The Sin Factor

The miracle of the Cross is not sublime!  There is a mistaken teaching that has been passed around for hundreds of years that when Jesus Christ was crucified, he magically erased our sins, blotted them out as it were like divine suds.  That is not the case at all.  He bore our sins; took them into His own body and they putrefied within Him, sucked the life out of Him, and each one added to His misery.  Why is the Church so reluctant to see sin as the monstrosity it is?  Each sin we commit today adds to the shame and horror of the crucifixion Jesus endured two thousand years ago.  Only God could do this; bear sins committed tomorrow and not just the ones of yesterday.  As we sin and sin unthinkingly, we strike Jesus ourselves with the whip, drive the stake deeper in through his feet, take the rod and break it more ferociously upon his back and sides.  The sins of today are not nothing; they pry out of Christ's body more blood and break His heart even worse.  We may be free of real guilt but that does not mean Christ is.  He bears them all, the sins of yesterday as well as the ones of today and at some point, won't we just stop it?  Won't we fiercely reject the notion that we can sin freely and easily, and it doesn't matter?  John the Apostle says we don't have to keep sinning willy-nilly; we can put an end to it...not because we are evolving into righteousness, but because the Holy Spirit lives in us and empowers righteousness.  We are such fundamentalists when it comes to getting our garbage sorted among the various recycling options, but do we give the same care to the very sin that brought this mess upon us?  Pray with ferocious determination that God would keep you from temptation.  The Christian who comprehends the horror of sins will begin to loath the points where they invade the soul.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

The Way of Peace

John 14:27 NIV

 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.

Happy?

Anxiety seems to be on the rise as is depression.  One in twelve Americans struggle with depression and forty percent of Americans say they are experiencing more anxiety than they did last year.  Is there anything in particular that drives up your blood pressure?  What gives you a tension headache or causes you to lose sleep?  Has your temper caused you problems or discouragement zapped your strength?  What takes away your peace?    When you lose it, how do you get it back?  There are so many opportunities for you to become frustrated and discouraged and angry and even worried that it is no wonder so many struggle with maintaining their tranquility.  Perhaps you would like a bit more quiet in your soul…a little more peace.  Let’s talk about it!

Most of the time the way peace is reestablished is by a change in circumstances.  The bill gets paid.  A new job makes life better.  A divorce ends the fighting.  The prognosis improves.  If it is only a shift in the situation or the environment that changes your mood, then the quality of peace is haphazard and chaotic.  It comes and goes with the roll of the dice.  There is no depth to the peace, no staying power that withstands tough times.  The Bible has much to say about peace and plenty of examples of peace experienced during trying times.

Few would say that they are at peace when suffering, fewer still would be calm and undisturbed when dying while in great pain and yet it is possible.  As the early church leader Stephen, one of the first twelve deacons in the Christian community was being executed through stoning, he was not like most people.  He prayed without showing any signs of bitterness or anger.  While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60 NIV)  Of course this is not normal: Stephen’s reaction and perhaps we would add that it is not natural.  Yet it happened.  A human being with a human body and brain was able to pray for God to show his attackers mercy without any indication he was angry, bitter or despondent.   Without further comment, let us just admit that under terrifying and horrific circumstances, a human being can maintain peace within.

A second example of this same response to a terrible crisis is found in one of the books of the Bible written before the time of Christ.  Daniel, the ancient man of God, was ordered like everyone else in the Persian Empire to pray to no one other than the emperor or face execution.  Because he was faithful to the Lord and unwilling to renounce his loyalty to Him, Daniel continued to openly pray to the Lord.  Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.  (Daniel 6:10 NIV)  Again, such adamant loyalty to God at the risk of death is not normal and yet that is still how Daniel responded.   And so judgement was rendered against Daniel.  So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"  A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed.  (Daniel 6:16-18 NIV) There is no record of Daniel pleading for mercy or demanding a lawyer or weeping in turmoil.  He simply accepted the sentence and peacefully waited to be killed.  Of course that did not happen and it was certainly a miracle that saved Daniel. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den.  When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"  Daniel answered, "O king, live forever!  My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.  Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king." (Daniel 6:19-22 NIV)

If for a moment you can just look past the supernatural aspect of Daniel’s rescue, consider carefully the peace Daniel possessed in the midst of a terrifying crisis.  Not only did he calmly keep praying to the Lord when the threat was so great but he also faced his execution without a hint of worry or complaint.  That may be even more supernatural than the angel protecting Daniel from the lions.  Such great internal strength is rarely found among people, not even God’s people and yet there it was.  Peace!  Once more in the Old Testament is an account worth examining if we are to see what sort of peace you can have.

The prophet Elisha had a group of apprentices who he was training to be missionaries in Israel.  They set about building a dormitory to house them all, cutting down trees for the construction.  However, the project had its difficulties.  As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"  The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?"   When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.  "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it. (2 Kings 6:5-7 NIV)  Once more, this predicament was solved through the supernatural intervention of God but before the remedy came, Elisha was unperturbed by the crisis the apprentice encountered.  Rather than panic or fret, Elisha calmly assessed the situation and knew what to do.  That sort of reaction is not strange or unknown in normal human circumstances.  There are plenty of people who stay calm when crises hit because they are skilled at problem solving.  What is telling is that Elisha is identified as a “man of God” which means something here.  As a man of God Elisha lived in peace when his friend fell apart.  There is a “man of God” sort of peace that we need to consider when it comes to anxiety and depression.

