An Analogy on a Sunday Morning

Thank the Lord for analogies! I think so much in allegory, that if God didn't speak in analogies I don't think I would be able to understand most of what He says. That said, I want to share with you an analogy I thought about this morning.

I love ballet, but ballet is hard work. Being able to dance for me, means at least two hours, (if I don't have more time to devote than that) every day, six days a week, strengthening and stretching muscles, and even training myself to breathe differently.

Sometimes I don't like it very much. Recently I told my teacher about this subconscious trick I had taught myself, where every time I finished an excercise, I told myself, "Oh sweet, I get a little break!" When I got a water break, when it was time to stretch, when I had a moment to listen to correction, all of these came as exciting things because they were all "little breaks."

My teacher, a little amused and very confused asked, "If you get through the entire class by telling yourself that you are having a break...why do you even put yourself through it?"

It did seem a little odd, when I thought about it that way. The truth though, was that I love ballet. Sometimes I go through periods of time when I don't like it very much, but I know that these times pass. When I don't feel like exerting myself, it is discipline, as a result of passion, that keeps me working at it, and when I come to remember why I loved it, I am better able to do it because I kept going in spite of myself.

To jump topics just for a minute, the weather here in southern Ontario has been pretty awful since yesterday, and this morning our church service was actually cancelled.

I slept in, had a nice relaxed morning, but then I was thinking about what to do with my day, and the idea that I could just spend it with Jesus wouldn't leave my mind.

The problem was... Spending the day with Jesus is awesome, but it does take work. It takes discipline. Because it means reading the bible and actively thinking about what you've read. It means praying, even if you don't feel like He is listening, or if you can't keep your attention focused. It means when you feel like you should move onto something else because you've been "spending time with Jesus," for a while already, not moving on. It means staying. "Abiding in the Vine," if you will, even when you feel like you're being pulled off of it.

I just didn't know if I was ready for that kind of work.

I'm just going to take a moment to say, I am so glad I don't have a reputation to uphold! Sometimes I don't want to be honest about the things that I think because I look like a bad Christian, but isn't it a relief that we are all bad Christians? That the status "Christian," actually is NOT dependant on us, but 100% dependant on God? I don't have to be fake with Jesus, because for my failures He was willing to die, which means I don't have to be fake with you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Anyway, so as I struggled with that this morning, my sister came downstairs with her laptop, ready to watch the livestream of our church service, which the pastor and his family did from their living room.

Thank the Lord also for sisters! Here's the thing. (I know I'm all over the place today, forgive me) God did such a good job in creating community. He really knew what He meant when He said it was not good for Adam to be alone, it is not good for any of us to be alone, as we find out very quickly when we are.

Left to my own devices this morning, I probably would be watching Youtube videos and/or sleeping right now, but I was not. Just the sheer accountability of having my sister there, willing to enter into the spirit of worship and submission to God's authority with me, made me enter in as well.

I wrestled a little bit more with thoughts of what to spend time on after the video, and found myself saying, "I don't feel like working at it, I don't feel like a good disciple, I don't feel..."

And suddenly I remembered that when I don't feel like dancing, I go to the barre and I push through. When I am having an off day and I feel like I've lost progress, I push through. Sometimes I give myself some grace, I recognize that it's an off day, but I also recognize that effort must be put in if off days are going to produce better days.

It's the same principle in my spiritual life. It's an off day. That doesn't mean I don't have to work. The work may not seem to produce anything today, but it certainly won't produce anything tomorrow if I don't do it.

If you're in a similar boat today then I hope you join me as I plan to read, I plan to pray, and I plan to accept without reservation the grace that God gives me for the struggle.

For Your Name's Sake

I didn't have a new epiphany this week, but I did remember an old one!

Truth: God is holy, and cannot tolerate sin.

Truth: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Truth: God loves His children and dwells with them.

How can those three things be reconciled?

Christ COMPLETELY paid for our sins when He died. There is nothing we can do that will overcome what He did, He said it's finished. Paid in FULL.

Sometimes though, we think that we can somehow go too far. That at a certain point, God's patience and mercy MUST run out.

At least I do.

I tend to think that every time I sin, I must first ask for forgiveness and THEN Christ's sacrifice will have paid for it, but at a certain point, He must want to stop extending the sacrifice out.

Of course we must ask for forgiveness, but if you were to get struck by lightning a moment after you sinned, and didn't have time to confess, what then? Is Christ's sacrifice not great enough to overcome that?

Of course it is. We're back to the simple gospel, it is not about what you do, it's about what He has done.

Sorry, rabbit trailing a bit here.

Anyway, basically, if this is true, that when you sin you are guilty until He forgives you again, (which according to my logic, He may or may not do) then one of the above Truths must be false.

