I Wish I was a Fish

Jonah is an amazing book about rebellion, walking away from God and God's divine deliverance.  I find myself being able to relate to Jonah, a man who knows what it is that God has called him to do and walks away in the opposite direction...away from the presence to the Lord.  God in His providential rule brought Jonah back on course and brings me back in like manner.  But I wish I was more like the fish in the story.

God tells the fish to swallow Jonah and it does.  God tells the fish to go on a 250 mile journey and it does, God tells the fish to puke Jonah up on the shore and it does....there is no arguing, there is no negotiating like my two year old, there is just obedience, blind obedience.  

Jonah didn't like what God was asking him to do so he decided he would go a different direction exercising his wisdom over the ways of the creator of the universe. Although I find myself acting a lot like Jonah I wish I was more like a fish.

Every Good and Pertect Gift Comes From the Father Above!

Grace, common grace, every good thing, enjoyment, pleasure, provision (food, clothing, cars, homes), blessings, ability (physical, mental, spiritual) is a result of the grace of God. All this flows from the fountain, God Himself, as His goodness overflows to His creation. How quickly I find myself filling up and living on all of these graces as if I thought they were from me, mine. Spending and being spent on drinking in these gracious gifts without acknowledgment of the fountain from which they flow.

Do you not know that you body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). I become so in love with living life and life itself, my affections find themselves wrapped around self enamored with the gifts and the glitter of worldliness that my eyes barely acknowledging my gracious Father, the generous giver of all good things.

Before you know it the chapters and years of life have passed by, they are gone and with it all the opportunities to expose and display His generosity to those around us. We spend our lives feasting on the gracious gifts of our father becoming so obese we can no longer move for Him. We are such consumers of His generous grace when we have been called to be stewards (1 Peter 4:10), stewards who house the grace of God looking for opportunity to pour that grace into the lives of those around us.

We spend our time hording this amazing grace, but such grace was never meant to be kept to itself. It is infinite and the more that we give, spread and display the more of its newness we receive. The Lord Jesus Himself said, 'it is more blessed to give than receive'.

Time and again scripture refers to God's children as vessels, clay pots, that everyday common tupper-ware container used for the meaningless. You never put left-over meatloaf in a tupper-ware container to stay for an eternity, it is put in there until the next opportunity that it might be taken out and nourish (if that is possible with meatloaf) some unsuspecting hunger pain.

Jonathan Edwards once said, 'For certainly God does not plant vines in His vineyard except for the fruit which He expects they should bring forth. He does not hire laborers into His vineyard but to do service. They who live only for themselves live in vain, and shall at last be cut down as cumerers of the earth'.

Instead of hording His grace for self I must live asking the question with earnestness what the Lord would have me to do with the genreous grace the He has given me, and then live with all my might spreading that generous grace to those around me in hopes that those around me become another conduit of God's gracious goodness.

Oh to be 'Born Again'

I was talking to a good friend this morning who has just become a dad for the first time and I was reminded of how amazing it is to be 'born again', to be brought from death to life, to have the hand of God give me a new heart that desires Him.

I remember when my son was born and how hard it was for that little guy to be pushed into this big old world. There was much anguish, pain, and blood as every ounce of energy that my wife could summon was put forth to bring in this life.

How tragic it has become when we take salvation, coming into right relationship with God and boil it down into some little prayer, or sing some heart warming song after a week of sleeplessness at camp. 'I have decided to follow Jesus'. It took the Sovereign power of the God of the universe to bring me to life. There was blood spilled as the Son of God was crushed and bruised for my sin as God's infinite eternal wrath was quenched that I might be reconciled, me a sinner to Holiness itself.

To be made alive in Christ, to be given new birth into the things of God, to be given a new heart of passons for ht things of the spirit, to be regenerated into a new creation is an impossibility outside of divine Sovereign power, wisdom, and love.

Amazing Love (And Can It Be)
Charles Wesley

And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?

Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?

He left His Father's throne above; so free, so infinite His grace!
Emptied Himself of all but love,and bled for Adam's helpless race!
'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me.

Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast-bound in sin and nature's night.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke-the dungeon flamed with light!
My chains fell off, my heart was free!
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee!

Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?

No condemnation now I dread. Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

'Amen!'

