God Is Not Displeased With You

I mean, that's pretty much what I wanted to say. But I can elaborate.

I began my last post with this Scripture:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?--Romans 8:29-31

God is for us.

I think some of us just need to hear that today. God isn't sitting up in heaven, looking down on you, wondering how He can make your life more difficult. He isn't wringing His hands over all your sin. You're His child, not a toy He created to play with. He wants the best for you, and he will fight--and has already fought--on your side.

I heard a pastor say that you can tell how valuable a thing is by the price that was paid for it. Why would a God who sacrificed His only beloved, precious Son be against the people He paid such a high price to ransom?

The craziest thing is, those whom he predestined [to be conformed to the image of Jesus] he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

He is making you into the image of His Son, who is the firstborn among many brothers (that's us). We have a family resemblance to Jesus. We are His brothers and sisters, just like Him in our Father's eyes. And do you know what the Father said about Jesus? "In Him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11).

He is pleased with His children.

If you believe in Christ today, He has already justified you and glorified you. Those verbs are in the past tense. To claim that God is "disappointed in you" implies that God was surprised by what you did. He's omniscient....aka, never surprised. (I heard that from another pastor. The good thing about being a Christian is that it's impossible to plagiarize the wisdom of God!)

You don't have to be perfect to approach Him. In fact, the more messed up you are, the more eager He is to welcome you. He knows you can never fix all your problems. He's the only one who can.

So if there are things right now that you think are between you and God, just remember: God is not a person. He won't shame you, blame you, or slam you with lightning. Jesus has already paid for all your sins, issues, depression, worries, imperfections. Everything you don't want to share with Him, He's already experienced full-force on the cross. You can't scare Him.

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.--Psalm 62:8

And that's in the Old Testament, guys.

Pour out your heart. He wants to hear it all. He is not displeased, and He wants to be your refuge.

The Best Offense...Is a Good Offense

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?--Romans 8:29-31

When you were reborn in Christ, He remade you in His image, with the spiritual DNA of a royal heir. And if you are like Christ, you are destined to win against the devil. As believers, we not only have the ability to recognize evil, but we have the authority to do something about it.

I don't normally write about the devil (after all, he and I are not really on good terms). However, I want to address an important concept that we HAVE to absorb if we want to live a victorious Christian life: we have authority to chase away evil. Not only that, but we can use our authority to gain valuable ground for the kingdom of God when we resist evil forces (aka kick devil butt) in the smallest of situations in our lives and in the biggest problems all over the earth.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.--James 4:7

We don't flee from him; he flees from us. I think in church culture, we largely believe that the devil is in control of the earth. At some point, we have all nodded our heads in agreement with the saying, "The world is going to hell in a handbasket." When we hear horrible reports on the evening news, we shake our heads in resignation; if we remember, we might mention the issue in a brief, half-hearted shout-out during Sunday morning prayer. When something bad happens to us, we say, "Oh well, I'll just hide out and wait until Jesus comes back." Often, we believe that when it comes to the devil, the best offense is a good defense. 

But Jesus has already defeated the devil. John spells it out for us pretty plainly: "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). 

In speaking of evil spirits, John goes on: "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (4:4). The resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead--the Holy Spirit--lives inside of you (Romans 8:11).

In the Holy Spirit, we have the power to affect big change in a world that looks so impossibly unredeemable. With Him living inside of you, you're a warrior, more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). Warriors go out and win back ground that has been lost to the enemy. God has given you authority to spread the gospel, resist sin, and bust down some stinkin' strongholds so you can show others the way to freedom. 

So put on your armor.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand agains the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.{I mean, give credit where credit is due. Don't be deceived: no bad things come from God (James 1:16-17). Anything bad you experience is not part of God's plan for His children; but He will redeem it and turn it around (Romans 8:28).} Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm (Ephesians 6:10-13).

We know the parts of the armor. There's the belt of truth, which is God's word about who He is and who you are, and it holds up your britches so you can fight. Next is the breastplate of righteousness (won for us by Jesus) and shoes of peace (in Christ, which passes all understanding; these are not running shoes). After that, we have the shield of faith and helmet of salvation, which guard your heart and mind against the "flaming darts" of the devil, the only weapons in his pitiful arsenal. Lastly, you need a weapon: the sword of the Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit, the power that raised Jesus from the dead and has already defeated the devil. He's a weapon who can be trusted. When you pray in the Spirit, you pray His words, sharper than any two-edged sword.

