You ready?

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

Have you ever needed to take refuge in the midst of a storm? How about in the midst of a huge battle? Growing up in Arizona, monsoon season hits each summer, bringing these huge winds, walls of dust for miles and miles, and some pretty terrifying thunder and lightning to boot. As a wee lass, I would feel the winds picking up, but I would play on because nothing could distract me from my play. Then all of a sudden, the skies would rumble and roar, and that peace I had felt was no more! I'd call out for mom, run quickly to the fence line between my friend's home and ours, standing there waiting. Waiting for what? For those 'rescuing arms' of mom's that would reach over that fence to lift me to safety. As soon as she had me safely over the fence, all was well, for I knew I was going to be 'sheltered' from the worst of the storm and safe in her care.

I wonder how many times we find ourselves in the midst of the winds, sensing that things are about to change big time, but still finding ourselves content to just remain where we are, going about whatever holds our interest so dearly, until something 'bigger' awakens us to the imminent danger approaching. In instant things change, going from okay to freaky in the blink of an eye. What only gave us mild 'concern' is now a full-fledged storm, and we are right there in the midst of it all. We can be 'undone' by the storms of life or the battles that rage around us, can't we? In those moments where we find ourselves in need of a refuge, do we call out? Do we move away from what has distracted us up to that point and move toward who it is we will find our safety within? God's arms are stronger than mom's ever were, but we might just have to reach out for them if we want to experience that refuge.

Two things we need to keep in mind. First, we have to leave whatever it is that has us distracted in the midst of the storm or battle. We must put ourselves in a state of mind that is aware of the dangers approaching. That could very well mean we have to stop, get focused, and then respond to whatever the dangers are that are fast approaching. Second, we have to put ourselves in a position to be 'helped' in the midst of the mess we are in. I moved away from the pile of cars and twigs toward the fence, but that wasn't the only move I made. I would stand there with my arms outstretched in anticipation of mom's arms coming to my rescue. We might call out, but do we always move away from the distractions and toward the one who wants to be our refuge? We might call out, get a little nearer to his help, but are we ready to find refuge - reaching out to take hold of what God has prepared for us? Just askin!

Made Perfect

If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. (1 John 1:8-10)

Have you ever told yourself something only to find out in the end you were really just fooling yourself and absolutely nobody else? Until we actually look in the mirror, we don't see what is likely right in front of us all the time. Even when we look into the mirror, we may not see exactly what we thought was there - because the mirror is clouded over with some film, steamy and distorting the image of what we see. Even if you try to wipe the steam away a little, the image you may see is still a little distorted by the remaining particles of water gathered on the mirror. In actuality, the "image" never changes, the reflection is just a little different than it was before. If we claim to be free of sin, we are actually not seeing an accurate reflection of our true self. We are just fooling ourselves (in fact, no one else is fooled - just us). Scripture calls this claim errant nonsense. Errant - deviating from the regular course. We usually call this deviation "straying". Nonsense - conduct or action that is senseless or absurd. In other words, God likens denying we are "sinless" as straying from what makes sense and could actually be considered a little absurd.

On the other hand, if we admit our sin - we have an advocate to help us see our sin in the right perspective, but more importantly, we have the advocate to BRING us into right perspective. There is no one more capable of bringing things into right perspective than Christ himself. He does more than wipe the steam from the mirror, he also removes the sleep from our eyes. He awakens us from our slumber - our inattentiveness. By so doing, he brings us face to face with the "true us" - but as he sees us, not as we see ourselves. It is one thing to finally see ourselves as we are - it is quite another to be brought into the right light. What seems obvious actually helps build an awareness of the obscure - but only if we are willing to see as we are seen. Too many times, people tell me they are good and don't need a Savior. The truth is no one is good enough to not need a Savior. Those who admit they need a Savior often don't accept the finished work of the cross as the true "reflection" of who and what they are today. They tell themselves the reflection they see is something other than what Christ sees.

Here's the cold, hard truth - Christ sees us differently that we most often see ourselves. He sees our sinfulness. He sees our shortcomings. He sees the moments of our straying. In all this he sees something we often don't - himself! Looking again at what John presents here, he says when we ask Jesus to "clean our mirrors", he does a thorough job so the reflection seen is one which bears only his image - not the image of our former life or some faulty image we see through a haze. He sees the new - we focus on the old. He clears away the gathered "steam" - we strain to see past it. What happens when we don't see an accurate reflection of ourselves? We second-guess our ability and this affects our availability. When we don't see ourselves as "matching" the image Christ sees, we don't feel worthy to be used by him. We don't feel the purpose we fulfill is really all that worthwhile. We even begin to question if we really will ever change. Reality check here, folks! You are a new creation in Christ Jesus - as such, you have already been transformed and as you continue to go through the process of seeing your actions align with your new image, he is right there alongside, still seeing you exactly as he has made you - perfect in every way. God will be true to himself by making perfect what he declares to be perfect. He keeps the image of our perfection before him - maybe we'd do well to begin to focus on this reflection instead of the one we've been considering for so long! Just sayin!

Such as I have

Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much. 

(Erich Fromm)

I have asked individuals what they have to 'give' in life - what it is they could share with others - only to find they don't believe they have anything 'worth' giving. That is indeed a sad state of affairs, isn't it? To believe one has nothing worth 'giving' - nothing they can invest in the life of another, nothing that would help the situation, nothing at all that they would deem of 'worth' to anyone else. It isn't 'what' we give as much as it is 'how' we give. God always reminds us that it is the attitude of heart behind the 'giving' that matters - not so much the thing that we give. We could give our time, but if we do so grudgingly is it really a gift? We could give our finances, but if we do it with a stingy heart because we don't think someone really needs it, is it given in love? 'How' is much more important than 'what', but trust me on this, we all have a 'what' that God is calling us to give!

Good will come to the man who is ready to give much, and fair in what he does. (Psalm 112:5)

Look at what our passage says again. Does it say that God comes to the man who is always giving much, or giving at all? No, it says God comes to the man or woman who is 'ready' to give much. In other words, God is concerned with the heart motivation - the ability may be there, but if the desire is wrong, the giving is really not what matters. God always focuses on the heart, because man's heart can get so fickle at times. We can get wrapped up in all the wrong things at times, making our heart a very mixed up and messy thing. Giving begins in the heart - there is more to giving than possessing something that someone wants or needs. There is this attitude of giving without strings - giving because it expresses the insanely large amount of grace and love God has lavished on this hard heart of ours!

Readiness to give is key here. We need God to help us move our attention away from the 'what' and help us to see more the 'how' of giving. As you may recall, there was a beggar by the waters one day as the disciples approached. He asked for a little hand-out of some coins because it was the only way he could support himself - his debilitating condition kept him from earning a day's wages. That moment defines very well the concept of the 'how' and not the 'what' of giving. Peter had been deeply touched by Jesus - his life had been transformed. His heart was grateful and filled to overflowing with the grace of Jesus. In that moment, he shows us that we don't have to possess the 'silver and gold' to give. "Such as we have..." is all we need! (Acts 3:6)

Readiness to give is a heart thing - it is more than what we possess in time, talent, or treasure. It is even more than our ability or capability. It is perhaps more about our availability to God than anything else. Our heart is only available to others when it is first available to God himself. When we open ourselves to him first, he leads us into opportunity after opportunity where it is clearly not 'what' we possess as much as it is 'how' we are possessed. It is the filling of Christ in us that makes us ready to give - get him in the right place in our life and we will be read to give no matter what we think we possess. Just sayin!