Beautiful Sunset: A Lesson on Faith

Sometimes following Jesus is like a rainy day on a vacation.

Let me explain.

We all know that FAITH is believing in something that we can't see, and yet most Christians I know are constantly looking for signs or confirmation about things. Even the most certain of Jesus followers will find a need for confirmation at some point.  We want to know that we are right.  We want to know that God's real.  We want to know that He hears us.   That He cares.  That there's really a plan.

And sometimes we can read too much into things and come to the wrong conclusion.

The enemy KNOWS that your Father God has CREATED you with a PURPOSE.  And God's purpose for your life is not something that Satan will enjoy.   As a result, FEAR and DOUBT will often obscure your view and cause you to hunker down at home and miss GOD's BEAUTY.

We're currently on vacation in Naples, Florida.  It's beautiful here.  I'm pretty sure heaven will look like this.  One of our favorite things to do is to go to either the Marco Island or Naples beaches at night and watch the sun set over the Gulf.  It's truly breathtaking.  On my birthday we went to dinner on Marco Island and planned to see the sunset afterward, but it had been raining all afternoon.  It was still cloudy and foreboding.  We didn't want to pay the $8 to park if there wasn't going to be a sunset.  

We finally decided to just go for it.  And the sunset was a truly unique sunset.  It was unlike any other sunset we've seen.  The water almost looked light gray.  The sky was filled with clouds, but as the sun sank on the horizon it became partially visible near the horizon.  It looked like a painting.  It was so colorful and so beautiful that it didn't look real.

We were so focused on looking for signs of a sunset that we almost missed one of the most beautiful ones we have every seen.

A woman who was healed by Jesus probably had the same experience.  The Bible tells us that she had been "subject to bleeding for twelve years" and that she suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors.  I don't know about you, but this doesn't sound like your best life now.

This woman's life was one of suffering and frustration.  All of the signs told her that her case was hopeless.  She should just accept her life of misery.  But she heard that Jesus was in town and she ignored the signs because she KNEW that He could help her:

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?' ” 

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”    MARK 5:24-34

I never considered this story from this perspective until I either read it or heard it in a sermon recently, but the reality is that the woman was healed just by touching Jesus' robe.  That could have been the end of the story.  And it would have been miraculous.  But Jesus stepped into her life in the most unexpected way.  He wouldn't let it go until she came forward and admitted that she touched Him.

Why?  It's not as if Jesus didn't know who did it.  Much like Santa, he sees everything and knows all.  So then His questioning had to be for her.   It was so that she would have a face to face conversation with her Savior.  It was so that she could shed her old identity of the sickly, downtrodden hopeless gal  and emerge as a daughter of God.

That wouldn't have happened for her if she read the signs and stayed home.  GOD has a beautiful sunset beyond your current storms.  Don't miss it.

Haughty Humility

"That person is a hot mess. At least I'm not as bad as that person."

"I'll never amount to anything.  I'm destined to fail."

I'm sure you've made at least one of those statement--even if only in your head.  Amiright?

Our society is ripe with comparisons.  Social media and a celebrity-worshipping culture have only made that worse.

And if you're like me, and I suspect, a lot of Christians, than you probably manage to simultaneously exude a haughty elitism and a humility grounded not in truth but in the lies of the enemy.

Let me explain.

So many people are convinced that life is about being good.  Good people get rewarded via karma.  Only good people can get into heaven.  Even Christians talk about doing good and being a good person as though it determines our eternal destination.

If you are a true follower of Christ, you know that is not the case.  It is not possible to earn your salvation through goodness.  Salvation is found only in Christ's redemptive work on the cross and through a contrite heart that embraces that sacrifice.

But there is something that wars against our understanding of this.  There is a voice that condemns our worth because of our actions.  And yet, as human beings, we know that our value is not ascribed.  It is intrinsic. In other words, your value and dignity are not something you have to earn.  You are born with your value and dignity.  You matter regardless of what you can do or the choices that you make.

We should be mindful of our actions and choices.  We should feel badly when we fall short in our life.  But we need to use our failures as a GPS to lead us straight to the healing power of Jesus.  His desire is our restoration and illumination.  Jesus wants us to learn from our mistakes, not be condemned by them.  He wants to take our broken vessels and restore them so that we become a beacon of light that points the way for others.

If we don't get that, we lose.  And so does the world.  If we allow our failures to condemn us into a falsely-grounded humility and despair, we will fall into complacency and our sins will magnify.  

On the other end of the spectrum, however, we need to be sure to compare ourselves to God' standard and not other people.  Sometimes it is easy to get haughty by looking upon the failures and sins of others and deciding that we are better than those people.  It can numb our awareness of our own sin and failures.  A sense of superiority flies in the face of everything Jesus did here on earth.  He was the walking personification of grace.  He never abandoned sharing truth with people about their sins and failures, but He always treated them with grace.  Except the religious leaders.  He kinda just freaked out and called them vipers.

