Bible Study - John 5

I don't usually do Bible studies but today I came across a passage in John 5 and wanted to break it down and weigh it against the rest of the context in the book of John, as well as the rest of the Bible.  The verse that stopped me in my tracks is John 5:22, "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son [...]." 

God doesn't judge us?  Maybe I'd heard that in church before, but it never sunk in.  The whole concept of the trinity is so crammed into my head that I just pass all three members off as One.  Which they are...I'll end there before I get side-tracked.  My point is that if it says, "the Father judges no one, but entrusted all judgment to the Son," I usually just glaze over it thinking, "Same guy."  

No.  A professor of mine put it this way (regarding the Trinity), "I am three different people in one body.  I am a son to my parents, a husband to my wife and a father to my kids."  Not a perfect example by any means, but I like it as a simple illustration.  God the Father and God the Son, clearly have two very different responsibilities, not to mention the work of the Holy Spirit.  

Verse 20 says, "For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does."  The keyword there is "love."  God the Father's basic character is "love" or the word I will use is "good."  A.W. Tozer has some inspired words regarding this.  

"Divine goodness, as one of God’s attributes, is self-caused, infinite, perfect, and eternal. Since God is immutable He never varies in the intensity of His loving-kindness. He has never been kinder than He now is, nor will He ever be less kind. He is no respecter of persons but makes His sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust. The cause of His goodness is in Himself, the recipients of His goodness are all His beneficiaries without merit and without recompense.

With this agrees reason, and the moral wisdom that knows itself runs to acknowledge that there can be no merit in human conduct, not even in the purest and the best. Always God’s goodness is the ground of our expectation. Repentance, though necessary, is not meritorious but a condition for receiving the gracious gift of pardon which God gives of His goodness."

I heard a story by G.K. Chesterton that offers an interesting point of view into the goodness of God.  He writes about a toddler who is unmeasurably excited about playing with his father.  Over and over, in between uncontrollable belly laughs, the toddler screams, "Again! Again!"  So the father continues.  Hours could pass, even days.  A year could go by and this toddler would never bore of this hilarious, exciting act with his dad.  Chesterton says God is like that toddler.  That God makes the sun rise every day for the simple reason that He just loves it.  It fascinates Him.  The Bible says that God "delights" in us.  We are His work of art (Ephesians 2:10).  

It doesn't sound as far-fetched now that God doesn't judge us.  Verse 22 says, "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son."  A few pages before this, in John 3, it says, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him."  Condemn is a keyword in that verse.  The Son is still the one who judges us, but considering the rest of the Bible, we need not be afraid of that.  John 5:19 says, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."  And the Father is good.

As I was saying, Jesus came to save the world, not condemn.  To condemn is to "express complete disapproval of; find someone guilty of a criminal act or wrong; prove, show guilt of; force (someone) to endure something unpleasant or undesirable."  The Son came to do none of that.  Quite the opposite, actually. I don't want to imply that Jesus is a pushover, so we should party it up while we're down here.  He is just and powerful, and nobody's fool.  He did come to save us, but we will also be judged according to what we do.  

Verse 27 says, "He has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man."  I think God is appealing to a human argument here.  He is saying, "I gave Jesus authority to judge so you have no excuse.  You can't say you are being judged by some holy, amorphous being who knows nothing of the human condition."  Again, I don't want to imply that God can't wrap his mind around what it is to be human, He is just appealing to a human argument.  He clearly does this in verse 33.  Jesus says, "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.  Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved."  

God is good and He wants to communicate with us.  I heard a preacher telling his people that God is not sitting on some far off throne somewhere calling fouls.  He is here, elbow deep in our daily lives.  He delights in us.  I will close with another quote from Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy, "That God is good is taught or implied on every page of the Bible and must be received as an article of faith as impregnable as the throne of God. It is a foundation stone for all sound thought about God and is necessary to moral sanity. To allow that God could be other than good is to deny the validity of all thought and end ill the negation of every moral judgment. If God is not good, then there can be no distinction between kindness and cruelty, and heaven can be hell and hell, heaven.

The goodness of God is the drive behind all the blessings He daily bestows upon us. God created us because He felt good in His heart and He redeemed us for the same reason."

Cliche (God is Our Shepherd)

It's been a while since I've written anything on here.  That's because I haven't felt like I had anything to say.  As I've expressed before, the only intended reader of this blog is myself, so each word I write is written to me.  

