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God is bigger than your problems.

May 1, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

The promises of God often lose their power in our lives because God himself has become small in our eyes.

We may be able to recite God’s promises by the dozens. But in our hearts, God is no longer the King who conquers armies and cuts a valley in the sea. He is no longer the Shepherd who seeks his sheep and keeps them safe behind his staff. He is no longer the Lord who walks on waves and calls the dead back from the grave. Slowly, subtly, we have forgotten God’s power, God’s wisdom, God’s tenderness.

When the promises of God seem powerless to quiet our fears, soothe our grief, lift our worries, or motivate our obedience, we need to do more than simply hear his promises again. We need to behold the God who gives them.

Promises Buried

In Isaiah 40, the prophet speaks to a group of broken Israelites. The nation that once shone like the stars in the sky had been blackened by exile.

As Israel looked back from Babylon, the promises of God seemed buried. How would God give Israel an everlasting kingdom when they were slaves in a foreign land (2 Samuel 7:13)? How would God make Israel a blessing to the world when a curse had fallen on them (Genesis 12:3)? How would God raise up from Israel a serpent-crushing king when they were under Babylon’s heel (Genesis 3:15)?

We can ask similar questions when we remember God’s promises from the wreckage of our circumstances. We can look ahead to a life of unwanted singleness and ask, “How can God satisfy me?” We can look back at a devastating failure and ask, “How can God forgive me?” We can look up from the crater of some loss and ask, “How can God comfort me?”

In those moments, we need God to do for us what he did for Israel. We need him to come alongside us, remind us of his promises, and then say, “Behold your God” (Isaiah 40:9).

Behold Your God

Who is the God who gives his promises to us? He is the God of might, who created the world by his word. He is the God of wisdom, who makes a way in the wilderness. He is the God of tenderness, who carries his children home. And he is bigger than all of our problems.

GOD OF MIGHT

Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him. (Isaiah 40:10)

Behold the God of might, who created the world by his word.

The God who speaks his promises to us is the same God who said, “Let there be light,” and the darkness fled (Genesis 1:3). When he speaks, stars burn and planets lock into orbit; rivers run and oceans fill earth’s floors; valleys sink and mountains race to the sky. The grass in all the world may wither, and the flower on every hillside fade, but the word of him who made them will stay and stand forever (Isaiah 40:8).

Are your troubles as untamed as the ocean? God holds them in the hollow of his hand (Isaiah 40:12). Are your sorrows as vast as the heavens? God measures them like a carpenter at his workbench (Isaiah 40:12). Are your burdens as heavy as the hills? God picks them up and puts them on his scale (Isaiah 40:12).

Your problems may be massive, but your God is mighty. The sun will fail to shine sooner than his word will fall to the ground — no matter how big our problems.

GOD OF WISDOM

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? (Isaiah 40:13)

Behold the God of wisdom, who makes a way in the wilderness.

The Israelites thought their future as a nation had fallen with Jerusalem’s walls, and that not even God could raise them up again. “My way is hidden from the Lord,” they said. “My right is disregarded by my God” (Isaiah 40:27).

But Israel’s exile had not taken God by surprise, nor had it cast them out of his sight. “Have you not known?” Isaiah asks. “Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God. . . . His understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28). When Israel was lost in the wilderness of exile, and saw no way of getting back home, God paved a highway right through the desert (Isaiah 40:3).

No trouble is too tangled for God to untie. No path is too twisted for him to straighten. No heart is too shattered for him to gather up and put back together.

Your problems may be bewildering, but your God is wise. He sees you. He knows every detail of your trouble. And he knows how to come alongside you as you wait for him and make you rise up with wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31).

GOD OF TENDERNESS

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)

Behold the God of tenderness, who carries his children home.

Before God thunders forth his majesty in Isaiah 40, he speaks to Israel with the gentleness of a mother’s hush: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” (Isaiah 40:1). God is not eager for his people to be tormented and storm-tossed. He wants us to know him as the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3).

If God’s might shows us that he is powerful to fulfill his promises, and if his wisdom convinces us that our circumstances are no exception, then his tenderness assures us that he delights to use all his might and wisdom in love for weak people like us. He is the Shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to find his lost and wandering one. And when he finds him, he bends down, gathers him up in his arms, and carries him all the way home (Isaiah 40:11).

Your problems may be agonizing, but your God is tender. Place all your fears and frailty before him, and ask him to quiet you with his love.

Every Valley Shall Be Filled

Seven hundred years after Isaiah told Israel to behold her God, John the Baptist picked up the prophet’s words and preached them in the Judean wilderness: “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low . . . and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:5–6; Isaiah 40:4–5).

Then John stepped aside as a man walked over those valleys and hills and made his way through that wilderness. He was a man of might, who bound hell’s armies and brought heaven’s kingdom. He was a man of wisdom, who silenced the scribes and spoke the very words of God. He was a man of tenderness, who healed the sick and heralded God’s favor.

And then he lay down beneath the biggest of our problems, and allowed them to beat him, bludgeon him, bury him. But only so he could carry our curse to the grave, sink it deep into the ground, and then rise up in the power of an indestructible life. Every promise from God comes to us now through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20), the God with scars on his hands.

Your problems may be big, perhaps even bigger than you know. But your God is bigger, and his promises to you are stronger and surer. So, look up from your problems. Listen again to God’s powerful, wise, and tender voice. And then ask God to help you behold him.

Learning to led by God’s Peace.

May 1, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

For the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17)

When you are born again – when you have made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life and you have entered the kingdom of God – then the fruit of that relationship will be righteousness (which comes as a result of salvation), peace, and joy. You can expect peace and joy to become a part of your daily life when you are a Christian – but just like all the other benefits of the kingdom of God, these attributes come at a price.

