“We can never show the love of Christ until we understand the love of Christ. And we can never understand the love of Christ until we understand His death. And we can never understand the death of Christ until we understand why He died. And we can never understand why He died until we understand His holiness and our sin.” Page 53

My struggle is somewhere in that quote. The reason I don’t love like I ought is included in one of those phrases. I don’t understand something. I may know it and be able to state it, but some truth there has not penetrated into my soul. It has not gripped my heart so that I live it. Using the words of Scripture, some part of the word of Christ is not dwelling richly in my heart. (Colossians 3:16)

My particular problem right now is the struggle to love those who are difficult. Recently I read an article by Tim Lane about this very topic. Looking at the quote above from Stetzer and Nation, I think my struggle is that I don’t understand/comprehend my own sinfulness so that I treasure His love for me. See, I look at my sin as minimal and therefore I refuse to see myself as the difficult person Jesus loves. If I can truly see things this way and live out of that, I will be able to be patient and loving to all the difficult people in my life. Not that it will be easy, mind you. It will be hard because I am hard headed and change always takes time to occur, but I will be able to fight that battle when I see Jesus loving sinful, difficult me.

What this means is that my struggle to perfectly love others stems from an incomplete acceptance of the gospel. I believe the gospel. I know it and could give it to others. I even give the right answers when talking to my “Christian” friends. But I am failing to live it out and that means the gospel is on some level just a statement I claim. It is hard, maybe impossible, to clearly see how Jesus loves me every day and still refuse to love others that same way.

Hey everyone! We have chosen the next book. It is Compelled By Love by Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation. The subtitle is The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living.

Over the last few months I have been thinking about what “missional” is and why it would be important. The more I thought about this and wrestled with it in Scripture, the more I came back to what love is. In the very beginning of the book, the authors state that the theme of the book is: “The Love of Christ Should Compel Believers in All Things”. I want to test this thesis and work through it practically. How would the love of Christ impact my every day living? How should it? Where am I in applying the love of Christ every day?

If these are of interest to you, pick up the book and join us for the discussion. The book is broken into three parts and that is how we will read it.

March 5th will be the first post on this book and it will cover pages 1-78. March 19th we will talk about pages 79-158 and on March 29th we will discuss pages 159-211. After that we will have a series of posts that summarize and discuss the application of all that we have read. This gives us a couple weeks in between each post and helps us to read and process what we are learning.

I hope that you will consider reading this with us. It should be a good time and I hope it will stretch each of us in our love motivated by what we have received. Thanks.

OK, so parenting is just HARD! There is no other way to say it.

The last few days at the Feather household have been difficult. We are blessed with two wonderful, sinful kids. We love them more than we could ever have imagined, but they can both be difficult. Our oldest is 3 and a half and has so much energy that it seems like he cannot keep himself still no matter how hard he tries. Over the last three days we have had a marathon of correction and I think both Pam and I are getting tired. It just seems like nothing is getting through his little head! Why can’t the Bible tell us the sure-fire way to cure this problem? Well, what do you think? Does the Bible just leave Pam and I to fend for ourselves in this or does God have something to say?

“…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8 is probably very familiar for most of you who read this blog, but have you ever thought of it in light of the parenting issue I raised above? See, my struggle above is that I am so tired of continuing to serve my son as he is being disobedient. I am tired and I think he should have gotten the message by now. Why can’t he just get it? Those closest to me would probably tell you it is because he comes from my genes, but let me suggest a more important question to ask. Why do I struggle so much to love him through it? That is where my heart needs to be.

Romans tells me that while I was in the midst of hating God, parading around in my sin, Jesus was dying for me. He took my sins while I still hated Him. I think I often clean up these Bible verses when I read them. I hear “sinners” and I think I was just making mistakes. Scripture presents me as a sinner (before my conversion) who only wanted to do my own thing. I did not want God according to Romans 1. In fact, I replaced God with anything I could find that I thought would make me happy. Not exactly the description of a son who is listening intently to his father to do exactly what he says!

Ephesians 5:1-2 says,

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Imitate God? Imitate God! Really? Yes.

