Expecting the Best

“But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the glad tidings (the Gospel), so we speak not to please men but to please God, Who tests our hearts [expecting them to be approved].” 1 Thessalonians 2:4 (emphasis mine)

“Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].” 1 Corinthians 13:7 (emphasis mine)

What is my expectation of people? How can I knowing humanity (after all I am a member of it) believe the best of them? Even Proverbs 20:6 brings up the lack of faithfulness among mankind.  So then, how do I deal with the reality of humanity and still have the right expectation? This is what I asked God and He showed me this is done by looking for and focusing on the good things in people.

The devil is the accuser of the brethren, the fault finder, but God nurtures the good things in us, expects the best from us, and leads us to repentance with His loving-goodness.

 How do I expect the best from people? By seeing how God does this with me.  It is critical to know how God thinks about a matter, because until I accept His way of thinking about it and believe it as truth and receive it from Him I can’t think that way or behave that way toward others. I can only give to others what I, myself, have first received from God.

And because God expects the best from me, I expect the best from others and am, as 1 Corinthians says, ever ready to believe the best of every person.  And what if they fail? Then I pray for them, and expect God to work on their behalf while keeping my focus on the good things I see in them. Admittedly, seeing the best in people requires more searching with some than with others but that in itself is an important point. I should be aggressively looking for the good.

Faults we all have in abundance, and the world and devil are quick to point them out to us often, but as a Christian I should be a treasure seeker, not a fault finder.

I’m not saying that we should ignore destructive behaviors we see others engaged in or never offer loving correction when needed, certainly God does neither, but what I am saying is that while sometimes it is necessary to warn others of sinful behavior , we must always cherish and look for the good qualities in people, nurture those, and delight in even their smallest steps of progress. 

I know for certain that God does all that with me. While I tend to focus on my faults and failures, He is delighted with me and thrilled at my progress in the work He is doing to mold me in the image of His Son.  He never focuses on my failures, reminds me of them, or berates me for them. And I very much want to be like God.

As one, who in the natural, would be a fault finder, I am greatly challenged to give up my carnal way of looking at myself and other people and instead be a treasure seeker, like my Father.

Oh God, thank you for revealing this to me. We both know I have no power to change on my own and unless You do this work, unless You help me, I will stay the same. I don’t want that, God! I lay down my way and repent of my carnal thinking. Please change me, Holy Spirit and thank You so much for challenging me.

Internally vs Eternally Minded

What does it mean to be eternally minded? Many Christians would say that this means you think of heaven and of the second coming and meeting Jesus in the air, and I wouldn’t disagree this is true in part, but the danger I have witnessed from this interpretation of being “eternally minded” is that we often become oblivious to the responsibility and urgency of building God’s kingdom where we are at and instead unintentionally live very self-serving lives while we wait for the day Jesus returns.   I would like to add to the interpretation of eternal mindedness to include also being aware of what your actions now, what your choices now mean for eternity. It means asking questions such as, “Does this have eternal value?” or “Is this the best use of my resources and my life in light of eternity?” Jesus says this to Peter and I believe He is still saying it to us today:

“And Jesus answered him, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:17-19 ESV

The gates of hell shall not prevail. We must be mindful of our responsibility to gain ground for God’s kingdom wherever we go. We gain ground and the forces of darkness cannot withstand us. Being eternally minded is part of aggressive Christianity.  It also means as we wage war on this earth we are mindful for what and for Whom we are fighting for, and Whom the battle belongs to.  

In war it is incredibly important to know and have deep conviction about what you are fighting for. In the American Revolution, for example, though the Americans were vastly outnumbered and out gunned their convictions , their purpose was much stronger than their enemies and it was what kept their resolve during the hardest of times. It wasn’t what won them the war, but it is what kept them from quitting during it.

Paul often talks of keeping his mind set, and remembering the reward that lies before him.  I believe if you are internally minded you only think of the battle you are currently engaged in, the hardness of it, the price of it, but if you are eternally minded you think of the  eternal reward that lies before you.  Moses was a great example of this. The Bible says this about him:

“[Aroused] by faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, Because he preferred to share the oppression [suffer the hardships] and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life. considered the contempt and abuse and shame [borne for] the Christ (the Messiah Who was to come) to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for he looked forward and away to the reward (recompense). [Motivated] by faith he left Egypt behind him, being unawed and undismayed by the wrath of the king; for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him Who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:24-27

Moses was definitely eternally minded.

