Bragging Rights

Seemingly out of the blue, the story of the Israelites came to mind this week.  Remember, they were the Lord’s beloveds, His children, and though they had been in captivity for a great number of years, the Lord never turned His back on them, He remained with them as they endured trial after trial. He walked beside them even when they turned their back on Him, ultimately rescuing them by parting the Red Sea long enough for them to pass before enclosing it upon their enemies. Without a doubt, the Israelites were grateful. In their humble gratitude, they built a monument of great significance that would remind them of the work, the promise the Lord had fulfilled in their lives.

I imagine this monument was in the middle of town and would be passed regularly by the town’s people.  When their children would ask about the monument, their parents would stop, scoop their wee ones onto their laps and with tears in their eyes, begin to share in detail their testimony—the mighty work the Lord had done in their lives. The children’s eyes would widen and their mouths would drop with each turn of events--- enthralled by the story.  The children would beg to hear it each and every time they passed the monument. Can’t you hear it? “Momma, Momma, tell us about the time when…” The story never got old. Instead, it introduced them to their Heavenly father on a personal level and gave them a deep hunger to know Him personally. As they grew and had children of their own, they too, would share their story.

Testimony: the evidence we experience of Christ working in our lives as He works to reveal His glory as He tenderly transforms us into the likeness of His Son.  Our testimony does not begin and end with our story of discovering who God is and inviting Him to be the Lord of our lives (salvation), as often believed. Rather, our testimony, likened to transformation, is on-going, continuously being added to, never complete until we enter Heaven’s gates where we’ll find ourselves embraced, (engulfed, I like to imagine!) in the tender folds of our father’s wings.

Perhaps one of the best examples of transformation is that of a caterpillar to a butterfly.  Francis Chan, author of The Forgotten God, poses the question: “Ever wonder what goes through the caterpillar’s mind when it wakes up from its long nap to discover it can fly?” Seriously, how amazing is that? The caterpillar does not even resemble who it once was. He is a new creation.

We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Think about that for a moment. We are in the midst of being transformed. Our minds have been renewed. The old has gone away and the new has come (2Cor. 5:17). I’ll admit that I take this for granted time and time again, that I forget that the same God who raised Jesus from the dead and parted the Red Sea dwells within me. I often brush past the countless times He has refined me—where He has allowed me to glimpse His glory. Perhaps, we all get distracted, lose our focus, get whisked away by the seemingly urgent or beautiful, sparkly things in this world, buying into outside experiences to furnish a personal sense of meaning. We forget that we are not what we do.  I have a feeling even if we were to build a monument like the Israelites did, even that would lose its splendor and eventually we would not even see it. 

So the question then, is how do we live intentionally for God, keeping Him in the forefront of every thought, every word we speak, and everything we do? We surrender daily to Him, submit to His leading daily, live like we have been transformed from a measly caterpillar to a new creation-- brilliant in color, pattern,  and can fly! As I reread these words, they sound so simple, they sound predicable even. We have heard them before, perhaps countless times, and yet we disregard such simplicity because we know it is anything but simple. It requires work on our part. It requires us to make a conscious choice daily, sometimes hourly, to live intentionally and fully surrendered to Christ. We are a generation of wanting our cake and eating it too… at no cost to us. We want intimacy with Christ and….

In writing these words, I am brought to tears and my heart is grieved that I take the work of the Lord (my testimony) for grated as times, brushing past who I once was, skimming over the mighty work the Lord has done in my life. I can fly for crying out loud. I can soar with eagles because my hope is in the Lord and it is Him who strengthens me (Is. 40:31).

Beloved, ponder these facts for a moment: we have been redeemed. We have been bought for a price that cost Jesus everything. We have been forgiven. We were created not because God needs us, but because He wants us. His thoughts are about us constantly and He desires to fill us with Himself. We are loved, treasured really.  Overwhelmed by His grace for us? Me too. And then when I reflect on the countless ways He has revealed Himself to me (revel in the specifics), transforming me more and more into the image of His Son, I am left speechless, my heart begins to beat wildly, and I am left in a place of utter worship. I cannot help but to fall to my knees in humble gratitude before the throne of my God.

Having an appropriate view of God dictates how we choose to respond to His magnitude and the work He has done in our lives. Honestly, when we live intentionally for Him, we cannot help but to boast of the work the Lord is doing in and around our lives. The choice is ours to make. Today, I will choose to live in a place of gratitude and relish in the work the Lord has and is doing in my life.  And Lord knows, I have incredible bragging rights because in my weakness, His power has been made perfect (2 Cor. 12:9). What about you?


“Gratitude awakens the soul to the sweetness of being tethered to God” (Margaret Ashmore).

Beloved?

“It takes a profound conversion to accept that God is relentlessly tender and compassionate toward us just as we are—not in spite of our sins and faults, but with them. Though God does not condone or sanction evil, He does not withhold His love because there is evil in us” (Brennan Manning).

