The Struggle with Agape

1 John 4:7-8, 20-21

 ⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? ²¹ And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.

Valentine’s Day is upon us, but let’s face it - we have a problem with love and loving. We have reduced love to a word and not an action. A noun and not a verb. We have taken love and distorted it, molding it for our own selfish ambitions and purposes. We use the word love to get someone in bed, get money in our pockets, get our material needs met. (You’ll get the fancy clothes but be naked on the inside).  Temporary things, inconsequential things. We have thrown around the word so much that it has become unrecognizable and to some unattainable. We have scooped out its meaning and purpose so much so that it has become a shell of itself – leaving a mass of broken hearts in its wake. We have made it something to do and not something to BE. We’ve placed conditions on something that should be unconditional. We struggle with love. The concept of love. The idea of love. We do this because we haven’t mastered perfect love. 

Nowhere is this struggle more prominent than when it comes to our loving our brothers and sisters in Christ as mandated in the great commandment given by Jesus Christ in Matthew 22 –  ³⁷ Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

In 1960 prolific Irish writer and scholar C.S. Lewis, published a book called the Four Loves, which explored the nature of love from a Christian and philosophical perspective. In it, he concluded that there four different kinds of love:

Storge – affection

Affection (storge, στοργή) is fondness through familiarity (a brotherly love), especially between family members -  

Philia – friendship Philia is the love between friends. Friendship is the strong bond existing between people who share common interest or activity. 

Eros – romance

Eros (ἔρως) for Lewis was love in the sense of 'being in love' or 'loving' someone, and

Agape – unconditional love  

Charity (agapē, ἀγάπη) is the love that brings forth caring regardless of the circumstance. Lewis recognizes this as the greatest of loves, and sees it as a specifically Christian virtue. It is the active love of God in relation to his people. It is this same active love that we, his people, people should have for each other, and for our enemies.

Storg - Affection comes and goes. Philia -Friendships can die off. Eros -Romance can fade. But how many of you are glad that AGAPE doesn’t have a loophole?  AGAPE is the love that 1 John speaks of in our text. 

According to theologians, the Book of 1 John was likely written between A.D. 85-95. All three books have from earliest times been attributed to the apostle John, who also wrote the Gospel of John. The content, style, and vocabulary seem to warrant the conclusion that these three epistles were addressed to the same readers as the Gospel of John, though the text in itself contains no hint of the identity of the Christian community to which it was addressed. What can be said about the audience was that  (1) they were Christians, (2) they appear to have been well-known to the author (and he to them), and (3) they were facing a threat from false teaching, a threat which was both serious and which appears to have arisen from within their Christian community(1 John 2:18-19).

False spiritual teachers were a big problem in the early church, and many fell prey to pretenders who taught their own ideas and advanced themselves as leaders. John wrote this letter to set the record straight on some important issues, Because John's letter was about the basics of faith in Christ, it helped his readers reflect honestly on their faith. It helped them answer the question, Are we true believers? John told them that they could tell by looking at their actions. If they loved one another, that was evidence of God's presence in their lives. But if they bickered and fought all the time or were selfish and did not look out for one another, they were betraying that they, in fact, did not know God.

These letters in 1, 2 and 3 John focus on three major topics of concern - Doctinal, Moral, and Societal. Doctrinal (Teaching/Instruction - Do you believe in Christ? What you have learned about him? etc), Moral ( Your values, your attitude, your character - how do you act behind closed doors? Are you following the commandments/precepts of Christ?) - Societal. It is here, where agape is stressed.  How do you treat God’s people? Do you love them? Do you care about their needs etc).– Can they tell that you are a disciple of Christ? Do you walk what you talk?  

Depending on the version of the Bible you are reading, the AGAPE meaning of Love appears approximately 228 times in the New Testament. Such was its importance to the Christian lifestyle that 1 John mentions it 29 times in just 17 verses. It begins in chapter 2:7, with the writer repeating Jesus’ commandment that we mentioned earlier, adding  to it that Christ himself lived the truth of the commandment  - in other words, he practiced what he preached. (Point: We are never commanded to do something that Christ didn’t do)

He goes on to say in chapter 2 that he is “writing these things so that we will not sin.” He reminds us that the commandment he is giving is NOT NEW. ⁹ He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. ¹⁰ He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. ¹¹ But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Have you ever tried to walk around in the dark? It is easy to stumble and fall. If you and another person tried to walk in the dark, you can cause them to fall. This is how it is when you say you live in the light yet hate your brother. 

