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Not ‘The Man Upstairs’: Your View of God Matters

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viewofGod

I suppose it is because some Christians don't want to be offensive that they seem hesitant to disclose the name of God. They prefer terms like "a higher power," or the "the man upstairs" instead of God or Jesus. I appreciate their trying to be sensitive to those who might not believe in God -- though I notice that people of other religions don't hesitate to identify their deity.

The idea behind this vague reference to God seems to be that His name and His nature don't matter. What matters is just that one believes. That's all.

Actually that is very deceptive. Who God is makes all the difference. It determines the way in which He calls us to approach Him, and what kind of relationship we can enjoy with him.

The fourth chapter of John's Gospel relates the story of a Samaritan woman who met Jesus at Jacob's old well. In the midst of their conversation Jesus told her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." She thought He was a just a traveler, although unusually kind and strange for a Jew. If she had known He was the Messiah she would have been enjoying the opportunity to drink from the river from heaven rather than being suspicious of Him. She would have been asking for the life she had longed for rather than questioning Him about Samaritan theology.

When people believe God is angry, they try to avoid His wrath. When they believe He is distant, they live in loneliness. When they view Him as mostly a judge, they try to do good and hide or justify their failures. When they see Him as a boss, they try to perform for blessings and curry His favor. But when they have seen Him as the loving Savior, they rejoice in admitting to being a sinner. Only the sinner qualifies.

I can remember when I first saw this about God. I had tried to qualify for His pleasure, earn His favor; gain His blessings, be a good person. But I knew I was a sham at best. Good deeds didn't erase my guilt or shame. But when I understood who God really was, I knew at last I qualified for something: I was eligible for grace.

The righteous (whoever they might have been) did not need him. The strong were doing fine. Even with all my effort, though, I knew I was neither righteous nor strong.

When I came face to face with God's true nature, I was astounded. He came for me! He had more mercy than I had sin! He had more grace than I had weakness! I could never drain the resources of His love. I wanted to run toward Him. I wanted to know Him. I wanted live with Him. I was free from trying to make points because I realized He wasn't keeping score.

Don't settle for relying on your faith in some nebulous higher power. Refuse to let vague snapshots or previous impressions of God serve as your perspective of Him. He has revealed himself fully in His Son, and His Spirit will open your eyes to see Him when you ask. If you knew the one who today is confronting you, you would ask and He would give.

Politics At Jesus’ Table

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At Jesus' Table

Jesus made room at his table for everyone, including those on opposite ends of thought.  At Jesus’ table, everyone has a place and everyone is equal.  I can imagine that the discussions that went on among his disciples were pretty lively at times, especially between two of them — Matthew, the tax collector and Simon, the zealot.

In Jesus’ time and country, a tax collector was a Jewish man who was working for the Roman government.  They were looked upon with disdain by their fellow Jews.  They were not included in the temple, nor were they guests of honor at anyone’s party.  The tax collectors would basically bid for their job.  They would tell Rome they could extract X amount of dollars in taxes.  If the number pleased the Romans they got the job.  However, many of them collected way more than their bid, which they ended up pocketing.  They were extorting their fellow countryman for the sake of their oppressors.

Zealots, on the other end of the spectrum, were revolutionaries.  They were the ones that wanted to take Israel back from Roman domination.  They wanted their country back and they were willing to kill Romans to get it back. They believed in the sovereignty of Israel and were willing to lay down their lives for the cause.  They hated the Romans and wanted them gone.

Jesus invites both of these men to his table and his team.  I wish I could go back in time and see these two men interact with one another.  It would be like putting the most conservative Republican on the same team with the most liberal Democrat.  Jesus had some guts.  And he made it work.

What this shows me is that it’s possible to disagree with someone and still work together, and *gasp* even be friends.  Jesus’ instructed these guys to love one another as their commitment to him.  He taught them to serve one another as he had served them.  He taught them to love one another as he had loved them.

I am sure that it took a while for these two to get it but eventually, they did.  Both had to give up their ideologies for a picture of a much bigger kingdom.  Jesus wasn’t interested in the politics of his day.  He was interested in establishing his kingdom.  I think the same is true today.

Now, back to American politics.  It really grieves me the way that the American Church is acting over politics.  You would think that we were at war with one another split down a political line.  I’ve read so many statements on Facebook about how you cannot be a Christian if you vote for Hilary Clinton.  I’ve read about the same number of people stating there’s no way you can be a Christian and vote for Donald Trump.

My Christianity isn’t based on who I vote for . . . my Christianity is based upon whom I confess as Lord . . . and that is Christ.

You would think that during election time Christians somehow have managed to throw out the teachings of Jesus until after election day.  Even then there will be doomsayers on whichever side loses.  So many people are afraid the country is going to hell in a hand basket if either candidate gets elected.  Folks, I have heard this rhetoric since I started voting.

