"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10)
The pitcher stretches and hurls the ball toward home plate. The catcher catches the pitch. The batter turns to the umpire with the question, "Was it a ball or a strike?"
The umpire says, "It's nothing until I say it's something."
Seems like an obvious truth, doesn't it? The fans in the stands see one thing. The pitcher and catcher both have their own thoughts. Each dugout is filled with various opinions. But, the reality is, the pitch is nothing until the umpire says it's something. And, it will be what he says it is.
Friend, that is the ultimate reality for the believer as well. In the end, we are whatever God says we are. And, if you are one of his, the Father says that you are righteous. He says that you are holy. He says that you are blameless in his sight.
Just as with the pitch in baseball, there are going to be many other opinions. The enemy will continually try to get you to define yourself by your mistakes. His goal is to cause you to characterize yourself by your failure rather than the position you hold as a child of God through Christ. It's his job. It's what the slimy, little weasel does.
But it's not just Satan. Each of us are surrounded by people much like the spectators in the stands. They have seen the pitch. They have formed an opinion based on some of the good things we have done, as well as some of the bad things. And, depending on their evaluation of what they have seen or heard, whether they are true or not, they begin to place describers around us. They characterize us by adjectives, some of them positive, and some negative.
That is just the way it is in the world we live. Satan is going to continue to remind us of our failures since he is the accuser, and he lives to accuse. And, people are people. It seems to be the nature of humankind to magnify the faults of others in order to minimize our own. I imagine that is why the bible speaks so often against judgment, slander and gossip. Just the other day I read Tony Campolo's take on the old Christian mantra, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Tony claims, and I just love this, that a more accurate description of Christ's teaching would be, "Love the sinner, hate your own sin."
I have been told that a person's self esteem is directly related to how the most important individual in their life views them. The image we have of ourselves directly corresponds to how we perceive the person closest to us evaluates us. It can be seen most clearly in children. When a parent continually berates and runs down a child, that child will most likely develop a poor self image. It is most obvious with small children, but it is equally true with adults. The way we see ourselves is directly related to how the most meaningful entity in our lives sees us.
That is probably one of the reasons we're such a fan of dogs. By and large, your dog is going to think you're the greatest thing that ever existed regardless of what might have happened the day before, or even the hour before. If I yell at my dogs one day for not responding when I call them...maybe I even grab them and give them a little shake...they are over it in minutes. The next time I walk past their kennel I can guarantee that they will be at the gate with their tails wagging a hundred miles an hour and smiling their stupid dog smiles. They think I'm the most wonderful thing that ever breathed. If they were the most important things in my life, my self image would be god-like.
Here is the good news for the believer. If Jesus Christ is the most important person in your life, he thinks you're great....he thinks you're wonderful. He not only thinks it, but he proved it by carrying the cross up Calvary, and punctuated his desire for you by allowing the spikes to be driven into his hands and feet. His love for you is indescribable, his pursuit of you is relentless, and his patience toward you is never ending. That should be a daily esteem booster for every child of God.
And, dear believer, never forget that you are what God says you are. Who you really are is not defined by the whisperings of the enemy, or the opinions of those in the stands, regardless of how close to you they may be. Who you really are is not even defined by the image you have of yourself, or the describers you place on yourself because of past sin and failure. You are what God says you are and, through Christ, he says you are perfect.
Let me give you just a few of the adjectives the Father uses to describe his children:
Your are forgiven: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
You are righteous: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:2)
You are holy, blameless, and beyond reproach: "Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—" (Colossians 1:22)
You are a child of the Creator of all things: "Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2
You are a sanctified (set apart) brother (or sister) of Christ's: "For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers...." Hebrews 2:11
Your are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven: "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ..." (Philippians 3:20)
You are qualified as an heir of God: "And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:29)
You are joint heirs with Jesus Christ and a child of the living God: "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ..." (Romans 8:16-17)
"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him." (1 John 3:1)
And, of course, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10)
Friend, if you belong to Christ, you are what God says you are....and he chooses to see you as marvelously perfect. Don't allow yourself to be defined by anything apart from that regardless of what the enemy may whisper in your ear, or the adjectives that may come from the spectators in the stands.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
All Things Reconciled
There are, to be sure, many things of which I am uncertain. I believe that I have a very sound theology but, at the same time, understand that my beliefs and the way I comprehend my God are probably not one hundred percent accurate. When I find areas where my understanding of who the Creator really is, and how he relates to his creation need to be tweaked, or even completely restructured, my theology evolves to accommodate the new-found knowledge. As a result, the way I perceive the Father today, is different from the way I perceived him thirty-five years ago.
