Monthly Archives: April 2019

Grasping God's Delight in Us, Oh The Depth of Love

Keep Celebrating the Love of Easter

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We celebrated Easter a couple of days ago. However, Eastern Christianity celebrates Easter next Sunday.[1] So, this might be considered a true Easter week. Not that we need special dates to ponder the central event of the Gospel, but Easter came and went too quickly for me this year. I’m still pondering the stunning discoveries of God’s great love for us poured out on the cross. Deeper dimensions continue to unfold and I don’t want to move on.

Even the most stable human love pales in comparison to God’s great love for us. And when relationships cause unthinkable emotional pain, there’s an invitation to drink deeply of His delight in us. What we discover can set us free from the trappings of offense and allow us to love sacrificially as He’s loved us.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NASB)

The Passion of Christ

Good Friday is also referred to as the “passion of Christ”. Passion is a strange word to describe the murder of Christ, but it fits the Latin origin “passio,” which means enduring suffering. The modern application of the word “passion,” an intense desire, appears disconnected from the original meaning. But the connection has to do with the intensity and endurance of the desire. The root word, “patio” expresses the idea of being moved to action where there is pain and suffering.

Jesus was moved to action in the midst of unimaginable pain. His desire was to endure suffering for our sakes, even though He could have chosen otherwise.

Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53 NASB)

Jesus’ intense desire was for us, motivating Him to endure indescribable pain.

Excruciating Pain

To understand Jesus’ suffering for us, consider the Romans used iron nails up to seven inches long driven into the victim’s wrist and ankles to fasten him to the wood.

The nails pounded through the wrists would have crushed the median nerve, the largest nerve going to the hand, causing indescribable pain. “The pain was absolutely unbearable,” says Dr. Metherell. “In fact, it was literally beyond words to describe; they had to invent a new word: excruciating. Literally, excruciating means ‘out of the cross.’”[2]

Nails driven through the ankles would have produced similar pain. And there was the unmerciful beatings and flesh flying scourging leading up to the cross.

There was no existing word to describe the suffering Jesus Christ was willing to endure on our behalf. His passion for us was excruciating.

The Lord was Pleased to Crush Him

But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering (Isaiah 53 10:b NASB)

This speaks again of God’s great desire to purchase our eternal fellowship with Him.

Pleased to crush Him. These words really have no place to land in my heart. How could God be pleased to have His Son crushed and broken for any reason? Could we agree to this for any of our children for any reason? Of course not. Yet, he wished this for His Son on our behalf.

For the Joy Set Before Him

let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1b-2 NASB).

What was the joy set before Jesus which motivated His endurance of the Cross?

As I ponder the question, I know the answer. Rescuing us from eternal separation was the joy set before Jesus. We bring Jesus joy; so much joy it motivated Him to endure the unthinkable.

The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy (Zephaniah 3:17).

The Lord actually delights to be with us. We cause Him to rejoice and shout for joy. Don’t read quickly past this. Allow it to sink past all the pains of human hurts and anchor your soul.

It bring the Lord joy just being with you.

God’s Delight in Us

So Jesus’ intense passion for us motivated Him to endure excruciating pain to rescue us. Seeing His eternal fellowship with us gave Him joy which fueled His passion and endurance. God’s delight in us is so great He was pleased to have His son crushed on our behalf. Being with us brings God joy.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the many love messages we find in Easter. Your love swallows up all the pain of human offences. In light of your great delight in us, hurtful human actions are as grains of sand at the bottom of Your ocean of love.

When your love is hidden from me, please destroy all fortresses and strongholds which raise themselves up in an attempt to hide you.[3] You are love.

I’m only beginning to grasp the far reaching extent of Your delight in me. Please keep showing me that Your love may flow through me.

I rejoice in You this moment. May my life be a constant praise to You. Amen.

 

[1] Eastern Christianity uses the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian. For this reason, Easter sometimes falls on a different date. This is the case in 2019.

