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macadamianutz
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Name: Lisa
Birthday: 12/30/1960
Gender: Female
Interests: Father, Spirit, Son. Praise and worship. My fellow man. Raising daughters. Alternative health.
Expertise: Distinguishing subtle flavours in single origin dark chocolate.
Message: message me
Member Since:
3/12/2006
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When we use the threat of hell to motivate people to come to God, we are using it in a way Jesus never did, and in a way He never intended. We actually push people further away from God's greatest desire (for relationship), rather than inviting them closer to it. Jesus' message was that God's kingdom has come near you and you can become a participant in it. (The doors to His household have been flung open! Will you enter?) You have a Father who loves you more than any other person ever has or ever will, and you can now discover what it means to have a daily, intimate relationship with Him. Conversely, your continued rejection of that relationship will result in an eternity of independence, with no opportunity to re-instate the relationship. (That is hell, in a nutshell!) The only stipulation is this: we must choose while we are alive, while there is an element of faith required.
When we consider hell as the opposite of heaven (heaven being God's household, hell being forever outside its gates) - it becomes clear that hell is simply eternal separation for people who choose to reject the offer to live in God's house. Why would He force them into a relationship they have rejected? He allows us to walk away from Him. If we were created for relationship with Him, there's no reason for those who aren't interested to hang around. However, once they realize they're locked out of His house forever ... perhaps then the gnashing of teeth (frustration over their poor choice), the unquenchable thirst (for Him), the torment (of regret) ... makes sense. Even the fire - haven't you ever burned with anger at yourself? And brimstone stinks ... so who knows? Maybe once we've removed ourselves from God's sweet fragrance, there are no pleasing smells but only blood, sweat and tears ...
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What's it all about?
The mature person realizes that life affirms itself most, not in acquiring things, but in giving time, efforts, strength, intelligence, and love to others.
Here a different kind of dialectic of life and death begins to appear. The living drive, the vital satisfaction, by "ending" its trend to self-satisfaction and redirecting itself to and for others, transcends itself. It "dies" insofar as the ego is concerned, for the self is deprived of the immediate satisfactions which it could claim without being contested. Now it renounces these things, in order to give to others. Hence, life "dies" to itself in order to give itself away and thus affirms itself more maturely, more fruitfully, and more completely. We live in order to die to ourselves and give everything to others.
...This "dying" to self in order to give to others is nothing more or less than a higher and more special affirmation of life. Such dying is the fruit of life, the evidence of mature and productive living. It is, in fact, the end or the goal of life.
Thomas Merton, Love and Living
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"Do you know what the most frequent command in the Bible turns out to be? What instruction, what order is given again and again - by God, by angels, by Jesus, by prophets and apostles? "Be good"? "Be holy, for I am holy"? "Don't sin"? "Don't be immoral"? No. The most frequent command in the Bible is: "Don't be afraid." "Fear not."
The irony of this surprising command is that, though it's what we all really want to hear, we have as much difficulty, if not more, in obeying this command as any other. We all cherish fear so closely that we find we can't shed it even when we're told to do so. This command bursts in upon a world in which we eat, sleep and breathe fear.
We're afraid of being alone, of being unloved, of being abandoned.
We're afraid of looking stupid, of being left behind in some race that we all seem to be automatically entered for.
We're afraid that we might never find the right person and that if we do marry, it may turn out to be a disaster.
We are afraid of both growing older and more feeble, and of dying suddenly.
And these are just the big ones. There are dozens of lesser fears which reinforce and feed on each other. So you see why this command, 'Don't be afraid,' is one of the hardest of all to keep. Can you imagine living without fear? Living a normal, wise, responsible life without the nagging sense that something is about to go horribly wrong, that you may have made it through this day, this week, but it was simply a happy accident, since the universe is basically unfriendly and Murphy's Law will take revenge eventually? That is how most people live.
To that condition, the gospel of Jesus comes with bad news and good news. The good news: there is just one command this time, not even ten. The bad news: this one command tells us to love - to be unafraid - and we haven't a clue how to obey it. Fear is the air we breathe. We don't really know any other way to live. Believing in the God who raised Jesus from the dead means believing that it is going to be all right; and this belief is, ultimately, incompatible with fear. As John says in his letter, "perfect love casts out fear" (1John 4:18) And the resurrection is the revelation of perfect love, God's perfect love for us, his human creatures. That's why, though we may at any stage in our lives grasp the truth that God raised Jesus from the dead, it takes us all our life long to let that belief soak through and permeate the rest of our thinking, feeling and worrying lives.
Therefore, we are not to be surprised if living as Christians brings us to the place where we find we are at the end of our own resources, and that we are called to rely on the God who raises the dead. Living by faith rather than by fear is so odd for us, so scary for us, that it takes a lot of learning. Bit by bit we must open ourselves to the power of this resurrection God; and sometimes this will only happen when we find ourselves in the sudden crisis where there is nothing else that we can do. Don't be surprised if this happens, not least when you face an uncertain future. Use such an opportunity as the moment when your belief in the resurrection of Jesus, your trust in the God who raises the dead, your determination to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, reaches down one or two levels deeper into your own innermost being, the place where all those fears still live.
