God always protects?

God always protects. In a previous post about taking my then three-year daughter to the doctor, I speculated about what that divine protection could look like. That episode helps shed a little light on the subject, but makes it seem that God is always behind our pain, or that there is a divine/ultimate purpose for our pain.

God always protects. My reaction is, "No! There is plenty of painful evidence that he doesn't!" Always? Don't try selling that to the parents of the young couple who was killed by a drunk driver Friday night. The promise sounds good, but what about the consequences of our (and others) destructive choices. God can redeem these situations, no question; but that is a big difference from protection.

Other translations of the bible read, "Love bears all things." I decided to do some deeper study. Words can have different meanings. In my native tongue the word "rock" can refer to a stone to throw, something to do in a chair with a baby in your arms, a type of music, a person’s name. Rock.

The New Testament was written in Greek and the word in question (stego, στέγω) can mean: “bear, forbear, overhang (like a roof, thus to protect)”, to preserve or keep by covering (think Saran wrap). It can mean to hide or conceal, to carry on one's person in a secret place.

So then "love always covers." Love does not expose the one it loves. Like the infamous water-boarding, exposure (to light, heat, cold, noise, etc.,) is an effective torture technique. Love doesn't expose.Love does not humiliate or embarrass.

Like a sculptor working on a masterpiece, God is an artist when it comes to you. He sees the final picture, the finished masterpiece, long before he brings it into being. Artists often cover their work, away from public view, until it is finished, protecting what is in his heart until it has been fully expressed.

Many people fear God will expose them to the world at their worst possible moment. God doesn't do that. "Love covers a multitude of sins." From the beginning of time (remember Adam and Eve) God has been in the business of covering up sin. Not in a "cover up", conspiracy, "sweep in under the rug" kind of way; but love covers the object of its affection. Love does not humiliate, embarrass or expose.

Come with me to a third grade classroom....
There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he knows when the other boys see it he will never hear the end of it, and the girls will never speak to him again as long as he lives. He puts his head down and tries to fight back the tears.

He hears footsteps and looks up, mortified to see the teacher headed for him with a look in her eyes that says he’s been discovered. Suddenly, Susie absent-mindedly walks in front of the teacher while carrying the class mascot: a goldfish in a large glass bowl. Susie trips and dumps the water into the boy's lap.

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, "Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!" Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him out to get some gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out.

All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. As Susie tries to help, she becomes the object of ridicule that would have been the boy's. "You've done enough, you klutz! Get out of here!"

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
Susie whispers back, "I wet my pants once too, and I remember what that felt like."

That is a picture of your Heavenly Father’s heart. God loves you. You are the object of His affection. He will cover you. He will never expose you or embarrass you. In fact, he will cover up embarrassing sins and struggles that you secretly deal with. He will never humiliate you in order to humble you.

He is great at keeping things just between you and him. You are his masterpiece and he will protect you and cover you until you are complete. The only exposing God ever does in your life is when he unveils the beautiful things about you to others.

I’m not telling you that others will never find out your sins. Sin has a nasty habit of eventually exposing itself. We have all been "busted", exposed, but God was not the one who did it. This is never in his heart. Love covers, conceals closely.

Many Christians believe that when they stand before God all of their sins, a whole lifetime of failures, is going to be broadcast on huge video screens, celestial jumbo-trons, for everyone to see. This is just not true. Who is "the Accuser of the Saints?" Who delights in exposing, humiliating and embarrassing God's children?

We have taken the character of the Enemy, of Satan, and ascribed it to God. We have distorted God's character and disfigured his heart. God is love, and love always covers what it loves.

Painful Faith

I've been out of town for a week with no internet access--ugghhh! It is good to be home and back to blogging.

My friend John Fischer wrote today of "growing pains" as we die to old ways in order to live anew in our spirits. Old ways die hard--it's hard letting go of our security blankets.

Spiritual growth hurts because it often means facing long-held fears and letting go of comfortable traditions and routines.

“Put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him” (Philippians 2:12-13 NLT).

We obey by stepping into our weakness or our fear, trusting in the fact that because it is something He asks of us, He will meet us somewhere along the way with the power to do it.

This is a painful proposition, but if it doesn’t hurt, it’s probably not faith.

Old ways die hard, but new life dances on the gravestones.

Making God's Day

The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. (Genesis 6:6)

I used to read the account of the great Flood in the Bible, the story of Noah and his family, and see an angry, fuming God. It's not there. God was grieved and sad. This is just one example that God has emotions and his heart is stirred by what we do.We can bring God joy, and we can bring him sadness and pain.

God is fully fulfilled within His own being. God does not need you, but He desires you... and me. While God doesn't need a thing, still he made us to reach out to him and perhaps find him. To do so, he would have had to make himself vulnerable to the process he created. Amazing.

