Finding Favor with God

Noah found favor with the Lord. (Genesis 6:8) 

The hope of every believer's heart is that they 'find favor with the Lord' in all they say, think, and do. At times, we aren't very wise in our choice of words, so we waver a bit there. We waver a bit in the area of our thinking as we don't always 'put our thinking caps on' before we speak or act. We definitely waver in the 'doing' part of life as our mind may desire to do one thing, but we end up doing what our emotions 'feel' rather than what we know to be right. Noah was righteous and blameless before God. Out of all the people on earth, he alone found favor before God. Compared to the rest of the world around him and you will see they were so evil that God got to the point he could not bear it anymore. His justice demanded that he punish them. 

I can only imagine how difficult it would be to live a righteous life in this kind of evil and vile environment. There was absolutely no restraint against sin. Everybody else was engaging in the worst of sins shamelessly and actually encouraging others to follow in their choices. Violence, immorality of all kinds, cheating in the marketplace, lying to get ahead, murdering one another, and a number of other sins that would curl your hair if I wrote them here. But Noah, just like Enoch and Seth before him stood out to God as 'different'. He didn’t make the same choices as those around him. From God's account of the conditions that existed around him, there was no one else outside of his own family who truly trusted God. 

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2) 

We also live in a dark world, but it is not nearly as dark as at that time. We have the blessing of fellowship with other believers who can help us where Noah and his family were truly alone. If God were looking at us as he did that day, do you think we would find favor in God’s sight? If God were to build another "ark", who would he choose to build it today? Would any of us stand out as being righteous, in love with Jesus, and following in his footsteps, or are we basically the same as everybody else? Just askin...

What's your trademark?

Have you ever stopped to consider what a trademark is?  It distinguishes something from all the other "somethings" which are in our midst, right?  You think of the red soda can with the white little swirl and what immediately comes to mind?  Coca-Cola, right?  If I were to have you picture a red sign with a huge yellow "M" on it, you'd immediately recognize it as McDonald's restaurant.  We distinguish something by its trademark - it sets it apart from the rest.  What happens when someone changes their packaging of their product?  People go nuts trying to find it!  They don't recognize it even though it is right on the shelf in front of them because the "remembered" symbol is no longer there!  This is why most manufacturers don't mess with a good thing!  Have you ever stopped to consider what God's trademarks are?  What is it which sets him out from the rest of the "gods" we could serve in life?  What is it which makes him "distinguishable" in our lives?

“Don’t let the wise brag of their wisdom.  Don’t let heroes brag of their exploits.  Don’t let the rich brag of their riches.  If you brag, brag of this and this only:  That you understand and know me.  I’m God, and I act in loyal love.   I do what’s right and set things right and fair, and delight in those who do the same things.  These are my trademarks.”  (Jeremiah 9:23-24 MSG)

According to what God told Jeremiah, loyal love, doing what's right and fair, setting things right - these are his trademarks.  Now, it may not seem like much, but if you want to really get to "recognize" God from all the rest of the voices you hear in your head, you might just want to get to know his trademarks!  The little voice which tells you to respond with unkind words is not his - it is yours!  That little voice which tells you to pick a fight is not his, its yours!  The little voice which encourages you to compromise just a little is not his, it is yours!  What God says will always be consistent with his character (his trademarks).  

We "brag" on a lot of things, don't we?  We get a new car and for about the first month or so not one piece of bird poop can be found on it, the inside is immaculate, and the wheels shine with the high gloss of new rubber.  We take everyone out to the garage to show it off - pointing out all the bells and whistles.  We "brag" on it a little.  When our child brings home a 4.0 grade average, perfect attendance, and exemplary comments about his/her behavior toward others, something happens inside us, does it not.  Those mom and dad chests just push out a little further and we get all kinds of giddy over having such a wonderful child.  We even proudly display the bumper sticker on our new cars which lets he world know we have a "champ" of a kid!

I wonder how many of us actually brag about knowing God and what it is he has done in our lives?  We brag (boast) about the stuff which has no real permanence in our lives, but often neglect to even speak of the things which will never leave us wanting.  Look again at the list of what makes God "boast-worthy".  First, he has this tremendously loyal love.  If you have ever loved someone, you know it has some ups and downs, right?  Most of the time when the things are going "good" in the relationship, we'd say we'd never change things in a million years.  Let some rough times and difficulty come in the relationship and our love is put to the test.  Sometimes it doesn't fair too well.  Why?  Because we haven't learned the loyalty of love - it goes beyond the usual and normal into the realm of the consistency of commitment.  Commitment has a sticking power.  God's love is committed love - it goes through the rough places with us, knowing full-well the good places will come again.

