Love, An Opposing Force

This morning I was reading from Roman's 5 and ran across something that caused me to think deeply about a very base truth.  Here are the verses - Romans 5:1-11 NIV:

[1] "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. [3] Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; [4] perseverance, character; and character, hope. [5] And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

[6] "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. [7] Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. [8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

[9] "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! [10] For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! [11] Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

The specific verses that grabbed my attention was verse 9, where it speaks of our being saved from God's wrath.  As I read that, it just seemed strange to me that we, after the revelation of Jesus' love and redemption of us while we are are still sinners, consider God's wrath (I read anger).  I thought this might be one of those times where a particular mindset caused a translation that might not be as strong in the original language so I decided to look up the original language and see.

The original Greek word is orge' and it is defined as follows:

Transliteration: orgé
Phonetic Spelling: (or-gay')
Definition: impulse, wrath
Usage: anger, wrath, passion; punishment, vengeance.

HELPS Word-studies

3709 orgḗ (from orgáō, "to teem, swelling up to constitutionally oppose") – properly, settled anger (opposition), i.e. rising up from an ongoing (fixed) opposition.

3709 /orgḗ ("settled anger") proceeds from an internal disposition which steadfastly opposes someone or something based on extended personal exposure, i.e. solidifying what the beholder considers wrong (unjust, evil).

["Orgē comes from the verb oragō meaning, 'to teem, to swell'; and thus implies that it is not a sudden outburst, but rather (referring to God's) fixed, controlled, passionate feeling against sin . . . a settled indignation (so Hendriksen)" (D. E. Hiebert, at 1 Thes 1:10).]

As I was reading through these descriptions, I thought it quite interesting, as sin is essentially choosing something other than God's will, but that freedom of choice or free-will is something that God absolutely supports and defends.  I saw it as an almost exact opposite - on one hand God wants us to choose, but on the other hand hates it when we choose poorly, and knows we will often do so.  It is almost paradoxical, and would be if we take away relationship.

It is interesting, looking at the deep stuff - oppose is basically the root of opposite. In this case we have God described as swelling up against sin, steadfastly opposing.  What if this is a swelling up of His goodness, His love, His mercy, His forgiveness, and it is the opposite of our selfishness and focus on our own wants and needs, which is generally the cause of our sin.  What if this swelling opposition is actually not "wrath" but offering a choice in relationship, as in refusing to hate, refusing to be disappointed, refusing to abandon, choosing to love the other perfectly at all times. 

When I think about my love for my kids, I love them in spite of themselves, at times.  In spite of their decisions, actions, and even sometimes anger or frustration at me, I love them.  It might seem like I am unmoving, or strict, or whatever, but I can assure you the basis of everything is an undying love that overrides everything else!  I could be presented the worst evidence in the world, and I would still love them!  I refuse to offer anything but love to them, and in essence that is my swelling up opposition, my love!  I do hate it if they make bad decisions, or decisions that will hurt them or others, but I never stop loving them!  If I am going to  stand my ground it will be in Love, and that will be my opposing force, if you will! 

Continuing back to the verses, verse 10 continues - "For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!"   Again, when we read this the language is of opposition, and struggle, "while we were God's enemies", and it just seems to me that we are only looking at this with a single focus.   This doesn't sound like something anyone would do for their enemy (I think this is part of Paul's point), and actually demonstrates something more in line with John 3:16 - God so loved the world!   The original Greek word is echthros, and described as properly, an enemy; someone openly hostile (at enmity), animated by deep-seated hatred.  Strong's describes it as  "actively, hostile, hating and opposing another; with the genitive of the person hated or opposed".   Yet, Jesus speaks about enemies in Matthew 5:43-48 NIV:

[43] “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' [44] But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, [45] that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. [46] If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? [47] And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? [48] Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Its almost like we need a translator ring here, for where we read enemy, we have Jesus saying essentially that the Father loves them and blesses them!  We have Paul writing that while we were still God's enemies that He gave Himself for us!  When we see the word enemy, we must realize that He means us (prior to a real relationship with Him), and has chosen to love us in spite of our condition or ignorance.  That is Paul's point here in these verses! 

