Possibilities

P 2437 Kindness without measure …

/ DVH

“God’s love is meteoric, His loyalty astronomic. His purpose titanic, His verdicts oceanic. Yet in His largeness nothing gets lost;  Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.” Psalm 36:5-6(MSG) Why on earth would anyone follow someone else? I mean seriously! Our God’s love is bigger than anything we can imagine or think. He is out-of-this-world loyal to every single human being, and none of us will ever earn it or deserve it. His purposes and loving kindnesses are so huge and comprehensive that they are beyond all our imaginings, and our wildest dreams.

And … He never ever loses sight of even one of us, every minute of every day, all day, every day. Our Father even knows when an ordinary little bird falls to the ground! All this is because Jesus Christ came here in human flesh and lived among us. Now human beings cannot say that Almighty God does not understand humanity. He understands from within what happens when we are happy, sad, embarrassed, hurt, crushed or we feel humiliated or can’t cope … and He does all that, even better than we can, imagine that! SomeBody Who knows you better than you know yourself. 

In my lifetime I have had several occasions to look at the things I’ve said, or done, and wonder: “Where the heck did that awful stuff come from?”  Yet Father God knew those things were in there, inside my heart, long before I found out. He never excuses my sin – the precious blood of Jesus covers me. We are all naked before Him without any excuse, and He took the most precious Person He has, and covered all of us. Father God does not wink at any sin … He doesn’t have too, He legally and legitimateIy took care of it. Personally, I am so greatly impacted by His incredible kindness toward me, because I know it is so totally undeserved.

In my lifetime so far, I have been appalling to other people. When situations pressed me hard, what was hidden inside came outside! Despite knowing Jesus and doing and saying all the right things for years – those things did not comfort me when I was so incredibly sick I might die. Instead I was angry, because this life hadn’t given me an opportunity to feel loved, fulfilled, or happy. Under that overwhelming, internal pressure, things like hatred, disgust, rage and indifference to other people’s pain came out of me so strongly it scared me. That’s when I knew, that I knew, that I KNEW … that I do absolutely really need a Saviour. I looked hard at myself and I didn’t like what I saw. And I had been saved for years. God was good to me – He showed me my real self.

But I also saw, in a fresh way, that our God is incredibly loyal to us. The bible is filled with real-life stories about people who severely tested His loyalty  – in the Old Testament and the New. But He consistently and constantly extended Grace to them, He allowed them to learn. Those few verses in Psalm 36 above remind us that He is not just a kindly old man in the sky, who remembers us at Christmas and maybe on our birthday … Or even SomeOne Who only loves us when we do well. No! Now I know in person: “The Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me?”Psalm 118:6. 

Listen to this verse, it will blow your mind: “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him’ – these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:9 NRSV). Thank you Lord for the Holy Spirit.  Without His Presence with us, and within us, as He opens our eyes and ears to God’s endless possibilities … we might faint, or fail along the way. I very nearly did, but He caught me. And in time He stood me up again on my wobbly legs and taught me how to walk with Him in Spirit and truth. Not just lip-service and angst and entitlement. You know, when you think you are already a pretty nice person – Grace and Mercy do not mean so much to you.

BUT the bible says: “God sheer mercy and grace:  not easily angered,He’s rich in Love.”  Psalm 103:8. WOW!  Again, Almighty God’s never ending love is our personal proof that love overcomes everything else. Because of my own experiences, I do not understand why Christians don’t cherish mercy and grace more. After all, most people want it for themselves when they know they are doing something awful — but I just don’t get why we don’t readily give His mercy and grace away to other people. Christian or not. It seems we’d rather hang onto the bad things … more. satan sure does mess with our minds.

Here’s a news flash for anyone reading this blog today — and this means you! HUMANITY DOES NOT DESERVE MERCY AND GRACE …no matter how nice we think we are!! Like EVER. Oh, but there is a fountain, that bubbles and bursts with Jesus’ life that constantly flows over us … That fountain of life, grace and mercy cost Father God everything He held dear. But in His heart He gained so much more, you and I. Speaking for myself, I know now, personally, that I am not worth it! But boy am I grateful. Bye. 🤗

P 2410 Forgiveness means living creatively.