If Jesus did rise again from the dead, then there is nothing ultimately to be afraid of; as the Psalmist says, "the God who has delivered my whole person from death will also deliver my eyes from tears and my feet from falling." (Psalm 116:8) It is because Jesus reveals this God to us that we find ourselves called, at the deepest level of our being, to follow Him. And once we recognize the truth about the surpassing God, the God who raises the dead, we can trust Him with every lesser task that may come our way. He can be trusted with exams. He can be trusted with jobs, even when they don't necessarily work out the way we thought they should. He can be trusted with marriage, both as we look forward to it with eagerness and when we find ourselves within it and facing the stresses and strains that all contemporary marriages must expect. He can be trusted with money, even when it seems as though there is even less of it available than we had thought. He can be trusted with old age. He can be trusted with death itself. " N.T. Wright
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| Just wanted to share a tidbit from a wonderful book by Wayne Jacobsen (He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection) He nails it, in my humble opinion. :)
"It's as if we can only keep the message of grace intact for the first fifteen minutes of someone's birth into God's kingdom. After that we start loading them up with the obligations of being a 'good' Christian:
"Of course we are saved by grace, but that doesn't mean we can just sit around and do nothing."
"God is a loving Father, but don't take advantage of that because he is also a severe judge."
"We are not saved by our works, but we still need to live a life that pleases him." (Which usually consists of a mix of bible reading, prayer, church attendance, and righteous deeds.)
By embracing this "but" theology, we end up with a performance-based relationship to God. We live every day concerned about whether we have done enough to be a 'good Christian', and judge others around us by the same standards. It not only takes away all the joy of knowing God, but also the depth and transparency of our relationships with each other.
Whenever we add anything to God's work on the cross, the message is distorted and we rob it of its power. Grace doesn't need any add-ons. But we are far more used to being conformed by external pressures than we are to being transformed by His inner presence. Once we experience God's delight over us as His child, we will find ourselves willingly abandoning our own desires and embracing His. Paul knew the righteousness that comes from trusting God was the exact opposite of the righteousness his works had produced in him. Once he tasted the lifestyle trust produced, he never wanted to return to his old ways.
"... that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." - PHILIPPIANS 3:8-9
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| So, I really wish I could say that I met Jesus and my life was forever changed. It did change eventually - but not as quickly as I would have thought. How could an experience of God's tangible presence induce anything less than a complete transformation of one's life? And yet, sadly, I regarded the event somewhat like this: "Wow! God IS real! It's so great to know there is someone to turn to when times are really bad." And I proceeded to continue making a mess of my life.
Even knowing I was in no shape to offer my bruised and battered heart to anyone, I entered into a relationship shortly after my divorce. Started dating someone else a few months later, while still in love with the first fella. You could say I was desperate for validation, hungry for the knowledge that I was still desirable.
It wasn't until a couple of years (and a fifth daughter) later - that I realized God actually desired something from ME. It was a completely foreign concept. I had heretofore viewed God as a wonderfully Grand Being who was far too busy running the universe to care about my daily activities. He was there in 'times of trouble', like Mother Mary was for the Catholics. Speaking words of wisdom - "Hang in there, you can do it!" - before whirling off on Imperial business.
It took the failure of these two relationships (and more heartache than three people should ever experience) for me to realize I needed to stop seeking my validation externally, from men. I ceased my urgent search for reassurance. I stopped running, I slowed down and paused ... I rested. Re-evaluated. Contemplated the wreckage around me. It wasn't pretty. But worst of all, I began to see how much I was hurting my girls. They were dealing with their own pain, their own insecurities. They needed me to be solid, to provide stability in a tilted world - but I was so wrapped up in my pain, I'd been blind to theirs.
This candid assessment left me as broken as I'd been that night at the beach. I looked around and, seeing the fragility of their hearts - decided to commit to staying single and pouring myself into motherhood. I'd chosen to give life to five beautiful daughters ... and they needed me now, more than ever. I knew I needed support ... so I initiated a conversation that was long overdue. Knowing I deserved nothing, I prayed; I asked God to be my husband in the absence of an earthly one. I asked Him to be a father to my girls, to enter our lives, to heal our brokenness.
It was the beginning of a relationship that has proved to be the most rewarding, the most stimulating, and yes - the most transforming of all. What I've realized in the years since, is that God is always with us. He fashions a God-shaped hole in our hearts, and He waits. Waits for us to come to the end of our own road - waits for us to take a step toward Him. He waits for us to initiate conversation. He desires true, deep, fulfilling relationship - and the moment we turn toward Him, He responds as if He has been longing for that very instant when we notice Him gazing upon us with a fierce and tender love, a jealous, refining love.
Entering into that love has been the most fulfilling journey of my life ...
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