Grace

What is grace?  The most basic definition is “unmerited favor.”  God has been stretching my understanding of grace for the past ten years.  I was amazed to realize the incomprehensible depth of God’s grace toward me.  His grace not only saved me from eternal death by forgiving me of all my sins and making me a new creature, but His grace also enables me to live the Christian life.

It is this second part, grace for living, which was completely new to me.  As a minister of music, I sang many songs about grace from the hymnbooks.  Most of those hymns were about God’s saving grace, but they didn’t mention God’s grace for living.  I was dependent on His grace for salvation, but I was depending on my self-effort to be obedient to God’s commandments for living.  I didn’t realize that was a broken system, even though the outcome of my Christian walk was very broken.

Over the next few years I began to get connected with more people of like-mind.  They too understood this amazing grace and were experiencing the power of God’s grace to effect real victory in living the Christian life.  As I shared what God was showing me, there were many who received this news with gladness.  However, there were also those who were suspect of this “freedom” and saw it either as license or sinless perfection.  Through those two distorted lenses, even I could see how “grace for living” could be rejected.

I began to notice among the “grace” crowd this “us and them” language.  There was something that bothered me deeply about this; something deep inside that said this wasn’t right.  Others noticed this also and sadly abandoned the truth of God’s life giving grace for a watered-down version of grace.  It was a mix of law and grace.  To them that sounded and felt safer.

Within this mixed law and grace thinking, grace becomes nothing more than an action word.  “I should show them grace.” Or “I didn’t mean to do that.  Please give me some grace.”  In this system, grace is a commodity to be given as you deem the other worthy.  Of course, in this system you hope others will give you this grace if you make a mistake. 

Within the “grace” crowd, grace sometimes seems to be a secret knowledge given to those who have understanding.  I have been guilty of saying, “I wish they would get grace.”  It is almost assumed that you can only practice grace if you understand it.  For those who don’t consider themselves a part of this “grace” crowd, they have felt criticized by those of us who understand what it means to live by God’s grace.  They feel like they are on the outside of some exclusive club.  (Of course, when we look down on those who don’t understand grace, we are not expressing God’s grace!)

The greatest revelation of God’s grace for me is when I understood grace to be a person.  Jesus Christ is the personification of God’s grace.  Grace is Jesus and Jesus is grace.  The scripture says every believer is in-dwelt by Christ (Rom. 8:10; Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27).  God’s grace is not based on knowledge, but on the person of Jesus Christ.  Whether I understand grace or not doesn’t determine if I have grace.  If I am a container of Christ’s Life, then I have grace. 

I have seen the most legalistic Christians display grace.  I now realize they are expressing Christ in those moments.  I have seen Christians with a deep understanding of God’s grace display the nastiest flesh.  In those moments they are not walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-17). 

There is no “us and them” among believers, we are all one in Christ.  Our Source to live the Christian life is the same.  Our Source is Christ.  We cannot intellectualize grace and then live a life of grace without the empowerment of Christ in us.  That is Paul’s confession in Galatians 2:20, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” 

So what is the advantage of “knowing” about grace?  It can be compared to having a bank account with a million dollars.  If you know about the account, you can intentionally spend money from the account.  If you don’t know about the account, you can’t intentionally spend from it.  But more importantly, God wants us to know about His amazing gift of grace, a gift He has given in abundance (Rom. 5:17).

What does grace or this unmerited favor look like?  It looks like love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, humility, and forbearance (Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 4:2).  Grace looks at the heart before it looks at the behavior.  Grace works from the inside-out, not the other way around.  God did not change our behavior in order to draw us into a relationship with Him; He changed our nature.  Now, His grace pulls that nature out of us and changes our behavior!

Whether one believes this about grace or not doesn’t change the fact that we have a spiritual account with unfathomable riches.  We are all people of grace because we have grace personified living in us.  Now, go out there and spend your inheritance!

