Mercy and Goodness

"The only real, practical measure for the goodness and mercy of God to me is the extent to which I am, in turn, prepared to show goodness and mercy to others.... It is this lack of love among Christians which today makes the church an insipid, lukewarm institution.... But men and women who know firsthand about the goodness and mercy of God in their own lives will be warm and affectionate with goodness and mercy to others. This is to be a benefit to them, but equally important, it is to be a blessing to God.... Nothing pleased me more than to see my flock flourish and prosper.... It was a reward for my efforts and energy.... Most of us forget that our Shepherd is looking for some satisfaction as well." (W. Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, pp 162-163)

Some time ago, I sensed God was telling me to be more vulnerable; to open up and share more about me with others. I took that idea and rammed my way through many opportunities.

When my attempt to be open and vulnerable was met with rejection, I chose to bolt. I thought I was "shaking the dust off my feet" (Matthew 10:14). Seems God is clarifying his instructions these days.

It's neither my weaknesses nor my knowledge he's asking me to share. It is his goodness and mercy. Not just in word, but more significantly by passing it on the way I've experienced it from him.

I've said and done some stupid things but God has always shown mercy to me. I have seldom shown mercy to those who have said or done things that hurt or discouraged me.

The place I have seen mercy lived out most is in the prison. Through Kairos Prison Ministry, God introduced me to women who recognize the goodness and mercy of God in their own lives. They are warm and affectionate, offering goodness and mercy to others in a very hostile environment. Seeing that warmth and affection in a 30 year old woman imprisoned since age 16 for multiple murders, causes me to question my response to God's mercy and goodness.

I continue to be amazed at His patience with me. There are many scriptures I can quote and even teach passionately. Today, I'm reminded it is more important to put into practice the knowledge he has given me out of his mercy and goodness. I'd save myself a lot of embarrassment and frustration, not to mention the satisfying smile I could bring to my Shepherd's face.

The one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. ~Luke 6:49

God of wonders big and small, I am sorry for not showing my appreciation for your goodness and mercy. Please forgive me. Give me opportunities today to show goodness and mercy to those I encounter - whether it be a reckless motorist, a whiny child, or an intentionally hurtful acquaintance. You are my Shepherd. You calm me, care for me, and provide everything I need. May I look to you when I'm attacked by another sheep or from an outside predator. Your rod and your staff are my protection. I will trust in you.

Prayer - Who's Talking?

Richard Foster in Prayer, Finding the Heart's True Home writes:

"Prayer takes place in the middle voice," writes Eugene Peterson. In grammar the active voice is when we take action, and the passive voice is when we receive the action of another, but in the middle voice we both act and are acted upon. We participate in the formation of the action and reap the benefits of it. "We neither manipulate God (active voice) or are manipulated by God (passive voice). We are involved in the action and participate in its results but do not control or define it (middle voice)."

Prayer fascinates me. We, the created, are able to communicate with the Creator! The significance of that is rarely considered when we enter into prayer with a group.

Here’s another quote from Foster’s chapter on The Prayer of Rest.

P. T. Forsyth writes, “When we speak to God it is really the God who lives in us speaking through us to himself… The dialogue of grace is really the monologue of the diving nature in self-communing love.” How incredible!

I agree – how incredible!

Sweetness of Knowledge

Knowledge without love is like cocoa without sugar.

If knowledge is intended to be a medicine for healing and correcting,

a spoonful of love helps the medicine go down.

Love Like God

Love teaches us to reorder our desire to that which gives life
and away from that which brings death. ~ Don Sizemore, LCSW Interweave

God calls us to love others but we don't have to like them. Have you heard that statement? I’ve never really understood it.

If I don't like someone, it's very hard – if not impossible - to love that person. Did God create people and say, Oh man, I don't like him but I'll love him enough to send my son to die for him?

The like or dislike I have for someone or something has a lot to do with my personal desires. I want people to act or respond in a way that is desirable to me. If they don’t, I don’t like being around them. God’s love is not like that. Some of you are reading this and saying another one of my pet peeve phrases: love the sinner, hate the sin.

If I truly love "the sinner," and I sincerely believe the wages of sin is death, what am I doing for that person to give him life? If my sin ("everything that does not come from faith is sin" ~ Romans 14:23) were hated by someone who loved me, what would I expect them to do to keep me from receiving the wages I've earned?

