What’s My Motivation?

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for 6.9.12

Why do we do what we do? What motivates any of us to do anything?

People are trying to motivate us to do things all the time. They want us to spend our money at their stores. They want us to buy their product or drive their car. Teachers try to motivate their students to study and do their work. Bosses try to motivate their employees to work hard. Parents want to motivate their children to behave.

There are a couple of problems though. One, there are really only a few motivations available: hate, greed, fear, guilt, and love. And, two, some are more effective than others, depending on the situation.

For example, hate is only going to work in limited and specific situations, and most of those are not socially acceptable. Greed is more adaptable so it can work in more situations. Advertisers have really mastered using greed as a motivator. Fear and guilt may seem really effective at first, but they don’t usually create any long term or permanent behaviors.

If fear were more effective, no one would ever drive over the speed limit, smoke cigarettes, drink and drive, over eat, or any number of other things.

And if guilt worked every time, nobody would ever disobey a parent, make hurtful comments to a loved one, or break a promise.

Love, of course, is the only motivator that we should ever need or use, but it’s also the most difficult for us to use consistently.

Think about this: what motivates you and me to witness about Jesus? Well, it’s almost never going to be hate, and it’s probably not greed, but might it be fear or guilt? And, does it really matter why we witness, as long as we witness?

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably have said to your children when they grumbled about doing a task that you really didn’t care whether or not they wanted to do it as long as they did it. Could Paul have been saying the same thing in Philippians?

“Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.” Philippians 1:15-18

I think Paul is saying something that parents and teachers say all the time. “Don’t you worry about what anybody else is doing; you just worry about yourself.” It’s none of our business what anybody else’s motives are. That’s God’s business.

As to our own motives, why do we want to serve God? Is it because we’re afraid that God will punish us if we don’t? Is it because we’ll feel guilty if we don’t serve? If either of those is true, then we’re missing the point. We’re still trying to prove to God that we’re worthy of His love and that’s legalism.

“Legal religion will not answer for this age. We may perform all the outward acts of service, and yet be as destitute of the quickening influence of the Holy Spirit as the hills of Gilboa were destitute of dew and rain. We all need spiritual moisture; and we need also the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness to soften and subdue our hearts. We are always to be as firm as a rock to principle. Bible principles are to be taught, and then backed up by holy practice.” (E.G. White, Testimonies for the Church 6:417, 418)

Another issue is that no matter what it is, when we are motivated by fear and/or guilt, we don’t usually continue doing those things. They become a burden and we eventually quit, especially when we’re talking about something as personal as witnessing.

Witnessing because we have to instead of because we’re so in love with Jesus that we can’t help but tell people about Him is probably going to look and feel very differently to the people around us and to us. Have you ever been just talking to someone and suddenly that person’s whole look and attitude change? In the course of the conversation, you hit on something that he or she was passionate about. You can tell by the look on his face, by the excitement in his voice. He sits up straighter, and his eyes light up. There is no mistaking how he feels about that subject.

What do you look and sound like when you talk about Jesus? Are you preoccupied thinking about what to fix for dinner or what you feel you should be doing at work? Or are you “in the zone” talking about Someone you love more than you love your own life? Do you get excited when you talk about Jesus and what He’s done for you? Does every conversation you have come back around to Jesus because He’s always on your mind. Is His name always on the tip of your tongue?

I want to share this story with you. In an article he wrote for the Discipleship Journal,  author Jim White says, 

“I know a man named Hubert Mitchell who memorized the entire New Testament. As a former missionary in his sixties, he spent his days in downtown Chicago, going from office building to office building. Inside he would ask secretaries if he could have five minutes with their boss to talk about a personal matter. Frequently he would be ushered into the boss's office, and he would say, ‘I only have five minutes, but I want to ask you, did you read your Bible before you came to work this morning?’
“The boss would look at him as if he were crazy, and say,
‘No.’
“Hubert would smile and answer, ‘Sir, you sure missed a blessing, didn't you? I'd just like to share with you what God spoke about to me in the Bible this morning.’ He would open a New Testament and hand it to the boss, and say, ‘Let's start right here.’ Then Hubert would sit back and start quoting it word for word.
“The boss would listen, amazed. After five minutes, Hubert would say, ‘My time's up and I've got to go. Wasn't that a blessing?’ On most occasions the boss would ask him to stay longer, and they would talk.
“Hubert Mitchell led men to Christ all over downtown Chicago that way, because God's word was burning in his heart.”[1]

I want to be so in love with Jesus that I can’t keep Him to myself. I want everyone to know that He loves me so much that He couldn’t imagine His life without me, so He left Heaven and died so that we could be together forever. Jesus did it for you too. Don’t you want to tell everyone what He’s done for you?