Second, he has this way of setting things right.  Not just right, but fair.  Do you think that is an unusual combination of words to describe how God deals with his kids?  I don't because God knows what we see as "right" we may not always see as "fair".  We are always making judgments about what is "right" and when we see something as "right" we usually say it is fair.  Truth be told, sometimes what is right may seem a little "unfair" to us!  But...God is all about both - fairness and setting things right.  When we don't get what we deserve (grace and mercy), he is setting things right, and he is being "fair".  In other words, he won't let an injustice be done when it comes to his kids.  We are placed in the position of being made right, and in turn, he also puts us in a position of favor.  That is what fairness has to do with God's grace - it puts us back into a place of favor.

It may not seem like much, but getting to know the trademarks of our God's love is pretty important.  It helps us filter out the voices which are not really pointing us toward loyalty in our love, fairness in our dealings, or excellence in our standing.  Wouldn't it be nice to reflect his trademarks in our lives?  Just sayin!

Risky Reaching

 ³⁴Jesus said to her, "Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you're healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague."

(Mark 5:34)

Jesus was passing through town one day on his way to accomplish a totally different thing when someone touches him and his healing power is released.  For those of you familiar with the story, you recognize this individual as the woman with an issue of blood (hemorrhage) for nearly twelve years.  I imagine she had sought every healer in the region (and perhaps beyond) in hopes of finding the cure for her condition.  She has obviously found no relief, no remedy, in these twelve years of dealing with this life-debilitating hemorrhagic condition.  

For those of you who don't know the impact of such a disease process, let me lay out a picture of what this woman was dealing with.  She would be severely anemic - probably constantly bordering on being in a state of health that would have prevented her from conducting normal activities.  Her body would have been constantly trying to keep up with the red cell production she required to replace the blood she was losing, but it would be impossible to do.  At best, she could take supplemental iron, attempting to build her blood supply, but being sapped of all she was supplementing as quick as she could put it in.

Her anemia would have not only made her body fatigued from the constant efforts of trying to keep up with red blood cell production, but she would have been easily worn out with almost any type of "normal" effort or exertion.  Yet, look at where we find this woman - pressing through an enormous crowd of people that were thronging to Jesus to get their own miracles, or just to see the great Teacher as he was passing through the region.  I have been in crowds of people on a mission to get something, or be somewhere "first".  The intense "press" of people carries you along and makes it almost impossible to navigate one's way out of that throng.  Her position in that crowd was one of "pressing" - she was the one pressing forward with all the might she could muster, on a mission to just touch the hem of the garment of the great Healer.

Her mission was realized - she made contact - and, oh, what a contact that was!  Her mission was to press forward, despite the tremendous burden this was to her already weakened body, over-taxed heart and oxygen-deprived lungs.  In that one moment of contact, her life is changed.  Her life is transformed, in the midst of the crowd, with everyone else oblivious to what had happened, except for one person:  Jesus.  He turns, asks who had touched him, and stands there waiting for the answer.  

She has taken a cultural risk beyond what her Jewish culture would have allowed.  She had an issue of blood (viewed as making her ceremonially "unclean") - she did not belong in the crowd; she belonged at home, away from others that she could make ceremonially "unclean" by her very presence.  She had taken a physical risk of being out in that big of a crowd, pressing with all her might, going beyond her natural strength to draw near enough to Jesus to touch his garment's hem.  She had taken a personal risk of believing for her healing.  Jesus' response:  "Your risk was worth it - on all levels!"

Her risks, no matter how large, or how insignificant we may realize them to be, were noticed by the one she was seeking.  His acknowledgement of her risk-taking makes this story even more significant.  He doesn't point out to her that she is healed first - he first points out to her that it was her "risk" of faith that made all the difference in the receiving of what it was that she was seeking.  There are a lot of times we know exactly what it is we need, but we don't take the "risks" to step out in faith to receive it.  This woman stands as an example to us all - the "risks" are worth it!

In the end, she received more than her healing - she was blessed.  He tells her  to live well and to live blessed.  It has probably been a long time since she had lived "well" - she probably doesn't remember the last time that she felt like she was living "blessed".  He was telling her to live with great contentment - to recognize the "favor" of God in her life.  What a tremendous place to be!  Isn't that what we'd all like - to live in the "favor" of our God?  Maybe it is time we take a few "risks" in reaching for God like we never have before!