John Eldredge in, "The Sacred Romance", writes that the Bible uses an ascending scale of metaphors to describe our relationship to God. It is a scale from low to high and shows us increasingly God's value of us.
1. We are the clay; He is the potter. Clay is an inanimate substance. However, in the potter's hand, it can be shaped and molded into whatever instrument the potter desires. God, our creator, also desires to be our shaper and molder. He longs for us to yield to Him to be molded and shaped into the person He knows we can be and desires for us to be.
2. We are the sheep; He is the shepherd. Sheep are a little smarter than clay; not much, but a little. I know this because I'm an agriculturist and have helped raise sheep before. But sheep need a shepherd, a guide if you will, to direct and lead them to safe paths and a good quality life. God desires even longs to lead us as the Good Shepherd.
3. We are the servants; He is the master. Servants are a bit higher than sheep. However, they are still regarded as a possession of the master of the household. God is a great master that is benevolently kind to his servants and is always looking out for their best interests.
4. We are His children; He is our heavenly Father. Children are even better than the previous three metaphors. They belong to the family. They are not objects or livestock to be owned, traded or sold. They are not hired hands or indentured service. They are children with full rights and full love in the Father's household.
5. We are His friend; He is the befriender. Not only has he adopted us into His family and called us His child, He has brazenly and dangerously now given us the privilege of being called His friend. Creator, Sustainer, All-Powerful and All-Knowing. He, the very One who made us and called us according to His purposes, gives us the honorific "friend" and invites us to stroll with Him in the cool of the day, talk, fellowship and enjoy His company as He enjoys ours.
6. We are the beloved; He is the lover. This is the highest level of intimacy and partnership which God beckons to us to enjoy. We are invited to be lovers! As Eldredge says, "The courtship that began with a honeymoon in the garden culminates in the wedding feast of the lamb."
The Apostle John writes in 1 John 4, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us..."
I don't know about you, but I would settle for being clay. However, amazingly, God sees so much more in me...
Selah!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
God the Lover...We the Beloved
I finished reading through the Old Testament and am now into Matthew in my daily devotions. It would be negligent of me not to mention an age-old truth God has once again revealed to me through His OT prophets.
As I read through the prophets, I am struck over and over again how God is the white-hot, even jealous, Lover who unashamedly and unconditionally pursues you and I, the beloved. It's in Isaiah where He says, "...as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." (Isaiah 62:5). It's in Jeremiah where He proclaims, "...I have loved you with an everlasting love..." (Jeremiah 31:3). Hosea's adulterous wife, Gomer, is redeemed by the command of God to Hosea in a picture of how God pursues us even thought we constantly reject Him. And it goes on and on...God loves, we reject, God relentlessly pursues!
What does He see in us? What does He want from us? Doesn't he understand how vile and corrupt and completely unloveable we really are?
John Eldredge says in his book, "The Sacred Romance",...
"The gospel says that we, who are God's beloved, created a cosmic crisis. It says we, too, were stolen from our True Love and that he launched the greatest campaign in the history of the world to get us back. God created us for intimacy with him. When we turned our back on him he promised to come for us. He sent personal messengers; he used beauty and affliction to recapture our hearts. After all else failed, he conceived the most daring of plans. Under the cover of night he stole into the enemy's camp incognito, the Ancient of Days disguised as a newborn...The whole world lay under the power of the evil one and we were held in the dungeons of darkness. God risked it all to rescue us. Why? What...causes him to act the jealous lover, to lay siege both on the kingdom of darkness and on our own idolatries...not to annihilate, but to win us once again for himself?...what does he want from us?...What he is after is us!"
I stand amazed in the presence of the great love of God for me. I cannot fathom why, but I celebrate that He is the Lover of my soul and, unbelievably, I am am His beloved!
Henri Nouwen says that the gospel in a few words is this: "You are the beloved of God."
Solomon said it this way: "My lover is mine and I am his..." (Song of Songs 2:16)
Utterly amazing!
As I read through the prophets, I am struck over and over again how God is the white-hot, even jealous, Lover who unashamedly and unconditionally pursues you and I, the beloved. It's in Isaiah where He says, "...as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." (Isaiah 62:5). It's in Jeremiah where He proclaims, "...I have loved you with an everlasting love..." (Jeremiah 31:3). Hosea's adulterous wife, Gomer, is redeemed by the command of God to Hosea in a picture of how God pursues us even thought we constantly reject Him. And it goes on and on...God loves, we reject, God relentlessly pursues!