My Fatherly Love Reveals The 'Fathers' Love

It is amazing how much it is that I love my son considering how obstinate, rebellious and sinful he can be towards me, and yet there is nothing that I would not do for him. I was wondering how much greater my love to him would be if there was no sin hindering or bringing deceit into the mix, mine or his.

Words like powerful, intimate, free, sacrificial, otherness, honor, intense and the list could go on. There would be no questioning of motives and likewise all our intentions towards one another would be undefiled and pure, putting each others interests ahead of our own. How strong and indissoluble that father-son relationship would be, it would be perfect.

Suppose some evil jerk, high on himself decided he was going to lay a beating on my two-year old son with out reason, but simply because.... I can well imagine that all 153.4 lbs of this skinny dad would start flayling until somebody was hurt. I would either kill the guy or die trying, the second being the more likely.

Well God the Father and His son do have and have always had that white hot, holy, perfect intimate relationship. If the picture is to be complete, I am the evil jerk high on himself living passionately to looking out for all 153.4 lbs of skinny. The amazing part in this perfect love story between 'The Father' and His son is that God laid all of His hurt on his perfect son and then crushed him that I might be spared by the infinite weight of His wrath.

The more I grow in loving my son and daughter, and the more intense my feelings grow for them, the more I see how amazing His grace is towards me in Christ! And the more I see how amazing is that love, that has saved my soul!!

A Glimpse of Grace

I always thought that I was one of those, slow to get angry type of people. Sure I can get a little frustrated and quickly worked up about something, but angry, that is not what I would have classified myself as and then I became a dad. Now don't get me wrong I love being a dad and would not change it even if hell could freeze over. But being a dad has scrapped off my shiny layer of niceness and revealed the ugly, it's like scrubbing off the thick makeup of a beautiful model revealing that she is nothing more than a monkey.

A few nights ago as we met as elders and deacons I asked the guys a question. 'Do you think that God gets angry with His blood bought children when they sin?' I mean I know that God has saved me by his grace, but is he really saving me by His grace. The bible is quite clear that I was dead, blind, and an object of the wrath of God. I was in the grave of sinfulness without a Godward desire to be found and it was grace that said let there be light and I saw the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). Really, God breathed life into my soul, I get that, that is something that I can wrap my prideful cranium around, but living by grace in all the details of life that is where the being saved by grace is lived out (conformed into the image of Christ). After all doesn't God bless me when I do good things and then not bless me when I screw up.

But wait a minute, if that is how I am living out my faith then I am not believing in the gospel anymore which is; I am a sinner who has offended the Holy Sovereign King of the universe, and because of this sinning, not being Godward, being ungodly, I am deserving of the eternal extinguishing wrath of God. Yet God in His gracious mercy has caused me to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:4), and He did this when I was a sinner, when I was His passionate enemy.

After all if God created me in His image, and God is like me and I get angry at my son for running his sister over with his motorcycle (radio flyer tricycle) then surely God gets angry at me when I sin or just do something that is completely stupid. After all wasn't God created in my image?

My point is that even in the most spiritual act, or the most sinful, my standing before God is not determined on anything that I do, but only on Christ. I am daily deserving of death but Jesus has not only made me guiltless before the holy God of the universe, but He has clothed me in His own righteousness. Not only has He paid for my sin, past, present and future, in the sight of God I am not just sinless, but holy and blameless because Jesus gave me His own righteous identity.

So when I get angry at my son for running his sister over with his radio flyer tricycle, God sees Jesus, now that is amazing grace.

Anger, Murder -There is no Difference

In Canada we have been rocked by the tragic news of a needless, barbaric execution on board a Greyhound bus. A young, 20 something, man, grooving to his ipod slipping in and out of sleep has his life taken. The attacker, unprovoked, out of know where, decapitated this innocent young man with a Rambo like knife. This young man minding his own business murdered, slaughtered, his life now gone. To read and hear about the details of this crime brings feelings of outrage and causes that sick feeling in the pit of the stomach as the imagination tries to recreate this horrific seen.

It is easy to see and recognize the wrongness, evil, sin in this tragedy and stand up in judgment against it. After all we all recognize that this is evil. We become indignant, and lash out wanting to see justice handed out to the perpetrator of this physical outward act of gruesome evil, but are you or I much different.

