» The Slow Learner Gets Reading Glasses

The Slow Learner Gets Reading Glasses

Heather,at The Narrow Gate , wrote a profoundly important post which she gave me permission to repost. I think you will appreciate it. I hope you will take it to heart.

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“I’m back.

And before I share what the Lord showed me, I would ask readers to please set aside any preconceived notions about doctrine or eschatology. I promise, I’m not a crazy heretic who’s pushing some “new and improved” version of salvation. And I’m sure our study of God’s Word is never pointless. But the “extra” stuff WILL cloud our vision if we don’t already clearly see the “big picture”. God’s people have been stuck too long contemplating such details as how works “work”, who is “elect” and why some believers are “gifted” when others are not.

Please pray that the Lord would help you weigh carefully what I say here. Facing the whole truth and choosing to continue believing partial truths is not a light matter and I’m frightened at having been given such a precious treasure to share. I don’t want to do this the wrong way.

And no. This is not Heather being dramatic. If we want to see the truth, we have to ask the One who IS truth. Otherwise, we will stubbornly continue in unbelief.

Alright. The simple, basic truth is really not so different than my father’s summation of the Bible.

1. I am God. You are not.

2. And I love you anyway.

There is much wisdom there. But I would change it to say:

1. I am your Father. And I know what is best. Leave the hard things to Me.

2. But even though you don’t want to see this, I love you anyway. Come back and let Me take care of you.

Do you see what I see?

Read Genesis and Exodus. Everything Jesus said. John’s Gospel and his epistles. Paul’s writings. It’s all over Scripture.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

“But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”…..(NASB)

The foundation of our faith is simple. It is a pure devotion to our Lord. But we make it hard because of our stubborn, sinful flesh that does not want to admit that we were made to need a Gentle Shepherd who will take care of us. We want to have it our way and try to scheme and plan and figure out a better path to everlasting life.

Look carefully at the “photographs” in the Old Testament. Look at the terminology in the New Testamrnt. Father, mother, Sister, Brother, birth, children….

God needs absolutely NOTHING from us. But He wants us to trust Him as little children would trust a loving Father. God wants a family. The “Kingdom” of God is a Royal Family and we are all to act as though we believe that. Our sinful pride (attitude of “I want to be the boss”) messes with us constantly. And our greed causes us to reach for that which was not ours to take. Namely, the “knowledge of right and wrong”: the right to BE God.

Now, I’m sure this is not a “new” concept to most professing Christians. But I have to ask, how many of us honestly believe this simple profession of faith? How many of us actually trust that God’s wisdom and care is sufficient instead of relying on our doctrinal creeds or Calvinistic/Arminian/Lutheran/Catholic/Baptist/Charismatic/Reformed etc. teachings? Or perhaps we are obsessed with church programs, “uplifting” song services and social justice?

How many of us will stand up to “defend God’s Word” against all opposition, yet we do it in our own “intellectual” way..totally missing the family portrait that is painted there? How many of us have reduced a relationship with our Father and His children to being a mechanical set of “Sunday-go-to-church-because -we’re -not -supposed -to -forsake -the -assembly” rituals? Or, we’ve abandoned church altogether because no one cares?

Do we care when a Family member is sick, sad, hurt, going bankrupt, abandoned, struggling with alcoholism, p*rn*graphy or h*m*s*xuality? Are we concerned for the welfare of another professing believer who is known to be stuck in a pattern of sin? Do we care enough to go say “Daddy told us to not behave like that”-let’s go together and ask Him to help you trust Him in this trial. Do we even notice the blatant disregard for the wisdom of the Father which runs rampant in the church? Does it break our hearts and cause us to plead with Him to open the eyes of those who are perishing? Or, do we shudder in self-righteous indignation, call down heavenly condemnation and then begin the 3-step “Church discipline” process?

That brings me to Matthew 18.

For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go into the mountains and seek the straying one? And if it happens that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety and nine which did not stray. Even so it is not the will of your Father in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. (v 11-16)

I only copied part of it, but I highly recommend a thorough reading of the whole context. Look at the words Jesus is using and please recognize that he is not laying out a formula by which we kick people out of our elite club. Our job is to first humbly, privately offer to help, fully acknowledging that any of us is a potential offender simply because we are living in cursed carcasses.

If our sibling in Christ chooses to not repent, then we are to bring in an ELDER sibling (this has nothing to do with some organizational hierarchy, BTW–it is acknowledgment of Family order, pure and simple). Call for one who’s faith is recognized to be more mature and who might be able to better hear from Daddy what to do. If that doesn’t work, get the whole local Family together so that they can all urge the errant brother back into the protective arms of his Father. The purpose here is reconciliation with Daddy, not the merciless gang-beating of one of His children by the rest. If the person still refuses to repent (Post on that topic), and will not act as though he believes Dad knows what He’s saying, then we need to recognize that he most likely doesn’t know Dad and doesn’t want to be disciplined by Him. For, through Solomon, God said “My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” Proverbs 3:11-12

We are to hand that errant person back over to the Lord for punishment (put him out of the “assembly”). The Lord will not fail to deal with him. And if he responds, we are to welcome him back with open arms—no questions asked. That is the forgiveness of agape.

