Peace in Confidence

I spent Sunday afternoon watching the perennial favorite The Sound of Music. It occurred to me as I watched that Maria had more problems with becoming a nun than just falling in love Captain Von Trapp. She also had some significant theology problems. When she first is ordered to leave the convent, what is the song she sings on her way? “I have confidence in confidence alone; besides which, you see, I have confidence in me!” Don’t you think a novitiate should be stating her confidence in God alone?

Then after the Captain affirms his love for Maria, she sings, “For here you are, standing there, loving me, whether or not you should. So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could. So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” So apparently her belief is that you eventually get what you deserve. Even though she could only remember her “wicked childhood,” she is certain that she must have done something to earn this love she now received.

What amazes me is that in the 30 or 40 times I’ve seen this movie I’ve never once considered the heresy that it is propagating! We probably all have times when we get caught up in the drama or the tradition that we don’t really think about the fallacies we’re taking in. (Television is a great anesthetic to the brain.)

Right after watching the movie, I picked up a book I’ve been rereading, Shame Interrupted, by Edward Welch. In writing about the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), he quotes Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the first beatitude: “It means the complete absence of pride, a complete absence of self-assurance and self-reliance. It means the consciousness that we are nothing in the presence of God. It is nothing, then, that we can produce; it is nothing that we can do in ourselves. It is just this tremendous awareness of our utter nothingness as we come face to face with God. That is to be poor in spirit” (p. 142).

Jumping ahead to the sixth beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” Welch comments, “One good message from this beatitude is that pure is possible for the poor in spirit. How can that be? When you assemble the pieces you have so far, you know that pure is possible because you are purified by Jesus. Pure is something that is done to you. You receive it by faith through the gentle yet powerful touch of Jesus” (p. 149).

Among the many great lessons of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus points out two keys here: 1) We have no confidence, ability, or righteousness in and of ourselves. 2) All that we have comes from God through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Based on those two realities, we can cling to the other promises in that sermon-- “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious...” (Matthew 6:33-34). “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you... how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (7:7,11).

I’ve needed these reminders lately when the promises of Scripture have seemed to apply to either the past or the future, not the present. So Friday evening I started compiling for myself a list of scriptural “Promises for Today” and the beatitudes were one of the first places I stopped. I also spent considerable time in the psalms, and Psalm 27:1 has come to mind several times in the past few days: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Here are just a few of the other promises I pulled out:

·         Psalm 37:5-6- “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”

·         Psalm 57:2- “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.”

·         John 15:5- “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

·         James 5:11- “Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

·         Isaiah 30:15- “In returning [repentance] and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

In this second week of Advent the Peace candle is lit. Peace is built on the foundation of hope. Peace becomes a reality when we fully believe and have confidence in the God who keeps all His promises. Jesus Himself was the fulfillment of many Old Testament promises, and He continues to fulfill promises today and every day. We can depend on Him while we await the fulfillment of the final promise of eternal life in the kingdom in His presence.

“It is impossible for God to lie. We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:18-19).

© 2013 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

I'm Entitled!

I’ve been reading the book of Job lately, and it seems to me that Job’s friends have gotten a lot of bad press over the years. Much of what they say is actually true, despite the fact that they don’t know the back story taking place in the heavens. And Job wasn’t as guiltless as he first seems. Early in the book it says that “in all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” (1:22), but by 42:6 he is repenting “in dust and ashes.”

What happened in between? My reading is that Job had a bad case of entitlement. He basically says, “Let me state my case before God. I’ll prove my innocence and convince God He was wrong to put me through all this suffering.” Even the oft quoted verse “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him” actually ends with “yet I will argue my case before Him” (13:15).

I haven’t used those exact words, but that has been the motivation in my heart at times. “I’ve done these good things, I’ve trusted You and praised You, and yet I’m suffering. I’ve endured various types of suffering, and yet You still don’t bring me relief.” Sometimes it seems like we should be entitled to things we don’t get. Not just material things, but the spiritual blessings that come from being a child of God. He says we’ve been blessed “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3), and yet those blessings often seem so elusive.

Now’s a good time to confess that I don’t always practice what I preach. I can write about true hope being founded on the expectation of God’s promises, while simultaneously wishing God would change my circumstances. And when He doesn’t, I can get angry enough to want to argue my case before God. Hope can quickly degenerate into entitlement if I’m not careful.

So where does that leaves us? A few thoughts come to mind—

1) It does no good to argue with God or try to bargain with Him. His ways and means are so foreign to us that all we can do is put our hand over our mouth as Job did.