During the darkest days of the Revolutionary War, as George Washington tried to regroup during the winter of 1776, the great English writer, Thomas Paine, wrote a stirring essay on a drumhead that encapsulated the monumental struggle of that conflict. It was called “The American Crisis,” and it so moved George Washington that he ordered his officers to read it to every soldier in the Continental Army, hoping that it would inspire them not to give up hope.

These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country. But they that stand it now, deserve the love and thanks of men and women. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. But the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods. It would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.

It is the same with the other “celestial articles,” like peace and joy, and the other fruits and gifts of the Spirit. Things of great value, both natural and spiritual, come at a great price.

In response to an article I wrote on God’s guidance for CBN.com, I received this e-mail question:

Years of making choices from voices that I thought were from God ended up causing me misery, grief, and heartache. Through years of experience, I realized that the voice I heard ended up just being from my own mind. Why does God make it so difficult for us to find Him or understand Him or to know we are hearing His voice?

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not easy. God’s salvation may be free, but discipleship is costly. The gifts of the Spirit may also be freely given, but they are not cheap. In some ways, it is easier to be in the world. Our preparation for God’s eternal purpose is as rigorous spiritually, as an Olympic athlete’s training is, naturally – even more so, because the outcome of our training has eternal ramifications. Learning to hear God’s voice is a lifelong process. God’s preparation in our lives is part of His eternal design – and only He knows what that purpose will be.

There is a scene in the movie A League of Their Own in which Gina Davis’ character wants to quit the women’s baseball team to be with her husband who has returned wounded from World War II. Tom Hanks, who plays the manager of the team, travels to her house to try to talk this star player into coming back for the remainder of the season. She begins to cry at the thought of returning to the road with the baseball team, and she protests that “it is just so hard.” Tom Hanks’ character gets right in her face and spouts back at her, “Of course it’s hard. That’s what makes it great.”

Our walk with the Lord is hard. There are some, like the writer of this e-mail, who find that it is so difficult that they want to give up and go back to the pleasures of the sinful life. But Jesus said, No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). We can’t look back. We must press on in this walk with Christ – we must learn to hear His voice and obey His commands. Only then will we experience His joy and peace – and only then will we be the effective ministers of reconciliation that He wants us to be, and that the world needs us to be.

Being Led Forth in Peace

Without great trials, we would have no great victories. The Lord reveals Himself in the difficulties of life as our Deliverer, our Sufficiency, and our Lord. The psalmist tells us, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers [us] out of them all (Psalm 34:19).

If you are really serious about walking with God, He will teach you, and guide you, and comfort you, and yes, you will know His peace in your life. In fact, as you mature in your walk with the Lord, peace and joy will be multiplied to you. It is an interesting paradox that our heavenly Father orchestrates in our lives. On the one hand, our trials increase as we grow stronger in the Lord. On the other hand, the fruit of the Spirit – including peace and joy – develop to the point that we are given grace to weather the trials, and the rest of our lives are filled with harmonious fellowship with God.

We should expect to experience God’s peace in our lives. If you are not walking in peace, it may be as a result of several different scenarios. It may be that you are in the midst of a particular test or trial sent from God. Or you may be under attack from the devil. Or you may have an area of your life that you have not yet surrendered completely to God. The Lord intends for you to have peace. If you are not experiencing God’s peace on an ongoing basis, you may need to ask the Holy Spirit to show you:

if you are experiencing a test that should be submitted to;
if you are under an attack that you should resist; or
if there is an area of continual sin, unforgiveness, anger, or some other hindrance that should be renounced and repented of.

Most pastors will teach that when you are seeking to find God’s will, you can identify the leading of the Holy Spirit when you sense God’s peace about a matter. I agree, and I believe that is absolutely true. The peace of God is one of the key indicators of God’s guidance. Colossians 3:15 tells us to let the peace of God rule in [our] hearts. Peace is the umpire of our heart, telling us if we are “safe” in God’s will, or “out,” following our own path or the deception of the devil.

The prophet Isaiah wrote, For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace (Isaiah 55:12). God’s best for our lives is that we will be led forth in peace and joy. Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m not going to allow these circumstances to rob my joy?” In making this declaration they are being absolutely biblical – peace and joy are our possessions when we are born again. The only way that you will walk in unrest as a mature believer is if you allow circumstances or the devil to rob you of your joy.

Larry Tomczak says, “You are the only being in the universe that can cause defeat in your life.”

You may say, “The devil robbed my joy.” The truth of the statement is that the devil attempted to rob you of your joy – but he only succeeded if you allowed him to. The life of the Christian is one of peace and joy.

That is why Paul and Silas could sing praises to God in the Philippian jail (Acts 16:25).
That is why the apostles praised the Lord after being beaten by the teachers of the law, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame in Christ’s name (Acts 5:40-41).
That is why Stephen could praise the God of heaven as he was being stoned for his bold witness (Acts 7:55-60).
That is why the apostle Peter wrote, But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy (1 Peter 4:13).
That is why the apostle Paul, at the eve of his martyrdom, could write, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You (Isaiah 26:3).

You’ll notice that the promise of peace carries with it a condition – to trust in God. Once again we come back to the necessity of living a lifestyle of faith. Paul wrote to the Romans, For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6). A carnally minded person is one who is self-interested, self-indulgent, and self-sufficient. There is no peace in the selfish life. The spiritually-minded person puts God in the center of their life. They are interested in doing the will of Christ. They are motivated by the Lord to minister to others. They recognize that they are nothing outside of Christ – He is their sufficiency. It is from this attitude of surrender to the lordship and headship of Jesus Christ that peace comes into our lives.

There are times, when we are seeking the will of God and we reach the point of decision that we experience supernatural peace. This is an important aspect of discerning between good an evil, and it comes by reason of use (Hebrews 5:14). The peace of God is like a compass for our souls, leading us in the direction that the Holy Spirit intends for our lives. We can take great comfort in knowing that the sovereign God is so involved in our lives that He would supply us with this internal compass as we seek to do His will.