Genesis mentions two trees in the Garden of Eden. One was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The other was the tree of Life. Love is teaching me to be quick to listen and slow to speak because the sweetness of life is a lot more desirable than cold, hard knowledge.

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:22-24

God Likes Me and You

He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Psalm 18:19

de·light (noun) - to have great pleasure

Think of someone who gives you a sense of delight. That's how God feels about you! Isn't that cool?

My daughter asked me recently if I would rather have children or not have children. This was a good day so I think it was out of her contemplating whether she wanted to be a parent - not out of "mommy, do you wish I weren't here."

I easily and quickly responded I would rather have children. There is a love and a delight in being a parent that far outweighs the frustrations and the grief. I don't enjoy having to discipline them when they have willfully disobeyed. But I do enjoy watching them learn and grow and develop into the person God desires them to be.

The greatest delight is when my children are enjoying each others friendship. Hmm, I wonder if that is God's greatest delight too.

Name Sake and Fire Insurance

For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. Psalm 25:11

Maybe it was just my self-centered perspective, but I'm pretty sure I was led to believe that I needed God's forgiveness for my sake. You know, the fire insurance that keeps me from going to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The problem with that, my sake is not much of a sake to live for. Meaningful life, life to get excited about, must have a sake beyond me. Otherwise, it would not have mattered if I never came into existence.

In seeking God’s forgiveness for my sake, I don’t recognize how my sin – the self-guided actions against God’s intentions for me – affects the one who created me and all the world around me.

For the past 19 years I’ve been enjoying a personal relationship with Christ. When my self-centeredness kicks in, I’ve found it’s much easier to live in relationship with Christ than to live with fire insurance.

With insurance I have to make sure my policy is up to date. I have to follow all the details to be sure I receive the benefits when I need them. Living with Christ, I don’t need insurance. I have his assurance that he is with me always. He’s not an agent who shows up to settle a claim on a policy covering the things I own.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Psalm 24: 1-2

I don’t own anything – not even myself. I’m a dependent on Jesus' plan.

When I seek forgiveness for my sake, I tend to just dump all the “bad” stuff I’ve done in one bucket asking God to get rid of it like a bag of garbage. Oh sure, I say “I’m sorry” but what I really mean is “ok, take this stuff away so my insurance will be effective.”

When I seek forgiveness for his sake, the experience is far different. Over the past few months God and I have been sorting through those bags of garbage. Yes, he took them from me for my sake but he’s been holding them for his sake.

I’m seeing now how my sins affected him more than me. I’m no longer sorry because of the risk of going to Hell. I'm sorry because I sense the pain of hurting one who loves me. I also experience a true restoration in a relationship with the one who desires to give me all the benefits of life right now for the sake of his name.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Philippians 2:9

My name may be engraved on a tombstone some day. His name lives on forever. I like living for the sake of his name, not mine.

Hope

For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. ~Psalm 62:5(NRSV)

I am convinced more and more that faith, hope, and love are not things we can produce within us. As the Psalm above says "hope is from him."

As much as I would like to spend hours upon hours trying to figure out the mysteries of life so that I may find, possess, and explain hope, I cannot.

"The message of hope..." writes Thomas Merton, "is not that you need to find your way through the jungle of language and problems that today surround God: but that...God loves you, is present in you, lives in you, dwells in you, calls you, saves you, and offers you an understanding and light which are like nothing you ever found in books or heard in sermons." (Richard Foster, Prayer, p 160)

It is freeing to recognize that hope cannot be found in books or words of the greatest preachers. I can give the reason for my hope, but I cannot give you hope. Hope is an experience far greater than an intellectual conclusion reasoned out by facts.

Look again at the "message of hope" in the quote above. What joy, peace, and comfort to know that whatever is going on in my life, God the Creator of everything loves me. He is present in me. I am his place of residence. He, the Creator of everything, speaks to me! He keeps me for himself - he doesn't toss me aside as meaningless. I am a valuable piece in his collection. He offers me understanding that is beyond my ability to give to anyone else. He requires nothing of me to make this hope exist. And the experience comes simply from being open to him.

Hope is not about what God does for me now or in the future. Nor is it about what I must do to acquire peace or the treasures of life. It's all about who he is - the relationship he initiates and desires to have in me.

He alone fills me with hope right now. His hope sustains me throughout the day.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. ~Psalm 37:7

Oh Lord, you are my everything. May the experience of hope you give me motivate my thoughts, actions, and words today.