Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The definition of God

You know...I don't think we take enough time to think through what being "God" means.  It's impossible to fully grasp.  God is unique and has a set of rules that apply only to Him.  Just wanted to throw out some random thoughts on the subject.

God is perfect...He lacks NOTHING.  In other words, He does not need you or I.  You and I must act on the basis of need.  We need food.  We need relationship.  We need rest.  God is in a total state of perfection...in other words, at every moment, He has NO need.  In turn, He never acts out of want or need...He acts ONLY out of free choice.  We cannot understand that, because every decision we make, every action we attempt, is, at it's most free, a coerced choice or a "forced choice".  At some level, every choice we make is effected by "need".  In fact, our entire life is colored by need.

God owns everything.  That's me, that's you, that's your Mom, your house, your stuff...it's all His.  In the faux ownership thing that we live everyday, really just minding HIS stuff, we don't like anyone telling us what to do with our (HIS) stuff...well, neither does God, and even more, because it is His stuff...and it really is.  He's not caught in the fake state of ownership like we are, attempting to "own" everything, including our own bodies.  He really owns it all.  Unlike us, He's not just holding it until the real owner decides to take it back.

God is not moral.  Before you lynch me, follow me a little.  I'm not saying that God is immoral.  When we say that something is "moral", we are saying that here is a "moral standard" and this thing/act/person conforms to that standard, therefore they are moral.  God conforms to no standard...He is the standard.  It would be more correct to say "Moral is God."  The standard by which we determine something being right or moral or just is what God is.  That's the only requirement.  In this sense, God is not just...Just is God.

Whatever God decides to do in the moment is right.  He is not bound as we are, by a standard that is out there that depicts justice or righteousness that we try to model.

For example, if God decided to completely flip the rules of life tomorrow (which He would never do, because He is unchanging and consistent to His character, but for sake of argument)...if He did...say...make murdering people right and correct.  That's just crazy, but I'm just picking something "nuts" to make a point.  If he made that switch in morality, then that would be the right and moral thing to do, because He is the standard of right...there is no other.

For us, we can easily fall into a very American mentality of thinking that the authority needs to meet our approval.  God cannot be judged or evaluated.  There would never be an evaluation that comes back but "that's the most perfect action to be taken".  Why?  Because whatever God does, by definition of "being God", is absolutely right.  The misconception that we all fall into at times is that there is a standard set that we are supposed to judge God by, that He should meet to determine if He deserves our allegiance.  That is completely wrong and it makes terribly misguided conceptions of God.  It lacks an understanding of what it means to be God.  Think about these questions...

What if whatever you decided to do was instantly a law of the Universe? 
What if gravity was your decision? 
What if what you felt defined reality?
What if the concept of perfection was based on what you are?
What if the way you are determined the way the world worked?
What if physics was based on you and not the other way around?

Getting the picture...to question God is not to understand who or what He is and to demonstrate an ignorance of life itself. 

There is no effort required to be perfect or all-powerful or all-knowing...it's just who He is.  It's more natural to Him to be all of those things than it is for us to attempt to breathe.  Easy and hard are irrelevant terms to God when "nothing is impossible" for you.  As I said, the normal rules and assessment techniques don't apply when it comes to God and when we attempt to say things like "God didn't do that right" or "God is wrong" or "I think it would have been better to have done", we just spout ignorance of the reality of the situation, not some sort of evaluative wisdom that God didn't understand somewhere.

And the glorious thing is, in the middle of this situation, that He is aware of our almost insulting ignorance and He's quite willing to walk patiently with us through the complicated and impossible process of understanding...why?  Because He loves us that much...and because, nothing is impossible for Him...another by-product of being God.

Please continue to pray for us at Bay West Church as we try to be the church of Jesus to west Palm Bay Florida.

Monday, September 20, 2010

A little reminder about relationships

I know we talked about why we have them yesterday, how important they are and that they are one of God's primary learning tools for us and a top-level revelation process about Himself to us...but really take this with you today.

We can, in an almost obliviously selfish way, go into autopilot thinking that our relationships are for us.  I challenge you not to live that way today.  Give it a shot and just try it.  The first time that you have that moment today where you think "What the devil are you thinking?" whoever your "you" is...stop it a minute...take a breath and ask yourself this question..."What is the goal of my next response?"

A few reminders...
"...to spur others on toward love and good (God) deeds..."  Hebrew 10
"...gently restore" someone from a sin  Galatians 6
"...to seek and to save that which was lost"  Luke 19

Take a breath...accomplish your purpose, which, btw, isn't to prop your rep?  Some people may look at what you do and think you are just taking junk...they might even call you a "doormat".

A huge secret/key to cultivating relationships with God's purposes in mind is to find your self-worth in pleasing Christ and not finding it in living up to the expectations of those around you.  It's not easy...but it's the key and it's the way you are going have to do it to succeed in living a life that follows Christ.  It's just the way it is.

Please continue to pray for us at Bay West Church as we continue to try to be the church of Jesus to the people of west Palm Bay Florida.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

So what is the heart?

Reading this morning...Proverbs 4:23 "Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."  It's funny, but I've read that many times, but some days the Word hits you differently than others.

It's really true.  Picture a flowing spring of water...picture a hole that it comes from, as it runs along the ground making the stream.  If you go to the source and pour in green food coloring, think about what would happen.  It would turn the stream green or at least, greenish.  Hopefully, it would run out or clear out, but it would effect it for a while.  Imagine setting up an I.V. of green food coloring that dripped at a steady pace into the wellspring or the source...it would effect the spring, turning it greenish or green consistently...whether that's good or bad, depends on your perspective on green and food coloring.

Apply that to our heart, the source, and our life, the stream.  We should be careful what we allow to dump into or to drip into our life, because it can turn it green or whatever...and as I said, the good or bad is dependent on your view of green, because what we allow into that wellspring of life can do either.  Carelessly allowing a temporary thing or even an ongoing habit/activity to "drip" can drastically effect many areas of your life. 

For many of us, the stream of life takes a turn around a tree, out of sight of the source of the stream, and looking at life there, we honestly can't tell why the life is effected in the way it is.  Nothing is poured into the stream at that point...nothing is in the immediate vicinity, but the life is effected negatively or positively anyway.  If it's negative and you are trying to solve it, it can be maddening...there is no cause, seemingly...nothing related to the direct issue...how do you fix it?   You just can't find the cause at that location...the problem is that it was what was dropped in at the wellspring, the heart, seemingly having nothing to do with it, and the effects show up far from the site of the problem.  It's just how it goes, and like it says in vs 19 of the same chapter, it can put you on a path of wickedness, that is darkness, and they "do not know what makes them stumble."

I picture standing determined guard over this spot of my life, making sure that whatever gets here, as best as I can make it happen, is Jim-tested and Jim-approved...better still, that Jim's test standards come from the Word of God.  Because what gets there will color my life...there is no way to avoid it.  Protect it.

Proverbs 4 is all about wisdom and it's got several cool deep nuggets that can shape your activity/thinking for the better in it...some of the verses I'm committing to memory right now are from here (incidentally, I just changed my Scripture memory process...awesome  Android app called "Remember me"...free app, it will even speak the verse to you if you need it...try it out.)

Try it out...Proverbs 4, I mean...the Android app is optional.  iPhone users are on their own.  :)

Keep praying for all of us on the leadership team at Bay West Church, as we try to be the church of Jesus in Palm Bay.