What is Mercy and why did God gave it to me.

May 1, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

In this story, a father has two sons. The youngest asks his father for his share of the estate, then moves to a distant country where he squanders everything away. Destitute, he finds a job doing the most despicable work a Jew can do — feeding pigs.

Finally, starving and totally broken, the younger son decides to return to his father and beg him to make him one of his hired men. In doing so, he would be admitting he’s unworthy to be called his son.

But while the younger son still a long way off, his father runs to him and embraces him. At the house, the father dresses his son in fine clothing and puts together a feast in his honor because “this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:24).

Even though the son rebels against his father, when he returns, broken and repentant, his father joyfully has mercy on him. What a wonderful analogy how God the Father welcomes us home when we repent! In our sin, we’re like the young son squandering the life God has given us. But our Heavenly Father eagerly awaits our return and longs to welcome us in.

What Mercy Means for Us

Mercy is compassion that forbears punishment even when justice demands it. In the judicial system, granting clemency, which is another word for mercy, depends entirely on the will of the grantor, who doesn’t have to give a reason for granting it.

Grace is getting what we don’t deserve, and mercy is not getting what we do deserve.

Mercy and grace are similar but not the same. Putting it simply, grace is getting what we don’t deserve and mercy is not getting what we do deserve. In the parable, the son doesn’t get the rejection he deserves. In Christ, neither do we.

God’s mercy is bountiful throughout the Bible:

Hebrews 4:16 says because Jesus faced the same temptations we face (though He never gave in), we can approach “the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy.”
Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.”
1 Peter 2:10 reminds us, “now you have received mercy.”
Psalm 116:1 reads, the Lord “heard my cry for mercy.”
In Luke 1:67-79, John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, says the Lord will give people the “knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God.”
In 2 Samuel 24:14, when given a choice of punishment for a sin, David chooses to put it in God’s hands, not man’s hands, “for His mercy is great.”
Titus 3:5 states, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.”
In 1 Timothy 1:13, Paul says, “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy.”

Every one of us could make lists miles long of the mercies God has given us. But the greatest example of God’s mercy is Jesus paying our debt on the cross. Like in the parable, when we are truly repentant, God shows us mercy and welcomes us with open arms.

The Hebrew word for mercy also translates into love. Even when we stray, God loves us and yearns for us to repent so He can extend mercy.

God gives mercy lovingly and He wants us to do the same. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Later on, Jesus tells a religious leader to “go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 12:7, Hosea 6:6).

Who can you show mercy to today?

Getting past a bad day.

May 1, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

Life is full of hand grenades, unexpected explosions disrupting our best laid plans.

They drop in unbidden, leaving our intentions scattered, our priorities re-organized, and our convictions questioned. They feel implacable and unstoppable, the new permanent state.

You’ve experienced this at its highest magnitude: the request from your landlord that you vacate your apartment immediately, the sudden end to your long-term relationship, the loss of your job. You’ve also felt it as daily disruption: the dietary slip that leaves you in a sugar coma, the missed appointment that reshuffles your weekend plans, the mid-workout injury that waylays your perfect track record.

Left to fester, these wounds become infections. We remain alone for months, convinced that we’re not worthy of love. We end our pursuit of wellness, the injury untended, the single ice cream cone now a daily habit, the Friday night beer becoming a Tuesday night six pack. We avoid the job hunt, convinced that we’re unemployable.

With preparation, this can be avoided. A bad day can be set aside as just that, a short-term incident worthy only of tiny attention, something to be discarded rather than internalized, a stepping stone to greater things. The hand grenade can be thrown back.

Doing this requires mental strength, but that strength can be developed, borne of process rather than emotion. Below, your guide to getting it done.

Getting Past a Bad Day: 4 Steps to Moving On

Step 1: Expect Disruption

We hold models in our minds of how things will go, rigidly constructed and highly detailed. We’ll get the job, land the big account, dazzle the boss, get the raise. We’ll meet the beautiful stranger, be wildly charming and attractive, realize compatible values, and settle down to lifelong bliss.

When these rigid schemas are disrupted, it comes as a surprise, an affront to our mental model. We fail to reconcile our desires with reality, and we fall into despondency.

This doesn’t have to happen. Instead of being surprised by these detours, expect them. Understand that your five-year plan will take seven, that your new diet will take a few weeks to become habit, that every first date may not be a prelude to marriage. Realize that roadblocks will arise, and goals are achieved via a circuitous path rather than a straight line.

By considering disruption to be part of any process, you’ll set yourself up to respond appropriately when it happens. Rather than fall into despondency, it will become a minor obstacle to be surmounted, and you’ll carry on without the corresponding emotional hit.

Step 2: Recognize Impermanence

Ninety-nine percent of the time, a bad day is not the new normal. Nonetheless, our brains assimilate it as gospel, encoding the worst case scenario as a permanent state: “You’ve lost your job, and you’ll never work again.”

This strange (and destructive) quirk of self-talk is a roadblock, a barrier that leaves us unable to move on. To overcome it, we must recognize it for what it is: an emotional lie rather than a rational truth. Listen for it, and blast it with rationality.

The evidence of the lie is in your past. Look at your history, and see that you’ve always moved on. You’ve lost love and found it again. You’ve strayed from your exercise plan and returned to the gym. You’ve been professionally disappointed and come back to success. You always overcome eventually.

This serves as proof of resilience, positive indication that the current state is a momentary lapse, evidence of its impermanence. In this proof, you’ll find the hope you need to take the next step.

Step 3: Defend your Character

It is human nature to seek explanation. We want to know why things happen, and in that pursuit, we set upon the nearest rational explanation. In the case of misfortune, it is easiest to blame ourselves for any given incident, its occurrence a byproduct of our lack of character.

