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.

Christ Redirects Us Through Life Changes

"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation." (Psalm 91:14-16)

Things in my life had been proceeding smoothly - busy and hectic, but smoothly nonetheless. It is usually during these times, that 1 Cor 10:12 typically comes into my mind - "Be careful if you think you stand, lest you fall."

Recently, my boss let me know of a situation with the Company which may or may not necessitate cuts, transfers or large wholesale changes during the next two years. Unlike most people who are suffering from "job insecurity" or unemployment, this situation is more of a slow moving event than and a quick cut. That is a blessing in itself because I have time to prepare.

However, I was running a bit on cruise control in my life and I was enjoying my job, the company culture and everything that went along with it. My wife is 6 months pregnant and we had recently purchased a home. A common scenario here in the USA. So, the first few days or so were filled with many moments of thought about the future.

The overriding theme of my thoughts was just a sense and a coming back to the fact that our lives are really set up by the Lord in ways that we do not and cannot imagine. It is our unfortunate tendency to think that we have a lot of control to plan our lives and we make those plans and expectations in our mind. We think, "First I'm going to do this, then this and then finally this will happen and I'll be happy."

This is not to say that goal setting is unworthy - it is obviously proven to be a key in progressing in any endeavor we do. However, my point is simply that we are not the ultimate arbiters of what will transpire in our lives.

Job loss, Sickness, Accidents, Theft - are just some of the things that can pop up in our lives which will send us spiraling away from the path that we have carefully chosen for ourselves.

The saving grace for those of us who call on Jesus is what He has promised to His followers and believers. We are not bereft of protection in the most dire of circumstances. If a large change in our life occurs, He can not only help us to overcome, but He will help us to use it to help others to move us to a more beneficial place.

We can call on Him in trouble and He will answer. He answers because we know each other and we have a deep abiding relationship that comes many conversations, trials and prayers. Too easily I forget all that He has already done for me in my life and I am glad that He still remembers all those moments and helps me to recall that He has never failed me, and that He never will.

Lord Jesus, you are the ultimate planner and user of my life. Please use me as You will and not as I will. You have never failed me before and never will fail me as You have promised this to those who love You. So, use this event to move my life in the direction that it needs to go. When we called You "Lord", we also gave over control of where and how we are serving. In Your blessed name we pray. AMEN.

Be Content In Marriage And Money

⁴Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. ⁵Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," ⁶so that we confidently say,
"THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID.
WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"

(Hebrews 13:4-6)

As I read this passage, I noticed that the Lord is asking us to live with a sense of gratefulness and appreciation for what we have. Along with that spirit of thankfulness, we need to also practice delayed gratification as well.

We live in a fast food, instant gratification world. It is such a luxury that we can jump into our cars and purchase anything under the sun whenever we like with only a piece of plastic instead of carrying around cash. If we want to be entertained, our movies are fed straight to our big screen TVs over high definition (or our everywhere internet connected smartphones). It's an awesome thing - luxuries no one could have even imagined just 20-30 years ago.

As great as these things are, that attitude of instant gratification cannot carry into our married life or our finances. Perhaps more than anywhere else in our lives, God needs to reign in us when it comes to those two things.

I am so glad for my wife. We are such different people and that can lead to great complementary aids, or great disagreements. But through everything, she is a loving support for me through tough times. Marriage has also been the toughest test for me in my entire life. The concept of "two becoming one" seems romantic when you're single, but when actually doing the process in real life, it can also be like surgery. For others, there might also be times when it can seem mundane because you see a person everyday. Either way, staying the course in marriage isn't necessarily easy.

It can seem attractive to bail out and to find someone new in order to rekindle excitement or somehow feel validated or "manly". But, we are called to be pure and loyal in our marriages. It is a sanctioned contract under and before God, where we swear to live our whole lives serving our spouses.

The reward for us is the supernatural miracle of two persons truly functioning as one unit. Each supporting the other in different ways and creating a solid foundation and shelter from which to raise the next generation for Christ. There is deep joy in being able to share one's life with another and to lean on them in times of need. We were made to live in marriage (other than those who are called to be single to serve God fully), and when we are able to live out the journey of life through the journey of marriage, we are fulfilled to the depths of our souls.

