God is Greater

"Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
   sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.
For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,
   Israel to be his treasured possession.

 I know that the LORD is great,
   that our Lord is greater than all gods."

Psalm 135:3-5

"The secret of the mystery is: God is always greater.  No matter how great we think Him to be, His love is always greater."

Brennan Manning

Sometimes I think I have God all figured out.  In my mind, I believe that I know how things will turn out based on past experiences, or what lessons someone will learn because I discovered a certain truth from a similar incident.  But God constantly surprises me and I have to humble myself and admit that I know nothing about God.

The human mind is not large enough to comprehend the greatness of God.   I can study God my whole life, experience a lifetime of God-encounters and think I have a handle on Him, but I have only scratched the surface.  God is so much more than my puny mind can grasp.

There are many reasons to celebrate the fact that we worship a God who is greater. 

Troubles

Jesus warned us that life would be filled with difficulties and tribulations.  He said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b)  God is greater than anything I can face.  Sickness.  Death.   Financial disaster.  Fear.   Hunger.   Homelessness.   Loneliness.   

He is greater than all these things.  Trusting in Him may not make my troubles go away or my situation improve, but will give me a sense of peace, quiet strength and a hope for better things to come.  If not here on earth, than in heaven with Him.

God is greater than any tribulation I may face.

Evil

I don't think anyone could argue against the fact that the world in which we live is evil.  Just look at how children and animals are treated.  Statistics show that children dying in the United States from the effects of abuse has risen from 3.13 per day in 1998 to over 5 children dying daily at the hand of an abuser in 2010.  But death is not the only consequence of abuse.  Other results include a higher risk of out of wedlock pregnancies in abused girls, an elevated incidence of criminal behavior and incarceration of mistreated and neglected individuals as well as an almost certain development of a psychological disorder of some kind. 

Studies show that where abusers target children, they also victimize pets.  Add to that the flourishing market found for the human slave trade throughout the world, the existence of serial killers, cruel dictatorships and religious warfare and we can easily conclude that we live in an evil world. 

It is easy for me to fall into despair in light of all the suffering going on around me.  But God has a plan.  He did not leave me here without reason!  He placed me here in order that I would shine as a beacon of hope in a dark world.  Jesus shines through me and out to those who are suffering in darkness because He promised to never leave me, even in the most wicked of times. 

God and His plan are greater than all the suffering found in this evil world.

I am His

Perhaps the most astounding thing about God's greatness is that He would choose to relate to such lowly creatures as those He has created.  As a sinful woman who has fallen far short of God's standards, He could easily cast me aside as unworthy of His goodness. 

But His love is greater than that.  In fact He, "demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)  Even though He is far greater than my comprehension, He chooses to make a way through faith in Jesus for me to enter into an intimate Father/daughter relationship with Him.

God's love is greater than my sin.

One of my favorite songs is Chris Tomlin's "Our God is Greater."  As you listen, take a moment to meditate on God's greatness which transcends our troubles, overcomes all evil and is great enough to love me as a precious daughter.  God is greater!

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I will remember His greatness when fear or troubles threaten to overcome me.

When do I take for granted the love God has for me?  How can I better pass that love on to a hurting world?

How can knowing God is greater than anything I can face change the way I handle difficulties?

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?

Saving the World

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

Her face contorted into a frown as she tried to understand.  "Okay.  Let me get this straight.  Jesus loves me and He showed it by dying for me?"
"Yes, that's correct," the teacher gently reassured the confused 10-year-old girl.
"Well, that's stupid!"

Stupid Yes, it is stupid in the mind of a human accustomed to an "every-man-for-himself" kind of attitude to run into the One who loves us enough to sacrifice His life so that we can live.  As Paul said in Romans 5:6-7, "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  While the girl's words seemed harsh and disrespectul, I have to admit she has a point.  Who does that?  And Why?

Jesus   Not only did Jesus die a brutal death, taking the punishment God requires for our sin, but He also agreed to come into the world He created, knowing full well how He would be treated.  Jesus knew the hearts of men.  (John 2:24-25)  Nonetheless, He obediently entered the fallen world as a baby, the son of a lowly Jewish carpenter.  He lived an ordinary life of obscurity until His time had come when He began to show the world the realities of His Father's kingdom.  He possessed an attitude of humility, even though He was God in the flesh, "he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant," (Philippians 2:7).  The  very idea is. . .well. . . stupid!  But Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice in order to restore our relationship with a Holy God.  As the lyrics of a 4Him song proclaim, "this is such a strange way to save the world."  But without this "strange", "stupid" sacrifice, we would be doomed to a shallow, meaningless life ending with an eternity seperated from God and devoid of all good.  (James 1:17)