“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.” John 3:16 (AMP)

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[1] Jim White, "Motivation: For a Lifetime of Disciple-making," Discipleship Journal (May/June 1981)

In the Same Boat

“And after He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly, behold, there arose a violent storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered up by the waves; but He was sleeping.  And they went and awakened Him, saying, Lord, rescue and preserve us! We are perishing!  And He said to them, Why are you timid and afraid, O you of little faith? Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great and wonderful calm (a perfect peaceableness).  And the men were stunned with bewildered wonder and marveled, saying, What kind of Man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!”  Matthew 8:23-27

I think we can all imagine the storm itself:  The waves crashing, the water coming into the boat, the boat being pushed all over the place by the wind and the waves.  But there are a couple of things that a harder to imagine.

One, how anybody could sleep through that, and two, was there a way that the disciples could have come to Jesus and asked for His help, that would not have constituted a lack of faith?

A problem for me is that in the painting, the boat is so small that I can't imagine a place where anyone could even lie down, much less sleep, even on a calm sea...hmmm.  But that's probably beside the point.

Anyway, let's picture this:  We're on a small commuter plane that holds about 13 or 14 people, counting the pilot.  We're flying with Jesus up to Dallas or Oklahoma City.  As soon as we get on the plane, Jesus picks a seat, and goes straight to sleep.  Meanwhile, we hit turbulence.  Not just a bump now or then, but the roller-coaster kind where things start falling out of the overhead bins.  And we begin to worry that the structure of the plane won't be able to handle the stress of the turbulence.  Do we wake Jesus up and ask Him to save us?  Or is it enough to know that Jesus, awake or asleep, is on the plane with us? 

Tough question.  Does having true faith mean we're never afraid of anything?  Oh, me of little faith! (That's not a typo!)

If faith is the opposite of fear, I have big problems!  Admittedly, I'm better than I used to be, but, wow...How do I get to the point that just knowing that Jesus is in the boat with me is enough to help me not be afraid? (Not a rhetorical question!)

At least I know I'm not alone.  God spends a lot of time telling us not to be afraid of one thing or another.

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Deuteronomy 31:6

 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.“ 1 John 4:18

“And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:..”Revelation 1:17

So, don't say it out loud, but how many things in your life have your done out of fear?  If you're anything like me, a lot.  Or, how many things have you NOT done because you were afraid?  Yeah, me too.

So really, forget boats and airplanes and storms, I can't even be brave in my every day life!  Maybe it's just me, but when I think of all the times I've sat quietly by while people that I consider friends make jokes about religion and God, I feel pretty discouraged. What about the opportunities to share the truth that I know that I haven't taken because I was afraid of being made fun of or laughed at.  Jesus didn't worry about that kind of thing.  The disciples finally came to the place where peoples' opinions of them were not important. 

How do we get to the place where we can stand boldly for Jesus when our lives are threatened when we can't even do it now, when the worst that could happen is that someone might think we're silly.

Read what Mrs. White has to say:

“God is the 'Rock of our salvation,' a present help in every time of need. Then let us be no longer babes in Christ, but bold and firm soldiers of the cross, rejoicing in suffering the will of God.” Gospel Workers (1892), page 425.“Surely there is need now of bold, fearless Calebs, who, under the influence of the Spirit, will use the talents of hearing and speaking with heroic courage, disregarding all personal dangers and anxieties.”  Rolling Back the Reproach (1900), page 29.

Would it help if we could remember that Jesus is right there with us all the time.  He's waiting for us to reach out and take his hand just like a child taking a parent's hand.  When a child has his parent's hand, he's brave!  When we have Jesus' hand, we can be brave, too.

