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.