Let us consider the peace Mary the mother of Jesus had when she found herself facing a financial crisis.  She was with her son at a wedding and it would seem that she was close to the groom, perhaps a relative or a close family friend.  She discovered that the groom had run out of wine for the guests and this was horrifying for the family.  It would have been a source of humiliation for years in the small town if some solution could not be found.  Mary turned to Jesus and told Him the problem.   His reaction may have made sense to Mary but it is hard to understand now.  Literally it was, “What to you and to me?”  What does that mean?  It is not clear at all but Mary’s response is quite clear.  She told the servants of the groom, "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5 NIV)  There is in this a casual indifference on the part of Mary to the wine crisis.  It was now in Jesus’ hands and she could calmly move to other business.  There is a strange, supernatural tranquility that comes over the person who decides a matter is now God’s problem and lets it stay with Him.  It is not reasonable to many; it is almost irrational and yet that is what happens to us when we give our troubles to God and trust Him with them.  God’s peace takes over our personality and with a calmness we cannot generate ourselves, our Lord of peace gives us His own serenity and stills our agitated thoughts. 

When Jesus died on the cross, a transaction occurred which completely alters the relationship between us and mental health.  By taking our sins into His own body, our Lord becomes free to work His own perfect life into ours.  It is not reasonable nor logical either that God would do this or that He does do it.  It is as the Bible puts it, a “mystery”. …the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.  To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:26-27 NIV)  The incredible enigma is of Christ a part of you changes all the rules for personal peace.  Christ is a part of you which means that every piece of His personality is worked into you.  This includes His joy.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11 NIV)  We also gain His hope.  Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:5 NIV)  And now, as we see, we also have the peace Christ has.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. (John 14:27 NIV)

The same peace Jesus had when the storm raged as He sat in the boat, that He had when His friend ran out of wine at the wedding, the same peace Jesus had as He was being taken off to be crucified is available to us!  How do we access it?  We pray!  Lord I need your peace.  I cannot get through this on my own.  My God, give me your peace.  I am stressed and worried.  Give me your peace!  It is there for you at any moment.  You don’t have to be fearful or worried or distressed.  The very peace of Christ has been given to you.  You just need to let it work in you.  You will notice a trigger for your anger or fear or worry.  It could be a bill, a health issue, a concern for one of your children, something your husband or wife is doing.  You have experience with these triggers.  They always get you but they don’t have to now.  You start to feel that old destructive emotion building in you:  fear, anger, despair, worry.  Give up immediately.  Admit you are not able to stop what is rising in you.  Pray.  Lord Jesus, I need your peace now.  The authority of Christ over the universe is right then in your favor.  His power demands that calm come over you.  You must trust Him though and that may take you some time.  You are so used to getting mad or worried, used to flailing about and trying to find a solution and so for a while you may have to suffer from depression or stress or anger that hurts you and others but give yourself time to get used to having Christ in you.  As soon as you cry out to God for His peace, He will give it to you.  Right then and there!  Go ahead.  Make use of the precious gift of peace Christ died to make your own.  Pray for peace in you.

Risen

Galatians 1:3-5 NIV

 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

What’s Bothering You?

During my sophomore year in high school I decided I wanted to become good at basketball.  Day and night I played on any court where I could find someone to challenge.  I lifted weights, did push-ups, ran and used a jump rope with five pound ankle weights to increase my speed and power.  Every day I shot hundreds of jump shots and played against anyone who came to the courts where I was.  I played so often that the insides of my fingers split open and burned with pain.  My basketball became so worn by constant playing that it was smooth as glass.  To play as often as I did, I had to give up something and it was my homework.  It seemed like a good trade-off for me, basketball glory for a few good grades.  My senior year I finally tried out for my high school varsity basketball team.  I played hard, took rebounds away from players stronger than me, made my jump shots and dunked in the practices.  Finally Friday came and the head coach pulled me off to the side to tell me my fate.  He said I didn’t make the team.

Have you ever been surprised by how things turned in your life?  Have you failed when you knew you would succeed?  Have you tried your best and it wasn’t good enough?  Do you know someone whose health suddenly fell apart, someone who lost his job when he was good at what he did?  Are you ever stunned by how badly things go; your planning of no use, your decisions not working out for you?  What do you think of a world that has so much difficulty?  Do you ever complain about the troubles you face?  Do you get upset about the stock market, distressed over your bad knees, frustrated  that a coworker doesn’t show you the respect you deserve, discouraged with how your career is going or how your kids are doing in school?

Jesus has told you how it will go for you.  “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33b NIV)  If you are expecting everything in your life to work out nicely, Jesus said it won’t.  Let’s get this out of the way, that success and good health are promised you.  They aren’t.  You might not face cancer.  You could have a great career.  Your children might do very well.  But in all of that, you will have trouble.  It will find you and most likely you won’t be prepared when it arrives.  Jesus however does not just dump this bad news on us without a promise.  “But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16: 33c NIV)

God does not look at life the same way most people do.  Nearly everyone cares very much about finances, health and relationships.  If something goes wrong, you try to fix it. It weighs on your mind until your trouble goes away.  Our Lord though has a completely different take on matters.  Consider carefully what Christ prioritized during His physical life on earth.  Several things went quite well for Him.  Great crowds came to hear Him speak, mesmerized by His story telling and insightful teaching.  He performed spectacular miracles that brought health and wellness to vast numbers of people.  There was a movement among the Jews to make Him king after He fed a crowd of five thousand with just two small fish and five barley loaves.  He was a brilliant debater and charismatic leader.  Jesus could have had as much wealth as He desired.  He could send His disciples off to pluck coins out of the mouths of fish if He wanted more money.  Our Lord was on the verge of enjoying one of the greatest lives ever and yet he threw it all away.

At the height of Christ’s popularity, when everything in His life was trending upward, our Lord let it all unravel.  He stopped doing miracles.  He quit preaching to crowds.  He no longer debated with His critics.  He let His popularity disappear.  He did not concern Himself with His health.  He chose to let His successful ministry fall apart.  What could lead to such absolute disregard for one’s well-being?