There is much to be said about how we wage war against the enemy and build the kingdom of God, and the methods aren’t natural at all. For me, I have learned that loving people, praying about everything, trusting God, and taking the time to meditate on His word and spend time in His presence have been battles, I am sure as I grow in the Lord that there will be new levels and I know there is so much I don’t know, but for now, my challenge is this; to be eternally minded.

Aggressive VS Passive Christianity

“And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize—a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].” Matthew 11:12

There is nothing passive about Christianity. Christ was never passive and He tells us that only aggressive or violent people will have a part in the kingdom of heaven. What does that mean? That means if I want God in my life, if I want His will done, and if I want to establish His kingdom on this earth I cannot be passive. I can’t just float through life going with whatever current is flowing.

 I cannot be passive in seeking God and in my prayer life, I cannot be passive in my love walk, I cannot be passive in my spiritual growth. Jesus tells us to ask and to keep on asking. It is dangerous to be passive! Why do I say that?

“Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.”  1 Peter 5:8

Firstly, because we have an enemy and there is a war going on. Passive people do not survive in wars. Secondly, because love isn’t passive. If it is it isn’t love. God wants to be sought passionately. He deserves this, He inspires this.

And that is why I believe the first thing I must be aggressive about is seeking God. I can’t seek God one time, say one prayer, and go on my merry way. No, God says that if we seek Him with all our whole hearts THEN we will find Him. Every day I have to seek Him, every day I have to meditate on the Word, speak the Word, and aggressively cast down every vain imagination that would exalt itself against the knowledge of God.  Every day I have to aggressively and with my whole heart seek God and violently cut off all that hinders me from Him. I must insist that God be involved in EVERY area of my life. And  I must set aside time to wait on Him and spend time with Him. If I don’t seek God like the Vital Necessity He is to me I will not find Him.

Another thing that I have to be aggressive about is loving people. Passive Christianity says I will do something if the perfect opportunity presents itself, but aggressive Christianity looks for, prays for, and when possible makes opportunities to demonstrate love. Who can I give to? Am I looking for people to be good to? What kind thing or word of encouragement can I offer? I must look for these thing on purpose. Aggressive Christianity is done on purpose!

I must also be aggressive in being uncompromisingly righteous. Of course I will never do everything perfectly, but I will be quick to repent, sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading, and prompt to obey.  Delayed obedience is disobedience.

Really God has shown me that passive Christianity is nothing more than lazy Christianity. It’s saying, “Well, here I am God if You want to spend time with me then You know where I live. If You want me to obey You and what You said in Your Word than You need to create the perfect circumstances for me to do that. If You want me to love people than give me a sign.”

It grieves my heart knowing that I have been as guilty as anyone of this. God doesn’t serve me, I serve Him, and He has given me His word not only filled with wonderful promises but urgent mandates. And it is way past time that I start acting like it. That is my challenge.

My Redeemer Lives

By Natalie Swagger

“Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink because there is no water, and they die of thirst.” Isaiah 50:2

Your Redeemer lives. It’s the message throughout Isaiah and I can almost sense God’s frustration at their lack of belief. Repeatedly He asks why they are afraid of man when God is on their side.

“[The Lord God says] And the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing to Zion; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. I, even I, am He Who comforts you. Who are you, that you should be afraid of man, who shall die, and of a son of man, who shall be made [as destructible] as grass, That you should forget the Lord your Maker, Who stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and fear continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy or even though he did so? And where is the fury of the oppressor?” Isaiah 51:11-13

When I read Isaiah I can sense God’s heart grieved and pleading for His children to turn to Him in obedience and trust, I can feel His passion, His love and jealousy for them, and the longing He has for them to enter into all He has provided, His longing for them to accept and return His love.

