I recently read an article about a teenage girl who ran away from home screaming at her father as she ran out of the house, “I can’t stand you! I hate you! I don’t even want to be around you!” After hearing this tirade her father, who was in great emotional pain, remained calm and said, “But I love you more. And the door will always be open to you.”
He realized his daughter was making a huge mistake he couldn’t stop. He also realized that when his daughter’s way of doing things started to fail, which he eventually knew it would, she would need a home and a set of loving arms to return to – his. His love allowed Him to remain calm and wait out his daughter. Oh by the way, his daughter did return home.
This is a perfect view of the kind of Heavenly Father we have as children of God. He knows when we will leave His presence and when we will return. He knows when we’ll take our drug of choice and the exact moment we’ll turn to Him as our fortress instead.
There is a saying, “The older your kids get, the smarter you become.” Our Father uses this same thought with His children. He knows we’ll think our way of living is better than His. He also knows that our way will not work and eventually we’ll see His way is much better. In the process of our figuring this out, out of His great love for us, our Father leaves the door wide open and return path uncluttered. He is willing to let us walk (dare say run at times?) away, though it causes Him great pain, so we’ll realize what He’s been telling us is best.
If you don’t understand how much your God loves you, you’ll find it very difficult to trust Him, let alone get up and walk with Him again when you fall. There is no greater love than God sending His only child to die so you could become His child. There is no greater love than a man laying down his life for a friend, which Jesus did and is what He calls us. God loves you that much. As His child He only asks that you trust Him. When you do, victory comes.

“S”et Free Nowww

We’ve just finished a week long discussion about how viewing challenges (i.e. Perspective is Crucial) is crucial to victorious living. I want to end our discussion with an illustration from the college graduating class of 2010.
“About half of the class of 2010 still hadn’t found a job almost a year after graduating. (By contrast, 90 percent of the classes of 2006 and 2007 already had jobs a year later). The first thing they’re getting is an attitude adjustment. The bad economy is doing them a favor by teaching them the value of a job.”
To many, having a job is seen as a right rather than a privilege. Yet no one, let alone the business world, owes us anything. As one writer put it, “Not every one wins, there is only one rung on the latter at the top; therefore only one person gets to stand there at a time.”
This reality smacks up against the coddling “everyone is a winner” attitude that’s been preached on American campuses. This lie-based message has also worked its way into the Evangelical Church. As one Israeli congregational leader said, “I am fearful that the steady diet of cotton candy and sweet nothings that Christians are being fed in the majority of the Evangelical churches is desensitizing the conscience of the Christians and putting their minds to sleep.”
Life on this planet is hard, especially for believers who live in enemy territory. When those challenges come, and they will, we must realize that Jesus owes us absolutely nothing. It is only by God’s grace (i.e. getting what we don’t deserve) and mercy (i.e. holding back what we do deserve) through Jesus that we can enter into the presence of a holy and loving God during those hard times. Jesus earned and is standing at the top of the ladder, and out of His great love for us, He is giving us a hand up.
We can either whine about our challenges or we can take His hand and win in the midst of them. We can look down at the challenge or look up at Jesus. The perspective by which we view challenges is crucial to the outcome we’ll experience. I don’t know about you, but I’ll gratefully take the hand I don’t deserve – His.

Set Free No“W”ww

There’s one more Biblical worldview application to the original Perspective is Crucial story – you are Jesus to those around you.
On the first day I went to pick up my materials, only to discover that they were not in, I told the person at the order desk, “I guess the Lord doesn’t me to work today. He wants me to take the day off to relax.”
He said, “When the Lord talks, you better listen.” I agreed wholeheartedly. I went on to make other comments about Jesus in hopes that I could share the Lord with him. No further comments were made, so I left it there.
I called this same guy before I went to the material yard two days later when the materials were supposed to be ready. I called and they weren’t. He said they would now be in by late morning. I called a few hours later only to find out that they would not be in until early afternoon.
A person with a Sunday-morning-only faith would have had every “right” to blow up at this point. The original deadline was Monday and now it was pushed back until early Friday afternoon. I had lost my original help and now my new help might be in jeopardy. I had every right to cancel the special order and let the store eat the costs of the material. They had not kept their promises to me.
I had, though, let this person know I believed in Jesus. I have the responsibility to let Jesus shine through me every where I go, not just at church on Sunday. I was hoping to get another shot at sharing about Jesus, who is a lot more important than my material order or my project. Would this person see Jesus or me?
Honestly I did say, “You’re killing me here.” I then put this situation through the FREEdom process, which calmed me down, and said, “Please call me when they are in,” which he did when they finally arrived.
No demands, no threats, hopefully they saw Jesus shine through me. I don’t know. I do know, however, they would not have gotten a glimpse of Him if I acted the way “I” wanted to act. We are Jesus to those around us. Hopefully they will see Jesus wherever we go.