This manifests itself as absolute statement of self: “I lost my job because I’m not good with people.”

Don’t do this. Losing your job is not an indication of empathetic bankruptcy, any more than being rear-ended is an indication of your driving prowess. Straying from your diet is not proof of your inability to see things through, any more than breaking your leg is an indication of your fitness.

Rather than treat external events as the natural result of your character, recognize your character as a completely separate entity. When you hear yourself making causative generalizations, linking you directly to events (almost always including the words “I am” or “I am not”), grab a pen and write down an alternative explanation, unrelated to your personality: “I lost my job because James and I did not communicate with each other thoroughly enough or often enough.”

By taking your character out of explanation, you’ll see a path forward, and a preventative action you can take if the same situation arises again. Simultaneously, you’ll keep your sense of self intact, enabling you to move on.

Step 4: Embrace Your Power to Act

When things go off the rails, it’s easy to feel powerless, a victim of circumstance. This mindset leads to a reluctance to act, the sense that you must quietly await whatever comes next. Helplessness becomes internalized, and you become a passenger of fate.

This is overcome by a basic realization: in every situation, you have the option to act, the ability to do something to put things back on track.

Embrace this, and plan your next productive action. First, consider what might help, and break it down into the smallest possible step, knowing that you don’t have to solve everything at once. For instance, you can begin a personal reconciliation with an apology. You can move beyond your lost apartment by contacting moving companies. You can get your exercise plan back on track with a set of ten pushups.

In every case, you’re acting on the smallest possible level to create momentum. In doing so, you enable the cascade effect: one action in the correct direction reveals another set of possibilities, a path forward. This allows another simple action and then another, and one step a time, you’ll move beyond misfortune. You simply need to take that first action.

Bad days come when we least expect them, thunderbolts from a cloudless sky. In the moment, they can seem overwhelming, whether we’ve lapsed on our diet or had our entire worldview shattered.

Nonetheless, we can put them in their place, recognizing a bad day for what it is: something that occurs from time to time, an impermanent state that will soon be overcome through strength of action, another opportunity to build our character through trial.

Next time you’re confronted with a bad day, take yourself through action steps above:

Consider the disruption a normal part of any journey
Recognize the impermanence of the situation
Defend your character
Embrace your power to act

Embracing this pattern creates resiliency in the face of adversity, perhaps the most admirable of human traits, and one that will serve you well beyond the current situation.

How do you get beyond a bad day?What lessons have you learned over the years that might help others struggling with misfortune? Post to comments, and lend your wisdom to those who might benefit

What is forgiveness?

May 1, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

Forgiveness means different things to different people. Generally, however, it involves a decision to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge.

The act that hurt or offended you might always be with you, but forgiveness can lessen its grip on you and help free you from the control of the person who harmed you. Forgiveness can even lead to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting or excusing the harm done to you or making up with the person who caused the harm. Forgiveness brings a kind of peace that helps you go on with life.

What are the benefits of forgiving someone?

Letting go of grudges and bitterness can make way for improved health and peace of mind. Forgiveness can lead to:

Healthier relationships
Improved mental health
Less anxiety, stress and hostility
Lower blood pressure
Fewer symptoms of depression
A stronger immune system
Improved heart health
Improved self-esteem

Why is it so easy to hold a grudge?

Being hurt by someone, particularly someone you love and trust, can cause anger, sadness and confusion. If you dwell on hurtful events or situations, grudges filled with resentment, vengeance and hostility can take root. If you allow negative feelings to crowd out positive feelings, you might find yourself swallowed up by your own bitterness or sense of injustice.

Some people are naturally more forgiving than others. But even if you’re a grudge holder, almost anyone can learn to be more forgiving.

What are the effects of holding a grudge?

If you’re unforgiving, you might:

Bring anger and bitterness into every relationship and new experience
Become so wrapped up in the wrong that you can’t enjoy the present
Become depressed or anxious
Feel that your life lacks meaning or purpose, or that you’re at odds with your spiritual beliefs
Lose valuable and enriching connectedness with others

How do I reach a state of forgiveness?

Forgiveness is a commitment to a personalized process of change. To move from suffering to forgiveness, you might:

Recognize the value of forgiveness and how it can improve your life
Identify what needs healing and who needs to be forgiven and for what
Consider joining a support group or seeing a counselor
Acknowledge your emotions about the harm done to you and how they affect your behavior, and work to release them
Choose to forgive the person who’s offended you
Move away from your role as victim and release the control and power the offending person and situation have had in your life

As you let go of grudges, you’ll no longer define your life by how you’ve been hurt. You might even find compassion and understanding.

What happens if I can’t forgive someone?

Forgiveness can be challenging, especially if the person who’s hurt you doesn’t admit wrong. If you find yourself stuck:

Practice empathy. Try seeing the situation from the other person’s point of view.
Ask yourself why he or she would behave in such a way. Perhaps you would have reacted similarly if you faced the same situation.
Reflect on times you’ve hurt others and on those who’ve forgiven you.
Write in a journal, pray or use guided meditation — or talk with a person you’ve found to be wise and compassionate, such as a spiritual leader, a mental health provider, or an impartial loved one or friend.
Be aware that forgiveness is a process, and even small hurts may need to be revisited and forgiven over and over again.

Does forgiveness guarantee reconciliation?

If the hurtful event involved someone whose relationship you otherwise value, forgiveness can lead to reconciliation. This isn’t always the case, however.

Reconciliation might be impossible if the offender has died or is unwilling to communicate with you. In other cases, reconciliation might not be appropriate. Still, forgiveness is possible — even if reconciliation isn’t.

What if the person I’m forgiving doesn’t change?

Getting another person to change his or her actions, behavior or words isn’t the point of forgiveness. Think of forgiveness more about how it can change your life — by bringing you peace, happiness, and emotional and spiritual healing. Forgiveness can take away the power the other person continues to wield in your life.

