More on redemption

Another favorite movie, especially in Christmas time, is the old classic "Scrooge". It has such a redeeming message. In the movie Scrooge meets the spirit of Christmas and he gets to drink deep from the cup of kindness. It says in the Bible that it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4). This is when Scrooge is starting to melt and repent from his negative attitude and he eventually changes completely and becomes a new man, canceling people's debts left and right. This is exactly what God has done for us. He canceled our debts and our only proper response is to celebrate and say: "THANK YOU VERY MUCH. That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me!"

Redemption

I love movies that picture forgiveness and tell a redemptive story. One of my favorite scenes of redemption of all times is from The Color Purple. I saw this movie at least three of four times when it first came out when I was a teenager. Still, every time I watch this scene I just cannot keep it together.

In the church I last attended, CTF in Raleigh, they used to lovingly refer to God as "Jehovah Sneaky", meaning that He sneaks up on you when you least expect it to surprise you with His love or tell you something. He is speaking all the time, we just miss a lot of it because we are not tuned into the flow and we might expect Him to speak in a certain way, not so much in our every day, ordinary, messy life. That is also why I love this clip from the Color Purple. God is definitely trying to tell us something ALL THE TIME and He has good things to say. Words of redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, encouragement, love...

Choices

I have started to work at a Christian school as a First Grade teacher and I am learning about choices. We tell the kids all the time that they need to make good choices and I always thought it sounded kind of harsh and religious because it is not always that easy. There are so many circumstances playing in. But today as I was meditating on this I realized that it does not mean that we need to be strong and fix everything ourselves and do everything right but we always have the choice to lean into God and His help or we can choose to hold on to our own pride and our own ways. I always have the choice! But I might have an ungodly belief that tells me that I am a helpless victim and cannot do anything about certain things. There might be addictions, emotions, circumstances I cannot control. But there is always a choice! I am actually TREMENDOUSLY POWERFUL WITHIN because the Holy Spirit lives inside of me. The same power that raised Jesus from the death is in work within me. It is pretty powerful thing to be raised from the dead but it does not stop at that in this passage (Ephesians 1:19-21). It goes on in the following verses and tells us that this power within us is the same power that

...seated Christ at God's right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything...

Now that is pretty powerful!!! Am I still seeing myself as a helpless victim? Am I still buying in to lies like "I cannot help it" or "He drives me crazy". The truth is that no one can drive me crazy or make me do anything. No one in this world can have that kind of power over me. Not if I get to know and believe in that mighty strength that God has put within me.

Mercy and truth

The more I read the Bible in different translations, the more it makes sense to me. Different verses come together. Aha - this means this. And those words are the same as these other words, just a different twist.

For example in Proverbs 16:6

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for

(NIV)

In King James the words love and faithfulness are translated mercy and truth. Because it is the same thing!


The truth of God is not hard or harmful. Just because he knows the truth about us does not mean we need to fear him because he will reveal who we really are, the sin in our lives etc. That is completely not according to his character, although some people who don't know the Father heart of God can use him as a threat: "You better behave because God sees you (and he is going to punish you if you don't behave)".

Jesus, who perfectly reflects the character of the Father, is full of grace and truth.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14
This word "truth" has more to do with faithfulness, that he is true to us. He is faithful even when we are faithless (2 Tim 2:13).


I actually learned today that there is a special word in Hebrew that describes all the love, favor, goodness, kindness, mercy, and compassion He shows us in the blood covenant He made with us. The word in Hebrew is chesed. Wow! I want to dig deeper into this. God is soooo good!

Wisdom

Sometimes I ask God for wisdom and revelation but I tend to pray that when I have something I don't understand or a special problem in mind that I think I need wisdom for. I kind of memorized Ephesians 1:17 but it is always good to pick up your Bible and read it again in its context. Why do I need wisdom and revelation? Aha - to know Him better!

