Don't Lose Your Vision of God

The season of Lent is upon us. 

Time to do what we need to be always doing: letting the Holy Spirit do His ongoing work of changing us to look like Jesus.

It has been said that the human soul is the most prolific idol maker known. We enshrine things, people and places results that and demand of them what God alone can give.

People sacrifice their time and energy to gain the approval of people they have determined is necessary to their well being. That approval is what makes them feel they have value and worth. 

Some will drown themselves in debt to have the "toys" that society has declared to be the signs of success and prestige. 

Others may become slaves to fashion believing that having the "in vogue" wardrobe is what defines them as a person of distinction. 

Jobs, houses, cars, clothes, club memberships and the "right crowd" become idols to whom people willingly sacrifice their lives and fortunes expecting that the idols will return to them a life of contentment, fulfillment and purpose.

It never works. The stuff we turn into idols simply demands more and more of our life-blood and never returns on the investment what we had hoped for. We lose sight of who we are and our vision of God shrivels into insignificance.

When you are gazing at your idols, worshiping them, you lose your holy imagination and forget who God really is.

Your job is not your security. Your clothes are not your identity, your possessions are not the measure of your worth. Your intellect is not the end all of wisdom and understanding. When we make idols of anything or any relationship, demanding that they do for us what only God can do, our vision of God shrinks to the pitiful.

God alone is the One who can fill us with life and peace, wisdom and true strength. He is the only unchangeable source truth and mercy. He is the One who formed us and has a future and a hope for us. Our destiny and identity are found in Him. They can be discovered no where else. He is the One who reveals to us who He is that we might see with His eyes to see who we actually are. Praise His Name, God is not limited by what we know or by what we have experienced.

Jesus Christ alone can give life that can never be taken from you. Jesus alone can give you life that will never grow smaller and will never end.

Purpose and destiny are found in Him alone. If your holy imagination, your "idea" of God has shrunk so that your faith is anemic, ask the Lord to show you your idols and then repent, turn from them to the Living God and let Him astound you with the wonder of His grace and truth.

We must get our eyes off the things that have become, even subtly, idols in our lives. They are like spiritual vampires sapping us of life and peace. Don't think you don't have idols tucked away. You and I are consummate idol makers.

The Devil tried to get Jesus to fix His eyes on something other than God to accomplish His mission here on earth. Just like Satan offered Adam and Eve an alternative to dependence on God (good definition of an idol...anything we depend on in the place of God) he offered Jesus alternatives to obedience and suffering to rescue humanity from sin and death.

I want to encourage you, as we enter into the season of Lent, to ask the Lord to show you and empower you let go of attitudes, habits and actions that indicate there may be an idol in your heart's "closet". Especially read the Gospel for this Sunday: Luke 4:1-13. Pray through it and ask the Lord to open your ears so you can hear Him speak to you.

Jesus wants His people to be "idol free". That is the condition of heart, will, mind and emotion that display the winsomeness of God. With our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Holy Spirit can cause our vision of God to be rescued and healed. He wants us to see Him as He truly is; the One who makes life whole and complete. Turn from idols, look to Him and live!

God's deep peace keep you,

Fr. Mark+

The desire for power...or lust for it...I believe, derives from the loss of our intended and primary relationship with God, who is Almighty. We were meant to live is secure, fulfilled and joyful dependence on Him. When we severed that vital relationship, humanity began to grasp at power, defining it in various and sundry ways to disguise the fear driving it. We have ever since been either trying to justify it, rationalize it or just brutally exercise it. That "lust" has been overlaid with religion, jingoistic fervor, or simply displayed in undisguised bullying. Authority is a different animal from mere "power". A slight, 92-pound female police officer can stop a fast-moving hoard of vehicles on a NYC avenue by raising her gloved hand. She does so not by her personal power, but by the authority her uniform & badge convey. Make no mistake. authority has power behind it, but is different. Can authority be perverted? Yes! Anything broken humanity wields can and most likely will be twisted by the inner "twister" Scripture calls sin. God's authority has ultimate Power...but it is exercise in infinite grace and Justice...something we can only know by God showing us...by His revelation of Love in Jesus Christ.

