Be blessed to know you are holy.

Listen to God's Word in Leviticus 20:8. "I am the Lord, who makes you holy."

(source unknown)

  

     God's holiness is not what he does. Holy is who he is, the Holy One. He is without spot or blemish. His eyes are too pure to look on sin. Yet his plan of redemption called for Jesus to take our sins on himself and die to make us holy in him. We cannot make ourselves holy, no matter how hard we try or how perfectly we live. Our perfection is not holiness. Jesus was the only perfect one. The Hebrew word qadhash implies being pure, devoted to God, set apart for a special task or the worship of God.

For that definition we qualify, for God has chosen us and set us apart for a special purpose in life and to worship Him.  Jesus makes us pure and calls us to devotion.  Our response to this determines how much we get to enjoy who God is and what he has done on our behalf.  From our God-given position we can live the life we were created for.

 

      Beloved one, be blessed with knowing your holy Father. Be blessed with knowing how the holiness of Jesus is counted to your credit in his death on the cross. Nothing you ever do can make him love you less or love you more. Be free from your perfectionism and the perfectionism of others, because through your Father's eyes he sees you as perfect in his perfect and beloved Son. Be blessed with joy in God's holiness and your own. Our culture does not associate joy with holiness, but God says that our joyful shouting and singing is a celebration who he is!

Does it seem farfetched to also celebrate that the beauty of his holiness extends to you through Jesus Christ?  I believe that it is receiving this new position and identity that enables us to advance in holy conduct.  All the trying harder in the world gains us nothing because no matter how much we want to we can never live the life that Jesus lived, and that life is the standard.  But when all our guilt and fear is relieved by the holiness of Jesus in us, we can draw near and allow him to transform us from the inside out.

(Pipestem State Park, WV 2013)

While conduct is how we tend to judge, God looks at the heart.  When he sees a heart that trusts Jesus he is pleased.  A change of heart is a miraculous thing accomplished by the Holy Spirit.  All we have to do is give him permission and abide securely in a relationship of trust.  There may be layers of false beliefs to be removed, wounds to be healed, but a heart put into the hands of God in the Holy Spirit will be changed and the whole person will end up looking more and more like Jesus.  Don't be afraid to own the holiness that God ascribes to us.  It will lead to the transformation you have been hoping for.  That's God's promise.

           

     

     

Thankfulness in all things

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV

Or let’s try it another way, “In everything give thanks:  for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” KJV

where's my snow? (downloaded from an email going around)

Giving thanks is always God’s will for us, but aren’t some things easier to be thankful for, or in, than others?!   What the Bible tells us, though, is that we can be, and are to be, thankful in everything.  Last time I wrote about seeing joy in trials because they are the means God uses to make us complete, lacking in nothing.  But I still had a disconnect between the circumstances themselves and being thankful.

The verse above can be read to mean:  circumstances are God’s will, so we should be thankful for them all.  Another way to read it is:  giving thanks is always God’s will for us, so we should not let any circumstance get in the way of it.  This is how I understand what God is saying.

How does God expect me to be thankful in the midst of bad things?  Are they His will?  I believe that God’s sovereignty means that He allows everything that touches me in life.  I also believe that God is always good even if some things that happen are not good.  God let the Fall happen, and since it did, He also allows the results of sin to remain with us.  So bad things are not God’s will, but still, it is His will to allow them to be present and to touch our lives.

growing in a hard place  (Zion Park, Utah)

This troubles us.  We can get really angry at God over the things He fails to prevent even if He doesn’t want them to happen.  And then there is the issue of omnipotence.  God is all-powerful and yet He doesn’t use His power to protect us from some things.  He didn’t want us to know evil, but He still allowed Adam and Eve to be tempted.  His will was for them to continue to live with Him in perfect relationship, but still He removed them from the Garden.

The understanding I have come to is that God is committed to Goodness, and that sometimes means He must do what is good for us even though it hurts Him and hurts us.  I know it’s an old example, but think of a sick child who needs to see a doctor.  The child doesn’t want to go.  The child’s idea of getting better does not include getting a shot or going into the hospital for surgery.  But you know it’s the way to healing.  You can’t explain it to him but you allow him to be subjected to pain for a good reason.  Because you have a close relationship with your child, he trusts you.  He receives comfort from your presence.  He believes you love him even though you have taken him somewhere that hurts.

Isn’t it easy to see that God is the parent and we are the children?  He is there to comfort and help us if we trust Him.  He sees things that we don’t and He hurts with us even though He chooses not to take away the trial we are experiencing.

a journey worth taking   (Denali Park, Alaska)

But why thankfulness?  It’s hard to think of the child in our example thanking the parent for the medicine or the hospital procedure.  Speaking for myself, I also tended to view trials as unavoidable evils.  The lesson of finding joy in the fact that God is doing a good work in me is part of the change in that attitude, but there is more.

