God is not a genie in a bottle

    When others questioned who Jesus was, He gave the simple answer “I am” using the same name as Moses heard when he asked the name of God who was speaking to him from the burning bush. This name became so sacred to His OT people that they eventually refused to say it and in most Scripture it is translated as LORD.

    Some have the idea that “I am” is an unfinished sentence that can be used like a blank check, filling in whatever is needed from God in their moment of need. Even though God loves us to come to Him when we have needs, it is not correct to use “I am” as an unfinished sentence. Again, Jesus is referring to His existence, about the fact that He is always who He is, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

    Some use this ‘blank check’ idea to say that Christians can feel as if our hearts are “full of our own wretched ‘I am’ thoughts about ourselves and make statements such as: “I am so weak,” “I am so foolish,” “I am so good for nothing,” or “I am so helpless” – all causing great discomfort in our spiritual lives because we are ignoring the “blank check of God’s magnificent ‘I Am’ that authorizes us to draw on Him for an abundant supply for every need.”

    While it is true that a focus on me and my weaknesses can cripple me, it is important to view that in light of what the Bible says about being weak. Paul experienced something that made him feel weak and unable, and God told him a great truth that many Christians miss:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8–10)

    Helplessness is not my enemy. It is my signal to trust God rather than my own strength. It is the very thing I need to live in the power of God, and He does not take away that weakness. Instead, He wants me to be content with it and to obey Him even as I feel unable to do it. This is the glory and power of God.

    And “I am” is not a blank check. It is the name of God when HE identified Himself in the OT and Jesus used to do the same. It speaks of His eternal personal nature and self-sufficiency. He does not have to go outside of Himself for anything because He is self-existent and unchangeable. “I am” is also a reminder that the God I serve is all that and more,  a term of worship far beyond a phrase to use when I want something or want something fixed to suit me.

    PRAY: Jesus, You are the great I Am, and You do promise to meet my needs, to be all that I need. However, this name is not about me or my needs. It is about You and all that You are. It is about the wonder of You and should put me on my face before You, trusting You totally rather than assuming that in Your great name You should let me fill in the blanks and get what I think I need. While this difference is challenging to explain, there is a difference implied. As God said to Moses, this name implies how I need to think of it: “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)

Seeing Jesus – Seeing what needs to change

 

This vacation and observations of my attitude while away from home show the importance of understanding what is coming from the Holy Spirit and what is a demand of the flesh. If I use the lists of sinful attitudes in Scripture, I can easily make excuses for selfish behavior. Most of them a horrid things that I’d never do.

This reminds me of the five-year-old in a discussion of sin. She said, “But I’ve never murdered anyone” and to her thinking, she was not a sinner. If we rate sin that way, excuses come easily.

One clue to the subtlety of sin is in the words of the OT prophet: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) This describes sin as turning to my own way rather than living in God’s way. This means if something looks good, even though it is selfishly motivated and for my own glory, it can be justified or excused. I could think that only the really bad actions are sin.

Yesterday I felt like leaving this place and going home to my Christian friends who sin at times but it is not their lifestyle. But the Lord reminded me that He did not do that. He came to this sin-soaked planet to save the lost. I’m in this place to be like Jesus and not do my own thing – including running away from what is difficult or unpleasant.
However, it is not just knowing myself and my sinfulness. This is only discovered by knowing what the Lord Jesus Christ is like and willingly let His Spirit make a comparison to show me His intentions and His goal for me.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:1–3)

God is my Father and I am His child – an infant really. When I ‘grow up’ I will be like His Son, perfected when I see Him, but in process while here and while God uses all things to work in me that likeness. I’m to see Jesus as clearly as I can, and that is the work of the Holy Spirit who reveals Him to me...

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

It is in beholding Jesus that I see what I am not, but also how He changes me. Instead of wanting to run to my comfort zone yesterday, He showed me Himself and it became easier to “eat and drink” with those who don’t know Him. This is why I am here.

PRAY: Jesus, Your Word and Your people give me a vision of what I am not, and what I need to confess so You can forgive and cleanse me (1 John 1:9). I know I bear “the image of the man of dust” but will “also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49) and am thankful to be alert to both the old that needs to be changed, and the new that is my destiny – all because of Your incredible grace!