I want to say that times are hard these days.  I think in some circles I could get away with saying that.  I'm unemployed, broke, and have monthly expenses that need to be paid.  But does that mean times are hard?  I often feel I am under attack from Satan, getting pelted by his anxiety-tipped arrows of doubt and despair.  But when I take a step back and examine the bigger picture, I notice that God is there.  I turn around and see that week by week, month by month, God has provided for each bill, each expense and it gives me joy.  Psalm 94:18+19 says, "When I said, 'My foot is slipping,' your love, O LORD, supported me.   When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."  

I'm learning what it means to have God as my shepherd.  Ezekiel 34:31 says, "You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD."  When Jesus came as a man he reiterated this in John 10:14, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." 

God as my shepherd is another one of those Christianese analogies that lost its meaning to me for a while.  Probably because I didn't really need a shepherd, or at least thought I didn't.  It gives me such peace knowing that God cares me for like one in his flock.  Jesus said that if only one of his sheep goes missing, he will leave all the rest behind and go find it.  He gave his life for his sheep.  He knows his sheep by name, and his sheep now his voice.  It is a close relationship, a shepherd to his sheep.  A shepherd's main job is to see that his flock is cared for, that every need is met.  "For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care," Psalm 95:7. 

This leads to another big lesson I am learning, and another one of those Christian-isms that I had grown up with.  "God will meet all of my needs, but not all of my wants."  It's been said so much that it is just barely hanging on for meaning, but it is so true.  I can bank on God providing for me.  I have a list of past experiences where I've seen it first hand.  But it has rarely left me with any extra.  My cup rarely "runneth over."  However, it is producing character in me.  I am finding that I am, in fact, content with not having much. 

To say I am "suffering" right now is too overdramatic, but I can relate to this passage in Romans 5.  "We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."  I am learning to persevere.  Resilience is the name of the game.  I've quoted this verse several times, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed (2 Corinthians 4:8)."  

Life is bigger than me and my little problems.  But that doesn't mean God doesn't care about the tough things I deal with.  The book of Psalms contains more songs of lament than anything else.  John Ortberg suggests that it is because the Israelites believed God took a personal interest in their problems. The bible says to not be unsettled in your trials because we know quite well we are destined for them.  God is bigger and He takes a personal interest in us.  

I Am

For whatever reason, I am having a hard time finding hope lately.  Yesterday morning I was very discouraged about my situation and there seemed to be nothing that could lift my spirits.  I was on the phone with my girlfriend and right before she began to pray for me, I glanced out at the traffic I was stuck in.  There was a dirty dump truck a car or two ahead of me.  You know when a car gets really dirty, someone will write "wash me" or something, this specific dump truck, I believe, was delivering a message to me from God.  In the dirt of its tailgate were the words, "I Am."

It was an eerie feeling actually, having God give me such a visible message.  It was almost too much for me to comprehend.  My boss already knew I was running late, and due to the particularly despondent mood I was in, I decided to follow the truck for a while (about fifteen minutes).  When my spirit was a little more intact from starring at the words "I Am" on the back on the dump truck, I figured it was time to get to work.  Coincidently, the truck veered off onto the highway at the exact same moment.  

I'm not out of the woods yet.  I still have serious needs to be met, but my inner spirit is stronger because I believe God cares for me.  Romans 5 says, "And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."  

I've heard that passage so many times that it almost lost its meaning.  Thankfully, I feel as if there is a scriptural revival in my head, where these amazing passages are being interpreted afresh.  They are life giving, like this one I read in 1 Peter today, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you (5: 6+7)."

Noah, Daniel, Job + Us

I usually only post on Tuesdays, but I came across this scripture and didn't want to forget it.  It refers to the question, "Is God going to withhold a blessing due to a specific sin I just committed?"  I have heard many of my friends and peers raise this question.  I myself have often pondered it, and the usual consensus has been, "Yes.  Now God will not give you something He had intended."

I'm not so sure about that answer anymore.  With all respect and authority to God, I may have stumbled on a Word from Ezekiel that conveys another point of view.  It is Ezekiel 14: 13-20 which says:

"Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men--Noah, Daniel and Job--were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD." (Ezekiel 14: 13+14)

In the day of Ezekiel, righteousness was achieved through observance of the law.  God sent prophets to guide and teach the people and when they strayed, He sent His wrath in order to correct and bring change.  I and many Christ-followers are stuck in this mindset, but I don't believe it has Biblical merit after what Christ did on the cross.  