What does He see in us? What does He want from us? Doesn't he understand how vile and corrupt and completely unloveable we really are?
John Eldredge says in his book, "The Sacred Romance",...
"The gospel says that we, who are God's beloved, created a cosmic crisis. It says we, too, were stolen from our True Love and that he launched the greatest campaign in the history of the world to get us back. God created us for intimacy with him. When we turned our back on him he promised to come for us. He sent personal messengers; he used beauty and affliction to recapture our hearts. After all else failed, he conceived the most daring of plans. Under the cover of night he stole into the enemy's camp incognito, the Ancient of Days disguised as a newborn...The whole world lay under the power of the evil one and we were held in the dungeons of darkness. God risked it all to rescue us. Why? What...causes him to act the jealous lover, to lay siege both on the kingdom of darkness and on our own idolatries...not to annihilate, but to win us once again for himself?...what does he want from us?...What he is after is us!"
I stand amazed in the presence of the great love of God for me. I cannot fathom why, but I celebrate that He is the Lover of my soul and, unbelievably, I am am His beloved!
Henri Nouwen says that the gospel in a few words is this: "You are the beloved of God."
Solomon said it this way: "My lover is mine and I am his..." (Song of Songs 2:16)
Utterly amazing!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
What are you doing this Easter?
(Luke 23:55-56) "The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph (of Arimathea) and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment."
A friend named Keith shared this passage with me a few years ago. He told me how often he had read this passage yet overlooked this simple statement...
"But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment."
I cannot think of a more pivotal few days in the history of the world. Jesus, the one being followed as the Messiah by a growing handful of rag-tag believers, has been put to death. Not just any death. Death on a cross. Death that is only benefitting a common criminal or an enemy of the state. Death that causes and intentionally inflicts severe and cruel punishment on the unfortunate soul undergoing its ordeal.
But this was no criminal, no petty thief that was being crucified. It was, if He was who He claimed to be, the one and only Son of God the Father. He was the Lamb and the Lion. He was the Chosen One who takes away the sins of the world. The Only One who would and could ever claim to be without sin. And yet, here He was, being crucified alongside sinners.
A King and Creator, dying on a cross, awaiting burial and then, evidently unforseen by His followers, a glorious resurrection. We all know and cherish the story. But what happens here in the in-between time is what baffles yet excites me.
As Jesus was taken down from the cross, a man from Arimathea, a follower, asked for Jesus' body. He took it and wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a newly prepared tomb. There was no time for a proper burial. It was "Preparation Day" and the Sabbath was about to begin. So all the followers left Jesus in the tomb, partially prepared yet temporarily left and awaiting a proper burial. They even prepared the necessary spices and perfumes but, "they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment."
In our age of hustle, bustle and screaming noise, it may be that God is calling you and me this Easter to a place of rest, a Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. I think that my tasks and my life is so important that I cannot slow down. I am deceiving myself. If the followers of Jesus could rest on the Sabbath while the Lord of all creation awaited a proper burial, I am fooling myself to believe that my work is more important than honoring God and His appointed Sabbath.
My prayer for you (and me) this Easter season is that amidst the Easter eggs, new clothes, Sunday worship, and intolerable scramble of panting feverishness, that all of us would stop to rest, reflect and to honor God's Sabbath...
Happy Easter, everyone!
A friend named Keith shared this passage with me a few years ago. He told me how often he had read this passage yet overlooked this simple statement...
"But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment."
I cannot think of a more pivotal few days in the history of the world. Jesus, the one being followed as the Messiah by a growing handful of rag-tag believers, has been put to death. Not just any death. Death on a cross. Death that is only benefitting a common criminal or an enemy of the state. Death that causes and intentionally inflicts severe and cruel punishment on the unfortunate soul undergoing its ordeal.
But this was no criminal, no petty thief that was being crucified. It was, if He was who He claimed to be, the one and only Son of God the Father. He was the Lamb and the Lion. He was the Chosen One who takes away the sins of the world. The Only One who would and could ever claim to be without sin. And yet, here He was, being crucified alongside sinners.
A King and Creator, dying on a cross, awaiting burial and then, evidently unforseen by His followers, a glorious resurrection. We all know and cherish the story. But what happens here in the in-between time is what baffles yet excites me.