If we truly believe that Jesus is Lord then stop your bellyaching, name-calling, mud-slinging and judging and start doing what he told us to do…prefer one another and love one another as he loved us, especially towards those that disagree with you.

In the end, our trust has to be in HIM and not a political party.  Neither Trump or Clinton will be the savior of the United States.  Neither one of them are, nor will be, the perfect candidate.

If Jesus can take two opposing men and bring them together, helping them understand there is a larger kingdom that we are to be concerned with, then don’t you think we should do the same?

My fellow Christians, please hear me .  . . you are a Christ-follower first and foremost, an American second, and a member of a political party (or not) third.  Don’t forget that order.  Right now the people outside of the Church think we are a bunch of whiny cry-babies when we don’t get our way.

We are to be known for our love, not our political affiliation.  If you want to immerse yourself in the political arena, then, by all means, go for it.  Just remember who you represent!  You represent Love (for God is love).  Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies and to bless those that persecuted them.  He said this to a group of people living under a hard and repressive regime.

At the end of the day, someone will win, and someone is going to lose.  God will still be God stonesand live will continue on.  Will there be changes? Of course, hopefully for the betterment of everyone. Regardless of who is in the White House, we are called to pray for our leaders, submit to the governing authorities and do all we can to live in peace.

There’s a place for you at the table of Jesus.  There’s also a place for the person who politically believes exactly opposite as you do.

Matthew and Simon learned the lessons of Jesus.

Will we?  I sure hope so!

 

For a very interesting article on a greater kingdom perspective in this election, read Brian Zahnd’s article on How I Am Voting.

 

559. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 16): I Will Give You Rest

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In recent programs during our series, we've looked at some of the seemingly harsh and heavy teachings Jesus ministered to the people of Israel. You may have noticed how Jesus would often seem rather hard and demanding while at other times He would minister with grace and compassion. Did He have a split personality? Was He contradicting Himself? Of course we know this is not the case, so what did it all mean? It has to do with which covenant was being communicated. When Jesus told people that His yoke was easy and His burden was light, He was opening the door for them to enter into the rest offered by a New Covenant that would soon be available to them.



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558. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 15): The New Way: No Condemnation

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Although Jesus often ministered despair and hopelessness by elevating the Mosaic law, there were times when He would provide samples of the approaching New Covenant. Even though the "New" would not be in effect until after His death, we see examples of the gospel being served, such as the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. The purpose of the old commandments was to minister condemnation and death. This woman received a taste of unconditional love mixed with mercy and grace, while her accusers walked away speechless.



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Unplug From The Pressure Of Stress (Enjoying Everyday Life TV program)

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A number of months ago a panel of four of us had a great time recording a program on how to unplug from the pressure of stress on Enjoying Everyday Life, my Mom’s TV program. I hope you thoroughly enjoy this discussion and it helps you enter into a greater level of peace! If you […]

The post Unplug From The Pressure Of Stress (Enjoying Everyday Life TV program) appeared first on Sandra McCollom.

All Lives Do Not Matter

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All Lives

We’ve all seen the Facebook posts and the pictures flooding social media:  Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter.  All Lives Matter started after Black Lives Matter.  It was, in my opinion, a way of saying that black lives do matter but not more so than any other life.

The question remains, though, do we really believe that all lives matter?  We have a tendency to politize things, say things that we don’t mean and mean things that we don’t really say.  Do ALL lives really matter?

Let’s think about this for a moment.

Do the lives of the homeless matter?  If so, then why do we have so many?  Why are they passed by and ignored?  Why are they silently judged and condemned?  Most of us would like to believe that they are homeless by choice.  Some of them are.  Some of them have chosen that life.  However, there are many that have not.  They need help but there is no help for them.  I have been guilty of ignoring their plight.  I have been guilty of not wanting to give money because I don’t know their full story (i.e. whether they are worthy of my money or not).  The problem is: to ignore someone is to say that they don’t matter.

Do the lives of the elderly matter?  If so, then why do so many of them languish in nursing homes without anyone coming to visit or check on them?  So many have families that never visit or check on them.  So they stay there alone, ignored, and despised, sometimes for simply not being able to take care of themselves.  Some do not have family and just do not have anyone to care about them.  Again, to ignore them is to say they don’t matter.

Do the lives of the unborn matter?  If so, then why are they aborted?  Oh, I know that many would argue they are not really a life because they have not entered the world yet.  But here’s the hypocrisy of that argument:  how is that a man can be charged with double homicide for killing a pregnant woman but a pregnant woman aborting her baby is exercising her choice?  Doesn’t make much sense to me.  If it’s not a living being then there is no double murder.  If it is a living being then abortion is murder.  I know this is a touchy, hotly debated issue but if we are going to say that all lives matter, then ALL lives have to matter.

