An eternal weight...

When I was a Child I was raised in a home where discipline was almost always physical, there was no such thing as grounding or restriction of privileges at my house. When we as children acted out we were told to go pick out a switch... there was more than one time that I remember the punishment being taken to far on myself or one of my siblings, being hit with a switch to the point of bleeding is a memory hard to erase.

Recently I've met some children who are punished physically as well, and in the short time I've known them I've been appalled at the extremity with which they are spanked, and spoken down to... I am not a parent and though I don't look entirely down on the practice of spanking children, and view it as necessary at times I fully believe that it should be the last resort, there are other ways to discipline your child. It makes me thankful for Gods restraint and patience. Whenever I act out as God's child there are very real consequences to my disobedience, whether it's financial trouble, parking tickets, relationship strain or what have you, the consequences are there and can be excruciating to bear.

The main difference between the disciplinary actions of our human parents and God is that God never takes things to far, he knows when to restrain himself. He knows exactly how much we can take and exactly how much we need in order to realize the foolish sinfulness of our actions and turn back to Him.

I feel I should clarify a point here.

You are made in God's image, but that doesn't mean you are His Child.

Unless you have been given the right through belief in Christ to be His child, you are not.

You are His creation. Which is a honor, but there is no inheritance for you.

You're thinking I'm narrow minded, and you're probably right. But let me explain. Belief in God is good... "You believe there is one God, good! Even the demons believe so and they shudder." ... But in which God do you believe?

Do you believe in the god of no consequences, where everyone gets a pass into heaven regardless of their decision or lifestyle? The god where nothing you do really matters as long as your "basically a good person" where sin does not affect your eternal security?

That is no god.

Do you believe in the god of wrath, and angry old man with a blow torch ready to fry anyone who steps foot out of line, the prejudiced god who accepts only those who look a certain way or attain a certain lifestyle such as A man must have a wife and 2.5 kids who are in constant submission to his authority and if they step out of line he has free reign to beat them if he wants too, the male chauvinist god.

That is no god either.

Do you believe in the god of tradition? Nothing may ever change, we must continue to read our bibles in English spoken in 1611 grow our hair to our ankles, sing songs from dusty old books and remind the world that god loves only us, he hates the rest.

While tradition can be a good thing, scripture makes clear that "God is love" and that "God never changes" so forgive me, but if you're from the tradition where god hates the all the people of the world that are any different from you, you are very wrong.

God is a God of justice, sin must be punished and He cannot be in the presence of sin, which means that until your sins are forgiven, he cannot be around you. God is a God of love, and Jesus is the fruit of that love. Sending His only Son to die for the sins of His creation so that we may become His children through the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

If you don't believe and put your trust in Jesus, then you don't know God. You are not His child. And as of right now you remain condemned.

You are not a Christian because you're white.

You are not a Christian because your grandma went to church.

You are not a Christian because you have a bible on your coffee table.

You are not a Christian because you go to church every Sunday.

If you are a Christian it is because you have put your hope fully on Christ. You have made Him the master and keeper of your life. You have ACCEPTED His forgiveness and His grace. And you are in the process of being changed into His likeness.

How can you tell if this is you?

Search your heart, and your mind what do you find there regarding Christ?
Check your fruits... look at your life and evaluate it from before you put your hope in Christ till now, do you see any change, even the smallest change?

Do you have a relationship with God? In the Old Testament Moses would go into the tent of meeting to receive instruction from God, he did this daily. When he entered the tent a cloud would descend over the entrance and there God would speak to Moses as a man speaks to his friend, Moses knew God intimately but through Christ, we can know God even better than Moses did. We as Children of God can come boldly before Him without need of shame.

Key signs of a relationship with God:

*Prayer, do you talk to Him and let Him talk to you?
*Scripture, one of the main ways God speaks to us is through His word, His word is our spiritual lifeline, through it He teaches us how to live a godly life a life that honors Him.
*Community, are you in relationship with other believers? Community is vital to the health of a believer, through communing with other Christians we receive encouragement and accountability towards our responsibility for our spiritual growth.
*Growth, are you growing in your walk with Christ or are you " a cabbage waiting for eternity" we are told by the Apostle Peter to make our calling and election sure by adding onto our faith certain virtues that are in reality supports our faith foundation, and that if we do this we will never fall. 2 Peter 1: 4-10

All of this may seems overwhelming at the moment, but think. These questions have eternal consequences. Eternal punishments or eternal rewards. Jesus did not come to save us so the we could all go to Heaven, He came to save us so that we could be with and near Him, so that we could know God as we are fully known. Heaven is going to be amazing but if God were not there it would be Hell, the definition of Hell is eternal separation from God.

My parents disciplined me in the best way they knew how, and I respect them for it. None of it was meant for my harm, but for my good. No parent takes pleasure in hurting their Child and if they do then they are no parent. God did not enjoy seeing His Son die the most excruciating death imaginable, with His likeness marred beyond the likeness of a man. But He let it happen because it would gain for us an eternal weight of glory, an ability to see God face to face because God knows that the best thing for us is Himself.