The point is, I readily acknowledge that there are many things of which I am not certain. The one thing of which I am certain, however, is that God is going to complete what he has started. When God spoke into existence this incomprehensibly vast universe, he had a plan. The plan has not changed. His blueprint has not been altered. And God is going to finish what he has started. I am equally as certain that when he does complete what he has ordained from eternity, and his blueprint becomes reality, I will blush with embarrassment for ever pretending to understand even a fraction of what he has purposed. "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12) I Have to admit that if Paul sees dimly, then I barely see at all.
The word of the week for me has been "reconcile." Actually, reconcile, reconciled, reconciling, reconciliation....particularly as they relate to Colossians 1:20. But, before I get to that scripture, I need to back up.
In looking back on my life, in the light of my understanding of God's word, I realize that there was a time when the Spirit of the Creator breathed life into my spirit bringing the revelation that there was a God. He brought the revelation that there was something greater than myself from which every portion of the universe, including the being that was me, drew it's existence. Something came to life in my very core which convinced me that I was not a product of some spontaneous random act of nature, but rather a part of a deliberate, purpose driven action of a Creator God.
With the revelation that there was a God who gave me life, also came the revelation that there was something in me that was inherently hostile toward him. That there was enmity between the Creator, and the part of his creation the world knew as Jim Laposky. The Spirit that breathed life into my lifeless spirit gently whispered the words Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "....on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
God's Spirit softly spoke those words to my inner man, and my spirit responded. Through the work of that same Spirit, the ministry of God's word, and the leading of the people the Father surrounded me with, I grabbed hold of Christ's sacrifice and was truly reconciled to my Creator. I learned the truth of Paul's words to the Romans:
".....but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Romans 5:8-11
There is so much that can be said of that scripture, but what I praise my Savior for today is that I have been reconciled to the Creator of all things through his shed blood. I have received reconciliation through the life Christ lived, his sacrifice on the cross, and his ultimate victory over the grave and the power of death. God's Spirit now bears witness with my spirit that I am one of God's kids. I love the Message's paraphrase of Paul's words in Romans 8:16, "God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children."
That is wonderful news for a rebel like me. The Greek word we translate as reconcile (apokatallassso) is bigger than just reconcile. It is an intense reconciliation. It is to reconcile completely and fully. It pictures the total, complete and full restoration of relationship to the Father through which he becomes Abba (Daddy) to us. It is great news for helpless, ungodly sinners like me, and I rejoice because I am no longer defined by the things I have done, but by to whom I belong.
So I understand, in part, the reconciliation that has taken place that allows me to be in relationship with my Father. But what has been occupying my mind for the past week is the reconciliation that is to come. The scripture that came to mind as I walked the dogs one morning last week was Colossians 1:20 which reads:
"For in him (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1: 19-20)
It is an amazing thought. Everything....on earth and in heaven....will be reconciled under Christ. All things means, surprisingly, all things. It encompasses every nook and cranny of the whole universe. All things material, all things spiritual, and all things created will be reconciled completely and fully through him. Every atom. Every particle. Every molecule. Every action of man. Everything will be intensely and perfectly reconciled under Christ.
Again, Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of that passage in the Message is marvelous:
"So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding.
"Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.
I cannot picture what that will be like, but I long for it. Come Lord Jesus! As believers, God has reconciled us to himself through Christ, but he is not finished. The day is coming when he will turn to Jesus and say, "Son, bring home your bride." And the Messiah will. In that instant, in a fraction of a blink of an eye, my reconciliation with the Father will be complete. I will see with my eyes what I now know as truth in my spirit. But, in the same breath, the reconciliation of all creation to the Creator will become a reality....all the dislocated pieces of the universe-people and things, animals and atoms-will get fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies....
I love the words, "vibrant harmony." The image they paint is not one of God taking broken, jagged pieces of a fallen creation and fitting them together as best he can to make something functional. Rather, it is a picture of a masterpiece, eternal in design, in which the great Designer majestically touches and weaves together every flaw, each imperfection, and all the imperfect blots into a tapestry containing the whole of his creation. This universal tapestry, reconciled under Christ, will not only be perfect in it's perfection, but vibrant harmonies will spontaneously flow from it, singing for all eternity the beauty of all the glories of God.