Do the lives of convicts matter?  If so, then why are they so harshly judged and condemned.  “Well, they are getting what they deserve.  Don’t commit a crime if you can’t do the time.”  That’s the prevailing attitude.  I am not saying that people who commit crimes should not be penalized.  However, when does that penalty stop?  I’ve seen too many men get out of prison after serving their time, paying their debt to society and still be treated like animals because they did something stupid.  But, I guess their lives don’t matter as much as a non-criminal.

I still believe in the death penalty but I know of plenty of Christians that do not because of the argument that if you are going to be truly pro-life then you have to be pro-ALL-life including convicted murders.  To these Christians, ALL life does matter.

Do the lives of the LGBT community matter?  If so, then why are they so harshly judged by the Church?  Why are they condemned and considered perverts and outcasts?  Most would answer, “Well, the Bible says so!!!”  Yes, the Bible does speak about homosexuality.  It also addresses fornication, adultery, lying, gossip, hate, overeating and other sins that we like to ignore and overlook.  Most likely because these are “our” sins that we don’t want to be convicted of.  Just a thought.

Do the lives of Muslims matter?  If so, why are so quick to judge all Muslims as terrorists?  I know that there are terrorists that kill in the name of their god.  I know that terrorism must be stopped.  I am not certain that our quickness to kill can be considered Christ-like, especially when we consider the fact there have been thousands of innocent civilians killed in drone strikes.  Oh well, they were just born in the wrong country, to the wrong family in the wrong religion.  Their lives matters if they do what is right (according to me that is).

I hope that you get my point.  I recognize that there will be valid arguments on each of these issues that need to be addressed.  However, at the core of who I am as a Christian, I must love people like Jesus loved me. His death on the cross proved that my life matters.  I believe that my life matters.  I believe that the lives of those I love and care about matters.  And, I must believe that those that are different from me, even my enemies that might want me dead, their lives matter too.  They mattered to Jesus because He died for them as much as He died for me.

What I am saying is that unless we truly believe that ALL lives matter then we need top stop saying it.  Personally, I contend that what we really believe is….all lives matter, just not equally.To ignore someone is to say they don't matter.-Michael Wilson

The true test of whether we believe all lives matter is when we are faced with being offended or threatened.  I can say that all lives matter, but if someone is trying to hurt my children then suddenly my children’s lives take precedence in that situation and their lives, to me, matter more. Most of us would agree with that.  So, in that instance, all lives do not matter equally.

We must come face to face with our own hypocrisy, racism, and self-righteousness.  We must learn to stop ignoring people that are different because to ignore them is to say they don’t matter.  In my heart, I want to believe that ALL lives really do matter — equally.  However, my actions, attitudes, and judgements don’t always reflect this.

We might believe that all lives matter, just not all lives matter equally.

I do know that to God all lives really do matter equally.  He died to prove that.

How To Survive a Shipwreck (review)

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Ever now and then there comes along a book that speaks to the deepest levels of the human spirit.  ShipwreckJonathan Martin does just that in his newest book, How to Survive a Shipwreck.  With the musings of a poet, the heart of a pastor and the insights of a prophet, Martin masterfully shares the story of his own shipwreck, his struggles to survive and the lessons learned about a loving God that never left his side.
The book is extremely well written.  Martin is a top-notch communicator with a talent for poetic prose.  The book explores the tragic, personal shipwreck of Martin’s life.  He shares the deepest, most intimate details of his life as he shares what he went through as his life, marriage and ministry fall apart.  It’s not very often that people get to look into the darkest parts of a pastor who has fallen.  Martin holds nothing back, save the details of the shipwreck which are not anyone’s business.  He lets it all hang out: the raw emotions, the self-doubts, the intense struggle to survive, to just breathe.  Martin allows the reader a very honest look into his deepest struggles and questions.
What’s it truly like when you are in the limelight when you have so many people looking to you and you blow it?  What happens when you fall and have to face your own music of destruction?  Martin lets you in on this journey to see the devastating destruction and devastation of a personal shipwreck.  You can feel his pain, his agony and his own self-loathing as he battles to stay alive in a sea of uncertainty.  You witness his wrestling with God over who he is, who he thought he was and how God sees him.  You come to a place of hope that there is redemption on the other side of the shipwreck.
I greatly identified with this book as I have been through my own shipwreck.  Whereas Martin’s was one of his own doing, my shipwreck came at the hands of others.  Regardless of fault, a shipwreck is a shipwreck and one must learn to survive the chaos of the seas if one hopes to make it to land.  This book will give you a beacon of hope. As I read this book, I was reminded of my own journey, my own pain, and my own struggle.  But in reading this book I discovered that I had survived my shipwreck, that I had made it to land and that I was completely dry and ready to move on.  Martin survived his shipwreck and became a better man because of it.  I did as well.  I believe that anyone dealing with a personal shipwreck will greatly benefit from the insights in this book.  For those that have never had a shipwreck, I believe you will benefit from the honest, raw story of how one can fall from great heights and be transformed by the love and grace of God.
Very few books would I consider a must read, or even a book that deserves to be read again and again, but this is one of those books.