2) There may be a bigger story taking place than we can ever imagine. I’ve often wondered exactly how the heavenly dialogue of Job 1 was revealed in order to be included in Scripture. Did God tell Job what had happened, or was some other writer enlightened after the fact?

3) God’s promises in Scripture are true whether we believe them or not, and whether we experience them for ourselves or not. Despite Job’s fears that God wouldn’t even listen to him (9:16), he found out that God not only heard him, but knew what was going on better than Job did.

4) Sin can hinder us from seeing what God is doing. Whether it was Job’s sense of entitlement, or the Israelites’ fear that God wouldn’t provide for their needs in the wilderness and in the Promised Land, sin can get in the way. It can make a small problem bigger, and it can make it last longer. I’m sure the Israelites felt entitled to enter the Promised Land after their slavery in Egypt and wandering in the wilderness, but they found out they had missed out on the blessing because of their lack of faith. The Promised Land then became the dream of the next generation.

What it boils down to is: confess and repent of what is revealed to be sin, trust God to keep His promises, and pray for the eyes to see what He is doing and the endurance to wait for His timing. Easier said than done, but I’m working on it!

Expectancy

It hadn't occurred to me till this week that a synonym for hope is expectant. Doesn't "expectant mother" sound more hopeful than "pregnant"? (Personally, I like the term used in the Opus cartoons years ago- "infanticipating.") 

Since we're nearing Advent, I've been thinking about the hope that Mary must have had after learning that she was to be the mother of the Messiah. The announcement from an angel must have started hope growing. Then her visit to Elizabeth strengthened her hope. The shepherds' arrival reinforced her hope even more. She had the expectation of not only raising a child, but a child unlike any other. 

Jesus would literally be the Hope of the world. Mary had no way of knowing how that hope would be fulfilled, though the words of Simeon in Luke 2 told Mary it would not be easy for her to witness-- "A sword will pierce your own soul as well." The ultimate hope for the world would come through the pain of a sacrificial death. The expectation of eternal life came through the apparent hopelessness of death. 

For this first Sunday of Advent, I wonder what hopes we are cherishing right now? If hope is based on expectation, what are we truly expecting, not just wishing for? Christmas tends to become a time of wishing, rather than hopeful expectation.

-Wishing for a particular gift, or wishing for the money to buy the "perfect" gift.

-Wishing for a change of circumstances, or wishing things wouldn't keep changing. 

-Wishing for the holiday season to last, or wishing for it to be over. 

But hopeful expectancy is found in Christ. We can expect that He will always love His children (2 Thessalonians 2:16). We can expect that He is always at work in our lives, making even the hard times work for His purposes (Romans 8:28). We can expect that He will cause spiritual fruit to grow in our lives as we trust in Him (Galatians 5:22-23). And one day we can expect to see Him face to face when He comes in glory (2 Thessalonians 1:10).

-In Christ, we already have the perfect gift, and we are encouraged to share it with others so that it might be multiplied. 

-In Christ, we know that we are loved, accepted, and forgiven, regardless of our circumstances. 

-In Christ, every day is a holy day, set apart for us to serve Him and glorify Him by using the gifts He has given us. 

May this Christmas be one of growing hopefulness as we expect God to fulfill His scriptural promises in our lives!

Faith and Healing

For several days now, I’ve been thinking about what might be considered a grey area of the Christian life. It started a couple weeks ago when, after talking with someone about my ongoing depression, he recommended a book for me to read. I’m still wading through that book, and while it has some good principles, the basic message seems to be “You need to repent!” At the same time, I downloaded a free eBook that looked like it could be interesting. Halfway through the book, the author writes about all kinds of illness including colds and flu, “Why is it that believers are not breaking this curse of sickness? …I’m convinced that there could be several reasons why we’re not healed. It could be because we lack spiritual understanding. It could also be that we are afraid and hope for a quick fix. We are often weak in our confession of faith.”

Now I’m not saying that repentance is unnecessary, or that we don’t need to have a good understanding of who we are in Christ and faith that He can do the impossible. But there are a lot of other factors that come into play as well, like bacteria and viruses! The health side of the “health and wealth gospel” is a lot more insidious than the wealth side. Most Christians can agree that God does not intend for all believers to have great wealth. But there seem to be quite a lot of Christians who believe that healing is more a matter of faith than of good medical care. I won’t argue that sin isn’t to blame for some illnesses. Poor stewardship of our bodies leads to all kinds of problems. And some doctors do tend to overprescribe, often at the insistence of their patients. Humanity can be blamed for many of our problems, both social and physical. But living in a fallen world has its own issues. I’m sure Adam and Eve never had to deal with sickness while they were living in the Garden of Eden.