There is something far worse than deadly diseases, worse than school shootings and child abuse, worse than poverty, sexual harassment, sweat shops and human trafficking.  It is worse than pornography, corporate corruption and even the threat of nuclear war.  It is the reason why Christ gave up all the promise His life held.  The great enemy of all of life; of the entire universe was on our Lord’s mind from the moment He could begin thinking about it.  His whole life had one mission and one alone.  He lived to save the world from Sin.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21 NIV)

Sin is the source of every evil in the world, from disease to death; it all springs out of Sin.  Jesus Christ chose for everything to go absolutely wrong for Him, to take every terror sin brings, whether it was pain, hatred, abuse or sorrow and suffer it all for one reason.  By doing so, by letting every bit of sin rip His life apart, He took sin out of us. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24 NIV)

Jesus let His friend Judas betray Him, to even kiss him on the cheek as he did so.  He did not resist as the Jewish guards arrested Him.  Jesus took quietly every slap on the face, every bit of spit that was rained down upon Him.  Jesus let bizarre accusations be hurled at Him without defending Himself.  The blows on the head, the thorns jammed into His scalp, the whips shredding His back and chest and legs and arms, all accepted without protest.  Sin wrecked Him.  And more Sin came and battered Him.  Every sin you committed slugged Him and still He accepted more in His body.  The sins of your neighbors, of your friends, of your relatives long gone, of people you have never met, of enemies that have damaged your heart, of lovers who have adored you and those who turned on you, every sin of every person who has ever been, Jesus let each one come into His body and they all sank into His flesh and pounded it with the pain of ten billion heart attacks, of ten trillion broken bones and concussions.   Each sin of every man, woman and child blasted within Him and exploded with pain and Jesus took them all in without complaint.

The time came, when after so much horror fell upon Jesus and His body became completely filled with all the carnage of Sin, He knew it was finished and came out of His body saturated with all of our sins.  The Bible makes it completely clear that Jesus decided this, that He knew when His work of taking our sin from us was finished.   Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."   A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.    When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:28-30 NIV)

How can we ever thank Jesus enough for what He did for us!  Every sin you committed He took into His body and suffered for each and every sin.  The pain and sorrow each sin brought Him careened through His body like the echoes of a train wreck screeching in the night.  And yet the universe waited in hushed horror as Jesus’ body of sin lay crumpled in the tomb.  His spirit was gone but the body still remained and with it was our death, our sorrow, our pain.  Another day came and the body was still there.  Our dying sat with it and the demons with Satan watched and waited.  The body was dead.  Sin remained within it.  But then the morning of the third day the greatest miracle of all time took place.  The magnitude of that early Sunday morning has been lost to nearly all across the generations but the Apostle Paul reminds us what we have forgotten.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6-7 NIV)  Carefully go over this one more time.  On that day, that first and greatest of all Easter mornings, on that bright and shining morning we were raised with Christ from the dead and brought into the Heavenlies with Him.  Before you were born, before your parents knew your name, before you ever knew you needed a Savior, Christ and you were raised from the dead and made eternal with God.  We cannot begin to express the wonder of this.  We cannot explain it nor do we understand it.  We just know that on Easter Sunday, you were raised from the dead along with Christ and you became glorious as the sun.  Let this sink into you.  Literally the Greek text reads that “He (God) together raised and together seated (us) in the Heavenlies in Christ Jesus”.  Easter Sunday, when Christ was raised from the dead, we were raised from the dead too and in a world of death and dying, of sin and suffering, that is nearly incomprehensible.  Easter, that first Easter of all history is not just the triumph of Christ, it is yours too.  For that, we celebrate!

Evolution of Disdain

Titus 3:3 NIV

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

When Was The Last Time You Got Into An Argument Or Fight?

Not too long ago I was substitute teaching for a middle school English teacher.  Each class had the same assignment.  Read a particular chapter from a novel originally written by a sixteen year old and answer questions on a worksheet about the book.  Because I did not have anything to do but sit with the classes as they worked, I decided to read the book myself.  The main character was a young teen that was part of a gang battling a rival gang of boys.  One gang was made up of wealthy kids who seemingly had everything and the other gang was known as greasers and was comprised of poor kids generally from broken and dysfunctional homes.  The book, which was made into a movie, explored the themes of friendships and hatred, of loyalty and disdain.  As the book wound down to its emotional conclusion, the central character, who was also the narrator developed feelings of empathy for the members of the rival gang and began to see a few of them as individuals with psychological pain and broken lives.  A revelation of sorts came to the main character after he and his older brother got into a bitter argument and each wanted the middle brother to take his side.  It all was just too much and the middle brother fled the home.  Finally, when all three were together, the middle brother begged the other two to stop fighting.  “We only have each other”, he cried.  It was then that the three boys, who were orphans living on their own in the home their parents had, grasped the terrible truth about conflict.  It tears apart what should be kept together.  We do have each other and that is a great and wonderful gift to possess.

When was the last time you got into a fight or argument with someone?  Did it go well?  Are you glad the two of got upset with each other?  How do you feel after you argue with someone?  Are you glad you got your point across?  Did you feel justified or even vindicated when it ended?  Do you tend to avoid arguments at all cost or are you the first to jump in when others disagree?   Is it important for you to make your case and be heard?  If you were to be asked, what would you give as the reason for most fights?  Can they be avoided?  Should they be avoided?

