crazy love, pt3

the hardest chapter: serving leftovers to a holy God

Chan said this chapter was the hardest one for him to write. It was hard to swallow, too. He writes, "As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there's no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are 'lukewarm' are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven." And he goes on to give his reasoning (Revelation 3:15-18, John 14:15, James 2:19, 1 John 2:3-4, Matthew 16:24-25, Luke 14:33), which accurately backs up what he claims. I look at myself as this: either I'm growing or I'm not; I don't see how becoming a Christian and then sitting still can really exist. "Habitual sin" is a term Jim used in Sunday School once this past year. We all have lukewarm tendencies, and we all sin, but are our sinful tendencies habits without repentance?

Jerry Bridges writes a chapter on the proof of love in his Transforming Grace book that went well with Chan's leftovers chapter. The section on Law and Grace had a good explanation of obedience, failing, grace, legalism, etc. His question: Under the reign of grace, is the moral will of God, considered as a whole, a request or a command? And his answer: The word request connotes desire; whereas the word command connotes authority to require. We are commanded to obey. Obedience is not optional, rather a response to our salvation. And lukewarm partial-obedience doesn't sound like it can still be called obedience either.

Chunks of text from Chan:

God wants our best, deserves our best, and demands our best. From the beginning of time, He has been clear that some offerings are acceptable to Him and others are not.

It's easy to fill ourselves up with other things and then give God whatever is left.... God gets a scrap or two only because we feel guilty for giving Him nothing. A mumbled three-minute prayer at the end of the day, when we are already half asleep... [The priests of Malachi's day] assumed God was pleased because they had sacrificed something. God described this practice as evil. Leftovers are not merely inadequate; from God's point of view (and lest we forget, His is the only one who matters), they're evil. Let's stop calling it "a busy schedule" or "bills" or "forgetfulness." It's called evil. God is holy. In heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have. "But something is better than nothing!" some protest. Really, is it? Does anyone enjoy token praise? I sure don't. I'd rather you not say anything than compliment me out of obligation or guilt. Why would we think God is any different?

God wants to saturate us with Himself. Am I allowing Him to saturate me? Am I giving Him every part of my day, my mind, my life, or just the leftovers?

little mouths

We spent the morning playing and laughing and talking and...fighting. It is simply baffling how one minute our kids can love each other completely and do the opposite the next minute. One minute the kids can be laughing and the next, they're crying. Out of their mouths come joyful chatter and songs, and just moments later they're filled with hateful, biting words. And now Carly is laying on her bed, joyfully singing about Meshak and Abednego and Abraham obeying God's laws. Isaac is humming while rolling around on his bed. Oh, there's a loud, "I'M NOT TIRED!!!"

Yesterday, we read about Adam and Eve and how sin came into the world. This story is not new to the kids, but they were engrossed as I read it, more so than they have been in the past. This particular version from Leading Little Ones To God described sin and evil in more depth than most Biblical children's books do. It's a little scary teaching kids about Satan, but he's real. We can't act like he doesn't exist. The lesson described the fall with "Oh, that was a sad, sad day. All the happiness was gone out of the hearts of Adam and Eve. And on that day all the unhappy things and wicked things began. Satan was glad. But Adam and Eve were sad. And God was sad." Isaac looked at me and said in a very quiet, serious voice, "That makes me sad that she ate the wrong fruit." After we talked about it, he concluded, "I would eat the right fruit."

There's good and evil. We try, even vow to do good, but we fail. Colossians 1:21-22 reminds me, "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation." I was a joyful mommy at 10:05 a.m. At 10:06, one kid hit another, and I became a roaring monster; the roar carried out the front door, where our neighbor was quietly sitting observing. Whoops. Minutes later, all was well. Do all moms do that? Growl one second and sweetly answer the phone the next?

In Jerry Bridges' Transforming Grace, he writes:

The prophet [Isaiah] said of God, "You have put all my sins behind your back [38:17]." When something is behind our back, it is out of sight. We can't see it anymore. God says He has done that with our sins. It is not that we haven't sinned or, as Christians, do not continue to sin. We know we sin daily - in fact, many times a day. Even as Christians our best efforts are still marred with imperfect performance and impure motives. But God no longer "sees" either our deliberate disobedience or our marred performances. Instead He "sees" the righteousness of Christ, which He has already imputed to us.

This is hard for me to comprehend or understand, but this is part of what Bridges calls God's grace.

crazy love, pt2

"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop - a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear" (Matthew 13:3b-9).

I can't stay away from this Francis Chan book. Chan opened my eyes when he mentioned this parable and commented: "My caution to you is this: Do not assume you are good soil." He wrote that thorns are the things in our life that distract us from God. When we pile all this stuff (money, sins, activities, commitments, etc.) on top of God, how can our relationship with God grow? It can't. The chapter was titled "Profile of the Lukewarm."

"Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live? Do you see evidence of God's kingdom in your life... Are you satisfied being "godly enough" to get yourself to heaven, or to look good in comparison to others?"