God isn't like us, He doesn't think like us!  When He sees someone unaware of His love and affection, His mercy, grace, forgiveness, salvation and invitation to relationship, He loves them anyway until they become aware!  While we were still sinners (His enemies), Jesus made a way for us to be in relationship with Him!  Maybe God's coming wrath (opposing force) is an opposing of all things that would color Him as anything other than as He is, the One who knows us and loves us perfectly, since before the creation of the world!

Amen and Amen!

Honoring A Mother's Love

This morning as I sat down to pray, I was asking the Lord to reveal something new to me about Himself.  I have been thinking of the importance of continued revelation in relationships and how we need to press in further and never be satisfied with our level of understanding and knowledge of another, especially concerning the Lord.  I felt led to turn to Luke 7:11 and these are the verses that follow - Luke 7:11-17 NIV:

[11] "Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. [12] As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out---the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. [13] When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don't cry.” 

[14] Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” [15] The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. 

[16] They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” [17] This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country."

As I was reflecting on these verses, the thing that stood out to me was Jesus' compassion for the widow, whose only son had died.  The word that was translated "his heart went out to her" is more commonly translated "moved with compassion" and describes someone deeply affected, even to the bowels.  Jesus just didn't feel sorry for her, He was physically moved by her pain and loss, by her love for her son.  

As I was reflecting on the Lord's soft heart for this widow, I realized that this is something His own mother would have experienced at Jesus' crucifixion!  I saw an understanding in Him, of what pain He was going to cause to His own beloved mother.  We know that she was present at His crucifixion, and that he entrusted her to John (see John 19:25-27) and one wonders if this miracle is somewhat related to the pain He knew she was going to be feeling?  We don't really hear much more of Mary, other than that she was part of the people gathering in Jerusalem, waiting for the Holy Spirit (See Acts 1:14).  

We find no mention of Jesus meeting her (Mary His Mother) after His resurrection, no mention of the sweet reunion that must have been.  We know He cared for her as His first miracle was at her request, and His last act was to take care of her by entrusting her to John.  Jesus was perfect in all He did, so He was a perfect son, directed to be so by His Father.  His earthly family was important to Him, and no one more so than His mother. Over the years I have written a few reflections about the significance of family to Jesus (Here is a link to one - https://amomentwithgod-srh.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-significance-of-family.html ) and I think we must believe that if the family unit is important to God, then Jesus' family was very important to Him, and no one more so than His mother.

Going back to the verses from this morning, I imagine that Jesus was moved not only by the widow's pain and loss, but also by the idea that His mother Mary would experience this same exact pain.  I am also aware that the widow's pain was turned to joy and jubilation as Jesus raises the son back to life!  How great must have been His joy, to be able to give the gift of her son back to this widow!  How great that son's joy must have been in being restored to life that He could comfort and care for his Mother!  One wonders if He was equally moved by her joy, as by her sorrow?  Again, I imagine He was, for He also knew how great His mother's joy would be after He rose from the dead! 

So this morning, I am aware of how important Jesus' relationship was with His mother!  I am aware of how deeply moved He was by her, how much love He had for her!  I am aware of Jesus' understanding of the family dynamic, the care, and deep relationships!  I am aware that He is moved by our family cares, when we hurt about family members or situations, He understands our pain!  He also rejoices when we rejoice, especially concerning our family! He cares deeply for us, and what we care about!

Amen!

Relationship, Not Rules or Rewards

Yesterday I ran across an interesting set of verses in Jeremiah 44:15-18 NIV:

[15] "Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present---a large assembly---and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, [16] “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord! [17] We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. [18] But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine."

When I read these verses I immediately thought of the somewhat popular prosperity Gospel, for this is the same logic, applied in the negative.  We are so tempted to want to think about our faith in lines of what we get, rather than as relationship, and I know the enemy works overtime to keep us thinking this way.  

In this case, the people had tried following God's ways by stopping their worship of other gods, specifically the queen of heaven, and because bad things happened afterwards they decided that it didn't pay to follow God.  How many of us have been tempted to think this exact way?  How many of us have walked away from our faith, or known someone who walked away from their faith because of bad things that happened, to them or to loved ones?  This story represents that mindset.