If sin stays on us (if we are guilty) until God forgives it, then either He can tolerate sin, and is not truly holy, (Truth 1 is a lie) we haven't actually sinned, (Truth 2 is a lie) or He cannot dwell with us. (Truth 3 is a lie.)

But those three statements are all true, and we know that the reason they are true is because of Christ's sacrifice, which again, paid for our sin in full. 

So this idea that we are still sinful after we have believed in Him and His sacrifice for us is wrong.

This is the verse which made this come alive again in my mind yesterday:

Help us, O God of our salvation, For the glory of Your name; And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, For Your name’s sake! (Psalms 79:9)

I'll add some emphasis so you can sort of see what I was thinking as I read this.

Help us, O God of our salvation, (Why?) For the glory of Your name; And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, (Why?) For Your name’s sake! (Psalms 79:9)

We think that God couldn't possibly forgive us any more, because we have really pushed our limits.

But it really isn't all about us. He forgives us because He loves us, so in that sense it is, but why does He love us?

Because of who we are, or because of who He is?

For God to love us beyond all reason says more about Him than it does us, it shows how loving He is, it shows who He is. 

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (I John 4:8)

God says throughout the scriptures that He wants to be known, and in showing us love, He is showing us and those around us who He is.

No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

Psalm 79:9 says that to help us, deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, it will actually glorify His name! It will show everyone how great He is, that He would love that far.

I wrote in my notebook about this,

"To say that He can't love us because of something we did is to make ourselves stronger than God. It is partially for His sake that we should ask for deliverance, because if we love Him, we should desire His good reputation."

It is not that God needs us, or that somehow we can make or break His reputation, but when we allow Him to shower us with grace and forgiveness, we are not only accepting blessing, but allowing others through us to see the majesty of our Lord, which is also helping Him accomplish His greater purpose, because He wants to be known by men.

What is Truth?

My church's Young Adults Group has just started doing the Truth Project.

I'm not going to talk about the series, as we are only one video in, but I want to talk about something that was brought up last week, which has been on my heart for a while.

What has happened to simplicity?

I know that God is vast and beyond our comprehension. He is intelligent and creative and thus, there are endless opportunities for the mind to explore in His creation, and even just in His character.

I love this. I am the kind of person who likes mysteries and enjoys puzzles. I have grown up listening to my dad talk theology, and learning how to debate.

But one thing that my mother has modeled for me over the years is how simple faith really is.

Looking at her and the family she grew up in sometimes makes me wish for a simpler faith. One that prays for income, works, and thanks God for the increase. 

Again, I love the complex side of God, but I have started to think that just maybe, in our day and age, we have overcomplicated things.

The reason I bring this up is because our pastor's wife asked at the meeting last week, "What is truth?"

The question was to get us to think, and that it did, but I confess my first thought and feeling was to be very frustrated that we must ask that question at all.

The theory of relativism, of "Your truth, my truth, his truth," is an idea that is very widely accepted in the secular world.

I did GAP last year, (the Genocide Awareness Project, a week of pro life activism) and talked to a TON of university students who held this worldview.

What concerned me the most was when some of them identified themselves as Christians.

I can understand unbelievers holding that. The argument doesn't hold up well, but I understand why they can think that.

Christians CANNOT.

Here we go again, overcomplicating things. As a Christian, you must believe what the bible says. What does the bible say about truth?

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (John 17:17)

For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. (II Corinthians 13:8)

God's word is truth. What He has said, what He has made, what He has put into order. That's not up for debate. We can't even do anything against truth, because if we do something, it becomes a part of what God has already set in place. You tripped? You laughed? That's true. Nothing you say or do will ever change that truth.

Truth is simple. We do ourselves a disservice if we make it anything but.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

Where is the freedom in relative truth? You can never know, you can never be sure. The very ground you stand on may dissolve beneath you because you can't trust the truth that it will last.

Truth is a gift, and we get to have it.

Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge, That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, That you may answer words of truth To those who send to you? (Proverbs 22:20, 21)

If there was no truth, you could never learn it, it would be like a bird constantly flying just out of your reach.

Truth is lasting. Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life." What does this even mean if the truth is negotiable?

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. (Psalms 100:5)

To answer the question....truth is what we thought it was before we started talking about relativity.

These days, I think a five year old child would be better at answering that question than a 25 year old.

We urge children to "tell the truth," yet that can be argued in university.

Why do we argue? Why did we lose the simplicity in the first place? I think because we know if we must conform to the truth, we must change the way we are.

We have turned "every one to his own way." We are not creatures of truth, we sin, and we know that if we face the One who knows the truth, He will see the lies we have told others and ourselves to justify the breaking of His law.

But somehow, God intended to keep us WITHOUT ignoring the truth about us.

This verse expresses it beautifully.

Show us Your mercy, Lord, And grant us Your salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak, For He will speak peace To His people and to His saints; But let them not turn back to folly. Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed. (Psalms 85:7-10)