Look at Romans 3:20, "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."  Observing the law doesn't save us anymore.  Paul keeps writing in Romans 3 saying, "But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."  And then he says something to really drive it home.  "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  No difference.  Mother Teresa, you and I are on an equal playing field in God's eyes.

Noah, Daniel and Job would be just as screwed as the rest of us if they did not have faith.  God has the power and authority to do whatever He pleases.  He is a just God and sins have consequences, but the Bible says that He delights in showing mercy.  Psalm 103 says the He will not always treat us as our sins deserve.  The implications of this are expressed in most of the book of Romans.  Because of this freedom from sin, does it mean we can do whatever we want, to which Paul says, "By no means!"  Look up Romans 6: 15-23 for more on that issue.  

There is freedom in Christ.  God is not up in heaven with two hands on the rug, ready to pull it from under us.  A.W. Tozer says, "When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at us." 

Manna, I'm Broke

Don't bother trying to find Warren Buffett's email address.  I'll save you the time and energy--it aint listed.  Unfortunately, I know from experience.  Just when I thought I could get a financial foothold, I go to the dentist and find out that I need a root canal; to the tune of $940.  Then add another $900 for the crown.  I'm already broke, so with those kinds of expenses, you might understand why I'd gone hunting for Warren Buffett's generosity. 

When I got home from the dentist with the bad news I felt discouraged, overwhelmed and angry.  "Yeah, YOU'RE good, God, but I'm not."  There was not an ounce of joy in my life.  Thank the Lord that I was wise enough to realize it.  Living a joyless life sucks.  Why wouldn't it?  It's joy-less.  My beautiful girlfriend tried to speak truth to me about God's goodness and how He will provide somehow, if not money then peace but I wasn't hearing it.  "You're good God, thats awesome.  That doesn't help ME right now."  

I felt convicted (rightfully so) for barking at her and God, so through my teeth I got onto my knees and prayed.  I didn't even know what to say, so that's where I started.  "I don't know what to say God, I need you right now and I have a lot of doubts."  God spoke to me when I was being genuine--something that for whatever reason, I don't often do.  I pretend or dance around the heart of the matter.  This is a habit I intend to break.

But God spoke to me down in my room.  He reminded me of His track record with me.  I've been burdened in some very real ways, but I'd never been sunk.  He brought to mind the story of the Israelites and how He provided manna for them every morning, and there was always just enough.  He shined two spotlights in my mind--one on my idea of security and the other on the Israelites'.  

I picked up my Bible and flipped to Exodus 16.  Well, my first thought was to turn to Job but I thought that might be a little overdramatic.  So I started reading about how the Lord provided.  I used to gloss over the fact that they had to pick their food up off of the desert floor.  God didn't provide them with juicy, enormous burger pattys, bleu cheese crumbles, crispy little onion straws, secret sauce...I need to stop.  He gave them flakes of bread that they ground into little cakes.  In Exodus 16: 19, Moses says, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."  I can't keep my flakes?  Some of them didn't have enough faith that God would satisfy their hunger.  Perhaps they looked at the foggy future and reckoned that they'd be wise to take matters into their own hands.  That's what I do.  And Exodus 16: 20 says, "Some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning but it was full of maggots and began to smell."  

The part of this whole root canal situation that made me angry was because I have genuinely been trying to live on a budget, albeit shoe string.  I have envelopes that [are supposed to] hold car, phone, student loan, tithe, savings, misc money.  As of right now, 95% of my envelopes are empty.  It's enormously frustrating to me because, to my core, I just want to financially responsible.  But right now I'm not in a position to put money away.  I feel like God is teaching me to wait on Him to provided.  In the past I have always had just enough for a specific bill.  Just like the Israelites with manna.  "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."  God's funny like that.  I squeeked by paying for a $250 speeding ticket (thank you Wisconsin) and somehow it'll be the same for $1,800 worth of dental work.  

And saving is wise.  I don't think it is unimportant.  I dream for the day when I can save a little money but it just isn't my life right now and I need to accept that.  If and when I have some extra cash, it will be stewarded wisely.  But that is a big IF.

