Separating Ourselves and Others From God

There is an idea that has been revived in my mind over the past couple days. It is an idea that I feel I've largely forgotten about for the past year or so. If you read some of the blogs I was writing back then, you would have noticed it, even though it may have not been explicit.

This is the idea: No matter what it takes, at any and all costs, we must come to believe this - that God is separate from us and others. How He feels about us and how we feel about ourselves and others, or how they feel about us is all separate from God's position on the matter. The question we have to ask ourselves is, "Am I going to believe my behavior or am I going to believe what God says about me? Am I going to believe what I see in the behavior of other people, or am I going to believe what God says about them?"

See, God doesn't think like we do. Someone reminded me this morning* that our relationship with God is a gift and that we have a hard time accepting gifts. We're waiting for the catch or the betrayal and this is based upon a mental framework we've developed over a lifetime that is based on us and other people rather than on God. In the back of our heads we all have this sneaking suspicion that the gift will be taken away at some point or at least that there's some sort of agenda behind the gift that we'll need to measure up to. We're not used to receiving gifts that don't bear betrayal or agendas around the corner. Again, this is where I had forgotten that God's declarations (which will never be recanted) and my beliefs (which are mostly messed up) are two totally different animals.

Here are a few thoughts.

• God loved us so much that He took away our sins and killed the part of us that is prone towards violence towards Him, ourselves, and others (John 3 and elsewhere).
• God says this relationship is a gift and not based upon our attempts at good behavior (Ephesians 2).
• God says He has turned us into new creatures with new hearts - a new nature (2 Corinthians 5).
• He says that we are already clean because of the word He has spoken to us (John 15).
• God says there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8).
• God says He will never betray us, even though everyone and everything in this life might do so (Hebrews 13?).
• God brags about us. He announces our value to the congregation. He sings our praises. (Hebrews 2:13)

The question is: Are we going to believe our behavior or are we going to believe what God says?

____________________________

*John Lynch

Him Thinking of Us Thinking of Him

This morning I was feeling down. I thought of God. Normally, that makes me feel worse. But, then I wrote something down. It was this: "Every time I think of You God, it is really You thinking of me." I mean really, who brought the thought to my mind in the first place? At minimum, who created me to have such heavenly thoughts? It was Him. So, I think this is the truth. Every time I happen to have a thought or feeling in relation to God, I believe it was really Him who was thinking of me. And what does He think of us? In Hebrews 2:12, He declares how He feels about us. “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

How do I feel tonight? Well, I feel better. But those down times are always just around the corner. May we always remember how God feels about us at every turn.

Bono on Our Cities - Our Very Lives

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take

These are lyrics from U2 - Bono's prayer to honor God by telling Him that our cities do not belong to us. They belong to Him.