I am supposed to love my children right where they are. I am to be patient with them like God has been and continues to be with me. I am to sacrifice my desires for a peaceful home and time to relax. Instead I am to  truly love my son in the midst of his struggle. The real question is how. That is where we will turn in a couple days. I have enough work to do repenting of my sinful attitude. See you then.

Does that describe you? Unfortunately it often does not describe me. I seem to struggle with fear, especially in relation to bad news. Often this takes the form of just waiting for (expecting actually) something bad to happen. Can you relate to this? Sometimes it just seems like too many things are going well and so I am waiting for the bad news. Other times it is recognizing that even as bad things happen, something worse could always happen. So, I am not content in either case because I am waiting for the bad news.

Psalm 112:6-7 says,

For the righteous will never be moved;
he will be remembered forever.
7 He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.

Now, the bad news :) is that I am not righteous in myself. I am quite unrighteous if left to my own devices. The good news is that Jesus has taken my sin upon Himself and I am therefore righteous, perfectly righteous. How amazing is that? In thinking about my own unrighteousness, I am reminded that my trust is not in my own actions to make me righteous, but rather my trust is in the One who has made me righteous. He has taken the worst thing about me, my sin that would prevent me from being with God, and He has perfectly covered it all. Now I have complete access to God. What kind of “bad news” could possibly make me afraid if I am thinking and living this way?

When I think of my Savior, my heart is firm. I know Him and what He has done. What could I possibly fear. He has given me everything I need. To quote an old Hymn we sang this last Sunday at Crossroads, “It is Well With My Soul.” Bad news doesn’t have to scare me, it can help me to lean on, trust in, my loving Savior.

Thanks for the bad news.

Explanation

Chapter 6 in this novel is all about Rorschach. It presents who he is, how he got to be the way he is and even his view of the world. At the end of this chapter, we read a quote from Nietzsche, not the most comforting and uplifting message we have ever heard. Here is the quote.
“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

This quote works on two levels for the point of the chapter.
1. Dr. Malcolm Long, the psychoanalyst assigned to help Rorschach, thinks that by diving into the life of Rorschach, he will be able to solve all his problems and give himself a good reputation. The problem is that instead of Long getting into Rorschach’s mind, the opposite happens and it seems to destroy Dr. Long’s “happy life.”
2. Rorschach sees the world as meaningless and empty, a world where there is just an abyss. There is no God in his view. If anything like justice is going to happen, it must come from us.

Hopeless

What I am most fascinated by in this section is the reason Rorschach is compelled to do what he does. There is no god in his view. Think about this for a minute. If there was no god and therefore no justice, what would you do? Why would you do it?

Before I was a Christian, I believed something was out there. I believed that there was karma or reincarnation or something that would bring justice to the world. I had to. If I thought there was noting that would keep us in line, what hope is there? If you believe that nothing will hold you accountable for your actions, what would cause you to obey? If you believe there is no god who loves you and provides a way to have eternal life, why not eat, drink and be merry? (1 Corinthians 15:32, Luke 12:19) In other words, why not do whatever you want? Someone might say, for the common good. What is that and how do we know what would fit? Do we go by what you determine is the common good?

Rorschach is a strange case. On one hand, he understands well the depravity of the human race. He sees that we are desperately wicked. This part is a biblical worldview. On the other hand, he says that there is no god here to help us.  That is clearly not a biblical worldview. Add those two together and you have all the elements of despair. What hope is there in a world like that? Rorschach’s only response is that someone must do something so that justice will be done. he needs to right wrongs and make himself new so that he can live with himself. Rorschach is born.

Fortunately Christians are not left to this. There is hope because God does exist. We are desperately wicked, but God has solved that in Jesus. How fresh the gospel is when it is contrasted with other worldviews.  If nothing else, this should give us compassion for those who hold a view like Rorschach describes. They are wrong and need desperately to hear the truth, but think how hopeless their view is and the despair they must live in.

Most of the people I meet don’t go as far as Rorschach, but that is often because they just don;t want to think about it. I should still have compassion on them and seek to share God’s amazing good news (the gospel) with them at every moment. It is the most loving thing I can possibly do for them. Do we really love them?