[2] https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions…/what-is-the-lords-passion

[3] II Corinthians 10:3-5

 

Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains

Sentenced to Die

Good Friday – The Story of Us

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A young man squatted in a dingy prison cell. His features were hidden by the deep shadows of his dark imprisonment. Only a thin plane of sunlight penetrated the darkness, revealing countless dust particles floating around rows of disheartened men. The man was seated, away from the light, staring, motionless, into the darkness.

Outside the prison, upon a hill, stood the place of execution, where condemned men were put to death. Today would be this man’s turn. In a way, death was a welcome ending to his pain. However, more strongly, the condemned man felt the fear of death’s mysteries. His soul, it seems, had died long ago, but the fear of physical death consumed every fiber of his being.

As he waited in the cruel anticipation of a violent death, his mind raced across the span of his life. What would have made a difference? What could have changed his inclinations towards evil? The answers to these questions could only be tossed out into his universe of despair. Like always, he knew no answers would come. There was no hope, never had there been hope.

Slowly and ever more increasingly, the young man became aware of the sounds of a great number of voices. There were shouts and roars, but none of the words could be recognized. The sounds increased and erupted past him like a huge ocean wave. An enormous mass of shouting people had passed just outside his cell and were proceeding toward execution hill. The time was near. The man could not remember so great a crowd ever gathered to witness a death before.

Just then, the outside door of the prison was slammed open hard against the wall. Keys jiggled and the main security door was unlocked. Prison guards streamed towards his cell. The hopeless man trembled and recoiled in fear. Death was pouncing upon him.

The guards unlocked his cell and converged upon him like many wild tigers. They seized him, and drug him out into the morning sunlight outside the prison. When they had cleared the outside door of the prison, he was slammed face down hard on the ground. The impact knocked him into a daze. In a semi unconscious state, he waited for the first slapping sting of the lashing whip.

After a while, he senses quickened and he slowly opened his eyes, spitting dust from his mouth. He tilted his head slowly, expecting his flesh to be ripped open at any moment.

Amazingly, he was alone.

People were flowing in masses towards execution hill, but he was left unattended on the ground.

Slowly at first, but with increasing urgency, the freed man got up and made his way into an old warehouse, across the block from the prison. Looking around as he fled, he expected his fantasy to end at any moment. He made it to the abandoned building and flung himself sobbing to the ground.

After a long while, the man’s curiosity couldn’t be contained. He left the building and circled around the back of execution hill. He came up upon the crowd and mixed himself safely among the masses. With much effort, he fought his way through until he could see what the commotion was all about.

Three men hung dying on crosses, the pain etched across their faces. Two of the men he knew from his time in prison, but he didn’t recognize the man in the middle. This man seemed much weaker and closer to death than the others. He stood watching the dying man with blood gushing down the wood of the middle tree. A strange magnetism drew his soul, locking him in on the suffering criminal.

Their eyes met. Though he was among a mass of people, the man on the middle cross was looking directly at him. The dying man’s eyes were not desperate and frantic, but peaceful and loving.

After a few moments the freed man turned and walked away. As he fought his way back through the crowd, he overheard someone asking about the man on the middle cross, “Why are they killing him, what has he done?”

“He’s done nothing wrong,” the answer came. “He’s dying in place of a man set free.”

Exchanged Life

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him Second Corinthians 5:21

What would it feel like to find yourself in a prison cell, sentenced to die? Yet, being released at the last hour for another to die in your place. A man free of wrong, willing to die for you. This is our story.

My place of solitude

True Value

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For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority (Colossians 2:9-10 NASB)

Matters of the Heart

Funny how eternal truths seem solid one moment, but slip away the next. This happened to me the other day concerning my value in Christ. In my mind, the matter was settled, but my feelings told me otherwise. In my journey with Jesus, as I seek to surrender more and more of my heart to Him, light is being shed on lies deep within. I may know God’s truth about myself mentally, but emotionally, under layers of stuffed feelings, fortified falsehoods need to be destroyed.

God is in the business of exposing and rooting out lies we’re believing and agreeing with. When clarity comes, we can dis-agree with cruel, irrational thoughts about ourselves and agree with what God says about us. This process is hard, but yields the joyous freedom God desires for each of us.