What if I’m the one who needs forgiveness?

The first step is to honestly assess and acknowledge the wrongs you’ve done and how they have affected others. Avoid judging yourself too harshly.

If you’re truly sorry for something you’ve said or done, consider admitting it to those you’ve harmed. Speak of your sincere sorrow or regret, and ask for forgiveness — without making excuses.

Remember, however, you can’t force someone to forgive you. Others need to move to forgiveness in their own time. Whatever happens, commit to treating others with compassion, empathy and respect.

Worshipping with those who Hurts You.

May 1, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

Standing beside my husband in church, I thought of the past week and the ways we had sinned against each other. We had wounded each other through actions and words. We had shed many tears. We had every reason to be divided against each other. Yet our voices were united, with hundreds of others, singing the words,

Jesus paid it all;
All to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain;
He washed it white as snow.

It can be difficult to gather for worship because we gather with sinful people. Whether from a spouse or family member sitting in the same row, or from someone across the room, pain and hurt unfortunately often come from within the church. Their presence in the room can be distracting, shifting our thoughts from the reason we gather, or preventing us from gathering at all. How are we supposed to meet regularly (Hebrews 10:24–25) with people who sometimes sin against us and hurt us?

What God Has Done

Christians gather to remember and respond to God and what he has done. God’s people are called to remember God’s works together (Psalm 145:4–7). After the earthly life, death, and resurrection of Christ, we gather together to remember and respond to the redemption story that shockingly and powerfully unfolded when God became flesh to take on the sin of the world (John 1:14, 29).

D.A. Carson says, “This side of the fall, human worship of God properly responds to the redemptive provisions that God has graciously made.” We gather to respond to God’s redemptive grace. On our own, we often forget not only the grace God has given, but also the proper response to that grace. We need to gather to remind each other and ourselves of the gospel, to see God’s glory together, and to respond in gratitude and faith.

In the aftermath of hurt and pain, I desperately need to remember the gospel. I need to remember my sin and the sufficiency of my Savior. I need to remember the sinfulness of those around me and the sufficiency of Christ as their Savior, too. Corporate worship is the place for us to do this. As we remember the same gospel, embrace the same gift of grace, and respond to the same God in gratitude, we are united as one body, even with those who have hurt us.

Changed by His Spirit

Gathering to worship by faith changes us. While we may not feel different at the end of each gathering, beholding God’s glory in corporate worship shapes and transforms us over time (2 Corinthians 3:18). Christ-centered worship forms us into Christ-centered people. Meditating on the undeserved gift of grace forms us to be grateful and to extend grace, like Christ, to all, even those we consider undeserving.

On that Sunday, singing of my need for forgiveness, and the assurance I have in Christ, reminded me of all the past worship services, and other circumstances, where I had proclaimed the gospel and God’s grace. My sinfulness and selfishness would lead me to do otherwise, but repeated rehearsal of the gospel message in worship had formed me through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that I was joyfully willing to extend forgiveness to my husband.

Rejoice in Hope

By participating by faith in corporate worship, we are renewed in hope. When we remember the gospel story, our situation is put into proper perspective, and we know one day Christ will fully redeem and restore all things. Our eyes are lifted from our temporary circumstance to the hope of the everlasting kingdom (Revelation 21:4). Graciously and justly, Christ will fully rule over all.

In the meantime, we worship in the midst of sin, suffering, loss, and betrayal. But we are not without hope, because we have a present Savior who understands our pain. The psalmist says, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (Psalm 56:8).

Our Savior also experienced pain. Christ also was abandoned, betrayed, publicly mocked — “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Despite the excruciating hurt, Christ willingly gave himself up in response to his Father (Luke 23:46).

Regardless of whether we find complete reconciliation with those who hurt us before we get to heaven, we can be hopeful that God will bring peace in his people to completion (Philippians 1:6). As we remember the gospel, we become people who find our hope in the gospel. Even in the midst of the hurt, we are able to join with the psalmist in joyfully saying, “I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life” (Psalm 56:12–13).

Article: LARRY BUFORD: WHEN GOD WINKS! [READ MORE]

April 30, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

Article: LARRY BUFORD: WHEN GOD WINKS![read more]

When God winks, He’s giving us grace to come to the cross

*We sometimes talk about, or hear people say how back in the day we used to do this, do that, be this way or that way. “Do you remember the time” when we did such and such?

Didn’t Michael Jackson sing about that in one of his songs? You know what I’m talkin’ about!

I certainly can remember the times – and I shudder to think about them now – how things could have turned out terribly wrong. In some cases, I probably could have died, but thank God He protected me and brought me through.

For instance, I remember years ago being at a nightclub arguing with some braggadocios pimp talking about his money, cars, diamonds and women. I was arguing that those things don’t necessarily make him a man. I guess I riled the guy because someone grabbed me and said, “man that guy will shoot you, let’s go!” I was in bad company, and the Bible says in Proverbs 14:7 “Escape quickly from the company of fools; they’re a waste of your time, a waste of your words.” I was the fool for even engaging in the argument, but God winked at my sin, because His grace covered my ignorance. I just didn’t know! How do you know to stop where there is no stop sign; no right instruction? Thank God, He didn’t strike us all dead in our ignorance.

We shudder now to think where we might have ended up had we not come into the knowledge of the truth; of God’s word that teaches us about freewill and the call to choose the joy of life in Christ rather than death in the temporal, carnal pleasures of the world. Once we come into the knowledge of the truth, it’s hard to enjoy the pleasures of the world again in defiance and disobedience. It’s like shaking a fist at God, and everyone should know, our arms are too short to box with God!