God can be trusted.  I say that in the midst of this situation that will be financially difficult.  GOD IS FAITHFUL.  I am hard-pressed but not crushed.  I can not wait to see what happens.  Getting recentered on God's firm foundation does wonders for my attitude.  It doesn't make me a christian robot, who walks around grinning ear to ear, picking up babies and overtly waving at people.  What it does is give me an inner confidence that, just as I mentioned above, I am not crushed.  

The Wisdom of Fife

2 Timothy 1:7 says that God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  I often glaze over this verse but what is it really saying?  What are the implications?

The way this verse is hitting me right now relates to the sin in my life, specifically, the resistance of it.  I'm rarely confident that I have what it takes to resist a temptation--any temptation, it doesn't matter what it is.  I tip-toe down the path until I'm entangle in it and end up wondering why I let myself go. 

But it doesn't have to be like that.  God gave us power over ourselves, all we have to do is claim it.  Romans 8:26 says, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness."  Again in 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "But [Jesus] said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

 

Which sounds more confidence inspiring:

• I hope I don't do THAT again.
• I WON'T do that again.
  

One is timid. One has power.  Sad to say, the first one is the one I say in the deepest, most honest part of me.  I am aware of the Spirits power, but so often I choose to go away from it.  I willingly refuse its power.  So I say through my guilt and shame, I hope I have what it takes next time. 

I never do.

In the profoundly deep film I Love You, Man, Sydney Fife (played by Jason Segel) says to his friend, "trying is having the intention to fail."  We need to stop trying not to sin.  Galatians 5:16, "Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

 Be bold, in Jesus name renounce the strongest sin in your life.  You will feel like a liar while in mid sentence.  But once you've punctuated your renunciation you will feel the Spirit's power flowing through your veins.  

Try it.

Two Masters: God+Mammon

For a much better version of what you are about to read, consult The Pursuit of God, ch. 2 The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing by A.W. Tozer. I will try not to steal his ideas word for word, but be prepared for a barrelful of Tozer references.  Consider this a summary.   

Before God created Man, He lavished the earth  with useful and pleasant thing.  These things were for man's livelihood and enjoyment and in the beginning, these were simply "things."  They were made to be external and subservient to him.  Inside the Man was a throne that only the Creator was worthy to sit on.  "Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him (Tozer)."

But when sin was introduced, it forced God off of His central throne and allowed all of those "things" to sit in His place.  "There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess.  It covets things with a deep and fierce passion.  The pronouns my and mine look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant.  They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease (Tozer)."  Think about things you consider "yours."  Are they on your throne or is God?  

"Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended.  God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution (Tozer)."  

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13, "No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money."  The King James version says, "You cannot serve both God and Mammon."  Mammon is used to describe material wealth or greed, most often personified as a deity, which is why 'Money' is capitalized.  

So it really is just that simple.  There are two masters we can worship--Mammon or God.  Mammon/Money offers a sense of security because we can see and hold it.  If we wanted to we could smell and eat it.  I get anxious and scared when I have none and I feel a sense of power when I do.  But it never seems to last, does it.  It always gets spent.  Quickly.  Lately, it seems to be getting spent faster than ever.  So, in my wisdom, I begin to save and budget.  These are wise habits and the Bible will back that up.  My point is, and I'm speaking about me personally, that it is very easy for me to look at my wise budgeting techniques and feel that sense of warm security wash over me.  Mammon still has control over me in very insidious ways.  

But it doesn't have to be like that.  Tozer says that the only way to defeat Mammon is by the cross.  "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me," said Jesus in Matthew 16:24.  "The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things.  The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing.  They have broken the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but by surrendering.  Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things.  'Theirs is the kingdom of heaven' (Tozer)."    

This isn't just another doctrine to be understood and stored in your brain.  Take this seriously.  The path away from Mammon is difficult, but it leads to God, who never intends to harm you.  There is no fear with Mammon except when your money runs out.  God works the other way.  When you step out in faith and fear, God proves Himself faithful, trustworthy and secure.  

Consider the story of Abraham and Isaac.  "The baby represented everything sacred to his father's heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hopes of the years and the long messianic dream (Tozer)."  As Isaac grew into a young man, Abraham's heart grew even fonder.  Soon his relationship bordered on perilous.  God said to him, "Abraham! Take your son, your only son, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about (Genesis 22:2)."  Can you imagine what went through Abraham's mind?  "The ancient writer spares us a close-up of the agony that night on the slopes near Beersheba when the aged man had it out with his God, but respectful imagination may view in awe the bent form wrestling convulsively alone under the stars (Tozer)."  