Being like Jesus

 

This vacation is making me consider what it was like for Jesus to come from a perfect heaven into a world of sinners. How did He feel? What did He do?

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:10–13)

I cannot imagine Jesus thinking this was so uncomfortable that He wanted to go back to heaven. Instead, he ate with them, spent time with them. He didn’t retreat into someplace more comfortable or avoid the company of those self-centered people. The Bible does not tell us much about their conversations other than the teaching that Jesus gave them and that a few responded to trust and follow Him.

We find ourselves with those who are more interested in the eating and drinking than any conversation about God or spiritual matters. However, I can imagine Jesus asking questions and listening to what people said rather than condemning them. Later He said:

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” (
Matthew 11:19)

That last line speaks to me. Being wise is not avoiding the challenging situation of being surrounded by me-first attitudes. Instead, wisdom would put first whatever those sinners want to talk about and give wise responses showing an understanding of their needs. I need His wisdom to think and act – like Him.

PRAY: Jesus, I’ve no idea what the day will present or interaction with others will involve, so ask You for wisdom and the fullness of Your Spirit that I might be like You as You involved Yourself with those who seemed only interested in doing their own thing.

The Great Physician knows how to cure me...

Slept well but woke up in a bad mood. I don’t like marble floors, opulent surroundings, rich food, heat and humidity, and a vacation filled with things to do. I just want to sit in the shade and read a book, or go for a long walk on the beach and enjoy a breeze and the shore birds. All about me and my I wants. Selfish and annoyed with all the selfish people around me. Go away. A deserted island would be ideal.

Today’s reading was no help. It was written for those who have no clue about the meaning of faith. I know what it means, so I went to my library and found this:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10–11)

This command from Jesus immediately restored my sense of why I am here. It is not to self-indulge but to serve Him by serving others, and glorify Him – even if others ignore me, or disregard anything I do or say on His behalf.

Another devotional speaks too, one that describes the difference between hypocrites and sincere souls. It says:

Sincere have learned to have a holy lack of confidence in themselves, also in their own self-examination. Therefore they ask the Lord to try them, as the psalmist did: “Search me, O God, and know my heart!… And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24) And God hears their prayer and points now to one, now to another thing in their lives which is contrary to the will of God. The result is sorrow, distress, and shame. And the soul’s hunger and thirst for grace is kept alive, yes, experiences a normal growth. Faith fights the good fight and keeps healthy and sound. The cross becomes a place of refuge.

How true. Just a few lines turned me from my desires for this vacation to yielding to Christ.

PRAY: Jesus, You are well aware of the rest I need and how best to give it to me. And it does not come from being contrary to You. That only makes me more tired and frustrated. Thank You for a speedy diagnosis and an even speedier change in my thinking and in my desires of what I’m to do while here in this place.

Actually, the opposite of faith is not feelings...

Today’s reading offers a simplified version of what happens when someone is saved and then has doubts about their relationship with God:

“In the divine order God gives us first the fact of His salvation; then we believe these facts; and as a consequence, we have the feelings suitable to the facts believed. But we reverse this order and say, “I must have the feeling first, and then I can believe in that feeling, and thus I will get hold of the facts.” Of course this is absurd; but it is a very common temptation and is the cause of most of the pitiful uncertainty and doubt that characterizes so much of Christian experience.”

While this could be the explanation for some people, there are other reasons that it happens besides someone wanting their experience to “feel” right. Galatians offers them, making no mention of feelings.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:6–10)

Clearly the Christians addressed in this letter were fed false teaching and listened to it. The last two lines indicated that those who taught it were people-pleasers, or their listeners were because they wanted to please those who fed them lies. There is no mention of feelings here, only that human desire to be popular, or too polite to say NO to the lies.