Money on the other hand is a trap for us. Money's threat is to replace our sense of security in the Lord with the security of a full bank account. In addition, it feeds our greed to obtain and collect things - focusing on material acquisition rather than the fruits of the Spirit.

Making purchases feels empowering. We are drawn to possession and it makes us feel validated. We judge a person's social status and rank by the type of things they have, where they live, the car they drive, and the clothes they wear. God doesn't judge on any of those things. Not a single one.

It is not wrong to be rich. God desires for us to be successful. But, we cannot worship things and compromise ourselves in order to obtain things. We cannot compromise our faith, or our relationship and assignment from the Lord in order to drive a nice car or live in a nice house. Instead, we know that it is God that is our ultimate provider - not our bank accounts. We need to worship the giver and not the gifts.

Be content with what you have, says the Lord. God knows our characters and when we give our lives over to Him, we are submitting to His provision and His timing. He knows us better than ourselves and knows whether we have the characters to live with more or less. Since money is not a factor in God's success, the level of money in our lives has nothing to do with whether or not God believes in us or loves us. He simply has called us to live with a certain amount of funds.

The world is littered with lives that have been destroyed by the love of money. Relationships, one of the greatest treasures that we can have, are severed by jealousy, envy or greed all rooted in the love of money. While it is necessary to live and function, it is meaningless to God's Kingdom.

Lord Jesus, thank You for reminding me about the power and gift of a pure marriage, and warning me about the dangers of the love of money. One is possibly the greatest treasure during our lives here on Earth, and the other is completely worthless in the whole scheme of things. Thank You for being the provider for our family, helping and encouraging us to grow little by little. At the same time, please protect our marriage and help us to grow more and more into the one unit that lives for You alone. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

Being Built By Tough Times

"Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, as do stripes the inner depths of the heart." Prov 20:30

"A man's steps are of the Lord; How then can a man understand his own way?" Prov 20:24

I found Prov 20:30 to be interesting during my reading today. It reminded me of the discipline that we need in life. As a parent to a young child, I see that she has a natural curiosity to touch everything and to explore. However, exploration is not always healthy. In order to keep her away from the things that I know could hurt her, I discipline her from time to time with a light spanking. As a parent, I am wiser and until she develops wisdom of her own, I must give her discipline.

Although we as adults won't get spanked physically, it is very true that most of us will all undergo difficulties. The realities of life, the slogging through difficult circumstances, shape us the most, do they not? Are we not steeped in character because we have experienced trouble with people or events? When we are young, we have courage, the ability to learn, and intellect, but we lack experience. Consequently, we come into situations as fresh-faced and minor things create stress. However, when we have years of experience under our belt, we weather storms with a calm that is developed from having undergone trials in the past. With this, we have a deeper realization of how big God is, and how small we are - we are less prone to evil. There is a toughness about us that comes through the journey and process. In short, we become wiser.

There are times when certain reality shows can be a blessing. Why? Because we get to see a bit into how the other half lives. How do people live when they have lots of money and very little cares in the world? They have problems, but they are of such a juvenile nature that it becomes comedic for us everyday people. Ultimately, what we are able to see is that people who do not undergo stresses, trials and hurts become weenies. Narcisstic, self important jerks that go through a fog of life in a fantasy land where they have little personal responsibility and do little good in life (other than giving us a public example of what we don't want to become).

There is a quality of character that the Lord seeks to develop in us. We don't know what the finished product will look like (though His word gives us a good description) and the journey is a mystery. Does any of us really understand or have control over the path that we will take?

I know many driven people, and they have carefully crafted their careers in such a way that they have attained very good positions in society. That is to their credit. However, can they really say that they know what the next twist and turn will bring? Yesterday, our family was almost hit by a car who got into an accident at night, and started driving away from the scene on the wrong side of a divided road. His car was smashed in the front and he had no lights. At the last minute I had to swerve to miss him because I couldn't see him. It all happened with my wife and child in the backseat. What if I had not missed him? - Even if I arrange my life perfectly, do I really know what the future brings?