The Book of Acts reads in Chapter 17:30,31 “Therefore God overlooked (“winked at” as it reads in the King James Version) and disregarded the former ages of ignorance; but now He commands all people everywhere to repent [that is, to change their old way of thinking, to regret their past sins, and to seek God’s purpose for their lives], 31 because He has set a day when He will judge the inhabited world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed and destined for that task, and He has provided credible proof to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

That “Man” is Jesus who died a horrible death on the cross to be the propitiation for our sins, becoming the gateway, that we (mankind) may have a pathway to be reconciled to a sovereign and holy God, who is our Creator. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” When God winks, He’s giving us grace to come to the cross. We can only come into the kingdom of God by belief and faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

So, let us be grateful that God winks at our ignorance. However, when we come into the knowledge of truth; going back to our old ways is, as the Bible says, like a dog returning to its vomit. If we know what’s right, and yet are hellbent on going our own way, God won’t wink; he’ll laugh – and then comes the judgement! The choice is ours: which will we choose today, life or death?

Larry Buford

Larry Buford is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer. Author of “Things Are Gettin’ Outta Hand” and “Book To The Future” on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. E-mail: LBuford8101@hotmail.com

Does Grace still Amaze You?

April 28, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

Years ago, I spoke at a large event where the vocalist sang one of my favorite songs, “Amazing Grace.” But I was taken aback when I heard the first line: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a soul like me.” The wordsoul was substituted for the wordwretch. Why? Because the wordwretch is considered by some to be demeaning to human beings.

I couldn’t help but think of John Newton, the writer of the song. He was an immoral slave trader and blasphemer — a man who knew he was a wretch and who had wept over the depth of his sins. Only because he understood that fact so profoundly could he then understand why God’s grace to him was so utterly amazing. And hence the immortal song he bequeathed to all of us.

Grace doesn’t minimize or ignore the awful reality of our sin. Grace emphasizes the depths of sin by virtue of the unthinkable price paid to redeem us from it. Paul said if men were good enough, “then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2:21). If we don’t come to grips with the hideous reality of our own sin, God’s grace won’t ever seem amazing.

His Call to Sinners

God’s word tells us that Christ died for utterly unworthy people (Romans 5:7–8). The fact that he died for us is never given in Scripture as a proof of our value as wonderful people. Rather, it is a demonstration of his unfathomable and unearned love. So unfathomable that he would die for rotten people, wretches like you and me, to free us from our sin.

Because grace is so incomprehensible to us, we instinctively smuggle in conditions so we won’t look so bad and God’s offer won’t seem so counterintuitive. By the time we’re done qualifying the gospel, we’re no longer unworthy and powerless. We’re no longer wretches. And grace is no longer grace.

The worst thing we can teach people is that they’re good without Jesus. The truth is, God doesn’t offer grace to good people, any more than doctors offer lifesaving surgery to healthy people. Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31–32).

Our Lord also said, “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment” (Revelation 21:6). Without cost to us, but at unimaginable cost to himself — a cost that will be visible for eternity as we behold his nail-scarred hands and feet (John 20:24–29). Bonhoeffer was right: grace is free, but it is not cheap.

Life-Changing Grace

You and I weren’t merely sick in our sins; we were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1). That means I’m not just unworthy of salvation; I’m utterly incapable of earning it. Corpses can’t raise themselves from the grave. What a relief to realize that my salvation is completely the result of God’s grace. It cannot be earned by good works.

True grace recognizes and deals with sin in the most radical and painful way: Christ’s redemption. There’s only one requirement for enjoying God’s grace: being broken and knowing it. That’s why Jesus said, “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!” (Matthew 5:3, GNT)

Our justification by faith in Christ satisfies the demands of God’s holiness by exchanging our sins for Christ’s righteousness (Romans 3:21–26). When Jesus saves us, we become new creatures in him (2 Corinthians 5:17). Now we can draw upon God’s power to overcome evil. We start seeing sin for what it really is: bondage, not freedom.

The old summary is correct: God’s children have been saved from the penalty of sin, we are being savedfrom the power of sin, and we will be saved from the presence of sin. Justification, sanctification, and glorification are all grounded solidly in exactly the same place: God’s grace.

God’s Grace Hunts Sin

The grace of Jesus isn’t an add-on or makeover that enhances our lives. It causes a radical transformation — from being sin-enslaved to being righteousness-liberated. Paul writes of the life-transforming and sin-overcoming power of grace: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives” (Titus 2:11–12).

Don’t ever tell yourself you may as well go ahead and sin since God will forgive you. This cheapens grace. Grace that trivializes sin is not true grace. Paul makes that clear: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1–2).

John Piper says, “Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.” So while God forgives when we sincerely confess (1 John 1:9), we prove that sincerity by taking necessary steps to avoid temptation. As Jesus said, “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act” (Matthew 7:16, NLT).

No sin is small that crucified Christ. Sin matters, yet grace has power over sin, offering not only forgiveness but also transformed character (Galatians 5:22–23). Every sin pales in comparison to God’s grace to us in Christ (Romans 5:20–21).

Proclaiming God’s Offer of Grace

There is one sense in which God’s grace is unconditional — we don’t deserve it. Yet in his kindness he offers it to us. But in another sense it is conditional, in that in order to receive it we must repent, ask forgiveness, and place our faith in him. This is a paradox — an apparent (but not actual) contradiction. If we see God as the one who does the work of convicting us and drawing us to repentance, this helps. We did not merit salvation.

But even if we fail to understand this paradox of conditional and unconditional grace, I think God calls upon us to believe it and live in it. Sinclair Ferguson says, “The spiritual life is lived between two polarities: our sin and God’s grace. The discovery of the former brings us to seek the latter; the work of the latter illuminates the depths of the former and causes us to seek yet more grace.”

When we’re acutely aware of our own sins, we’ll proclaim and exemplify God’s “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7). We’ll do so not with a spirit of superiority but with the contagious excitement of a sinner saved by grace — one person rescued from starvation sharing bountiful food and drink with others. We’ll face each day and each person we see with humility, knowing that we too still desperately need God’s grace — every bit as much as those we’re offering it to.

