Settling Old and New Accounts

A few months ago I switched my cell phone over from a contract family plan to a prepaid individual plan. I still wanted to keep my original phone number, since that’s the number people already associated with me—it was, in essence, my phone identity.  But I still had to get a new number with the new plan, pay for the first month, and then request my old phone number back from T-Mobile. When T-Mobile switched my account back to the old number, the new number that I’d received after departing from my initial account was erased, along with the balance for the entire account.  In this case this was not a good thing—I had already made a payment, which was now gone! But what if this happened for an account on which I’d owed money?  What if it was an account I’d had for several months and hadn’t been paying my bills? If suddenly that account was erased, my debt to the company would be cancelled. I would have my original account, the ‘identity’ I was given in my initial contract with the company, but without anything owed.


All of humanity has departed from our original identity, the identity God gave us in the beginning. He intended us to be His children living in obedience to Him.  We have forsaken the initial contract (covenant) with Him and have chosen a different way, the faulty way of self-rule. He has continued to show us mercy, but we have not repaid Him with equal love.  Instead, all mankind keeps sinning against Him, accumulating a debt we can never repay, which must eventually be met with justice.


God, however, allows us to put in a request for a fresh start. But the new identity He gives us isn't really new--it's actually the identity He intended for us to have in the first place! Once again we have the chance to be His children, obedient to Him--and eternally loved by Him! Our account of deviance is erased completely, with the balance of sin deleted, and we revert, through the cleansing blood of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit, back to the original plan, becoming the cherished sons and daughters of God that He has always wanted us to be.

Talkative Gifts, pt. 2

Last week I posted about how our gifts to God say a lot about our attitude towards Him.  I realized I could have worried some people with that post.  Someone may have thought, “I’m not rich. I don’t have enough to make great donations to the church or sponsor a child in Africa or fund an outreach.  How do I give God what He deserves?”

Take heart! It's not the gift itself that God looks at, but your heart in giving it. 

The Jews of Jesus’ time misunderstood God's idea of giving.  They thought if they gave a certain amount of their wealth to the temple and tithed a tenth of their garden produce, then God would look favorably on them.  Even Jesus’ disciples may have thought this.  But in a visit to the temple, Jesus showed them what part of the gift really matters to God.

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. (Mark 12:41-42)

Let’s stop right there.  Two coins?  Just two small copper coins?  If we were watching this scene, we might think, “She’s just like Cain, giving only enough to say she gave, but hardly enough to make a difference to anyone. She’s just trying to act good without really loving God.”

Men look at the outer appearance, but God looks at the heart.  Jesus recognized what was really behind that widow's gift.

“Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”  (Mark 12:43-44)

Jesus knew that widow.  He knew how little she owned, and how much she still desired to give to God.  God valued that widow’s offering more than the rest because even though she barely had anything, what she did give spoke of her love and trust in Him.

If you feel you have nothing to give God, but still yearn to show your love for Him, don’t be discouraged! Offer what you do have before Him. Tell Him it’s all His, and trust in His blessing.  He doesn’t compare gifts, only hearts.  Our God delights most in the gift that speaks of sacrificial love—love that will risk everything to honor Him.

Talkative Gifts, pt. 1

Gifts speak loudly.  They say a lot about the heart of the giver and the state of a relationship.  Often, we appreciate gifts from our friends and family regardless of what they are, because they represent the giver’s care for us.  But what if it was your birthday and a close friend came to you and said “Well I know it’s your birthday, which means I’m supposed to give you some kind of gift, so here’s something I happened to buy at the dollar store yesterday. I thought I could use it, but you can have it ‘cause it’s your birthday.”  They might not use so many words, but the gift itself would speak loud and clear about their offhanded attitude. You might even feel guilty for accepting it, because the gift was offered out of a sense of obligation, rather than love.  A true gift of love calls for intentionality and sacrifice on the part of the giver.  It speaks of time taken to consider the interests of the recipient and of the depth of feeling embedded in the relationship.

Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve, gave such a gift to God.  He offered the LORD ‘fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock’ (Genesis 4:4).  The flock would have been Abel’s sustenance, and he gave up the best, most valued parts of it, reflecting his desire to honor God.  His older brother Cain also brought a gift—“some of the fruits of the soil” (Genesis 4:3).  He also gave from his livelihood, but the description says nothing to indicate any care or quality involved in the gift.      

God “looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor” (Genesis 4:4).  Cain was angry and confused—hadn’t he also given a gift? Hadn’t he done his duty towards God?  But God caught what the gifts were saying about both Cain and Abel’s attitude towards Him.  He saw that although Cain offered a gift, his heart was not right towards God.  I think what Cain failed to understand is that God desires more from us than ritual offerings and dutiful worship.  It’s not the gift itself that matters to Him.  He longs for sincere, intimate, devoted relationship.  The gifts that win His favor are the ones that tell Him about our sincere, grateful, and passionate love for Him and all He’s given us. 

What are our gifts to God really saying?

Chosen People

The Israelites were divinely privileged—they were rescued by God, shown His mighty works, and allotted an inheritance of land, well-nourished and fruitful. Their logical response would have been to worship God with all they had and to proclaim His greatness to other nations; this was their purpose. Even in Abraham's time, God made it clear that He would bless Abraham's descendents so that they could be a blessing to other nations (Gen. 12:1-3). 

In light of this, it is shocking how much and how often the people of Israel ignored God’s incredible goodness and were willing to deviate en masse, following other gods or other kings. Time after time they gave themselves over to false gods, and time after time God punished them through conquerors, yet He never failed to call them back to Him. 


