THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LOVE

From beginning to end it’s all about love. God loves us to much to leave us the way we are, so He gives us His Spirit to manifest His nature in us. The Apostle Paul called it being conformed into the likeness of Christ; to be cut and shaped like a garment into Christlikeness, not a proper dictionary word but the reality of our life in Him – Christlikeness. I don’t think God is much concerned with what label we impose upon ourselves, whether we are a vanilla or chocolate denomination, movement X or independent Y, the only real abiding issue before our loving Father is how much do we resemble His Beloved Son. This God of love, who paid such an unthinkable price to draw us to His side and release His DNA in us, do you really think there is anything more important to Him then seeing the nature of Jesus take root and blossom in us, His blood bought children. Nothing can separate us from His loving work in us, willing and doing His good pleasure in our lives– nothing but our volition!  Nothing but our conscious choice to maintain Self on the throne of our heart.

It should not surprise us that the narrow straight way to eternal life is difficult and wrought with trouble, adversity and pain – in a word, bad -- for these are the Grace-Builders that enable the crucified life, that in death of Self Christ’s new life might spring forth. The roaring lion still prowls earth but he must make a road trip to the throne of God before he can devour anything... before he can so much as touch a numbered hair. God allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent in His power. Job understood  the givings and takings of the Lord, accepting both good and bad providentially, with “though He slay me” trust, and never sinned with his lips by blaming  God, (Job 1:21-22; 2:10; 13:15). Job understood... we need to understand also. The Master Potter’s love is released in the creative pressure of His hands... ever molding, always shaping... nothing in our life is without purpose, for God never wastes bad. We need only gaze upon the baffling, horrendous cross of our Savior to understand we are Bone of His Bone and Flesh of His Flesh. Baptized into Christ... baptized into His death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life... conformed into Christlikeness. God never said it would be easy, but He did say we would not have to walk this way alone.

CHRISTLIKENESS

LOOKING FOR PLEASURE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

In his earlier years Paul prayed three times for God to remove the physical infirmities he was experiencing. He had yet to understand the purpose godly suffering plays in perfecting God’s nature in us and releasing His power through us (2 Cor. 12:7‑9). God said no, no and no! Later he came to understand suffering’s purpose and no longer petition God for a life free of suffering. "So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength)" (2 Cor. 12:10, AMP). Notice the listing: infirmities (sickness, Illness and associated weakness), insults, hardships (physical needs), persecution (to pursue, injure and afflict), perplexities (mental anguish), and distress (suffering, trouble, misfortune). Paul speaks of being hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, scourged, beaten with rods, stoned, whipped, homeless, reviled, persecuted, defamed, abased, in danger of robbers and wild animals, suffering need and often in peril (1 Cor. 4:11-16; 2 Cor. 11:23-27; Phil. 4:12).

God said of Paul: “He is a chosen vessel of Mine ... For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16). Paul was forewarned by God of the consequences of wearing His name. All who are honored to wear His name must recognize that saints are “appointed” to adversity, hard difficult times (1 Thess. 3:3), and that through much pressure and adversity we enter the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22) -- walking the “narrow” and “difficult” way (Matt. 7:14). Suffering is not a virtue we pursue but a reality that pursues us, and a divine opportunity for joy! If God is our greatest pleasure, then suffering for Him becomes our greatest joy. Listen to Apostle Paul: “I take pleasure in infirmities ...” Have you been looking for pleasure in all the wrong places??? Notice he said, "I am well pleased and take pleasure." Did he really say that? Yes, he had been caught up beyond the realm of self interest and had glimpsed the glory beyond suffering, beyond pain, beyond hardship. That is why he could say to the Romans, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). Who are these “us” who are to receive the revealed glory of God? All who have suffered as saints embracing the will of God. And what is God’s will for us? “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). The road to eternity with God takes many detours to the Potter’s Shack.

