TWO GREAT WORDS TO EMBRACE

Conviction and repentance are two words I’ve come to love. Together they make possible new beginnings, fresh starts, reconciliation, growth and maturity, and a life pleasing to God.

Conviction is God's love reaching. It is often used to describe strongly held beliefs.  I like its other meaning, the act of proving or declaring one guilty of an offence.  The reason I like it is conviction as such is a gift from God, an act of God’s grace.  It is God's love whispering that we are drifting away from him.  God pricks or tweaks the conscience he built into us to recognize when we are guilty of moral shortfall.  He helps us see when we are off track and moving in a direction in conflict with God’s Way.  

In the Gospel of John (16) referencing the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers, Jesus states that he will send a Helper who will do two things: (1) “He will convict the world of sin” (v. 8); (2) He will guide you into all truth.” (v. 13).  This is good news.  It means that the Holy Spirit is interested in us enough to talk to us about our disobedience and sin, and then guide us in the way of Jesus, because we seem to be going in the wrong direction.  The Holy Spirit is a divine GPS keeping us on the right path.  But conviction only works if we are willing to follow His guidance and direction.  This means repentance.

Repentance is our reaching back.  It naturally follows conviction. The Holy Spirit calls us to repent.  Repentance is how we get back on track and proceed to follow Christ walking with him in the same direction.  Repentance is an act of the will in which we say, “You're right, Lord.  I'm wrong. Forgive my disobedience.  I will follow you, Lord.”  It is often expressed as a 180 degree turn, but it is more.  It is a surrender of our will and an embrace of God’s will.  It is a change of heart as much as a change of life’s direction.

Conviction and repentance go together even in the little things.  Conviction is that nagging feeling that something is wrong, or knowing fully well that we’re not on the course God intended.  Repentance is confessing our sin, that we have drifted off course from the Way God desires.  Any pilot knows that if she drifts just 2 degrees off course in flight, and the longer that continues, it guarantees she will not arrive at a place originally intended.  A serious adjustment is necessary.

Some of the little things that can push us 2 degrees off course into sin include tiny lies, gossip, false witness, disrespecting others, holding on to grudges, bitterness, unresolved anger, neglecting the needs and suffering of others, choosing not to help another because it is inconvenient, having a divided heart, and not honouring God with thanks and praise for the grace He provides.  These are just a few, but day after day they add up and call for recognizing these little things that shape the clay of our lives into something other than the likeness of Christ.

Conviction is God’s grace helping us to see ourselves for whom we are becoming, someone other than whom he has in mind.  That’s a good thing.  All God’s grace calls for our response.  Repentance, the 180 degree, heartfelt turn, is our only realistic response to God’s grace.  That’s a good thing too.  God’s grace and our response, then more grace and our response is how we let the Potter shape the clay of our lives into his likeness, holiness.  Glory be to God!

If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us

our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

LOOKING FOR LOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE

Churches are ebbing rather than flowing.   The future of many churches looks bleak. The Christian media reports that young people are rejecting their Christian identity and leaving the church in droves.  So, . . . What?

The ongoing performance of an automobile requires an ongoing supply of energy.  Today that’s usually gasoline and electricity.  Life too requires energy, but also a constant supply of oxygen.  Likewise, the ongoing life of an authentic follower of Christ requires the ongoing gift of God’s grace.  His grace is sufficient at all times and in all circumstances.  Without God’s grace we are left to our own flawed and insufficient wisdom, abilities, and nature.  Grace enables faith, encourages hope, and empowers love where these characteristics of the Christian life would otherwise be impossible.

In the words of John Wesley, grace makes possible life in Christ as an “Altogether Christian” in contrast to an “Almost Christian.”  Today, Christian young people are leaving the church and shunning their identity as Christians.  They're frustrated in large part due in to so many churches being filled with “Almost Christians”, church attenders who have a measure of honesty, the outward form of Godliness, and may be sincere in being good and doing good.  However, they're missing the key characteristic of an “Altogether Christian”.

The difference between the “Almost” and the “Altogether” is the authentic love of God and love of others.  Love is the key attribute of the Altogether follower of Christ.  Love occasions the obedience to faithfully follow and obey Christ daily in all things. Jesus made it clear several times (read John 14 & 15), “If you love me, you will obey what I command."  Obedience to the Great Commandment is our shared vocation.  It is our steadfast, faithful, obedient response to Christ’s calling to love the Lord God with everything one has and to love others without discrimination.  Such love follows the high and narrow road of Christ’s likeness (holiness).  It is occasioned by an profound desire to faithfully live in the presence of a holy God whose essence is pure, holy love.  Like oil transposed into gasoline to power one’s automobile, such holy love is transposed by God into gifts of grace and fruit of the spirit sufficient at all times and in all circumstances for the life of the authentic follower of Christ.  Young people can spot such love like a seasoned jeweler can spot a high grade, authentic diamond.

Young people are not fooled.  They know authenticity. They recognize true love. They will always look for love somewhere.  Sadly, with a paucity of Altogether Christians in the church, many will continue “looking for love in all the wrong places.”  It is no surprise that so many young people will look for the pure, holy love of God somewhere else.  . . . So,  . . . What?

Note:  John Wesley’s sermon, Almost a Christian, may be read or listened to by Googling the sermon title. It is also available on Amazon with nine other Wesley sermons on Christian discipleship as noted above.