Today, I find rest in the reconciliation of all things under Christ, and I pray with certain hope and expectancy with all of creation, "Come Lord Jesus!"
The point is, I readily acknowledge that there are many things of which I am not certain. The one thing of which I am certain, however, is that God is going to complete what he has started. When God spoke into existence this incomprehensibly vast universe, he had a plan. The plan has not changed. His blueprint has not been altered. And God is going to finish what he has started. I am equally as certain that when he does complete what he has ordained from eternity, and his blueprint becomes reality, I will blush with embarrassment for ever pretending to understand even a fraction of what he has purposed. "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12) I Have to admit that if Paul sees dimly, then I barely see at all.
The word of the week for me has been "reconcile." Actually, reconcile, reconciled, reconciling, reconciliation....particularly as they relate to Colossians 1:20. But, before I get to that scripture, I need to back up.
In looking back on my life, in the light of my understanding of God's word, I realize that there was a time when the Spirit of the Creator breathed life into my spirit bringing the revelation that there was a God. He brought the revelation that there was something greater than myself from which every portion of the universe, including the being that was me, drew it's existence. Something came to life in my very core which convinced me that I was not a product of some spontaneous random act of nature, but rather a part of a deliberate, purpose driven action of a Creator God.
With the revelation that there was a God who gave me life, also came the revelation that there was something in me that was inherently hostile toward him. That there was enmity between the Creator, and the part of his creation the world knew as Jim Laposky. The Spirit that breathed life into my lifeless spirit gently whispered the words Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "....on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
God's Spirit softly spoke those words to my inner man, and my spirit responded. Through the work of that same Spirit, the ministry of God's word, and the leading of the people the Father surrounded me with, I grabbed hold of Christ's sacrifice and was truly reconciled to my Creator. I learned the truth of Paul's words to the Romans:
".....but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Romans 5:8-11
There is so much that can be said of that scripture, but what I praise my Savior for today is that I have been reconciled to the Creator of all things through his shed blood. I have received reconciliation through the life Christ lived, his sacrifice on the cross, and his ultimate victory over the grave and the power of death. God's Spirit now bears witness with my spirit that I am one of God's kids. I love the Message's paraphrase of Paul's words in Romans 8:16, "God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children."
That is wonderful news for a rebel like me. The Greek word we translate as reconcile (apokatallassso) is bigger than just reconcile. It is an intense reconciliation. It is to reconcile completely and fully. It pictures the total, complete and full restoration of relationship to the Father through which he becomes Abba (Daddy) to us. It is great news for helpless, ungodly sinners like me, and I rejoice because I am no longer defined by the things I have done, but by to whom I belong.
So I understand, in part, the reconciliation that has taken place that allows me to be in relationship with my Father. But what has been occupying my mind for the past week is the reconciliation that is to come. The scripture that came to mind as I walked the dogs one morning last week was Colossians 1:20 which reads:
"For in him (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1: 19-20)
It is an amazing thought. Everything....on earth and in heaven....will be reconciled under Christ. All things means, surprisingly, all things. It encompasses every nook and cranny of the whole universe. All things material, all things spiritual, and all things created will be reconciled completely and fully through him. Every atom. Every particle. Every molecule. Every action of man. Everything will be intensely and perfectly reconciled under Christ.
Again, Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of that passage in the Message is marvelous:
"So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding.
"Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.
I cannot picture what that will be like, but I long for it. Come Lord Jesus! As believers, God has reconciled us to himself through Christ, but he is not finished. The day is coming when he will turn to Jesus and say, "Son, bring home your bride." And the Messiah will. In that instant, in a fraction of a blink of an eye, my reconciliation with the Father will be complete. I will see with my eyes what I now know as truth in my spirit. But, in the same breath, the reconciliation of all creation to the Creator will become a reality....all the dislocated pieces of the universe-people and things, animals and atoms-will get fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies....
I love the words, "vibrant harmony." The image they paint is not one of God taking broken, jagged pieces of a fallen creation and fitting them together as best he can to make something functional. Rather, it is a picture of a masterpiece, eternal in design, in which the great Designer majestically touches and weaves together every flaw, each imperfection, and all the imperfect blots into a tapestry containing the whole of his creation. This universal tapestry, reconciled under Christ, will not only be perfect in it's perfection, but vibrant harmonies will spontaneously flow from it, singing for all eternity the beauty of all the glories of God.
Today, I find rest in the reconciliation of all things under Christ, and I pray with certain hope and expectancy with all of creation, "Come Lord Jesus!"
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