Finishing Well

Did you know that the Lord is not all that interested in how you started your "race".  His main interest is in how we finish the race.  

I know people who began their walk of faith with Jesus Christ who stumbled and fell with great regularity.  It looked like a "false start" but then they picked themselves up, sometimes with the helping hand of a fellow runner, dusted themselves off and put one foot in front of the other and kept at it. 

Living a life of faith in Jesus Christ is not a life of perfection, it is a life of faith, hope and utter dependance on the One on whom our faith depends from start to finish.

In Hebrews chapter 12, following Jesus is compared to running a Marathon . Anything that adds weight or interferes with one's stride and pace is jettisoned at the starting line. You will never see a marathon runner carrying luggage of any kind as they run. They wear the lightest clothes and the lightest, most durable running shoes.

They run like they mean it!

The main concern is not how fast they get off the line, but how they pace themselves, how they persevere through the grueling course and most of all how they finish. If you have begun to follow Jesus, you are meant to finish the race and  finish well. The only way to do that is to fix your eyes on Jesus, the One on whom your faith depends from start to finish.

St. Paul stated in Philippians 3:12 that he was still running, he hadn't yet come to perfection. He knew that Jesus would finish the good work that He had begun. St. Paul's part was to press on, keep following in faith, running the race Jesus had called him to run so as to take hold of that for which Jesus had taken hold of him.   

When St. Paul wrote this , he wasn't at the finish line yet. He could remember the times he had stumbled and fallen. He could recall the bite of the gravel on his knees and hands. We all fall down, but we have to get up! One stumble does not disqualify the runner. Get up!

St. Paul urges fellow runners to forget what lies behind and to strain forward to what lies ahead; to keep running. Our spiritual adversary continually reminds us of where we have stumbled and wants us to be so focused on what happened in the past, that by looking backward, we are assured of tripping and falling again. To mix metaphors, you have put your shoulder to the plow...don't look back! Those are Jesus' words in Luke 9:62! Keep your eyes on Jesus!

Seasoned runners will tell you that the length of the race can itself become a discouragement. They can't see the finish line. So they pick out a landmark somewhere out in the distance and race towards that. Each segment of the race adds up and because Jesus is leading us, having run the same course and finished in the glory of His Resurrection, He knows perfectly how to assist us to run well...to finish well.

You are not alone in this race. There is a great cloud of witnesses already in Heaven who have finished the course. There is a great throng of fellow runners who are with you now. Don't straggle in self pity or regret at the back or the pack. Run in the middle of the pack, in the fellowship of other followers of Jesus Christ. 

In the wild, it's the stragglers at the back of the herd that are most vulnerable to attack from the roaring lion. When you run with others in fellowship you can encourage one another, steady one another, even strengthen "weak arms and feeble knees" so that no one falls out. 

You have today. Trust Jesus with the whole of it. Run as one who is destined to win the prize or the high calling you have in Christ Jesus! Fix your eyes on Jesus! RUN!

He Will Interfere!

Living as a follower of Jesus entails so much more than we ever could have imagined. At 19 years of age when Jesus revealed Himself to me, I saw that I was dead without Him. Now, 42 years later, I continue to be amazed at HOW dead I was and how I still need spiritual "debridement” to be rid of the non-life stuff that still tends to cling to my daily living.

Salvation is a reality given to us as a gift from God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It's also a way of living, a process of extending what God has planted in me, that new heart and spirit, into every aspect of my life.

We are given this new life to live in power so we can follow Him. It's rather just like a pilgrimage. On a pilgrimage, there are times when, though the road is more or less level, but the distance to cover is long and hard. There are other times it almost seems overwhelming when the walk becomes a mountainous climb over less than pleasant sharp rocks.

The call from Him is to walk with Him in His power, not ours. Life as it is meant to be known and lived cannot be lived in human strength. We have to face the reality that we are not our own; we are His: spirit, mind, will, emotion and body. There is no dimension of our lives that Jesus is disinterested in. He lives His life in us to do a thorough work of rescue, restoration and transformation. What we find it that He can be quite "interfering", to say the least.

You know we are accustomed to doing things our own way. We've grown "used" to them, even when doing things our own way has produced less than satisfying results. It's what we know and so we stubbornly plow on in our own familiar insanity thinking that THIS time, things will come out differently. Insane, I say, because our ways will never get us to the place the Lord has prepared for us.