But while He yet talked with the people, behold, His mother and His brothers stood outside, desiring to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, Behold, Your mother and Your brothers stand outside, desiring to speak with You. And He answered and said to him who told Him, Who is My mother? And who are My brothers? And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, Behold, My mother and My brothers! For whoever shall do the will of My Father in Heaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother. Matthew 12:46-50

God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God wants a big family and “we” are the way He has chosen to go about it. I’m not going to speculate as to how certain doctrines fit that concept. Obviously, there is only one safe way to the Father– through His Son, who purchased us for a price none of us can begin to imagine.

Jesus told Nicodemus that one must be “born again”. We are to be stripped naked before Him and allow Him to cover us as He intended from the beginning.

If we are His children, we need to behave as though we believe that Daddy knows what is best.

There are many, many things in the Bible that are hard to understand and I don’t think we are supposed to try to wrap our minds around every bit. Instead, we are to allow God to wrap His heart around us and show us what He wants us to know.

Then, we are to do what He has told us to do, as we seek Him and He reveals it to us as individuals. Just as a large natural family can have babies, preschoolers, elementary-aged, teenagers, young adults, middle aged, older adults…we should expect God’s family to have similar stages of growth happening at any given time. We need to be careful to not consider others as being unworthy of adoption. And if we really believe He’s building a family based in mercifully forgiving Love, it changes the way we look at our spouses, children, neighbors, bosses–even complete strangers.

My goal as a family member is to learn to trust my Father by accepting His discipline and to remember to encourage other family members to do the same. When I fail (commit acts of sin), I need to admit that I am helpless without Him, then turn from my own foolish dimwittedness and ask Him to teach me to love and trust Him more. In this, I am set free from the law of sin and death–because death is simply what happens when Life is taken away. Salvation really is that simple.

A word of caution to the proud and perverse:

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Luke 18:15-17

And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Luke 17:1-2

The essence of sin is in not trusting that Daddy loves us and will take care of us. It is the rejection of His loving discipline that destroys our faith in Him. Causing anyone else to stumble in their simple, childlike faith is not a crime the Lord will simply overlook.

I must be humbled and learn to cry “Abba, Father! Help me, for I am helpless! Adopt me, for I am Fatherless. Discipline me, for I am foolish. Teach me to walk in Your ways so that I will no longer be stubbornly rebellious to your precious, life-giving care!”

Have I tried to build an intellectually logical framework into which I cram God? Is it my business to try to determine who is “elect” and who deserves God’s wrath? Do I dare to stand in opposition to the family that Jesus is building through the Spirit? If that is my attitude, then I should be trembling in fear, for John tells us that

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.

One last thing. I have read through the Gospel of John a couple of times. The last time, we read it as a family about 6 months ago. And for the first time in my life, I noticed the way Resurrected Jesus addressed his fishing disciples…

Then Jesus said to them, Children, do you have anything to eat? They answered Him, No. John 21:5

Read the rest of that passage. As we read the Bible, we need to strive to catch a glimpse of the family that God is building. We need to beg him to take the scales off of our eyes and cause us to SEE what He’s doing. Jesus’ death and resurrection makes it possible for all of mankind to be reconciled with the Father. How He does it and who He chooses is none of my business. But I’d better not get in His way.

Love created us. It walked among us. Love is saving us and is building a permanent home for us. Love ran to us when we had wasted our beautiful inheritance. It hugged us while we smelled like manure. It rejoices when any previously thankless child turns and comes, filthy and broken, back to the Father. It washes us. It places royal robes on our shoulders and holds a feast out of pure joy……………

Love instructs us to touch others in the same way and we can’t do it without Him.

Can you see it?

If this concept doesn’t absolutely rock your world, beg God to tip you out of the boat–in the middle of the lake–during a storm–with no life jacket. He will not fail to lift you up when you plead with Him to save you.

He’s promised. And His Promise is trustworthy.

Will return to the concept of the Bible as a love story ASAP .”

christian living | Word Warrior | November 14, 2009 11:06 am

6 Comments

By Jill F., November 14, 2009 @ 12:04 pm

Loved this! Can anyone read this and not see from scripture that we are a covenantal people of God who need to worship together? Not lone ranger Christians say “just my Bible and Jesus”? Like a family we must be committed to each other! Where would I be without the body of Christ..as broken and imperfect as it is.
By Kelly L, November 14, 2009 @ 7:34 pm

Liked this so much. The prayer of Jesus for His disciples then and now was all about us being one so the world would know God sent Him. Then if we aren’t one, like the family He created us to be, the world would remain blinded. Wouldn’t it be awesome if even half of us were radically obedient to God and loving in unity with our co-heirs in Christ. The world would break down the walls of the church to get what they saw. Let it be so, LORD!
By sarah, November 14, 2009 @ 8:04 pm

word warrior….or words of love. I would definitely glean more from a person who spoke out of words of love as apposed to war. I actually enjoyed this post, and was touched by the fundamental message…that of love. God’s love for us and spread through us. Instead of trying to FIX everyone else…..we can just be vessels of God’s amazing love.
By Word Warrior, November 14, 2009 @ 9:34 pm

Sarah,

Translation of your comment: “Don’t say anything that offends.”

There were many types of vessels of love in Scripture, and often they were so offensive, the vessels were killed.

If you prefer a different style of writing, there are so many blogs to choose from and you are welcome to read those, instead of criticizing mine.

“To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.” Jeremiah 6:10
By Kelly L, November 15, 2009 @ 5:08 pm

WW,
great verse! (I know you didn’t write it, but good find ;}
By Kim M, November 16, 2009 @ 10:26 pm

Great post! Thanks to Heather.