Why is that?  Because following Jesus is about the heart.  He wants RELATIONSHIP.  He wants you to understand the TRUTH of your condition and your need for HIM.  He wants you to also extend that same grace that was extended to you to the unworthy masses around you.  In Matthew 7, Jesus cautions:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Stop judging, Judgey McJudgey Pants.  That's how that passage is usually interpreted by well-meaning hipsters.  That's not exactly the whole point, though.  Jesus is simply cautioning against the hardening of the heart that comes with seeing yourself as MORE worthy of forgiveness and grace than others.  The admonition is not instructing you to keep the truth to yourself when you see someone sinning, but rather a reminder that you were extended grace that you didn't earn and that you should also wrap your truth-burgers for others in a cushiony roll of grace as well.

Again, this comes down to IDENTITY.  A subtle change in your alignment can harden your heart or decimate it.  A subtle shift in your view can strangle the hope out of your life or stop up the passage to compassion that God wants you to share with a world in need.

Let's truly see the world--and ourselves--through the intact lens of GRACE and TRUTH.

That Egyptian Army, Though...

One of my favorite people in the Bible is Moses.

I mean his story is a story of redemption, of fighting against the powerful on behalf of the downtrodden, of submitting to God and having a front row seat at a display of His power.

It also comes with a long time of wandering around in a dry, hot desert while leading a bunch of complaining cry-babies.  To be honest, I don't know how Moses put up with his people as long as he did.  And when he is denied entering the Promised Land because he hits a rock in anger, you have to wonder as a reader how he didn't get to that level of frustration earlier, amiright?

He goes up to talk with God on the top of the mountain and comes down and the gang is dancing around a golden cow, having totally forgotten and forsaken the powerful God who has delivered them from their oppressive slavery.

It's easy from the comfort of a 2016 existence to look at such behavior and mock them for their lack of faith or consistency.

When you dig beneath the snark of how stupid and weak these people were, you actually get a realistic and gritty depiction of how stupid and weak we are.  Just like the Israelites, our HEARTS are often COATED in FEAR.

One of my favorite passages of scripture comes during the excitement of the Exodus.  Here the Israelites have left their bondage and are on the banks of the Red Sea.  A literal pillar of fire and clouds has been leading them.  They've seen countless miracles and plagues demonstrating God's power.  And they saw the most powerful leader of their day, the Egyptian Pharaoh, lose his resolve and let them go.

I mean dude was like a defiant teen with his tremendous refusal to accept reality and submit to a greater authority.  It seemed like he would never give in.  But he finally did.  And then about 10 minutes later when he realized that his slaves were gone and that he and his boys might have to lift a finger and work.  So, he gets all confederate on the Israelites and chases after his "property."

And of course the Israelites melt into a pile of cowardly goo when they see the advancing Egyptian army.  They literally start whining that it would be better to go back and be slaves then to experience freedom with God.  (Another blog post for another time but very telling on our view of "freedom" and "slavery" when it comes to our society and submission to God!) As a response, Moses gives one of the most epic statements in the entire Bible in Exodus 14:13-14:

"Moses answered the people, 'Do not be afraid.  Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.  The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.  The LORD will fight or you; you need only to be still.'"

Be still.  The LORD will fight for you.  Stand firm.

In fact, the pillar of smoke and fire then goes between the Israelites and the Egyptians.  And the Bible tells us that one on side it brought "darkness" and to the other side it brought "light" so that neither side went near it.  God is darkness, confusion, and foolishness to those who don't trust Him.  To those who do, however, He is a shield, a protector, a LIGHT that illuminates every aspect of life and history to make sense in a way not possible to someone not open to the things of God.

And just for kicks, God threw the mighty Egyptian army into confusion.   Then Moses lifted his hands and raised his staff and God parted the Red Sea for His people to make perhaps the most dramatic exit in the history of the world.  Oh, and then he made the Red Sea crash down onto the heads of the Egyptian army as they attempted to cross.

Pretty epic, right?

It's easy to mock the folly and fear of the Israelites as nothing but foolishness.  And it was.  However, it is a foolishness that we all share in.  Whether it is the Israelites in the desert, Peter on the water, the disciples in the boat, or those of us today fretting about our family, our finances, our health, or even just whether or not people will mock us, FEAR has played a huge part in warping our conception of God.

GOD stands ready to FIGHT for you.  You literally have to do nothing but stand firm and keep focused on HIM instead of your FEAR.  An advancing Egyptian army, or a broken marriage, or a troubled son or daughter, or a broken relationship, or a financial hardship are all pretty frightening in their own way.  They ALL, however, pale in comparison to the POWER of the GOD who is FOR YOU and WHO DELIGHTS in FIGHTING FOR YOU.

Every time we allow our FEARS to shrink our view of the unfathomable SIZE and POWER of GOD,
we allow our CIRCUMSTANCES to DEFINE our FAITH as TINY and TIMID.

FAITH is the exact opposite of FEAR, and that's why FEAR works so hard to undermine it.  The larger our faith, the smaller our fear.  So as we allow our FEAR to EXPAND, our FAITH begins to rapidly DIMINISH.

Exodus 14 ends with verse 31: "And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in Him and in Moses his servant."

Put your trust in the GOD who sees you as a BELOVED SON or DAUGHTER.  In the GOD who is LARGER than your FEARS.  In the GOD with the UNMATCHED POWER to demolish your FEARS so that you never see them again.  Let your FEAR shrink and your FAITH expand.

Don't be captive to fear.  Embrace the freedom in God's security.