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way that you should go. Oh, that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace and prosperity would have been like a flowing river, and your righteousness [the holiness and purity of the nation] like the [abundant] waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:17-18

I certainly never have faced anything as terrifying as what Israel faced in those days and yet still when problems come panic will try to rise in my heart and mind. Why? Why should God have to remind us that He is much mightier than our problems? Usually, because we spend so much more time thinking about the problem than on how mighty God is and oh how much He loves us! “You forget the Lord your Maker” Isaiah says, and how often have I been guilty of that charge?  We can so easily forget how powerful our God is.

If I hold on to two truths then panic has no place in my heart, fear has no ground on which to lay hold. #1. God is all powerful. #2 He passionately loves me.

No matter what I face or what blunders I may make God’s hand is not shortened that He can’t redeem. Even when Israel had betrayed God, when they had hardened their hearts and turned away from Him, His heart still longed to redeem them, if only they would turn back to Him. He wanted them to know, your Redeemer lives!

God is all powerful and He passionately loves me. That is the truth; all the whispers the enemy whispers to my mind about lack, destruction, or loss are lies. God is all powerful and He passionately loves me!

My Redeemer lives!!

And my challenge is to never forget that. To meditate on it until it becomes a truth so deeply ingrained into my way of thinking that the next time I face a problem, the next time the enemy whispers his lies to me, immediately the truth will rise up, “God is all powerful, He loves me passionately, and His hand is not shortened that He can’t redeem!”  My Redeemer lives!

Set Apart

“External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.” James 1:27 (emphasis mine)

“And now [brethren], I commit you to God [I deposit you in His charge, entrusting you to His protection and care]. And I commend you to the Word of His grace [to the commands and counsels and promises of His unmerited favor]. It is able to build you up and to give you [your rightful] inheritance among all God’s set-apart ones (those consecrated, purified, and transformed of soul).” Acts 20:32

We are called "God's set-apart ones". Set apart from what? From the world is the obvious answer we are given in James 1, but in practical terms what does that look like?

I have heard, and would agree, that it is Jesus Christ who separates us and sets us apart, that the work is not ours and while yes, once again I would agree that is true, it is not the whole truth. When Jesus was talking about forgiveness He said this,

“In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.” Matthew 6:14 The Message

I cannot afford to be passive and simply say that God has set me apart and I have no responsibility for anything else.  James would obviously disagree as in the above scripture he implies responsibility on our part. 

Now , unspotted to me speaks of purity. To be pure you must keep yourself from anything that would contaminate you.  It goes way beyond religious observance straight to the heart. Jesus says to his disciples when they asked him the meaning of a parable:

“But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That’s what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that’s neither here nor there.” Matthew 15:17 The Message

The real question is, “What corrupts you?”  I believe prayerful study of the Word and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit are a crucial part of our responsibility to discovering all of the varied contaminating influences.  And how do we separate ourselves from them? Jesus put it this way:

“Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.” Matthew 5:29 The Message

I cannot afford to be passive; I have to be aggressive against corruption. As an example if I want to guard against lust then the moment I have a lustful thought I must cast it down, the moment I see lust on tv I must shut if off, I must be aggressive and vigilant against that corrupting influence.  As Jesus says, it’s not easy, and I definitely cannot do it alone, but I must do my part and I know that God is faithful to do His. For I surely do not want to be educated above my obedience level.

And that is my challenge, to cooperate with God to keep myself unspotted from the world. I must prayerfully go before the Father and ask Him to reveal what is corrupting me and then aggressively and diligently guard against it.

Holding vs. Retreating

Holding onto something for a long period of time is exhausting! Even holding onto something small for a prolonged period of time requires a lot of strength and endurance. I have faced the fact that I am not that strong. Sometimes I find myself trying to hold onto God, staying focused on Him and being aware of His presence, in my own strength and end up exhausted and frustrated. In a world that constantly tries to pull my attention away the mere effort of holding on overwhelms me. I remember on one particularly difficult day I cried out to God in weariness, “God, I need you.” And His answer “Natalie, I am here.  You are not holding onto me; I am holding onto you.” led me to re-examine my approach to how I was staying focused on God.  I’m not to “hold down the fort” I am to retreat into “The Fort”.  God was to be my Refuge.

