Is Jesus the King of Your World or Just Your Heart?

This past Sunday I heard a very thought provoking Christmas message. I have kind of come to expect a message about Jesus coming as a baby and being born in a manger. A message about Jesus coming to the poor and lowly. This is all true and a very good reminder but I needed a different reminder this Christmas season.

 Many times I leave Jesus in that manger. I think of Jesus as a kind and loving Lord and He is, BUT he is also a mighty King. I think of Him as a God who is up in heaven answering prayers and sending hope and encouragement down and again He is. Many times I leave Him there. Many times I don't see him as a King who demands justice. A King whose presence will cause every knee to bow.

 One word that I really hate is the word: tolerant. In our culture we are taught to be tolerant of other religions. We are told things like, "Jesus may be your God but He is not mine and that is ok," or "that might be your truth but it is not my truth," and I kind of buy into that thinking a little bit or at least I have become desensitised to it. Because of this I never see God as a demanding God or even a commanding God.  I trivialize God because while He is the king of my heart I very rarely remember He is the King of the world.

 When tragedy hits I have a tendency to wonder where God is. I do not understand the devastation so I can buy into the idea that God just stood back with His arms crossed. The thing I was reminded of this past Sunday is that I have a God who demands justice. I have a God who is Mighty. Who is a warrior.  My God is not just my King but He is the King of every nation. When he returns every knee will bow. Let me say that again, every knee will bow no matter what god you were serving or what truth you were believing.

David had such a grasp on this in the Psalms:

Psalm 18:7-13 :

 

⁷ The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
⁹ He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
¹⁰ He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
¹² Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
¹³ The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

 Herod tried to have Jesus killed because He was a threat to his power. Jesus was a big threat to Herod's power because He is the King. Our pastor posed a question that I have been thinking over and now I pose it to you,

 "The question is not is Jesus your Lord but are you his subject?"

Do I see Jesus as more than just the King of my heart? Do I recognize Him as king of every nation and man?

The Why?

I have to be honest in admitting to you that I have not watched or read many news reports about the shooting at Sandyhook. I can't watch it. It is too much for me to take in.

  People want to know why it happened. We don't know why. There is no answer. Its not fair. It is unacceptable. Some people will never get over the why. This tragedy happened and as we say in our church the "why" is an above the line question, meaning, that God has not revealed the answer to us and He may never will. (I would have liked to draw this better but I am not gifted with graphics)

GOD

 The why question?

____________________________________________________________________________

Things God has revealed to us (Below the line):
The Bible (His Word) 

The Holy Spirit

God's People

  As Christians many times I think the best thing we can do for those that are hurting is be with them. Hold them. Cry with them. Hurt with them. Be angry with them. Bring them back to the only true comfort we can find and that is in Jesus. So many times we try to give answers that we just do not have, this can do more harm than good.

  If we want to show these people Jesus we need to climb down off our platforms (be it gun control or putting God in schools)  and be with the broken hearted. We need to show people that it is ok to be angry and to feel abandoned. David wrote,

Psalm 10:1 "Why, O Lord, do you stand so far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"

I have never faced a tragedy like the one in Connecticut. Thankfully, I have never known that kind of suffering. I have asked God, "Why?" I have wrestled with God and the trials He has put in my life. I have felt like God was standing back with His hands off watching my pain and not helping. Thankfully I had a pastor and a women's ministry leader that helped me move on from that place. They helped me believe:

Psalm 10:14 "But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless."

Psalm 10:17 "You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth may terrify no more."

 As Christians, I think we need to avoid the trap of trying to answer the "why?" and instead be praying these people are able to find comfort and then healing in Christ.

We need to be showing these people:

Jehovah Shammah - the Lord is there
Jehovah Rapha - the Lord Heals
Jehovah Shalom - the Lord is peace
Jehovah Jireh - the Lord Provides
Jehovah Raah - the Lord is my Shepperd.

 The reality is that we alone cannot provide comfort or peace for any of the people affected by the tragedy (including ourselves). Only God can provide the comfort needed:

John 14:27 " Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid"

The families of the students, teachers, and staff have my prayers. their healing will be a long process. I pray God would reveal Himself to all of them and give them the comfort only He can provide.


 

The Balance Beam

 

Balance is defined as:

noun

1.

a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.

2.

something used to produce equilibrium; counterpoise.

3.

mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment, etc.

4.

a state of bodily equilibrium: He lost his balance and fell down the stairs.

5.

an instrument for determining weight, typically by the equilibrium of a bar with a fulcrum at the center, from each end of which is suspended a scale or pan, one holding an object of known weight, and the other holding the object to be weighed.

 

    I have found this word being used over and over in different parts of my life. It seems that no matter what issue you are having when you asked for advice the answer is balance.  If you are having health issues you need a balanced diet or you need to balance your diet with your exercise. If you are feeling exhausted at home, you need to balance your own needs with the needs of your kids and the needs of your husband.  If you work you need to find balance between your home life and your work life.  I have found in my own life that I am not very good at balance. This blog is evidence alone that I am not good at balance as I write several posts for a few weeks and then can’t seem to find the time for a few weeks to blog at all. I used to think the idea of balance was from our culture but I have most recently realized that it is also something God calls us too.