Matthew 5:21-22--"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire." It was Christ who spoke these words putting my anger towards a brother, a harsh word spoken to another on par with murder. We look at this gruesome murder and wonder how God could forgive such evil and yet my anger or harsh word is no different, each deserving of judgment.

All forgiveness for every sin under the sun finds its forgiveness and is paid for by the same blood whether it be my anger towards a brother or the grotesque slaughter of an innocent man listening to his ipod, it is paid for by the blood of Christ. Any sin against an infinite Holy God is and infinite offense and requires infinite payment. To break one law is to break them all!!

So in this tragic murder on a Greyhound bus I am reminded that I too am a murderer and it is only through Christ that I am saved, oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

How God used 'Supernanny' to teach me about love

It is amazing what God will use to teach you about himself, in this case about his love. I must confess that I am a bit of a tvaholic, but God got me thinking through 'Supernanny' of all things. The show is about a British lady who comes into a home that is in chaos to help bring about some sanity through helpful suggestions. In this particular episode Jo-Jo, 'Supernanny', asks the mother of the house if she still loved her husband. Her response was yes and she went on to say how she wanted to see her husband succeed in life but at the same time was considering a divorce. Then SN asked her if she was 'in' love with her husband and the wife's reply was, 'not anymore'.

Our culture has and does believe that love is a feeling, something that we can 'fall out of' or 'fall into' but is love really about my, yours, or our feelings. I found myself walking back to the cross of Christ, while watching 'Supernanny', where love was displayed in the vibrancy of death and then life.

As Christ was about to be taken captive and led to the cross He called out to God take this cup from me, God if it is possible take me out of this situation, the painful weight of dying anothers' (place your name here) death. Christ did not die for me because I was loveable, deserving, but Christ died out of a love for His father. 'Not my will but your will be done' could be heard as Christ submitted, as Christ lived out his love to His, to my father.

Ephesians tells husbands to love their wives like Christ loved the church, the unlovable. Christ submitted to, Christ willingly put aside what he desired, his feelings and by faith entrusted himself into the sovereign love and care of God. Love is not a feeling, but a decision to submit and be conformed into the image of Christ where we can say by faith 'not my will but your will be done'.

God in his grace and mercy has loved the unlovable, 'while we were still sinners Christ died for us'. We adulterous, rebellious, wretches were loved to life by the great gracious love of God through Christ. Now that is LOVE. Love is not a feeling, it is entrusting ourselves into the care of God and to by faith love like Christ, to love our enemies, pray for our abusers. How many marriages would be saved if we loved like Christ and not how we feel.

Character Over Feeling Good

I was having coffee at the usual place today while reading a book and being convicted of my selfishness (Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges). It is amazing to me that I can afford a "specialty Coffee" that puts me in the company of the riches people in the world and I just assume that it is normal, after all 2.4 billion people on this spinning globe make less than $1000 bucks a year.

Anyhow, as I was drinking my Americano and listening to my ipod, I noticed a weathered, bearded, rain-soaked man wearing an old wool trench coat pushing a shopping cart. I could see that He was carrying a used coffee container as he came in to the coffee shop (CS) for some hot water. As this 30 something man left the CS I felt compelled to offer him a coffee or something--so I did... only to be turned down.

I was convinced that God's spirit was moving me to stop listening to worship music and live out my worship, to get off my warmed up chair and step out into the cold rain-filled air in obedience to Jesus and offer a could cup of water (Hot Coffee) in His name. I responded to Christ only to be turned down.

I was shocked...how could someone turn down cup of specialty coffee...God why would you ask me to do this only to have this 'needy' guy refuse.

As I made my way back into the CS hoping that nobody witnessed this interaction, I was bewildered, confused and felt rejected. Why would God ask me to do something for His name and then allow me to be rejected? Maybe I didn't hear God right.

Remember I was reading about selfishness and God. His infinite grace was revealing to me how deep rooted my selfishness went. It had been my desire to help this individual so that I might feel good, that I might a have sense of meeting a need, I was the center, it was about me and feeling good, rather than just the pure joy of knowing that I had been obedient to God's call to offer a cold cup of water (hot coffee). I made it about me and God was gently reminded my that the opportunity was all about him.

How deep-rooted my selfishness lies, it is never dormant but I am thankful for God's Holy Spirit that reveals to me where I fall short of His glory.