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better

Eph 1:17

Wisdom is to know God, to seek Him, to love Him. In Proverbs it is talking about fearing the Lord (Prov 9:10), but it is all the same thing. To fear God does not mean we are afraid of Him, but that we are God-fearing people that count on God, rely on Him, believe His word, have a healthy respect for God and His power, not treating Him like He is our little pet that we keep in a box for our benefit and comfort as it suits us. (By the way - God is never kept that way, but we might think we have Him, when it is only our own version of Him, what the Bible calls an idol.)

Wisdom is in Proverbs described as a person, a woman actually, that we can interact with and get to know. She is calling out to everyone to come and eat at her table (Prov 9).

For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Prov 2:10

This does not happen automatically but takes some activity from our part. There are eight steps described in Proverbs 2:

1- accept God's words, humility, willingness to say that He is God, not think that we know best all the time and set ourselves up as judges over His word
2- store up His commandments within us, not just read the word but actively meditate and digest it
3- turn our ears to wisdom, a repenting attitude on our part, we realize our need for wisdom, we are turning to Him
4- applying our hearts to understanding, put all our hearts in it, all our strength, our will, our power, not just halfheartedly, this is the priority for our lives, it is not only about us becoming wise people, it is about knowing God and becoming like Him, finding our destiny and purpose
5- call out for insight, the search intensifies, becoming loud now, public, it is not just a private thing anymore
6- cry aloud for understanding, - I don't care what people think, I am desperate, I am hungry, I got to have it
7- look for it as silver, we really value what God values and prioritize accordingly
8- search for it as a hidden treasure, we are not giving up but keep looking and we realize it is hidden, a mystery, but it is worth spending our lives on.

Pretty intense! That is the kind of attitude we are to go after Him with!

then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.

Prov 2:5

and we will delight in the fear of the LORD.

Is 11:3

Peace

As I am reading the Bible in English instead of Swedish certain wordings stick out to me in a new way. This morning as I was reading First John, I found a number of "This is how..." statements and one in particular stuck out to me: This is how (...) we set our hearts at rest in His presence.

The following verse is very well known to me but I somehow had missed the connection between verse 19 and 20.

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

1 John 3:20

To be at rest in his presence, to really know that there is no condemnation for me when I am in Christ (Rom 8:1), to have peace of mind - it has everything to do with my relationship with the Father. We know that he is not angry, upset or disappointed with us. He sees us, as he sees his Son. Jesus said, as one of the last things he was sharing with his disciples before his death, that he left them with peace as a gift. "My peace I give you" (John 14:27). It is not just peace in general, peace and quiet, a peaceful life, happy circumstances. Actually, he did not promise any of that, quite the opposite, but he promised us the peace of Jesus Christ, that kind of relationship with the Father. Or not just that kind of relationship but we actually enter into their perfect relationship, we are in Christ, included. We have the mind of Christ, the peace of mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

1 John 4:13,16

The peace of God will guard my mind and this happens in our relationship, when I focus on him instead of myself or my circumstances, when I trust him, when I pour out my heart to him in prayer and praise and present my requests to him boldly (Phil 4:6). My restless thoughts can find rest if I direct my thoughts to him instead of worrying. I have to take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to the love of Christ (2 Cor 10:5), knowing at all times that I am loved, unconditionally, limitless, complete, no matter what. And that brings peace. Such peace, or conviction of righteousness, also moves me into action. It makes me focus outwardly rather than questioning my heart, asking if I am okay all the time. This peace is like a pair of shoes of readiness and willingness that equip me and prepare me to move forward, stand upright and kick butt in the spiritual war we are in (Eph 6:15).

You can

My daughter is now in that age when she wants to be very independent and do everything herself. Very confidently she keeps on telling me "Du kan" which in Swedish means "you can". (She has been calling herself "you" since she started talking about herself because that is what I call her all the time.) She does not want to sit on my lap anymore when we read books but next to me on the couch. She is determined to put her shoes on herself and buckle up with the seat belt in the car etc. I have to secretly help her without her noticing. When I am cooking or doing something in the kitchen she brings a chair and wants to "help" and I will find tasks that are just on her level that she actually can do like pouring flour into a bowl or stirring in a pot. I guess I am feeling somewhat what God must be feeling when He is cooperating with us. We are not actually "helping" God with anything but He enjoys having us around and doing stuff together with us. Although we have no clue of what is going on, or no concept of following a recipe or where things are going to end up He will let us stir in His pots just because He loves us. He enjoys our time together. It is all about the relationship and He wants us to feel good about ourselves. He is lavishing encouragement and love upon us for our "achievements" just like I do with my daughter and we are actually growing in the process. And this is just the beginning!