As Jesus was taken down from the cross, a man from Arimathea, a follower, asked for Jesus' body. He took it and wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a newly prepared tomb. There was no time for a proper burial. It was "Preparation Day" and the Sabbath was about to begin. So all the followers left Jesus in the tomb, partially prepared yet temporarily left and awaiting a proper burial. They even prepared the necessary spices and perfumes but, "they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment."
In our age of hustle, bustle and screaming noise, it may be that God is calling you and me this Easter to a place of rest, a Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. I think that my tasks and my life is so important that I cannot slow down. I am deceiving myself. If the followers of Jesus could rest on the Sabbath while the Lord of all creation awaited a proper burial, I am fooling myself to believe that my work is more important than honoring God and His appointed Sabbath.
My prayer for you (and me) this Easter season is that amidst the Easter eggs, new clothes, Sunday worship, and intolerable scramble of panting feverishness, that all of us would stop to rest, reflect and to honor God's Sabbath...
Happy Easter, everyone!
Friday, April 22, 2011
"It would have been better if the tsunami had come at night..."
(This story was related to me by a Japanese pastor who had just returned from the earthquake and tsunami impacted areas. He wept as he told me – through an interpreter – what he had heard from this one grandmother. I tried to capture the story's message accurately.)
"It would have been better if the tsunami had come in the night…"
A 71-year old grandmother shared she was so tired that she could not go on. She related her story about fleeing for her life as the tsunami approached their home. She was able to run to higher ground with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter who were at home with her at the time.
As they fled to some nearby hills and turned around, they watched the debris filled water swallow up their community and their home. The water reached up to the third story of buildings in their small town. They watched as the water engulfed everything in the lower lying areas, as far as they could see.
Then she began thinking about other family members. Where was her husband of so many years? Where was the son that was the family wage earner?
As the weeks have passed, she has dealt with living in government shelters, freezing cold weather, and a lack of basic supplies for daily living. She and her daughter and grand-daughter have moved back into the shell of her destroyed home and trying to put their lives back together. They are resigned to the fact that they will never see their lost family members again. It is hard knowing that there are no bodies for them to bury or even to say prayers over.
Understandably, she is tired. She is tired physically. She is tired emotionally. She is tired spiritually…
It would have been better if the tsunami had come at night, she told the pastor. That way, we would all have been dead and not suffering like this.
Please pray that the people of Japan would find the hope and peace of Jesus in the midst of their incredible suffering. Pray that they would find the comfort of the Great Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And pray that God will make Himself known in this nation even through this terrible disaster event.
"It would have been better if the tsunami had come in the night…"
A 71-year old grandmother shared she was so tired that she could not go on. She related her story about fleeing for her life as the tsunami approached their home. She was able to run to higher ground with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter who were at home with her at the time.
As they fled to some nearby hills and turned around, they watched the debris filled water swallow up their community and their home. The water reached up to the third story of buildings in their small town. They watched as the water engulfed everything in the lower lying areas, as far as they could see.
Then she began thinking about other family members. Where was her husband of so many years? Where was the son that was the family wage earner?
As the weeks have passed, she has dealt with living in government shelters, freezing cold weather, and a lack of basic supplies for daily living. She and her daughter and grand-daughter have moved back into the shell of her destroyed home and trying to put their lives back together. They are resigned to the fact that they will never see their lost family members again. It is hard knowing that there are no bodies for them to bury or even to say prayers over.
Understandably, she is tired. She is tired physically. She is tired emotionally. She is tired spiritually…
It would have been better if the tsunami had come at night, she told the pastor. That way, we would all have been dead and not suffering like this.
Please pray that the people of Japan would find the hope and peace of Jesus in the midst of their incredible suffering. Pray that they would find the comfort of the Great Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And pray that God will make Himself known in this nation even through this terrible disaster event.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Three Common Sins of Israel...
I have made it a habit over the past many years to read through the Bible at least two times per year. It is a part of my spiritual discipline and daily devotions. It at times is dry (mainly because of my heart, not God's Word) but at other times, God speaks truth and I am most fortunate to hear.
The other day, as I was working my way through Isaiah, Jeremiah and now into Ezekiel, a thought occurred to me. It seems that there are three things that keep coming up regarding Israel and her sin: rejecting God's Law, idolatry, and breaking the Sabbath. Then the thought came that these are really measuring sticks of how much Israel loved or did not love their Creator God.
If we love God with all our heart, mind and strength, He gives us the desire to follow His Law, His way (image) and to honor Him in all we do and say (such as honoring Him on His Sabbath). Interesting enough, the desire for these things (to follow God) actually comes from Him and we cannot have that desire unless God gives it.