His intent is not that we somehow eke by, somehow making it by the "skin of our teeth". St. Pauls makes it very clear that in Christ we are MORE than conquerors...super-victors...through HIM who loves us. It is a great comfort to me to know that, "He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion by the Day of Christ."

Life is not easy because the world is broken. It is not easy because we are the cause of its brokenness. It's not easy because the residue of our old natures (Scripture calls it "the flesh") colludes with sin to try and keep it alive in us...keep us drinking the "Kool-Aid". The Light of Christ is utterly penetrating and will not let us live in any degree of self-deception. Jesus will come in like a hurricane to blow away what we think is shelter so that we learn not to continue building our lives on "sand".

Jesus will interfere with our lives so that we might really live. He'll interfere with our schedules, our relationships, our finances, our time, our recreation...anything that would keep us from knowing...living the full life and destiny He has for us. There is so much more that He has for you and me that Sunday worship and occasional fellowship gatherings or prayer gatherings. He wants to fill you with Himself, to give you eyes to see as He sees, a heart that is moved as His heart it and power to make a marked difference in the lives of people who do not yet know Him.

If you are experiencing the interference of Jesus, do not resist...yield and surrender. We have to learn dependence, trust and perseverance. God is doing in us what we could never accomplish...ever. The Light of Christ has come not merely to expose the darkness, but to expel it and free us from its influence!

I am so glad He keeps interfering. We'd be lost without Him.

Ah...the Pax Romana! It was a time of relative peace, simply maintained by the brutal force of Rome and her legions. Nations were crushed, freedoms were curtailed, soldiers could force labor on you, tax collectors could swindle you and you had no recourse.

The nation of Israel was under Caesar's control. Though allowed to carry out religions practices in the temple in Jerusalem, there was a great sense of suffering. Taxes and regulations made a poor region even  more wretched. 

God's timing was perfect, as always. Roman dominion had set the stage where relative peace allowed commerce to move quickly across the massive and diverse area of the Mediterranean world. The Greek language was commonly understood everywhere. Ideas traveled quickly as did news of major events. The time was ripe...God's time!

Rome worshipped power and despised anything remotely resembling mercy, forgiveness and grace. To Rome, those were signs of weakness and worthlessness. Humility was scorned and reviled. It was not an environment where those things valued by God and essential to the health of the human soul were encouraged.

It was into this context that the Word became flesh to dwell among us. The King of kings and Lord of lords, who could have called down 12 legions of angels (Rome had fewer active legions at the time) when the soldiers came to arrest Him in Gethsemane, would not conform to Rome's expectations of a king. Jesus doesn't conform to our demands either. He is who He is as He has eternally been.

In fact, as Mary proclaimed in Luke's Gospel, God scatters the proud and haughty in their deceit, He brings down princes from their thrones and exalts the humble. He fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away with empty hands. He shows mercy from generation to generation to those who believe Him, whose lives are lived in the awe and reverence He deserves.

Rome thought power and control was the answer to ruling unruly people. Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler thought the same, as did Mao Zedong and Che Guevara. You may crush people's lives, but that doesn't change their hearts.

Power and manipulation are never be the means of the transformation of society. Choose your "-ism": socialism, Communism, totalitarianism, paganism, capitalism, legalism, Buddhism, Darwinism, existentialism, fascism, Freudianism, nihilism, positivism, pragmatism, humanism, utopianism or establishmentarianism!

None of the above can ever get to the root of the human problem. They can never change the human heart. As long as the human heart is disconnected from its true source and reference for life, humans will still oppress one another. We will still "zombify" all who disagree with us so disposing of them raises no ethical questions. We will keep sending our sons to die on the world's battlefields.  

We simply couldn't do what was necessary.  God Himself had to come if humanity had any hope of restoration. The Creator had to personally come to rescue the lost crown of His creation. Jesus came to fulfill the will of God in the earth. God's way would open the singular Door for all humanity to return to God, receive forgiveness for heinous rebellion, be given a new heart and empowered by God's own Spirit to be able to actually live new lives...to be changed for the good! 