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2

Sit down

In our culture we suffer from sitting too much. It is a passive kind of sitting that leads to complacency and laziness. We get stuck in front of our computers or in our couches or church pews and can hardly get up and make ourselves do anything because we just get comfortable sitting.

But at the same time that we are sitting too much, we have a hard time finding rest. We are filled with stress and restlessness even when we are inactive, zapping away on our wide screen TV:s or surfing the internet for hours.

In Biblical language, the verb "to sit" does not usually have to do with sitting down to rest but sitting down to rule (Is 52:2). It is a place of honor and respect. We sit down on thrones with Christ. It is a very active sitting down. But it is also a place of rest. We rule when we rest. Our strength is in the stillness and the rest we find in God (Is 30:15). We don't get caught up in worries and fears because we know that God is so much bigger and mightier than whatever we can face and that His love always surrounds us.

Faith

The concept of Happy Thoughts comes from Peter Pan. Peter Pan has grown up and forgotten who he really is. To get in touch with his true self again and be able to fly, like he used to, he needs to think Happy Thoughts.

More and more I understand how our thoughts are so important for our lives. If our thoughts are all negative and filled with lies and fears we are not going to fly very high in life.

I know that faith is not "positive thinking" but in a sense we need to become like little children and have that childlike faith that everything is possible. Faith is not a heavy thing, that we can work hard on to make stronger in our life. Faith is a gift. We receive what God has for us by faith. It is not even our faith but the faith of Jesus Christ. He has faith in us. He is full of faith. That means that He is faithful and true! To us. And most of all to Himself. So we need to get to know Him, the person Jesus Christ, and then our faith will grow automatically. It is a very personal, relational thing, not some magic formula.

If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself.

2 Tim 2:13







To a Swede, the Norwegian language sounds sort of humorous. We can perfectly understand Norwegian (pretty much) but it is like a funny version of Swedish, not quite as serious, but Norwegian sounds happier and more energetic than Swedish, at least to a Swede. That is why I liked this Norwegian version of the Peter Pan song. To me it catches the spirit of positive thinking.

Happy Thoughts

Tonight I visited heaven for a little while. We are house sitting and "baby sitting" our friends house and kids this week and one of the privileges about that is that I get to put the younger kids to bed, read them stories, sing lullabies and pray with them. Tonight the youngest one wanted me to tell her "Happy Thoughts" to think about before she went to sleep and then she told me "Happy Thoughts" and off we went straight into heaven. She told me how I was dancing around on a field with all these animals and then the lamb climbed the back of the tiger and was riding on him. The little mouse was dancing right next to the big moose but he never stepped on him but the mouse ran in and out in between his legs in perfect harmony and just had fun, being silly.

Then we were playing by this waterfall and the water was just the right temperature and everybody could swim and those kids came that never had had fresh water their whole lives and they just drank. We did not need soap or shampoo that gets in the eyes but we all got clean and fresh from just the water and there was healing in the water too and refreshment. Then Jesus disciples came ("What does disciples mean anyways?") and said that these kids were rubbish but Jesus said that they were perfect for him and he thought they all were handsome and wonderful worshipers.

It was so easy and so much fun and really profound to visit heaven with my little friend. I cannot wait to go back again and get more revelation. Maybe I will even go up on my own. But it is good to have a little helper that is not too caught up in rational thought.

Four living creatures

Some things in the Bible I find a bit strange. Then I don't pay too much attention to that, but move on and read something else. I am sure it all makes sense I just don't get it at the time or it doesn't appeal to me at the moment. Later I can read the same scripture and it is like the passage pops out from the page and comes alive to me.