When I read the many Old Testament accounts of Israel's unfaithfulness, I'm inclined to ask—why did God pick such a foolish race to be His people?  Even Jesus said that if the miracles he performed in Israelite towns had been performed in certain pagan cities, such as Sodom, they would have repented long ago (Matt. 11:20-24).  Why did God not choose for himself a race of people wise enough to respond to Him with gratitude and devotion?

But if I question why He chose Israel, I must also ask why He has chosen me.  I forget His blessings.  I take advantage of His goodness. Often I am reluctant to praise Him in places where truth is unpopular.  My natural response should be not just to acknowledge Him, but to spend my life glorifying Him and seeking what pleases Him, yet much of the time I still seek my own pleasures.  Why has God chosen such an inconsistent weakling to receive His salvation? Yet He has indeed not only blessed me abundantly, but also called me to be a blessing in HIs work overseas.  I have to remember that the nature of God throughout time is to be merciful to those who don’t deserve it and to show His power through man's weakness (Luke 6:35, Romans 5:6-8, Titus 3:3-7, 1 Corinthians 12:9).  I praise Him for the infinite grace He’s shown to Israel, and to me. 

A hopeful attempt at resurrection

At last! I am no longer an overworked student and have time to write again. I hope to update this blog once or twice a week with thoughts based on my own journey with God. These are only meant to be reflections (and, I hope, encouragements) open for discussion, not at all a claim to lofty wisdom.  I am still learning.


I will post again shortly but for now will leave you with the following reflection from several weeks ago:


"O God, you are the good in me. However small I feel at times, I would be so much less--no, nothing--without You. You make me who I am. If I am good, holy, pure, compassionate, blameless, it is only because of You. Only, because of You."

What would we be without Him?

Compassion as "feeling with," or even "suffering with"

Compassion
--'com'=together
-'passion'=feeling

When we see someone making a mistake in how they live their life, It’s so easy to say ‘it’s their choice, I’ll let them make it.” Our society perhaps reinforces this with its doctrine of independence and tolerance. "Live and let live." But the fact is, we suffer through the choices of others. We are not, none of us, completely independent. We deal with this by maneuvering ourselves out of the path of the storm brought on by someone else's poor choices. Frequently, we accept this as the most logical action.

Is it ever the right choice, rather than backing away in self-preservation, to throw our lot in with someone else, and take on the consequence of their foolishness?

What will we do for another?


For a friend, I would join in something crazy. For friendship, I went camping in November when the temp barely hit 60 during the day even though it seemed like a crazy idea. I did so because I valued the friendship more highly than my own comfort, and whether my friends were doing something crazy or not, I wanted to be with them. Yet this is a minor example. Would I face danger for another, when I could just as easily walk away? What if the danger was the direct result of that person's actions, yet had nothing to do with my own?

For a friend, perhaps. For someone who had proved their worth, possibly. For a good cause, hopefully.

What would it say if we did that for a total stranger, treating a stranger as a friend, casting our lot in with theirs to show that we are with them, accepting them as they are despite the mess they carry with them?

In the book A Wind in the Door,  by Madeleine L'Engle, there is a scene in which the boy Calvin is trying to prevent a farondala (mythical character) named Sporos from joining the other farondalae in destroying the fara (their parent-creatures), and says (paraphrased) “If you go in, I’m going in with you.” Sporos: “To kill the fara?” Calvin: “No. To be with you.” And that’s what he does. And then when he is sucked in, and another character, Meg, is sucked in, one of their companions, Mr. Jenkins, who has difficulty even believing in the farondalae, comes to pull them back—successfully, but he is ensnared. It is this action that speaks to Sporos and reveals the distinction of good and evil—that Mr. Jenkins would risk himself for Sporos, who he barely knew, and that the Echthroi (the forces of evil trying to lure Sporos) would then try to kill him. A somewhat similar scene is in the movie Hook when Peter Pan's son Jack, attracted to the fatherly affection Captain Hook has shown him, sees Captain Hook kill another boy, Rufio, whom his father then grieves as a son. Jack realizes that his father has indeed risked his life and the lives of others to save him, despite his fickleness, while Hook will kill to keep his power.

We, collectively as humans, have made a mess. A big mess. A mess created by millenia of poor choices, a mess so big that we have little hope of cleaning it up. If another being saw our world, would they care to visit? With corruption in our politics, murder in our streets, and selfishness in our hearts, we have not made this world a pleasant place.

Yet Someone came to visit--Someone who was so perfect that only He was even capable of cleansing us. He refused to sit back and watch us suffer from our mistakes, commenting "oh that's too bad for them" (this is pity), but instead came down, not as a glorified being, which would create a stark and intimidating study in contrasts, but as one of us, taking human flesh, sufferling our fatigue, touching our frailties, contending with our foolishness. Not only so, but He submitted to our mess, brought to face death by the envy and corruption of the leaders, and taking on, taking upon Himself, the full weight of our sin. Jesus cast his lot in with us, knowing that unless he did so, we would perish from our foolishness. It was only the sacrifice of perfection that would make a way for us to turn and be cleansed, able to now approach God with a clear conscious (Eph. 3:12).

What will we do?

We have a dying world around us. It will not be saved by our cool, pitying observance from the comfort of our church sanctuaries. We must not be afraid to be out there, sharing in the pain of this world, risking our health, our safety, and whatever security we've got, to offer salvation. The real sacrifice has been made, by Jesus who was perfect, but He asks us to follow His example, to go, tell, share, sacrifice, and love.

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."--Jesus, Matthew 16:24

Follow in His footsteps. He's shown the way.

Caption this

If you come by this post, create your own caption and post it in "Comments" :) Note: the bear is looking at zoo tourists through a glass wall.