Friday, January 31, 2014

336. He Gave Us Everything



Do you ever feel like God is holding out on you? Have you ever had the sneaking suspicion He’s making things hard for you on purpose? Do you ever think, “If God really loves me so much, why does He hold back so many good things from me?” You’re not alone if you feel that way. I know you already know this, but it’s worth saying again - we’re in the hard part right now. We’re in the middle of the strain. God promised that we would struggle and suffer, but His promises don’t end there. In fact, the promise is that our difficulties are evidence of the truth that will one day make all hard things right. It turns out that these current pressures and problems show us that we are God’s kids. Because of Jesus’ suffering and death, God has adopted us as His very own children. We are part of the royal family of Heaven now, and just as Jesus, our Forebear endured suffering, we must. But it is our badge of authenticity, not a sign that God is giving us less than His best. The truth is, Jesus gave us Himself and in so doing, gave us everything. Now, we are heirs with Him. We will inherit nothing less than all the eternal goodness and glory of Heaven. Can you imagine that? Us - heirs of Heaven! We’ll be like the unruly children of some great Emperor, running up and down the halls of an amazing palace with muddy boots, sliding down the marble banisters and drinking kool-aid out of some priceless tea service. God isn’t holding anything back from you. When the hard part is over, we inherit everything. Because of Him, we get it all.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

335. He Rescued Us From Us



Have you ever seen inside yourself the very thing that most upsets you in other people? I’m sure you have. Even if we’d rather not face it, we all know that we are (or have the potential to be) just like the things we hate. Inside my own heart, I find desires and longings that are pure and filled with the Spirit of the Lord living right alongside the kind of selfishness, fear, unkindness and petty jealousies that broke the world. This incongruity is disturbing. How can we be two things at once? We are all like a hotel manager who rents a room to the city’s very best and worst characters on the same night, and then has to sleep in that room. The thing is, when you look around at the mess and cruelty of this world, you want to see justice done. You want to see the monsters done away with and the sufferings of the innocent made right, but there is a problem. When you are honest, you realize that the monsters aren’t just out there - the monster is within us all. In Galatians 1, Paul says Jesus came to rescue us from this present evil age, which is exactly what we most want and need. We want to be rid of the darkness of this place, but can we be? If the rescue mission involves getting us out of this evil world, does my messed up heart have to stay behind? We’re not just the victims of this story, but the villains as well. The amazing thing is that Paul says Jesus came to rescue us from this present evil age by giving Himself for our sins. He pays, forgives and then delivers us.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

334. He's Teaching You To Walk



Most Christians think God is only pleased with them when they’re living right. Even if we really love the idea of grace, singing the songs that celebrate forgiveness and writing out the verses that proclaim our freedom on index cards for our dashboards, lots of us are talking ourselves into it. Deep down inside us, many of us really think our stumbling and struggling is a source of frustration for the Lord. We walk a few paces upright, we start to feel good about where we are spiritually, and before you know it, we crash and burn all over again, feeling like the same old loser we’ve always been. Not only that, but we think God shares our low opinion of ourselves. We have a very wishy-washy view of the affections of God. We see Him hot and cold and everything in between, based on whether we walk or fall. Jesus said He has us by the hand and no one will ever break His grip. As a father of three kids, I love the feeling of holding my kids’ hands. I have a head and heart full of memories of helping them learn to walk and holding their chunky little mitts in my hand, guiding them across the floor one step at a time. My kids fell a lot - even after they learned to walk. Just the other day I was holding my five year-old son’s hand as we crossed an icy parking lot so that when he slipped, I would have hold of him. You are going to stumble, stagger and fall, but Jesus isn’t frustrated or disappointed. He has hold of your hand and He loves to watch you try while holding onto Him.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

