This Unfathomable Love

If we use anything other than Jesus to gauge our relationship with Jesus, that relationship will suffer.

Let me explain…

Many times we will measure where we are with Christ based on our feelings. We either feel close to Jesus, or far from Jesus based on our affections for Jesus. Sometimes Christians measure their relationship based on performance. Other times we use how others perceive us and our walk with Jesus to determine how we are doing.

The problem is, in all of these situations our relationship will be found wanting.

The problem is, in all of these situations, instead of looking at Christ we are looking at ourselves. As long as we are gauging our relationship with Jesus based on how we are doing, our relationship with Jesus will suffer. This is simply because we can’t perform well enough, love Jesus enough, or do enough to make ourselves feel worthy of Christ.

If you think you can, or if you think you have, or if you think you are…then chances are you don’t understand faith. Chances are, you are yet to truly grasp the Gospel.

The essence of the Gospel is that IN CHRIST you are accepted. The essence of faith is that IN CHRIST you are loved unconditionally by the God of the Universe. These things are true in spite of ourselves. In spite of our daily failures, God still loves you, Jesus still wants to know you and fellowship with you. IN CHRIST you belong to God. You are loved and treasured by God…But this isn’t because of you, or how wonderful you are, or how much you love Jesus…It is simply because of Christ and what He has done on your behalf in this beautiful and unfathomable story that we call the Gospel.

We gauge our relationship with Jesus based on one thing(or better to say one person).

Jesus

As we look to Jesus we see that He has done enough. He is affectionate enough. He has loved us enough. We don’t need to worry about falling away, because He has us safely in his arms. Christ has placed us in the Father’s hand, and no one or nothing can remove us(John 10:29)…not even ourselves.

I’m reminded of Mark 14:26-31. In this passage, we see the disciples and especially Peter telling Jesus that they will stand by him no matter what. Peter says that he will fight to the death if he needs to. Jesus of course informed the disciples that they would indeed fall away. Not only would they fall away, but Peter himself would deny Jesus three times.

Peter and the disciples are basing their relationship on two things. Their affections for Jesus, and their performance.

We know what happens…The disciples scatter. Peter does indeed deny Jesus three times.

But of course, it doesn’t end there.

Peter and the rest of the disciples are later shown that in spite of their lack of faith and failures they belong to Christ and he will use them mightily in the building of his Church. Peter is shown specifically that Christ and Christ alone is to be his focus.(John 21:22)

This is no less true for us.

Jesus is the measure of our relationship with Jesus.

We must not be silent…

Please, pray for the people of Syria. I have been.

The silence amongst Christians in relation to the situation in Syria has dumbfounded me. I’m sure many are concerned, I’m sure many have prayed. But I don’t hear it. I spend time on social media… I’ve seen no Christians speaking up about the attrocities going on in Syria nor anyone talking about praying for these poor people who are being targeted and murdered by their own goverment. The world at large has been somewhat quiet…but an outcry from within the body of Christ has not happened…the silence is deafening. The world has an excuse. The church does not.

I think for some, it is confusion. We don’t know exactly what is going on…what we can do…so we say nothing. I admit, the feeling of helplessness is disheartening. I feel the same way. Yet, we can pray. We can raise our voices and speak up. If there is nothing else we can do, at least we can do this. I’m sure there are other things we can do…but as of right now, I don’t know what that is. I’ve looked around on the internet, but didn’t find much. Still, I pray. Still, you can pray.

I think for others, it is simply a lack of caring. It doesn’t affect us, so we have little concern. This is unexcusable. As human beings in general, this would be bad enough. If we are Christians, this is shameful, and a gross misunderstanding of who we are called to be. As Christians we are called to stand up for the oppressed, the powerless, the ones who can’t speak up for themselves. We are called to speak against, and to do what we can to stop the shedding of innocent blood. This is true whether these people are of our ‘tribe’ or not. If we can turn a blind eye to murder…I think it says much about our heart. This is a frightening thought.

I admit. I don’t have many ideas of what we can do. What I can do… We can pray. We can talk about what is going on to the best of our knowledge. We can express our hearts…which is why I am writing this post. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t seem like much. Yet, we must not be silent. There is no excuse for that.

I acknowledge there are many situations in the world that demand our attention. I know there are people all over the world being oppressed and murdered. I know there are many people in the world suffering and dying of things that are preventable. All of the things I spoke about above are true for these situations as well. We must not be silent…

I am not dismissing any of those things. The situation in Syria though, has really brought to light a major problem in the Church for me. Silence within the body of Christ as regards the suffering of other human beings who were created in the image of God. Tragic. We must not be silent…There is no excuse for our silence.

Psalm 51 Meditation: Who You Are

Mercy
Abundant Mercy
Love
Steadfast Love
This is who you are
Rain down your mercy
Pour out your steadfast love…

Sin
Sinner
It is who I am
It is who I have always been
Against my God have I sinned
Sin I chose
Sin is what I always choose
Yet this is not who I was called to be
This is no longer who I am
You have taught me
You are teaching me
Within my soul I hear your voice…

Cleanse me and I will be clean
Wash me whiter than snow
In your mercy I find joy
In your love you have broken me
My sin you no longer see
My heart is yours
Your life is mine
This is who I am
My spirit longs for you
My spirit clings to you
You’ve filled my mouth with your words
My song is praise…

I sing for others
I sing for you
I sing for those who are yours
I sing for mercy
I sing for love
Abundant mercy
Steadfast love

This is who you are…