How do you want God to treat you?

Luke 6:37-38 CEV

Jesus said: Don't judge others, and God won't judge you. Don't be hard on others, and God won't be hard on you. Forgive others, and God will forgive you. If you give to others, you will be given a full amount in return. It will be packed down, shaken together, and spilling over into your lap. The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.

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The good news of the day of that God will forgive you!

And oh boy do you need a heap of forgiveness. I've heard it said that every time you point the finger you've got three pointing back at yourself.

Who are we to judge others harshly? Who are we to draw the line and assume grace and mercy have run thier course.

I can tell you that when you face the Almighty God you'll hope that he is more merciful than you.

Thankfully God is more merciful. Thankfully Jesus trays his enemies like family and loves them.
Thankfully the Holy Spirit lives in the heart of a believer and all the selfish, hateful pride we have doesn't drive him away.

We are covered by the righteous of Jesus.

Mere people

HEB 13:5-6 NLT

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”

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Is it possible you've made people into giants in your imagination? Has your envy grown others out of proportion?
The situation is that you look to others for your self worth. You feel insecure. You want what others have. You imagine the possession of things makes you valuable.
The accumulation of things does not give you value. We make this mistake when we say of the wealthy, "He's worth a million dollars!" A person may have at their disposal a vast amount of money and resources but this adds nothing to thier value.
Our value does not come from our wealth.

Nothing

When nothing means everything to me!

Rest

“Jesus calls us to his rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.”

― A.W. Tozer, Pursuit of God

Look no further!

Only Jesus can give you rest. Deep soul rest, understanding of the world's pain rest, contentment in suffering rest, purpose in failure rest, birth to death rest, only comes from Jesus.

Been stabbed in the back? Been lied about? Been majorly crushed by disappointment? Been dumped? Been passed over, let go, overwhelmed, pushed to the limit? Jesus has too! He understands.

More importantly, he, as your maker, can do something for you none else can. He can give your soul rest, he can share your burden.

Just do it!

Hebrews 5:11-14 NLT

There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

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Am I spiritually dull? Do I fail to listen?  Do I have spiritual insight and teaching to offer others?

What are the marks of maturity in the Christian life? Aren't they clear here in Hebrews 5? The author explains it is knowing how to do what is right. Knowing how to do right didn't come easily. A person must train. This is the real spiritual discipline.

Some time ago I had developed a rather nice routine of cycling and swimming. The skills did not come quickly. It required a daily attempt to do what at first seemed a simple task. Well,  as easy as riding a bicycle. And swimming, according to my knowledgeable swim coach, was a simple set of steps to a smooth stroke. But in each case I had to practise. I had to break down the steps and make sure nearly every day I was thinking about and practising them. Stay straight in the pool to create a minimum of drag or keep my body streamlined. It was the same on the bicycle and both with a steady cadence or rhythm.

You might know what's right but do you have the repetition to keep doing it while fatigue sets in? The person who has suffered the pain of discipline can make it look easy but knows that it is actually only really because of practice and discipline.

Do you actually know what is right to do? Often in sport it is a subtle personal change in motion or attitude and thought process that adds the miles or shaves the minutes. But for these gains to become repeatable, expected, teachable, reproducible, daily actions we have to humble ourselves to make slight but important changes. We have to study the right way. Some athletes and coaches spend hours watching the best in video, and often in slow motion, trying to figure out what makes the best so good. Then they try to reproduce it.
Shouldn't the Christian look to Jesus and his word everyday? Shouldn't we study the nuances of his righteous life? Shouldn't we practise repeatedly? Shouldn't we ask spiritual coaches to point out our flaws and the areas where we can improve?

Are you training to do right? Do you really know the difference? Is your spiritual life poetry in motion because of the pain and discipline of practice? A righteous life doesn't come from thinking you know it all or from sitting on your back side assuming you can do it right. Train in righteous! Just do it!

While on the bus

I've tried writing a few notes while riding the bus to language school in the morning. I have been using my Kindle Keyboard. When I got home I synced it to the web and copied the notes here.

1 John 3

19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.

Note: true that

20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

Note: God is greater than our feelings of guilt. we can know confidence before God. we are not held hostage by our feelings. And what is the sign of this relationship of acceptance? Isn't the fact that we can freely ask whatever we want. When we are free from guilt when we feel acceptance then we can freely ask God for whatever we want. We know because we love him that we will ask for things that will please him. 