Let's reach out boldly and take Jesus' hand so that we can stand and tell  people t what He's done for us.

“What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?]” Romans 8:31

And let's not forget, Jesus is right there, in the same boat with us!

Brave

Nichole Nordeman

The gate is wide

The road is paved in moderation

The crowd is kind and quick to pull you in

Welcome to the middle ground

It's safe and sound and

Until now it's where I've been

Cuz it's been fear

That ties me down to everything

But it's been love, Your love

That cuts the strings

So long, status quo

I think I've just let go

You make me wanna be brave

The way it always was

It's no longer good enough

You make me wanna be brave

Brave, brave

I am small

And I speak when I'm spoken to

But I am willing to risk it all

Say Your name

Just Your name, and I'm ready to jump

Even ready to fall

Why did I

Take this vow of compromise?

Why did I

Try to keep it all inside?

I've never known a fire that didn't begin with a flame

And every storm will start with just a drop of rain

But if You believe in me

That changes everything

Revolutionary Love

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for  4.28.12

What was it that made Jesus so different from any of the other religious leaders of His time? Well, His message was clearly different: keeping the rules can’t save you, be a servant, love your enemies. That was all new stuff to the people of Jesus’ time. I think sometimes we forget how really different the things that Jesus was preaching were; we’ve heard it all our whole lives.

What Jesus was preaching was truly revolutionary, a complete break from the religious teaching of His day. But do you think if Jesus had just preached … just stated His message and gone home, do you think He would have had any followers at all?

What drew people to Jesus had less to do with what He was saying and everything to do with what He did – how He treated people – that is what was revolutionary. His earthly ministry was boots-on-the-ground, gritty, hand to hand and one on one. There was nothing safe or sanitary about it. Jesus’ ministry was pretty much the complete opposite of how we want it to be.

I just read about a software company that has created a computer program that makes it possible for high school students to dissect virtual frogs. Now, a good many of you probably remember that experience in high school. None of us who experienced it, will ever forget the smell of formaldehyde. Some of you may have found it a fascinating and enlightening experience. I remember dreading the day my biology teacher would wheel out the cart with the dead frogs on it. I have never been real interested in finding out too much about those gooshy things inside us, and I was especially not interested in the gooshy things inside a dead frog! Combine that with the fact that my lab partner for the frog episode was the boy who a couple of years earlier swallowed one of the worms we were supposed to be dissecting. Needless to say, frog day was not my favorite day of high school. There was nothing sanitary, polite, or pleasant about it.

I think sometimes we expect sharing the gospel to be like dissecting virtual frogs; detached, sanitary, and not too complicated, right? Handing out literature on the third Sabbath of the month, just a quick “hello”, a handshake and we’re outta there, right? How far do you think Jesus would have gotten if He had run His ministry like that?

It probably wouldn’t have gotten him killed, for one thing. The Pharisees wouldn’t have felt threatened by Jesus and His ministry if He had kept His hands clean.

The Pharisees lived safely behind their ceremonial wall of clean and unclean. They taught that what a person touched could make them unacceptable to God; they taught that having a rule for everything kept their hands clean.

So, when Jesus came along and He talked to people the Pharisees wouldn’t go near. He ate with people the Pharisees didn’t like, eating with riffraff and staying overnight with “those people.”

And “those people,” when they saw how much Jesus loved them, that He wasn’t afraid to touch them, talk to them, and heal them, loved Him back.

Jesus had compassion on the people He met every day and people were changed by that kind of revolutionary love – love that touched lepers, ate with prostitutes and tax collectors, and treated them like good friends.

There it is … the people that Jesus ministered to, talked to, and preached to weren’t numbers on a chart somewhere for “contacts made.” They were His friends. He loved each one of them; He loves each one of us. Yes, the things Jesus said were amazingly different, but what He did was revolutionary.

You know, I work every day with people who might make some folks uncomfortable. I work with intellectually delayed adults. I have to admit that when I first started working with these people, I was pretty intimidated. Some of them don’t look any different than you and I do, but some are quite different. Some need help feeding themselves. A few need help with more personal things. Almost a year and a half ago, I spent a lot of time trying to not touch anybody or be touched by anyone. I thought I could do my job without getting too involved in any individual’s life and then go home.

