My Best Friend

Someone once told me that I was either a genius or autistic. When I take the tests, add ADHD to that. As a child, I was home and mostly without peers for several years, so not socialized. My parents were told I would die before 15-16 so they didn’t teach me to live. Add to that thirty relocations, many too short to get to know people, and many involving being far from those I did know. This is not a pity party but an explanation why my thinking seems out of place in a social setting. Some look at me as if I am the white elephant in the room. Those who understand become dear friends, few in number but deeply appreciated.

Then there is Jesus. Of all the people I know, He is the closest, the most understanding, the one who sticks by me and explains life to me. Theologically, He is my righteousness and advocate as the following verses say:

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. (Hebrews 9:24)
This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:22–25)
God saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. (2 Timothy 1:9)

Add to that that He endures. Often others get to know me and then ignore me. Jesus never does that. He is “the Lord, my righteousness.” and has “redeemed me from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for me” and for my sake was made sin even though He never sinned, so I could become righteous. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Not only that, I am secure — He will lose no one that the Father has given Him. All this is good reason to trust Him, but even more, I know Him as my best friend. He said:

You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:14–15)

Being close to Jesus, as most Christians know, means constant change. He works all things to transform us into His image. My husband says, “The closer I am to God, the closer I am to you.” This is true; being like Jesus is unifying, another reason He is so precious. He brings me through life experiences by using them for His plan for me. Not only that, He relates to my situations. He knows what it feels like to be misunderstood, ignored, dismissed, and rejected, even by His own people. He also knows the joy of unity with those who do understand, accept, and spend time with Him. He pulls together diversity without making clones or brain-washing to make us think alike, or be like puppets.

PRAY: Jesus, these are some of the reasons that I love You and that You are my Friend. It is Your doing all this, not what I am. You give me hope along with the reality of being like You as my eyes and heart focus on You — without much concern over what I’ve missed or the vacancies experienced. You fill the empty places. You, my incredible Lord and Savior — and Friend. Oh how I love You.

The “words” of truth

My hubby will testify that the use of the right word is important to me. If he or anyone else uses words that mean something other than they are trying to say, I am usually confused and sometimes  annoyed.  
Today’s reading uses one word in a definition of the Christian life that misses what that word means in English dictionaries and in NT Greek. It alerted me to how an assumption about a word meaning can justify an unbiblical doctrine.

The word is “acceptable” used as an adjective and then the author says its opposite is “rejected” but that is another error. For “acceptable” the English dictionary gives antonyms like “inadequate, insufficient, lacking, unsuitable, wrong” but not everyone rejects (a verb) whatever they find unacceptable. They might correct it, or rebuke it, or fix what is wrong. This applies to God also.

Saying that God rejects whatever is unacceptable is not part of the gospel. All of us fall short so if it means that, all of us would be rejected. Instead, it is correct to say that without grace, all people reject Him (see Romans 3:10-18). Even though God finds our sinful attitudes and actions unacceptable, according to His plan of redemption, He does not condemn everyone to hell nor toss His children who sin out of His family. Instead, He works to correct our sinful attitudes and actions and transform us into the image of His Son. He always seeks the lost and redemption and changed lives are His plan…

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. (John 15:16–17)

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:20)

As the book of James brings out, bearing fruit is evidence that I AM SAVED, not the means by which I please God, but the result of His saving work. In other words, to be saved is to be fruitful, and to be fruitful shows I am saved, no matter the size of the crop! My lifestyle and my new nature in Christ is evidence of His plan being fulfilled.

So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. (Romans 14:16–19)

If I “walk in the flesh” this means I’ve disobeyed Him. My behavior became unacceptable but this does not mean He rejects me. He keeps working, desiring that I confess, repent, and experience His grace:

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)

Further, it is even folly to think that I can please God or make Him sad. He is complete in Himself and needs nothing from me. I’m the one in need of change and care and His love. He desires the best for me, and works in my life to that end. When I disobey, I am hurting myself and that is unacceptable because it does not do the good He desires. That is to say, my sins do not change God — He is the same yesterday, today and forever, but my sins hurt me and others. He does not need me to be joyful. He is that in Himself.

Today’s reading says, “No matter how good our outward appearance, how clear our doctrines, or how great our activities, unless we bear fruit we cannot be acceptable to God.” Yet the Bible is clear; He will never forsake His children. I am His forever and all my sins are covered. My life is hid in Christ and He is my righteousness. If salvations depended on me, it would not happen.

Those who do not believe cannot bear spiritual fruit for the Holy Spirit is not in them and they are lost. God desires all to be saved and bear fruit — but without the Holy Spirit, I cannot do it. Yet because He lives in me, He will produce fruit acceptable to His plan.