There have been fights since the beginning of time.  Some have been rather one-sided as in the murder of Abel by Cain.  Certainly the most famous and remembered were those between nations.  But is seems pretty likely that more than a few times Adam and Eve argued and may even have fought.  David famously bickered with his wife Michal and the great leaders of the church, Paul and Barnabas argued so contentiously that they went their separate ways and stopped working together.

Saul, who was king, could not bear the popularity of his young apprentice and tried to kill him.  Certainly we see arguments today rising to the level of murder and such was the case for many in the Bible.  Yet generally, arguments and fights do not turn to physical violence but often psychological scars are left and not everyone who gets into arguments “kiss and make up”.  Everywhere though arguments are taking place.  Most couples argue and many children quarrel with their parents.  Families fight and so do co-workers.  The disciples got mad at each other a time or two and the patriarch of both Jews and Muslims, Abraham, had to move away from his cousin Lot because the two could not agree on how to work together.  There are plenty of fights described in the Bible and most of them went badly.

Many conflicts are spawned by the low self-esteem of at least one person involved.  That was certainly the case of King Saul and his snowballing acrimony with young David.  Others flow out of one person or the other and sometimes both used to always getting what he wants.  How many arguments are due to the “spoiled brat” syndrome?  Rehoboam, the son of Solomon set off a war simply because he was spoiled by his father and did not want to give up some of his wealth by agreeing to lower the taxes that unfairly burdened the people of Israel.

There is a third cause for arguments and fights.  It is the lack of self-awareness found in many.  There is an odd account found in the Bible that illustrates it.  David famously began an affair with the wife of one of the most decorated soldiers in his army.  When she became pregnant, David had her husband killed and then married Bathsheba.  A courageous friend of David’s, a priest by the name of Nathan, approached the King and told him a story that David assumed was a description of real events.  "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.  The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.  "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him." (2 Samuel 12:1-4 NIV)

David, believing he was being told of an incident that had happened, burned with rage at the rich man and wanted him executed.  Yet David did not realize that this was simply Nathan’s way of pointing out the evil of David’s own actions.  Many times we get upset or aggravated because we don’t take a hard and careful look at ourselves.  We judge people without paying any attention to our own faults and bad behavior.  It is just what Jesus described when He spoke of splinters and beams.  "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:3-5 NIV)  How many arguments would be stopped dead in their tracks if this were taken seriously? 

The bitter hatred Jonah the prophet had for the Assyrian people culminated in a bizarre encounter he had with God on a sweltering hillside overlooking the Assyrian capital.  He wanted the Lord to demolish the Assyrians then and there as he sat stewing over God’s mercy toward them.  Jonah certainly had a case.  The Assyrian armies were cruel and wrecked numerous nations including Israel.  There was no love for the one true God among the people and it did not seem that it would ever change.  And yet God wanted to give the Assyrians one more chance.  But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" (Jonah 4:11 NIV)  How easily so many write off those who hurt their feelings, act rudely, have been dishonest or don’t take their opinions seriously.  It is Sin in you which prods you to despise and judge others.  Like a poison of the heart, Sin leads to criticism and condemnation.  God always has one more reason to patiently wait for good to come out of any person you see.  When you get angry or impatient with someone, it is because of sin in you, not the imperfections in the one you dislike.

How many Christian people have stopped believing in the Cross of Christ?  We are not talking about the World that has no love for Christ or faith in Him.  We are saying that there are great numbers of Christian people who no longer believe in what Christ does through the Cross!  By dying, the Lord completely remakes any person who trusts Him for salvation. Not a part of that soul will be left imperfect.  Yet even Christian people criticize Christ’s “work in progress”.  Imagine the great artist Rembrandt having to watch as passersby sneer at the unfinished painting he has displayed in the window of his studio.  They see colors splashed upon it, brush strokes and empty blotches of canvas and despise what is there.  How wicked and foolish of them to doubt the skill of the great master as he works on his latest creation!  As much as the Christian community dislikes the term evolution because of how Charles Darwin and his followers have corrupted it, evolution is occurring all about us under the loving hand of our Savior.  He is taking broken and corrupted and damaged souls and remaking them into perfect and holy vessels bearing the Spirit of God within them.  How can we ever despise or grow frustrated with those Christ has died to save?  Will our Lord be happy with us if we fail to acknowledge that each person we meet is an evolving masterpiece of His?  Will He bless us if we criticize His perfect work?

How happy would our Lord be if we would see each person just as He does; as those Christ will eventually make perfect.  Never doubt the ability of our Lord to turn even the worst of sinners into the most holy of saints.  Your criticism, disdain and anger; your avoidance and disregard of any of His people is a reflection not of your insight into human nature but rather a sign of your ignorance of just how powerful God’s Cross is to make all things new and perfect.  It is the old way of thinking to criticize and have an attitude of disdain for those Christ died to save.   The evolution of the soul will take place and it is blasphemy to despise God’s work by looking down upon those He died to save.  Remember this admonition and promise of God!  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NIV)  When you look at someone who irritates you or frustrates you or seems less good than you, remember that your only responsibility is to gaze with wonder at how marvelously God will make perfect those He died to save and in prayer thank Him for making “all things new”.

An Aching World

Psalm 49: 20 NIV

A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

What Do You Possess?

Last week I was in a high school class and I asked the students what particular strengths they possessed.  One mentioned that he was good at connecting with people, that he had the ability to look them in the eye and pay attention to them.  The rest of the class was either dumbfounded by the question or too shy to answer.  One young man, who I had gotten to know a bit had a strong speaking voice and I told him I saw that in him.  Several students gave examples of how his powerful voice would benefit him.  I asked another young man what a strength of his was and he could not give me an answer.  He could not think of a single talent or skill set that he possessed that was of any value.  In fact, he insisted that he was not good at anything.  Now I realize that the setting might have made it difficult for him to admit what he saw as something good about himself but it struck me what a tragedy it was for a person to have nothing to claim as a personal strength.  Perhaps there are many others who cannot come up with personal qualities that would benefit themselves or others.