333. He's Looking For You Beneath Your Madness



Do you know what it’s like to get dragged into something messed up or harmful because you were listening to the wrong voices? We all have tons of voices in our lives. Some of the voices you hear might make you feel pressured to be a certain way or do certain things. Some of the voices in your life may make you feel like you don’t measure up or that no one wants you around. Some folks hear a negative siren call every time they walk past a mirror or every time they see that ‘perfect’ friend who has it all together. Some of us never get over the voices of parents we could never seem to please. Do you know how it feels to have a heart and mind filled with both whispers and yells telling you that you’re not enough? Do you know the madness of trying to please everyone in your life so much that you don’t even know who you are or what you want anymore? One time Jesus met a man whose heart and mind were filled with wicked voices. They had pulled him into a life of dark isolation. He was lonely, angry and harming himself. Everyone in his life had given up on him and driven him away. When Jesus met this man, He asked him, “What is your name?” I love that. I think it’s so cool that Jesus still saw a man underneath all that wrong who was worth saving. We’ve all followed the wrong voices from time to time, but no matter what you’ve done, Jesus is searching for the real you behind all your madness. Even if everyone else gives up on you, He never will.

Friday, January 17, 2014

332. He's The Answer To Our Whys



The most raw and honest place we can go with our doubts is to ask the question, “Why?” Most of us believe God exists. Even folks who say they don’t are usually so mad at Him that their disbelief is less than convincing. Our trouble with God is not His existence, but rather the fact that we have some huge, unanswered questions about our own pain and loss. If God is, then why do we have to endure such hurt and tragedy? If He’s powerful, why doesn’t He stop our nightmare scenarios before they happen? If He cares about us, why does He seem to stand idly by when our world is caving in? If He is, then why? If He could help and He wanted to help, then He would help, right? But what if the answer is deeper than that? What if our problems are the merely the symptoms of a disease? One time, Jesus’ friend Lazarus was dying. His sisters sent for Jesus, but He didn’t show up until it was too late. The ‘why’ question was heavy on the lips of the grieving sisters. A week later, Jesus Himself was the One asking “Why” in the deepest darkness in the middle of the day on the cross. You see, God doesn’t show up to put out every fire and answer every question, but He doesn’t stand idly by either. The brokenness is deeper than we can understand. The world is so dark and messed up that God Himself had to come here and spill His blood to fix it. Jesus is the payment for all our brokenness. He is the Light that will eclipse the darkness. He is the answer to all our whys.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

331. He Is All In



I think one of the most troubling suspicious many of us deal with on a day to day basis is the fear that we are on our own. Sometimes life gets so overwhelming that it feels as though we have to sprint just to keep up. Have you ever thrown your hands up because you’re tired and just over it? Do you find yourself wondering if you’re ever going to get a break? One of the hardest things about being in a place like that is the fear that not only is your life overwhelming, but you’re the only one investing in the struggle. It can seem as though you’re the only person who cares - the only one who’s sacrificing and straining to make your life work. The thing is, even when it feels that way, you’re not actually on your own. Jesus is alive and at work right now in your life. He is on a mission to give you a full, abundant life and He isn’t going to rest until you have it. In Luke chapter 9, Jesus told His disciples about the death He would die. Luke says after this He “set His face like a flint” for Jerusalem. That’s a phrase which means He was on a mission and He was serious about it. Later, a man asked if he could follow Jesus and the Lord said, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” In other words, Jesus won’t stop until you have everything He promised you would have.. You’re not on your own. Jesus is at work and He’s focused. No rest, no sleep, no slowing down until you two are home together.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

330. He Came For People Like You



Sometimes, when you are face-to-face with the reality of your own desperate and fallen heart, it can be hard to believe that Jesus would ever truly want anything to do with you. I know I have felt that way tons of times. Could He really love this big a mess? Does He really treasure a person like me with all of my problems and struggles? If you’ve ever felt that way before, there’s good news for you. At the very beginning of the New Testament, in the first chapter of Matthew, there is a list of names. The author tells us that it is the genealogy of the Messiah. This is Jesus’ ancestral line - the biological history of where the Christ came from. Now, when you start to read a list of names like that, you might assume that these would be the very pillars of humanity. Surely the line that brought about the Messiah would be holiest, most exemplary group of superstar people to ever walk the face of the planet, right? Well, it’s actually quite the opposite. This list includes liars, cheaters, thieves, adulterers, murderers, idol worshipers and scoundrels of the very lowest order. One man in this list is described as a person who committed more evil by himself than all of the pagan nations before him. Wow. There were desperately poor people in this list and people with deep emotional problems. The lineage of Jesus isn’t a hall of fame, it’s the manifesto of a rescue mission. Jesus didn’t just come from these people, He came for them. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, Jesus came for you. He came because you need Him and because He loves you.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