The power of God is infinitely greater than all combined human effort. In fact, St. Paul speaks directly to this in his first letter to the Church in Corinth (1st Corinthians 1:20-25). God's means of salvation through the cross, by death and resurrection of Jesus, seemed foolish to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles. But the wisdom of God's plan is infinitely wiser than the wisest plan of man...any of our  "-isms"...and the "weakness" of God is infinitely strong than any strength mankind could possibly muster.

God chooses what the world think of as week, a teenage girl, to bear God, the Eternal Son. Mary bears God Himself in her womb. In her womb, the Word was made flesh. He didn't do things the way Rome would have or even the way Paramount Studios might have imagined. He came as a dependant, helpless baby.

Jesus, the Messiah would take His humanity from Mary; carry her DNA in His own physical body...even after His Resurrection. Fully God, Jesus Christ bears our humanity fully that we might be fully rescued and redeemed...not in the world's might, but in the might of God.

In Mary's womb was the One whom the universe could not contain. The embryo in her named Jesus was God's way for mankind's reclamation.

The mystery of the ages was about to be revealed in a very oppressive Pax Romana.

That One, once Incarnate from the Virgin Mary, is one day going to return in the fully-unveiled power of God, not hidden, but infinite in His glory. Like lightening flashing from east to west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. Every eye shall see this happen. There will be no room for misunderstanding.

There are still people who are not ready for that Day.

In the now, Life and Peace are offered in God's grace to all who will turn from self, turn to Jesus Christ in faith and surrender their lives to Him.

On THAT Day, the Redeemer will return as the Judge of the living and the dead. His majesty will make the glory of Rome look less that ashes.

I want everyone I know to be ready to receiving Him as their returning King, Lord and Savior.

The last three Sundays before the season of Advent are sometimes called "Kingdom Sundays". They focus on King Jesus, His reign, His Word and His ways. This Sunday there is a focus on His Word. The collect appointed for the days reads like this:

 

Blessed Lord, Who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for

our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn,

and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever

hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which You have

given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with

You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

To read is one thing. We can forget what we have read if we just read in a cursory manner, like in the doctor's office. However if we mark, really pay attention to what we read with a mind to remember, we retain more.

If the intent is to learn, really learn, then the focus is ramped up another notch because there is an intent to utilize the information we are reading. If I want to learn how to make a quilt, how to play an instrument or maybe how to build a house, I will read the instructional material much more closely than if I'm just reading till the nurse calls me back into the  doctor's examination room.

If we are wanting to master a thing, we read, re-read, make notes and ask questions of those who are already to some degree mastering more than we have. We begin to eat, drink and sleep the material so that it becomes part of us. Our whole perspective begins to change, being shaped by the subject we have devoted ourselves to. It's at this point that we find that having read, marked, learned we have inwardly digested the information/knowledge and it has become part of us. You know...you are what you eat.

Reading God's Word for some is like chewing gum. You get some flavor and a workout for your jaws, but no real benefit other than fresher breath for a few moments. There is no nutritional value.

Others may just focus on their favorite passages maybe not even noticing the context of those passages. That's kind of only eating "sweets". Now that has more benefit than gum, but if that is your steady diet, you will not remain healthy for long. You need your veggies, grains and proteins as well.

When we submit our lives to the full counsel of God's Word we will find places that make us uncomfortable and for good reason! We need the Holy Spirit to work out in our lives the salvation God has given us in Jesus Christ. We will be convicted and disciplined by the Word of God...even "taken to the woodshed" at times...believe me, I've been there many times over the past 42 years of following Jesus.

In Hebrews 12:5-12 the author clearly states that all true children of God will be disciplined for their own good, so they may share in His holiness. That discipline/correction/training can be painful. We have to face the fact that there are places in our lives that we are not as free as we thought. Unhelpful habits can still enslave us. You know the "Oh...that's just the way I am..." kind of excuses we give.

Being "born-again" does not mean "perfected". It does mean, however, that we have a new spiritual DNA, a new heredity and a new nature. Like new-born children we have to grow up, mature. As new creations coming out of death into life, we need to un-learn a lot, to have our minds renewed to see things from a radically new perspective: God's perspective.