To be thankful is really to choose to accept whatever is going on - to accept it and to say “thank you God".  What I have learned is that even accepting the idea that I should be thankful in all things points me to God when something hard happens.  That is a very important beginning.  Instead of shifting into my own reaction, I have to stop and think.  At first it’s like “Oh no, what in the world is there to be thankful for in this?!  Father, I choose to say “thank you” but I don’t see why.”  Then as I choose to want to really mean it, I’m able to say, “Help me to see how to be thankful!  You must have something good in this because You let it happen.  Show me what you want me to know!  How can I handle this?  What should I do?”

lotus blossom   (Kyoto, Japan)

Believe it or not, this is great!  I am drawn toward God’s good and perfect will for me in the midst of bad/imperfect circumstances.  Suddenly the issue is about God’s wisdom which will enable me to see the way out that He promises He has provided (see James 1:5 and 1 Corinthians 10:13).  When I reject my situation, I am inadvertently rejecting God’s place in it for me.  He has a plan, but I’m not interested!

The story that helped me most was of Abraham taking Isaac up the mountain to be sacrificed.  In seeming contradiction to Who God is, He lets Abraham know that he must kill his miraculous son of promise!  Rejection of this plan would be understandable.  But because Abraham accepts it and trusts God in the midst of it, he is shown a “ram in the thicket” at just the right time and Isaac is saved.  

Something to remember!   (Belize, C.A.)

What I have found for myself is that if I just turn from my natural reactions and “think thankful” - think “God’s way out”, the power of the circumstance begins to lessen and the power of my faith in God to prove sovereign in goodness takes over.  It’s amazing how true the Holy Spirit has been to remind me of this opportunity at times I would be least likely to remember!  God is so good to help us in our weakness when we sincerely desire to be changed!

Counting it all joy

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”   James 1:2-3 ESV
 

spring sage blooming in the desert

This is not a verse that I would have thought of writing about.  That is because I haven't really counted my trials as joy, and it reminds me that at times I have failed to even agree with this command!  It’s not that I didn’t want to be joyful (remember that I like to do it right!), but a new friend just opened my eyes to what James is saying in a way that is making sense to my heart.

What we are to count as joy is becoming perfect and complete, lacking in nothing!    Now that is something to celebrate!  The trials are the conditions of life that invite us to dig into God’s word, to believe what we find, to choose what we will do with it, to stand firm, to pray.  They highlight our need for more than our own strength and if they continue, we begin to develop perseverance, or steadfastness.  It is the standing firm with steadfastness that brings maturity.  It is the digging deeper that perfects us.

The friend that shared this is a breast cancer survivor of 13 years who found out over Christmas that the cancer has returned, metastasized to her bones.  If she can count it all joy, I am listening!

Then the next morning I read this in Jesus Calling, my devotional:  “I am leading you along the high road, but there are descents as well as ascents….Learn to trust Me when things go “wrong.”  Disruptions…highlight your dependence on Me.  Trusting acceptance of trials brings blessings that far out weigh them all.”  (page 19) 

steep hiking in Bryce Canyon

What I am hearing from the Lord is a very simple way to improve my perspective on life’s challenges and heartaches.  It is to consider them the pathway that is taking me, hand in hand with Jesus, to becoming complete, lacking in nothing.  They are not random, they are not bad luck, or punishment, or because God doesn’t love me as much as someone else.  They are things He allows (or puts) on the path we are walking together.  He meets them with me and endures them with me, and holds the outcome in His loving hands.  My response can be fear, or frustration, or despair, or it can be continued trust with thanksgiving for who He is with me.  And it can be worship!

photo sent in an email (source unknown)

I love these words from a song we sing at church:  “The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning, time to sing my song again.  Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes!  Bless the Lord o my soul, o my soul, worship His holy Name!  Sing like never before, o my soul, worship His holy Name.” (Ten Thousand Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Jonas Myrin & Matt Redman).

A couple of months ago I would not have thought that this was an issue for me because I was rocking along pretty well.  But God, in His perfect wisdom, saw fit to introduce a challenge that pulled deeper unbelief to the surface.  This was really a gift to be counted as joy because it exposed things that needed to be dealt with.  The great thing was that even though I felt negative emotions connected with unbelief, I knew where to run and I ran straight to Jesus.  It doesn’t matter what our reaction is as long as we know where to go with it!  I poured out my heart – every fear, every doubt, and then let Jesus talk!  Now that the dust has settled over that issue (which hasn’t gone away at all), I am grateful to receive a deeper perspective on what it means to count it all joy.

I have tasted and seen that my true joy is the Presence of Jesus himself.  He is the only One who can answer every question and satisfy my heart.  I do not want to be robbed of that joy with Him just because this world is fallen.  Who is in charge here, anyway?  Jesus is Lord and He is mine!  He is yours.

OUR VICTORY

"Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it.  When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled."  1 Samuel 17:51

glory in the display of God's power & might!