So that led me to ask two questions. What is a refuge? And then a refuge from what?

A refuge is a place of protection, shelter, and safety. A refuge would be all of that whether you believed it or not but you wouldn’t go into a refuge unless you believed it to be safe and to do so you would have to trust that it was.  Trust is critical. What is trust? Webster’s defines it as: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.  Do I trust God that He is always holding onto me as He says in Hebrews 13?

“Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]” Hebrews 13:5 (emphasis mine)

So believing this, when I feel anything pulling me away from God I don’t try to hold on in my own strength, I just turn to God and run into Him and He is my Refuge. I can do this with a prayer as simple as, “God, I need you.” or “God, I love you.” I must exercise that child-like faith that trusts in my Loving Parent to protect and help me. He is my refuge.

Refuge from what?

So many things! But here are a few that I have discovered most recently:

Overthinking. One time when I had been churning a problem over and over in my mind trying to figure it out and was exhausting myself, I told God I didn’t want to think about it anymore and He told me to think about Him instead and that He was my Mental Refuge.

Worry & Anxiety. No matter the problem I can run to Him knowing that He has the answer, that I no longer have to take care of myself but that He has taken over that responsibility and all I need to do is listen, obey and trust.

Emotional Pain.  Broken heart, hurt feelings, or even over sensitivity, I can retreat to God who will always love me, accept me, comfort me, heal me and teach me.  

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement)” 2 Corinthians 1:3

He is my Source of every comfort!

Criticism and Judgment. Whether from myself or from others when I face criticism I can turn to God knowing He loves, accepts and understands me and He alone knows my heart.  If there is correction to be done God will surely do it, but I don’t need to criticize myself and I don’t need to listen to others who would do likewise, and when that happens I can find refuge in God knowing that loves and understands me.

The most beautiful example that I’ve read of God as a refuge is the story of Stephen in Acts when he was being stoned.

“But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendor and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand; And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand!” Acts 7:55-56

My challenge is to retreat into God as my refuge; to do as Stephen did and fix my gaze upon Him. Not holding in my strength but retreating into His. God, thank you for being my Refuge.

Can I do this?

As I am challenged daily to not conform to this world but to be renewed in my mind and be like Christ the question is raised.  Can I be spiritual? Can I love with God’s love? Can I die to my own desires and selfishness and live for God and His will and heart? Can this be done? And can I, of all people, do it?

The disciples asked a similar question in Matthew 19, after Jesus was describing the difficulty a rich man would have in entering the kingdom the disciples responded this way, “The disciples were staggered. ‘Then who has any chance at all?’ Jesus looked hard at them and said, ‘No chance at all if you think can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.’” Matthew 19:25-26 The Message

And there is the answer to the question. Can I do it? Absolutely not. But God in me can.

Colossians 1:27-28 says:

“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” ESV (emphasis mine)

This verse shows me that the only way I can ever realize “the hope of glory”, ever become “mature in Christ” is through Christ in me.  I must cooperate with His leading, repent of my sin, and draw close to Him but the power to do it is His alone and I must “trust God to do it” as Jesus says in Matthew 19.

So what is my part then? How do I obey what God tells me to do? How did Jesus do this? Hebrews 5:7-8 gives us this answer:

^“In the days of His flesh [Jesus] offered up definite, special petitions [for that which He not only wanted but needed] and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was [always] able to save Him [out] from death, and He was heard because of His reverence toward God [His godly fear, His piety, in that He shrank from the horrors of separation from the bright presence of the Father]. Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered.”

He prayed and asked the Father for everything and trusted Him to do it. Indeed, He shrank from the horrors of separation from the bright presence of the Father. And when I do that, the question about what I can or cannot do becomes irrelevant. What is relevant, what matters, is God; spending time with Him and trusting Him to do what only He can do. And that is my challenge. Romans 8:5-8 puts it this way:

“Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.” The Message

I am challenged to just focus on God and trust Him knowing that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it.

Note: I think it is a very important part to remember that even Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered, and there is so much more in Hebrews 5:7-8 than what I touched on but that is a different challenge altogether!