Citizen of a Different World

This holiday season has been challenging. For a few years now I take the last week or two of the year off from "work" to either work around the house or visit family out of state. This year we opted to hang out around the house. I had visions of grandeur as to what I would accomplish. To say the least, it has not gone as I planned. Instead of accomplishing tasks as I had hoped, it feels like my life has been on pause!

This is the condition of my circumstances that has led to Father reminding me of who I really am. I find myself trying to make a life here. When I say "here," I mean in this world. I have dreams of owning some property in the country where I can have a garden, a smoke house, and maybe some chickens. If there is enough land, I could also hunt there. Yeah, I'm a country boy at heart!

As the thought of living somewhere other than where I am and the reality that I currently cannot do anything to change that hit me; I had a sudden urge to "feel" down. I looked at Tess and said, "we have to decide where we're going to live. We are either going to live in this world or we are going to live in eternity." In that moment, Father reminded me that I am not of this world. This holiday season, I think I have been trying to make a life here.

All of us have to decide where we are going to live. I found a definition of "alien" from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition: "differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility." Peter said in 1 Peter 2:11, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul." My "strong desire" to make a life here in this world is nothing more than fleshly lust. Don't get me wrong, it is okay to have desires. The Bible says God gives us the desires of our heart. (Ps. 37:4) When we pursue desires to get our needs met apart from God we experience the frustration of living from the flesh.

Jesus said in John 17:14, "“I have given them Your word; and ^the world has hated them, because ^they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." We have to live in this world, but we are not of this world. So what does that practically mean? It means my "life" needs aren't met by this world. It really doesn't matter where I live, what I drive, what I wear, what I do, or who I know. Being in this world, I will live somewhere, I will wear something, I will drive something, I will do things, and I will know people. Being a citizen of eternity, however, will determine how I experience these things. 

Finish this statement, "I will be happy when....." I was putting a house in the country in that blank. Sometimes I put "being understood" in the blank. There are many things we can put in the blank, but apart from knowing God it is flesh.  

This morning I asked myself a hard question, "what is the passion of your heart?" I was again reminded that I love knowing God and making Him known. Some will amen that last statement and immediately translate that into a "doing" statement. Cliches will roll off the tongue about spreading the gospel through evangelism and missions. That in and of itself is still trying to make a place in this world through "doing" something. Father wants us to focus on knowing Him, period! As I know Him, my thoughts, my behaviors, and my emotions express Him in everyday life here in this world. You may look at me and see evangelism and missions, but I see Christ in me, expressing His Life in me.

God Is the Architect and Builder

“By faith he (Abraham) lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:9-10, NASB)

All of us are looking for contentment in this life. We also want our lives to make a difference and amount to something of which our families and friends can be proud. The question is, though, how are you and I pursuing what we would describe as a successful life?

Abraham lived in the land of promise 100 years. It wasn't until Joshua led the children of Israel into the promised land before they actually possessed the land. It was around 430 years between God promising the land to Abraham and Joshua possessing the land. Even though Abraham lived in the promised land for 100 years, he was still considered a stranger in the land.

When I lived in Montana I noticed a peculiar convention among the native Montanans. To them it mattered what generation Montanan you were. I remember hearing one man telling me with a cynical attitude that he was only a third generation Montanan. He said his family was considered fairly new to the state! That blew my mind. That probably meant that his family had only been in the state around fifty years. To me that was a long time!

Abraham was a wealthy and well-respected man. He had enough money and power to buy and secure a good life for him and his family. Even though he had influence and power, he waited for God to fulfill His promise. It did not matter that he lived in the "promised" land; God's timing is what mattered to Abraham. He had already experienced the frustration and failure of trying to accomplish God's plan on his own.

I don't know about you, but I have experienced my share of trying to control my life. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” (NASB) "Death" is whatever you and I experience when we attempt to control our lives. The New Testament refers to this way of operating as "flesh." Jesus said, "...the flesh profits nothing!" (John 6:63b NASB)

I want my life to matter. I'm tired of trying to be in control. Do you realize what it would mean for me to be in control? I would have to be omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent! That is impossible, yet sometimes I have reacted in disappointment to an unmet expectation as though I should have been able to control my circumstances.