If you were supposed to run and hide from the devil, you wouldn't need armor. You'd need a bunker. 

I'm not advocating for the idea that people suffer from problems because they "didn't take authority over them." This mentality twists the truth of our authority by blaming people for their own sickness or distress. Jesus said that the rain falls on the evil and the good (Matthew 5:45). There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). We know who the accuser is, and, as we've already been discussing, we know he's a liar. Like I said, bad things don't come from God, so let's give credit where credit is due.

I'm also not advocating devil-chasing, like the world does with it's weird Halloween ghost specials on TV. I actually saw one of these playing when I was at the gym. The people on the show were trying to get "ghosts" out of their house by performing creepy rituals. The homeowners were burning tiny bags or something in every corner of the house (at night, of course), huddled up and spooked out. If you think Christian talk about demons and angels is weird, just take a look at what the world believes.

But we are not children of the night; we are children of the light (1 Thessalonians 5:5). The point I'm trying to make is, we don't have to light candles, chant magic words, or ask "ghosts" politely to go away. We don't have to play with the devil. We don't have to appease him. We have the authority to tell him to leave. And we can make serious headway for the kingdom of God by recognizing where evil comes from and then exercising our authority over it, in our own lives and in others'.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, writes John (1 John 5:19). 

But John only writes this after he explains, For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (5:4-5).

Why does believing in Jesus Christ overcome the devil?

By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:17-18).

We don't have to be afraid of the devil, and the reason is simple: we love God, and He loves us, and His relationship with us gives us life. Resist the devil by praising God. Believe that Jesus loves humanity, and exercise that faith by praying His love and goodness over every dark corner of the earth. Love smashes the schemes of the enemy to peices.

As a follower of Christ, you are part of a grand design of victory. You're on the winning team. You're a light that shines in a dark place, and all the powers of darkness cannot overcome you (John 1:5). We know the voice of the Good Shepherd (John 10:27). When the devil's voice starts speaking lies to you, tell yourself just who you are, why God made you, and how much God loves you. (If you need to find out more about these things, just pick up your Bible!) Remind the devil that he's already been defeated in every situation on earth. Then use your God-given, grace-given authority to tell him to go back where he came from! He can even go in a handbasket if he wants.

I think he better start running.

Person-Pleaser

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything (1 John 3:19-20).

This post is for everyone who struggles with self-condemnation. That is, this post is for every human being on earth. (It is not for cats. Good thing they never struggle with self-condemnation.)

Nearly a year ago, I wrote a post about self-deprecation. My Father has been working on me, and I want to tell you about how He lovingly took my hand and drew me even further upwards and away from this issue.

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10).

I am a people-pleaser. I sign myself up for every activity and strive to do my best at the things that interest me. But in all this over-scheduling and intense competition, I am not seeking the approval of everyone else. I am seeking my own approval, which I measure by some standard that I have created for myself based on my human perception of my abilities and gifts.

I must fulfill "my potential" by enrolling in every activity that interests me or that I'm good at. I fear settling on one thing, because then I have "limited myself." If I choose one thing, I'll never live the thousand lives that I have dreamed for myself. I will never prove to myself that I can do all the things I think I can do.

In other words, I'm not people-pleasing, exactly. I'm person-pleasing. And the person is me.

I have spent my life comparing myself to others, struggling with self-condemnation when I make mistakes, and becoming irritated at myself, all in the attempt to earn my own approval.

This all came to a screeching halt as I journaled and prayed. Unexpectedly, God revealed to me that I am harboring unforgiveness against myself for past mistakes.

He doesn't condemn me (John 8:11; John 3:17). He isn't sitting around remembering all my transgressions. Jesus died on the cross so all of that could be cleared away. He's not looking for opportunities to bring up my failures; He's removed them from me as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

The only one bringing my failures back up again is me. He has approved me, but somehow that isn't enough for me. I feel like God, the creator of righteousness, is not a harsh enough judge. I need to approve myself. I need to prove myself, in fact, by competing in every race I can, always trying to beat my own time.