So I was wondering what the Bible has to say about health and faith. Most of the references come in the Gospels as Jesus healed people wherever He went. He specifically tells one woman, “Your faith has made you well” (Luke 8:48). And He tells Jairus after his daughter’s death, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well” (Luke 8:50). The fact that great crowds gathered to be healed indicates that they had some degree of faith in His ability to heal. But how many of those people actually believed in Him as their Savior, Redeemer, and Messiah? It appears that very few of them were still following Jesus at the time of His crucifixion.

The passage that intrigues me is John 5 and the Pool of Bethesda. Verse 3 says there were “multitudes of invalids” waiting by the pool, and yet it appears that only one person was healed that day. There is no expression of faith by the man before Jesus heals him. So why was he healed when no one else was? Then in verse 14 Jesus meets him again and says, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” This seems to indicate that sin was somehow a cause of this man’s suffering, and yet there was no call for repentance before Jesus healed him. So there is no direct correlation between repentance, faith, and healing in this case.

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray… And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up… Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:13-16). These verses imply that prayer and healing do often go together. However, if this were always the case, how are we to interpret the following statements?

• “I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus” (2 Timothy 4:20).
• “Indeed [Epaphroditus] was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow” (Philippians 2:27).
• “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” (1 Timothy 5:23).

Was there no faithful person to pray for the healing of these men? That’s certainly unlikely, given that they were associates of the Apostle Paul. Some would claim that the dispensation of miracles had ended and there were no longer any people who had the gift of healing. More likely, these illnesses were from natural causes, and though God could have healed them, for whatever reason He chose not to. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12 may also have been some physical ailment that God did not relieve.

I come to the conclusion that 1) God can heal, 2) God sometimes does heal in response to prayer, faith, and repentance, 3) God does not always bring physical healing, and 4) God often uses doctors and medicine to bring some measure of healing. (This site has an interesting article on Luke the Physician: http://www.icr.org/article/doctor-luke/.) Who are we to judge or prescribe how God will or will not work in a particular situation?

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8).

Stones of Remembrance

I was thinking awhile back about the moments in our Christian lives that we tend to remember. Depending on your denomination or tradition, you may have special recognition for child dedication, baptism, first communion, marriage, and perhaps ordination. Some churches give certificates or Bibles for special occasions. But if you think about it, those events represent a very small number of days out of a lifetime of experiences.

This observation came to mind as I was watching someone being baptized, and I realized that when I was baptized at seven years old I had a child’s understanding of faith, and I didn’t really know that Christianity wasn’t about being good. My understanding has grown through the various stages of my life. The past year has been one of significant growth and change, and part of me wished I could be re-baptized to signify a fresh start. I’m not a proponent of rebaptism, particularly when I think of the symbolism of being buried in baptism and raised to new life. If the old flesh is dead and buried, it does not need to be buried again. I accept by faith that one baptism is enough, regardless of my limited understanding at the time. (Do we ever fully understand our new life in Christ?)

So that leads to the question—how can we memorialize the special events or new stages of our life of faith? I was reminded in the Old Testament of the multiple times that people gathered “stones of remembrance” to build a memorial or altar following some event. Noah built an altar after coming safely out of the ark (Genesis 8). Crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land, God directed the people to gather stones for an altar (Deuteronomy 27 & Joshua 4). Elijah gathered twelve stones to build an altar, which he then used to disprove and disgrace the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). Abraham, Jacob, and Moses all built altars and renamed places in memory of something that God had done there.

I wonder if we should adopt a similar practice at times—creating something to remind us of how God has worked in a particular time or place? I think we are naturally inclined to create memorials, whether it’s a photo album, scrapbook, souvenir, or bumper sticker. We like to remember where we’ve been and good times we’ve enjoyed. So why not adapt that for the good things God has done and blessings we’ve enjoyed? Obviously we don’t want to fall into the trap of worshiping the creation rather than the Creator (as Israel did on multiple occasions). But we can all use reminders of the things we should be thankful for. It doesn’t have to be anything big. At one time in my life I collected small white stones out of my driveway to mark a certain event, and those stones are now inside a paperweight I made. And more recently, I’ve simply been counting the weeks on my calendar to remind me of how God has given me victory in a particular area (16 weeks and counting).

When God directed the Israelites to gather stones after crossing the Jordan, they were told, “When your children ask why these stones are here, you are to tell them what God has done” (my paraphrase). Part of the value of the memorial is in sharing the story with others, passing it along to children, grandchildren, and friends to teach them how God has worked in the past so that they may trust Him for the future. And in remembering together, you can also praise God together.