That’s not the way it works. My clients can sense, just like you and I can, someone who’s just putting in his or her time, someone who is emotionally distant, someone who is in a hurry to get away. And, as I work with each client, I become involved in his or her life. We are not separate anymore. We are friends. I care about each one.

When I was growing up I remember hearing people talk about something called “disinterested benevolence.” I remember hearing people say that meant that we shouldn’t get personally involved with the people we were witnessing to; we should just provide the information and move on. Now maybe I misunderstood, but that seems like a very pharisaical way to witness. “Here’s your information, do with it as you will.”

“Divine love makes its most touching appeals to the heart when it calls upon us to manifest the same tender compassion that Christ manifested. That man only who has unselfish love for his brother has true love for God. The true Christian will not willingly permit the soul in peril and need to go unwarned, uncared for. He will not hold himself aloof from the erring, leaving them to plunge farther into unhappiness and discouragement or to fall on Satan’s battleground.”[1] 

Some folks talk about how important it is for churches to stay “culturally relevant.” I’m not all that sure what that means to them. To me it means that those people who say they feel that we should adopt some more worldly things to bring people in and keep them interested. Maybe we do, I don’t know, but in my experience, as long as people know that you are interested in and care about them specifically, whether or not you are playing their specific kind of music isn’t that important to them. If they sense that we aren’t that interested in them personally, they’re not going to keep coming, no matter what we offer them. People want to know that we are interested in them.

“How many of the wandering ones have you, reader, sought for and brought back to the fold? When you turn from those who seem unpromising and unattractive, do you realize that you are neglecting the souls for whom Christ is seeking? At the very time when you turn from them, they may be in the greatest need of your compassion. In every assembly for worship, there are souls longing for rest and peace. They may appear to be living careless lives, but they are not insensible to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Many among them might be won for Christ.             
If the lost sheep is not brought back to the fold, it wanders until it perishes. And many souls go down to ruin for want of a hand stretched out to save. These erring ones may appear hard and reckless; but if they had received the same advantages that others have had, they might have revealed far more nobility of soul, and greater talent for usefulness. Angels pity these wandering ones. Angels weep, while human eyes are dry and hearts are closed to pity.” [2]

Do you want to show the world revolutionary love today? I do.

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[1] E. G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 550

[2] E. G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p191

Ultimate Romance

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for 3.27.12

 

I’m embarrassed to admit that I have always been a hopeless romantic. I spent several years reading anything I could find that involved King Arthur and Camelot. I can’t remember how many times I read and watched Gone with the Wind. And fairy tales, I still love fairy tales, but tend to enjoy the original versions more than the more modern “Disney-fied” re-tellings. And, of course, romantic comedies are always fun.

Anyway, I think that most of us (guys, you too) are looking for the ultimate romance – someone who will love us totally, who will never betray us or hurt us, who loves us without reservation. Someone who would rather die than live without us.

Hmmm … does that sound like Anyone you know?

“The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’” Jeremiah 31:3

Through the Holy Spirit, the writers of the Bible have  included some really amazing love stories:  Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rebecca and they all point to Jesus’ connection to us and to His church. 

More than that though, Jesus’ relationship to His church is described in the most romantic terms available – a Groom coming to claim His bride. If that’s not romantic, I don’t know what is!

You might have heard of Joni Eareckson Tada.  She was paralyzed in a diving accident when she was still a teenager. She “draws parallels between her wedding day, and Christ's love for his church.

“I felt awkward as my girlfriends strained to shift my paralyzed body into a cumbersome wedding gown. No amount of corseting and binding my body gave me a perfect shape. The dress just didn't fit well. Then, as I was wheeling into the church, I glanced down and noticed that I'd accidentally run over the hem of my dress, leaving a greasy tire mark. My paralyzed hands couldn't hold the bouquet of daisies that lay off-center on my lap. And my chair, though decorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky gray machine with belts, gears, and ball bearings. I certainly didn't feel like the picture-perfect bride in a bridal magazine.
I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a glimpse of Ken in front. There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal attire. I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle. My face flushed, and I suddenly couldn't wait to be with him. I had seen my beloved. The love in Ken's face had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness. I was his pure and perfect bride.
“How easy it is for us to think that we're utterly unlovely—especially to someone as lovely as Christ. But he loves us with the bright eyes of a Bridegroom's love and cannot wait for the day we are united with him forever.”[1]

Do you ever feel like you just can’t wait to be with Jesus? Does the thought of seeing His face take your breath away? Do you spend time imagining how you’ll feel when you see Him for the first time?