GOD’S GLORY IS BIRTHED IN ADVERSITY

PRAYING FOR WET FEET

As Christians caught between the cross and the fetching home we face an overwhelming sense of vulnerability to life: Things break, jobs are lost, relationships falter, health deteriorates, tragedy strikes, and the best laid plans of mice and men fail. Most of us “Ordinary Joes” who have become rich in God’s eternal promises are, at any moment, only a few steps away from serious hardship. Let two or three bad things happen at the same time, loss of income, serious illness, etc, and we could be “on the street.” This vulnerability produces worry, a synonym for fear, the very antithesis of trust. So much is beyond our control, and we do not know how God will fix our problems, calm our storms. Recognizing our vulnerability should foster dependence on God, should because it would if we could depend upon God to do what we want Him to do. But God He is God don’t you know, He expects our willingness not to have what He is not willing to give. He prioritizes our transformation over our “self” interests, to prepare us for the future He is growing us into, and expects us to trust that His judgment of what is good for us is better than ours. 

As we clutch the hand of the one who calmed the raging sea we realize this is less a remedy than a forced conclusion, for to whom shall we go, only Jesus has the words of eternal life. Trust of the “Though He slay me” kind is tough trust, for He just might. And this is the essence of our vulnerability, our worry and fretting that robs us of our peace and joy, He just might. He just might fix our problem in a way we don’t like with the out working of good qualified within His purposes and not our desires. It does little good to speak here of the Apostle Paul’s thorn experience, his so called “light afflictions”: If we could take pleasure in sickness, difficulties, hardships, persecution, troubles, distresses and adversity – “Pain” as C.S. Lewis so appropriately labeled it -- boasting, yes boasting, in the divine strength the pressures on our life produced, there would be no need to write this, for everyone would be too busy walking on water to read it. And yet, this is the ‘high ground”, the gold standard for ordinary Christian earth-life, well up the spiritual growth curve called perfection. 

Paul received up-front revelation of the suffering God had planned for him, and was fast-tracked through exponential spiritual growth to demo the life we should emulate, residing a few clicks up the curve from Ordinary Joes. The very things that flood us with anxiety will, as we submit to God’s sovereignty, grow us into the gold standard, destroying fear in its wake. For we know – We Know -- the pressures of life produce patient unswerving endurance, molding our character into Christlikeness and fertilizing our hope with joy and confidence. And this hope, this expectancy of our divine eternal destiny, is a sure and steadfast anchor for our soul, our sheltering impetus during the storm that keeps our mindset focused on things above. This has been God’s purpose all along, to steady us with the “Blessed Hope” of His calling as He grows us into Himself, into perfection, so we too can one day walk on water.

“THAT YOU MAY BE PERFECT AND COMPLETE, LACKING NOTHING “

SAINTS

CHRISTIANITY SAINTS

Christian, as a meaningful label, has fallen into the gray abyss of abuse and misuse.  The word and not the belief system are at issue here.  The word is a great noun: Christian, Greek Christianos, “follower of Christ”, but makes a poor adjective, being coupled with all sorts of words that can create categories that limit truth and blur meaning.  Stop ten people, or 50, in the marketplace and ask them what the word Christian means and you will probably get as many different answers.  Its connotation today is drawn from people’s experiences, denominational turf battles, and cultural and political influences, all cobbled together into indefensible contradictory reflections of the same word, which impose far more upon the word then ever intended by scripture. Long gone is the awesome wonder of a loving Father God who passionately pursues us, reaching out of heaven to do wonderful things in our life.  “Christian” began as a derogatory term coined by the enemies of Christ, an appellation of ridicule, and is never used in scripture as a name commonly use by Christians themselves. And Christian only appears three times in scripture... really? Yes, really! Saint, another great noun, is the label God uses for His blood bought children: Saint, Greek hagios, “separation, consecration, and devotion to the service of God, sharing in His holiness and abstaining from earth’s defiling influences.” There can never be confusion about the meaning of “saint” since hagios is also translated “Holy” 162 times in scriptures. So... Saint = Holy, Holy = Saint... got it? It is fitting the use of “Christian” as an identifying label part company with people who truly love Jesus and have submitted to His Lordship over their life. God calls these people hagios... Saints, 62 times in New Testament scripture. Maybe we should let our Father name us... unless we are uncomfortable with the connotation implied.

NAMED BY GOD