Is it possible that you too really don’t know who you are, don’t know what lies within you that could be considered great or even spectacular.  What really are the strengths you possess?  Recently it was mentioned just how broken we are in places we aren’t even aware exists.  We don’t know the depths at which sin has damaged us.  Our heart is so vast and unexplored by us that we cannot really know what destruction our heart has incurred.  Yet there is another side to this discussion that must be considered and that is what sort of power we possess in Christ.  Are we certain we know what has been given us by God and the value of what we have?

Psalm 49: 20 declares the great loss there is to us if we possess riches that we don’t know we have.  A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.  There is a witlessness to us when we are not aware of what great possessions are ours.  It is like we are as dumb as an ox if we have never noticed the wealth we own.  Consider the immensity of the claim found in Colossians 1: 27.  To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (NIV)  The implication is that when Christ becomes a part of us, joined to us as a “new creation”, there are great riches abiding within us and it must be acknowledged that the vast majority of Christians have no idea what those riches are.  Is it possible that we live in nearly complete ignorance of what runs deep within us?

One of the most fascinating aspects to the relationship between Christ and the Father is the approach the Father took to the treatment Jesus received at the hands of those who despised Him. It was always the same.  Not everyone thought Jesus was a great man sent by God.  Many thought He was either a lunatic or possessed by demons.  Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.  When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."  And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." (Mark 3:20-22 NIV)  How did the Father respond to this unfair criticism?  He did not do anything.  He let their hurtful comments go unaddressed.  The Father simply let our Lord absorb them without shielding Him from the blows.

At Jesus’ most vulnerable point when it seemed like the entire world turned on Him, the Father refused to defend Christ.  Without a bit of evidence to convict Him, the religious leaders tried their best to come up with some way of having Jesus put to death but the Father did not send a single person Christ’s way to help Him.  The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.  But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. (Matthew 26:59 NIV)   When Christ faced the terrors of Roman brutality, the Father left Him alone.  Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.  The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe  and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face. (John 19:1-3 NIV)  To the very end, the Father did nothing to ease our Lord’s suffering or humiliation.  Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.  They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,  and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said.  They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:27-31 NIV)

How can we account for the Father’s total neglect of the Son in His horrific trials? What did He have to gain by His response to the Son?  Whatever supernatural signs the Father did to support His Son’s work were never associated with His suffering or humiliations.  The Son was left, if we can be so almost heretical sounding in this, without the resources of the Father to help Him with all He suffered.  He was in a sense “on His own.”  The great force of our Lord’s own personality faced the worst that Satan and the World could throw at Him and yet without a hint of bitterness, self-pity or lust for revenge, He endured it all.  The Father offered nothing supernatural at all to the Son for His endurance; He left it up to the power of the perfect Son of Man’s own will to love without hatred and persevere without quitting.

This must be processed thoroughly.  Jesus had within Himself the power to love the most hateful sinner, endure the most demeaning criticism without having to despise the critic or try to defend Himself against the unfair charges.  He was able to face any seeming defeat without becoming at all discouraged.  Whatever else we might contemplate regarding everything Jesus suffered to bring an end to Sin in the World, we must also consider just how much strength was contained within the scope of His personality to face it fully without hatred or despair!  It all reached a crescendo when He cried out from the Cross, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34 NIV)

If we simply take a step back from the primary work of Christ in bringing salvation to humanity on the cross, there is a secondary effect that we must see.  Think about the immensity of this statement regarding the state of mind of our Savior just before He was crucified.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NIV) Our Lord, by what He suffered and how He responded to His suffering, revealed what is possible within the human personality when it is joined to that of Christ.  If you have been born again, you have Christ in you and all He has within Himself to face any difficulty or trial, you also possess by Him being a part of you.  The problem, and this is a most troubling problem, is that you most likely don’t even realize what our Lord places within you when He joins Himself to you.  It takes a great crisis, a tremendous force of evil for you to see what it is you have in Christ.

When the Apostles faced the greatest trial of their lives, the arrest and crucifixion of Christ, they failed miserably.  They were cowardly, self-pitying and without faith.  How could they ever know just what power they held within themselves with Christ a part of them if all they had to assess it was how they acted during the last days of His life.  God gave them an opportunity to discover it in a way most of us would try our best to avoid.  After they had been boldly preaching about Christ, the Jewish priest and leaders of the Jewish religious community rounded up the Apostles.  They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.  Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 5:40-42 NIV) How would they have responded to this horrid beating before Christ and His courage and joy had become a part of them?  Most likely in the same they did to Christ being arrested.  They would have felt sorry for themselves and quit preaching.  Not now though, not with Jesus and all His strength and courage and love a part of them.  Instead, they were happy the Lord found them worthy to be humiliated because they lived with Christ.

What we must face squarely is this supernatural strength of character to peacefully find joy and the ability to forgive even when faced with brutal, beastly treatment.  The effect of this supernatural response to terrible circumstances may not be immediately seen but that does not mean it will not work eventually in the hearts of those without Christ who witness it firsthand.  Without the sheer weight of the cruelty faced by Christ it might never have been known just how much power was contained in the heart of Christ.  Anything less than this great show of force could have been disregarded because it was no more miraculous than the work of a Gandhi or Socrates.  This response of Jesus and then of the Apostles to terrible difficulties and brutal treatment was as wondrous a miracle for those present as the parting of the Red Sea for it showed just what a real person has inside when Christ is living within.  There are monumental trials Christian people face and they are sometimes horrific and God does not deny just how terrifying and difficult they are.  But our Lord lets Satan initiate them for this one purpose.  In them the power of God is revealed in its full glory.  Those who could never forgive true evil, who could never love hateful people, who could not on their own be courageous in such circumstances are courageous and joyful because of Christ within and that is seen for what it is; a true miracle of God.  You cannot know the full extent of God’s power in you until you face overwhelming circumstances.  You will not know just how great the love of Christ is within you if you never encounter someone you cannot love on your own.  Who would have known what our Lord could do if He never was crucified and your friends and family might not know just how great and wonderful Christ in you is if you do not encounter a hardship only Christ in you can overcome and in that hardship have supernatural joy in the midst of it!

