God is a Father; Satan is a kidnapper and abuser

"God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Gen 1: 27-28)

This morning I was thinking about the nature of how God interacts with us versus how Satan interacts with us.  God created us and loves us as a parent does a child.  He loves us deeply and has high hopes for us.  He sets rules on our behavior because he has wisdom that we do not, and until we develop that kind of wisdom through experience, he gives us commandments to keep us safe and healthy (individually and as a society) (Ex 20).  He encourages us ("You are fearfully and wonderfully made" Ps 139:14; "For I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope" Jer 29:11), and wants to see us succeed.  He wants to have a relationship with us and sent his son to give us a path to forgiveness and salvation (John 3:16-17).  Ultimately it leads to relationship and familial closeness.

Satan on the other hand comes to us in the guise of freedom and novelty masquerading as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14-15).  He twists our thought processes to turn parental rules into seemingly binding regulations (Gen 3:1-5).  For his own personal ambition and power mongering he seeks to lead souls outside of God's protection and to worship of himself (Rev 13).  He encourages us to sin as he sinned in his own fall from grace (Ez 28:11-19), and he wants to turn us into ugly replicas of himself instead of the images of God that we are.

The contrast between God and Satan and their motivations have become clearer to me as I have kids of my own.  It's a strange thing to move from being focused on your own life alone, to giving of yourself to your children and their needs because they are so hopeless when they are born.  Children are a blank slate.  They move instinctually, but they have no real awareness of who and what they are.  They need to even discover their arms and legs and the motor skills to even roll over.

As a result, as they grow, parents strive to teach the child to understand their surroundings, giving them limited freedom and set rules commensurate with their ages to keep them safe.  When they misbehave, we discipline them out of love, not out of hate because we know that they need to have a sense of right and wrong in order to be successful people.

I would contrast human parentage with kidnappers who abduct children.  Most of these children are abused and them murdered.  Others are used as slaves for personal gain or sold into prostitution.  None of these kidnappers are committing their crime for the sake of the child.  There is no sacrifice or love in their motivations.  They are simply seeking their own gratification and power mongering attitude.

When I became a Christian and moved from the parentage of Satan to the parentage of God, I entered a household and became an adopted son (Romans 11:13-24).  I went from being lost and striving toward nothingness and despair to having a structure and having a loving parent.  I used to suffer bouts of deep loneliness and pits of emptiness in my soul, but since I received Christ and the Holy Spirit came to indwell within me, I have not had that feeling once.  Someone has always been there with me.

I honestly shudder to think of where my life was headed and where I was going, but now I stand on firm ground and have a surety and confidence within me that I didn't have before.

I need to remember this lesson because my parents were definitely well meaning and well intended, but they were absentee parents.  They were contented to ship me off to the television and have me play quietly in the corner while they weren't bothered.  I needed God badly because I needed His Fatherhood in my life.

Now, as a parent of two children, they'll need me to be like God the Father and not follow the template of my own parents.  Actually, I want them badly to have both - To know God first and foremost, but to also be directed to God by a loving parentage.

We often have preconceived notions about God based on our experiences with our own parents.  I used to think of him as somewhat distant and very angry about sin.  Sort of how I relate to my dad who ran our household more through intimidation than anything.  Although I do still think that God becomes angry about sin, I now realize that there is a tremendous overwhelming love as a parent first and foremost.  His anger is not at us, but at the sin itself.  His love for us drives Him to coax us out of a meaningless and deadly lifestyle into adoption into His family.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming for me even when I was in the depth of my despair.  You heard my soul calling out for meaning and desiring something more from life, and You came to show me Your love and healed my soul.  I pray for Your help in being a father and a husband, that I may take Your ways and live them out daily in my interactions with my family.  In Jesus' name, AMEN.

God Proves Himself Through Trials

"we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:3-5)

It has been a pretty tough week. Not that there was any one thing or one event that has been an issue, but just a cumulative series of small things that have drained me bit by bit. I am reminded of this verse - to glory in tribulations.

Tribulations will definitely span a great range - for most people, such as myself at this time, it will be fairly mundane things that will be a trial, and for others there will be a difficult event that will take a good amount of time to overcome.