Why God Requires our faith.

April 27, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

GOD’S FIRST COMMANDMENT: BELIEVE ME!

When God created Adam and Eve (the first parents of the human race), He placed them in the Garden of Eden. In that garden there was a special tree that God had created; the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong’. God summed up the entire issue of morality by giving Adam and Eve one commandment to live by:

Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.

Genesis 2:17

one

GOD’S COMMANDMENT WASEASY: It was a commandmentnot to do something. No effort was required.

GOD’S COMMANDMENT WASCLEAR: God was indicating that righteousness cannot be achieved through learning the difference between right and wrong. To learn right from wrong would be a sin worthy of death. The way of righteousness would be to simply believe God; taking Him at His word and obeying His commandment concerning the forbidden fruit.

Throughout the Bible ‘believing God’ is also referred to as ‘faith in God’.

FAITH = ACKNOWLEDGING GOD

God presented a perfectly logical idea to Adam and Eve; that a knowledge of right and wrong would enable them to achieve righteousness. It makes sense, doesn’t it? How can a person do what is right if he does not know the difference between right and wrong? And God knows the difference between right and wrong, doesn’t He? And look at how holy God is! But God told Adam and Eve that learning right and wrong would be a sin worthy of death. He asked them to ignore ‘logic’ and take Him at His word; to simply trust Him.

Why would God do that? Why would He command Adam and Eve to act contrary to their own intelligence? Because God’s commandment represented the question of whether or not Adam and Eve would acknowledge Him, and His infinitely greater wisdom as the Creator of the universe. Adam and Eve were being asked to acknowledge the profound difference between God and ourselves; that the smartest of human beings are mere children in comparison to the One who created us. They were being asked to acknowledge that, no matter what might seem to make sense to us, if God says something different, then we are always smarter to trust Him rather than anything or anyone else.

Adam and Eve’s choice was simple; when challenged with the most important decisions of life, would they lean upon their own understanding, or would they acknowledge God’s glory and depend upon Him? In both the Old Testament and the New, God’s relationship with mankind is frequently compared to that between sheep and a shepherd. God wants us to acknowledge that in comparison to Him, we as human beings truly are ‘sheep’. We need the guidance and protection of our Divine Shepherd. Sheep who wander off often come to tragic ends; those who stay close to their master enjoy safety.

Man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4

Know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Psalm 100:3

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9

For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

1 Peter 2:25

I would ask my reader to bear with a personal story. Many years ago I was a public employee, working for my local county road commission. Some of the men who worked there had other careers on the side, doing construction and other things after work. Sometimes my co-workers would laughingly tease each other, saying ‘Man, if I had your money, I would burn mine!’ In other words they were saying that the other guy was so rich that, if they could have his money, they would throw their own money away.

Although this idea is silly, but it conveys the point that I am trying to make here. God’s wisdom is so much greater than ours, that if confronted with a choice between His wisdom or ours, every one of us would be well-advised to take His and ‘burn’ our own. This is what the forbidden Tree in Eden represented; the question of whether or not we would acknowledge God, and how much wiser He is than we are. When God’s wisdom is properly appreciated, it can rightly be said that it is He alone who really has any wisdom at all:

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Timothy 1:17

To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.

Jude 1:25

It was not that God wanted mankind to be ignorant. He did not forbid Adam and Eve to build computers, split the atom or map human DNA. In fact, God commanded Adam and Eve to subdue the earth and rule over it. God loves human intelligence, industry and creativity. It was He who made us this way, and put these traits within us.

It is true that many professing Christians give people the impression that Christianity is a religion of ignorance and superstition, but this is not true. God does, however, require us to acknowledge that ultimately, when confronted with a choice between knowledge or simply believing Him, the truly intelligent person will always trust God above all else.

FAITH = OBEYING THE LAW

Roughly 3500 years ago, long after the days of Adam and Eve, God gave 10 commandments to the world through the prophet Moses (Exodus chapter 20). These 10 commandments sum up God’s moral requirements; what we must do if we would be blessed by Him and receive eternal life. These commandments are sometimes referred to as the ‘Decalogue’ (10 sayings).

The 10 commandments are divided into two sections. The first five address the ‘vertical’ relationship between ourselves and God (and our parents).

MOSES’ FIRST FIVE COMMANDMENTS

LOVE GOD

The second five address our ‘horizontal’ relationships with our fellow man.

MOSES’ SECOND FIVE COMMANDMENTS

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

When God gave His one commandment to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, it represented the first five of the 10 commandments:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37

The forbidden fruit represented the question of whether or not Adam and Eve were willing to acknowledge and give glory to God. It represented the question of whether or not they were willing to recognize:

WHAT WAS GOD’S PLAN?

OK, so faith is a right attitude toward God, and a summation of the first five of Moses’ 10 commandments. But what about Adam’s everyday relationships with other people? How would Adam obey God’s commandment to love his fellow man?

God’s plan was simple. As Adam fulfilled the ‘primary righteousness’ of believing God, God was going to enter Adam’s body through the Holy Spirit and live inside him. The love, kindness, goodness and compassion of God Himself would flow out of Adam’s heart. If Adam was willing to acknowledge and glorify God, God’s intention was to share His glory with Adam.

This is still God’s plan today. God wants to share His own nature with us. He wants us to truly know what it is like to be God.

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit” says the Lord of hosts.

Zechariah 4:6

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin; He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 8:1-4

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God.

Romans 8:14

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:12-13

To whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:27

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2 Peter 1:4

Righteousness belongs to God alone. It is a supernatural trait. For instance, the ability to love our enemies is supernatural; we are not capable of it. But we can experience this divine righteousness if we are willing to provide the ‘primary’ righteousness of believing and obeying our Creator.

