AFC Meeting 3/12/11

We all make judgments, don't we?  How do those judgments affect our view of God?  Our faith?   It doesn't take too many circumstances to get us wondering.  The faucet starts leaking.  The car won't start.  The drain backs up.  The flu strikes the whole family.  Injury.  Illness.  Infidelity.  Crime.  Job loss.  Divorce.  Kidnapping.  Death.  We have an escalating scale, don't we?  We can handle the faucet leaking, but even that seems to be stacked on top of many other aggravations in our busy lives.  Our faith can stay afloat through the nagging little nuisances, but at some point the circumstances reach that point in our 'judgment scale' to where we start losing focus.  It reminds me of Peter getting called out to Jesus to walk on the turbulent water.  He was fine as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus.  But as soon as he lost his focus, he saw the challenges of the circumstances around him.  It can be considered that the wind and the waves were the environment of his ministry.  This is the place where he was called to walk.  That is a good truth for me as I am reminded that the call to this ministry is a call to walk in a turbulent place.  This will be difficult; therefore, I must keep my focus on Jesus. 

So when a circumstance hits far up on our scale of tragedy, it tends to rock our boat.  It shakes our faith in the truths that God is love;  that He is still crazy about us;  that He is completely good;  that He is nothing but faithful.   The funny thing is that these circumstances are very subjective and arbitrary.  They are different for each person and are dependent on particular timing and other circumstances.  For one person, it is  their young wife getting breast cancer, for another it is their elderly mother dying.  Children suffering or dying in a tragedy seems to be a common trigger to soulquakes. 

Yesterday, the 5th largest earthquake hit Japan, causing carnage inland and abroad as the tsunami wave flooded Hawaii and California.  This is a big event that will surely hit high on a lot of people's judgment scales.  Is God still good?  Does He still love His people?  Is He still trustworthy?  Is He still involved in this crazy world? 

One truth to remember is that we will all put our faith in somebody, all of the time.  Who will it be?  Jesus is very clear that He wants His people to be a people of faith in Himself.  He is looking for it.  He longs for it.  He fights for it.  He died for it.  He lives for it.  He's coming back for it.  So, if we don't put our faith in Him, who gets our faith? 

These events that strike home are nothing more than circumstantial events.  It is my hope that I can surrender my life to Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to lead my life to the point that it is now, everyday, God living through me.  I know He wants to reach His people.   There is no greater minister than the Big Guy.  He knows how to bring it.  He wants to show His love for His people and He does it primarily through me and you.  This is an amazing truth. 

I propose that there is no difference in the faucet leaking and the kidnapping of a little girl on the scale of judgment.  I think Jesus wants to take our faith in Him to the point where all circumstances our on the same level.  He doesn't want our faith to be shaken by any event.  If we can live out our faith on the little things, such as getting a faucet leak stopped, we can walk out the difficult path of recovery from a seemingly much greater tragedy.  I believe Grace is extended and expanded that far and is available to us, no matter the cost.

At this point I'm reminded of another truth about persecution and how it relates to this very thing.  Jesus taught that we are not to take it personal when we encounter persecution.  "Consider it done to me."  Wow.  "The world will hate you."  I would propose that we open our minds to the true definitions to how this 'persecution' and 'hate' looks today, but remember that if it is the Lord's life living through us, it's about Him, not us.  This should provide great strength and stamina to withstand the quakes of tragedy.  They really aren't our kids.  They're His.  They really aren't our spouses.  They're His.  They really aren't our jobs.  They're His.  This is a strange mindset that will require much practice, support, and discussion with fellow disciples. 

A wise, mature woman once told me, " the modern day persecution is 'apathy'".  Apathy is a disengaging of ourselves in attitude and action.  It is signing an agreement with Satan that it doesn't matter what we do.  It's as if we make a pact with the devil in that, "We can't make a difference in this world.  Why try?  It's futility.  There's no way to affect change." 

This is where we stare face to face with the harsh reality of John 13:35, where Jesus is telling a new command to His disciples just before the end of His life.  "This is how the whole world will know that you are My disciples:  by seeing and feeling the impact of you loving others." (Bush Paraphrase Version).  We may love someone and not receive anything in return.  We may try to help someone and they not change their character or lifestyle.  It might feel like we are banging our heads against a brick wall for years.  It may not make a difference.  They may not forgive you.  They may not make the right choices.  They may not come back.  Soulquake!!!!!!!!!

We are to love anyway.  Why?  Because it is God living His life through us, and He cannot act apart from love.  Now you know how He loves us.  He just keeps on loving, in spite of our failures and bad decisions.  Even if we never come around, He continues to prove His awesome desire to redeem His fallen people.  We are called to love like that.  When we forgive, we are loving like that.  Ah, how we need the Holy Spirit to empower us to love like that.  This is getting more and more difficult to live out.  Yes, check out Martina McBride's song, "Love them anyway".  Brilliant.  Thank you God for helping us learn and live this truth out.