Topsy-Turvy God

"I give you thanks, O LORD, with all my heart;

I will sing your praises before the gods.

I bow before your holy Temple as I worship.

I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness;

for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name."

Psalm 138:1-2 NLT

God surprises me every time.  If I expect Him to come from the right, I'm startled when I turn around and He's showing up on the other side.  When I think He'll act immediately, His plan is for me to wait, or if I assume I know what's best, He'll invariably give me a lesson on His radical best that blows my mind.

God doesn't operate according to the norms and traditions of man.  He has His own ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Supreme.  There are many gods created by man.  As many people groups as exist in this world, there are at least as many religions, methods for finding peace and purpose, and convictions that drive each life.  I could never succeed at counting all the regimens that people follow in a quest for a longer, more meaningful, healthier, success-filled life.  

Yet as happy as the worshipers of these gods may be, or content as the followers of these alternate lifestyles are, or as positive as the influence of these lifestyles are, they are not God.  There is only one true God, and only He is above all things.  Anything else I choose to trust in, then, will one day let me down.  Therefore, I would be wise to pin my hopes on the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth, giving Him praise in the midst of all other gods, religions and lifestyles.

God's dominion and power is not diminished by the plethora of other alternatives.

High. A successful CEO or politician is all about his own agenda, intent on exalting himself and those with which he has surrounded himself. He knows how to use people, befriending those who can help further his career and staying away from those who can do nothing for him. Rarely will he stoop to the level of the lowly, considering their needs as important or caring whether they suffer or not.  As long as his needs are tended to, this kind of leader is content to focus on his own life.  After all, he must do what is necessary to make it to the top!

God does not follow this template.  As powerful as He is, able to do more than I could ever imagine, He is never so high that He will not stoop low to regard the lowly, to care for the humble, to consider the poor (Psalm 138:6).  In fact, His eye is even on the humble sparrow as it flits from bush to bush in its search for food.  If His scope is so wide, He will surely pay attention to my needs and tend to my hurts (Matthew 10:29-31).  

God's high position does not prevent Him from seeing and caring for even the lowliest.

Trouble.  In this world I'm used to bearing the consequences of not only my own stupid actions, but also the foolish ones of those around me.  I learn early on that if I make that bed, I must lie in it; or that I must suck it up and carry on, taking like a man what's coming to me;  or fighting my own battles, cleaning up my own mess, facing my own demons.  It can be discouraging as I face this difficult life alone, left to deal with troubles all by myself, in the best way I know how.

God has a different plan (Psalm 138:7).  He doesn't adhere to the "every man for himself" mentality and He certainly doesn't offer His assistance to only those who are able to help themselves.  Instead, He protects, is in the business of preserving all life not matter how messy or lowly, and He saves even if He must step in to rescue me from my own stupid decisions.  While He is disciplinary in nature, His desire is always to draw me closer to Him.  Therefore, whatever it takes to show me the way to Him is what I can expect from Him, especially if that means giving me a hand when I'm overwhelmed with difficulties.  

God is kindhearted, even if I expect Him to leave me alone to get myself out of my own mess, He'll often surprise me by extending a helping hand right when I most need it.

It's easy to pigeon-hole God, placing Him in box and expecting certain behavior from Him based on past experiences or flawed expectations.  Still, God is God and His nature is not diminished by my faulty ideas.  His supremacy places Him above every other religion or god but does not prevent Him from caring for the lowly, nor keep Him from helping me, even if I don't deserve it.  He is a God who surprises me every time.  He is a topsy-turvy God!

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can trust God enough to let Him be God.

When do I limit God by expecting little from Him?

How do I pigeonhole God, placing Him in a category where He doesn't fit?   

Loving with Abandon

The Word of the Lord came to me:

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:

‘I remember the devotion of your youth,

how as a bride you loved me

and followed me through the desert,

through a land not sown.’”

Jeremiah 2:2

I remember when I first met my husband.  I was a college student and he was a soldier serving at an army post 6 hours away.  I would wake up thinking about him, getting a little thrill in the pit of my stomach at the thought of him.  Every time the phone rang, I hoped it was him.  As I walked to class, I imagined I saw him even though he was miles away. 