LOVE FOR GOD MUST COME FIRST

A proper attitude toward God is the foundation of all other righteousness. When our hearts are right toward Him, they are ‘tuned’ to relate properly with our fellow man as well. It is impossible to love our fellow man if we do not love God first. The logic of this is straightforward.

Suppose a thief commits murder during a bank robbery, killing a bank employee. Do you suppose that he will be concerned about running stop signs during his getaway? Of course not. If he has committed the greater crime, he will have no regard for lesser laws. The same thing applies to mankind. If we are willing to despise our Creator and even to declare war against Him, how can we love lesser beings who are mere creations? It is impossible to truly value a human being, if we are unwilling to value God.

The apostle Paul explained how all of man’s wickedness toward our fellow man flows out of our first and greater crime of disrespect for God:

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:28-32

King David also recognized this connection between how we view God, and how we treat our fellow man, confessing that his adultery and murder had their roots in his opposition to God:

Against You (God), You only, have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight.

Psalm 51:4

This connection, between faith in God and obedience to God’s entire Law, is seen in God’s two-part description of Abraham’s character. First God acknowledged the righteousness of Abraham’s faith, and then acknowledged Abraham’s fulfillment of His other laws:

Abraham believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness.

Genesis 15:6

Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.

Genesis 26:5

To believe God is to be pure in heart. When we repent of our unwillingness to acknowledge and glorify our Creator, forgiveness and reconciliation with Him become possible for us through His grace. The Lord Jesus referred to this in His sermon on the mount:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8

The apostle Peter also pointed to the ‘heart-purifying’ nature of faith. In explaining to his fellow Jews why he declared the gospel of Jesus Christ to ‘unclean Gentiles’, Peter said…

So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them (the Gentiles) by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us (Jews); and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Acts 15:8-9

Faith (believing God) represents obedience to the first and greatest commandment. And where genuine faith is found, love for our fellow man and fulfillment of the rest of God’s commandments will be certain to follow. This connection between faith and love is also found in the book of Revelation, where believing the Gospel and keeping God’s commandments go hand in hand:

And the dragon (Satan) was angry with the woman (Israel), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed (Christians), which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus says ‘I Love You’

April 27, 2019 rimamtsikilukagmailcom Leave a comment

Often, those who have injured us the most have been love’s greatest spokesmen.

The unfaithful husband sang, “My bride, my jewel, I love you!” — only to kiss her cheek and depart to his mistress’s bed. A seemingly faithful friend swore, “Brother, I love you!” — only to leave the dagger in your back after his embrace. The co-dependent mother muttered, “It’s only because I love you my child!” as she devoured him like a black widow.

So we may conclude that talk is cheap. The inflation of pretty words and Hallmark sentiments bankrupt the three little words that should be most precious: I love you. In the midst of profuse pleasantries and sweet nothings, how can we — as a friend asked me the other day — trust these words when they come from our Savior’s lips?

A Love from Greater Heights

The answer I wish I had ready for my friend is this: Jesus professes his love from greater heights. Your Romeo may have sung up to you in your tower only to leave the next morning. Your father may have professed his love to you as he tucked you into bed, only to back down the driveway and never return. Your companion may have strode side-by-side with you, laughing with what seemed to be love’s affection, only to travel on and leave you behind. But Jesus does not proclaim his love from below your castle, beside your bed, or while walking alongside you. He declares it from above:

The Savior who loves you says so from above you,
From high on a hill and hung up on a tree.
The Savior who loves you cries so from above you,
His blood paints a picture of love you can see.

Jesus did not whisper he loves you over a candle-lit dinner. He did not tell you he loves you in a penthouse suite. He did not send a card and flowers from heaven. He did not write you a poem in the clouds. He came down to be crucified. He says that he loves you as your sin hammers nails through his hands and hangs him up on a cross. He did not simply say that he loved you, he died to display that he loved you in the most powerful way imaginable: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

So how can you know that Jesus really loves you? How can you really believe that his love will not leave like others who abandoned you? Look to the place where God manifests his love for sinners. Each wound, each affliction, each nail flashes love’s lightning. Every thorn endured in his brow, every claw withstood on his back, every tolerated mock to his misery thunders behind his words of love. He did not give us a red rose; he spilled his crimson blood to prove his profession.

Where He Proved His Love

Don’t let experience steal your great Ruby. Do not let sinners, who vampired love of its blood, keep you from Jesus’s love evidenced by his blood. Jesus is not your ex-boyfriend. He is not your absent mother or abusive father. He is not Judas Iscariot — who came as a friend but kissed as an enemy. Jesus is not like them — nor is he like us. He received the betrayer’s kiss — our kiss — and embraced those cursed nails — our nails.

And he suffered more than nails. He was forsaken by his Father as he bore our sin. He cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Mere men could not inflict this pain. Bring on a thousand bloody crosses before this. Bring on ten thousand thorny crowns and scourging whips before this. Jesus, forsaken by the world, forsaken by his people, forsaken by his disciples, is now forsaken by his Father.

Now consider: Did he writhe in agony on a cross, lay down his life, drink your cup of judgment just to abandon you later like sinners have done in your past? Did he cross the desert of wrath, slay the great dragon, and win his bride, with intentions to eventually divorce her?

Oh How He Loves

We dishonor him by looking at the cross and seeing an unfaithful human love. Others may have abandoned you; he did not. Others may have broken promises; he does not. Others’ love expired or were broken in death; his will not.

Lost soul, return home to God’s love. Beloved saint, warm yourself by the flames of this love.

The Savior built an everlasting memorial of love in his death atop a hill. From these heights, he proved his trustworthiness. He exalted his word of love by lifting up his mangled body. His word stands as far beyond questioning as his body now stands beyond the reach of Roman spears.

He is infinitely trustworthy — even with our love.