Chan went on to describe what a lukewarm, half-hearted person looks like. OUCH. Some of the examples he listed described me. He writes, "Jesus' call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing. The thought of a person calling himself a 'Christian' without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd." Chan wrote so many convicting things in Chapters 3 and 4.

I am so thankful for God's sufficient grace and for the truthfulness of this song:

Great is Thy faithfulness, oh God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

And one last Chan analogy I thought was worth mentioning:

"Recently I saw a bag of potato chips with a bold declaration splashed across the front: 'Zero grams of trans fat.' I was glad to know that I wouldn't be consuming any trans fat, which research has shown is detrimental to my health. But then I flipped the bag over and read the ingredients list, which included things like 'yellow #6' and other artificial colors, and partially hydrogenated oil (which is trans fat, just a small enough amount that they can legally call it "0 grams"). I thought it was incredibly ironic that these chips were being advertised in a way that makes me think they are not harmful yet were really full of empty calories, weird chemicals, and, ironically, trans fat.

It struck me that many Christians flash around their "no trans fat" label, trying to convince everyone they are healthy and good. Yet they have no substantive or healthful elements to their faith. It's like the Laodiceans, who thought they had everything until Christ told them they were poor and wretched. They were all about declaring, "Look, we have no trans fat. We are wealthy, or we have good families, or we go to church every week." Obviously, it's not what you advertise that counts; it's what you are really made of."

This book is really knocking me in the head. Which is a good thing and very much needed.

we are

It was my last day of school at Jardine in Wichita. The kids knew every teacher was killing time until 3:10. I gave a quiz, but this one was supposed to be fun. A 20-question true/false quiz about the teacher - Ms. Hartter, given orally. "True or false...I grew up on a farm." "True or false...My mother was born in Germany." "True or false...My great-great-great grandma was the daughter of a Belgian prince." The last question on the test was, "True or false...I go to church." A snicker came from Taylor Murphy's side of the room. He looked at me, laughed, and said, "Yeah, right!" Now, Taylor Murphy was a big, squirrely eighth grader who often got in trouble, but he taught me an unforgettable lesson. Even after spending at least 30 minutes each day with him for 10 1/2 months, he would've never guessed that I was a church-going person.

Who are we? We call ourselves Christians, but do we act like it? Do we even talk like it? At Jardine, I had apparently done neither. Pray for us - that we would walk as faithful believers. Pray for boldness to seize every opportunity to spread the Word. "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline" (2 Timothy 1:7).

crazy love, pt1

One of my sisters had this idea of doing a long distance Bible study. This is the first go-around. Starting in September, all five of us girls and Mom will go through this book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed By a Relentless God by Francis Chan (a man). (I clarify that because I thought Francis was a woman. I'd obviously never heard of him.)

For lack of something better to do last night, I took a sneak peek at chapters 1 and 2. The first assignment was to watch the "Awe Factor" clip. (If you want to see it, go to www.crazylovebook.com. Click on "videos" and "The Awe Factor of God.") Chan quotes Psalm 19:1-4a which says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

"This is why we are called to worship Him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious....Because we don't often think about the reality of who God is, we quickly forget that He is worthy to be worshipped and loved. We are to fear Him."

God is holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, and fair and just. The more we grasp each of those characteristics of God, the more we realize who we are. With that in mind, it was convicting to hear what Chan had to say about our perception of ourselves:

"Suppose you are an extra in an upcoming movie. You will probably scrutinize that one scene where hundreds of people are milling around, just waiting for that two-fifths of a second when you can see the back of your head. Maybe your mom and your closest friend get excited about that two-fifths of a second with you ... maybe. But no one else will realize it is you. Even if you tell them, they won't care. Let's take it a step further. What if you rent out the theater on opening night and invite all your friends and family to come see the new movie about you? People will say, "You're an idiot! How could you think this movie is about you?" Many Christians are even more delusional than the person I've been describing. So many of us think and live like the movie of life is all about us. Now consider the movie of life....

....God creates the world. (Were you alive then? Was God talking to you when He proclaimed "It is good" about all He had just made?) Then people rebel against God (who, if you haven't realized it yet, is the main character in this movie), and God floods the earth to rid it of the mess people made of it."

Chan goes on to point out how this movie is NOT ABOUT US. He says:

"How is it possible that we live as though it is about us? Our scenes in the movie, our brief lives, fall somewhere between the time Jesus ascends into heaven (Acts) and when we will all worship God on His throne in heaven (Revelation). We have only our two-fifths-of-a-second-long scene to live. I don't know about you, but I want my two-fifths of a second to be about my making much of God. First Corinthians 10:31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." That is what each of our two-fifths of a second is about. So what does that mean for you? Frankly, you need to get over yourself. It might sound harsh, but that's seriously what it means."

I'm utterly guilty.

Psalm 103

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits--
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children--
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the LORD, O my soul.