Moreover, the love and desire that God gives us for Himself and that which should grow as we grow in Him, has external manifestations and consequences. In other words, each of the prophets mentioned above talk about how Israel has strayed from God (idolatry, breaking His Law, not keeping the Sabbath) and what that means to relationships to their fellow Israelites and to the nations as a whole. Ezekiel says, "You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!" (Ezekiel 16:32). And thus the result was that, "(you) were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; (you) did not help the poor and needy. (You) were haughty and did detestable things before me..." (Ezekiel 16:49)
This is the very thing that Jesus was saying in the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:34-39). The summary of the Law and Prophets? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...Love your neighbor as yourself."
When we sin, we sin against God. When we sin against God, it has great implications for our fellow believers and for our neighbors as well. We cannot be lulled into thinking that our sins only affect us. There are consequences personally for our sins but also corporately. I guess the statement is that none of us sin in a vacuum.
Praise be to God that He has established this great love/trust relationship with us through His Son Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross.
Praise be to God that even after I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I still sin, He still loves me, seeks me and draws me to Himself.
Praise be to God however far my sins take me from Him and from perfect community with His body, He is always standing at the gate, looking for the lost and wandering child such as I to come home.
As Ezekiel says, "The soul who sins is the one who will die." (Ezekiel 18:20) "But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die." (Ezekiel 18:21)
I don't know about you, but I choose life in God...
Selah!
The other day, as I was working my way through Isaiah, Jeremiah and now into Ezekiel, a thought occurred to me. It seems that there are three things that keep coming up regarding Israel and her sin: rejecting God's Law, idolatry, and breaking the Sabbath. Then the thought came that these are really measuring sticks of how much Israel loved or did not love their Creator God.
If we love God with all our heart, mind and strength, He gives us the desire to follow His Law, His way (image) and to honor Him in all we do and say (such as honoring Him on His Sabbath). Interesting enough, the desire for these things (to follow God) actually comes from Him and we cannot have that desire unless God gives it.
Moreover, the love and desire that God gives us for Himself and that which should grow as we grow in Him, has external manifestations and consequences. In other words, each of the prophets mentioned above talk about how Israel has strayed from God (idolatry, breaking His Law, not keeping the Sabbath) and what that means to relationships to their fellow Israelites and to the nations as a whole. Ezekiel says, "You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!" (Ezekiel 16:32). And thus the result was that, "(you) were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; (you) did not help the poor and needy. (You) were haughty and did detestable things before me..." (Ezekiel 16:49)
This is the very thing that Jesus was saying in the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:34-39). The summary of the Law and Prophets? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...Love your neighbor as yourself."
When we sin, we sin against God. When we sin against God, it has great implications for our fellow believers and for our neighbors as well. We cannot be lulled into thinking that our sins only affect us. There are consequences personally for our sins but also corporately. I guess the statement is that none of us sin in a vacuum.
Praise be to God that He has established this great love/trust relationship with us through His Son Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross.
Praise be to God that even after I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I still sin, He still loves me, seeks me and draws me to Himself.
Praise be to God however far my sins take me from Him and from perfect community with His body, He is always standing at the gate, looking for the lost and wandering child such as I to come home.
As Ezekiel says, "The soul who sins is the one who will die." (Ezekiel 18:20) "But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die." (Ezekiel 18:21)
I don't know about you, but I choose life in God...
Selah!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Here and Now and There and Then...
I read a quote by Thomas Kelly recently that said, "Men nowadays take time more seriously than eternity."
The quote was from the book, "A Testament of Devotion" and under his chapter regarding the church and social concern. I thought this odd in that Kelly seems to be indicating that the more we become God-focused and thus eternity focused, the more we become concerned about our world.
Growing up Southern Baptist, I found it easier to be heavenly minded when thinking spiritual thoughts and truths. It seemed to me that we were always preaching and being taught that the best was yet to come. And that this life here on earth was at its best an ordeal to tolerated until we could get to our final reward which of course was heaven.
What I have since learned in my maturing faith (and still am in a steep learning curve) is that our inward life with Christ does not reduce our concern for the world but rather spurs us on towards and more truly whole and righteous burden for the world that God created and all that is therein.