I just learned about some Jewish wedding customs that Jesus would have been familiar with when He was here on earth.

Marriage in Jesus’ time looked a little bit like it does today; there was an engagement period and then the wedding. The engagement part was called the Kiddushin and it was much more strict than what we consider an engagement. During the Kiddushin, they were actually considered legally bound to one another, just like they were already married.

The couple wasn’t just hanging out during this time, the man was supposed to be spending his time preparing a place for his bride.

Then, when everything was ready, it would be time for the Nisuin. That’s when the husband would come and claim his wife, take her to the home he had made for them and they would begin their lives together.[2]

Doesn’t that sound familiar?

“‘Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.’” John 14:1-4

Now, you’ve got to admit that’s pretty romantic!

You know, I see people all the time who are so afraid of being alone that they will submit to terrible, hurtful and abusive relationships. In an attempt to make themselves happy, they have condemned themselves to misery. But Jesus want us to know is that no matter how perfect we believe our relationship is, that other person will let us down.  The honeymoon will end in all our earthly relationships. But when our fist relationship is with Jesus, that honeymoon will never end. Jesus will never let us down.

“You shall be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the Lord will name. You shall also be a crown of glory In the hand of the Lord, And a royal diadem In the hand of your God You shall no longer be termed Forsaken … And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.”  Isaiah 62:2-5

Try to picture that for a minute. God will rejoice over you like a bridegroom does his bride. Can you really imagine that?  I mean, we can see ourselves rejoicing because we’re with God, but He’s rejoicing over us! Each, individual one of us, is so important to God that, for Him, Heaven won’t be the same without even one of His children. 

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

How romantic.

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[1] This We Believe: The Good News of Jesus Christ for the World, (Zondervan) p. 222

[2] Judaism 101, “Marriage,” http://www.jewfaq.org/marriage.htm (accessed January 10, 2011).

What Doesn’t Kill Ya…

“In the parable, the foolish virgins are represented as begging for oil, and failing to receive it at their request.  This is symbolic of those who have not prepared themselves by developing a character to stand in a time of crisis.  It is as if they should go to their neighbors and say, Give me your character, or I shall be lost.  Those that are wise could not impart their oil to the flickering lamps of the foolish virgins.  Character is not transferable.  It is not to be bought or sold; it is acquired.  The Lord has given to every individual an opportunity to obtain a righteous character through the hours of probation; but he has not provided a way by which one human agent may impart to another the character which he has developed by going through hard experiences, by learning lessons from the great Teacher, so that he can manifest patience under trial, and exercise faith so that he can remove mountains of impossibility.”  E.G. White, The Youth’s Instructor, Jan.16,1896

Hm, character building…Some places call it character education; it’s the same thing – an effort to do exactly what Mrs. White said could not be done – impart character to another person.  Some schools where I have worked try very, very hard to get the concepts of good character into the heads and hearts of their students.  They put up posters; they have a character trait of the month; they have the students make posters of things that represent a particular character trait.  It may work for a few students, but I haven’t seen very much success.

The biggest part of the problem, in my opinion, is that you can’t teach character without being willing/able to use the best example: Jesus.

Here are the principles of good character as listed by one character education organization:

Your character is defined by what you do, not what you say or believe. (Really?  I thought what we believed it completely defined our characters.)Every choice you make helps define the kind of person you are choosing to be.
Good character requires doing the right thing, even when it is costly or risky.
You don't have to take the worst behavior of others as a standard for yourself. You can choose to be better than that.
What you do matters, and one person can make a big difference.
The payoff for having good character is that it makes you a better person and it makes the world a better place.http://www.goodcharacter.com/

I mean, those are nice and all, but compare those principles with these:

“Goodness, meekness, gentleness, patience, and love are the attributes of Christ's character. If you have the spirit of Christ, your character will be molded after His character.” E.G. White, That I May Know Him (1964), page 94.