But, I really do believe in the cycle that Paul describes in Romans. We are shaped through our trials far more than through our blessings. I know that I spent a good deal of time praying and asking God for strength this week than I have for a while. It is the new things, the new trials that cause us to go to our knees.

What we find however, is that God can successfully bring us through the trials. He really is faithful. Faithful, not in the sense that we won't have difficulties or tragedies happen to us, but faithful to give us the strength to overcome them. And the result of that is we see more and more that God is good to us, and the truth that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

It is through this body of work, that is our personal journey of life through which God proves His faithfulness and His reality. And when each trial has been overcome, we have a track record on which to place our hopes for eternal life. God really is, and He is with us.

Perhaps there is something behind the curse of Adam given to us men during the Fall:

"Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:17-19)

Adam and Eve had just disobeyed God in the midst of a life of ease in the Garden of Eden. If a life of ease did not produce obedience, loyalty and character in them, perhaps God wanted to develop that character through trials instead.

As I think about those who will share the Kingdom with the Lord in the end, they will all have been tested through a life of trial and tragedy. Each will know what evil is, and in contrast, the goodness of God.

Lord Jesus, thank You for being strong in my life. That there are times when I need to lean upon You for strength and simply dwell in Your presence. Thank You for being faithful in my times of need and that You are always true and good. As a family, help us to navigate these waters that will be a challenge. Help us to stay near to You and always have Your character on us even through the darkest days. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

Sin = Enslavement; Jesus Breaks Sins and Gives Life

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. for the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts." (Romans 6:8-12)

In Christianity, we hear of the free gift of Christ very often. Here in Romans 6, Paul details to us what exactly Christ has done for us. Christ sacrificed Himself for the death that we should have died because of our sins, and being God His death has the power to cover all our sins. In addition, only the death of a perfect man under the law could serve as that sacrifice as a sinful man would already deserve death on his own faults. Christ's resurrection of Himself on the third day evidences that death's power has been overcome by Christ's sacrifice. If we believe in Him AND become His follower, then His death is extended to us because we die to our old selves, and are renewed in Christ. We are no longer slaves to sin - but are now slaves to righteousness.

This message isn't a simple one - and although I've been a Christian for a few years now, I also had to struggle with the above paragraph to try to break it down to something simple for me to write...and I only think that I half succeeded.

The part of Romans 6 that has really struck me though is the concept of Lordship. We are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness.

Sin attracts us because we want to be free to do whatever we want to do. Our society tends to live by the motto: "If it feels good, do it". Well, sin always feels good at first. There is a rush of doing something that even our souls know is illicit. We are going against God and rebelling feels good.

But as we do our sin more and more, something terrible happens. The enjoyment level falls but the craving to keep doing it increases. Soon we are slowly consumed by the need to sin more and more, while the only enjoyment comes from thinking and doing more perverse ways of sinning. We fall into a deeper and deeper cycle and addiction. Sin, which seemed so attractive and free, has ensnared us.

As we become enslaved to sin, the enjoyment of life decreases. It is difficult to live because we need to sin. We are not free any longer and we have given over our souls to sin.

But Christ is the light that saves us because He alone can break the power of sin. Yes, by accepting Him, we become His followers and His children. But, being our Creator, He knows the optimum ways in which we need to live. He has given us guidelines through His Word to direct us in the ways that will be beneficial to us - ways to maximize our enjoyment and our freedom. But one of the first things that He does for us when we become Christians is that He breaks the shackles of sin, and provides us with a way out of those sins. For some people it is a dramatic turnaround. For others like myself, it is a gradual working and changing of my life more and more towards His ways.

It is such a paradox that although Christ gives us commandments which seem to be so constrictive, our true freedom, peace and happiness is derived from those boundaries. It is like a rule that we can't eat a poison berry. Yes, the berry may taste sweet and delicious, but the poison will ultimately kill us. While eating the berry may seem like freedom, the death that it leads to is the anti-thesis.