This life is one continuous opportunity to trust the One who can be trusted. God is the architect and the builder. Jesus continued to say in John 6:63, "the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life."

Thank You Father for Your Life!

A Future Without God?

I read a quote this week from "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young, "Anxiety is a result of envisioning the future without Me (God)." When I think about my anxious moments, that is exactly what I am doing. Of course, we picture the worst case scenario. I realize the absolute worse can happen and does, but it doesn't happen in a God-less vacuum.

There is no future where God does not already exist. I know this is mind blowing. If we could foreknow the future, it would be knowledge about what is going to happen. That is not so with God. He knows the future because He is already there! That is a characteristic of His eternal nature.

When I am all stressed out about the possible outcomes of my circumstances, it is because I am picturing in my mind a time when I will be unsafe. God has promised He will take care of us and meet all our needs. My response to His promise is to trust Him. Even when it "feels like" He is on vacation, He is not. God is always working out His best for my good. Many times that means I will go through a period of discomfort. Those uncomfortable times are a reminder of my fragility and His sufficiency.

Paul said in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (NASB)  Last time I checked, nothing means "nothing!" There is not circumstance known to man where I have to be anxious. Anxiety has never changed the outcome of a future event. In some twisted way, we think not being anxious is a sign of apathy. I believe that is a lie straight from the enemy.

As I set my mind on truth, I realize how secure I really am. There is no detail, no matter how minor, that is over-looked by my heavenly Dad. He never said He would spare me or you from anxious circumstances. He does promise, though, He will never leave us or forsake us. (Deut. 31:6, Ps. 55:22) This doesn't mean He is watching us go through our circumstances, making sure we are safe. It means He is with us going through the circumstances, "with" us! That is intimate, up-close and personal.

We can't see the future, but we can know and believe that God is already there. We can trust Him completely. We can ignore our anxious thoughts, knowing they are not from us, but from the enemy. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5, NASB) We can truly rest!

God's Attitude

“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,” (John 5:22 NASB)

I hear people say, "I know I shouldn't have a bad attitude, but..." In the next few minutes, you are going to hear how they rationalize their bad attitude! Attitude seems to be based on a combination of experience and expectation. 

As human beings, our experiences vary from great to horrible and everything in between. As we go through an experience, we place a value on that experience. Everyone's perspective about an experience varies. Two people can go through the same experience and have totally different perspectives on the same experience. 

When I am deciding on a large purchase, I will research other's comments about their experience with the product. I'm always amazed at the differing comments I read. Keep in mind, these people are experiencing the same product, but their expectations preceding the experience seem to be different. 

If you go into a particular experience with a certain expectation, and the experience doesn't measure up to your expectation, you may end up with a bad attitude. These attitudes, of course, can be directed at other people, or even God. I see this every week in my ministry here at CFT. People who have certain expectations about their relationships find themselves disappointed and bitter when the other person doesn't live up to those expectations.

What is God's attitude toward us? What does He base His attitude on? God has the right to have a bad attitude toward humanity. He created man perfectly and placed them in a perfect environment where all their needs for life and godliness were met (2 Pet. 1:3). There was never a need for man to look outside his relationship with God for anything, yet, Adam and Eve decided to seek for more (Gen. 3:6-7). As far as God is concerned, He had every right to reject His creation. Praise God, however, He did not reject us!

God being omniscient and omnipotent was not caught off guard by Adam's and Eve's choice that cost them their Life. God could have scrapped the plan and started over as a result of "foreknowing" Adam and Eve would sin, but He did not. As I mentioned in my last blog, God purposed to reveal aspects of His nature through the fall that otherwise would not have been experienced by His creation.

I believe the Son volunteered to experience Their creation as one of Their creation. Out of this experience He could make a final judgement call that would be respected and honored by God. When you think about it, it is quite amazing! The eternal creator lowered Himself to our level to experience our world. It was out of this context that the Son would decide the final fate of creation. From our perspective, that was quite a risk. It doesn't take long living among a bunch of human beings before you develop a bad attitude! We're a contentious lot!