1 John 4

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

Note: Loving others and loving God is the full expression of God's love. We don't need some deeper experience. The love of God and his love for others is the pinnacle, the ultimate. There is no deeper experience. We are not lacking in any releam of spiritual understanding, wisdom or knowledge if we have love. Love for God and love for others is the ultimate in spiritual, human, and church life, nothing can top it. When your heart swells with unconditional love for your enemies you are experiencing all that God has to offer. 

Kerk en School

1 John 5

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ* has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.

And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 

Note: It is belief in the Son that makes a member of the family of God. And thus it is family status that causes us to love our Christian brother and sisters. Since we are loved by the Father and since we love the Son (we do not really believe if have no love for the son.) it is natural that we also will love the our brothers and sisters. And since we were loved by God when were enemies we also will love our enemies. 

3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 

Note: We have the author of life indwelling us. How could we think his way was burdensome? He gives us all we need and more. He fills us with hope and joy. We who walk in his ways are able to break free of sin and death we have hope and he possibility to do right. This is not a weight or restriction this is life itself. His way is the way of righteousness. To walk on his ways is to walk the path of light. No more stumbling in the dark. No more bearing the burden of guilt we who keep his commands are free. So lets not think of his rule as a restriction, rather we see his way as the way of lightness; We see his commands as the path of abundance, provision and light. We who follow his commands become complete and live as we were intended. It is like discovering that proper way to use a chain saw is to turn the motor on after spending a life time trying to cut with it with out turning it on. It's like finding the motor car has motor so you don't have to push it everywhere.

10 All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son. 11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

18 We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.

Note: What does it mean that evil can not touch them?

21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.*

Note: This warning is profound. We have the greatest treasure possible in knowing Jesus so why would we allow our hearts to be filled with something inferior? Why would we allow ourselves to be deceived?

Mind the Gap

So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. Hebrews 2:1

Daarom moeten wij al onze aandacht richten op wat we gehoord hebben, dan zullen we niet uit de koers raken. (Hebrews 2:1)

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Every single day we have to believe the truth again. This is not to earn favour with God. Nor is it because God isn't capable of saving us. Jesus' work on the cross is enough. The gift is complete. Nothing needs to be added or topped up. Yet we stray. We forget.

We jump to attention when sin calls us to action as if we are still under Sin's command. We are free, but we have developed a habit of obeying sin rather than God. We are easily deceived and we need to regularly remind our hearts of the truth. Jesus must be our focus. Jesus must captivate our hearts. 

Do you have a daily spiritual check list? When life gets difficult do you have a truth list you tell yourself?
Here are some of the items on my check list:

• God is good!
• God loves me.
• God is in control.
• Nothing happens by chance and nothing is out of God's control.
• God knows best. ( God knows better than me!)
• Jesus died for me.
• Jesus loves my enemies. 
• Jesus forgives all my sin, past present and future.
• I need to do nothing to earn God's favour.
• I am not a slave to sin; Jesus has set me free.
• Jesus rose from the dead to give me an abundant life. 
• An abundant life does not consist of things!
• Jesus will meet my needs, not leave me alone, cares for my soul and has shown me the way in his Word and will guide me through the church and the Holy Spirit speaking truth from His Word.
• To follow Jesus requires suffering and persecution.

(and more depending on what my heart must hear.)

What is your list?

Can you find some of the truths I tell my self in Hebrews Chapter 2?

Why not have a look for yourself.
http://bible.com/116/heb.2.1.nlt

Eating with your enemies.

U nodigt mij aan tafel voor het oog van de vijand, u zalft mijn hoofd met olie, mijn beker vloeit over.

The author, David says, "You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings." (Psalm 23:5 NLT)

For years I read that to mean my enemies watched me get blessed by God. They stood at a distance or watched from hell, while I had a feast. 

I think I was very wrong all these years.

I think David means the enemy is at the table with me. 

Think about it. Jesus ate with his enemies all the time. Both the obvious enemies like the Pharisees and may the less obvious like Judas or even Peter (Peter at least spoke the words of Christ's enemy Satan when he tries to discourage the talk of dying and Jesus says get behind me Satan. Or less obviously, when Peter denies Jesus).

I think this shows us that we will become like Jesus. We will be able to graciously eat with those who seek our demise. We, with God's help, will welcome our enemies to the table. Maybe even it is the idea that God makes our enemies to share their table with us. 

Either way, I do not believe any longer that it is a description of a spoilt children sticking his tongue out at the enemy while tucking into a great feast laid on by God for his favourite child. 

