Sharing My Thoughts

So, here I am typing on this blog. It has been many years since I have posted anything. Life is slowing down now and I have some time to think and to write and to share. One of my very best friends is a quilter. Wanda always has a quilt, actually many quilts, in the making. She loves to match the colors of different materials, cut the pieces, sew the squares, and put all the pieces together. She finds ways to share her quilts with others. She gives them to friends and family. She makes them for foster children and homeless moms. She gives them to expecting mothers, and the elderly in nursing homes. A little bit of her love sprinkled all over her sphere of influence. I was thinking about Wanda and her quilts the other day and how she finds a way to share them with others. She doesn't keep them all for herself packed away in boxes in a closet. She shares them. I love this about Wanda. I was also thinking about me and my writing. I don't share it so much. I keep it packed away in little journals on my book shelf. What good is it doing anyone there? Am I saving it for posterity? Will it just be thrown away when I'm gone? I wish I were more like Wanda, always finding a way to share my labors of love. With that in mind, I have decided to start posting again - even if I don't feel like I have time. I wrote this morning. Here is what I have to share today: I was thinking the other day about what God has done for us – the whole “you only need faith because God has done the rest” thing. It is simple, but it is also complex. The complexity, in fact, a-mazes me! In its simplest form, a person realizes they are a sinner, they understand they can’t change that, they know that Jesus took their penalty for sin when he died on the cross, and so they are forgiven and saved through their faith in Jesus. Simple. However, when you begin to dig deeper, it is like picking one snowflake from the simple white snow-covered ground, and examining it under the microscope. The shape and beauty and complexity of that one simple flake make it amazing. Consider some of the details. God wants relationship with us. He wants us to know Him. He designed us so that we could. He has characteristics that we would never experience if life were perfect. Forgiveness, compassion, provision – these would be lost in a perfect world. We would not know God fully without knowing He held these characteristics. God is also truth. He dwells in truth. Would we truly choose Him if given a choice? This truth is, as individuals given a choice, some would choose God and some would not. He wants the truth. He gave us free-will in order to maintain the truth of our relationship with Him. No forcing, no robots, but freely choosing God, that is the truth free-will offers. Free-will leads to a whole bunch of other issues. Sin is one of them. When we are free to choose, we often choose the wrong thing. We choose to please ourselves, do what feels best, turn away from God. He knew this would happen; He is our creator. Therefore, He set in place a way to be forgiven from the sins grown in free-will. After all, is goal is to be our God and for us to be His people. He loves us and wants us with Him. But, He knew that with our free-will, we could never attain sinlessness. It just wouldn’t happen. He also knew that setting up a list of things for us to in order to win our salvation would #1 – fuel our pride and #2 – not allow us to understand His grace. Creating a works-based system would not work. In fact, it would drive us away from Him and toward ourselves. So, in His wisdom, God sent His son. Jesus did what we could not: live a perfect life, be a perfect and unblemished sacrifice, face the wrath of God, take our punishment, and rise again. God sent the Worthy Lamb! This is one of the things that so amazes me: He knew we couldn’t save ourselves, so He id it for us. He wants us. He loves us. He didn’t leave us to do this alone. Jesus came down, Emmanuel- God with us, to walk with us on this sinful earth, to teach us the truth, to be the way for us to reach our Heavenly Father. Amazing! And when Jesus had fulfilled his job and went back to sit at the Father’s right hand until his next return, God did not leave us alone. He sent His Holy Spirit to be with us. And not just to walk beside us, but to be in us, help us, guiding us. We do not have to do this alone. He is always with us. “I will put a new spirit within you . . . I will put My Spirit with you . . .” says the LORD (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Are you listening? Can you grab hold of this? As Christian people of faith, we are not alone! God’s Holy Spirit is in us! This is amazing! You know, I think many people view the God of the Bible as a condemning, over-expecting deity who stands on the shore and points at us flailing in the water and shouts, “Wrong! You sinner! Get away from Me!” This is not a true picture of God. Instead, He wades out into the water with us and says, “Here! Hold on! I can help you.” This is a totally different picture. It is grace given by an all-knowing creator who is our Heavenly Father. All the other religions in the world are works-based. You work to walk the paths to Nirvana, work to please many gods, work to obey all the ordinances, work to uphold all the laws, work to earn your righteousness, work to get to heavenly places. The burden is on you – an imperfect sinner. The outcome is based on your abilities, your obedience, your efforts. “Believe in yourself,” the world chants. “You can do it!” “Try and try again and again and again . . .” “Follow all these laws and you’ll be fine.” “Work and stay on the path.” “Follow. Work. Do. It is all up to you,” is the mantra of the world. But Jesus cries, “Come to me, all your who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus has done the hard work. We can rest from the striving to save our souls. Jesus is gentle and humble, welcoming us with compassion and love and without condemnation. His burden is easy and light because the work that we do is out of gratitude. It is work done as a thank you for his grace and mercy and for our redemption. And work done in gratitude is joyful and rewarding. People claim the God of the Bible is demanding and uncompassionate. I ask you: Who is more demanding? The god that says, “Work hard to get it done yourself,” or the God that says, “Here! I’ve done it for you. Take it”? Who is more compassionate? The god that says, “Try and try again. You might get it eventually,” or the God that says, “Here! Let me help you with that” ? The answers are obvious. The complexity of God’s plan makes it incredibly intelligent and compassionate. And yet, it is so very simple. A-mazing! I hear the strains of a Newsboys song echoing through my thoughts: Amazing love, how can it be? That you, my King, should die for me. Amazing love, and I know it‘s true. It’s my joy to honor You. In all I do, to honor You. Praise You, LORD. Thank You. You are AMAZING!