I'm just going to let Tozer keep going...

"How should he slay the lad! Even if he could get the consent of his wounded and protesting heart, how could he reconcile the act with the promise, 'In Isaace shall thy seed be called,?"  This was Abraham's trial by fire, and he did not fail in the crucible.  While the stars still shone like sharp white points above the tent where the sleep Isaac lay, and long before the gray dawn had begun to lighten the east, the old saint had made up his mind.  He would offer his son as God had directed him to do, and then trust God to raise him from the dead.  This, says the writer to the Hebrews, was the solution his aching heart found sometime in the dark night, and he rose 'early in the morning' to carry out the plan (Tozer)."  

Abraham didn't understand God's method, but he had correctly sensed the secret of God's heart.  God let Abraham suffer up to the point where He knew there would be no retreat and then refused him to lay a hand on the boy.  Heaven was convinced that Abraham feared God.  Tozer says that God never intended that he should actually slay the lad.  God only wanted to remove Isaac from the temple of his heart that He might reign unchallenged there.  God wanted to correct the perversion that existed in Abraham's love.  Take the boy.  

Abraham was a wealthy man.  He had sheep, camels, herds and goods of every sort.  He had a wife, friends, and his son Isaac by his side.  But he possessed nothing.  "There is the spiritual secret.  There is the sweet theology of the heart which can be learned only in the school of renunciation (Tozer)."  So I ask again, who is on your throne?  

"The ancient curse will not go out painlessly; the tough old miser within us will not lie down and die in obedience to our command.  [Mammon] must be torn out of our heart like a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from the jaw.  He must be expelled from our soul by violence, as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple (Tozer)."  In the fear and uncertainty, God will reveal Himself.  "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"  These are the words of Jesus, taken right after he told the crowds that you cannot serve both God and Mammon (Matthew 6:26+27).  

God's good, original design was to be intimately connected to us. Money, possessions, and the false sense of security have taken over our minds. Take some time and consider what you can not live without. If there is an answer, perhaps you can compare it to God's importance in your life.

 

Profoundly Simple

Growing up in a church is a great experience, but it has the potential to have an adverse effect on spiritual development.  It had an adverse effect on mine.  At an early age I became aware of the fact that there is a major gulf separating me from Heaven.  I also became aware that there is a laundry list of things I could do to get in--and if I didn't do it I was screwed.  

But that's not what the Bible teaches.  To paraphrase John Ortberg, "the Bible is not a list of minimal entry requirements to get into Heaven when you die."  That path does not lead to life.  Jesus taught of only two commandments.  First, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: 'Love you neighbor as yourself.' (Mark 12:29-31)"  That's so simple.  Actually doing that on a consistent basis is difficult, it's a simple command. 

Jesus isn't changing the law of Moses.  He was/ is the fulfillment of that law.  Romans 5 talks about sin entering the world through one man (Adam).  It explains that "before the law was given, sin was in the world," and consequently, so was death.  I love Romans 5:15 which simply says, "But the gift is not like the trespass."  It continues: "For if the many died by the trespass of the one man [Adam], how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift is not like the result of the one man's sin."  (Romans 5:15+16).  

Adam, who is human, brought sin into the world.  Jesus, who is God, brought justification.  God is so much greater than mortal man, we all agree on that.  So what He brings into the world is greater as well--freedom, justification, mercy and love.  This basic Christian doctrine which bombarded me as a child is starting to take on flesh in my life today.  I just needed to see it through the a different lens.  

So where does that leave us?  Now that we understand what Jesus did to sin, how do we respond?  As Believers, we can put off spiritual striving.  "Don't complicate the gospel.  It's good news," said a professor of mine.  Don't be like the Pharisees in Mark 12.  Jesus says, "Watch out for the teachers of the law.  They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.  They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers."  

It's the simple mentality of the first being last and the last being first.  In Matthew 11 Jesus thanks His Father for hiding these things from the wise and learned and revealing them to little children.  "For this was his good pleasure."  Right after Jesus had explained that all things in Heaven and on earth have been committed to Him by God he says, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 

It's two commandments.  Love God.  Love everyone else.  That may sound difficult, but look what Jesus just said--"learn from me."  Psalm 103 says that God knows we're just dust.  Here today and gone tomorrow.  He knows loving everyone doesn't come naturally to us.  So He gives us the Spirit who teaches us and speaks to God on our behalf.  And the evidence of that Spirit living in us are, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."  These trump the law.  This is the recipe for living out the only two commandments we need, and the awesome thing is that when we are in tune with the Spirit, they come to us like second nature.  John the Baptist says, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentence."   

