rejection

Lion and Lamb – VOTD.07.31.17

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  2 Corinthians 9:8

We don’t have to be second-class Christians. God is able to make all grace overflow in you and me. Why? So we’ll have all we need to abound in Jesus and in His work. It’s all from God and He makes His grace overflow in us through Jesus.

Not all Christians are overflowing in grace. You and I can make the Lord our refuge, our dwelling (Ps 90:1), or we can try to run away from Him.  The first is blessed and the second is tragic.

The Bible refers to Jesus as the “Lion of Judah”, and the “Lamb of God” (Rev 5:5/Jn 1:29). There is a tension there.

When the Lion of Judah roars, those who are running from Him had better be afraid. When the Lamb of God draw those who are running toward Him to Himself, those who seek Him, will find Him in a deeper way than they ever thought possible.

Jesus alone is our ultimate protection and safety. Jesus has eyes only for us, and demonstrates His incredible love over and over. He’s relentless in His tenderness for those who seek Him… He’s relentless in his provision of security and passion for us (Ps 27:8). (more…)

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The Judgmental and the Judge – VOTD.05.015.17

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. Romans 14:4

Do you remember the prophet, Jonah? He was unwilling to spread God’s word of impending doom against the people of Ninivah, because he was afraid they might repent, and then God would have mercy on them and not bring the calamity He warned of.

Maybe that’s the problem. Like Jonah, we’re afraid God is going to be too lenient on those we scorn, so we have to judge them for ourselves. We can’t trust Jesus to judge them harshly enough. That may not be the motive in every case, but I’m pretty sure it is many times. We judge others because we don’t trust God to do it right.

And that makes some kind of sense, since in today’s verse Paul tells us that those of us who Jesus judges are going to stand. Not, by-the-way, because we are innocent. We’re not. Not one of us is. But because God is able to make us stand.

If we’re judging others, that’s bad news. But if we’re on the receiving end of judgment—in which case, today’ verse is really good news. Other’s are going to judge us. But rather than defend ourselves and judge back, we trust God to act and judge in our behalf.

The amazing thing that today’s verse tells us is that if we were to judge as Jesus judges, those we judge would stand. They would be acquitted…on the basis of Jesus shed blood atoning for them. That sort of changes the picture, doesn’t it? (more…)

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The Identity of Kindness (pt 2) – VOTD.11.14.16

One of the teachers of the law…asked [Jesus], “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus answered, “The most important one is this: ‘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 your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

There’s a popular saying that if we are to love others as we love ourselves, we have to love ourselves. That statement has been used to justify all sorts of self-indulgence, which was never the point of Jesus words in today’s verse. But it also reflects a truth that becomes more obvious when talking about showing love through acts of Kindness.

People who are at peace with themselves are able to give peace away. People who are kind to themselves are people with a reservoir of kindness to work from in their kind words and actions. People with a healthy identity spread emotional health among those they come in contact with.

So the first question in establishing a healthy identity is ‘Am I loved?’ And we have to find a yes to that. ‘Am I loved by God?’ is the central question of life, and similarly, ‘Will I allow myself to receive God’s love?’ We know we are loved by God—at least we know it in our heads. But do our hearts respond to His love? (more…)

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The Identity of Kindness – VOTD.11.08.16

For to me, to live is Christ (Phil 1:21) Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God (Gal 2:20) Your life is now hidden in God with Christ. He is your life. (Col 3:3,4)

We’ve been looking at the Christian grace of Kindness over the past few weeks, and that has been the foundation from which we’ve looked at a spirit of entitlement and now are considering a spirit of rejection. Both are obstacles to practicing kindness as a lifestyle.

Last time we saw how kindness is a weapon in the spirit realm and so it’s something the enemy wants to prevent in our lives. Nearly everyone has had their motives misunderstood when they’ve reached out in kindness, so it seems safer to not reach out. That’s an obvious problem of a rejection-spirited person. But most of the time it goes quite a bit deeper…to the core of our identity.

Through the lens of rejection, we will struggle with our own identity. The person who finds their identity in Jesus will live out of the peace of that identity because their self-value is established in Jesus… “to live is Christ”. The tragedy here is that for many in the Christian faith our identity is not found in Jesus, it’s found in a role we play. When we have a spirit of acceptance, our core identity is “I’m a child of God.” “I’m the bride of Christ”. And we live out of that identity. (more…)

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A Spirit of Rejection – VOTD.11.07.16

Grant to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. Isaiah 61:3

We’ve been talking in recent weeks about Christian kindness and some of the things that make kindness happen; some of the things that hinder it. One of the foundations for any of us practicing kindness is how we see reality around us—and that has a lot to do with how we see ourselves…and how we see God.

Kindness is a weapon in the spirit realm. So when it comes to spiritual warfare, the enemy wants to give us a lens—a way that we see things—that gives the side of evil an advantage. These lenses are not necessarily a just a temptation or an accusation, even though the enemy is good at both. But with a lens, the enemy gives us a way of thinking that envelops us, and a filter through which we see everything else— how we see others, how we see ourselves, how we see God. (more…)

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