Suicide—Intervention

1 Kings 16:18 NIV

When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died,

How Can You Help The Suicidal?

The after the election I was teaching in a middle school class and as the students filed into the room a number of them were complaining about the results and several were saying that they were going to move to other countries.  Perhaps they were planning on going with Barbra Streisand or Miley Cyrus.  A few of them, who had never before had met me but knew I was their substitute teacher for the day, asked me who go my vote.  They were too young to worry about whether or not it was proper to ask me and I thought it was funny to be pressed for an answer.  I just laughed and turned away but as I thought more about the moment, I should have told them that I voted for hope, I voted for optimism, I voted for life.  I did not vote because I was afraid of the worst, I voted because I believed that my vote would help our country and even our world.  I did not vote for dread or for gloom or for fear.  I voted for promise.  Not everyone feels that such things exist or can even come their way.  There are many who have no hope and believe there is no good in life…not today…not tomorrow…and not ever.

There is so much hopelessness in our country, it is astounding.  Last year suicide was the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S.  Nearly 43,000 Americans killed themselves last year and what is even more painful to realize, there are twenty-five attempted suicides for every person who actually commits suicide.  Another way to put it: there are 117 suicides every day in the U.S. and nearly 13 suicides for every 100,000 people.  Men are 3.5 times more likely to commit suicide than women and older people are much more likely to kill themselves than are young people.

What do we do about the massive numbers of people who feel hopeless and broken by life?  How should we respond when we realize a friend or neighbor or co-worker feels too miserable to continue living?  At the risk of giving simplistic answers to complicated and terrifying questions, it would be good for us at least to examine the only example we find in the Bible of someone on the verge of suicide who changes his mind at the last second.  Tucked away in the book of Acts is a most enlightening account of how two missionaries responded to the despair of someone who was ready to kill himself.

As Paul and Silas sang and worshipped in their jail cell in the Macedonian city of Philippi, an earthquake shook the jail and miraculously the prison doors flew open and the chains on each of the prisoners fell off them.  The jailor woke up immediately and saw the prison doors wide open and knowing what would come of him if the prisoners had all escaped on his watch pulled out his sword to kill himself.  Such hopelessness is a key component to suicide.  This jailor was much like millions of others who have looked at what they face and decided they could not bear living any longer.  It does not matter how true the assessment is; they may be completely wrong about how bad it is.  What matters is that the person ready to commit suicide thinks all is hopeless.  Paul the Apostle, one of the prisoners in the jail immediately cried out to the jailer, "Don't harm yourself! (Acts 16:28 NIV)  Literally, he shouts to the jailer, “May you not commit evil.”  When dealing with someone suicidal, it takes a clear and unequivocal voice from a person who cares; this is wrong what you are thinking of doing.  There can be no wavering on this.  If you want to stop a suicide, you must forcefully insist that it is evil, that it is wrong to kill yourself.  Do not leave even a crack open to the possibility that suicide is an answer to the problems faced.  Paul shouted because he did not want there to be any doubt in the jailor’s mind that killing himself was evil.  Of course the jailer could have still fallen on the sword but it would not be because he thought Paul approved.  If you want to help someone who is suicidal, you must insist that killing yourself is not an option and always wrong.

In the instant when Paul intervened he said something else that is critical to preventing suicides.  He cried out, “We are all here!" (Acts 16:28 NIV)  There was in this immediate reaction a burst of reassurance that it was not as bad as the jailer thought.  This is always the way to help someone who has lost all hope and wants to end life.  There is in every instance, more to consider, a reason for holding out and not committing suicide.  Yes it may be bad, it may in fact be terrible what is faced but regardless of how bleak it may seem now, there is someone who needs you someone whose life will suffer if you are not there.  It may not be as easy as it was for Paul who simply had to remind the jailer that none of the prisoners had fled the prison.  Sometimes you might have to pull from a deep pocket to find some reason for hope but you can count on the Holy Spirit to help you.  Perhaps it is the family that is still there who loves you or the possibility of recovery or the encouragement that others can gain from the courage you show.  There is always a reason to live because in every situation one’s life matters and great good will come of it if given a chance.

Immediately the jailer responded to the hope Paul offered and he asked what he needed to do to be saved.  The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.  He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:29-30 NIV)  Without hesitating, the two prisoners told him, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household." (Acts 16:31 NIV)  Too many Christians think of the Gospel as a message or a new approach to life.  It is far more than that.  It is the power of God to change a life completely.  To believe in the Lord Jesus is the entry way in which the Lord comes into the personality and rebuilds it.  The sin that has wrecked so much within begins to be taken from it so that memories and damaged emotions and broken dreams can be worked out by God and replaced with hope and promise and a fresh start.  The root cause of every suicide is Sin, whether it is brought on by the sin we have committed or the sin that has been committed against us or the physical damage caused by sin.  It is always the Sin that must first be addressed when the immediate threat of suicide is pushed back.  By joining with Jesus Christ in faith, there is no limit to how much healing God can do in the broken and aching personality.