While many of us wouldn't say we ascribe to the prosperity gospel, this mindset is often practiced and alive in our lives even though we don't know it.  For example, it can show up when we question the faith or righteousness of ourselves or others when they have a bad experience or get really sick.  When my wife was diagnosed with cancer, there were many that couldn't figure out why, as she hadn't any obvious sin in her life!  I know in my life when things aren't going my way, I tend to start thinking about what I might have done to earn this punishment.  This is exactly the same thinking.  Quite simply, we think good behavior ought to earn us good things.  Bad behavior (sin) ought to earn us punishment.  

This type of thinking comes from the old testament,  and represents God's revelation at that time, follow God's ways and He will bless you, sin and he will punish you.  While this was a clear teaching, God continued to bring further revelation, that of Christ Jesus.  Much of the previous revelation was essentially setting the stage for the Messiah.  Man is incapable of perfect righteousness, no matter how many times we are warned or repent, we always seem to fall back into sin.  The whole of the history of Scripture from Exodus through Malachi is basically a record of God calling the people to follow His ways, calling them back to repentance, and the people failing.  

The Good News is that Jesus accomplished for us what we were incapable of doing on our own, righteousness. He came not just to pay for our sins, and bring forgiveness, but also to allow us to be restored to relationship with the Father!  Jesus took away the requirement to do stuff (follow the law) to achieve righteousness, and instead invited us into relationship, so now our salvation comes from knowing Him and accepting His offered salvation.  What is required is surrender into Him, nothing else.  We struggle with this thinking, with this idea, with this reality, because we think somehow it isn't fair and it doesn't make sense to those of us that keep score.  Deep down we feel like we must earn God's love, and being given it freely, just doesn't make sense.  The Good News is that it really is True!, regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

In fact, what we are invited to is pretty significantly different than the prosperity gospel.  Jesus doesn't promise good stuff, in fact its pretty much the opposite.  He says to be His follows we must take up our cross and follow Him (Matt 10:38), we must love others as He loved us (John 13:34).   He invites us to enter into a deeply unselfish, loving relationship with Him and others.  We are invited to eternal life with Him, and in doing so we join ourselves to what He is doing on the earth.  While some of it is grand and glorious (healings, miracles, signs and wonders), some of it is sacrificial, in laying down our lives for others.  Just as in any healthy marriage relationship, we aren't in them to get things, we are in them because we love the other, and sometimes that love requires us to sacrifice our own agendas, needs, and wants for the sake of the other.

Jesus calls us to relationship, and too often we want to keep things impersonal and just keep score, as we like the mode instituted by the Law.  This plays out in many of our lives and our churches where we put in our time on Sunday, and think that we have done our Christian "duty"!  Once free of that task, we go on to live out the rest of the week as if God doesn't exist.  We think that somehow our going to church will count, or being nice will be sufficient.  We think that if we do enough good things, that we will somehow make it to heaven, and this just isn't the Gospel of Christ at all!  God is not after our actions or attendance, He is after our hearts!

My encouragement today is to review my life and root out and repent of anything that looks like this old way of thinking.  I am encouraged to look at my life, to see where I am keeping score, whether with God or with others, for healthy relationships are not about tasks, or check marks, they are about growing in love, and intimacy. I am encouraged to look at my life and see if any of the mindset expressed in the verses in Jeremiah exists in me, where I just think that following God's ways isn't worth it!  

Lord, thank You for the wonderful gift of salvation, freely given, even though I don't deserve it and could never earn it!  Thank You for loving me while I was still a sinner, and still loving me in spite of my sinfulness.  Thank You for the invitation to relationship!  Thank You for meeting me daily, and blessing me with relational intimacy! You are who and what I desire! 

Amen and Amen!

Hardness of Heart - In Marriage and Belief

This morning I am reflecting on an interesting term used by Jesus in his discussion with people about divorce.  I ran across it in Matthew 19:8 NASB:

"He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way."

The term hardness of heart is really only used two times, once in this verse (and in Mark's version of this same story) and once at the end of Mark's Gospel, following Jesus' resurrection - Mark 16:14 NASB:  "Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen."

The original Greek word is sklērokardía (from sklērós, "hard because dry" and kardía, "heart") – properly, hardness of heart because of a lack of moisture (lubricant); an obstinate, hard heart which lacks the oil of the Holy Spirit and hence implies rebellion – i.e. someone refusing to be receptive (obedient) to God's inworking of faith.