When I engage in the self-justification process, I ALWAYS come out judged unworthy. But the opposite is true of God. The Bible consistently refers to God as a parent to us. A new mother is extremely attentive to an infant, and when her little one is in trouble--sick, dirty, tired, screaming--she doesn't pay less attention to it, but rather gives it more care.  And God gives us more attention when we are in trouble. While we were yet sinners, he died for us (Romans 5:8). As soon as we open our mouths to cry, he runs to us (Isaiah 30:19).

A baby has nothing more to offer its parents than a smile, but the parents treasure that smile above all else. God responds to us the same way. He has already designed a perfect plan for me based on His {completely and utterly accurate} perception of me as a beloved daughter. I don't have to prove anything to Him. He knows everything and loves me constantly. I just have to smile while He cares for me.

Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord! (Psalm 25:7)

Wait, by whose goodness is God remembering you and your past?

Not yours. His.

So why am I remembering my past in the darkness of my failures, when His steadfast love is pouring His righteousness over me? Why do I waste time telling myself that my mistakes "aren't as bad" as others, when that really doesn't matter anyway, because He has approved all who bear the name of His Son?

I would never harbor such deep unforgiveness toward another person, but apparently I have trouble letting bygones be bygones when it comes to my own sin. Self-resentment is sneaky, lurking beneath the surface to arise and accuse us when we are weakest.

It is especially hard when we are in the thick of the battle, fighting to overcome a familiar sin. Sometimes, overcoming big issues is a process, and we are always moving forward, but the enemy tries to sow lies into our situation by telling us that we will always struggle with sin. Sometimes the lying voice you hear the loudest in those times is your own.

"You'll never do right," you tell yourself. "You will always bring yourself down with this sin. The second you forgive yourself, it will come back to haunt you. Grab onto it and don't let go, or it will come back to attack you! You will ruin yourself!"

If we hold onto our sin to prevent it from attacking us, we can't let it go. We are forgetting that it has already been completely obliterated, defeated, demolished, vaporized in the power of the cross.

In speaking of his responsibilities as a gifted leader, Paul said, But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself (1 Corinthians 4:2-3).

Paul understood that, in his merely human wisdom, he didn't have the right to judge himself. The law, the word of God, is the only righteous judge. In my last post, I wrote about how Jesus IS the law made flesh. And the law has already sacrificed itself to fulfill itself. (Is your mind blown yet?)

The Word fulfilled the Word. The law fulfilled the law. The righteousness of God made you righteous. Then who is there to judge you? When you're covered with the blood of Jesus, He's already forgiven you. Who are you to accuse yourself, when the one against whom you sinned has already forgiven you?

Like the woman at the well, we struggle to earn our water, to "pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps," trying to prove to ourselves that we are worth approval. All the while, Jesus is sitting on the well, holding nothing against us, offering us living water that comes with no price.

I had to forgive myself of my past sins. My prayer to God was that He would change my mindset like an air filter. I want to be consumed by His love for me, not by an all-consuming need to compete against myself. I am learning that the one I was created to please isn't me. In fact, He isn't a person at all, and He is already just as well pleased with me as He is with His Son.

The Law

And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people (John 5:37-41).

The Pharisees in Jesus' day loved the word of God. They spent all day reading the scriptures, striving and striving to gain eternal life, just one drop of God's righteousness, from the words on the page.

I imagine this must have been a very frustrating life. Have you ever read Deuteronomy? There is no way any human can fulfill every single mandate of the Mosaic law.

So Jesus' revelation in Matthew 5:17 was probably a bit shocking to everyone: "Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

Say what?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made, writes John (1:1-3).

If that don't deserve a "hallelujah!", I don't know what does! Hold onto your head, because it's about to get even more mind-blowing.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him (Colossians 1:16).

My silly mind imagines Jesus as a nebulous plasma of God's Word floating around the throne of God. He looked down on man and said, "Well, I guess they can't fulfill me themselves. Looks like I better go down there and do it for them."

Clearly this is an oversimplification, but it shows the nature of God. His Word stands forever: it does not return void (Isaiah 55). It will be fulfilled, no matter what. That's just who He is.

So what Jesus was telling the Pharisees in John 5 was, "Hey, you have your nose in the Scriptures, searching for the Word that gives life, but I am the Word! Lift up your eyes to me, and receive eternal life!"

It's no wonder they didn't really get it. Whoever heard of the Word--God's promises, laws that characterize His righteousness, the spoken truth of His love, the creative power of His tongue--coming to life as a real, live human being? That's just crazy.