Rather I must see this passage as describing Jesus. And if I am going to be included in this promise I must walk the way that Jesus walks.

So look forward to how God will bring your enemies to the table with you. 

I can think of no greater way for this to happen than for my enemies to become my brothers and to sit at the table with me. Could it be that they come to the table as an enemy and leave a brother?

So can we rejoice and look forward to God both feeding us and bringing peace to us.

Certainties!

Do you understand the plan of God? Have you read the Bible so you know why the law was given? Do you know the promise of God?

I'm convinced that there is a good God who keeps his promises.

Fatalism Revised

1JN 2:1 NLT

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

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Jesus advocacy warms our hearts!

The person who knows Jesus can make real choices. Before we are received into God's family by grace through faith we are slaves to sin, Paul says. We have no choice. Everyone who isn't a believer in Jesus can't help but sin. Sin is their master and they are not free agents. If sin says jump, they must jump. And the deception of sin is powerful. We know nothing else. What is sin? Sin is disobedience to God. Sin is disbelief in his promises. Sin is an inextricable headlong run toward death. Sin is self destruction. Sin is selfishness. Sin is loveless. Sin takes and destroys. Sin murders when it cannot have what it wants. Sin leads to death.

So sin requires judgement. God is just. He will not allow sin to ruin everything. God will save some from sin. He has set some free. He has released some from the slavery of sin and the fear of death.

But we who are free to choose life, the ones able to obey, may still fall prey to sin. Although we are free from the hideous, cruel master that wants our  destruction and uses us to lash out in rebellion against God, we sometimes still sin. We should hate sin. We should find sin repulsive. We should see past the moment of selfish pleasure and we should loathe the harmful, hateful former master of our torture and destruction. We should feel the sting of being a pawn in the full on assault against life. We should feel the shame of being a treacherous traitor who has deceived the vulnerable and harmed the neediest of this world.

We don't have to sin, but we do. We sin against God. Even more, we sin against Jesus who died for our sin. We add to his suffering.

And what does he do?

He defends us. The Father and the Son must execute justice against our sin. This sin we cling to in many ways is a greater offence, for it is the sin we chose. We were washed, we were saved. We had a choice. We knew better.

And the one we keep hurting the most is the one who defends us.

Jesus stands up for us. He says, I died for them. Jesus is the only one who is right. We are wrong. And yet he makes us right even when we are a traitor.

Choose not to sin! You can. You are not a slave. You are free.

But if you do sin, Jesus defends you, Jesus protects you, Jesus is your advocate. Jesus loves you. He has chosen you to be his. Jesus knows you are a sinner. Jesus knows your heart, your motives, your fears and he knows your selfish heart. Jesus knows your disbelief and your stubborn selfish pride.
And still he defends you, still he protects you from his coming wrath. Jesus sees you sin and try to hide it and, even so, he will treat you as righteous because of his own righteousness.

So stop sinning. You don't have to; you are free.
But if you do sin, repent without fear. Return with no reservation. You are safe. 

Oh sinner, you are safe.

God on your side?

You  don't want God against you.

Wanna fight?

Do you really want to pick a fight with God? Do you want God opposing you?

The idea of adultery here is very old, throughout the Old Testament God compares the actions of God's people to an adulterer. He says in many of places in the Bible that by worshipping false gods and ignoring him and his commands (laws that were given for their own good) they were acting like adulterers. Their actions, thoughts, expenditures, and philosophies made it obvious they were unfaithful in their relationship with God. Their hearts were sleeping around and in fact rarely if ever coming home. They counted on the pay-check of God and raved about the sex they were having with an inflatable doll. That's the heart situation Paul is referring to. I know in effect even I have taken God for granted, dabbled with an affair of self worship and the porn of materialism. All the while God is a faithful lover of my soul. That's what the friendship - enemy thing is about.

Seeing properly.

Do you attempt to see the world through God's glasses?

Only Fooling Yourself

GAL 6:3 NLT

If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

Pillars are people (like you and I), but what about the poor?

GAL 2:6-10 NLT

And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.) Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles. In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do.

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There's no doubt that some people have an important position and are due respect and consideration. Paul went to Jerusalem because he respected the leaders of the church.

The Gospel is true. It is not true because an important person said so. The message of Jesus' identity is true in and of itself. Jesus needs no endorsement. Paul was confident but not cocky.