Helpless  The reason Jesus had to make such a profound sacrifice was due to our complete depravity.  For a brief time, I served as a lifeguard at a water park.  Knowing that the lives of so many were in my hands was a sobering thought.  Part of our training included practicing saving drowning vicitms in deep water.  That victim has no other hope than the lifeguard for there is no way they can save themselves.  We were instructed to swim up from behind and underneath and quickly place the victim into the lifeguard carry, swimming the two of us back to safety.  Without a savior, the swimmer would have died.  It is the same with us.  We do not have the ability to save ourselves from the inevitable consequence of our sin: death.  And perhaps even worse, we are helpless to restore the broken relationship between God and ourselves without the redemptive work of Jesus.  His "stupid" act of sacrifice, saved this helpless soul from an eternity seperated from my Creator.  Unspeakable.

This Christmas season, as I go through all the preparations for the big day, I purpose to keep these thoughts in mind.  God showed His great love for us by sending His precious Son into a depraved world in order to save that world from the consequences of our sin and restoring a right relationship between the created and the Creator.  

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I will truly appreciate the sacrifice Jesus made in lowering Himself to the status of a mere man, that I may boldly approach God's throne of grace. 

Where do I fail to realize the sacrifice Jesus has made for me, and how does this affect the way I live my life?

How is this failure evident in the way I treat those around me? 

Open the Door

Here I am!

I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Revelation 3:20

"Ding, Dong!"

"Oh, no!  They're here already. . .why are they early?  We're not ready yet!  Quick, everyone, finish tidying up and I'll stall them at the door.  Somebody put the dogs in the room.  Oh, and don't forget to check the bathroom!  Go!"

Has this ever happened to you?  You're running late in preparing for dinner guests and then they show up before the appointed time!  This is kind of how I can feel about Jesus.  He is waiting at the door for me to invite Him into my life, but I am busy scurrying around trying to make myself presentable before I let Him in.  But the key to being a good hostess is not in impressing my guests with a clean home and wonderful cooking, but in welcoming them into my life as it is and helping them to feel as part of the family.  The focus is on the guest, not on the hostess.   How can I let Jesus in now, and not wait until it may be too late?

Be Thankful  The Westminister Shorter Catechism states that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.  Paul instructs in I Corinthians 10:31 to take part in life with a spirit of thankfulness in all things.  "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  As I go through the mundane parts of my life, if I make Jesus my focus and my reason for doing all that I do, my attitude will change from one of fear and restlessness, to one of satisfaction and contentment.  I am here for God, He is not here for me!

Be Accepting  Jesus does not expect me to make myself presentable before I allow Him into my life.  He know me well, as He demonstrated when He met the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4).  He knew every detail of her life, but He loved her anyway! It is the same with me and you.   In fact, ". . . God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)  Jesus did not wait until I was halfway there before He sacrificially gave His life to make me presentable before a Holy God.  No!  He did all the redemptive work for me, all I do is accept.  He knows my sin better than I do, but He loves me just as I am.  All that's left for me to do is let Him love me!

Be Purposeful  Today is the day to let Jesus into my life, to live alongside of me.  None of us are guaranteed tomorrow!  God's Word found in James 4:14 reminds us that, ". . . you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."  Since we don't know how long we have here, we should make the most of every opportunity. (Ephesians 5:15-16) 

Perhaps Benjamin Glover and Jeffrey Thomas Pardo said it best in the song they penned for Mandisa called, "Waiting for Tomorrow*." 

Maybe tomorrow we'll start over
Maybe tomorrow I will finally change my ways
Said the same things yesterday
Don't know why I'm so afraid
To let you in
To let you win
To let you have all of me

Can't spend my whole life wastin'
Everything I know I've been given
'Cause you've made for so much more than
Sittin' on the side lines
I don't wanna look back and wonder
If good enough could've been better

Everyday's a day to start over
So, why am I waiting for tomorrow

Maybe today I'll start believing
That you're mercy is really
As real as you say it is
It doesn't matter who I used to be
It only matters that I've been set free
You rescued me you're changing meJesus take everything

Oh, I'm makin this my moment now
To grab the hand that's reachin down to save me You saved me
And I'm makin this my moment now
To grab the hand that's reachin down to save me You saved me

I'm gonna grab the hand that's reachin down
And I'm not gonna wait until tomorrow
Oh, tomorrow

Do I have caution tape around the door of my heart?  You and I cannot afford to wait any longer to let Jesus into our lives.  What are we waiting for?

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I will let Jesus into every part of my life and not attempt to hide anything from Him.

What am I trying to make presentable before showing it to Jesus?

How am I withholding parts of my life out of fear of what Jesus will think, forgetting that He loves me as I am?

* Lyrics from http://www.absolutelyrics.com/lyrics/view/mandisa/waiting_for_tomorrow