When Paul told the jailer that he and his family would be saved if they believed in the Lord Jesus, it was not a quick fix panacea but rather what each person in his home needed to be made right.  The blood of Jesus Christ is a healing balm that goes deep into the heart of those who receive it and it works into every place of hurt and sorrow and fear and despair and makes life come fully alive at each point.  Paul did not call for the jailer to become Christian; he called for him to be saved.  What every person considering suicide needs is not a new religion but a new life that brings salvation.  The Cross of Christ puts peace and hope and even love into the human heart.   To put it another way, it makes the humanity of the person right.  We know this is the case with the jailer because of what happened next.  He never would have reacted as he did if the Cross of Christ had not worked its way in him and made him new in observable and hidden ways.

When our Lord takes hold of the one who is broken and hopeless, a miraculous transformation occurs that manifests itself in a dramatic way.  We see it demonstrated by the jailer.  Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.  At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.  The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God — he and his whole family. (Acts 16:32-34 NIV)  Suicide is the cocooning of the soul so that it becomes withdrawn and self-absorbed and with nothing to lean upon but its own sorrow and brokenness its only way out is death.  All it can find within is sin and the damage caused by sin and in despair it finds nothing but self-annihilation as a solution to its pain.  When healing begins to take place, the soul looks outward and finds a whole world to love and embrace.  The jailer in this case saw Paul and Silas and the wounds they had and so he washed them and bandaged them and even that wasn’t enough to fill his longing to love and bring comfort and so he brought them to his house and made dinner for them.  Eventually, if the despair of a suicidal heart is to be taken away, the movement must shift to an outward extension brought on by love.  The jailer was drawn to the pain his new friends had and did what he could to take away their pain.  This was not a small deed he performed; it was almost supernatural in scope.  No jailer who wants to survive a Roman inquiry and court would take prisoners home and feed them.  Yet his love now could not be bound by the risk he felt expressing it because he no longer was absorbed with his own problems but now free to love the world God had given him

There are two verses worth memorizing and claiming as promises for all those who are broken by despair.  The first is Matthew 11: 28. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (NIV)  Never forget that Christ really does bring rest and comfort to those who come to Him.  The second is Psalm 33: 20.  We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. (NIV)  We do not come to those who are hopeless and wanting to destroy themselves with empty hands and feeble alternatives.  We come with a Savior who is strong and able to save.  We come with hope that is not just trite verbiage but real hope that makes life good and filled with joy.  We come with God, our help and shield...the help and shield of every single hurting person we know. 

The Worthiness of Jesus...Heart

Psalm 73: 26 NIV

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

What Is In Your Heart?

This past week our family on the 4^th of July went to the fireworks program put on by the city of Milpitas.  It was not a huge extravaganza but it was fun and a great way to end the holiday.  There is a football field that is used for seating that is first-come, first-served.  I got there early to get a spot for my family but was disappointed to discover that because we did not get our tickets in advance, I would have to wait in line for an hour to get our passes.  My knee had been bothering me a lot and so standing in line was not an ideal way for me to spend the afternoon.  Finally I was able to get my ticket and pick out a spot for our mat and then I began the long wait for my family to arrive.  Because I didn’t have a cell phone and there were lots of people crowding onto the field, I had to be vigilant for my family’s arrival.  Rather than relax and read a book, I was constantly scanning about to see if I could spot them.  Family after family arrived with their coolers, their cold drinks and their dinners.  Kids played with their parents, adults talked together and laughed and told stories and I sat by myself waiting…waiting…waiting.  Finally, two and a half hours later, my family arrived and because I hadn’t eaten much lunch, no breakfast and had been sitting out for so long in the warm sun, I was both famished and thirsty.  But when they arrived, all that was brought for me were chips!  Chips?  Others had barbecue, sandwiches and boxed dinners from restaurants and I was handed some chips.  Not only was I disappointed that I had to sit by myself for so long, I was bent out of shape by the lack of good food and drinks.  Now we would generally speak of my anger and frustration as cause related.  I was tired, perhaps feeling lonely and definitely thirsty and hungry.  The Bible however would describe it as a heart issue.

Have you ever gotten angry or depressed over something that others might call “no big deal”?  Perhaps you lost your cool over someone cutting you off on the road or a friend’s or co-worker’s insult.  Maybe you were so frustrated by your wife or your husband that you would not talk to him or her all evening.  Have you ever hurt someone’s feelings because she reminds you of someone that treated you badly in the past?  Do you let yourself get depressed when things don’t go as you planned?  Have you fallen for someone that didn’t really like you because you were lonely and desperate to be loved?  Do emotions ever spring up within you that don’t seem justified?  Are you surprised by how badly you react to circumstances that later don’t seem so bad?

There is much about us that we can’t give a rational explanation.  It makes for good TV to make some people out to be like robots but none of us are.  We are complicated and the root of nearly all of our senseless reactions is found in what the Bible calls “the heart”.  Our modern view of the heart is different than how the Bible uses the term “heart”.  Just a few passages from the Psalms will illustrate this.  No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth. (Psalm 58:2 NIV) If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; (Psalm 66:18 NIV) Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12 NIV) My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. (Psalm 131:1 NIV) Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. (Psalm 139:23 NIV)

When the Bible talks about the heart, it is referring to what we commonly speak of as the mind.  But it really is more than just the mind, the heart as the Bible uses the term, is the very core of our personality, who we are and what we shall be forever as people. Within our heart we process our experiences, decide what we will do or not do, settle on our relationship with God and take in from God His attributes and spiritual gifts.  Joy comes to the heart as does sorrow and wisdom.  The heart is bigger than our minds can comprehend and within the heart is far more than we realize.  The body may die but the heart continues to live for it is who we are eternally.