It’s something to think about as we approach Thanksgiving. What has God done in the past year that you need to share with someone? What family stories need to be preserved in some way so that they won’t be forgotten in the next generation? Just as the Jews still observe their feast days to remember and teach what God did in the past, we can use special occasions like Thanksgiving to do the same.

“[Remember] so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever” (Joshua 4:24).

Hope in God's Steadfast Love

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Have you ever considered the converse statement, “If in Christ we have hope for eternity only, we are to be pitied”? Perhaps it is just because of where I’m at in life, but that latter statement has come to mind more than once in recent months. Yes, we need to have hope for eternal life, which is Paul’s point, but don’t we also need hope for daily life? Certainly there are times when the eternal hope is predominant, such as in the case of terminal illness or when enduring persecution for your faith. At those times, daily life may be so precarious that hope has to rest in the promise of eternal life free from pain and suffering.

But for most of us there are a lot of days to live in this life before we arrive at the fullness of eternal life. So where do we find that hope to carry us from day to day when circumstances are discouraging, life feels less than enjoyable, and perseverance is lacking?

Last night I came across this verse: “But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love” (Psalm 147:11). Something clicked for me in reading that. God’s love is our source of hope. There are more than 120 references to God’s steadfast love in the Psalms alone (26 in Psalm 136). It doesn’t matter what is going on around us—we are assured of His love, so we can endure. We know that He cares (1 Peter 5:7); He is with us (Matthew 28:20); He is at work in us (Philippians 1:6); and He will bear fruit in us (John 15:5, Galatians 5:22). That knowledge should give us hope to keep pressing on, though I’ll be the first to admit that that is sometimes easier said than done. I’m preaching at myself here and I’ve had this preached at me a few times lately.

When relationships hurt—hope in His steadfast love.
When work is frustrating—hope in His steadfast love.
When stress piles up—hope in His steadfast love.
When sorrows accumulate—hope in His steadfast love.
When nothing seems to change—hope in His steadfast love.

Rich Mullins' song Verge of a Miracle is a reminder to me that God’s love is near, and that is a promise we can hold onto when nothing else makes sense. It’s also a reminder that we may never know when we’re on the verge of a miracle. The miraculous usually isn’t announced in advance!

I Am Worthy!

Sometimes I’ll run across a book that phrases something just a little differently and it will make me think more deeply about the subject. This week that happened with Shame and Grace, by Lewis B. Smedes. Here’s what he wrote, “You can tell that grace is gracious if it makes you feel better for having it, feel lighter, and, when it comes down to it, feel like the worthy human being you are. The question is: are we accepted by grace only in spite of our unworthiness or are we also accepted precisely because we are worthy? …Is it possible that we could be undeserving of grace and yet worthy of it? …Think of the difference this way. If I deserve some good thing that comes my way, it is because I did something to earn it. If I am worthy, it is because I am somebody of enormous value” (119-120).

Perhaps, like me, you may still be inclined to object “I’m not worthy!” But consider these verses:

• “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God…” (1 John 3:1).
• “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
• “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Those who are parents probably remember the birth of your child vividly. What did that infant do to deserve your love? Absolutely nothing. But are they worthy of your love? Of course. The fact that you love them makes them valuable in your sight. They belong to you and so they are worth more than any possession.

Dennis Jernigan comments on a couple different albums, “[If someone] came for me and risked their life for me that would bestow upon me great value… I must have been worth something for [Jesus] to lay aside the riches of heaven for me.” God so loved me that He sent Jesus to the cross on my behalf. I am worthy because God chose me and loves me. In myself I am undeserving of such mercy and grace, but Jesus filled the gap for me. I can’t do anything to deserve God’s love and acceptance, but I am worthy of it anyway! My worth is not determined by anything I will ever do. My worth is determined by God alone.

At the end of his book, Smedes includes the following personal statement of faith, which I believe is worth reprinting in its entirety:

• I believe that the only self I need to measure up to is the self my Maker meant me to be.
• I believe that I am accepted by the grace of God without regard to my deserving.
• I believe that I am accepted along with my shadows and the mix of good and bad I breed in them.
• I believe that I am worthy to be accepted.
• I believe that grace has set me free to accept myself totally, and without conditions, though I do not approve of everything I accept.
• I believe that nothing I deserve to be ashamed of will ever make me unacceptable to God.
• I believe that I can forgive anyone who has ever infected me with shame I do not deserve.
• I believe that I may forgive myself for anything that I have ever done to shame myself or another person.
• I am gratefully proud of being who I am and what I shall be.
• I believe that the grace of God heals the shame I do not deserve and heals the shame I do.
• I believe that grace is the best thing in the world.