Even though the Father knew what the Son would decide, He had to give the Son the choice while the Son had laid aside His divine nature qualities of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence (Phil. 2:6-7). I think we can all agree that the darkest moment in Jesus' life on earth was while He hung on the cross. He was stripped and shamed publicly, He was falsely accused, He was abandoned by most of His friends, and He bore all the sins of humanity (2 Cor. 5:21). And yet, it was at this darkest moment Christ said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34, NASB)

Jesus didn't wait till His horrible ordeal was over to decide; He didn't make the call while sitting peacefully around a campfire, enjoying the company of His disciples. Jesus made His judgement call while at His darkest moment. I believe in that moment, His Father smiled in the middle of His grief for His Son. Our Father has declared that what His Son has said is final. There is no more negotiation or talking about it; it is finished!

"'And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.' Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin." (Heb. 10:17-18, NASB)

Being Molded for Eternity

I was sitting in my Life group at church listening to the robust discussion between the teacher and a very astute class. I have the pleasure of teaching this same class next week. I was asking Father what He wanted to share with this group through me. As I sat there and listened, He gave me a revelation that kind of knocked my socks off!

I sometimes think we have the perspective that when God created this world He was hoping it would stay perfect. He made Adam and Eve in His image and likeness; which basically means He put His life in them and they in turn behaved like Him. They contained His Life and expressed that Life in their thoughts, emotions and choices. God also put a fruit tree in the middle of the garden that He told them not to eat from. He even told them what the consequence would be: death!

We as humans look back at that event and wonder "what if!" Of course, there was never going to be a "what if." Before God created the first molecule of the physical dimension, He knew Adam and Eve would disobey and eat that forbidden fruit. There was a cross planned before God created anything (Rev. 13:8).

So, the fall did not catch God off guard. He did not start out with Plan "A" and then have to switch over to Plan "B" as a back up. I think the bulk of humanity who believe in God may share that perspective. Of course, that was not the case. The Fall was a part of the bigger story of humanity, just as much as The Reconciliation.

Ok, so now there has been a creation, a fall, and a reconciliation. Now we are marking time, waiting for heaven. We are supposed to do the best we can to please God by following His commands, because one day He is going to say, "Well done good and faithful servant." I realized many years ago that this is not the case, and most of you know this also. We were created for relationship; we were created to participate with God in His Life.

As I was sitting in class, all these truths flashed before my eyes, truths I have come to know and love. God, however, showed me that when He desired to make a creature to fellowship with Him and participate with Him in His love, He designed a masterful process that would produce just such a creature.

As I thought about it, the genius of His plan brought me to such awe. It hit me; we are still being molded for eternity! As pure and innocent as Adam and Eve were before the fall, they were not ready for eternity. I'm not talking about from their perspective, but from God's. I believe they were created to function in their beginning state eternally, but in God's plan for this special creature, there was going to be a falling away and a redemption. God did not make them fall; He did not have to. He had made them to function as a free-will creature who could choose. They did choose God everyday from the time they breathed their first breath until the fateful day of the fall, but their everyday choices were devoid of conflict. (You are probably wondering where I'm going with this!)

In order for humanity to truly be equipped for eternity, there had to be a demonstration of God's love, His grace, His forgiveness, His mercy, etc... That demonstration would only follow the fall. Think about Jesus' parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). There was a fall in that story. As a matter of fact, all great stories have a fall before there is the sweet, sweet resolve of the reconciliation. Please don't think I'm suggesting we glory in the fall, there was no glory in that moment. That was the second darkest moment in all of history. The fall produced death. Out of death, however, God did what only He could do: He brought forth Life! That Life came out of the darkest moment in history, the moment God sacrificed His own Son because He loved us beyond our understanding. The Cross is not the end of the story, but it is where the story takes a turn for the best.