Which list would you rather live by?  Absolutely!  But, but how do we get there?  How do we get the spirit of Christ so our characters can be molded after His? 

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.” 2Corinthians 4:8-11

Pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, struck down…I’m thinking that doesn’t sound like any fun at all.

I guess I have a decision to make.  Do I want to be “a better person” or do I want to be like Jesus, even if it means I have to go through all that pressing, confusion, striking down and persecution stuff.  OK, I lied, it’s not really much of a decision at all…I want to be like Jesus, and Paul tells me in Romans 5:3-4 how I get there.  “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

That’s pretty specific, isn’t it?  Suffering produces character.  But what is suffering?  Doug Goins wrote an article/sermon called “Seeing Suffering from God’s Point of View” in which he talks about the “diversity of our suffering” and he includes job troubles, health issues, marriage difficulties, a death of a loved one, a rebellious child, unrequited love, and those are upsetting and uncomfortable situations.  But are they “suffering”?  Well, maybe it’s an issue of perspective.  If we were coming from a third world country, we’d probably say that most of those things don’t qualify as suffering, but I’m not sure it matters.

What matters is, what is it going to take to get us to quit thinking about ourselves and look to God.  C.S. Lewis said in his book, The Problem of Pain, page 91:  

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain:  it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Do we trust God enough to let Him do whatever it takes to mold us into someone He can use?  Am I willing to experience the pain of “the refiner’s fire” if it means I will be more like Jesus because of it?  Do I believe it when Jesus says that He will never leave me or push me farther than I can go?  Do I really, really believe that His grace is sufficient for me?

I read a story, this week about a lady names Helen Hayworth Lemmel.  Does that name mean anything to you?  It didn’t to me, but listen:

Helen was born into a wealthy family in England.  She was a well-known songwriter.  She married an English nobleman.  Things looked pretty rosy for her.  But then she became blind, and her husband divorced her because he didn’t want to be married to a blind person.  Well, eventually she ended up in Seattle, Washington, destitute, living in a room in a home where her rent was paid by the county.  But when people asked her how she was, she always answered, “I am fine in the things that count.”  Helen experienced suffering, but she never let go of God’s hand.  And she wrote one of my all time favorite hymns:

O soul, are you weary and troubled?No light in the darkness you see?There’s a light for a look at the Savior,And life more abundant and free!RefrainTurn your eyes upon Jesus,Look full in His wonderful face,And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,In the light of His glory and grace.Through death into life everlastingHe passed, and we follow Him there;Over us sin no more hath dominion—For more than conquerors we are!RefrainHis Word shall not fail you—He promised;Believe Him, and all will be well:Then go to a world that is dying,His perfect salvation to tell!Refrain

I’ve got one last poem to share; its author is anonymous, and you’ve probably read it before.

I asked for strength, and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.I asked for wisdom, and God gave me problems to solve.I asked for prosperity, and God gave me brawn and brain to work.I asked for courage, and God gave me dangers to overcome.I asked for patience, and God placed me in situations where I was forced to wait.I asked for love, and God gave me troubled people to help.I asked for favors, and God gave me opportunities.I received nothing I wanted; I received everything I needed.My prayer has been answered.

Soap Opera or Salvation?

So, many of the stories in the old testament, if you didn’t know where they came from and just heard them told out of context, you might think they were the story lines of soap operas.  And I would have to say that the story of Hosea and Gomer takes the cake in that category, wouldn’t you?  Hosea and Gomer is one of those stories that people would rather forget is in the Bible at all.

I have to admit, once again, that I knew very little about this story until just recently.  I had heard that Hosea was married to a woman who kept walking out on him and that he always took her back.  But that’s pretty much it.  Wow, was I in for a shock!

Maybe some of you thought what I used to think of when I heard the story…     "That Hosea, what a doormat.  He needs to stand up for himself and quit putting up with Gomer’s games."  I was very young then.  I didn’t understand what the story of Hosea was really about – Redemption and Forgiveness.