But it happened.

Jesus went on to say: Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? (John 5:45-47)

The more you learn to love the Bible, the Word of God, the more you love Jesus, because He is the Word. And in fact, He hasn't stopped speaking. Just as easily as Jesus prophesied over the woman at the well, we can speak a true word of life to those around us who are dying and change their lives forever. Sometimes this word is an actual scripture, given to us by the Holy Spirit in that moment; sometimes it is not, but agrees with the character and desires of God as displayed in the Bible.

If you don't think you hear from God, I would encourage you to listen. Jesus came to open the door to the Holy of Holies so that you could walk in and have a conversation with Him. He longs to give you a word of direction and healing for every situation in your life. He wants to speak to us just as He spoke to the prophets--and even more clearly, because now we can all know Him (Jeremiah 31:34).

The Word of God laid Himself down on the altar to fulfill His own demand for righteousness. He never fails, and He will never stop speaking.

Give Me a Drink

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (For his disciples had gone away in to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
                                                                                                     --John 4:7-10

On assignment from God, Jesus went where He "wasn't supposed to go." He met with a woman he "wasn't supposed to talk to." And the first thing He said to her is interesting: "Give me a drink."

Because of her reputation as a sinner, this woman sought to avoid the gossip and rejection of the other women on their early morning walk to the well. Instead, she preferred to go alone, even if it meant enduring the intense heat of midday. She probably would have avoided going to the well altogether, except that the water she drew there was her life source. It kept her hydrated in the merciless heat of the desert climate. But soon it was gone, and the very next day she would have to hike back across the hot land and draw water again, simply so she could stay alive.

So her reaction to Jesus when He asked her for a sip of her precious life source was predictable: "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" 

In other words, "Why are you even here? Go draw your own water!" She had been disregarded by Jews (who believed Samaritans were the "red-headed stepchild" of Judaism, to use a Southern phrase) and counted as worthless by her own people. She couldn't understand why any Jewish person (and a man, no less) would approach her with a heart full of good intentions.

She figured that Jesus was like everyone else: He only wanted to take from her.

But Jesus had quite a different thing in mind. In exchange for the water that kept her alive, He would give her a baptism into new, everlasting life.

Naturally, though she saw that Jesus was tired and thirsty, the woman wanted to hold onto the tiny jar of water, so hard-won, that she thought was preserving her life. She had no concept that God could preserve her life eternally. Instead, her initial reaction was to deny Jesus the mercy He asked of her, not knowing that He was stretching out His hand to offer her an infinitely greater mercy.

To her, a woman worth nothing, her tiny bucket was priceless. To Him, she was priceless.

How often do we shy away when Jesus says to us, "Give me a drink"? He asks for our hearts, our sense of identity in our reputation or circumstances, all of the things we believe we have worked so hard to obtain. He asks for nothing less than our very lives. But in exchange, He gives us something greater: streams of living water--His life!

And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong, writes Isaiah, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail (58:11).

The woman at the well was not an unbeliever. She was a Samaritan who worshipped the one true God, but she didn't have the tools to understand who He was. She probably knew that, for all her fighting, she was still dying inside. Since the Jews held onto the holy scriptures and were unwilling to share God's word with this woman, God Himself came to her and gave her a word. Though she was cautious and probably a little surly at first, she softened when Jesus revealed what He knew about her supernaturally, proving He was sent from God.

As she suddenly understood Jesus' identity, the woman responded in a beautiful way.

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" (John 4:28-29)

Because she had a sudden revelation of Jesus' identity, the woman abandoned her precious water jar without a second thought, fleeing from the well that was both a source of physical life and a source of condemnation for her. In her excitement, she forgot that she was thirsty. And she went to the very people who had rejected her to offer them the acceptance of a Savior.

Jesus desires not only that we would have eternal life, but that we would have the infinite joy of becoming like Him, so full of water that we would share it generously with all who thirst.

"Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-15).

People who are dying of thirst will be unwilling to share even a sip of water from their jars. They find Jesus' request too demanding. But everything changes when you realize that He is a God who wants to take your rejection, exhaustion, condemnation, and hopelessness in exchange for a life that lasts forever. Give Him your water jar, your life, today.

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food" (Isaiah 55:1-2)