A Known Heart

As a child did you ever break something by accident and try to hide the evidence to avoid getting into trouble? I did. I broke a drinking glass. I watched it as if caught in a bubble of slow motion. It slipped out of my little fingers, turned elegantly in the air, and shattered on the floor.

I have no idea how long I stood there and stared at the broken pieces at my feet. There was nothing I could do to fix the damage. The discovery of the crime was inevitable. The fear, the guilt, the certainty of doom, all clouded my thoughts. Of all the things I could have done, I picked the stupidest: I remember trying to stuff broken glass down the drain. I was, of course, caught. And I did, of course, get into deep trouble – not because I broke the glass, but because I tried to hide it.

God loves us so much more, and He is eager to forgive us when we make mistakes, so why do we continue to hide things from Him? Why do we carry the guilt and fear when we could easily give it all over to Him? We need forgiveness and God will give it, but we have to come forward and ask Him for it.

Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV) is a prayer that can help us do this:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

By saying this prayer with an honest heart, we begin to put an end to our childish responses. It will begin a maturity in our spiritual lives as we learn to trust His will, His power, and His love for us. It will help us to open our souls to God and allow him in. Through God’s guidance, our desire to change will build and our need to leave behind old habits will grow.

Our Lord knows what we bury deep within our hearts. His love surrounds us. When we truly understand this we will become more able to accept his guidance. We will know that our Lord has forgiven us. We will know that he is not towering over us in judgement, but instead protecting us from evil. There is no hiding, there is only God’s love.

Did you ever try to hide anything as a child in an attempt to escape getting into trouble?

God’s Love

Because it’s Valentine’s Day, I felt I should publish a love theme post. What greater love is there than God’s love?

No matter how wonderful it can be, we all know human love is flawed. Even in the strongest relationships, there will be moments of impatience. There will be the occasional unjustified anger. There will even be instances of unkindness. It’s because we’re human and why we need forgiveness.

However, we can’t judge God by this flawed love.

God is different to us. He doesn’t love us because we loved him first. He doesn’t love us because of our appearance. He doesn’t love us on the condition that we’re successful and doesn’t love us for our money. He doesn’t even love us because we have somehow earned it.

God is love and it's in his perfect nature to love us, regardless of our flaws. God’s love is forever and will never fade with time. He will never neglect us or grow bored with us. Love will never be a duty for God. God’s love is pure. It is whole and it is perfect.

And God loves you. Wholly and deeply and eternally. How awesome is that?

What are some little things that make you certain of God’s love?

New Hope

There is something special about this time of year. Everything seems new, with a fresh dose of hope thrown in. Possibilities are grand and the feeling of positivity is strong. This is the time of year we can put aside our past mistakes. We can change, be better and start anew. This is what we tell ourselves.

But what generally happens is our resolutions hold for a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks, and then we begin to fall back on old habits. Old reactions surface, old thought patterns return. We begin to lose hope. This is because we have it wrong.

The true hope we have doesn’t come from us. We can’t fix ourselves under our own power. It’s God’s power that changes us. And it’s not just this time of year we have new hope. God offers us new hope every single day, every single minute. We constantly live in new hope because of our Lord Jesus.

He gave us this hope because He has already forgiven us. He has made us perfect in His eyes. All we have to do is accept His forgiveness, embrace Him in our lives and Trust Him.

Yes, we will make mistakes. Yes, life won’t always be easy, but He will always, always be there for us. Our natural response to Him is to keep trying, keep striving, and keep sharing our joy of Him.

How does God's offer of a new beginning every day change your life?

Every Spiritual Blessing

I had a very good friend whose life was less than perfect. We’ll call her Becca. Her language was colourful, her habits questionable, her past mistakes regrettable. I invited her to church one time. She scoffed. She claimed the church was not a place where she belonged. She shuddered, not in distaste, but in fear.

“God will smite me the moment I walk through the doors,” she joked.

Of course, if that were true, then God would have obliterated the human race in holy fire and brimstone a long time ago. Becca didn’t realise she was no more terrible than the rest of us. She was no more unworthy than the holiest of saints. She didn’t know that it’s not about brownie points, punishment or perfection.

None of us deserve God's love.

None of us can earn His forgiveness.

But all of us belong in Him.

When we approach Him and ask for forgiveness for our wanderings, He won’t judge the filth under our nails, He won’t condemn us for the sludge in our darkest corners, He won’t smite us for our past. God will accept us as we are. He doesn’t hold back from us. He doesn’t wait for us to deserve His gifts. He doesn’t keep a tally or a scorecard. He blesses us with EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph 1:3).