/ DVH

“Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.” Galatians 6:1-3 MSG.

Isn’t it astonishing that living a forgiving, humble, generous life full of redemption – is called living creatively? I must have skipped that aspect of this verse about a zillion times over the years – it simply didn’t register. Does Paul mean we are meant to make-up attitudes and actions? No, I don’t think so. I think he is saying that living a forgiving life is introducing opportunities to create new scenarios, new possibilities … change. Unfortunately, sadly …I think all forms of judgment will close that down! Ya might want to think on that one. 

Did you get that when somebody you know falls into sin we have the opportunity and the power to release change and forgiveness? Yeah. US. We can often think of ourselves as powerless in this life, there are so many other people out there who appear to have way more influence than we have. Yet here Paul talks about our God-given inherent ability to restore someone else by our attitudes and actions, by using the redemptive transformative tools of compassion, mercy and grace. If you truly desire to be like Jesus, this is the way. This is what He did.

Thinkaboudit. That’s real power. Not the fakey-fake stuff, that is here today and gone tomorrow. That’s the rubbish stuff this world admires. We have the power to change forever, for someone else. At that moment of forgiving and helping we are reaching out into eternity – releasing someone else’s destiny. That’s not real shabby is it? Think of the people who are trying to love those difficult people.  Unseen and unheralded, many, many people choose to live in pain – because they are holding on tightly to the promise of breakthrough in someone else’s life. They are using their faith to hold fast to new possibilities. I call that creative thinking as well as creative living!

I think this verse is at the heart of the problems many of us have in our interpersonal relationships. I’ve done it myself … I forgive and forgive and forgive … and then suddenly … ‘Now that’s it! I’m angry. You’ve gone too far!! I’ve forgiven you heaps of times and yet you are still being horrible toward me. How many chances do you want?? I’ve had enough!’ Tragically, self-talk can make or break us at this point. People talk all the time about positive self-talk, yet this particular aspect is ignored. We can self-talk ourselves into hatred and bitterness – not just a poor self-image.

Paul presents another unique thought right here – next time it could be my turn. It’s funny how the things that someone else does are deeply wounding and offensive, but when I do the same thing, or worse … then I didn’t mean any harm! That thought makes me quite nauseous in its accuracy. I like the realism of Paul’s phrasing …I might be needing forgiveness by the end of the day. Ya got that right!  As soon as I enter into judging you and wondering if I really do have to forgive someone who continually hurts me – I’ve fallen into a worse hole than they are in!

Did you also get the bit where Paul says… stoop down? This poor sinful schmuck is so convicted at this time, he’s on the floor. People living real raw lives often end up there. Life just kind of knocks them down and they can’t get up. Now that is something that I can identify with. Being flat on the floor, unable to stand with sorrow and conviction weighing me down;  because the realisation that I have sinned, by disobeying and hurting somebody else, has flattened me.

I also think many people are often oppressed by the enemy … however they are deceived into thinking his attitudes are really theirs … all that is far more common than we know. Just because it pops up in your brain that doesn’t mean it’s your thought! Take it captive. Sadly, at the same time, attributing mean, spiteful and unkind behaviour to someone who dearly wants to be an obedient child of God, is a total tragedy. That’s your brother or sister down there on that floor. Meanwhile I’ve learnt that holding a grudge or gloating won’t just hurt them … it hurts me. 

Christ’s law is the law of Love and there is no timetable for the law of Love. It doesn’t have an expiry date either. Praise God! Boy am I glad about that!! You know, sometimes we can concentrate on other people’s sins so intently, we put blinders on. We can’t see anything else … including our own attitudes. But Paul sorts that out right here, in Galatians. This is the best remedy for a wrong attitude – help them and hold onto the thought that any minute it might be your turn! Forgiveness means living creatively. 👋🏻