Shaky Ground

A few days ago, without warning, the ground of my emotional wellbeing crumbled beneath me. I felt like an orc in the last battle of Return of the King, when great fissures opened and the earth swallowed them up. It took me completely by surprise. Outwardly, I had a seemingly innocent conversations. But something said, set off a flood of confusing, negative emotions. I felt real discouraged, and I wasn’t really sure why.

Fortunately, I had some free time right after it happened. This allowed me to grab my journal and try and process my feelings. I made my way to one of my favorite get-away spots in the woods beyond our property. The place I had in mind was remote enough to insure an extended time of solitude.

I’m learning not to brush negative feelings aside. They’re like warning lights on the dash board indicating something needs attention under the hood.

I sat down against a tree overlooking a small waterfall.

Lord, please help me understand what I’m feeling.

Wading Through Feelings

Understanding deep emotions, especially negative ones, is something I’m learning how to do. At an early age, I wasn’t sure what to do with feelings concerning my parent’s divorce, so I didn’t deal with them very well. I processed what I could and moved on best I knew how. This didn’t leave me very emotionally healthy. But God is a Healer. He wants me whole. He’s showing me that feelings shouldn’t be ignored. If I understand them, and deal with the negative ones, I can experience the freedom God wants for me.

I look up and see a deer staring at me from across the creek. It can’t figure out what I am. I wonder if it thinks I’m a funny looking bush. I remain motinless. After a while, it wanders deeper into the woods.

Lord, I feel like a failure. I jot down in my journal why I feel like a failure in a specific area.

Logically, I know failing and being a failure is not the same thing, but my feelings scream otherwise. Failing is a part of the journey of life for all of us. It’s disappointing, but it doesn’t make me a failure. I reason with myself.

What is it Lord? Why do I feel like a failure?

I wrote:  Value – tossed aside like garbage.

These are raw feelings I’d never expressed. Clarity comes. When I fail, it makes me feel worthless, good for nothing, rejected.

Wow. I’m not cutting myself much of a break. Why Lord?

Mixed up Value System (From my journal)

Robby. You’ve believed your value as a person is inseparably intertwined with what you do. When you fail, you don’t see it as an opportunity to learn and grow. You’re afraid it means you’re a failure,

Yes Lord. I see it. Failing does feels like I’m a failure, worthless, tossed aside. But I can’t be perfect can I?

You don’t have to be. I’ve done it all. Before you took a breath, I loved you enough to die for you and adopt you as my son.[1] My love for you is out of this world, sourced in eternity, unaffected by anything in time or space.[2] You can’t change how I feel about you. You can never be worthless because I indwell you.[3] I created you in my Son Jesus and saved you by my grace for good works, but they were never the measure of your worth.[4]

Prayer

Lord, I see it much clearer now. You’ve taken me deep to show me how messed up my value system has been. Wow. I didn’t realize it, but failing has caused me to fear rejection. How messed up is that? But my feelings revealed my true beliefs which you want to expose. You desire to slather your love and grace upon every deep wound. Thank you so much for not giving up on me.

You care so much for my freedom and joy. You won’t relent until every lie has been exposed and swallowed up by your Truth.

Please continue to uncover deep lies I’m agreeing with that I might dis-agree with them and stand on Your truth. Amen. 

Walking in the Joy of Loving without Fear of Failure

I’m realizing  God wants to take me deeper into these feelings of rejection when I fail and free my heart even more.

However, understanding  my performance never affects my value,  and allowing God’s love for me to determine who I am,  is already bringing  joy and freedom.

I’m learning to rest in what God’s done for me and not fear failure. This frees me to love the people God places in my path.

Laying aside concerns for how I’m performing brings lightness. Since the matter of my true value  has been settled forever, a childlike wonder and joy is emerging in the moments of my day.

[1] Ephesians 1:5-6

[2] Jeremiah 31:3

[3] Galatians 2:20

[4] Ephesians 2:8-10

Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains