Father God – Broken Believers

Together, for Each Other

“The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion.”

–John Wesley

There isn’t really a place for the individual in our walk of discipleship. This is a most exceptional truth. You might say that our society here in the U.S. is expressed in the ‘Marlboro Man’ who rides alone. “High Noon,” (my favorite Western) is based on a solitary man who stands when other won’t. The message of individualism saturates this movie. Like Gary Cooper, I think I have to face the bad guys alone.

But I think we need to understand that we are connected to other believers. In fact, I believe that the Holy Spirit works quite distinctly in ‘generations.’ Whether we like it or not, each of us is connected to our generation. We are responsible for our own time and place. I’m a child of the Sixties, it’s what makes me tick.

Stellar individuals like Charles Spurgeon and D.L. Moody spoke directly to their generation. They were voices in the late 1800s. They connected to their particular milieu, but were surrounded by many praying believers. Their ministries and sermons, were founded upon the prayers of many saints. Their ministries were an extension of many people. They were surrounded by other believers.

We are connected with others who are also connected. We are organically related and that needs to be understood. It’s funny about that, we are called a “body.” This is a difficult concept for us to understand. But we need to know that you are not so much solitary, but woven into the life of others. The Church is plural and it happens when believers join together.

We need to understand that the Christian life is not solitary.

If this makes you curious, check out the word “together” in New Testament. We can reflect on this, and think out what that really means. Just a few scriptures:

“From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Ephesians 4:16, ESV

“For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I ~~hear~~ that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part.”

1 Corinthians 11:17-19

“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Hebrews 10:24-26,

And there is at least a dozen or so more. The idea– ‘together,’ is only a start, and we need to understand that the Christian life is not solitary. The Father melts our independence, and then molds us with each other to make us into something new.

Whether we like it or not, we are “together.”

I Know He Loves Me (But is that Enough?)

“Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.”

Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible,

I would not forget you! ¹⁶See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.”

Isaiah 49:14-16, NLT

Some of us need to be persuaded of God’s love. We are unconvinced. But Isaiah understands. We grasp the theology, but not the meaning. Our own native ideas keep us in disbelief. Perhaps the greatest liability we have as believers is this doubt that God really feels this way about us. But, He does.

Isaiah claims the impossible, yet grounds himself in what is real. The Father loves us and we’re His very own. Even if we don’t seem as holy as we ought to be. In His out reached hands, we discover scars. This is the price He has purchased us with. We once were blind, and very lost— but now we are His own children and can see.

God may love me. But does He like me?

We are given the impression that He more than ‘loves’ us; He ‘likes’ us. That dear ones, is not a point I’m prepared to support it with scripture, but that isn’t the truth, it doesn’t exist except in my own thinking. I know that He theologically loves me. But to be really honest I sometimes think that God is irritable with me, and He just gets tired of having me around.

But I also must believe God also likes me as well. Surely, there is such a fine line here, between ‘like’ and love. The more I walk with the Lord, and it’s been over 50 years now, the more I love/like Him. I have learned to like Him as much as I love Him. And if God doesn’t like me, I think it actually diminishes His love.

Isaiah speaks for the Lord using tender metaphors. Among the people some had the mindset that God had somehow forgotten them. They thought that they were ‘the lost ones.’

God then uses the analogy of a mother. A nurturing mother. This metaphor is strong and sure. No, God hasn’t forgotten His people. Look at His hands, your name is ‘tattooed’ on them. You’re His, forever. (I hope you like that truth.)

“In math, if you divide an infinite number by any number, no matter how large, you still have an infinite quotient. So Jesus’ love, being infinite, even though it is divided up for every person on earth, is still infinitely poured out on each one of us!”

Charles Spurgeon

Repeat Offenders

“Father, every family has a rascal someone who breaks the rules a juvenile delinquent of untold frustrations and sleepless nights a repeated offender and bearer of sad woe the problem child who needs the most discipline.

Is this why you love me most persistently? When you correct me, is it because I’m the one most contrary?

Or is it that you love me so much?”

I wrote this thinking about Hebrews 12 and God’s purpose of chastening. I don’t pretend to understand this dynamic completely–all I can say is that my childhood was punctuated by much difficulty. But now, as a father (my two children are now grown), fatherhood has become far easier than my dad had with me.

^{7 “}As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? ¹⁰For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how.“

“But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. ¹¹No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”

Hebrews 12:7, 10-11

I really think we understand our Heavenly Father when we spend quality time with Hebrews 12. We are given insight into His care and into our own issues. It is a good thing He gives us— it enriches our spiritual lives.

It’s never nice to be corrected.

It’s not pleasant. Part of being corrected is being reminded that we’re not as righteous as we think we are. To be corrected strikes us to a reprimand, an admonition that something isn’t right inside of us.

The Father corrects His children–in many ways through a myriad of circumstances. He loves us far too much to allow us to continue in our sin. He’s making us into the image of Christ.

We should welcome His correction. He has a plan for you.

When He disciplines you, it only proves that He is your Father. It’s critical to remember: God’s correction is always for our good. It may be painful yes, but it comes with real hope. It’s not to harm or punish you.

“Father, I’m so sorry that I grieve you as often as I do. I promise to behave. Thank you for being a faithful Father who cares deeply for my soul. Amen.”

“Look upon your chastening as God’s chariots sent to carry your soul into the high places of spiritual achievement.”

Hannah Whitall Smith.

Please check-out my other site: alaskabibleteacher.com.

We Need More Towels

washing-feet — There are no shortcuts in discipleship

^“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.”

John 13:3-4, ESV

He was always a servant. Nothing could erode His place or position. The authority had been His Father’s, and it had been given to Him. He carried it as a special burden, treasured and separating Him. Jesus had the freedom to act like the servant. But it didn’t bother or confuse Him, He understood perfectly who He was.

Unlike us.

With the supreme authority given to him, He got down on His knees, and began to wash dirty feet. I can offer no magic or flair to adjust this scene. All He did was to wash off dirt, He cleaned between toes, making filthy feet clean. And all of this ‘as God in human flesh’. This staggered the disciples.

Perhaps a baseball bat on the side of the head would’ve been more preferable.

You see, this was revolutionary, it completely devastated the disciples. They just couldn’t grasp what was happening. Jesus, who was ‘God in flesh’, had decided, in a moment of time, to clean their feet. Outrageous! Not really happening! No way! Never!

Essentially, it buried them. Jesus Christ, as Servant pounded them into the ground. Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs Jesus. Becoming an indentured slave was now the way of Christlikeness. This servanthood was to now guide us to a point of slavery.

Gone are the days of Zebedee when one can ask for a position, on the right or the left. We can ask, most certainly, but we haven’t been the first.

So very many have gone before us. We must become a people who accept and then press into His grace, seeing His supreme beauty, and walk in His presence. Becoming like Jesus, the servant/slave.

Today, the Church needs more towels.

We have got to renounce out ‘need’ for recognition and pick up from the pile the rag of servanthood. We must ‘ask’ our brother/sister if we can “scrub” their feet. We must get on our knees and do the disgusting, (and yet exalting)

We must find a way to clean off their feet. This dear one, is what you’ve been told to do.

“Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.”

Albert Schweitzer

Category: Father God