Rethinking the Cross February 27, 2009

The Cross… Done… Work Finished… Complete… Forgiven… Ultimate Sacrifice… Total and Pure Love… I recently was listening to a podcast on the cross and was brought back to focusing on Jesus love and the Grace that was poured out on the cross. An image that too often comes to the mind of people when thinking of the cross, is that of an angry God or Father, needing to punish someone for the sin that was committed by mankind. So before I go too far with my thoughts, realize that I’m not going to deny the fact of there being consequences for decisions and lessons that we are taught by choices that we make. What I want to do here is draw our attention to a Father who is upset, but not with us. His anger isn’t directed at us because he is mad at us when we sin, but is rather focused on sin itself and angry with what it has done to His most prized creation. The Bible is packed with passages on how deep Father’s love is for us! I hear a song on sirius alot by a very popular group that has a line about God being angry with the world… I don’t know if there can be anything further from the truth. I believe that Father compassionately looks down on the world and each of us, full of love and desires that each us come to know Him and walk with Him the way Jesus does – that we would know Jesus the way Father does.

The podcast had a great illustration of anger vs. love. The speaker told the story of a boy who had got caught in a swarm of bees, and hearing his cry, the boy’s mom begins to run towards him to scoop him up and rescue him from the thing causing so much pain. As the mom is running towards the boy, he can see the upset look on her face, and could easily mistake her look to mean she is angry at him for getting caught in the swarm. Rather as the mom runs towards her son whom she loves so much, she’s upset with the bees that have surrounded him and are about to sting her son. Do you see the point? How easy it could be for us to get focused on Father’s “wrath” or “anger”, and forget to see the object of His emotion. What if the boy in the story, thinking that mom was upset gets so focused on his own perceptions and ends up arguing with mom, or fighting her rescue attempt? How absurd, but isn’t that often what we do to God? If we take our focus off of how great Father’s love is for us, mistaking that He is angry, we find ourselves constantly living overwhelmed by guilt, feeling as if we don’t measure up. Measure up to what? Remember, Father isn’t in to measuring. If we allow ourselves to focus on guilt rather than love it is as if we are standing arguing with Father about His Grace not being good enough. Stop! Just let Him rescue you from the bees! Let Father scoop you up from the middle of swarm and run you to safety! That’s Grace… that’s the cross! Totally yours… finished… Done.

Here are the words to a song that I think sums this up incredibly!

By Your Side…

Why are you striving, these days? And why are you trying to earn grace? Why are you crying? Let me lift up your face. Just don’t turn away. Why are you looking for love? Why are you still searching, as if I’m not enough? To where will you go child, tell me where will you run? To where will you run?

Cuz I’ll be by your side, wherever you’ve fallen.
Dead of night whenever your calling,
Please don’t find these hands that are holding you,
My hands are holding you.

Look at these hands and my side. They swallowed the grave on that night. When I drank the world’s sin, so I could carry you in, and give you life. I want to give you life.

And I’ll be by your side, wherever you’ve fallen.
Dead of night whenever your calling,
Please don’t find these hands that are holding you,
My hands are holding you.

Cuz I, I love you! I want you to know.
That I, I love you, I’ll never let you go.

Eternal Mindset – Entry #1 November 26, 2008

As a young child, when I would hear talk of Heaven or eternity, living forever and ever worshiping God, my mind would always drift off imagining a giant “church service” -forever.  Singing hymns, listening to a sermon, standing, sitting, and so on.  I have to be honest with you, didn’t sound too appealing then, and it still doesn’t appeal to me today.    I realize now that my problem was that I tend to take God’s word and contextualize it to fit into my life.  Even at a young age, I had a hard time looking outside of the box of my experiences and really envisioning what it will be like when we are finally “with God” one day, for eternity!  I took “worshiping God for all eternity and compared it to my weekly worship experience”.  Today I’m seeing that God speaks of a totally different experience that what I pictured and it has excited me beyond my imagination.  Here are a few of my recent ponderings on this subject – I would love to hear your insights as well so take a minute and email your thoughts to deepstreampa@gmail.com

 

Thought #1 – I was reflecting one day on creation.  By creation I mean nature and the beauty that we are privileged to enjoy.  Whether it be a mountain hike with my wife in the Delaware Water Gap, here in PA where we live, or a snowboarding trip to Jackson Hole with my brothers for a week, staring down from the top of the snow capped Grand Tetons of Wyoming, I always stand amazed.  Growing up, my parents had pictures of nature hanging on our wall, photographs taken by Ansel Adams.  We would take frequent day trips to Yosemite National Park in California, the place where many of Adams photos were taken.  My eyes have gazed into the Grand Canyon and I stood so close to Niagara Falls a couple years ago with my wife and kids that we could feel the ground shake from its force!  These are just a few of God’s amazing masterpieces.  As I was reflecting that day, it hit me!  These incredible sights were formed by the hand of words of God…  then it really hit me!!!  These were actually formed by the judgment of God, handed down through the Genesis flood.  As God flooded the earth these great mountain ranges were pushed up from the earth, and canyons were etched out by the mighty waters which were released.  The earth as God had originally created it had been changed!  So if this astounding scenery was the end result of Him judging mankind, can you even begin to fathom what His original painting might have looked like? 

 

Thought #2 – Read Romans 8:19-23 – “… the whole creation groans and travails together…”   This portion of scripture talks of the entire creation, not just people, awaiting a glorious redemption, a restoration that will take place when Jesus comes again and makes all things new.  Nature, animals, and all mankind awaiting a time when He will indeed make ALL THINGS new, and restore all back to His original design and plan.  In the garden, when sin entered the scene of humanity, the curse was given to man, to woman, to the serpent and even to the ground.  What we find in the story of Jesus Gospel is that God made a way for the curse to be lifted off of man and woman.  As we read Revelation about the story that is yet to unfold we see that the curse that was handed down upon the earth will one day be removed.  The only curse that would remain is the one handed down to the serpent (Satan) and anyone who chooses to follow him.  It is awesome to see that the story didn’t end with God creating and man screwing it all up, but that God made a plan for an amazing restoration that will take place, and it is a plan that can include each of us.  He created us for Him, and the world for Himself and us.  It was given to us to rule and watch over, and one day many will be given that chance again.  Just imagine what it will be like for those who believe, when our eyes behold Heaven and Earth the way God designed it!  Seriously… let your mind drift for a couple minutes…  there is no limit to your dreaming!  Imagine being able to see it the way God saw it when He uttered the words, “It is good”.  Will we be able to do anything but worship God?  Will we want to do anything else?  Now that’s what I call worshiping for all eternity!  That is my kind of gathering!  Imagine all creation busting out singing… “Shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing… power and majesty praise to the King… mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of your name… I sing for joy at the work of your hand, forever I’ll love you, forever I’ll stand, nothing compares to the promise I have in You!”