Remember

Deuteronomy 8:2 “Remember how the LORD your God.” Moses goes on to recount how God freed His people from their captivity, met their needs, and sustained them. Why do I want to rush through the pain, the wounds and wounding, scars, and refining that God is doing in my life? Why am I daily tempted to daydream of the day when all this pain is gone?

God, however, wants me to live close by never forgetting the pain and consequences of sin, the joy that comes from sin being exposed while stepping into the truth, and the sweetness of fellowship. (even if everyone else walks away as they deal with their own stuff God never leaves and he never forsakes.)

Grace has always existed with God (if God is gracious, which He is, then one of His characteristics is graciousness. Therefore, grace was created but always was) and designed for all. If I try and move further away from the reality of what sin cost, I begin to attach stipulations or conditions on what grace means to others. Solomon is proclaimed as the wisest one who ever lived but rarely do people reference that later in his life when he was building altars to other gods. How could the wisest man who ever lived stray so far from the One True God? It starts the day we wake up and our “troubles” are far behind us, the wife is happy, money is in the bank, bills are paid, and we are doing “alright.” It starts the moment a person forgets that he/she is morally, ethically, and spiritually bankrupt before Holy God. We not only live before Him and approach his throne with nothing to offer Him but we each come bearing a debt that is beyond our repayment.

There is not one act of kindness, no good deed, no right choices, or life of purity that we can live that will add one ounce to the Glory of God.

When is the last time you stepped out of a lie, an addiction, poor boundaries, or just yourself to confess that you are bankrupt? I would dare say that there are very few moments that this occurs without a catalyst of some sort; confrontation, breakdown in the relationship, a wayward email, phone records, or even someone who loves you enough to speak truth into your life without regard to your response. No one wants to admit he/she is destitute. We continue to perpetuate this lie that if we are somehow good, keep things “in order,” play our role in the façade, or that others somehow need us, then we feel better about ourselves as compared to others’ sin. Grace screams from the rooftop that no one is worthy, but all can freely receive because of God’s covenant to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Micah 7:7-9 states, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.”

Sowing Seed

No matter what has ever happened to me or who has hurt me, I am not excused from my sin or sin nature that makes me a splinter in the cross of Jesus Christ.  God has been nurturing my heart recently to receive some fundamental truths of faith in Christ Jesus.

Sin has consequences, whether they are sins of the intentional or unintentional.  Sin affects those I love, the church, and me.  The consequences may not be instant but they are seeds that are planted in my heart that will be made evident after the next rain.  We are constantly planting seeds; the way we treat our spouse, what we watch, the things we believe, the words we hear and say, the books we read and the daily choices to act or not act are all seeds.  The parable of the seed found in Luke 8. http://read.ly/Luke8.5.NIV

In the same way, when I read the Word of God, meditate on His truths, spend time in prayer for my weaknesses, sin, and desperation for Him, I am planting seeds of righteousness that will spill over into the lives of those I love, the church, as well as myself.  As I have written past sins and lies in my inventory and journal, a constant theme in my unhealthy behavior has been the times that I was not consistently in the Word of God or spending time in prayer.  God used this to resonate the idea that seeds are revealed after the rain.

There is another storm coming into your life.  It is guaranteed.  Christians are promised suffering.  It may be in your spouse’s life.  It may be your deepest sin revealed.  It may be a storm that brings about purification breaking up the old soil and tilling your heart for a new crop that God desires for your life.  For your sake, for the sake of those you love, for the sake of the church, and for the glory of OUR Risen Savior do not forsake time alone with God today in prayer, meditation, and the treasuring of His Word.  It is the life source for our lives.  We cannot live apart from it.  God will reveal himself first in His Word.  The psalmist describes God as the shade he depends on Psalm 121:5 http://read.ly/Ps121.5.NIV.  We can grow the most in the cool of the day under the shade of God.  Continue to plant seeds of righteousness in your life and allow God to cultivate and grow them according to His plan for His glory alone.

Move that bus!

You know the show. It comes on Sunday nights. This phrase with fifteen minutes left in the show causes me to cry EVERY week. I cry every time I watch it. It can be a rerun. I will cry. I don’t have to watch the episode and know what desperate plight the family is in because I am drawn to that moment.
The first thing that always pierces my heart is when the bus rolls away and the emotion that overtakes the individuals. I have watched grown men fall to their knees speechless and weep. I have seen kids so excited that all they can do is scream “Oh my gosh” while jumping up and down hugging anyone and everyone who is close by. My heart pauses as a struggling mother just stands there taking in what is before her. Their reaction for the rest of the show is how I picture grace. When I realize the depravity of my human heart, the lives I have personally wounded, my sins that have caused distance between a Holy God and his beloved, and the unfathomable measures God took to provide a sacrifice for me because he loved me so much then this moment should be my reaction time and time again. The host begins to show off the house to the family explaining how the home is customized to meet their needs. The family continues to verbalize the grace being poured over them and their thankfulness is evident. God has done the same for me. He loves me with an everlasting love. God knows that my heart is a desert that longs for encouraging words and affirmation. I kneel humble before Him when I open his word and walk through what he says about me; loved with an everlasting love, that I belong to Him, nothing can separate me from his hand, his compassion never ends, his faithfulness extends to all generation, he is faithful when I am faithless, his strength is made perfect in my weakness, that He is with me always, he has a place prepared for me after this life, and that He will return to claim what belongs to Him. When I ponder and treasure all these things in my heart, I am filled with gratitude of the Holy God who has opened the heavens over me to show his love for me.
As I am realizing the depth of God’s grace that he has poured on me, it should affect how I live and treat others. Later today, a golfer will take to the world stage through the media and offer some statement about his sin that was made public. Many stories, theories, and he should have said will be offered for public consumption after he speaks. Most people are ready and willing to give their opinion or insight on the sins of others.
I don’t have to have an opinion about what he should say or do, God has already done that in his word. James 5:17 “confess YOUR sin to one another so that YOU may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Anytime I am tempted to dwell on the sins of others, how they should have to pay for those sins, and how others should treat them as a result of their sin, I can immediately recognize that this is a lie and smooth temptation of a wayward heart to feel better about my own life. When he speaks today, I picture myself having to confess everything: lies, manipulation, attempts of controlling others, and theft. I can place myself in his shoes because the sins I commit today caused Holy God to unleash and pour out His wrath towards sin on His Son, Jesus Christ.
We are the people of the second chance. We each have stood behind that bus and had grace revealed to us. We each sin daily. The world will know Him by our love for one another. Watch the show this week and I hope when you hear them say “move that bus” that you will allow God to do that in your heart.