A Heartfelt prayer...

Psalm 51 (New International Version)
Psalm 51
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are proved right when you speak

and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;

you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will turn back to you.

14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,

the God who saves me,

and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise.

18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;

build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices,

whole burnt offerings to delight you;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

There is rarely a day when this prayer of David does not cross my mind, but sticks more clearly when it snows... cleanse me and I will be whiter than snow... seems impossible, but we have the assurance that with God all things are possible.

True Valentine

Up until a couple years ago Valentines Day was for me a dreaded occurrence, as yet another year passed me by without a card or sonnet, a bunch of roses or box of chocolates I would begin to feel this swell in my throat and a sting behind my eyes of self pity. Last year was the first time I remember not noticing the dreaded day at all, maybe I had other things on my mind and simply forgot or maybe it was something else. Today it happened again, a friend mentioned the big holiday weekend and I thought "holiday weekend... do people actually celebrate presidents day?"

As I looked around at work and noticed all of the pink hearts and cute little teddy bears with phrases like kiss me or be mine and so on and remembered that today is Valentines Day, the formidable holiday emphasized by greeting card companies and western society in order to make single people feel like crap. Though oddly and to my surprise, I didn't. What had happened? Had I grown so very cynical in affairs of the heart that I had simply erased the day from my memory? Looking at my book collection of great romances like Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Little Dorrit I know that isn't the case. I'm still a sucker for a good romance, and every time I stand in a church to see my friend who is now a bride I can't help but pull out those hidden tissues and hope my mascara doesn't smear.

Giving it much thought I realized the answer to my lack of that familiar longing, I'm satisfied.

Wondering at those words I thought some more, and realized not just that I'm satisfied, but that any man I met now would be... a disappointment. I know many men who are very good men, some of the best men any one could ever want to know, so this is not a men bashing session. I love my brothers, but I can't seem to find my way past this one point. They are not Christ.

The more I know Christ, the less I desire anyone but Him. All men pale in comparison to Him. No man could ever satisfy me as deeply and richly as Christ does. Love is not merely physical, or emotional. Love based on those two points is a poorly made forgery, a cheap copy of the original, like the play money bought at the dollar stores, no reasonable person would accept as being of any true lasting value. Emotions change rapidly, and so do hormones. Christ's love goes deeper, He probes the inner reaches of my heart and mind, He reveals to me my hidden self. Things buried so deep that I fail to recognize them. He is more than a good man, He is the only good. "No one is good but God alone" There has never been a romance written by men that comes within a stones throw of the romance God has written for His people. He loved us so much that in order to bridge the gap between us, He became like US. Just think, the Holy God of Heaven, who could not come close enough to us because of our sin put on Human flesh, Human weakness, learned to walk as we do, learned to talk as we do, felt pain as we do, just to be near us. "How great is the love that the Father has lavished on us, that WE should be called Children of God. And that is what we are."

Like with all great romances, the end usually depends on the intendeds response to the whisper of "I love you." I am thankful now maybe more than ever before, that Christ brought me to that point to reply to His invitation "I love you too"

What is your response? In order for Gods love to be lavished upon you, you must respond to His call and accept it for what it is. Know that God pursued those He made in His image, who hid themselves from Him as far as putting on, taking our weakness onto Himself, and when that wasn't entirely enough He also took our suffering, all great lovers would die for their bride, and Christ did. But no lover has been able to do what Christ has done, loving with such all encompassing passion that He fought off the power of death and defeated it. Raising from the dead to seal the fates of millions of His beloved, that we will never be separated from Him again, "nothing can separate us from the love of Christ"

It's no wonder that I'm satisfied, no one besides Him could love me that deeply.

Or you for that matter.

A time to Change

There comes a point in everyones life when they realize that things cannot continue as they are, for most people this happens many times, but ecspecially for the Christian. Today I came to one of those points.

I realize exactly the kind of Life that Christ has called me to, and if I'm ever going to have any chance of actually living it out change must come. Since the day I said "I do" to Christ life has changed for me in ways that I never imagined it would, magnificient, miraculous changes. When I tell someone my story 4 out of 10 times they cry, all because of the change that Christ has made in my life. Though the change can be painful, and discomforting it has always been good, He has always used it to bring me closer to Himself.

Today I realized another change is coming, one that will take me acting in obedience to His word and making a "radical" decision.

As of today I'm beginning a shopping fast... for one year.

I understand the impact that this change will have on my daily life, everytime I want something I grab my keys, get in my truck and go get it. No discipline required. For the next year that won't be an option. For the next year I believe that Christ will show me the extent of His provision, and that the full extent of what He wants to teach me I haven't even began to grasp.

So for the next year, you will not see me in a mall, thrift store, or outside the grocery section of any supermarket.

The Lord will is able to abundantly supply your every need....

It's time to trust Him to do so.