 As I have mentioned in past posts our Sunday school class is studying the book “The Transforming power of the Gospel” by Jeff Bridges. In the class we are talking about our calling to pursue holiness. Many times (ok every week) our teacher draws a diagram of a balance beam with ditches on either side. In one ditch is “passive” faith, which is a person who believes the only one who can sanctify us is Christ so outside of faith in Jesus we don’t have to do anything. We call this "sitting in the hot tub." The other side is the “our power” ditch. This ditch is where we work and work and work trying to gain our sanctification. It is the tendency to think that Christ is not enough and that we can somehow sanctify ourselves or that we need to earn sanctification. In class we call this the "treadmill side". The balance beam is where we want to be and that is called “dependent responsibility” which means we cannot be sanctified without Christ (dependent) and because of that sanctification God calls us to pursue holiness (responsibility).

   I have a tendency to fall on the side of the treadmill (although I am not above a rest in the hot tub on some issues). The interesting thing for me about this idea of balance is I can get out of balance trying to pursue balance. I can obsess about being balanced, I find books, I read the Bible, I try to schedule my day out so that I can achieve balance, etc. Everything I do is about balance and then something disrupts my schedule or I become overwhelmed at trying to create balance that I crash and burn.  I believe my teacher would probably tell me that I obviously do not understand what is meant by balance.

    Balance can be overwhelming, but God is showing me that is not what He wants for us. God is showing me to be on that balance beam we need to do two things, love God with all your heart and love your neighbor. These two things gets to the bottom of every sin. The best part is, it is really one thing because if we love God with all our heart the Holy Spirit will inspire us to love others. We are imperfect creatures and we are going to make mistakes this is where the dependent part comes in. We can climb off the treadmill and rest in the fact that Jesus has already paid for our sanctification so we don’t have to achieve it on our own. God’s call to action is also what keeps us out of the “hot tub.” He calls us to love Him and love others with more than our brain but also with action.

I John 3:16-24 (NIV)

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

¹⁹ This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

 

** The video above is of my daughter at her first gymnastics class. What I love most about the video is that the coach could represent the way God holds us on the "beam."

 

Be Holy as I Am Holy

   God has called us to be holy as He is holy. I have been reading the book “The Transforming Power of the Gospel” by Jeff Bridges. In this book he describes God’s holiness with 3 characteristics:

Transcendent Majesty

Infinite Moral Purity

Hatred of Sin

  I have been writing about His transcendent majesty in my last couple posts. Today I am going to write about His Moral Purity.  When God calls us to be holy as He is holy he is not referring to his transcendent majesty because we can never become creator. We will never write the law. We will never be god. When God is asking us to be holy, He is referring to His moral purity.

  Moral purity is hard for me to completely understand. I am not sure, in this life, if we can ever see anything that is pure. Sometimes we think of newborn babies as being innocent and pure but the Bible teaches we are sinful from conception. It is impossible for us to emulate this characteristic of God’s holiness but that is exactly what He calls us to do.

  This is why being a Christian is more than just keeping us out of hell. It is more than God’s work to save us. It isn’t one sided. Being holy is striving to be pure. It is true we will never be pure but that doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility of trying to fulfill this standard. We need to be actively seeking holiness. Our holiness is both Jesus’ sacrifice and our efforts to be holy.

This is such a balance in our lives. For some they are content to let Jesus’ sacrifice be all they need. They go to church and they read their Bible daily but they do not see the need to change or grow. As long as they are fulfilling the “good person” standard they believe that is enough. Then there are others who know God’s law inside and out and they do their best to follow His law by their own power. When we truly grasp that we must take action and seek to be growing in God and at the same time understand that we cannot be holy without Christ is when we are able to live according to His Word.

  I find that I can fall on both sides of this balance beam. I pray for God to show me my sin but then I can get so wrapped up in making sure I don’t commit sin that I wallow in my failure not leaving any room for God’s grace. On the other side I have passivity in Christ. I can ignore my sin. While my sin is not as painful or the work as hard, there is lack of growth or change. That can be an empty place to be.

God's Transcendent Majesty

In his book, "The Transforming Power of the Gospel," Jeff Bridges says there are 3 parts to God's holiness. The first part is His Transcendent Majesty. Bridges defines these two words in his book, "So transcendent majesty speaks of the infinite power, authority, royalty, dignity, and splendor that is God." In reading about God's transcendent majesty there were two thoughts that struck me. Last night I wrote about God's plan for the world and how I can't change that plan. I am such a small part of His will for all creation.

 The second thing that struck me is that God is the supreme judge. He has sovereign authority of everything in the universe.

Daniel 4:35 (NIV) All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

This is part of God's holiness that the world rejects. The world tells us that we can make our own law. The world tells us to do what we feel. The world tells us that everyone has their own moral code and we should be tolerant of others sins. Bridges says, "God has the absolute right to set the rules of conduct for His moral creatures, enforce those rules, and act as the supreme judge of all moral beings, rewarding good and punishing evil." The world says there is no God and we can make our own gods and worship what we want.

