Changed lives…

I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” And he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name. (Isaiah 63:7–14)

As a new Christian many years ago, my mentor had me do a Bible study on sin. I don’t remember the details of that lengthy study, but realize the wisdom of this assignment. Instead of responding to conviction of sin with honest confession, it made me realize how often I made excuses for it. 

That happens, sometimes with deliberate deception in order to cover it, and sometimes with a sincere belief that whatever was done was okay. These days, I think of a non-Christian who takes great effort to do and say the right things. Another person is a Christian but takes the glory for all his skills to the point of bragging about them. As these things happen, I feel sadness. Both are stressed with their actions and attitude and yet cannot see (or admit) that they are doing the wrong thing by being insincere. 

My role? Pray. One is oblivious to her hypocrisy. The other is hearing rebuke but his pride holds tight to his own power to do good.

Jesus, it has taken me years to see how I’ve done both. My pride in myself has blocked my relationship with You. Once I could see and honestly deal wit it, what a difference. As I’ve told these two, being weak and unable is actually better than thinking I can do it all without You. In feeling and admitting, I rely on You and then discover more love and power than I’d never know otherwise. Your ways and Your will are always a joyful surprise. I’d love to see You in action in the lives of these two people. Right now, both seem oblivious, yet You are God who can reveal truth and change hearts. May they hear You and be transformed.

God’s Part Needed

 

Our part is to trust, and God’s part is to work. His work is to deliver us from the power of sin and make us perfect in every good work to do His will. How does He do that? Like a SciFi movie where I just sit here and He zaps me? No, not like that, yet partly:

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)

This means being before Him, hiding nothing and gazing into His glory. When I see Jesus with the eyes of faith and withholding nothing, His Spirit changes me. This is His indescribable saving power.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

This also means being before Him, yet in a different way. It is reading His Word and as I do, it changes the way I think. It shows me my sin and as I confess it…

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

And with forgiveness and cleansing, my old way of thinking moves out allowing God’s way of thinking to move in, to change me, for it is how a person thinks that determines their personality and actions.

Can I transform myself? Rhetorical question. Of course not. How many times do I set myself with a resolution to start a new habit, or quit doing something that annoys even me, never mind those around me? How many times do I want to be more like Jesus only to find my motivations are self-centered and not at all like His? Of course I cannot do it myself. This is why I need Jesus.

By experience and by the words of God, I’m totally convinced that becoming like Him, being transformed into a Christlike person, is not possible without Christ who has come into my life to do just that, and will do it for all who put themselves totally in His hands and trust Him without reserve.

Obviously the part of a believer is trust and Jesus does the work entrusted to Him, yet even trust is beyond my ability…

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Faith is a gift. It is in my heart, in Christ who lives there, but the world’s skepticism and the devil’s lies, and the old nature with its desire to rule so often gang up on faith and pound it into the ground, leaving me without its focus or its power.
Reviving faith? It comes again by hearing about Jesus, reading about Him, being with other Christians who talk about His goodness, and running to Him with confession when my heart is not right.

PRAY: Lord, these days are filled with details for which I am responsible and that take so much time, added to concerns for my husband whose injury has no cure but time and may never heal, and yet to list them puts my focus on the problems. In order for the joy of the Lord to be my strength (Nehemiah 8:10), that focus needs to be on You. Yet the way my scattered mind works, I’m feeling much stress trying to deal with doing that and also taking care of the needs before me. You are my Savior and Lord — I put all of this in Your hands and ask You to sort it out and save me from all that threatens that faith and the indescribable inner joy that You have given me.

This amazing man who is God . . .

 

 

READ John 9-12

I received flowers on my birthday. How do I describe them? One at a time? The unity of their colors and shape? How they made me feel? Reading John and trying to describe Jesus is that type of challenge. Everything He did was exquisite. Put it all together and His beauty shines brighter than the sun.

He healed a man blind from birth, resulting in faith in Him, but upsetting the Pharisees with both the wonder of what He did and His rebuke about their blindness:

Jesus heard that they had cast (the healed man) out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. (John 9:35–41)

He claimed to be the good Shepherd, again resulting in a division between those who wondered if this was the Messiah and those who said He was demonic and insane. His words further upset the Jews:

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. (John 10:25–31)

He also raised His friend Lazarus from the dead. His sisters believed in Jesus as did others, but the religious leaders were afraid they would lose whatever power they had and “from that day on they made plans to put Him to death.” (John 11:45-53) That plot soon included Lazarus, the evidence of the perceived threat against them.

Later, Mary anointed Jesus and at least one of the disciples thought that was a waste of expensive perfume. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey and people applauded his arrival. Some Greeks were seeking  Him also. Then Jesus announced to His disciples that He must die. They didn’t seem to understand yet some believed He was the Messiah. He told them why He came:

“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (John 12:44–50)

When I read these events and incidents, they add up to the wonder of this Man who is God. He loves and saves all who put their faith in Him, yet His ability to perform signs and wonders is not necessarily the reason they believe. If that were so, everyone who experienced them would believe, but they did not. Some had hard hearts and later softened. Some followed and later abandoned Him. When I wonder why, the answer seems to be “only God” who somehow makes the difference. This too is a mystery. How does faith happen in one and not in another?

I don’t know. I just know that God graciously granted saving faith to me. As I pray for others, I know that this God-man Jesus hears and answers prayer. Because of who He is and His great love for all humanity, I also know He has the power and ability to save anyone.