I believe we have already entered into our Sabbath rest because of Christ. Here on this earth, we are still experiencing the aftermath of the fall and how it has affected daily living. People struggle, people fall and fail, and people die. That hurts, and it hurts really bad.  But God, who is still molding our souls for eternity, is walking through these dark times with us producing a glory that cannot be produced otherwise. Adam and Eve did not and could not experience that before the fall.

So what is the implication of this revelation? I thought about the line from the hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, "And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." We humans make so much of life here in this physical realm, to the point that whatever happens or does not happen here will make or break us. I'm beginning to see that all of that does not matter. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:17, 18, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (NASB) The bottom line is, God wants us to experience the fullness of Himself. Struggle, affliction, trials (all results of the fall) lead us to experience aspects of God we would not experience otherwise.

You and I are complete in Christ; we are new creatures. However, we are still being made ready for that eternal relationship we will experience in eternity. Our spirits are ready now, but our souls are still in process. Wherever you are now, it is ok to be there. Don't look at your circumstances and say, "woe is me!" You can truly say, "Thank you Father!"

Update On Living Life

It has been a few weeks since I last posted. The month of October has been very busy. Tess and I went to Montana the first part of the month to see family and to work on Kingdom Camp. We flew on a buddy pass to save a few bucks. In hindsight we should have bought some tickets. Flying standby has always been an adventure, but it is even more so now with less flights and more over-selling seats on planes. Airline employees are gracious to give their buddy passes away, but you can detect an air of apology when they give you a pass. They know what you are about to experience and they are already praying for you and your fortitude for trials! I heard someone refer to a buddy pass as "torture your buddy pass."

Even with the added adventure, Tess and I had a great time. We had the opportunity to check out six different airports. The airport at Minneapolis/St. Paul had a newer concourse where all the traditional terminal seating had been replaced with chairs and booths with I-pads. You could sit there and surf the web, play games, or order food and drinks. I didn't mind being stuck there! One of our stops was in Pittsburg. What a beautiful landscape surrounding that area of Pennsylvania. I would love to one day check it out by car. Over-all, even with the insecurity of getting on flights, we had a great time hanging out with each other. God used that time for relationship building with each other and with Him. That is what living life is all about!

Our time on the mountain was also a blessing. There were six of us altogether. Tess did all the cooking, and as usual she "knocked it out the park!" One of the guys who usually goes with us could not go at the last minute. I have always put him in charge of operating the saws. He is a professional and works very efficiently. We were not able to accomplish as much as I had hoped, but over-all we enjoyed working together and getting to know each other better. Also, spending time with my dad on the mountain was great. Kingdom Camp was born out of a vision God had given him about fifteen years ago. He is excited to see it almost complete and ready for active ministry to pastors in crisis.

On our last full day on the mountain it began to snow. When I woke up the next morning I looked outside to see if there was enough snow on the ground to run the snowmobile. To my surprise, there was just enough! I took the time to crank up the snowmobile and ride it around on the mountain top for about thirty minutes. I knew it may be years before I would have a chance to do this again. I can't tell you how many times I passed up opportunities to do something fun thinking "I'll get the chance to do this again later." And as life has proven over and over again, those chances did not come later.

After we returned from our Montana trip, we had a few days to recover and get ready for a four day and night hunting and camping trip to the woods of middle Georgia. We don't eat a lot of red meat, but if we had our way, we would only eat venison when we do eat red meat. I try to put at least two deer in the freezer each year. This year I'm hoping to get four deer! I was able to bag one small doe while on this hunt, so I'm one quarter of the way there.

We don't have any kind of camper, so we primitive camp. You know, in a tent! Yes, my loving wife spoke my love language and hung out with me in the woods sleeping in a tent. I take my camping very seriously and have a pretty good set-up for surviving as comfortably as possible in the woods. As we were heading home I looked at her and said, "if the zombie apocalypse takes place, this is how we will have to live!" She just smiled and rolled her eyes.

I know I usually don't use this blog page to talk about what we are doing in our lives, but I wanted to catch everyone up on what we have been up to. Ministry at CFT has continued to be exciting. I will share more about that in my next newsletter.

Blessings!