He revisits the subject again in chapter 3 again repeating the “¹ For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” Here, he likens those who do not love to Cain, calling us Murderers. Vs. 15 -Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (Point: This speaks to our responsibility as keepers of our brothers and sisters. Our lack of love can result in murder).

And finally in our beginning text – calling those who claim to love God but hates their brother a liar – 

Stumbling block. Murderer. Liar. Is this how you want to be seen? 

If God is love and we are made in God’s image, then AGAPE is the spirit within us. Unconditional love is within us.  This love heals the broken, empowers the timid, affirms the hesitant, and elevates those who have been overlooked, forgotten, and silenced. There is a power that comes to those who show and to those who receive unconditional love. Those who show this love are released from being consumed with themselves. Those who receive this love are released from limitations others have placed on them.

It was this kind of love that caused God to create us. Agape keeps us from getting what we deserve. It caused God to give up his Son. It caused Christ to get on the cross and it made him stay there. And as he hung dying for our sin, it caused him to pray for our forgiveness. There is no greater love than man can have for a friend. If he could do all of that for us, how much can we do for each other? Here's how not to struggle:

Subdue your Flesh
One of the reasons we struggle with loving as commanded is outlined in Romans 8:5 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
The mind that is set on the flesh is against God, the word says you are hostile to God – you are unreceptive, you are argumentative, you don’t want to do what God says.

Submit to God’s Authority
Submission to God's authority is, saying that not my will, Thine be done, or on the contrary, saying, I don't care what the rules are. I am going to do it my way. Everything God created on Heaven and on Earth, functions by Spiritual Authority. To be in the will of God and have the favor of God, you must be under Spiritual Authority. Angels are messengers of God and they do not do as they feel led, they do as their told. They have awesome power, but that power is there because of their total submission to the will of God. Revisiting 1 John 2 - And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

Your obedience to God will set the pace to your blessing. Of course, when you do God's purpose, it releases God's power in your life. According to the scriptures, you were bought with a price, which is the blood of Jesus Christ. You are the servant of the living God, you are the sheep, He is the shepherd, and so you ought to follow Him. He is King Jesus and it is His Kingdom, His power and Glory.

Study God’s Example
The message version of Ephesians 5: 1-2 reads,

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. 

Strengthen your Relationship 
Spend time with God. Pray. Fast. Meditate. Let him love on you. And love him in return. If you love him you will follow his commandments

Scrutinize your Faith 
Put it on the examining table. You cannot have love without faith. The Bible tells us, "Now abideth faith, hope and charity (which is agape love there), the greatest of these is charity (or love)." So, love is greatest but faith is first. You can't have anything from God without faith. Everything you receive is by faith, "…not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us" and faith is not of ourselves.

See Yourself through God’s Eyes
In the great commandment Christ not only stated that we should love God, but also to love our neighbors AS WE LOVE OURSELVES. The ability to love yourself begins with knowing who you are in God! Many of us cannot love our neighbors because we don’t consider our own selves worthy of God’s love. We cannot see how we, with all of our stuff, can be loved by God. Understanding your value in God, how He sees you – he calls you friend, the apple of his eye, his masterpiece, his workmanship, his child… In seeing yourself how God sees you, it will make it easier for you to receive his love and give that love to others in return. Forgive YOURSELF!

Share what you want others to give to You
If we wish to be loved, we must give love. If we wish to be respected, we must respect all persons - even those we dislike. If we wish to be forgiven, we must also forgive. If we wish others to speak kindly of us, we must speak kindly of them and avoid gossip. If we want strong marriages, we must be loyal and faithful to our spouses. If we wish to be fulfilled in our lives, we must share generously with others. If we wish to reap the rewards of our Heavenly Father's love, we must truly love all His people. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (NIV, Matthew 7:12).
I challenge you today - Don’t be a Stumbling block. Don’t be a Murderer. Don’t be a liar. Use the keys I’ve given you - SUBDUE your flesh. SUBMIT to God’s Authority. STUDY God’s example. STRENGTHEN your relationship. SCRUTINIZE your Faith. SEE yourself as He sees you and SHARE it with others so that you can receive it in return. These are the keys to truly loving your brother as God loves us. By this shall all men know that we are His disciples! 

