(the gospel) not their own well meaning intentions!

Thank God He chose us before the foundation of the world! Thank God He still raises the dead!

The Spirit of Legalism

I’m not going to worry about writing a grammatically perfect blog post. I’m not going to sweat out the form too much. I’m just going to blurt out what I have on my mind. I am a legalist.

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Pharisee
I'm not going to worry about writing a grammatically perfect blog post.  I'm not going to sweat out the form too much. I'm just going to blurt out what I have on my mind.   I am a legalist.  And here's the part you're not going to like too much.  You also are a legalist.  Obviously, this is going to be a post for Christians because the unbelieving world will have no idea what I am referring to, albeit they're legalists too. They just don't know it yet.  They will read this and think I'm talking about courtrooms and lawyers.  For that matter, there is probably a great segment of Christianity that will not know what I'm talking about either. 

Legalism is a term I came to know late in my teenage years although I can't pinpoint the event or place I first heard it.  What I did learn quickly was that I was surrounded by legalism.  I was, in fact, immersed in it.  My mind was legalistically saturated like a chicken leg in Crisco!  I came to understand that to be legalistic meant to be "rules driven".  Even though salvation was preached as a free gift of God, you found out after you "get saved" that apparently it wasn't free after all.  Now after you make a decision and get baptized, you are required to jump through hoops of fiery legalism one after the other until the end of time or eternity, whichever lasts longer.  When I tell friends of mine who didn't experience this growing up that these hoops were things like hair cut above the ears, prohibition of movie theaters, no drinking (don't even let it touch yer lips!!) no slacks for women,  no mixed "bathing" (they meant swimming, but somehow it turned into a bath…yucch!) and certainly no dancing of any kind and  Oh, no card playing either, not even gin rummy, they stare at me like a statue.

Thank God for the truth of His Word that teaches that I am not morally capable to meet God's standard of holiness! Thank God that He made so clear that there is nothing I can do to earn His love!  It is by Grace that I am being saved through faith!   It's not due to my self-righteousness, but his righteousness transferred to my account that I am considered in right standing with my Creator! 

In my zeal to run as fast I could from legalism the past 20 plus years, I really thought I was making headway.   What I failed to realize was that I was becoming a legalism legalist!  In other words, escape from legalism became my religion!  Distancing myself from the self-righteousness of my past resulted in another form of self-righteousness!

What I've come to realize in my journey, is that legalism comes in many forms.  There's legalism in every religion and denomination.  Case in point, there are churches who are anti-religion so they become non-denominational, but in reality have become their own denomination. "Non-denom" has become their "denomination".  How silly! 

There are many forms of legalism, yet one spirit that drives them.  It is the human spirit.  When you get down to it, legalism is really superstition.  Superstition is the idea that good things or bad things happen to you because of external circumstances like a broken mirror, a black cat and/or human actions like crossing your fingers or carrying a rabbit's foot.  

By nature, we think that external circumstances like illness, tragedy, natural disasters are indicators of our own personal lack of Godliness.  We also naturally think that there is somethng we can do in our own power to earn God's pleasure such as church activity, moral behavior, or good citizenship.  As Christians we are quick to dismiss this because we all believe the Bible about these things.  Yet, our actions indicate otherwise.  This is how the Pharisees lived.  They viewed lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, women, and children as spiritually destitute.  Their cup was clean on the outside and a toilet inside according to Jesus.  That is true of all of us.  Our natural selves are unflushed toilets that need a good scrubbing!  (there are legalists who don't like that I said toilet)

As I search the scriptures, I have found only one solution to the human dilemma of legalism.  It is painfully simple.  Receive.  Receive Grace from God.  Receive the gift of His righteousness!  Receive the preached Word of God! Receive receive receive!  Don't do anything.  Just sit down and trust Christ to serve You!  Christianity is not driven by Christians serving God.  It is driven by God serving us!  Sounds selfish doesn't it?  Don't hear me wrong, God is not our butler.  In reality, it is more self-serving and dishonoring to God when we reject His gift.  Since Eden, mankind has been rejecting infinite joy and choosing self serving emptiness!  This is the highest offense to God imaginable.  Imagine, choosing an apple over the creator! 

Be careful when you become a fugitive of legalism.  It might be the very spirit of legalism that sustains your fleeting steps.