  The immediate thought that went through my mind was the current battle over homosexuality. God is clear in the Bible about homosexuality.  I believe God has authority over our relationships and He has created man and women to be together. God has made this law because that is the way He created us and He knows what is best for us.

  The world tells me because I of this belief, I am a homophobe or that I hate homosexuals. The world wants to make me feel guilty or feel wrong. They accuse me of not loving all people. The truth is that I have friends that live the homosexual lifestyle and my love for them is the same. I do not feel any different about them than I do other friends. I can not agree with the way some one lives and still love them.

  God is our creator and He is also our law maker. He is the supreme authority. His law says homosexuality is wrong. If I want to be holy as Jesus is holy than I must not compromise His law even though the world tells me to be tolerant. Of course, if I want to walk as Jesus walked I must love. Jesus came for sinners not for the perfect. I can love others and believe that their actions are sin at the same time.

  This is just one example that I struggle with. There are other laws that I can compromise. The important thing I believe is accepting God as the supreme authority. He is our creator. He makes the laws that we must follow.

Can You Thwart God's Plan?

  You know the life of a mom is always changing. One week I may be able to spend a ton of time writing and working and the next I may not be able to sit at my computer let alone read. This week I have had some time to read and I have been able to study more about holiness.

  As I have written before God is teaching me about His call to be holy as He is holy. If I just think about being holy on my own I immediately feel defeated. I know the only way I can be holy is through Jesus Christ. Many times I like to leave my holiness there. Oh, Jesus has got me covered.  I am sinful, it says that all throughout the Bible. Sin is the exact opposite of Holy. Therefore it is impossible for my to be Holy. I will just let Jesus pick this one up for me. God is showing me that this is not what I am called to. While it is true I can never be holy without Jesus, God still calls me to actively seek holiness.

  I have also told you that my first impression of holy is to be perfect and set apart. I actually picture a man with a long white beard and wearing white robes and he has a glow around him. Thank you to childhood Sunday school illustrations. As I have been studying I have realized that there is so much more to holiness than perfection and white robes.

  The first part of God's holiness that I have tried to understand is one that we must understand, respect, and believe. God has authority over everything in the earth. He is ruler of all. He rules over nature. He rules over heaven. He rules over physical and spiritual things. Nothing no matter how insignificant it may seems happens apart from His will.

  You know that old riddle, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? God hears it and God knew it was going to fall before it did. This is something I am still trying to grasp.

  I remember I was a senior in high school and it was time to make that college decision. I remember praying desperately that God would show me His will because if I chose wrong my whole life would be off track.  I remember the pressure of trying to figure out that exact path that I should follow. I have recently realized that I can't make a decision that will ruin God's plan. I can make poor choices and pay the consequences but I can't change His plan.  His plan for the world is so much bigger than me. God rules over the world and I certainly cannot thwart His plan. In his book, "The Transforming Power of the Gospel,"  Jeff Bridges says, "We cannot carry out the plans that we make apart from His will."

James 4:13-15 (NIV) "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year, carry on the business and make the money." Why, you don't even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

  I am not saying we shouldn't seek His will. I believe as part of seeking Holiness we must seek His will but understanding that we are but a tiny part of His big plan and we do not have the power to change or derail anything He has planned.

  If we are in relationship with Him. If we are studying His Word (even if it is in little snippets as we go throughout our day). If we are truly seeking Him, we have to believe we will be in His will. We have to trust the Holy Spirit's work in us.  We have to trust His authority over us and even more than over us over the world, over Satan.

What Would You Do?

  Tonight Daniel (our international student we are hosting) was playing a soccer game at a local high school. This school plays their games on their football field. As the kids and I got there I realized we had to walk down the stadium steps and then around the track to the other side. We started down the steps, Josiah of course took off. As we were passing a group of high schoolers I realized the girls were having a hard time with the steps so I went to hold their hands. The students began laughing and asking Josiah if he was a triplet. Then they started chanting "octomom" at me. At this point I had reached the girls, they weren't scared but they were nervous enough at the kids that they insisted I pick them up.

   Now the first thought that went through my head was to turn around and say "Hey genius I have 3 kids not eight even my four year old can tell the difference." Ok, ok maybe something even more sarcastic was my first thought and that was my second. Luckily, Josiah had no clue they were even talking to him and as soon as we got to the bottom of the steps the girls were fine. But as for me, it is still eating at me.


   I have been reading a couple books lately, one on holiness and one on controlling our reactions in the heat of rising emotions. I just keep thinking in light of these two books how should I have reacted. What could I have said to represent Christ in that situation? Was my reaction the right one? Was it a holy one? Was I turning the other cheek or was I stuffing my feelings because I don't like conflict? Should I have ignored them because they were teenagers and I am an adult? Or was there a way to show them some grace that they may not receive very often? Was I showing grace by not going angry momma bear on them?


  I am not sure that not saying anything was the right reaction. I wonder how many times people said things to Jesus and He just kept on walking?  I would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe as I study more I will get some answers?