Until next time, be blessed and be a blessing!
Sue

It’s time to Reverse the Atrophy

*Sermonette I preached at Rivers @ Rehoboth on December 14, 2014.*

Genesis 12: 1-5 
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 
² “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.” 
⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

The human body is comprised of more than 640 skeletal muscles, which, attached to bones and connected to joints, to enable us to move our limbs. If you’ve ever sat for a long period of time, say, taken a 14 hour bus ride as Millie and I did recently, you know that this period of sitting still causes muscles to constrict, causing stiffness in our joints. If you ever had to wear a cast or otherwise have had a limb be immobilized for an extended period of time, you know from the lack of movement, that limb becomes weak – there is a muscle wasting or wasting of the muscles that in extreme cases causes it to lose its function all together.  The medical term for this is ‘disuse atrophy’. 

What repairs this atrophy? Exercise. Therapy. Vigorous movement. 

Segments of our community are suffering from this condition and have become stiff from lack of movement. While we sit here today joined with other organizations and church fellowships wearing our black as a show of solidarity, there are still too many of us laying on the proverbial couch weakened from chronic immobilization. If this doesn’t apply to you, there’s no need to say ouch. If you are doing the work, this sermon is not for you.

In today’s climate, there is nothing more important for our community to do now than to MOVE. Looking to Abraham’s experience, how can we connect then, with what is going on now? What can we learn, what lesson can we glean from the example presented here? How can we make this applicable to our current situation? 

Let’s begin with Genesis 12:2

Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country… 
In other words, he wanted Abraham to MOVE.  To leave all that he knew, to leave the land he grew up in. To leave the place where he had formed connections and forged relationships. To leave the place where he was popular and familiar. Abraham was fully acclimated to his surroundings and environment.  From the scripture we know that Abraham was 75 years old. He’d lived a full life. He had his wife. He had family. He had friends. He had possessions. He had servants. He had land. Abraham had it made. He had slowed down. He was comfortable. But how many of you know that God cannot use you comfortable. We are ineffective when we are comfortable. A comfortable person leaves the work for others to do. A comfortable person takes the easy way out. A comfortable person makes excuses! And so, God shifted Abraham into a world of uncomfortability, because it was there that he needed to be to accomplish God’s Will.  

“… leave your people and your father’s household…” 

Abraham had to disconnect from his friends and family that were with him in the comfort zone. He had to separate himself. Not everyone can do this work. The fight for justice sometimes requires that we separate from people, even those we hold we hold near our hearts. Under the guise of caring they may not understand why we must march, why we must spend countless hours making phone calls to our senators and congressmen. They may not be able to comprehend why we must risk being arrested, why we must protest, why we must let our voices be heard. These are the people who have become an atrophied part of the body. Their lack of movement have caused them to murmur and complain instead of joining us on the field. In their atrophied state, they act as deterrents to the movement we must make.

The work also requires us to separate from mental attitudes that plague our community. Too much of us are stuck in a mindset of oppression, of victimization and warped theology. Because of this, we are only able to show up for a fraction of the body and not the whole. We can show up for men of color, but only if they are heterosexual. We can show up for women, but only if they are cis gendered. We can show up for our young people but only if they are not a part of the LGBT community. As long as we are only showing up for part of the body, the whole will continue to suffer. 

“…to the land I will show you…”

Cross referencing - Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Abraham didn’t yet know where he was going. God was calling him to go to a place that he hadn’t yet revealed. But he faith, he obeyed, and took the step. We, the whole body of the community, must the take the step, even if we don’t know where we will end up.  God is calling our community go to places we have never gone before, and do things we have never done before. We cannot and must not be afraid of the outcome.  We must have faith and trust God that if we but take the step, he will show us the land and we will receive our inheritance. If we take the step, we will inherit justice. If we take the step, we will inherit liberation. If we take the step, we will inherit victory! 