329. He's The One Holding On To You



When you are feeling far away from the Lord and you want to be closer to Him, does your first instinct involve you trying a whole lot harder? When you’re spiritually dry, do you start looking for the quick fix - some new spiritual routine or discipline that will pump life back into your walk with Jesus? I know I think that way. When something seems off, my first response is to simply work harder at this Jesus thing. My brain tells me to ramp up my commitment, get more consistent at certain practices and be better at being a Christian. And there is the problem. We automatically assume that our relationship with Jesus is a wishy-washy, flighty arrangement. Sometimes it’s close and good, but at other times it’s distant and cold. When we start with that line of thinking, we naturally go on to assume that our proximity to Jesus is all wrapped up in our effort. We think that if we try harder, we’ll be closer to Jesus. If we don’t, then we won’t. As a result, so many of us are spinning our wheels looking for the next amazing devotional or discipline that’s really going to make us connect with the Lord and we get frustrated when it doesn’t work. Our trouble is that we started out believing a false premise. Jesus said that we are in His hand. He said He will never leave us. He said no one can loosen His grip on us at all. You don’t need to try harder to be close to Him. He is holding you. What if you just believed the truth that you’re already and eternally connected to Him and just relaxed in His grasp?

Saturday, January 4, 2014

328. He Isn’t The One Pushing You To Do Better



Have you ever laid your head down on your pillow at the end of the day and then thought, “Did I do enough today? Did I work hard enough? Did I really show Jesus enough proof to demonstrate my loyalty and love for Him?” Do you know what it’s like to wake up to a brand new day, start praying and then find yourself telling the Lord that today is going to be different and you’re really going to make it an awesome day today? Do you measure one day against another, thinking that you did enough today? When you are trying to figure out the health of your relationship with Jesus, what evidence are you looking for? Is it something you did or didn’t do that made you feel closer or farther away from the Lord? This is the easiest trap to fall into when it comes to our walk with Jesus. After all, most people think religion is about doing stuff to make yourself good. Not only that, but there is so much in the Bible about doing good things that it can be hard to figure out that this is not the point of knowing Jesus. The Apostle Paul says that if you think doing certain things or failing to do other things shows you how close you are to Jesus, you have been bewitched. There are people who will try to persuade you to work harder and do more, but in Galatians 5, Paul says “that kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.” Jesus isn’t pushing you to do more. He wants you to love Him honestly and everything else will flow out of that love.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

327. He Doesn't Care What Other People Think About You




Have you ever had the feeling that there are people looking at your life thinking that God wouldn’t want anything to do with you? Have you ever wondered whether or not there are people who size you up and find you unworthy to be one of Jesus’ people? I’d love to be able to tell you that you’re wrong about that, but the truth is that I can’t because you’re not wrong about it. If you sometimes feel as though some folks think God should pass you by and leave you out because you don’t qualify, it’s because there are people who feel that way. There are folks who will look at the sin in your life and the struggles you can’t shake and think you and Jesus are like oil and water. I know that’s not very comforting and I know that feeling stings, but there is something very important you need to know: Jesus doesn’t agree with them. Jesus loves you and wants to be close to you right now, today. No matter what you’ve done or who you’ve been, you matter to Him more than anything and He wants to help you and heal you. One time, when Jesus was eating dinner in the home of a very important religious leader, a woman came in to the house and approached Jesus. She had a bad reputation and everyone there knew about it. She was crying tears of gratitude, worship and love for the Lord. The religious leader looked at her and judged her, thinking Jesus must be a phony if He couldn’t tell how bad she was, but Jesus stood up for her and forgave her. Jesus is on your side, too.