Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. - Romans 5

Friday, May 23, 2014

"What kind of people would we be if we are filling our radar screens with a God who is sovereign, creator, redeemer, and worker?" - Sunder Krishnan

There is a balance between God as love and God as sovereign, you need to understand God as creator, God as wrathful, and God as majestic, as well as God as savior, God as Father, and God as he-who-loves-you-more-than-anyone-in-the-world-to-the-point-of-absolute-incomprehension. Sometimes we forget one, and sometimes we forget both.

It is very curious. I started out as a person who lived out God’s love and mercy as a kid, but something horrendous happened to me that forced me all the way across the field to become a Christian who knew too many bible verses, read too many theology and apologetic books,  and upheld the upmost level of purity and “moral” living that I became what was called a “super-Christian” in others’ eyes. That is a derogatory term. I remember writing back in my sophomore year that I realized this danger, how a faith based around theology was faith on “easy-mode”, and I sought to remove my nose from the books that I truly did enjoy so that I can spend more time putting my ear on people’s hearts.

Let me continue to grow and change, because if I truly encounter God every single day, how can I not change?

"Let me take it a little further. Let’s imagine that I show up late and I run up here on the platform, and all the leaders are angry with me and say, “Brother Paul, don’t you appreciate the fact you’re given an opportunity to speak here and you come late?” And I’d say, “Brothers, you have to forgive me.” “Well, why?” Well, I was out here on the highway, and I was driving and I had a flat tire and I got out to change the tire, and when I was changing the tire, the lug nut fell off, and I wasn’t paying attention that I was on the highway and I ran out and I grabbed the lug nut, and as soon as I picked it up in the middle of the highway, I stood up and there was a 30-ton logging truck going 120 miles an hour about ten yards in front of me, and it ran me over and that’s why I’m late.” Now, there would only be two…I know no one studies logic anymore, but there would only be two logical conclusions. One, I’m a liar or, two, I’m a madman. You would say, “Brother Paul, it’s absolutely absurd. It is impossible, Brother Paul, to have an encounter with something as large as a logging truck and not be changed. ”And then my question would be to you–What is larger? A logging truck or God? How is it that so many people today profess to have had an encounter with Jesus Christ and yet they are not permanently changed?" - Paul Washer (2 Corinthians 5:17)

That is a bit strong. Change can be in little steps. There are many times we fail to comprehend God. Heck, it is impossible to fully comprehend God, and all those Christians who pretend they do are all faking it. So we need to be honest with ourselves. We need to admit we barely scratching the surface of God’s love for us, and that is okay. We are sinners like everyone else in the world, but what have that they don’t have is acceptance of our brokenness and desire to love Jesus. So stop comparing yourself with others, we are all growing at our own pace. God has His own unique plan for each and every one of us. Our job is to have the desire to seek it, and then once found, to rely on the strength of God to run with it. Today we won’t be like Jesus. Tomorrow we won’t be like Jesus. But everyday through scripture, through prayer, through community, and through making disciples, we get a little bit closer to being like Jesus.

Yesterday I didn’t know Jesus. Today I do. Tomorrow I will get to know Him a little better, and that is something beautiful. Grace, Faith. Hope.

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am” - John Newton

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