Jumping down to verse 5 in Genesis 12 -

“He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran…”

There are two things we see here. First, Abraham didn’t take the journey alone. While he had to separate from others, God made sure that he was still connected to the people he was meant to walk with. Again not everyone is called to walk with you. God will divinely orchestrate the individuals that are meant to be a source of encouragement and support to you! He will place the right individuals for the particular season you are in If God has called you to the work of social justice, He will make sure that you are not doing it by yourself!

Second, Abraham had everything he needed for the journey.  Understand that God will not send us out empty handed. He will make sure that we have provision for the mission! Don’t worry about the money, don’t worry about the resources, and don’t worry about the training components – the God who has always provided for our every need will continue to do it. Further examining the essentiality of movement, we must understand that it isn’t all about us!

Let’s go back to the 2^nd verse - 
² “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.” 

Let’s focus on the “a” clause of verse 2 and the “b” clause of verse 3 –
(1) God would make Abraham's descendants a great nation.
(2) God would bless all the families of the earth through Abraham.  

The covenant moved through Abraham to his descendants and it is the same promise that God makes to us. In answering the call to move, we have the assurance that those connected to us currently…our sisters and brothers in the struggle and especially the generations coming behind us will be blessed. Sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks on 1 December 1955, Dr. Martin Luther King organized a 13-month mass protest of the Montgomery bus system, which ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. Had he not moved, we would still be sitting on the back of the bus. Had Martin not moved, we would still be drinking out of separate water fountains. Had Martin not moved, we would still be entering establishments through back door kitchens. The future of the survival of our community is contingent on what we do, TODAY.  

We are living in uncomfortable times which require us to become an uncomfortable people and to do uncomfortable things. Uncomfortable people, move. We must risk coming out from behind a wall of safety. We must be willing to go to places we have never been, to do things we have never done before. We must be willing to stretch our minds to think differently and to respond proactively. None of us have the luxury of turning a blind eye to ALL of the atrocities that plague the entirety, the whole body of our community.  We must reverse the atrophy that has taken hold. We must get moving. And most of all, we must trust God in the process. 

Until next time, be blessed!

Sue

Your Condition Says No, but God Says Yes!

Judges 6:1-16  

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. 7 When the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.” 11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” 13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” 15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 16 The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

At this point in time the Israelites were in a vicious cycle of “coming back to God” and “falling away from God” There was no King to guide them and the people governed themselves. Each time they cried out to be saved, God gave them a judge (translated “deliverer” or “savior” in Hebrew) a unique leader chosen to bring them out of the hands of their enemies. Each time a judge died, Israel turned back to their wicked ways. To give an example of just how much Israel messed up, there are approximately 15 judges recorded in the Old Testament. While the judges presided over legal hearings then much like the ones that sit in our courts today, they were most commonly defined as “a ruler or a military leader” in Biblical times. After Deborah’s victory over the Canaanites, Israel enjoyed 40 years of peace, but as usual, again turned to evil ways. As punishment, God delivered them into the hands of the Midianites, who for seven years raided their land at harvest time. It was so bad that the Israelites made caves in the mountains to hide. It is here that we find Gideon, a common man, a seemingly unlikely candidate to deliver Israel.  

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” 

Gideon is threshing grain in a winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. (A wine press is sunk in the ground in hole that had been dug out or hewn in the rock.) Traditionally, wheat is threshed by oxen out in the open so that the wind blows the chaff away. This shows just how depleted their resources were - the fact that he was threshing it himself meant there was little of it.  

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 

Gideon was no stranger to the ways of God. He knew about the God of Abraham. He knew about the God of Moses. He’d heard countless stories about how God delivered Israel before. So it’s no surprise that he responded in the matter which he did. After seven years of warding off the Midianites every harvest season with no relief in sight, hiding with his family in the mountains, threshing grain in a dark, dusty winepress, I imagine Gideon was over it. In other words, Gideon was saying “Surely you don’t expect me to believe that you are with us now after all this time?” Unfortunately, Gideon wasn’t thinking about the fact that it was not God who had forsaken Israel. It was Israel who turned their back on God. And yet, God, in His infinite grace, still chose to deliver them. Here we see that Gideon was suffering from a spiritual condition, in other words, weakened faith. His spiritual condition or, weakened faith, came as a result of having heard of God’s marvelous works, but not seeing them at work in his own situation. If God was with them, where was he over the last seven years? Where was God while the Midianites stole their food, sheep, cattle and donkeys?