One of my favorite authors, John Fisher, has "sometimes wondered if God didn't purposely create a need (a desire) in himself for us when he made us, thus making him open to both the pain and the joy of a relationship."

When working on his first novel, "Saint Ben" John explores the idea of what happens when one takes the Pascalian idea of a "God-shaped vacuum in every human heart" and turns it around. What if there is a Jim-shaped hole in the heart of God, just the size to fit my rebellious, moody, and all-too-often selfish self? What if there is a you-shaped hole in the heart of God?

That God would carve out a place for us in his heart is a mystery. That we would fulfill it is privilege worthy of life itself. So go ahead; make God's day. Seek after Him. Bring him joy and not sorrow. The choice is yours. Just know that His heart is for you, He desires a personal and intimate relationship with each one of His children.

Rendering Sin Powerless

On the cross, Jesus took care of the penalty for your sins. In one sense, sin is no longer an issue as far as a relationship with God is concerned. It won't keep Him from you or, as a result, you from Him. You don't have to get rid of it to come to Him and He no longer holds your sins against you. What would be the point of Jesus dying on the cross if you are expected to pay God back every time you sin?

That is not to say that God ignores your sins or takes sin lightly. God hates sin, not because it of what it does to Him, but because of what sin does to His children. While the penalty has been paid, the power of sin still wreaks havoc in people's lives. That is why sin is still an issue and that is what God wants to change.

The further you get from the things that destroy your life the better off you are. God truly loves putting distance between you and death. God doesn’t want you caged in a cycle of repetition, where you repeat the same destructive acts over and over, causing damage to your own life and the life of everyone connected to you.

As we live each day with Him, God untwists what sin has twisted in us and in the process sets us free from the power of sin in our lives--rendering sin powerless. God does not want to punish you for your sins (that was taken care of on the cross), He wants to cure you from sin and its negative effects in your life.

God doesn't keep a record of wrongs--there is no need to. But God also doesn't keep a record of rights either--He doesn’t need a reason to love you and bless you. God doesn't want to punish you, He wants to heal you. He wants to undo some of the damage your sin and selfishness has caused.

We cannot experience that healing and new life apart from a daily, intimate relationship with God. "Come to me, all you who are worn out and loaded down with heavy burdens, and I will give you rest", was Jesus invitation. He is alive and that invitation is still extended today.

God Keeps No Record of Wrongs

God is love. Love keeps no record of wrongs. This unique kind of love is unconditional and transformational.

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more..." (Isaiah 43:25)

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; (Psalm 103:11-13)

What happens in a relationship when one or both parties keeps a record of the other party’s wrongs and mistakes? Keeping a record of wrongs kills relationship. In most divorces one of both parties kept meticulous record of the other person’s faults.

If God keeps a record of wrongs then our relationship with Him is based on performance and intimacy is impossible—you can never perform good enough often enough. Since real relationship is not based on performance there is no need to keep score.

Most people who believe in God do not believe this about Him, but it is true. God keeps no record of wrongs. He will never throw your past in your face or use your mistakes as ammunition or leverage. We are never more like God than when we put down our scorecards--the ones we keep on other people, and the one we keep on ourselves.

Sensitive God

The word "sensitive" has two meanings and they are opposites.

Sometimes it is said of a person that they are "sensitive". It is a warning. They are easily offended because they are focused on themselves. Your're often told that you'd be wise to "walk on eggshells" around them. You want to be careful not to "rub them the wrong way."

The other kind of "sensitve" person is rarely offended. They are not focused on themselves but on the needs of others. You can tell them anything, even be bluntly honest, and they can handle it.

Which one of these describes your God?

You can be grateful that God is the latter. If He were like the first description you and I would never have a chance. He is sensitive to your struggles and invites you, welcomes you, into His presence.

Wonderful Weekend

Spent Friday in a theme park with the boy-child. His school choir was in a regional competition after which all the groups headed into the park with the awards ceremony and trophy presentation scheduled just before closing time. We had a blast! His school racked up: four trophies (3 first place), a couple of "Superior" ratings (the highest), and a couple of ribbons for individual performances.

Best news of the weekend: My friend who had not awakened from laparoscopic gall bladder surgery four weeks ago opened his eyes and was waving. When I finally got to see him Sunday evening he was sitting up and we had a nice, although brief, chat. I didn't realize until later that he was riding a bed pan and I had come at a most inopportune time.

Sunday morning as part of our worship service we surprised the group with a renewal of wedding vows ceremony right in the middle of the sermon. They are celebrating their tenth anniversary this week.