But the Lord does know. When we accept His Lordship over our lives, we come under His umbrella. Life as it occurs around us is ultimately in His hands. Those that rebel, those that have denied Him live unprotected - on the precipice of Hell at all times. One slip and they go over the cliff for all eternity. Christians die, get sick, suffer, but ultimately we are promised Heaven. But even as Christians suffer, the dates and times of their deaths are in the hands of God. We will not go a moment before it is our time. In the meantime, our lives on Earth are being used to both develop ourselves and bless others.

Lord Jesus, thank You for invading the darkness of my life and walking alongside me. Thank You for being patient and pushing me to tough places and tough situations. I know they are all designed for a reason, and ultimately You are creating the man I was made to be. Please forgive me for the times that I have reacted poorly and have not shown good character. Please forgive me for the times when I have lashed out in stress rather than simply giving it to You in prayer - knowing that You know best and everything will be fine. I am glad to be humbled by my trials because I know they will never humiliate me - because I live for Your purpose now and not my own. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

God has a way of teaching us what we need...

"Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. but when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him." (Genesis 37:3-4)

The story of Joseph is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. Out of jealousy, his brothers kidnap and sell him as a slave to a band of traders headed to Egypt. He is put into the service of an Egyptian prison warden, accused of coming on to the warden's wife, sent into prison, released because of his gift to interpret dreams, used to save Egypt, given a leadership position in Egypt, and then used ultimately to save his family from famine.

It is surely a story of great triumph, but it all starts with the spoiling of a young child by his father, and the jealousy that it incites in his brothers. The scripture paints a picture of a bratty child, one who was accustomed to getting his way, but the Lord knows that character is developed through trials, and not through a life of ease.

One takeaway from the story is in the area of parenting - where it is clearly disruptive for parents to play favorites. I only have one child now, but my sincere hope is to love and handle each child equally - reflecting the equal love that our own God has for all of his children.

The second takeaway for me revolves around the way that the Lord builds our characters. Joseph in his bratty state and favored existence as Jacob's son was clearly ill prepared to take on a position of leadership in saving the family of Israel in the future. As such, there was a hard road ahead for him.

God surely knew the potential that existed in Joseph to become a leader in a powerful country like Egypt, but it needed to be molded and formed. I can only imagine the kinds of hardships and difficulties that Joseph faced, but they were key to the development of a deep seated maturity that was needed for the future.

This is a real encouragement for me because I lived a sheltered and pampered existence growing up and I think it ultimately served to my detriment rather than to help me through life. As an adult, I have been blessed by the Lord in many ways, but things have not come easily or smoothly. There have been many periods of trial each step of the way, but they have also served to deepen my maturity and character. I would not change a thing that I have gone through.

And so it is with the current trials that we are in. They are shaping my wife and myself in such a way that we can become wiser and more mature to do the work that the Lord has arranged for us in the future. Romans 8:28 confirms this: "For we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose."

This message also matches the sensing that I've been receiving from the Lord. That this is simply the beginning and that there are bigger things awaiting in the future. What I've realized however, is that God's concept of "big" and man's concept are two different things. As Jesus said:

"The Kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors'. But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves." (Luke 22:25-26)

Yes, I do aspire to better days financially and to have a means to provide for my family to live comfortably, but I want to be a man of deep character and integrity to use whatever I am given wisely. And in doing so, I hope to raise a Godly generation who can do even more for the kingdom of God.

Lord Jesus, thank you for this word today and for the greater assurance of Your sovereignty amidst trials and strife. Everything has its place and purpose - and I do not know mine yet in full, but I know that I simply need to follow and everything will be unveiled in time. Just as Joseph was taken from a brat to a savior for his family, so too I know that I am on a journey of growth and maturity towards an ultimate goal. Help me to walk with You every step of the way humbling myself before Your throne. In Jesus' name, AMEN.