Monthly Archives: September 2019
“On Not Giving Up”
I was thinking about giving up.
I was listening to an Andy Stanley sermon titled, “You’re Not the Boss of Me.” Part 1 was difficult to hear, in view of how all-over-the-map my emotions are right now. It is hard for me to tell my emotions, “You’re not the boss of me,” when they are being particularly bossy.
As I walked, I listened to Andy Stanley’s “You’re Not the Boss of Me,” part 2. It was about guilt. The first ten minutes were, even by Andy’s own admission, pretty depressing. He was warning about trying to deny, or minimize, or blame someone else for the harmful things we’ve done. My walk and my listening were getting more and more depressed and depressing.
What was the use of trying to get clean and honest? It had not brought healing to my children, to my wife, to others I had harmed. Had it even brought healing to me? Telling the truth as best I could had simply caused others to wonder what else I might be hiding. What was the point of anything? Why not just give up?
Just as Andy Stanley was making the turn toward the fact that Jesus had died for all our sins and guilt, that we were no longer condemned or defined by our guilt, I made the turn down one of the cull-de-sacs. I finally had enough courage to look up from my blue running shoes, and there, in a yard at the turn of the street, was a sign:
DON’T GIVE UP
This seemed very strange, in view of what I had just been listening to, and feeling, and thinking. “Surely, this is a mirage,” I said to myself.
But, no, it wasn’t a mirage. It was still stubbornly there as I got closer.
I knew the couple who lived there—slightly. We had chatted a few times when we were out walking in the neighborhood. So, I walked up the sidewalk, and rang the doorbell. The man of the house came to the door.
“I needed to see your sign,” I said.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’ve got several of them at work as well.”
“Is this some sort of program?” I asked.
“It is to encourage young people who are depressed or suicidal,” he replied.
“I’m afraid it isn’t just young people who struggle with depression or suicidal tendencies,” I said, fighting back the tears. “Your sign was just what I needed to see. Thanks.”
I continued my walk. Another street, another cul-de-sac. When I made the turn at the end of the cul-de-sac, I looked up and there was the lady of the DON’T-GIVE-UP house walking toward me. She walked with me a while, and she talked a bit about why they had the sign, and how the signs were the brainchild of a concerned person on the West Coast. The lady left me with a card for a free mental health program and a prayer. “You are an angel of God for me today,” I said to her. Only just now, I remembered that her name was Angela.
Sometimes, we all need a sign from God. And sometimes, the sign is a sign.
“Listing the Good Things I’ve Done”
One of my most encouraging friends made a wonderful suggestion. Knowing my tendency to notice my failings, but not what I get right, my friend asked if I ever made a list of good things that I’ve done at the end of the day.
The short answer was, “No.”
However, thanks to Gary’s question, the answer is now, Yes!” But man, is it ever hard! I’m pretty good at remembering my wrong-doings, both the small and the great. My good deeds? Not so much.
Of course, if a body is already pretty full of himself or herself, making a list of daily deeds might not be the best idea. There are those who remember only their accomplishments—even their imaginary accomplishments.
Ultimately, as a Christ-follower, I believe that my lists are not the most important lists. The most important lists are the ones God keeps. There are Scriptures that speak of God keeping a list of the good things we do. Some lists are specifically designated as written down. In some cases, the lists are implied lists.
Malachi 3:16-17 is a good example of a list of good things.
“Mal. 3:16 ¶ Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.
Mal. 3:17 “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.”
Apparently, fearing the LORD and speaking about him to other believers catches God’s attention.
Jesus listed a number of positive good deeds that would be mentioned on judgment day in Matthew 25:31-40. These deeds included caring for the hungry and thirsty, hospitality, clothing the naked, and visiting those who are sick or in prison. Jesus not only notices, but also considers these good deeds to have been done for him.
Of course, the idea that God keeps records of our deeds is not altogether comforting, is it? What about our bad deeds? Yes, according to Romans 2:6, in the supernatural course of things, God will repay each person according to his/her deeds.
But then there are other Scriptures that point out a wonderfully surprising—even shocking—truth. Here is one of these shockers:
“Psa. 130:3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.”
According to this verse, God doesn’t keep a record of our sins. He leaves that up to our fellow sinners. However, for the unwisdom of us keeping a record of the wrong-doings of others, see 1 Corinthians 13:5.
“Strength to Believe I’m Loved and the Strength to Love”
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:4-21, English Standard Version)
My friend, Steve, prayed this morning that “God would give [me] the strength to believe that I am loved.”
Yes! It takes strength to believe that! There is so much hatred in the world, so much hatred in me, that love seems delusional. Also, I remember all the evil I’ve done. It is difficult to love a person like me, even when I’m me.
I wondered whether there were any Bible passages that linked strength with love. The passage from Ephesians that leads off this post came to mind.
Several things are of interest here. First, did you notice that the Triune God is involved in this strengthening process? The Father is invoked in verse 14, the Holy Spirit in verse 16, and Christ Jesus in verses 17, 18, and 21. We’ve got some pretty ferocious Lovers on our side!