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Why You Can’t Set Your Value

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Why You Can't SetThe value of an item is determined by two people – the buyer and the seller.  The buyer actually has more weight in this equation because they are the ones that are handing over money for the item.  If the buyer feels that the item is worth the asking price, then they will pay for it.  The seller, on the other hand, sets the price and has to determine the lowest value he will take on that item.

The point of this is that the item never sets its value.  Because it’s inanimate, it cannot get offended over the seller’s asking price or the buyer’s paying price.  It cannot demand that more money be paid, nor can it argue that the buyer paid too much.

I use this example to show us that God is the one that gets to determine our value, not us.  Yet, we so often times devalue ourselves and feel as if we are nothing.  We look at the mistakes in our lives, what others say about us, how we compare to others and a whole host of other things to determine the value we place on ourselves.

As our Creator, God is the only one that gets to determine the value of a person, His creation.  The highlight of this is that God places unmeasurable worth and value on human beings.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…..(John 3:16)

In Psalm 8, the Psalmist declares that God crowned man with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:5)

Jesus died for humanity in order to show them the incredible lengths God would go to in order reconcile them to Himself as their Father.

Before a baby is born parents place great value on their child.  While I realize that this is not true in every single case, it is the way things are supposed to be.  That baby has never accomplished anything great, has never done anything of value for its parents.  That baby will actually cost his parents more than he can give back.  That baby may even grow up and disappoint his parents because of wrong choices and actions.

Yet, the parents would die for that child.  They would do anything for him.  If that child was in trouble, those parents would do anything in their power to help save their child . . . no matter the cost.

Why?  Because the child doesn’t set its value, the parents do.

That child could come to his parents and tell them how bad he is, how rotten, how much he has messed up and how he doesn’t deserve to be called their child.  The parents would tell him to stop talking like that. They would encourage him, build him up and tell him all the good things that he is and has to offer.  They wouldn’t hold his mistakes over his head. They would tell him what he can be, what they see in him.

Why?  Because the child doesn’t set its value, the parents do.

Why, then, do we do the same with God?

We come to God in prayer and tell Him how awful we are, what a rotten sinner we are, and how much we have messed up.  We feel as if we have to beg Him for forgiveness.  We tell him how unworthy we are of his love.  We go to great lengths to remind God of how messed up we are.

Some of it is because we believe that’s how he sees us.  We believe that God sees us in that pitiful state and that as we beg for his mercy and forgiveness he takes pity on us and extends mercy.  I know this is how I saw him for a large part of my life.

Sometimes, we listen to the lies of condemnation from the devil, the accuser of the brethren.  We end up believing what he says more than we believe what God says.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) we see how God is because the parable is really about the father.  In this parable the youngest son asks for his inheritance and then proceeds to go off and blow it.  He ends up losing everything — money, home, friends, and his dignity.  He winds up feeding pigs which would have been the lowest point a good Jewish boy could have ended up at.

When he finally came to his senses he decided to return home.  He didn’t feel like he could be his father’s son anymore but he believed that he could at least be one of his father’s servants.  He had set his value and it was very, very low.

However, the story has a different outcome than he thought it would.  As he is approaching home his father sees him, runs to him and begins to joyfully kiss and hug him.  The boy tries to explain what he has come home for but the Father won’t listen.  The father reestablishes the value of the son by putting on him the best robe, a ring, and sandals on his feet.  For time’s sake, I cannot explain the deepness and richness of this parable.  What we need to understand is that the father set the value of the child and it was high.

The son’s mistakes and rebelliousness did not change his value.  Neither does yours.Human Value

Please, I beg of you, if you tell God how awful you are . . . stop!  Just begin to thank Him that you have great value to him. Thank him that you are loved and worth everything to him.  Thank him for his grace and mercy.  As you do this, you will begin to see yourself as he sees you . . . valued and loved!

Stop devaluing yourself.  Stop listening to the devaluing voices of others.

You don’t get to set your value.  Your Father in Heaven does and he sees you as immensely valuable, worthy of dying for!  He would have rather died for you than to be without you.

That, my friends, is what amazing grace is all about.

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