Mystery of friendship with God

Knowing that we are a complete mess, a jumble of our lustful self and yet bearing the image of God and found in His righteousness, I marvel that Christ can call us "friends." If I were a perfect, sinless One, would I chose to relate and become intimate with such sin-entrenched, unfaithful, utterly helpless creatures? From my perspective of being in God's shoes, I would see humans as a lost cause. What have they ever really amounted to? Imagine the incredible hope, love, faithfulness, grace that our God must possess to desire and seek intimacy with His creation, fallen as we are and desperate apart from Him.

Lately, I've been impressed to see the theme of God calling us to "know Him" through the entire Bible. In the old testament compelling the children of Israel to leave their worthless idolatry and return to Him. And, in the new testament, the mandate from Paul to "grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ," to grow in intimate, experiential knowledge of Jesus. Thus, the idea of centering on Christ, to fix our eyes on Jesus must be imperative in our daily walk. As Brennan Manning tells us:
"Let us never underestimate the power of truth unleashed in our experience of Jesus and magnified in our fidelity to seeking his face. In his last days, Thomas Merton wrote in his ASIAN JOURNAL that trust increases through our fidelity to the search and leads to 'a certitude which is very, very deep because it is not our own personal certitude, it is the certitude of God Himself in us.' 
After the initial experience, perseverance in the life-long quest for greater intimacy with Jesus, no matter how often we stumble and fall, is not only the antidote to hopelessness and despair; it is the sure path to divine certitude that overcomes all doubts, anxieties, and worries" (Ruthless Trust, 105).


Related, two scriptures that have left a deep impression lately and have been food for meditation are:

2 Corinthians 3:18 (The Message)
We are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
- I just love how in the process of seeking Him, the light and beauty of God start to enter in, change us, and we can't help but radiate it out through our lives. I am becoming awake to evidences of this in my own life.

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 
- Moving into the realm of faith and trust in Christ, involving elements of risk and jumping into what appears to be the unknown, somehow is substantive, though invisible and difficult to put into words. Just as somehow  in the midst of praising God our joy is renewed deeply and abundantly, so it is true yet unexplainable to the human mind how we can firmly trust in things-yet-to-be as sure and done.

Healing... when, O God?

No matter where I turn, people are hurting from something or another that's passed in their life. Everyone has a story, and it's impossible to go through this life without challenges and trials entering into that life story. These things mold and shape us in many ways that can be to our benefit. At the same time, there's times that something digs so deep that it leaves an indelible mark that's seemingly impossible to remove, literally a scar. Most often I hear painful accounts that have led individuals to a sense of throbbing insecurity in feeling beautiful, loved, accepted. Speaking of scars, however, reminds me of something I recently read by Brennan Manning in Ruthless Trust:

Anyone God uses significantly is always deeply wounded...we are, each and every one of us, insignificant people whom God has called and graced to use in a significant way...On the last day, Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but for scars.

When I was up in the Boundary Waters a few weeks back, God kept impressing on my heart the need to pray for healing, particularly over the lives of people I'd just met. Since then I've been more aware of pain and how it affects people. Every person I meet and learn their story, something has happened in their past that affects who they are today. We are all dealing with various hurts at some level or another. And I hurt to see other people hurting... I want to relieve their pain, to offer consolation, encouragement, something to alleviate or dissipate the nasty bugger of pain. ....as I just wrote that last line, it dawned on me too that God uses our pain for His purposes, to point out things we may not otherwise see or be aware of. I should not necessarily pray away the pain, but pray into deeper things... that God would use the pain to teach or form His character in them. I do not want an easy life. But, obviously, I don't think God wants us to remain forever in a place of pain, for I also believe He is healer. He wants to bring restoration in our lives, to bring us into that place of abiding in the abundant life He's given us. 

A Psalm (62) I was meditating on recently at a worship night speaks into what our response should be:

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,

for my hope is from him.

6 He only is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;

my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

8 Trust in him at all times, O people;

pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah

Until the Lord our God chooses to bring healing in those tender areas of our lives, rest in Him. Hope in Him. Pour out your heart before Him. Two quotes of encouragement to stand strong and fight for joy are as follows:

"When the heart-strings are suddenly cut, it is, I believe, a physical impossibility to feel faith or resignation; there is a revolt of the instinctive and animal system, and though we may submit to God, it is rather by constant painful effort than sweet attraction." - Harriet B. Stowe

"Joy, as a way of living, is a hard-won victory over entrenched attitudes of apathy, pessimism, 

doubt, unbelief and despair." - Ken Williams

Are you the standard?

Change...

What do you feel/think when you hear this word? Annoyed? Excited? Scared? It's too difficult. I love it. I thrive off of it.

Lately, the theme of "change" has seemingly popped its head all around me, in conversations with friends, sermons, times of meditation. I want to share the summary of these reflections that culminated in a quiet time a few weeks back...

I first directed my thoughts towards my relationship with God. He is changeless, the same yesterday, today, forever. He is holy and perfect. I, on the other hand, am imperfect, continually in need of change and transformation, until the day when I am glorified and made perfect in His presence. Sometimes it feels unfair that I am required to change, but regardless, it is a part of the process of this life, in a fallen world. God desires our transformation to become more like Christ and to be holy as He is holy (see Rom. 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Peter 1:15-16). But, He doesn't leave us alone in this process but comes alongside us and promises to bring the work He started in us to completion (Phil. 1:6, 12-13).

Then, I took my thoughts to horizontal relationships, examining my friendships and relationships with other human beings. It is probably not presumptuous of me to assume that in our interactions with others, to a certain degree we want others to change. I may not exactly like the way someone jokes or the "x" attitude of another. And, so maybe sometimes I shut out or avoid some people because of whatever it is that irks me, because I don't like it. But, really, when I examine this further, I'm essentially making a list of "preferences" of how I want others to interact with me, making myself the standard. As I already reflected on, I'm imperfect, and only God is perfect. Therefore, making myself the standard to which others need to change and conform is truly ridiculous. Upon seeing this- the natural attitude and reaction of humans everywhere having been pinpointed- I chose to declare that that will not be my mode of operation. Instead, I asked God, that by His grace, He would help me take the more difficult route, which is in humility laying aside my preferences and if need be, changing myself in order to maintain harmony in my relationships and truly love others. As Philippians says, "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others" (2:3-4). 


And so continues the journey of learning to love as He loves, continually molded, shaped, and changed by Him.

God, let it be so in my life. Have your way in me.

How does God find satisfaction?

This was the question I was meditating on this morning while reading the Word. The question was triggered because I noticed that so much of scriptures seems like instructions for us, particularly to be drawn close to God, to essentially find complete fulfillment and satisfaction in God. As I began searching the Bible for answers to my question, it dawned on me... God is most satisfied when we are satisfied in Him. Yeah, you can say I stole this idea from Piper, but this personal revelation today came from my own study and meditation of the Word, which led me to declare that which other believers have already discovered along the way. It makes so much sense because God doesn't need anyone or anything - He is the Creator of all things and thus the source of all things is centered in Him. Unlike us, who are constantly looking to other things or people to satisfy us, God is not wired that way. Therefore, both our satisfaction and His satisfaction are ultimately centered in God. A song that I've been enjoying lately has gained more preciousness because it is so fitting here...
My soul longs for You, Lord, in a dry and weary place
Come and take Your place in the center of our hearts,
It's where you belong.
(based on Psalm 63, composed at IHOP)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp_M451YufM&feature=related