Kohl likes motorcycles. No, that doesn’t quite do it justice. He LOVES motorcycles. You know how I know? He tells me, every day, more times than just one. It seems like it is always on his lips. I don’t know if there has every been a day since he first noticed motorcycles that he didn’t talk to us about them. That is quite impressive. More impressive is the fact that his excitement today is the same or increased from the first time he saw a motorcycle. He seems to never tire or lose his excitement. He is always ready to talk about his love of motorcycles. His love lights up his face. It drives him to raise his voice and to be obviously happy. His little body can hardly contain the excitement. It drives me crazy, but it also awes me and humbles me. The fact is that I should have a similar love and excitement about Jesus Christ and the gospel. I should never tire of hearing about and applying the gospel to my life. I should be visibly excited when talking about Him and it should be so obvious that no one can claim I am indifferent. Every molecule in my body should be shaking with excitement like Kohl’s does at even the mention of a motorcycle.

“1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.”

Psalm 63:1-3 ESV
Why don’t I respond this way? There are probably many reasons, but none of them are good excuses. For now I think I need to appreciate Kohl’s love. I need to love the fact that he loves like this and pray his love will be for Jesus. In the mean time, I should ask God to give me that passion. God can do that and I would love nothing more.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Jim Elliot and four other missionaries.

I have been greatly impacted by reading a book called Shadow of the Almighty. It is a compilation of journal entries and the story of Jim Elliot. This video might cause you to search it out and read it yourself.

Jim Elliot and Beyond on YouTube

Thanks to Justin Taylor for pointing this video out.

I am thankful for the dedication of such people all over the world. Pray for our missionaries, no matter where they live.

Michael

I was listening to some music yesterday (a rare thing in my life) and I heard a song that reminded me powerfully of the gospel. Knowing that I am not alone in needing the reminder, I thought I would post some of the lyrics and a couple of thoughts.

The song was called I Need You to Love Me by Barlow Girl. You can find it on their cd called Another Journal Entry.

Why, why are You still here with me
Didn’t you see what I’ve done?
In my shame I want to run and hide myself
But it’s here I see the truth
I don’t deserve You

Chorus
But I need You to love me, and I
I won’t keep my heart from You this time
And I’ll stop this pretending that I can
Somehow deserve what I already have
I need You to love me

That is only the first part of the song, but you get the idea.
I guess I can relate to this song in many ways. I see my own sin so clearly sometimes. When that happens, it is not fun and it usually causes me to question many things. I tend to question if God will still accept me and stick around. Why would He? He is perfect and has done so much for me and to me and then I repay Him like this? That is the internal dialog that happens in my mind. Does that sound right to you?

It is, I think, a common difficulty, but it is also wrong thinking. I love the line about God maybe not knowing what I have done, as if it took Him by surprise. I think these things too, but they need to be thought about correctly. We need to change our own internal dialog. At times when I am thinking about my own sin and how if I were God I would take off and leave, I am comforted by John 10:27-30.

27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.30 I and the Father are one.” ESV

Here Jesus reminds us that no one can snatch us out of His hand or out of the Father’s hand. We are secure. This is tremendous comfort. I also turn to Romans 8:31-39. This passage reminds me of similar things, but includes the fact that not even things I do can take me out of His love. This is completely consistent with the character of God since He knows everything about us, even the sins we will commit. Could Jesus have died for some sins and not others? I rest in the comfort that He knows me, everything about me, and still loves me. What an incredible truth!

Another powerful truth in this song is the fact that we do not deserve God and His love. We are better off when we see this. This is humbling, but helps us do something we must do, which is depend completely on God and His grace. The line that hits me every time is “I’ll stop pretending that I can somehow deserve what I already have.” Wow! I cannot earn God’s love and forgiveness. He simply gives it. I can’t even live up to it after the fact. I must simply accept it, turning with thankfulness to the One who has provided all I needed.

What about you? Do you need reminded that you cannot earn God’s love? Do you feel the weight of your sinfulness and expect God to be distant? If you are a Christian, you are already accepted and cannot earn or deserve what you already have. Turn to Him with me and give thanks. He deserves it far more than we can ever give.

Thank you God, for music that reminds us of glorious truths. Help us cling to your gospel.

Michael