One of the things that amazes me is the emphasis on the poor.

Here are the leaders of the of the people proclaiming the greatest news mankind well ever hear. These people are responsible for telling the whole world the only information that can save any of humanity. Als to be sure this message is front and centre. The is no mistaking the centrality of the gospel message. And also amazingly they as leaders of different gospel projects agree! The ones doing Jewish mission agree with Paul doing Gentile mission. And after this unity on gospel message centrality the very next thing on the list is THE POOR!

Where are the poor in your list? Can you come to agreement on the cross? Can you join with others in the first priority of the Gospel and then encourage each other to help the poor?

What are you doing for the sake of the Gospel? Who are you partnering with to get the message out?

What are you doing for the poor? How are tot helping the poor?

You'll find the more you search the Bible that Jesus is the central message and he had always had a concern for the poor. You can not say you follow Jesus and ignore the poor! You are not following Jesus if you have not plan to help the poor. No plan for the poor is a denial of Jesus' good news. King Jesus reigns and as a subject of his kingdom you submit to your king by declaring his right of rule in your life and by acting like he would among the poor. Feed them, heal them, defend them.

Carried by the king of Heaven

Heaven is surrounding you, it is both far away and right around you in the air you breath. It is in your heart, but heaven is the place where God lives yet Jesus rules there in his new resurrection body. Heaven is so close the angels wings brush against your face each night as you sleep. Heaven is out of our grasp and yet it is so close we could step into it in an instant. The inhabitants of heaven watch us with focused attention. Heaven guards us.

Heaven carries us in its arms.

Seem familiar?

Do you recognise this description?

Talk can be like cancer!

Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior. This kind of talk spreads like cancer..

2 Timothy 2:16-17a

The gift of Satan

2CO 12:7-10 NLT

even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

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We've all heard it before but why didn't we recognize it for what it says.

God gave Paul an extraordinary vision of heaven. It was so miraculous he's not even allowed to talk about it.

2CO 12:4 NLT

that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.

Seems that Paul has had an off the chart, earth shattering spiritual experience. This is so special that apparently it doesn't put you into a humble contemplative nigh onto vegetative state of near nirvana but rather being given a glimpse into heaven could make you a bit sinful. In fact the whole experience might lead to pride the ole chestnut that kicked it all off I the garden with Eve and her hubby Adam. So here Paul is again a bit like Adam in Paradise and the upshot is that he might get a big head (again).
So what do you do to deal with that?
Send in Satan. Well maybe not actually Satan, but a messenger for him. And what is the role of this gift of Satan's messenger? Torment. And the purpose of the torment is to keep Paul humble to sort of counteract the trip to heaven.

Now this torment thing is no cake walk. It must hurt, for it has been a topic of conversation on a few occasions between God and Paul. And what's the answer? God says,

2CO 12:9 NLT

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

So let me sum up so far.

God gives Paul the opportunity to see paradise and some things that are unspeakable.
This experience makes Paul more prone to pride (sin).
God gives Paul a tormenting messenger from Satan to keep him humble.
Paul finds this rather difficult and repeatedly requests that the torment stop.
God says, his grace is all Paul needs and God's power works best in weakness.

Now we all want God's power to work real good now. So weaknesses should be the order of the day.
God's power doesn't work in your strength.
When was the last time you prayed for torment, torment from Satan no less?
When was the last time you prayed for weakness?

Do you want God's power? Do you want God's power to work real good?

Well.

How about a bit of weakness anyone?

You not only should want the grace of God, but in fact you desperately need the grace of God.

To get more grace, to get  God's power you need weakness.

Hope this made you rethink, visions, grace, suffering, power and strength.

It did me.

Now then, I thought I was done but this little revelation about Paul's torment made me ask a few fundamental questions.

Snakes in the garden kind of questions. And for that matter Satan in the wilderness tempting Jesus because God led him there questions. And lest we forget, Jesus praying three times for the cup of torment on the cross to be removed too might fit into this group of questions.

See God, from Adam to Jesus and even through to Paul (possibly aka us), put people in a position to really really need him. Knock out all the props so that there is no where else to turn seems to be the plan. This isn't an oddity, an aberration, or a one off.

And we are talking God here, so it's not like it's negotiable, or even up for discussion. I mean, like Jesus and Paul, you can raise your concern, but in the end it is going to be there staring you in the face day after day. You can protest, fight, ignore or give in. But in the end you only have one option to submit now, or submit later.

So what's it going to be?