Our God is an amazing God.

Christ’s Supremacy

Christ is Supreme.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” Colossians 1:15-16 (NIV)

He is our God. He is Mighty. His is King.

And yet, Jesus wept. John 11:35 (NIV)

He became one of us. He cried for one of us. He felt the pain to be one of us.

His love was so great that He came to save us. Regardless of this love, we betrayed Him. We reviled Him. We broke His body.

And He forgave us.

Christ is Supreme.

Forgive me O Lord

I come to you battered.

I come to you broken.

I am not the creature I want to be.

Please, forgive me O Lord.

You are worthy

You are mighty

You are purity and perfection.

Please, forgive me O Lord.

Surround me with your love

Show me your mercy

Teach me your ways

Be my Comfort and my Rock

You are my Heart and my Forever.

I thank you, O Lord, for forgiving me.

WWJD?

Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6 (NIV)

What would Jesus do?
Would he laugh at an enemy’s misfortune? Would he turn his back? Or would he reach out and offer a helping hand?

What would Jesus do?
Would he judge a person unworthy of his attention? Would he only associate with the ‘accepted’ crowd? Or would he love unconditionally and offer his friendship to all?

What would Jesus do?
Would he hold a grudge because he didn’t deserve ridicule and criticism? Or would he forgive all our wrongs?

What would you do?

Best Friends

I’d like to tell you about a girl I’ll call Cathleen. I knew her in primary school when I was around 10 or 11 years old. I saw her as a friend and we hung out together in her group.

She was the alpha. She was tall. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back in a golden shimmer. All the boys liked her so she learned early in her young life how to wield her power. I was short and all my friends told me I was ugly. I didn’t have Cathleen’s confidence. I think she only tolerated me because her best friend, Rachael, was also my best friend.

Then one day I did something wrong. I have no idea what it was. Perhaps I finally stood up to Cathleen’s continuous put-downs. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it. By the end of the week the entire school was against me.

My best friend didn’t want to get involved. She didn’t want to get caught up in a tug-o-war. I didn’t blame her - much. I knew if she tried to defend me she’d also get torn to shreds. She did offer what she could and I took that small offering because I had nothing.

Years later I realised that it was Rachael who influenced me the most. Her friendship had made the difference. It was the life-line that made it possible to bear all the hate.

Rachael’s friendship is the kind we offer God. It’s weak, it doesn’t always stand its ground against hardship and we often try to keep one foot in our old ways and the other in our new. But God doesn’t judge what we can give. He accepts it with His arms out wide.

He will always be there for us. He will always be the friend we need, even when we struggle to be a friend in return.

Did you ever suffer from bullying at school? What got you through? How is God the perfect friend to you?

Forgiven

Last Thursday’s post posed a few difficult questions. Would you do the same as Jesus if you knew it would end in pain, betrayal and then death? The disciples proved they couldn’t. They ran away when Jesus was taken. Peter denied his Lord three times, just as Jesus had predicted (Luke 22:34).

We can beat ourselves up over this difficult question because we know deep down that it would be unlikely we could shine as Jesus did. But the great news is that we don’t need to be so hard on ourselves. The whole reason that Jesus came to save us was because we can’t save ourselves. We can’t be the perfect sacrifice. If we could, then we wouldn’t need God to save us.

What we can do is follow Jesus with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength. The disciples may have run away, but they came back. They were forgiven. God strengthened their faith. They then spread the gospel. They did great works for God. They faced many trials and they continued to follow Jesus.

It’s important to ask the difficult questions. It’s important to strive to follow Jesus’ example. But it’s also important to know that God forgives us when we stumble. He picks us up when we fall. He will even carry us when we need it.

Are you the type of person who feels guilt-ridden when you think you have failed God? If so, what do you do about it? What things do you find hardest about following Jesus? Do you truly feel forgiven?

What’s so Good about Good Friday?

Two thousand years ago we sentenced an innocent man to death. We betrayed our teacher, our friend, our God. We crucified Jesus Christ, the only human who was ever without sin. He was perfect, he was pure and he loves us.

So, what’s so good about Good Friday? Jesus is more than just a man. He is our Lord and he is our God. He chose to die. He did it for us. He took the punishment meant for us. He sacrificed himself so that we might live. Without this sacrifice we would have no hope for any future. We would end and never be able to stand in God’s glorious presence.

We are saved because of God’s love. We are forgiven.

This was meant to be. This was God’s plan from the very beginning.

What does Good Friday mean to you? What do you do to remember Christ’s sacrifice?