goodness – Page 10 – Broken Believers

When Jesus Becomes Real to Me, by Vance Havner

“He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

John 16:14

We do not make Jesus real by conjuring up a mental picture of Him long ago in Galilee and trying to walk in imagination with Him there. We do not have to go back two thousand years or travel to Palestine to find Jesus. There is a fad for that sort of thing, but so might one inwardly visualize any character of history. Such mental association may, indeed, affect one’s life to some degree, but it is far from the way Christ is made real to the believer.

The Holy Spirit has come for that purpose.

All things spiritual are from God through Christ and are communicated to us by the Spirit. It was expedient that Jesus should go that the Spirit might come. He does not testify of Himself but of Christ, and He makes the Lord real to the heart. It is not a mere mental exercise but the work of the Spirit that enables us to say, “He is real to me.”

—Vance Havner

Life in the Desert, [Grace]

“Lord I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better I’d have come running with a bucket.”

-Nancy Spiegelberg

“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.

Isaiah 55:1-2, ESV

Despair and despondency will often drive us to extremes, we are compelled to find some kind of help– and we’ll take it wherever. But as human beings we seldom exercise any kind of discernment. Rarely do we ever consider to whom, or at what we are looking to. We often just want relief from the pain.

It really seems we are drawing from poisoned wells, but we unable to discern what we will receive. We come with our tin cup, and will stand in line to accept a meager couple of swallows. Experience has taught us not to get our hopes up too high. After all, the next well will probably be dry.

In contrast, the Spirit of God is a cool, and lush oasis. There is an abundance of fresh water for all who find him. Everything is green, and it is a bit overwhelming to us who have struggled so long, with so little. It seems like we’ve been transported to another world.

But this is what God’s grace and love is like. We’ve searched and scavenged for so long. We have become jaded and cynical by our meager success. Disillusioned by all that life has offered us, we can barely look up to this next possibility. It just seems to be to good to be true, and we don’t want to be taken in again. But know this:

Grace is a wonder.
God Himself is the only One who can satisfy you.

His very character is life-giving and refreshing. He constantly gushes up fresh, sweet water. It is there for us, and he assumes that we will draw on it. Some of us take a lot of it, but some who are hesitant to stretch out their battered tin cups. They receive what they think they just might deserve (or somehow get away with.)

The wonder of it is that God considers himself to be the exclusive source of “water that refreshes.” There are some who will ‘point and shout.’ Some claim, “exclusiveness!” They consider all those who come to the real fount, to be manipulated into coming. But that is seldom the case.

God and His grace is unchanged. There are no tickets to punch, and we can’t generate enough of any kind of righteousness that lets us draw from the well. But the well is a gift– not a reward. It is free, and never a reward for good behavior. We all must come to the water, crippled and thirsty, or we will never come at all.

Dear one, rest in this place of refreshment. Drink your fill. Grace is extravagant, and you can fill your belly. Throw away that battered cup, and get a pail. His presence is all our heart is looking for.

Feeding the Dogs, [Choosing Holiness]

scottiedogmagnets — A toy I grew up with, they were magnetized pushing against each other.

There is a story of a Native American elder who once described his own inner struggles to understand the Bible and Christianity.

“Inside of me there are two dogs. One is black, and the other is white. The black dog is mean and tries to talk me into making the wrong choices. The white dog is good and encourages me to make the right choices. The black dog fights the white dog all day.” When asked by the friend which dog wins, the elder reflected for a moment and replied;

“The one I feed the most.”

White Dog: As a believing Christian, there is a part of us that is Christ-spirited, compassionate, trusting, open, abundant and focused on helping others. We pray and are being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Black Dog: The other part is our flesh. We can be proud, evil, self-centered, greedy, manipulative, sullen, promiscuous, drunken, and only wants to he served by others.

“An analogy is made between the good white dog, our new nature in Christ, and the bad black dog, our old fallen nature. While we cannot eliminate the old nature, we can choose to feed the white dog.”

(From “The Holy Spirit: Activating God’s Power in our Life,” by Billy Graham 1978.)

The main key for us to remember is that these two parts are in constant struggle.

Two Scriptures to help: One– “If you use your lives to do the wrong things your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.” Rom. 8:13, NCV

Two– “Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other, so you cannot do just what you please.” Gal. 5:17

In thinking this through this analogy might help. I’m inclined to think that holiness is not so much like an “on and off” switch. But I think it’s more like a “dimmer” switch is turned to brighten or darken a room. I actually think there are times when we should make a deliberate decision for God. And yet other times we just need to turn up the dimmer from 30% to 80%. Maybe all the way?

I’m just thinking out loud here.

The Real Treasures, [Weaknesses]

As Christians often our theology tells us that mental illness, depression, and bipolar disorder have no place in the believer’s life. So we hide, sneaking into our sessions with our therapists, and change the subject to minimize our exposure to direct questions. We have had to hide our issues really well.

But I would submit to you that it is we who are closest to the Kingdom of God. It is far easier for us to approach the Father, in our brokenness, humility, and general lostness. We have needs; a sound mind, a healthy body and we know it. We have no illusions of wellness, nothing can convince us that we are well. We are not.

We are broken and only our loving creator can mend us.

You might say that the Church needs us. An Archbishop was given an ultimatum by the Huns who surrounded his cathedral. “You have 24 hours to bring your wealth to these steps”, the war-leader demanded. The next morning the Archbishop came out leading the poor, the blind, the lame, and the lunatics. “Where is your treasure? Why have you brought out these… people?” The Archbishop simply and quietly replied, “These are the treasures of the Church, these who are weak are our valuables. They make us rich.”

We often can value giftedness more than weakness.

I am afraid the the Western Church no longer sees its “treasures” like it should. In our pride and self-centeredness we have operated our churches like successful businesses. We value giftedness more than weakness. We definitely have no room for the desperately weak. I suppose it’s time for the Church to begin to act like Jesus.

Church isn’t where you meet. Church isn’t a building. Church is what you do. Church should be a verb. Church is who you are. Church is the human outworking of the person of Jesus Christ. Let’s not go to Church, let’s be the Church.