 Gideon also suffered from another condition. An emotional one. In verse 11, the angel called him “mighty man of valor” and in verse 14 He told him to “Go in the strength that you have, (in other translations, “Go in the might of yours”) and save Israel from the Midian’s hand. Have I not sent you?” But for Gideon, it was impossible for him to see this “might”.  

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 

Gideon expressed that his tribe was the weakest and that he was the “least” in his father’s house. In some translations it reads “and everyone else is more important than me.” Gideon could not see himself as someone who could do what God had asked. He thought of himself as a nobody - not only was his tribe the weakest, he was also the least in his own house! His family was already poor and the plundering of everything they had at harvest time only made matters worse. He had to live in fear, hiding in caves, threshing wheat in a hole to hide from the Midianites. I could imagine that his life was filled with worry and frustration. Have you been there? Have you ever wondered where God was, why He forsook you, why he didn’t come see about you? Didn’t He see what was going on in your life? I don’t know about you, but I've been there plenty of times! 

 Faced with this very raw and I’m sure expected human emotion, God offers Gideon assurance  

16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”  

I will be with you. The same words of encouragement he gave to Moses when he called him to go to Pharaoh. 

Gideon’s faith was so tattered, he needed a sign on three separate occasions from God, which you can read in Chapters 6-8 in your spare time. But what I love about this particular story is that despite his conditions, Gideon still said yes to God. He still answered the call. In the end, his obedience enabled him to become the mighty warrior God predestined him to be! 

In 1982, Nick James Vujicic (pronounced 'Vooy-ee-chich') an Australian preacher, motivational speaker and author, was born with a rare disorder that left him limbless, missing both arms at shoulder level, as well as legless. His feet were toeless except for two toes on one foot.. Being bullied at school, Vujicic grew depressed and by the age of 8, contemplated suicide. At age 10, he tried to drown himself, but did not go through with it out of love for his parents. He prayed to grow arms and legs and eventually came to the realization that God had allowed him to be that way to be an inspiration to others and became grateful for his life. He began to master the daily tasks of life. He learned to write using the two toes on his left foot with a special grip that slid onto his big toe. He learned to use a computer and type using the "heel and toe" method. He learned to throw tennis balls, play drum pedals, get himself a glass of water, comb his hair, brush his teeth, answer the phone and shave. When he was seventeen, he started to give talks at his prayer group and eventually started his non-profit organization, Life Without Limbs. When he was seventeen, he started to give talks at his prayer group and eventually started his non-profit organization, Life Without Limbs. Despite his spiritual, physical and emotional condition, he travels the world preaching the good news, fully functional on his own with God on his side. 

 If this man can move past his circumstances to be mighty in God, how much more can you do? Like Gideon and Nick, you may have a spiritual condition. Like Gideon and Nick, you may be suffering from an emotional condition. Like Nick, you may have a physical condition. The trials of life that come to weigh you down can be so hard to bounce back from! But like our examples, you can say yes to the call, yes to the will of God. Say yes, through the pain, through the hurt. Even though Gideon had limited faith, constantly seeking reassurance, he answered the call. He was afraid, but he did what God called him to do, right through his fear. Gideon realized that he had to lean on God’s strength, not his own, trust in God’s ability, not his own, rely on God’s wisdom, not his own! 

 God will call us precisely when we feel the most unimportant. He will call us when we feel the most inadequate. He will call us when our faith is at its lowest point! He called Moses who said he couldn’t speak. He called Jeremiah, who claimed he was too young. The Bible is filled with accounts of God using imperfect people to do His perfect Will... the common thread throughout them all is that they were obedient! Through their fear, they said yes. Through their worn and battered faith, they said yes! Our condition says we are inadequate, God calls us capable! Our condition says we are unworthy, God says we MORE than worthy! Our condition says we are weak, God says we will do mighty works in Him! He sees us for who we are GOING to be, not what our current condition tells us we are now! 

Romans 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 

We are predestined, or Proorizo in the Greek, meaning he determined before, ordained, predestinate. He decided beforehand; he foreordained, he appointed. He purposed and determined previously BEFORE we were in the womb. 

Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." - We are called according to His divine purpose. We were set apart to do the work before we were even born! 

Family, if you believe the word of God, if you believe Him to be the author and finisher of your faith, if you believe that He is a God that cannot lie, you have also got to believe that you are equipped to do the thing He has called you to do!  Your condition might say no, but God says YES! 

Until next time, be blessed!
Sue

Throw it with Force!

The A clause of Psalm 55:22 reads, “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you…” We find this gentle reminder nestled near the end of the chapter as David fervently cries out to God after finding himself betrayed by one with whom he “once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers.” (vs.14). Based on that passage alone this post can easily go in the direction of dealing with church hurt (as many of us have developed deep personal relationships with individuals in the church only to be burned by those connections). But for the purposes of this entry, I want to focus on our burdens (or lot in this context) – those things that trouble our minds, grieve our spirits, leave us frustrated and cause us pain. Though David’s lot at the time was betrayal, we can relate to his heartbroken state because we’ve been there in one form or another, whether our burden be the death of a loved one, losing a job, illness, making ends meet, providing for our children or the multitude of other issues that can arise just by simply living.

At the beginning of this verse we find the instruction to “Cast your burden upon the Lord...” Cast, (Shalak in Hebrew), means to throw or to hurl. In the Webster’s one definition is “to throw with force.” David is saying that we should not merely hand over our burdens. We should throw them to God with force, or in my opinion, intention. The problem is some of us don’t want to do that. In our minds, we can handle it ourselves.  We believe that if we make the right phone calls, speak to the right people, fill out the right paperwork, and maneuver in the right ways that we can fix our own issues. When those means don’t work, we will go to a family member, a close friend, our Pastor – everyone BUT God.  David’s response to his anguish was to seek God in prayer, but for some of us, prayer is the last resort. This not what God wants! He wants us to go to Him. 1 Peter 5:7 reminds us that we can cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us.  God loves us and is equipped to handle every situation.  It is not His desire that we suffer.

After the instruction, we find a promise “…and He will sustain you…”  In other words, God will “hold our hand and help us” (Isaiah 4:19) He will “bear our burdens daily” (Psalm 68:19). He will “keep us from stumbling” (Jude 1:24). He will “supply all our needs” (Philippians 4:19). He will give us rest (Matt 11:28). He will ease our anxiety and guard our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:6-9). When we throw our burdens upon the Lord our expectation should be that we will receive that promise. The key to doing this is having faith that He will keep His word, as He has done so many times before. When a fisherman throws a net, the expectation is that it will catch fish. When a pitcher throws a curve ball, the expectation is that it will result in the other team striking out.  When a basketball player throws a three-pointer the expectation is that it will go through the basket. The fisherman, the baseball player and the basketball player each have faith that they will catch fish, strike out the opposing team and make the shot. Why? It has happened before and enough times to build their confidence that it will happen again. Their faith in the outcome has been established! If we take the time to look back throughout our lives, it isn’t difficult to pinpoint each instance where God moved on our behalf. Even when we didn’t know Him, He kept us. Even when we didn’t pray, He answered. In the midst of a crisis it can be easy to forget, but we are given a reminder in Numbers 23:19 - “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?”

I encourage you to cast your burden unto the Lord. Don’t hold on to it. Let it go. Follow David’s example and go to God in prayer. He has big enough shoulders to handle any weight. After you’ve given it to Him, embrace the peace of knowing that He will sustain you.  In closing, I leave you with the words from the classic hymn, Cast Thou Thy Care upon the Lord written by H. M. Moule:

Cast thou thy care upon the Lord, 

The care that loads thy heart; 

Take Him this moment at His word, 

And let Him do His part.

The need is deep, the care is great,

The burden hard to bear;

Roll it on Him with all its weight,

And leave it resting there.

   

This heavy thing, it is His gift,

His portion, thee to bless;

Give it Him back; what He shall lift

No more on thee shall press.

Cast all thy care, and not a part,

The great things and the small;

The Lord's all-loving, mighty heart

Has room and thought for all.

   

Yes, He will ponder every care,

Consider each detail;

Thyself, thy burden, let Him bear; 

He will not, cannot, fail.

Until next time, be blessed!

Sue