Friday, May 25, 2012

Give Your Past To God

“Come, let us return to the LORD! He has torn us in pieces; now he will bandage our wounds. In just a short time, he will restore us so we can live in his presence. Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him! Then he will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” -- Hosea 6:1-3

What is your story? Everybody has one. We each have secrets, things we’d rather other people not know about for fear they’ll think less of us. But we carry that past with us. It makes us who we are today.

I recently learned that a friend has been married five times. I was shocked. Totally. Do I think less of him? Not at all. I see the person he is today -- and the woman he’s lovingly called his wife for 35 years.

He was once a young man searching for a fairy tale life. Oh, he doesn’t call it that. Those are my words. He says he wanted someone to share his life with. He wanted a family and companionship. It took a few rough knocks before he looked up and saw the person meant for him. His wife, too, had endured a bad relationship. But together they make a beautiful whole.

Another young woman still feels insecure about her time in high school. She desperately wanted to be popular and accepted. She was neither but it didn’t stop her from trying to win approval. In so doing, she did some things she’d rather forget. She’s not that person anymore but she can’t seem to shake the memory of who she once was.

One of the beautiful things about God is that we get a do over. No matter what we’ve done or where we’ve been, God still loves us. And He will restore us if we will only seek Him out, ask forgiveness, and change the direction of our lives. Sometimes that is way easier than wiping the memory of past sins from our own minds.

What are you hanging on to? What can’t you forget? What aren’t you trusting God with? Because that’s what it really comes down to: Trusting God. Do we believe that He has really forgiven us? Or do we secretly think that He’s holding a grudge -- called our past sin -- over us as we step into the future?

God isn’t like that. You know that and so do I. He’s willing to put our past behind us and restore us. He says so. Again and again.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences of our actions. Of course there are. That can be a good thing if we use past experiences to learn and grow and to deepen our commitment to God.

God wants an open, honest relationship with us. He wants us to seek Him, to trust Him, to believe what He says. Don’t proclaim your love for God and then turn away, refusing to give Him your darkest moments. Hand them over to God and watch Him restore your life.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Two Wrongs Are Both Wrong

“Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! Look, you priests, my complaint is with you!” -- Hosea 4:4

It’s his fault! No, it’s her fault! Oh, if they would just change their attitude everything would be fine! And on and on it goes.

It’s one of those situations where people just don’t like each other. And that’s okay. I suppose. Though it does seem odd in a church. But can’t we love one another without wanting to spend lots of one-on-one time with each other? And can’t we be civil and respectful without looking for offense in every word and action?

Apparently not is the answer some days. I know he can sometimes be a jerk. Honestly, I do. He says things without thinking sometimes. And sometimes he thinks of something and says it anyway, not caring who it hurts. And that’s not okay.

But it’s also not okay to verbally kick him when he’s down. And it’s not okay to show disrespect to someone just because you don’t share his views. And it’s not okay to treat people the way you think they should be treated. Why? Because God doesn’t treat you the way you should be treated either.

Why is it that we have so much trouble showing mercy to people we don’t like? It doesn’t make his actions okay. I’m not saying that. But his actions don’t justify your actions either. In fact, your actions just add fuel to a bad situation.

The saddest thing is that everyone here is a Christian. It’s just that when it hurts and it gets personal, we don’t act as though we remember that. And I get it. Really I do. Remember I’m the one who took a long walk the other, repeating Scripture to myself until I could calm down enough to deal with an infuriating situation.

Maybe that’s what we all need to do. You told me only prayer could handle this and you’re right. Except I’m not sure we’re on the same page with what that means. You’re praying for God to make this man go away. I’m praying that God will heal your heart, and his, so that we can all get along.

Because just like the rest of us, you both have good and bad in you. Unfortunately, it seems that you bring out the worst in each other. And that’s sad because you’re both good people.

So take a deep breath and pull that pointing finger back. You’re both guilty. And you’ve both been hurt. Forgiveness starts with kindness, whether you believe it’s deserved or not. God loved us first so that we could love others. All those words in the Bible apply equally to both of you. Start practicing them -- with each other.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Give God Credit

Then he said to me, “This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty.”

-- Zechariah 4:6

“Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them -- not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God.” -- Hosea 1:7

When something wonderful happens in your life, who gets credit? Do you pat yourself on the back for a job well done? Or do you get down on your knees and praise God for blessing you?

It’s human nature to want to take credit for everything good in our lives and to blame someone else -- frequently God -- when something goes wrong. Of course, it doesn’t work that way. We have no success without God’s blessing. But we’d prefer not to think about that.

We want to believe that we control our own destiny. That we determine our outcome. That we can achieve all our goals without help from anyone. Sounds good. And, yes, hard work and seizing opportunities are a wonderful way to head down that road to success. So long as you don’t hit a detour.

You know about detours. They’re those things that really interrupt your life when you least expect it. Like a job layoff. A cancer diagnosis. A divorce. A car wreck. I could go on and on. Many hardworking people have watched their lives disintegrate through no fault of their own.

That’s where God comes in. See, God is in control. He can fix things. He can carry you through things. He can even keep things from happening, like when you really mess up and don’t get the punishment you deserve. God did that when He sent Jesus to die for our sins. That should have been you and me on that cross. Somehow, thank you seems inadequate.

We can do nothing without God. He, on the other hand, can do anything. He can take the weakest, most inept person and accomplish great things. And He can allow the smartest, most charismatic person fail spectacularly. Never, ever believe that your success is something you created on your own. Because none of us are anything without God.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

God's Will Not Always Easy

"Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears."

-- Ezekiel 24:16

Why do we think that doing God's will is easy? Poor us! We can't imagine anyone blindly following God down a road that is bound to be unhappy. We think it should be easy. Oh, I'm not talking about illnesses and such. I'm talking about stepping out in faith when the next step looks pretty awful.

That's real faith. It's the kind of faith Ezekiel had. Can you imagine what he felt? He'd done God's will. He'd prophesied to the people. He'd been obedient. Then God took away his wife. God told Ezekiel He would and He did. Ezekiel's heart must have broken and, yet, he obeyed God. He did not mourn.

Or think about Hosea. He, too, followed God and did His will. God told Hosea to marry an "adulterous wife" who would have children born of her unfaithfulness. Excuse me? That seems like an impossible thing to endure. But Hosea did what God told him to do and God used that experience to show His people how much He loved them.

It isn't always easy to do what God tells us to do. People don't understand. They question our motives and actions, they think we're a little off and totally misguided. Yet who can say what God has spoken to him except the person who hears God's voice? We all must follow the individual path God has set out for us, regardless of the criticism or temptations.

We like to think that our time, our lives, are so much more difficult than those lives lived in earlier times. I don't think that's the case at all. We all face situations and choices that challenge us. We either go forth in faith or stumble and falter in our own will. Those are our choices.

I choose faith. It's scary sometimes and I don't always agree with God's plan. But I've learned that He does know best. No matter what I know that he'll turn the chaos around me into something good that will showcase His Glory. He is an awesome God! I will follow Him.