Redeemable

My wife and I agree that we like watching shows & movies with rough characters because we believe they are redeemable. A person can make you cringe with their choice of words and actions, but if they give you glimpses of having the potential for positive change it makes you keep watching. Part of it is my desire to see them turn things around and become a better person.

At the heart of it I think it's because I want to believe that I am redeemable as well. I need to know that in spite of my many flaws and a past scattered with poor decision-making, I can be rescued. In fact, I already have been. The gratitude & allegiance I feel to God for saving me fuels me to want to see it on others too. Our other choice is to believe that we are only the sum of our mistakes and that there is no hope. It's a good thing that I know better than that.

Known: Knowing God

I could write tonight about decisions that have been made and the power of this week of middle school camp, but instead I simply want to ask two questions:

• Who do you say Jesus is?
• What are you going to do about it?

There are many things that are important, but nothing matters more than our answer to these two questions.

Ebenezer: Greatest Gift

As I wrap up this week of thanksgiving blogs, I have to pause to recognize the greatest provision of God in my life. The blessings of a wife and children, fulfillment of vision, and even rescue from dire circumstances are all inferior to the most powerful intervention. God willingly chose to step into the gap and provide payment for me through His Son.

Some of my friends can point to a specific date when they were baptized as the day that everything changed for them. They look back with fondness and can recall exactly how that experience unfolded for them. I have a tendency of making things more difficult than they have to be so my story isn't told with the same precision and finality. I grew up in church and remember being baptized at a young age when other people were doing the same thing. I knew that I believed in Jesus, but didn't know what it meant to follow Him with my life.

When I reached my junior year of high school I left the church. For several years I only attended for non-religious reasons and set aside the beliefs of my childhood. After I was married and Dana was attending church in Ormond Beach, I made the decision to reconnect with what I once believed & practiced. I didn't have any doubt that I was "saved", but wasn't sure about the question of re-baptism. Our pastor told me that if I had any doubts it wasn't wrong to be re-baptized & could be beneficial to me if it helped solidify my relationship.

I share all of this to say that my relationship with God has been one of working out my salvation with fear & trembling instead of one revelatory moment. It has been a lengthy journey of discovery for me and continues to be in a lot of ways. My thankfulness in my wandering is due to one great moment in history: when God decided that His Son would bear the pain for my sin so that I could be set free. Even though I took my time getting to this point, the freedom that I was seeking had already been provided for in one instance of sovereignty and obedient sacrifice. Our salvation stories don't look the same, but that doesn't negate the powerful provision of a God who works to draw His people to Him.

The Greatest Need

We seek rescue from a variety of things but they are really only reflections of our need for salvation. We are doing ourselves a disservice when we refuse to focus on this ultimate rescue. Our energy is focused on solving symptoms of a problem instead of addressing the root cause. The sin that so easily entangles us will inflict damage that is reflected in our relationships, self-esteem, and purpose. It can be so painful that we forget the underlying issue-the distance we have created between us and God as a result of our rebellion. Without recognizing that this is the problem we will lose sight of the bigger truth we should be seeking.

How great is it that God was willing to come down here to offer that solution to us? It reflects the true nature of a compassionate rescuer that is willing to do what it takes to completely rescue His people from sin. Being saved now depends on our humble acceptance of what is offered.

Up Front

Most of our human relationships work like this: invest time, share respect and treat each other well enough that you eventually form a strong bond of love. When that chain is broken, we don't end up with a strong relationship-in fact it leads to one not being formed at all.

One of our biggest struggles as flawed humans is that we impose that same pattern on our relationship with God. We believe that if we attend church, don't look at porn, don't get drunk, pray & read our Bible fairly regularly and are decent people that He will love us. When we mess up any of that it's a bad day and we think God is disappointed and His love decreases.

The error in this philosophy is that we are imposing human characteristics on God. He doesn't place His love for us at the end of our relationship, but at the beginning. His love isn't given because we have earned it, but simply because of who He is and who we are to Him.

Who Jesus Came For

I read this as part of our decision time yesterday and wanted to share it here. It is not my own work, but is borrowed from something Rick Warren wrote a while back.

In my study of the Gospels, I made a list of the people Jesus came for:

Jesus came for the chewed up, crossed off, crying out
The dropped out, edged out, fizzled out, and freaked out
The have-nots, the held back, hung over, and knocked around
He came for the left out, the loaded down, and looked over
The locked up, led astray, laid off and let down
The messed up and the mixed up.

He came for the passed over, the picked on, put down, pinned down and pushed around
The ripped off, the run down and the run over.

Jesus came for people who are screwed up and the shrugged off
The shut in and shut out
The smashed up, the stacked against, and strung out.

Our Savior came for the torn up, thrown away, and the turned off
Those who used up and walked over
The washed out, the worn out, the wiped out, and the written off.

He came for you. And me.