I had one of those aha-moments the other week as I was reading the first chapter of Ezekiel. It describes a powerful vision the prophet had of God and the activity going on around His throne with different living creatures and flashes of lightning etc. These creatures always seemed weird and pointless to me, like taken from a science fiction movie, type Star wars, that I am completely uninterested in. I could not see what they had to do with my life at all.

But the other week when I read the passage again all of a sudden it made sense. Of course, these creatures need faces in every direction so they never need to take their eyes off of God. He is so beautiful and marvelous so they cannot afford missing out on any aspect of Him. To make that point even clearer they move around on wheels that are covered in eyes. And the wheels are so high that they are dreadful. All these eyes serve that same purpose - to gaze on God. And they are covered in eyes! One pair of eyes is far from enough. There are so many aspects of God and such depth, so much splendor, awesomeness, beauty and all kinds of other adjectives forever and ever so the only words to rightfully describe Him is "Holy, Holy, Holy".

These creatures are constantly on the move. Actually they are running back and forth like flashes of lightning. I never reflected on the enormous power, energy and activity that is going on before the throne of God. I typically visualize it as a sort of quiet, peaceful and reverent place, but these creatures don't stand still. I bet God doesn't stand still either. It is explosive! There is so much life!

God has a house

Tonight as we were meditating on Psalm 23 as part of our school, the very last sentence of that Psalm hit me:

"I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever"

God has a house! What does that mean? What does it look like? What is the purpose of a house? Of course God doesn't need a house. He is the creator of the whole universe. This is more for us. Humans understand the picture of a house. A house, or a home, is a safe place where you can come and rest, where you can be yourself, where family happens, where food is served and needs are taken care of.

But God wants to have that kind of fellowship with us, humans. He is not looking for servants. He doesn't need anything from us (Ps 50). He is looking for friends and family, a place where he can come and rest, where he can be glorified and have fellowship with us. He desires us! We can find a home in him, in his love, and live with him forever. He is inviting us to live in his house, to be a part of his family, to enjoy his presence. He in us and we in him. This is not only about after this life, it is also here and now, a spiritual reality. And God's house is a good place to be! It is a place of abundance, pleasure and delight! I was actually surprised when I looked up these scriptures on the house of God and saw how GOOD and rich it is!

"This is my resting place for ever and ever, here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it. I will bless her with abundant provisions;
her poor will I satisfy with food."

Ps 132:14-15

How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.

Ps 36:7-8

"Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You choose and cause to come near, that he may dwell in Your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house."