We are not merely meant to read about God's Holiness, we are meant to share in it, to be changed in an ongoing way to become more alive, more real, more whole...more like Jesus. It's when we so digest Jesus' Words that we begin to do what it says in faith and obedience...when we make our "home" in God's Word and His Word finds a home in us that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free...no longer slaves!

It is the written will of God that in the life of any follower of Jesus Christ, God's Word is to become "home" to us; that defining reference as to what makes for life and the arbiter of any and all decisions we made need to make in living. When that process is an ongoing and ever increasing, our vision of life will be changed by the application of truth and  that the truth will become assimilated and becomes life and breath to us. We ill begin to look like "what we eat."

The freedom that comes from this will empower you to live fearlessly and rigorously. It will make no difference if people persecute you or not. You will be able to embody the Love of Jesus to them because as he lives in you He will live through you.

Feed your life! Read, mark and inwardly digest God's Holy Word so that you may embrace (like a lover) and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life God has given you in our Savior Jesus Christ.

Today, in America, half the population is elated that their candidate for President was re-elected. The other half is not rejoicing and have various ways of expressing their disappointment. Division is a sad given and will continue to be so as long as people continue to put their hope in finite & flawed humanity.

 

The world we live in is moving through time toward an ultimate end that God has set; it cannot be changed. That's not pessimism, but eternal truth. Time will not continue on forever. A day will come when time will end. Until that moment arrives, the only hope for humanity is to follow the only One who can give life. You cannot put your in Congresses, Presidents or Judges, armies or any other person and hope for a better future. The only One worthy of trust is Jesus Christ.

 

No government has ever been the "salvation of mankind" nor will one ever be. Human hearts can only be rescued and changed by the love and grace offered humanity in Jesus Christ. True life-change is never due to human achievement but solely because of His grace and mercy.

 

We  all hope for a "better future" but we can read clearly in Scripture that the rebellion against God that is entrenched in the human heart is not moving in that direction. Things will get much worse before the Lord Jesus returns. We should not be shocked or surprised when people make choices that defy God's ways or His Word. I cannot expect to see Life flowing out of something that is at its heart "spiritually dead".

 

But I won't despair, because I have seen Jesus rescue me. There is no one "too far gone" that the Lord's Love cannot reach them and restore them. I am living proof of that.

 

Till Jesus comes again, I will pray and work with the Holy Spirit's power for the justice and equity of God, the mercy and compassion Jesus displayed on the Cross and be willing to lay my lives down to see people rescued from death by Jesus' Life.

 

Followers of Jesus are called to pray FOR, not AT our governmental leaders, regardless of whether you respect them or trust them. God is still in control. He cannot be mocked, bribed nor dismissed, though some will think that is the case. Remember, you are not God and do not see as clearly as you suppose.

 

"The Lord loves those you may hate as much as He loves you." (Thank you Lizzy) Jesus did not die and rise again selectively, but as St. John writes, "He (Jesus) is the sacrifice that atones for our sins--and not only for our sins, but the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2

 

Neither Republican nor Democrat will heal our land. Only Jesus can heal and restore humanity to what it was created to know. All else is a Band-aid over the bullet-hole. Hold fast to the One who will last forever, Jesus Christ.

 

+++++++++++++

 

Below are the words to a song written by Twila Paris in 1993.

 

This is no time for fear
This is a time for faith
And determination
Don't lose the vision here
Carried away by the motion
Hold on to all
That you hide in your heart
There is one thing
That has always been true
It holds the world together

 

God is in control
We believe that His children
Will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember
And never be shaken
There is no power above
Or beside Him we know
Oh God is in control

 

History marches on
There is a bottom line
Drawn across the ages
Culture can make its plan
Oh but the line never changes
No matter how the deception may fly
There is one thing
That has always been true
It will be true forever

 

God is in control
We believe that His children
Will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember
And never be shaken
There is no power above
Or beside Him we know
Oh God is in control

 

He has never let you down
Why start to worry now
Why start to worry now
He is still the Lord of all we see
And He is still the loving Father
Watching over you and me

 

God is in control
We believe that His children
Will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember
And never be shaken
There is no power above
Or beside Him we know
Oh God is in control
+++++++++++++++++

 

God bless you.