The Bible speaks of the heart of Jesus a few times.  Christ says of Himself, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29 NIV)  This revelation of Jesus that He is gentle and humble in heart should make us pause and consider exactly the ramifications for us.  The God who created the universe is gentle and humble in heart.  He does not lord over us His power and although this world is tough and often full of pain, He is gentle.  We must always take this into account when we think of God and what we face.  His heart is gentle.  His heart is humble.  We also need to acknowledge that the heart of Jesus is compassionate.  In the small town of Nain as Jesus was walking and teaching, he noticed a funeral procession.  A widow’s only son had died and a large crowd was mourning with her.  Gazing at the poor widow, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." (Luke 7:13 NIV)  Jesus then walked over to the casket and raised the son from the dead and restored him to his mom.  Later on, during the week that Jesus was betrayed, He admitted that His heart was in turmoil over what He faced at the end of the week.  "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save me from this hour'?  No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.  Father, glorify your name!" (John 12:27 NIV)

There is one more characteristic of Jesus’ heart that is critical to note. His heart is without sin.  There is not a hint of corruption to it, cruelty, bitterness, worry, or hatred for people.  He is called in the Bible a high priest who understands all the pain and sorrow we face and realizes in His heart how difficult it is to do what is right.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15-16 NIV)  In contrast, our hearts are thoroughly warped and distorted by sin and they generate all sorts of shocking behaviors.  Jesus, who understood human psychology better than anyone ever, has asserted, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matthew 15:19 NIV) We like to insist that we would never do certain bad things others do and have done yet in this vast ocean of human personality called the heart is all that is needed for murder, slander, sexual immorality and theft to immerge.  There is a depth of evil in our hearts we cannot calculate but God knows exactly what is there.  As the prophet Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord put it, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV)The misperception of many is that the heart is basically good but that is not the case.  Our Lord says it is tremendously wicked and warped and there is a monumental amount of evil each heart, yours and mine, can produce.

Although we are clear on how Jesus forgave our sins by dying on the Cross, the overlooked aspect of what Jesus Christ accomplished at the Cross is His work to recreate us so that we can live happily without sin.  Perhaps the most profound couple of statements ever made on the psychology of the human condition brought about through the death of Christ on the Cross are found in Romans 5.  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:1-5 NIV)

Peace with God is not possible given the condition of our hearts.  We are irrational and uncontrollable with the heart each of us has.  Hatred and worry and lust and selfishness are always possible with us.  But something rarely ever discussed occurred when Jesus Christ died for us and in faith we gained God’s grace.  Part of that grace, perhaps the biggest part of that grace is not just that our sins are forgiven but that God has made it possible for us to have good and holy hearts.  How can that happen given what Christ has said about our hearts?  The miracle of the Cross also includes the amazing decision to pour into our hearts God’s own love.  The Holy Spirit does this and it changes the entire composition of our hearts.  They now have God’s love working out of them the corruption of Sin and making them good…good at the level of God’s goodness.  Another English translation says that God has “shed abroad” His love into our hearts which essentially means He floods our hearts with His own love, washing them of all the filth of collected Sin and hurt.  The Holy Spirit makes our hearts able to empower righteous and moral and loving actions that could not happen with God’s love not there.

Your heart though will be at war and you will never be at peace with God as part of it unless you give up your right to govern yourself.  The most miserable people in the world are those whose hearts are a battle ground between Sin and the love of God.    As soon as you let Christ take charge of your life, your heart will be at peace.  Jesus put it this way, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” (John 14:1 NIV)  A simple practice can make the peace of God a reality for you.  When lust pops up, say to the Lord, “I trust you with this lust.”  When anger boils within, say, “Lord, I trust you with this anger.”  When it is jealousy, “Lord I trust you with this jealousy.”  You are feeling sorry for yourself, “Lord I trust you with my disappointment.”  You feel bitter about mistreatment, “Lord, I trust you with my hurt feelings.”  The happiest and most contented people in the world can be Christians if we let our Lord have control of our hearts by trusting Him with our lives.

Disoriented to be Reoriented

There is a moment when God breaks through into our cluttered minds and it generally is at those times of tremendous tumult.  We have realized just have far blown our sin is and it is crashing upon our heads.  Repentance is one of the great themes of the Bible and something Jesus talked about repeatedly.  We may feel badly about what we have done or more often embarrassed by our public disgraces but that is not the same thing as repentance.  When the Holy Spirit reveals our badness in a matter; it is never to make us throw up our hands in despair, it is always to bring us to radical change.  There are countless numbers of hand wringers in the world; those who wish they had acted differently and it doesn't take the least bit of God for that.  But to prefer holiness over the life of the world requires the supernatural work of the atonement of Christ.  When our Savior gathers Himself in us through His Cross, He begins to live at the edges of our lives.  We forgive, show mercy, are kind, reject all forms of sexual immorality, love sacrificially, walk humbly.  This is impossible if Christ is not blending His life with ours so that we act upon the impulses of God rather than our previous lusts and sin marred concerns.  One look at the Sermon on the Mount and we despair of ever really living the truly Christian lifestyle but with Christ in us, we can do it.  We can accept the insults of those who turn on us and not reply in kind.  We can look away when our eye is intrigued by a forbidden attraction.  We can hold our tongue when we want so badly to defend ourselves.  We can befriend the enemies of God and give sacrificially to those who don't deserve our worst, let alone our best.  Nothing is quite so discombobulating as the realization that God really does live in you and He wants to work His way out of you in your common behaviors.  It is then as you give Him free access that you discover that you actually are supernaturally remade by Christ into a new Creation, one built for holiness in everyday thoughts and activities.

You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.   Leviticus 20:26 NIV