Set “FREE” Nowww

In returning to the “long overdue project” saga, I hurt myself loading the materials onto the trailer. The materials were five days late and were hours late once they finally did arrive. In not wanting to waste time, I rushed to get the materials loaded onto my friend’s car trailer. In doing so, I fell through the gap on the trailer floor and whacked my shin on the trailer’s railing. Oh boy did it hurt. I can still see the blood roll down my leg into my sock. I remember thinking, “What a stupid thing to do! I’m so dumb.”
The comedy was not over! The material was still not on the trailer. After brushing myself off, I picked up the material and walked backwards to get it on the trailer. This time I stepped onto something and proceeded to fall off, again! Now, I’m really feeling stupid. Everyone is laughing, including me. It was then they said, “We better keep the pastor away from the power tools!” This brought on more laughter. I have to admit it was kind of funny. In the span of 30 seconds I whacked my shin and almost cracked my head open.
I will have a scar on my shin in a few days. What will I remember when I see that scar? My hurried and painful falls or what a blessing it was to have the trailer in the first place? Will I focus on how inept I was or the fact that I realized I was weak, made a phone call, and the project turned out awesome? I had a choice to see it from my perspective or God’s. You know the answer from Perspective is Crucial.
We all have scars – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual – in our lives. Some put there by others and some put there by us. What are you going to do with those scars? Your answer has everything to do with your drug of choice.
You’ll experience more peace, love, security and joy if you choose to let Jesus heal them. Or you can be drawn by your enemy to your drug of choice because of the pain you feel, causing you even more pain. Keep in mind, however, the situation that caused the scar is no longer happening. Who’s causing the pain now? You are by choosing not to replace the old memory with a new one.
I chose to turn a painful and embarrassing memory into a peaceful and enjoyable one. Every time I see the scar I’ll put up my shield of faith and remember how God provided two good friends who helped me get the project done. You can make that choice as well. Once you do, you’ll experience the freedom Jesus came to give you.

Se“T” Free Nowww

I talked about how we view our challenges in yesterday’s Perspective Is Crucial. Today, I want to continue that story by focusing on the friends who helped me get the job done. I couldn’t have gotten the materials home without their help, in this case a car trailer. I couldn’t have finished the project on time without their help. The finished project wouldn’t have look so good without their help.
Want to know the hardest part of the project? Picking up the phone and asking for help! Isn’t that crazy? I couldn’t have gotten the job done without their help. My friends were more than willing to help. In fact, they love doing this kind of thing! By not calling them, I would have robbed them of the joy they would have gained from being used by Jesus. By not calling, instead of breezing through the project, I would have suffered for hours in the hot sun.
My frustration was already present from the fact my materials were five days late. It would have grown in getting those materials home in my small truck, which might not have happened; thus, incurring more costs by having to rent a vehicle. It would have continued to increase with each decision I’d have to make in getting the job done. As my frustration levels grew, I would more than likely have taken one of my drugs of choice if I had let my “I” problem get in the way and not made that call.
When we realize we’re weak, we’re ready to let others be strong for us (2 Cor. 10:9-10). The strong suck it up and end up losing. The weak ask for help and experience victory. The Bible contains over 38 one another commands. You think God is trying to tell us something? If we want to experience victory over our drugs of choice, we’ll need to pick up that phone.
This is what the body of Christ should be about – helping each other stay in Jesus’ presence to experience the abundant life He came to give us. This is what friends are for – in good time and in bad times – they allow God to use them to strengthen us to become more like Jesus. It’s a win:win situation. They feel joy by helping. We feel joy by experiencing victory. I’m still smiling over what the Lord did through my friends. Are you?

Set Free No“W”w“W”