This is the end of the well known story of how David defeated Goliath.  David knew that the battle was not about flesh and blood armies and their weapons.  It was about being in covenant with God.  David couldn't believe that "the armies of the living God" would be so intimidated by "an uncircumcised Philistine"!  Why not?  Because circumcision was the sign in their very flesh that they belonged to God who had chosen them and invited them to be in covenant with Him.  God had made promises to them.  This was real to David and he did not face Goliath alone.

a precarious place on the journey

"...You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head....For the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand."  (1 Samuel 17:45-46a;47b)  Until you've been in a battle for your life, or a loved one, or something equally precious, you can't appreciate the power of knowing we are aligned with God Himself.  It takes the threats of the enemy of our souls to stir us up and make us angry, as David was, over what he's trying to steal, kill and destroy.

We do not need to come into our battle with weak knees, unsure of the outcome, pleading with God to do something to help us.  God receives us in whatever state we come to Him, but our true position is so much stronger than we often realize when we are under attack.

The enemy roars at us through circumstances with the goal of intimidation.  He wants to do harm of course, but he also wants to drive us from God and make us afraid.  He wants to disrupt the relationship we have with God and our fellowship with Jesus.  Relationship is paramount with God.  We were not saved by Jesus so we can be religious, but so can be free and delighted children of a Perfect Father.  That relationship cannot help but stand out in a world of lost orphaned hearts seeking the significance and security they crave.

glory at the end of the day

As the world scene becomes darker the light of our joy and our peace and our love shines all the more noticeably.  But our opportunity to glorify God in His love for the world and His great compassion can be smothered when we begin to shrink back from the enemy's threats.

All I want to share today is a truth that God allowed me to see this past year.  It is simply that Jesus cut off Goliath's head for me!  I don't have to muster up my courage and face him as David did.  Jesus did it... and I am in Jesus!  He's my King.  He's my Lord.  He won and his victory is my victory too.  He cut off Goliath's head.  It is finished.  And I am free.  So are you.

Coming in Humility

bringing good news of great joy

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,"  Hebrews 1:1-2a

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel"  Matthew 1:23

"And this will be a sign for you:  you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."  Luke 2:12

If you were God and you wanted to speak to wayward and faithless people through your son, how would you go about it?  Our human wisdom would send someone clothed in signs of Authority and Glory to command their attention and respect.  But God sent his Son as a newborn child, as weak and vulnerable as human beings can be.  The son's paternity was surrounded by scandal -- and his first place to sleep was a feeding trough in a barn.  Where we would make a big deal, God provided His Son with an incredibly humble beginning.

We know that all through his life, Jesus experienced the humiliation of rejection and the disrespect of religious leaders who tried to discredit and entrap him.  It culminated with the humiliation of the Cross.  Where we try for recognition and significance, Jesus allowed himself to be misunderstood and denigrated.

"all things were made through him..."  Glorious!

God has been speaking to me about this lately by uncovering pride.  He has done this by allowing me to see how angry I can become when I feel dominated.  No one wants to feel inferior or stepped on, of course, but I know (at least in my head) that no one can make me feel that way unless I let them.

When I was wrestling with these feelings in a recent situation, I was reminded that comparison and competition for approval or recognition are signs of striving for a sense of significance once again.  We are created to be significant, not to gain adulation, but to bring something really important and unique to our portion of the world.  But this God given purpose can get so distorted by sin.  The truth is, each one of us is significant because of who God made us to be and because the Spirit of Jesus Christ lives in and through us.  No one can take that away.

it wasn't like our romanticized nativity scenes...

But God had something more to show me!  He reminded me that Jesus laid down all outward evidence of his true significance - his divinity, his glory, his rightful power, in order to be a servant of God's redeeming purpose.  He led me to remember Philippians 2 where I eagerly read:  "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves....Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." ( verses 3; 5-7 italics mine)

"Where is he who is born king of the Jews?"

What a lovely time to be thinking about the humility of Jesus as we approach our celebration of His birth.  We now know that it was a magnificent day when Mary laid him in the manger and the heavenly hosts sang to the shepherds in the fields; when the Spirit called wise and learned kings to find him.  Isn't it astounding that these men traveled for many weeks certain that it was their privilege to bring gifts and to worship this child?  We appreciate all this now, but it was mostly hidden then.  There must have been times when Mary and Joseph needed all their faith to remember that the plans and purposes of God Himself were interwoven with their hardships.

It helps me a lot to think that this humble mind of Jesus is ours as well in Him.  Our significance is not measured in earthly terms, but in heavenly ones.  I pray that Christmas will transform my heart this year by the humility of Jesus in the face of his true majesty.  It seems that God is fond of using a still small voice when He shares tremendous secrets.  Only those who listen intently will hear Him.

signs of the Advent at church

"He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power."  Hebrews 1:3a

"Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." Hebrews 2:17

Thank you, Jesus.