Their love story began twelve and a half years ago. She was the mother of two girls, ages 9 and 6, whose husband/daddy had recently divorced the family. The hero of our story had a painful past himself; he and his wife going separate ways after the death of a child.

So these two wounded people met for the first time, at a softball game of all places. Introduced by a friend of hers, who happened to be a co-worker of his. A friendship grew and blossomed. They dated for over two years.

The time came when they believed that marriage was the next step in their relationship. It was time to make known to their family and friends that this was a permanent relationship, and in their hearts they were committed to each other for a lifetime.

On the day of the wedding, as they exchanged vows and rings, the handsome groom not only gave a ring to his new bride, but matching rings to her daughters; for now he considered them his daughters as well.

Not only was a marriage born that day, but also a family. God has added to it over the years and God has continually moved in their hearts to heal past pains. God is doing something new and wonderful.

They adopted a little girl seven years ago, and the oldest daughter has married so there's now a son-in-law in the mix. It was neat as they exchanged their vows which included the phrase, "I still take you..."

No More Tears

"Don't ever discount the wonder of your tears. They can be healing waters and a stream of joy. Sometimes they are the best words the heart can speak." ~ The Shack, p. 228

A picture of the future: God lives with people and they live with him. They belong to Him, and God himself will be with them and be their God. There is the promise that there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. But before that there is the promise that although this world is full of tears, God will be the one to wipe the tears from our eyes.

Disarming Agitators

The other day I was just a bear. Snapping at everyone. Frustrated. Agitated. Stressed. Pacing. Caged. Finally I got a piece a paper and wrote the answer to four questions:

About what am I ANGRY?
About what am I ANXIOUS?
Of what am I AFRAID?
What am I AVOIDING?

It was amazing, the instant peace that settled over me by just seeing these things in front of me. Two or three things under each heading. Identifying them didn't make them disappear but suddenly took the teeth out of them.

The things about which I was angry--frustrations with family members--suddenly seemed petty. I even laughed that I had been stressing over a couple of these things. Anxiety and fear turned to resolve to confront the things I had been avoiding.

Amazing how quickly this little exercise transformed my whole disposition. These agitators and stressors become so small and were instantly disarmed when dragged into the light.

Living in the Light

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:5-7)

I've always heard that "walking in darkness" meant sinfulness, breaking God's rules. "Walking in the light" meant following God's rules, doing good, being good... being perfect like God is perfect.

A new understanding is that "walking in darkness" means living a life of secrecy, hiding, wearing a mask, deception. "Walking in the light" doesn't mean a person is sin-free, but rather they are honest about the shortcomings, failures, destructive habits and sin with which they struggle.

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:19-21)

So John concludes: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." (1 John 1:8-10)

Love is Not Proud

I love my children. I am proud of my children. In what sense is love not proud? When our pride is in others it is loving, when our pride is self-centered it can become noxious, even deadly to relationships. True love is not proud, selfish, arrogant, puffed-up.

I was eating Rice Krispies cereal this morning. "Snap, crackle and pop" when the milk is poured. Puffed rice. Bigger than a regular grain of rice... and hollow. Prideful people are like that, trying to appear bigger than they really are and hollow on the inside. Prideful people are puffed up.

God is love. Love is not proud. God is not prideful. We were not created to worship God. We were created in hopes that we would choose to be in relationship with Him. Worship is the consummation of relationship. Worship is not about a prideful God who made people so they could constantly tell Him how great He is. God is not proud.

God does not need you, or anyone, or anything--He is fully fulfilled within Himself. While God does not need you, He desires you. Your Creator wants you to know His heart and to choose to live your life with Him. God is not proud or selfish, though He is often misrepresented to be both those things. You are the object of His affection.

Love Lived Out

I know I've been inconsistent with posts the lasts couple of weeks. Lots going on. Stress.
A friend of mine went to the hospital three weeks ago today with severe abdominal pain. He's still there, in the Intensive Care Unit.

He had gall bladder surgery eighteen days ago and during surgery he aspirated, lungs filling with fluid, and he has not yet awakened from that. His wife has held constant vigil by his bedside for nearly three weeks. She is hopeful for a full recovery and wants to be there when he wakes up.

On the home front, my Mother-in-law had a stroke last July and came to live with us in October. My wife is a teacher, so her days are non-stop with work and then care-giving when she returns home. The days seem endless with very few breaks in a grinding monotony of our weekly routines. Signs of long-term improvement are few are far between, but we are hopeful.

Watching these two women, my friends wife and mine, has taught me what real love looks like. Patient. Kind. Humble. Sacrificial. Enduring. Selfless. Love does the dirty work, and does it for the long haul. Love is not the feel-good, romance sold to us in novels and movies. Love doesn't bail out when it's no longer fun or ceases to feel good.

Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.