I love Jesus' response to the Pharisees and Herodians when they asked him about paying taxes to Caesar.  Jesus asks for a denarius and says, "Whose portrait is this?  And whose inscription?"  "Ceasar's," they replied.  Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."  Time after time after time crowds come to Jesus assuming there are rules and requirements and He keeps giving them these simple answers.  Flipping the coin back at their chests He says, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."  It doesn't have to be complicated!  The best part of that story is that they were amazed at His answer.  It was profoundly simple.  

So take heart if you feel like you can't live the "christian" life.  If you are doing something that is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, good fruit, impartial and/or sincere, then you are pleasing Heaven.  Don't worry what you heard in church, or what other christians might think.  Richard Foster said, "Jesus rejoiced so fully in life that he was accused of being a wine-o and a glutton.  Some of us might live our lives with such sourness that we couldn't possibly be accused of such things, and we think thats good."

I'll end with a quote from Gary Haugen (another hero of mine).  He says, "Something is wrong if Jesus' yoke is light, and somehow mine is heavy."  Don't complicate the gospel.  It's good news.  

Hope

The subject of fear, doubt, anxiety, etc hits very close to home, so I want to take some time here and remind myself (and whoever reads this blog) what Jesus/ the bible and some great Christian leaders have to say about fear.  

"God does lead his people on roundabout ways.  He does not move hastily.  He is never in a hurry.  It is one of his most irritating qualities." -John Ortberg.

In Love Beyond Reason, Ortberg continues about "the God who takes his people to the Promised Land by way of the desert."  But why?  If God loves us like sons and daughters, can't He calm the storms in our lives?  Why does God let it be so difficult?  

I like Ortberg's answer: "The desert is where you face the question of perseverance.  The desert is a place where only the patient can go on."  Here God's love lands in a deeper place.  "In the desert all we have to cling to is the promise.  God has not forgotten you."  Here Romans 8:15-17 is life-giving, "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry 'Abba, Father.'  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

Really take a moment to think of the implications of a statement like, "The Holy Spirit tells our spirit that we are God's children."  That's one part of the trinity saying we're God's children, how about another?  In Matthew 7:9-11, Jesus (The Son) says, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"  (Just look at my hot girlfriend as evidence of this being true).  That's two members of the trinity considering humans sons and daughters of God.  Psalm 139: 13-16 says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  We were created by God.  He made us.  That is why He sees us as His children.  This is profound, to me.   

There is a field in social science that attempts to study resiliency.  Researchers study people who have survived traumatic experiences.  For example, they studied 3,000 POW's who returned from being "brainwashed" in Korea, victims of crippling accidents and children from very difficult backgrounds.  Their answers (the resilient ones, rather) all shared a few themes.

• Resilient people continually seek to reassert some command and control over their destiny rather than seeing themselves as passive victims.
•  Resilient people have a larger than usual capacity for what might be called moral courage--for refusing to betray their values
  
• Resilient people find purpose and meaning in their suffering
  

These qualities are not just the product of a strong character.  Each one of them grows out of a deep dependence on God.  Jairus's daughter being dead didn't phase Jesus.  Surely my enormous student loan debt won't phase Him either.  Whatever you're going through isn't too big (or trivial).  Jesus says, "Don't be afraid; just believe (Mark 5:36)."  In Matthew 21:22 Jesus says to his disciples, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."  This takes faith.  God, I believe.  Help my unbelief.  Psalm 25:3 says that no one whose hope is in [God] will ever be put to shame. 

Sometimes I doubt that God really cares about me.  I believe that He loves me, because I believe that what Jesus said is true.  But I sometimes doubt that God likes me and therefore, doesn't care if I'm blessed.  Take a guess where this thought comes from.  

From cover to cover, the bible is about God doing everything in His power to be with His people (me and you).  He delights in us, the bible says.  So when times are hard, when we are in a desert, when the storm is tearing everything else apart, remember Paul's words, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; confused, but not in despair."  

"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." -Luke 12: 6+7