Fabreeze, the Law, and Friendship

If you were a good Christian what behavior in your life would you not have such a problem with?  What do you think about when you look at this area?  What do you imagine God thinks when he looks at this area? 

What do you think is the purpose of the commandments in the Bible?  Contrary to what you may have thought their purpose is not to be a checklist of things to either do or not do.  The purpose of God’s commands is not to use them to get ourselves out of the mess we are in; it is to show us just how useless it is for us to even try to get out of that mess.  If it wasn’t for the commandments in the Bible that attempt to describe God’s perfection, how else would we know just how corrupt and horrible we really are as people?  Think of it sin in terms of dirty, stinky laundry; God’s law is not the way we are washed, it is the smell test to determine just how nasty we smell.  (Romans 7:7-13) 

The way we end up using the commandments as a checklist is as Fabreeze to cover up our stink.  Instead of realizing we are completely unable to fix ourselves we just try to change the way we act.  If we just check all of the boxes on the spiritual checklist we will be clean.  That may fool others for a while, and even ourselves, but sooner or later that cover-up wears off and the B.O. that has soaked into the fabric wears off.

Think back on that area of your life that you said you are struggling with.  When you look back at your Christian journey is that what you see?  Every Christian tends to see all of those times when they have failed to measure up to the “does and don’ts” of the Bible.  But how does God look back at your Christian journey?  What is it that He sees?  He sees and remembers nothing at all regarding your failures! (Isaiah 43:25) When Jesus, who is 100% God, died on Good Friday and was resurrected on Easter, He handed each person in the world the ability to erase their failures from the mind of God, if they would only believe that Jesus died for them.  We define being a “good Christian” by looking back on our lives and not seeing any sin. The good news that God offers to you is that he already sees your life that way!  YOU ARE A GOOD CHRISTIAN!

Now I must ask, is that the ultimate goal of Jesus?  Would you believe me if I said that it wasn’t?  The ultimate goal of our Savior goes way further than the miracle of washing us clean of our sin.  What is the ultimate goal then?  The ultimate goal of Christ’s death and resurrection is to include us as part of the Framily of God.  Jesus accomplishes this goal through the Holy Spirit, sent by Him to live in us when we accept Jesus.  (John 14:16, 17; Romans 8:14, 16)  Remember the fact that you already are a good Christian as you read the New Living Translation of Romans 5:11:  “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” 

What is the mental picture that you have when you think the word God?  Does this mental image make it easy to relate to God as a friend?  Have you ever thought that the reason God seems so remote is that you haven’t ever let Him finish His work from Easter in you?  God is not waiting for you to fix the problems in your life before He will have anything to do with you.  God does not hear your prayers for help and think, “When will she/he ever get it right?”  No, God hears from you and thinks, “I love talking with you so much!  I want to be involved in everything in your life, but unless you bring it up first, I won’t barge in, because I want to let you be your own person.”  Take the risk of relating to God as your friend.  You will not find Him to be the taskmaster in the sky you have been afraid of or angry with; He loves you and cannot wait to wrap His arms around you today and every day.

 

Who You Are and Who You Aren't

Before you read any further, take a time-out and answer these questions a few different ways:  “Who are you?” and “Who aren’t you?”

John the Baptist was different.  Everybody in Israel knew it.  People came from all over into the middle of nowhere to hear what he had to say and be baptized by him.  Baptism was a strange thing for Jewish people to be doing.  Baptism was used in the process of converting people to Judaism; they confessed their sins, went under the water, and came back up washed clean from their impurity.  He was so different that the church leaders came out to see and hear for themselves what was going on so they could approve or disapprove of what he was doing.

When the priests and Levites talked to John they wanted to know one thing: “Who are you?”  Why this question?  Because embedded in the answer is the reason for everything he does and says.  Think about your answers to the question “Who are you?”  Is it possible to find the reasons for what you do in your life from those answers?  Consider your answers regarding who you aren’t: do they reveal something of your life also?  The answers to those two questions are observable in your behavior every day.

People will be drawn by our behavior and ask us who we are, if we are living our lives as Christians in the way that God wants us to.  Think about who it was that questioned John.  Do you think that it was intimidating for him to go up against priests and Levites?  In Jewish culture priests and Levites from Jerusalem are the equivalent for us being questioned by the FBI.  When somebody questions you about your faith it is most likely not going to be comfortable or easy; it may even cost you friends and social standing, or whatever form your own version of wearing camel hair in the desert would be.

As a Christian you will also be subjected to a number of stereotypes.  Name some of those stereotypes before you go any further.  John experienced this too.  Each time the priests asked him if he was somebody specific they had a set image of what John would be like in their minds if he said yes.  You have to be ready to answer those people honestly about whatever they are accusing you of.  The Bible says to be transformed by the renewing our minds (Romans 12:2), and a very meaningful and necessary way to do that is by being able to answer those who question your faith.  You will be able to show them exactly what you are NOT.

Because John had the ability to show the priests and Levites exactly what he was NOT, he baffled all of their preconceived notions.  This left the door open for him to explain exactly who he WAS.  He claimed that he was the voice from Isaiah 40:3 that cried, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”  John living out his relationship with God the Father gave him his life’s purpose.  God showed him who he was, who he wasn’t, what he was supposed to be doing with his life.  If you would do the same, God will give you those same things.  Trust Him and talk to Him REGULARLY and you will hear his voice. 

Keep in mind that John kept doing the last thing that God told him to do until he heard differently.  He baptized saying “Christ is coming, but I don’t know who he is.”  After he met Jesus, John’s ministry changed to pointing people, even his own disciples, toward Jesus.  In the end our ultimate mission will be the same as John’s.  So what is it in who you ARE, who you AREN’T, and what you DO that is pointing others to Jesus?  Or maybe there isn’t anything about your life pointing towards Jesus, and that is why you don’t have anybody coming out to see why you are different from them.  Go out every day and prepare a way in the wilderness of this world for the Lord, starting with the one in your own heart and then moving on to someone else’s.