Hold on Tight

This past Sunday we talked about Genesis 12 and Abram's trust that he had in God.

One thing that I have observed about God is that he is a responsive God. Are you familiar with responsive websites? That's what I think about. Ever taken your smart phone or tablet and gone to a website where it doesn't seem to fit your screen? You have to scroll this way and that. You have to scale and re-scale to make sure you see everything and can actually use the website. This is a website that is not made to be responsive. When you get to a responsive website (which is all the rage right now), the information and the theme of the website is made to fit whatever size browser or screen you are on. That is responsive.

God makes it so we can respond to his action. He is the maker of our spiritual website. He makes it responsive. We point and click and act and God enables us to respond. He scrolls with us and he pans where we are. He zooms in on our life to give us perspective and then zooms back out to help us see his work. God initiates. We respond. That is the nature of our God.

God reached out to Abram. Abram responded by choosing to leave his father and extended family. He left so much. In fact, he left more than he took with him. And he did it because he was responding to God telling him to go. He trusted God.

And that is how our God is. He builds trust by giving us opportunity to respond to what he is doing. Without God's action in reaching out, Abram had no response. There was simply nothing to respond to. However, God did reach out and when Abram responded, trust was made, created, built and stored. That is what I mean by saying that God puts trust in our way. In many ways, God creates the trust in us, faith if you will, by creating an opportunity for us to trust in him.

Faith and trust cannot exist if God does not act to cause them or grow them. God does the action. Our job is to respond to that action.

Our God is a god that over promises and over delivers. Have you heard that phrase before? Probably not in that order. Usually it is used to say something about good customer service. Something like, X company underpromised and then over delivered. They went above and beyond what they had said. However, have you noticed that God normally over promises? He promises to do amazing things, things that we simply can't even imagine. And we are wow-ed by God's promises, to the extent that we can't believe that he would even do those things? Why is that? But then, it comes. God does even more than he promised. He does something that goes far beyond what you could expect. He over delivers on promises that were over promised! That is our God!! And only he can do that!

That is what Abram experienced. Read the passage and follow Abram through the story of God. You will see it. It is truly amazing.

This is no different for us. God has a story with each of us. This is a story where God wants us to grow in and through all things. A plan for our lives that will astonish us. He wants the very best for us. And we need to be prepared, seek him and then . . . Hold. On. Tight.

Reality of Redemption

Yesterday, Oswald Chambers (here) wrote about Paul's Gospel. How it means something for Paul that others may not understand. He calls it the Reality of Redemption. 

Here is a quote from that writing:

"The fact that we can experience redemption illustrates the power of its reality, but that experience is a byproduct and not the goal of redemption."

Most weeks, as I study, I struggle for a title for the message that God has for me to deliver. I struggle for the key image of that message. Professors in seminary taught that the title doesn't matter because no one will see the title. For me, this is like saying that the title of a book doesn't matter. Frankly, I believe it does. I believe that a title to a message matters. And of this to say, I struggled with the title this week and God gave me this one. The Reality of Redemption. Many weeks I know why I get the titles I get. Why I get the images I get. And they are supposed to be linked to help the main point of the message that God has given. 

This week I choose them separately and frankly, I could think of a lot better titles for this image.

However, it wouldn't be what God gave me. So Reality of Redemption it is/was. 

On this side of yesterday, I see the point. I understand after the fact. Which, I think, is common with how God works. 

He was teaching me something. Yesterday, I referred to the poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson, Charge of the Light Brigade. In it, this is written:

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die:

(If you want to read more about this famous event, go here.)

Basically, they received orders and no matter what they thought about the orders, they followed them. They received them and carried them out. 

This is sometimes called blind obedience. And is in human terms, not wise. Namely because the person giving the orders could be wrong.

However, as we know, God is not human and only has the best in line for you life. Therefore, to blindly follow and instantly obey God is his ultimate desire for your life! He wants the best for you and plans to guide you there, if you will let him and follow him. 

This is the nature of obedience to God. It is the nature of a relationship with God. And why shouldn't we obey him?!! 

Obedience keeps us devoted to him. Dependent. Aware that our very existence is because of our loving God that, when we submit our will and seek out his, we are blessed. We are redeemed. And that is the reality of redemption. Blessed Redeemer. 

The title, to me, did not make sense. But, to a God that wanted to show me to trust him, and in a small exercise to do so, list a title that didn't make as much sense to me, it made perfect sense to him.