Lord Jesus, today You have allowed me to think once again about all that You've done for me in my life. I know that I need to renew my understanding from time to time in order to keep strong in my faith - especially because I have such a short term memory and we are bombarded with messages to sin and live with the world on a daily basis. But, when I recall Your power to break sins, I have to sit and marvel at all the changes You've made in my life. While I am not perfect, You have given me new life, and I am so grateful for it all. I am free in ways I have never known and I have peace and joy deeper than I ever could have imagined. Thank You Jesus. In Your name I pray, AMEN.

We Measure Up Only In Christ

"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:19-20)

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:23-26)

In reading Romans 3 today, Paul reminds me that it is not enough to be good. If we were to judge ourselves strictly by the law of God, and all the commandments, we would fail because we are prone to evil and sin. Similarly, to boast and measure ourselves by the level of our perceived righteousness is prideful and futile at the same time. We will never fully measure up to every letter of the law. However, the law exposes us to the weaknesses of ourselves and shows us our sins.

It is that this point that many people will give up on God. There is an overwhelming guilt because of our sins, and we don't know if we can ever become the type of person that can please God.

However, there is Jesus. Yes, Paul reminds us of our sinful natures, but at the same time, He also reminds us that when Jesus came, He shed His blood in lieu of us. Although by our sins we deserved to die, Jesus died for us and absorbed our sins. There is no effort needed on our part except to have faith in Jesus.

There are challenges to that as well, of course. We are not only called to believe in Jesus, for even the demons believe in Christ but they willfully reject and despise Him. Instead, we are called to follow Him wherever He asks us to go and do whatever the Holy Spirit is asking us to do. That is not an easy task. But, our goal is not to be comfortable, but instead we must desire and choose to become more like Him daily.

Lord Jesus, I know that I can do better, and I know that I am not a perfect person who does not sin on occasion. It isn't my desire, it isn't my want, but instead it is my weakness. I am so glad for Your Holy Spirit, that You came and not only died for my sins, but gave me a helper to overcome so many bad habits and sins that had plagued me for so many years. I am changed because of You, but I am hardly perfect. That's okay, because I know that You did the hard work and served as a replacement for my punishment. Thank You Lord. I am blessed beyond words. May I always be willing to lay aside my current life and embrace whatever plans You have for me in the next steps. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

In Times of Trouble, Where is My Hope Placed?

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit." (Jer 17:7-8)

Where is my hope and where is my trust? Those are very pertinent questions for me today as I begin to assess where I am at the moment. My family is facing some potentially large financial commitments, and I don't have a steady job at the moment. I am working as a temp right now, and I am very grateful for the work - truly, it has been provision from the Lord.

However, I don't have the solid financial footing to undertake our potential purchases, and that is a little unsettling. "How in the world are we going to do all this?" is the question that comes to mind very quickly.

I sift through all the calculations that I can come up with, and it doesn't add up. But then, I am reminded when I read this verse - "Bryan, who and what are you placing your trust in?" Am I trusting in my own abilities, the number in my bank account, or on random fortune?

All that ignores the Lord entirely. I am not saying that the Lord is my genie to grant me any wish that I want, but what I am saying is that the Lord provides appropriately and at the right time.

The trial is not the important battle to win, but rather it is my response to the trial that is the true test. When push comes to shove, will I stand on my worldly possessions and skills, or will I instead dive into the arms of the Lord? Is my belief deep enough to keep my leaves green during the time of drought, not sucking life from the world, but subsisting on the word of God alone?

I must remember the Lord and simply pray to Him. Yes, I will do whatever I can with my own two hands, but I will leave the ultimate provision to Him. He will provide for us one way or another - I don't need to wonder or worry. Once it goes to Him, it will get taken cared of in the proper way at the proper time.

Lord Jesus, I know that the decisions that have started to weigh on me are not really mine to make. You know what is best for me and my family, and You have never led us astray. No, You have always been faithful, and even now You provide for us in the midst of a tough job market. I have always had favor from You and I know that this time will not be any different. You have a plan and You have a future laid out for us. Forgive me for my moments of unbelief where I have not put my life squarely into Your hands, but instead have tried to wield it all on my own. In the process, I almost lost all the lessons that You've been teaching me over the past 6 months. Thank You for drawing near to me again and holding us steady although the world howls around us. In Your glorious name, AMEN.