Paul, who wrote Galatians, goes on to repeat the truth and to remind his readers that salvation is a done deal in Christ. They cannot add to it by their own efforts. This indicates the problem that caused their foolishness – pride in their own abilities. “I can do this myself” does not come just from the lips of impetulent children. It clings to me like a leech, sucking the very life of Christ from my mind and drawing me into an array of self-improvement programs that do not work. Paul knew their problem from personal experience, as I do:

For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Galatians 2:18–21)

This is not about feelings either. Rebuilding my life around that which is dead to that old way of life is simply thinking that I know better how to live than Christ who now lives in me. Duh. This is a slap in the face of God, a sin to confess rather than a feeling to ignore.

Paul ends with the same thoughts that he started in this letter, asking the Galatians to take a good look at who led them astray and from what they were putting aside:

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? (Galatians 3:1–6)

PRAY: Jesus, You gave me the ability to hear and know Your voice. That alone is reason to pay attention to who and what I am listening to – my old nature? My desires and own ideas? The lies of Satan? The lies of false teachers? I know that ‘feelings’ can also mess me up, but there is more evidence in Your Word for being led astray by the opposite of facts which is lies. I’m very thankful to know the You, the Truth and the freedom You give.

Faith -- for salvation and for all of life

Today's reading is confusing in that it speaks of Christians who live without faith. This needs clarifying. First, no one can be a Christian without faith. However, the NT letter to the church at Galatia describes those who believed in Christ and were saved, then fell into the notion that they had to live their Christian life in their own strength and their own efforts. Faith in Christ includes faith for all of life, but they thought they had to do something to earn God's grace. This letter addressed this concern in several ways. The first calls them to consider where this idea came from and how evil it is:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:6–10)

Next, Galatians presents the true gospel. Salvation is by faith in Christ, never in ourselves or anything we do, no matter what it is, or who it is:

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15–16)

Then these believers who were trying to live by works were plainly told they had been duped into thinking their perfection came by self-effort. How could they think that would work. If self-effort could not get them saved, how could self-effort change their lives?

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:1–14)

The reading for today did not distinguish between people trying to perfect their lives by works and people who try to get saved by their works. The former happens to some Christians, but the latter cannot be called "Christian" for they never trusted the Lord for anything. I cannot 'try to act like a Christian' if I am not one. Not only that, once Christ saved me, He keeps me in His care and changes my life. My faith may falter and I might fail to act like what I am, but that cannot change what Christ has already done, nor does it change the reality that I belong to Him.

PRAY: Jesus, my assurance is in You. Always. If I put it in myself, I'm walking in the flesh and forgotten what You have done and are doing for me. You are my Savior; I am not. You are enough.

 

 

October 11 posted October 12

 

Today was a total scramble. I spent time with the Lord, then rushed to fill my SUV and take a load of boxes to our new house and unload it. From there, home again to be there for a friend who came to help with the heavy stuff. I grabbed a bite to eat, directed traffic from house to vehicles, then back to the new house to do the same. And unload. Then home again to reload more and back to the new house to unload it.

After that, hubby wanted to return some unused purchases but realized the receipts were at our first home. When we got there and headed to the store, he remembered the items for return were not in my vehicle, but at our new place in his vehicle. So we picked them up, after grabbing a hasty lunch. One item to one store, the other two to another store. Then we had to go back to the new house for a reason I cannot remember, return to our house to have a nap, which didn't happen, then loaded up two coolers to empty the freezer part of our fridge and take it to the freezer in the new house, left there by the former owner.

Home again. Somewhere in all that, I thought I posted my devotions for Friday , but this morning (Saturday) realized it didn't happen. The taxi was soon arriving to take us to the airport. I remembered to shut off both computers and grab my laptop and computer glasses. However, I also checked and realized I'd not posted devotions for the 11th. So I transferred them to a flash drive to do it at the airport... rushed up to grab suitcase and carry-on, jumped in the taxi, and halfway to the airport realized I forgot the flash drive.

Despite all that, I did think about what God showed me in the morning and it helped -- realizing that emotions, both negative and positive, are rooted in what I am thinking. If I'm relying on my own strength, it shows up in my thoughts and emotions.

PRAY: Lord, these days are easy to produce scrambled thoughts. We are vacationing in the middle of a move. Sheer craziness, but tired bodies and minds may well need a rest! Thanks for You and that I can write about yesterday with amusement instead of feeling messed up. More later...