Even after we married and raised four children, my heart jumps when I see him and I can’t think of anyone with whom I’d rather spend time.  I am in love with my husband!

Am I in love with Jesus, wanting nothing more than to spend time with Him and please Him with the little things I do throughout the day?  Or am I in love with what He has done for me, thankful that He sacrificed His life so that I can live forever, but not really treasuring Him as my Savior?

Maybe I’m too uptight, but loving Jesus with abandon is hard for me.   Jesus wants all of me: my heart, my mind, my life.  But all too often I focus on what I can do for Him out of a sense of duty, or an expectation of what I think a “good Christian” should do, or out of gratefulness for what He’s done for me.

If I performed little acts of kindness to my husband for these same reasons, I don’t think it would mean as much to him as if I did them out of devotion to him, desiring to please him and bring him pleasure.  So why do I have a hard time abandoning myself in pure devotion to my Savior? 

Fear

I am a fearful creature.  I am hesitant to put myself into a situation where I don’t know the outcome.  Even though only God truly knows how things will turn out, I have deceived myself into believing that I have some semblance of control and I consequently make choices according to what is comfortable or familiar to me.

But this is not how to live a life abandoned to Christ.  When Peter jumped out of the boat to walk toward his beloved Jesus, he did so out of pure devotion without a second thought toward what might be the consequences of his actions.  All he knew was that he saw Jesus and he wanted to go to him.

As long as Peter kept his eyes trained upon the One he loved, he was able to walk on the water.  But as soon as he turned his attention to the waves crashing around him, he lost faith and gave into his fear, sinking down into the depths of the sea.

Loving Jesus means keeping my attention upon Him, not on my circumstances, problems or surroundings.  If I only had eyes for Him, my love for Him would grow.

To love Jesus with abandon, I must turn from my fears and desire Him only.

Misunderstanding Love

As a sinful human living in a fallen world, I don’t really understand God’s love.  Love in my world is conditional, coming and going in direct proportion to my behavior.  Love in my world is a physical love, tied closely to romance or sentiment toward a parent or child.  Love in my world is shallow, based mostly on feelings.

God’s love is different.  His love is not based on my performance but on His character.   It does not come and go with the changing seasons, but as David said in Psalm 138:8, “your love, O Lord, endures forever—“

The love of God is not a physical thing but is His defining feature.   1 Corinthians 13:4-8 lists the qualities of His love as patience and kindness.  His kind of love contains no envy, boasting, pride, rudeness, or seeking of selfish desires.  God’s love is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, and always celebrates the truth, shunning evil.  God’s love always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres.  God’s love never fails.

God’s love is deep.  The Apostle Paul’s desire for the believers in Ephesus was that they would, “have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19)

Understanding this love gives me insight into how I can love Jesus His way.  Just as He chose to demonstrate His love for me by dying on the cross while I was still deep in my sin,  I can choose to demonstrate my love for Him in a real, tangible way by loving those around me, especially the ones who live a life deep in sin, rendering them unlovable.

Myself

I may be the biggest obstacle to loving Jesus without inhibition.  If I am honest with myself, I am very important to me!  My desires, my comfort and my plans matter to me.  In fact, I could even go so far as to say that they matter more to me than anything else.

To love Jesus supremely as the Lord of my life, I cannot cater to my needs as I tend to.  Instead,  I need to do as Peter advised in 1 Peter 3:15.  He said that in my heart I should, “. . .set apart Christ as Lord.”

If I exchange Jesus for myself as the one who is most important and lord of my life, then I will be able to love Him in the way He designed me to love.

In order to give myself in devotion to my Savior I must first let go of the fear that grips me, understand His kind of love and pass that love on to others, and take myself out of the position as lord of my life and put Jesus in that place.  Then I can love Jesus with abandon!

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I can give Jesus my first, my best and my all.

How do my own selfish desires get in the way of Jesus’ longing to truly reign in my life?

What fears are holding me back from loving Jesus?