PRAY: Jesus, I’m not enjoying the challenges of the current devotional book, but realize that clarifying what ALL the Bible teaches is good for me. Keep my heart right as I try to clear the fog from many statements that contradict Your Word and that confuse me and threaten others into the error of trying to be perfected by the flesh after becoming Your children through the saving grace of Your Spirit. I trust You to save me and to keep me for I know I cannot do either one myself.   

No Pretense

Last night’s dream was profound. In it, another person put together a massive truth that helped me understand many things that have happened in my life that at the time made little sense. It was an explanation of intimacy, connecting it to being open and transparent, a person without layers that hide who they are. Perhaps the dream was prompted by wallpaper on my computer yesterday with this verse:

. . . For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

In the dream, I heard that everyone seeks intimacy. If it is not present with parents, then the child seeks it with others, never finding it because most people project an image that is not who they really are and do it for fear they will be rejected. This desire to be fully known and also fully accepted is so strong that it drastically affects behavior and relationships.

Part of what I realized from this dream was how I am drawn to transparent people because of my own desire for intimacy. It cannot happen when I am layered up or other people cover their true selves with whatever they think is acceptable. While extremes get labeled as hypocrisy, even the ‘nicer’ labels ruin that closeness that all people desire.

We recently attended an NA meeting and were blessed with the sense of ‘no condemnation’ as those addicted or fighting addiction to narcotics told their stories. The love and closeness in that room was astonishing. It made me think of the opposite that I’ve seen in congregations who hear all the time  ‘unless you live right, you are not pleasing God’ and all the rules about living right. In those places, the sense of being loved and safe is missing. 

This does not mean that Jesus died while we were yet sinners, as the NT says, and simply leaves us that way. Like the Twelve-Step program of AA, NA and others like them, the goal is to be free from whatever enslaves us. That freedom is becoming a new person, and for that, God is enough. Self-effort does not cut it. Our efforts fall short. I need to think as the psalmist writes:

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah (Psalm 62:5–8)

PRAY: Oh Lord, forgive me for the times I’ve sought intimacy and called it something else, and for the times that I’ve look to my own devices or to other people to meet that need. You and You alone are able to satisfy the deepest desires of my heart — including the desire to be fully known and loved no matter what being fully known might uncover or reveal. This also is the heart of Christian fellowship. Help me to be transparent with others. It might shock some, or embarrass them, or drive them away, but at this time in my life, I’m realizing the opposite. Not only am I drawn to those without layers, but many seem to appreciate and are encouraged when I refuse to hide behind them. Enable me to be who I am — as You help me become more like You.

Accepted but not acceptable

 

 

So often I think how wonderful that the love of God ACCEPTED me just as I am, yet He loves me too much to leave me that way! In other words, I cannot take for granted that I can do whatever I please and God will accept those activities.

The first example in Scripture is when Adam and Eve when against God’s command to stay away from a certain tree. By doing what they wanted, sin entered the world and has ruled human hearts since then. Sin is not acceptable.

The next instance is when Cain brought his offering, it was not ‘regarded’ by God and God said to him, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

The issue is that those who believe what God says will do what He asks. Cain didn’t. His acceptance was based on ‘I will bring what I want to bring’ not on ‘Yes, Lord, I will bring what You told us to bring.’ At this, God told him that he needed to conquer that sinful attitude.

The OT agrees with the NT that being acceptable to God is about faith followed by action, not so-called good deeds done apart from faith. That is, sin is about doing my thing rather than what God says. James 4:17 says it succinctly: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”  

The OT says many times that offerings must be according to those described by the Lord. His people were never given options to atone for their sin nor could they give anything less than perfect unblemished animals. Even so, it is a marvel that God accepted such offerings and forgave sins; idol worshipers did similar things. However, faith makes the difference. Pagans fear their idols, never knowing if their gods were pleased or accepted those offerings, but the people of God had His Word that their faith to obey was acceptable. If faith was not there and obedience fell short, Malachi 1:13 says:

“But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.

They knew this was true. The psalmists said, “The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer” and “Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules.”

The writer of Proverbs also said, “Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance” and “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him” and “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”

The prophets said of disobedience, “Thus says the Lord concerning this people: “They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the Lord does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins” and “She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord; she does not draw near to her God.”

The NT speaks of how to be accepted, first by faith in God (everything apart from faith is sin) and faith is expressed in yielding to Him and being transformed:

Romans 12:1-2. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 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.”

This transformation shows up in attitude that motivates actions, not simply rules kept:

Romans 14:17–18. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. God accepted Job’s prayer for his ‘friends’ because they had “not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” Having a right view of God comes from knowing what He says about Himself. I must continue to read and study His Word. Also, God welcomes all who put their faith in Him, weak or strong. I’m not to pass judgment on anyone for what they do because “God has welcomed him” (Romans 14:3). God accepts and blesses a humble and contrite heart that readily confesses sin and selfishness. Keeping my eyes on Him and His glory is important lest I stumble and fall into pride and doing things my way.