Ps 65:4

St Patrick's day

I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever,
By power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan River;
His death on cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spiced tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the Cherubim;
The sweet 'Well done' in judgment hour;
The service of the Seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers,
the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, his shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.
Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.
Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death-wound and the burning
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.

~~~~~~ St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer


Patrick succeeded in converting almost the entire population of Ireland to Christianity in the 5th century. It is said Patrick taught the doctrine of the Trinity by using a shamrock. Hundreds may have been baptized on a single day as Patrick would travel to an area where many would gather to hear what he had to say. Some report Patrick built as many as 300-600 churches, baptized 120,000+ individuals, and built countless schools and hospitals. He died on March 17 in 461. Imagine leaving a legacy like that!

New clothes

I have been searching the Bible lately on the subject "clothes". Clothes are a symbol for our identity and who we are. It is not just for looks but it carries a much deeper meaning, when the Bible talks about clothes and what we are wearing, so to speak. Of course it is a metaphor for deep, spiritual realities.

I have heard that anything that is very important and foundational about human life and God you can find in the first three chapters of Genesis. If it is not found there, it is probably not that important. Well, I had a look for "clothes" in the first chapters of Genesis and I was struck by what I found in Gen 3:7.

Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together and made coverings (aprons) for themselves.

We have all seen cute paintings of Adam and Eve dressed in their fig costumes like fashionable bikinis but once I read that the actual word for those clothes were "aprons" it all made sense! When do we wear aprons? When we are working! This is all about our own striving! We try to cover ourselves by good works, achievements, titles etc etc. This is universal! This is a profound truth about mankind and our fallen state.

God on the other hand has a better option. He sees that our coverings that we try to make for ourselves are sort of ridiculous.

Gen 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin /long coats (tunics) for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

"Garments of skin" implies that he had to kill an animal to create these garments - the first sacrifice for our sin - which points forward to the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ that was already planned at this point! This is the kind of clothes that God has for us! We get to put on the righteousness of Jesus like a splendid coat that covers us from top to toe. It is not about us anymore and what we can or cannot achieve. It is about who we are in Him. This coat is a beautiful, shining, splendid, pure, royal garment, the garment of salvation. It is the "best robe" that the prodigal son received from his father when he returned home battered and bruised from his long, dishonoring journey (Lk 15:22).

As I realized this, all of a sudden this verse in Deut 29:5 made sense:

"I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out upon you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet."

I have always marveled over this verse and I am sure God does supernatural things like that but now the significance of these clothes that never wore out made sense - it is a picture of the righteousness of Christ!

God's will

God has a really big face. Living in his will, in the light that is shining from God's face, in his pleasure, is not like some sort of balancing act where I really have to watch myself so I don't accidentally slip out of his will. It is more like a vast field where I can move around freely.

He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me. Ps 18:19

Maybe we think of God as some stern school master, ready to punish us for the slightest mistake we make. But God is a good Father and we are invited to his kingdom. I am discovering that God's will looks less like a narrow path where we are very likely to make a wrong step but it looks more like a big country, a kingdom, where we are invited to dwell.

Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Ps 37:3

Jesus said:

"My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."

That is good food, safe pasture. Very fulfilling to the soul. Actually, the only thing fulfilling the depths of our beings, because it is what we were created for!

The will of God

So often in my thinking about spiritual realities I put the cart before the horse. I tend to read things backwards. I think it is about me doing things, like fulfilling the will of God, when it is really about GOD and what He wants. God has a will and it is GOOD. It is flowing out from Him towards us, all the people on the earth. The angels that announced that Jesus had been born to the astonished shepherds on that field outside Bethlehem were singing:

Glory to God in the highest [heaven], and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased [men of goodwill, of His favor]. Luke 2:14

So being in God's will is not so much about me doing the right things and hope that I maybe will measure up to God's standards (but probably not, after all He is God and He has pretty high standards, but I can always do my best and then hope for his mercy...)

I imagine God's will as a stream of light that is flooding out from His face towards His children. It is all God's dreams for us, His love, His blessings, His goodness. I am in God's will when I am standing in that flood of light, looking God in the face, knowing that He is pleased with me. That is the place where I find rest and perfect peace. I cannot work myself into that place or achieve it in any way through my own efforts, it is all grace, a free gift through what Jesus has done for me! And once I find myself there it is inevitable that God's good will is going to start flowing out from my life, in my words and actions, as I am transformed by His great love for me. But then it is not about me trying to be good any longer, it just happens and it is all about God. He is doing a good work in me.

Numbers 6:24-26 (Amplified Bible)