SOPA RANCHERA AND THE KINGDOM: Mmm-mmm Good!

My wife makes a wonderful soup, Sopa Ranchera.  It is fabulous.  It has all kinds of good things in it.  Its suuuuper tasty and healthy.  Mmm-mmm good!  Quite often she will make a big pot of it and give half away to friends, neighbors, and people she hears are having a difficult time (death in a family, sick with the flu, just got out of the hospital, and so forth).  Recently, this past Friday, she made a big pot and gave half to some friends who both work full time and don’t go out to eat much.  They raved about the soup in the past and said they loved it.  Then, with the recipe in hand, our friend (wife) cooked-up a big pot of the soup and shared it with another friend (a third party) who was laid-up and not able to cook for herself or family for a while.  So my wife’s recipe passed on to our friend resulted in her friend also getting a pot of Sopa Ranchera. It made our friend so happy to pass it on and the friend of our friend loved it. 

When I heard about this I thought, WOW!  The gift to a friend made possible passing it to another. So a grace given empowered the giving of the grace again to another.  However, the written recipe, while very good, lacks any value until the heart of a person is moved to make the soup and pass it on, for the benefit and joy of another.  Then it is passed on again, because of the heart of the receiver is moved to be a giver and to be a means of grace all over again.

Thanks be to God.  This is how Kingdom living works.  The good news of the gospel and the love of God is shared with a friend.  The message of salvation by faith is passed on.  The opportunity of holiness of heart by faith is made real and shared.  Then it is shared again, and again.  It’s mmm-mmm good, so good that when God’s love is tasted, it is passed on with love, and then on again.  Jesus said the same to Peter (see John 21:15-19), Peter, do you love me . . . feed by sheep . . . follow me.”

GLORY TO GOD . . . ALWAYS!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with

praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.

-Psalm 100:4

Glory to God in the Highest!

Luke 2:14

Nothing gives more joy than the expression of gratitude. Joy is the experience of both the giver and the receiver.  The holiday calendar from November to the new year resonates with joy beginning with the giving of thanks.  The Psalmist unknowingly captures the temporal sequence of today’s calendar perfectly:  In Psalm 100:4 the gates of thanksgiving always preceded the courts of praise, and so it is for us between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Glory in the highest.  The Psalmist reflects the sequence of worship by Pilgrims to Jerusalem singing psalms of thanks to God for his provision and salvation.  Entering the temple with thanks, their joy spilled over into praise.  So does our joy from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  But then it may spill over into and throughout the New Year.

While thanksgiving and praise during Advent characterizes the season, it can be more.  We may develop the habit of giving thanks and praise to the Lord year round.  Every time God pours grace into our lives, he waits for a response.  We acknowledge his great gift of a Savior at Christmas and Easter.  Glory to God!  But God's grace is not restricted to the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The joy of thanks and praise can be habits of the heart year round in response to his year round grace.  We need only let the joy of the Lord spill over into our New Year resolutions with a commitment to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4).  Thanks and glory be to God . . .  always!

Be joyful always

1 Thessalonians 5:16

WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN LIFE?

EN GEDI - DAVID'S DESERT SANCTUARY

What could be better than life?  David in the wilderness of Judah provides an answer:  “Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you (Psalm 63:3).  David was anointed as King of Israel and Judah by the prophet, Samuel, but he was on the run hiding from Saul, the fallen King who fell out or favor with God.  Living on the run in many ways was no life at all.  Nevertheless, David experienced the loving kindness of God in the midst of dire circumstances and travail.

THE CAVE AT EN GEDI

Psalm 63 is a remarkable expression of God’s reciprocal, synergistic intimacy with David.   David acknowledges God as his God:  “O God, You are my God.”  David responds to God’s goodness and grace by stating his priority for God in his life even in the hardship of life in the desert as he is pursued by Saul who seeks to end his life: “Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for you; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”  David’s seeks to worship the Lord in the desert sanctuary that nature provides:  “So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and your glory.”  All of this is a response to his growing understanding of God’s loving kindness in his life.

David’s worship is bold and unconstrained in response to God’s kindness and love.  He recognizes and readily acknowledges with praise God’s grace: “Because Your loving kindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.  Thus will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.  My soul shall be satisfies as with marrow and fatness (read: choice delicacies), and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips.”  You might ask, “What does he have to be joyful about?”  The answer is that in this life threatening, high-risk time of his life filled with danger and harassment and on the cusp of death, David’s relationship with God is increasingly intimate as he recognizes and acknowledges God’s grace. 

In short, David’s intimacy with God and faith in Him is growing each day in the context of his hardships.  We see it even through the night.  David states, “When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.”  What does he conclude?  He says, “Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.”  In response to knowing who God is in his life and experiencing directly God’s loving kindness, goodness, and grace, David proclaims, “My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me."

Psalm 63 is a compelling example of synergistic holiness.  There is synergism in the intimacy of God and David.  Notice the reciprocity. God blesses.  David recognizes God’s grace and responds.  God blesses again and again.  David’s faith grows.  His love for God and appreciation of God’s loving kindness are  expressed in thanks, praise, and worship.  In the ongoing exchanges, God is shaping David into his holy likeness preparing him further to be a leader after the likeness of God’s own heart.  What could be better in our lives than that?  Thanks be to God!