The deeper we go into God, the deeper we go into the paradox of what the early church fathers called 'contemptus mundi' - turning away from earthly attachments and ambitions - to 'amor mundi' - a divine but painful concern for the world. It is not that we become more detached from the world the more spiritual we become but rather the opposite. The more we become "in God" through Jesus Christ, the more we begin to see, have concern for and love the world through God's eyes. And this is a terrible and painful yet wonderful (all at the same time) burden.
It's like John Coffey ("Like the drink, but not spelled the same") in the movie, "The Green Mile." We begin to see the world as it really is: beautiful yet dark; wonderful yet painful; filled with joy yet filled with evil. And we yearn and are even tired down to our bones with the anticipation of one day, God setting everything in place like He planned from before the beginning of time. Yet in the in-between time, we find ourselves - called to turn away from the world but still be concerned and join God in His great redemption process of bringing His world back to Himself.
Ours is not an easy journey. But then the way of the cross is never easy, is it?
Blessings...
The quote was from the book, "A Testament of Devotion" and under his chapter regarding the church and social concern. I thought this odd in that Kelly seems to be indicating that the more we become God-focused and thus eternity focused, the more we become concerned about our world.
Growing up Southern Baptist, I found it easier to be heavenly minded when thinking spiritual thoughts and truths. It seemed to me that we were always preaching and being taught that the best was yet to come. And that this life here on earth was at its best an ordeal to tolerated until we could get to our final reward which of course was heaven.
What I have since learned in my maturing faith (and still am in a steep learning curve) is that our inward life with Christ does not reduce our concern for the world but rather spurs us on towards and more truly whole and righteous burden for the world that God created and all that is therein.
The deeper we go into God, the deeper we go into the paradox of what the early church fathers called 'contemptus mundi' - turning away from earthly attachments and ambitions - to 'amor mundi' - a divine but painful concern for the world. It is not that we become more detached from the world the more spiritual we become but rather the opposite. The more we become "in God" through Jesus Christ, the more we begin to see, have concern for and love the world through God's eyes. And this is a terrible and painful yet wonderful (all at the same time) burden.
It's like John Coffey ("Like the drink, but not spelled the same") in the movie, "The Green Mile." We begin to see the world as it really is: beautiful yet dark; wonderful yet painful; filled with joy yet filled with evil. And we yearn and are even tired down to our bones with the anticipation of one day, God setting everything in place like He planned from before the beginning of time. Yet in the in-between time, we find ourselves - called to turn away from the world but still be concerned and join God in His great redemption process of bringing His world back to Himself.
Ours is not an easy journey. But then the way of the cross is never easy, is it?
Blessings...
Monday, April 11, 2011
One House at a Time...With Dignity
As I wrote in my last blog, my 16 year old son, Ethan, and I had the opportunity and privilege to head to Haiti and help out with our Southern Baptist "Rebuild Haiti" project. The project has as a goal to see 6,200 homes constructed for Haitians in the next two to three years. The homes are simple, 12 foot by 16 foot cinder block houses with tin roofs. They are not much compared to US standards but they are a far cry above the tents and temporary shelters that almost 1 million Haitians are still living in.
A part of our desire was to see Haitians get back into homes that were safe, expandable, culturally appropriate and done in a way that gave them dignity. Ethan and I saw and worked on some of these homes and can attest that these three criteria are being met.
We have adjusted the construction to inter-lock the corners of the houses by overlaying the blocks and using reinforcement bar to add stability. We have also reduced the load bearing on the walls by utilizing a tin roof instead of heavy cement. We have also worked hard to ensure that the cement mix and materials being used are of good quality.
The homes being constructed are culturally appropriate in that the houses are very much like the ones they had before the earthquake and all materials to build are available locally. Nothing has to be brought in from outside the community. One of the neat concepts of these houses is that they are expandable. They are built in a way that next month or next year, when they get enough materials or money to buy the materials, they can add on another room or two to make it into a larger home for their families. We learned this concept in our rebuilding projects in the Indonesian tsunami of 2004.
Finally, these are homes being built with dignity. The communities are involved in the process of deciding and selecting who gets the homes. Most families, if they have able bodied people, are involved in the process of participating in the construction of their own homes.
To date, we have seen almost 800 homes constructed with a number nearing completion as I write this. The cost is about $2,500 to build one home and while we only have funding on hand for about half this number, we are trusting in God to provide the rest.
We are still a ways from our overall goal of 6,200 but it is exciting to see Haitians rebuilding their country one house at a time...with dignity!
God bless,
Jeff Palmer
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