I’m on a leash

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

This verse is so common to most Christians, that sometimes we lose touch of what it means. Never means never. As in not a single time. But sometimes we think if we’re not good enough, if we don’t pray enough, if there’s way too much going on…sometimes we think that he will leave. We’ve been stained by the way of the world — the an eye for an eye system, the i’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine system. The different thing about God is that he loved us first, and nothing we can do can ever change that. He gave his life for the forgiveness of our sins, and all he asks in return is for us to believe.

Sometimes, like a dog on a stretchable leash, I wander far from the Father, wrongfully thinking that I can do it on my own, my own way. But, no one can snatch me from his hand. God is pretty territorial about his property. If you let him, you can be his. We can be indian givers at times — taking back what we Christians have already reliniquished to God — our lives. We unwittingly kick him out the thrones of our lives and try to govern our own lives. Since we are by nature imperfect, this is bound to fail. The good news is you can’t go very far before God pokes you and tugs at your leash softly. Come back, he beckons. You’re going the wrong way. A great Sunday sermon bring us back. A friend gives us a call to check up. Out of the blue, someone offers prayer. If you open your eyes and ears, he is trying to get your attention.

A statement from the pastor at Angelus Temple last Thursday stuck with me.

“Loneliness is just a call from God for greater intimacy with Him.”

Let us seek him with all our heart in times of doubt and not stray away. He never left. He is softly prodding is to go back.

Can you handle the truth?

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free — John 8:32

“You can’t handle the truth.” – Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men.

A little imagery to remind you of that scene in A Few Good Men.

Tonite in Saturday Night Redefined — Pastor Brad Reed speaks about how we react and respond to people who because of trust in our maturity, trust in our Christianity, choose to be transparent and talk about their struggles. More often than not, he expresses, we talk over other people, using their vulnerability as a way to propel as to a platform, a higher moral standpoint. We overuse our moral ascendancy. Pastor Brad spoke about the adulterous woman in the bible, an inch away from being stoned to death by townspeople. Jesus says, “Whoever is without sin, cast the first stone.” This behavior is probably strange to us contemporary Christians. How can their consciences handle stoning a woman to death? Yet we probably don’t realize, that in the little word daggers we throw infront or behind the back of people we judge, those we deem unworthy in our mind, that we still do this in the modern day. We do not receive the truth about other people in love and balance truth with grace. Pastor Brad says that we should be nets to each other, catching each other when we fall.

Do we really believe that truth sets us free? Or do we stifle the truth and live in the illusion of being “perfect” all the time? Or maybe, like Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Men” we can’t handle the truth.

As I listen to the sermon, a lot of things go through my head – the many times I may have unknowingly shut down a trusting heart because I could not bear to listen quietly. Can we really handle the truth? We are sometimes like a gingerbread house -sweet on the outside, but it so easily crumbles with truth and transparency. We hide our own struggles and suppress them, and drown out out desperate cries with a great big Hallelujah! Some Christians cope by living a double life — having the Sunday self and the weekday self. And because we struggle ourselves, we cannot even bear to lend a listening ear, or words of wisdom or a helping hand to those who decide they will be vulnerable with us and pour out their struggles. The church should be a place of transparency, a place where we can be honest with ourselves, and have that honesty received with grace. It is not to say that we won’t rebuke our Christian brother or sister when we need to — “Better is open rebuke Than love that is concealed.” Proverbs 27:5. Only we must do it out of love, and not out of empty criticism. “If I have all faith so as to remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.” 1 Cor 13. Sometimes, I don’t even have the words to say. When I don’t — I offer prayer, and it often helps a lot.

I am deeply convicted by this. I once asked of a friend — “Is it right that he has to be so transparent? Should he tell me everything?” I realized that I should have not been so concerned with protecting myself and my feelings, I should have put the other person first and see it as an opportunity to be used by God. I should have listened with my heart and not with my mind. I should have reacted with the words that Jesus would say, and the quietness that Jesus had. If we only listen with the peace that passes understanding, then we will truly understand and be able to help.

I realize that we should not be so concerned with the “garment” being squeaky clean. Stains are not always pretty – but they are real. We should gently help the person get the stain out — the entire garment doesn’t have to be thrown away.