Second, this is not a promise for pious particles, for individuals. Rather, this is a corporate promise. The pronouns “we” and “you” are all plural. None of us, by ourselves, can even begin to understand the love of God for us. We need one another.
Third, this is a kind of love that we can know. In fact, Paul prays that we can know this love.
However, fourth, we are called to know this love which surpasses knowledge. How can we know something that surpasses knowledge? I don’t know, but that is what Paul is wishing and praying for the people to whom he is writing. And, since I believe that the Bible is God’s Word for all people of all times, it is also God’s desire for all of us.
Fifth, being strengthened to experience love is a demanding business. Foulkes comments, “The word translated may have power (Gk. exischysēte) and also the verb comprehend (katalabesthai), meaning ‘an earnest grasping’, suggest the difficulty of the task envisaged, simply because it is no mere intellectual feat, but a matter of practical experience, a living together in love which is inevitably costly.”[1]
Finally, this love is God’s love for us, as shown especially in his Son, Christ Jesus. However, it is also our love for others. Again, Foulkes comments, “However we interpret the dimensions of verse 17, the definite goal to which the Christian life must move, and for which therefore the apostle prays, is for his readers to know the love of Christ, to know how he loved and loves, and to experience his love in loving him and loving others for his sake.”[2]
Let’s pray to be strong in love today! Strong in believing that we are loved, and
strong in loving God and others.
[1]Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, TNTC 10; IVP/Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 111.
[2]Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, TNTC 10; IVP/Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 112.
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:4-21, English Standard Version)
My friend, Steve, prayed this morning that “God would give [me] the strength to believe that I am loved.”
Yes! It takes strength to believe that! There is so much hatred in the world, so much hatred in me, that love seems delusional.
But then, I wondered whether there were any Bible passages that linked strength with love. The passage from Ephesians that leads off this post came to mind.
Several things are of interest here. First, did you notice that the Triune God is involved in this strengthening process? The Father is invoked in verse 14, the Holy Spirit in verse 16, and Christ Jesus in verses 17, 18, and 21.
Second, this is not a promise for pious particles, for individuals. Rather, this is a corporate promise. The pronouns “we” and “you” are all plural. None of us, by ourselves, can even begin to understand the love of God for us. We need one another.
Third, this is a kind of love that we can know. In fact, Paul prays that we can know this love.
However, fourth, we are called to know this love which surpasses knowledge. How can we know something that surpasses knowledge? I don’t know, but that is what Paul is wishing and praying for the people to whom he is writing. And, since I believe that the Bible is God’s Word for all people of all times, it is also God’s desire for all of us.
Fifth, being strengthened to experience love is a demanding business. Foulkes comments, “The word translated may have power (Gk. exischysēte) and also the verb comprehend (katalabesthai), meaning ‘an earnest grasping’, suggest the difficulty of the task envisaged, simply because it is no mere intellectual feat, but a matter of practical experience, a living together in love which is inevitably costly.”[1]
Finally, this love is both God’s love for us, as shown especially in his Son, Christ Jesus. However, it is also our love for others. Again, Foulkes comments, “However we interpret the dimensions of verse 17, the definite goal to which the Christian life must move, and for which therefore the apostle prays, is for his readers to know the love of Christ, to know how he loved and loves, and to experience his love in loving him and loving others for his sake.”[2]
Lets pray to be strong in love today! Strong in believing that we are loved, and
also strong in loving God and others.
[1]Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, TNTC 10; IVP/Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 111.
[2]Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, TNTC 10; IVP/Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 112.
“To Be Where You Feel Like You Belong”
Nothing feels much worse than feeling like you don’t belong. I’ve been feeling that way a lot here of late.
On the other hand, to be where you feel like you do belong is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world.
I am visiting some of my wife’s family who live in southern Kentucky. They know all my failings. Perhaps not every detail of my failings, but they know all the broad contours and many of the details. And they love me. I feel like I belong. That’s because I do.
I don’t belong because I’m good. I’m not all that good, though I’m probably considerably better (and safer) than I used to be. I belong because they take seriously God’s grace to them and to me. They have taken the platitude “The ground is level at the cross of Christ,” and turned it into a profound truth by actually living it out. They make the love of God more real to me than it has been of late.
Right after we arrived here, I prayed a desperate prayer: “Oh God, please forgive, and cleanse, and heal.”
And immediately, God said, “I have, I am, and I will.”
I don’t very often feel that God speaks to me directly. That may well be because I’m not listening, of course.
Sometimes, people who embody the love and forgiveness of God help me to hear a fresh and refreshing Word from God. It is so today.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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- “Delighting in Being Told What to Do?!?” February 23, 2024“Psa. 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures […]
- “Character is the Real Lesson” January 19, 2024I am often confused about what lesson I’m really supposed to be learning. For example, this morning I was trying to knock out several Spanish lessons. My intentions were a lot better than my internet connection. I’ve done three lessons. Or rather, I’ve done two lessons. One of them I did twice because the internet […]
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- “That Don’t Impress God Much” December 14, 2023DTEB, “That Don’t Impress God Much” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (Song by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain) Micah 6:8 (MSG) “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be […]
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