When we remember that Hosea, like so many other Old Testament men, is a type of Christ, this story becomes the most poignant portrayal of our relationship with Jesus.  Watch Hosea struggles to hang onto his wife.  He gets frustrated and angry.  He threatens to disown her and humiliate her.  He weeps for her.  He follows her as she trails through the worst parts of society.  But then he finds her, redeems her with everything he has and then brings her home and loves her. 

We don’t often think of Christ like that.  Often we see Him as artists have portrayed Him – freshly washed white robe, neatly combed hair and an angelic, sometimes sappy look on His face.  Even on the cross, we see little or no strong emotion.  I mean, we don’t want to see anything too disturbing, right?

Remember when Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ came out, it was so controversial because of the graphic violence.  Um, what did they think the Crucifixion was?  An afternoon picnic?  It was a violent, ugly scene.  I just heard Bruce Marchiano speak at a church in New Zealand, I think.  He recounts things that happened during filming of the crucifixion scenes in The Gospel of Matthew. (I’ve talked about Bruce Marchiano before.  His is an amazing story.)  He describes how brutal just the filming was, and then he reminds us that he didn’t go through even the tiniest fraction of what Jesus went through.

If we thought about the things Jesus went through in his final days, and were really honest with ourselves, I think we would understand what our “harlotry” (as Hosea would put it) has cost Him.  It wasn’t nice and neat.  It was ugly, brutal, painful, and bloody.

Jesus struggles to hang onto us.  He must get frustrated and angry.  He weeps for us.  He follows us as we trail through the worst parts of society.  But then He finds us, redeems us with everything He has and then brings us home and loves us.  How is that possible?  My puny, little human mind really can’t wrap itself around that kind of love and forgiveness.

A friend once gave me a definition of forgiveness that, I think, is slightly different from the one most of the world lives by.  It’s this: “Forgiveness is giving up my right to hurt you back.”    Another author I’ve mentioned before, Richard L. Strauss, defines forgiveness as paying for “the other person’s offenses.  We will refuse to retaliate in any way to make the guilty person pay.  We will absolve him (or her) of all guilt.” Have you met many folks who use those definitions?  Wow.

That sounds a lot like 1st Corinthians 13:4-8:  “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.”  (italics supplied)

Jesus loves us like that. Each one of us is Gomer to His Hosea, and His heart breaks every time we sin.  He tries to guide us into what’s best for us spiritually, emotionally, healthily (?), and we fight Him every step of the way.  Sometimes we run away altogether telling ourselves that His rules are too restrictive; we need to experience life our own way.

Ya know, several months ago we found a stray shi-tzu.  He was matted; he had a skin infection, and eye infection.  He smelled and looked absolutely awful!  But we brought him home and soon named him Rugby – because he sleeps all the time and looks more like a rug than a dog.  The funny thing is, this little guy was absolutely miserable because of his eyes, his skin and his matted hair, but as soon as we started trying to clip the mats, put medicine in his eyes and give him baths, this hairy lump of dog became a wild beast!  He wiggled and squirmed and bit whatever he could get his teeth around.  I still haven’t figured out how to clip his claws.

The point is Rugby reacts to me trying to make his life better almost exactly the way we react to Jesus trying to make our lives better.  We would rather be miserable that take what Jesus knows will make us better.  And yet, Jesus keeps trying and His heart keeps breaking.

One of my favorite Loma Linda Broadcasting Network preachers is Don Pate.  He has a weekly program where he discusses the Sabbath School lesson.  He also has a radio program called Between the Lines.  Well, he has had a series of programs this week on LLBN about Jesus’ second coming.  I unfortunately missed all but this last one.  But in this program he discussed a little bit about what Heaven will be for us and for God.  Hmmm.  Never really thought about what Heaven would be like for God before.  Anyway, the point he was making was, what the best thing about Heaven will be, and he quoted another one of my favorite songwriters, Annie Herring.  Unfortunately he didn’t say which of her songs this line was from, and I’m still looking, but the line itself completely took my breath away.

“The best thing about Heaven will be that I will never break God’s heart again.”

Forget everything else you have ever heard or thought about Heaven.  Forget all the reasons you thought you wanted to go to Heaven, none of it matters anymore, because that is truly going to be the best thing about Heaven.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned,…” John 3:16-18