Category: mercy

Humpty Dumpty Was an Optimist

 

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

Romans 5:1-2

 

Our smashing deliverance over our darkness is something God decided on, not us.  Because of our feeble faith, and our meager trust is transformed into a state of peace.  Our struggling faith elevates us.  Often it is really pathetic, malformed, ugly, and oh, so small.  But Jesus has been working “behind the scenes.”  He  delights in escorting us, His adopted brothers and sisters, into victory, with a Savior’s pride.  Trust me, there is no way we deserve this astonishing salvation, we didn’t earn this honor.  By no means.  Essentially, we are in a shattered heap.

It seems that everything is something, that  He has done for us.  The fact is Jesus far more than adequate.  He has done things that very easily exceed the bare minimum.  We stand, why?  Because He makes us stand.  And to be honest, everything, absolutely everything is something He has done.

If it was up to us, if we tried to make it happen, we would just sizzle out, and collapse in the darkness.  We are totally lost.  So many times, I’ve really tried.  But my darkness truly dissolves any hope that I might have.  I’m not only lost, I’m irrevocably lost.  I have lied, cheated and hoped it would not matter.  I am a colossal loser.   A pile of brokenness.  Why would His Son die, and than give me an  inheritance to take on His righteousness? ( The Bible can be “bizarre” sometimes.)

There is nothing I can bring.  I am much, much more evil than good.  I bring nothing but being a complete moral disaster.  I am a failure beyond any human redemption.  I have completely given up any sort of chance for personal salvation.

What does Jesus do with “losers” like me?  I will tell you what He does.  He redeems us.  He goes to the “slave market” and buys us, on the spot, right off the block!  According to Romans, through our stumbling faith we are simply given that which we could barely hope for.  Our meager faith gives us a billion and billions dollars of righteousness.  We transition from a devastating poverty to being Bill Gates’ heir.

The shock of this will take a lifetime to absorb.  We will try to adapt.  We have moved from a pathetic state of slavery, to being a child to the richest king of the entire universe.  It’s most unreal, like winning the Illinois lottery multiplied by a 1000.

Romans speaks of a new found confidence and joyousness that should come to those lifted out of the slave pit.  Our faith in what Jesus did for us brings us into this incredibly magnificent state.  The Book of Malachi describes the joy that calves of kicking up their hoofs on their release from the stall.  The imagery makes a direct connection to us who have been released from the darkness.

Simply put, He has done something for us that is beyond a dream.  The Parable of the Prodigal Son has now been “switched on.”  It illuminates us fully and describes every person on this planet.  We look at the parable and those 320 words take us apart, and then returns to instill life to us. This parable teaches every human being, of life’s realities.  He has done everything, and we have done nothing.  He now runs to us, and He will change us completely.

Umbilical Cord Christianity

 

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave me strength, because he trusted me and gave me this work of serving him. In the past I spoke against Christ and persecuted him and did all kinds of things to hurt him. But God showed me mercy, because I did not know what I was doing. I did not believe.”

1 Timothy 1:12-13, NCV

 

Coming out and thanking God is a critical way we can grow.  Paul thanks God out loud.  He has in mind, through a modern metaphor, God as a power plant, providing him with everything he needs.  He is now being energized by God, and this infusion enables us to do some amazing things that others consider quite exceptional.  (Handling this piece of understanding is critical to fitting into the Kingdom.)

Umbilical cord Christianity is the way Paul seems to view his walk and ministry.  He seems himself connected with the Holy Spirit which transforms him and his work.  Without this deeply vital connection, Paul becomes open to all kinds of evil and atrocity.  It’s fascinating, but we actively expand darkness if we are not attached.  We will end up doing all kinds of evil.  There are many who can’t see this truth.

In these verses we find another issue–that of forgiveness of self.  Paul had an ugly past.  He had once been an effective tool in the evil one’s hands.  On a logical level, this should taint him completely and irrevocably.  Paul was marked to be a wicked presence in the early Church.  Everyone knew him and braced themselves against his personal darkness.  They all thought that Paul was completely evil.

But in a dramatic moment, Paul is converted to Christ on the Damascus Road.  This is a radical shifting in the early Church.  Paul points to the mercy that God has, and makes it very clear that God has exclusively arranged and administered this miracle.  He points to the Spirit’s work that has intrinsically changed everything.  Paul is now completely altered by the Holy Spirit.

Another vital point; it was Jesus Himself who was hurt, when His children were hurt.  All of Paul’s viciousness and meanness was really directed against God.  We seldom think this way.  We may admit sin, but we will rarely view it as against God directly.  There is an old Yiddish proverb, “If God had a house, people would come and break His windows”.  In my own desperate and personal war against the Almighty, I often strain and strive to strike at His children.

There is an immense mercy and grace for sinners like Saul.  And nothing is irrevocable.  Grace insists on that.  All we can do, is change our mind and our heart (repent).  Then, we must tether ourselves, reviving that umbilical cord, and connect to Him our very lives (sanctification).  The very presence of Jesus will change everything.

 

I have a definite sense that there are things in this teaching which are touching hearts.  I have very few ways to help you.  But I can pray, and hold you up to our Father.  Let me know, ok.