I find it interesting that these are the only two times this phrase is used, once in talking about marriage and the other talking about belief and acceptance of Jesus' Resurrection!  Hardness of heart because of lack of moisture, is a sad description of any heart, but specifically one that is committed in marriage to another.  It seems to me that this relates to long periods of not experiencing enough emotional and intimate connectivity.   The fact that someone's heart can grow hard towards the one they once loved ardently, can be seen all around us, as divorce seems rampant.  

The second definition above, talks about one being obstinate, even rebellious, and that description implies choice.  We choose to be obstinate, choose to be rebellious, we don't accidentally become so.  

If we accept these two definitions and combine them, we come to an understanding that much of the hardness of heart, at least in marriage, is related to how we choose to respond to opportunities to change.  That there will be difficulties and hard times in relationships should come as no surprise.  What is hugely important is how we choose to think about these situations.  

I find that the great temptation for me is to always think about my own needs and wants, taking a very selfish approach.  I tend to assume what my wife's motive is behind her actions, and my assumptions are often of the worst sort.  I use the word temptation, because I have come to discover that much of my negative thinking towards my bride, is coming from an outside source.  I find my thoughts often are being barraged with negativity, and the purpose seems to be  to get me to agree with the accusations.  The issue is that motive is always assumed in any accusation, and in this case the motive is always assumed to be negative towards me, or at least selfish on her part, with implied intentional ignorance of my needs, wants and feelings.  Let me just say, that I know my wife and none of these things are true, but in the moment they seem right.  If I start agreeing with these accusations over a long period of time, I will solidify the idea in my mind and heart that she doesn't really care about me, is selfish, and even hateful towards me, which isn't true at all!  It is amazing to me how my choice of what I listen to, can totally change my perspective of a situation.  

In Revelations 12:10 the enemy is called the "accuser of the brethren", and this is exactly where I believe these lines of thinking and accusation come from.  Jesus, on the other hand, according to Romans 8:34, stands at the right hand of the Father, interceding (defending) for us.  In other words, in the spiritual realm, Jesus is our defender and satan is our accuser, is it not possible that we experience this same spiritual dynamic here, played out in our very own minds?  The question becomes which argument would I find myself agreeing with? Again, its my choice. 

As I look back over that previous paragraph, I am aware of the one thing that is missing from the above description is actual intimate conversation with my wife.  The last thing the accuser wants me to hear is her own words, her real motivation and heart towards me.   I find that if I am ever to ask about her motivation, it is often completely different than my assumption. If I am willing to be transparent, and vulnerable, and willing to be wrong, I often discover a completely different perspective than the one that has been playing in my head.  

Going back to the definition, if dryness is defined by lack of moisture, which I believe is experienced as a lack of emotional, intimate connectivity, the one way I know to resolve that is to have deep, vulnerable  conversations, allowing compassion for my bride to stir in my heart.  How often do we think that, only to have the thought, "they never listen to me anyway" pop into our minds?  I wonder where that thought comes from?  If we begin to recognize that these thoughts come from another source, we can reject them, and we can begin to pray and ask the One who intercedes for our spouse to show us what He knows about them!  

Going all the way back to the second time hardness of heart was used by Jesus, it occurred after His resurrection, and He specifically was talking about the Apostles unwillingness to believe those who said they had seen Him alive, risen from the dead.  I find this hardness of heart interesting in that it seems more directed towards others, than towards their actual faith. That they were crushed by disappointment, is an understatement, however it seems that there was also a bit of accusation going on as well.  If they didn't believe the eye-witness accounts of those who saw Jesus, it seems to me that they had to have made some assumptions about the motivation of those individuals for them to make such claims!  I also see a similar selfishness, the possible thinking that if Jesus was going to show Himself to anyone, He should be showing Himself to the ones who were His closest followers, the one's who had given the most up in following Him, the ones who were hurting the most!  I would say they sound offended to me!   

In summary, it seems that dryness and hardness of heart is actually related to choices we make about what we are going to listen to.  We can choose to listen to the Lord or to the accuser, and our choice will impact our heart!  

Oh Lord, help us to listen to You, to the one who intercedes at the right hand of the Father!  Help us to repent of any offense, any accusations we have believed about our loved ones, and about You!  Help us to allow our hearts to be stirred anew!  Come Holy Spirit, bring the rain of compassion and mercy to soften our hard hearts!

Amen and Amen!