I believe that the distance we sometimes feel between God and ourselves is because we have projected our feelings about ourselves onto God—believing that He is judging us as harshly as we judge ourselves (or others) or that He holds too high of expectations for us that we cannot possibly meet. Perhaps we feel that we cannot possibly approach Him until we clean up our lives, or look more presentable. We know that we are unworthy. Perhaps we fear that because we are likened to filthy rags that Christ will not even look our way, that---He will reject us. We know the old adage: God is love, but we don’t believe that applies to us.  We don’t live this truth.

 I write a lot about my identity in Christ. Perhaps, I do so because I am still trying to grasp it myself, even though I have been a Christ follower for more than half my life. I find myself lamenting with Paul when he writes, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate to do, I do” (Romans 7:15) and resonating with the song writer who penned the words: "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love". Sin lives within us! We are human beings in the midst of a great battle, not a battle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12). We forget this constantly.  Though we cannot see this battle, we certainly feel the effects. We often don’t realize these struggles, trials and strongholds are Satan’s poisonous darts as he works with all his might to stifle us-- and if he is really successful, his stifling leads to bondage. For the Christian, this looks like a prison cell in which the door is wide open. We fear stepping into the light. We fear being seen; our shame or guilt revealed. We fear rejection. We reason, perhaps unconsciously, that it is safer to live in bondage than to be seen, to be known, to be rejected. One of the basic human needs is the need to belong, to be accepted. And we fight for this at all costs.

We forget that the sacred voice of Christ calls us, “Beloved” and being the Beloved constitutes the existence of our being” (Brennan Manning). Think about that for a moment. What images does your mind conjure up when you think about the name Beloved? Do we conjure up images of an idealistic, perfect person whose morals are always on the up and up, who tirelessly serves others day and night, who smiles genuinely, lives authentically at all times, never grows tired, never stresses or worries and has great hair days every day? (Anyone else thinking of Mary Poppins?)This is not an accurate image of God’s Beloved.

God’s definition of Beloved defies our definition. Perhaps that’s why we struggle. We see ourselves more as a beggar in God’s kingdom than His son/daughter. We don’t see ourselves as Beloved and this distances us from the Lord. God’s Beloved has wounds, battle scares that sometimes still ache; still immobilizes us at times. Complete with struggles, sins, and unworthiness, God’s Beloved does not allow these to stifle us, but allows the light to shine on these wounds, these imperfections, so that in God’s love, graciousness, and mercy we can be healed and live fully in relationship with Christ: in freedom, in acceptance, in belonging. As a Christ follower with wounds of my own, I have learned that when I allow myself to feel inferior or inadequate because of these wounds, Satan has accomplished what he set out to do in my life: question my identity in God’s eyes. These negative, self-focused thoughts somehow replace the wonderful spiritual experiences I have encountered, defy the truths that I have memorized in God’s precious Word, and inevitably replaces my freedom for shackles.  God’s Beloved in shackles? I am sure nothing breaks the heart of our Father more.

Living as the Beloved, challenges us because it defies human nature. Everything in us begs us to conceal our wounds, hurts, pains, imperfections, struggles, and addictions out of fear, shame, and/or rejection.  When we do this our inner darkness cannot be illuminated with God’s healing power, “nor can it become light for others”. Our wounds allow others to see God’s merciful hand more clearly. It helps us to know that we, too, in our weakness, are loved tenderly, the receiver of boundless compassion, infinite patience, and excessive forgiveness. God’s love does not keep score of our wrongs.  I know this and yet I do not always live in this truth. God knows this about me. He knows this about you. It does not scare Him away. It does not disappoint Him. Instead, He continues to whisper our name through the wrestling of leaves, through the tenderness of a hug, through the ache of loss. He does not grow tired as He waits for us. 1 Corinthians 13:7-8 reminds us that, “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails”. God is love.

“Our falling (our sin, our failings) does not hinder [Christ] from loving us” (Brennan Manning). Satan’s number one ploy: get us to believe that our sin keeps Christ from loving us. Nothing, Beloved, nothing could be further from the truth.  I read some time ago that our spiritual life, our relationship with Christ, begins when we can acknowledge our brokenness, our poverty, our utmost need for Him. Accepting our wounded self is to take the first step into the light.

 “Wounds of pain and sadness make us aware of our inner poverty and create an emptiness that becomes as free space into which Christ can pour His healing power”.  When we make the decision to live authentically, raw, vulnerable, we find ourselves standing in the Truth that sets us free and we have the privilege to “live out the Reality that makes us whole”.  

The decision, and it is a decision, is ours to make every day. Each morning, I encourage you to wake up and greet your Abba, Father and thank Him for loving you as His Beloved son/daughter. Embrace your identity in Christ and live it fully without reservation, without restriction. Live Christ boldly as the Beloved!