24The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;

25The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;

26The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).

Be-have

I am a language person. I like learning different languages and words intrigue me. Often when I get a revelation about something profound, it is in the form of a play with words. This happened to me this morning when I was thinking about how we can misunderstand the simplest things of God and get them so completely wrong. The enemy manages to twist God's truth so it completely doesn't mean the same thing anymore. On the surface it might look right, but the emphasis is completely wrong. Many people think that being a Christian mostly has to do with behaving properly. It hit me that this word BEHAVE doesn't have anything to do with Christian life. It is not about our own performance, but what Christ has done for us.

We are human beings, not human doings. The emphasis is on BE. We need to realize that we ARE God's beloved children, justified by faith, pure, spotless, pleasing to God in every way. We cannot add anything to Christ's perfect, finished work on the cross. We cannot add even one little achievement to make us look better in God's eyes, or make him love us more.

We also need to realize what we HAVE in him - our inheritance, the authority he has given us in Jesus name, and the honor he has bestowed upon us, undeservedly. When we realize these things we automatically are going to start behaving accordingly, but the emphasis is not on me anymore, it is on Him. Out of a thankful heart, overflowing with love and joy we cannot help but "behaving". And it is not hard at all. It is who we are. In Him.

Victory

I live in the country where they play football with their hands, everybody on top of each other in a big pile. In the beginning I tried to figure out some of the rules but I have given up long time ago. I am just not into sports but some aspects of it still appeal to me. I watched part of a game of college football. The players are obviously in college, 18-19 years old, and this is their chance to get into the real league, NFL, and make A LOT of money. They are not just playing football, they are putting their entire life and soul out there and they are playing a game about their whole future career. There is a huge pressure on the young kids during these games. Thousands of people, and their coaches and pro scouts are watching and valuing them, every move.

This one kid in the game I watched parts of, screwed up and made some mistake and I believe his team lost because of him. He couldn't hold his tears back after the game when he was interviewed. He had not only lost a game. He had lost his dream and his hopes. He was devastated. I felt so sorry for him.

Many of us live our lives like that young guy in the football team with this huge pressure weighing down on our shoulders. We live as if it all depends on us, on what we can do. We have to be successful in the game to please everyone.

Jesus calls us to a different life, that doesn't depend on our performance but on his. This is wild and crazy. He has won the victory for us! Our job is to celebrate! There is no more place for competition or performance. We do not have to achieve but simply follow Jesus. We are all part of the winning team in Christ.

Obedience

Some words in the Bible are not very appealing to me. I know I am shaped from growing up in a democratic, socialistic society and certain words make me react in a negative way, words like submission or obedience for example. But because I know that God is good and perfect and all loving I need to face these words and try to figure out what HE means by them and what they look like through His eyes. I can be sure that I have a misunderstanding of them because they make me sort of upset and what God gives always brings joy and peace etc. That doesn't mean that we never need to struggle with His word but by the fruit we will know if we misunderstood it or not...

As I was pondering on what it looks like to do His will, I read Psalms 40:7-8 in the Message-translation and all of a sudden it made so much sense:

So I answered, "I'm coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I'm coming to the party
you're throwing for me."
That's when God's Word entered my life,
became part of my very being.

That is what obedience looks like: to come to the party God is throwing for me! To let Him love on me and celebrate me. To not be so stubborn and shut Him out and cover myself in shame or despise (which can be sort of comfortable from time to time) but humble myself and open up to His love - that is obedience! (1 John 4:10)

Belonging

Belonging is very important to us humans. People do stupid things just to belong to a group, like joining criminal gangs etc because it is such a deep need within us to belong somewhere, especially if that need hasn't been met as we were growing up. More than anything we need to know that we belong to God. That is the basis for our whole identity -that we are rooted and grounded in His love for us and know we are part of His family.

Honor versus shame

I started this blog with the intention of writing about my discoveries with God, or share some of what he is sharing with me. Right now God is showing me more about honor, how He is honoring us. Many times we live in an unhealthy fear of God because we are filled with shame, the opposite of honor, and this makes us avoid God and keep Him somewhat at a distance. This is what religion does to us - fills us with shame, because we don't believe we measure up to the requirements. Or else religion might fill us with pride if we think that we actually do things right. This pride usually goes alongside with judging others that - in our opinion - don't measure up. Like the older son in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, we don't come close to the Father because we don't know how good He is and we also judge our younger brother that comes back home and receives mercy. But this is what God does: He honors us even when we totally have screwed up and our lives are a mess, because he is not interested in our behavior first of all, he is interested in us. He honors us - not because of what we have done or haven't done, but based on Christ's redemptive work on the cross. And when we receive undeserved honor it makes us want to be better people. Shame does the opposite. Just like Valjean in Les Miserables when he received unexpected kindness from the Bishop and that completely transformed his life, God believes in us and tells us we belong to him.