"O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all."
Psalm 139:1-4
God meets each of us where we are at. I am in the beginning
of a study of four key people that encountered Jesus in an incredibly way and
the biggest impression is that Jesus knows them better than even they do. Jesus
knows what to say and what to do in their lives to teach them what they need at
that moment in time.
I find this to be true over and over in my life. I am a stubborn and
rebellious man in my heart. Saved by grace and nothing else. Growing up I did
not like a lot of aspects of church: I did not like sitting still (and quietly)
in service, I did not like the seeming contradiction of freedom in Christ but
rules upon rules and expectations, and I certainly did not like the hypocrisy
of those who called themselves Christians. I was a strange child, and many of
those who I first met in church rejected me (so I thought) and were mean to me
and I did not see the Jesus that was preached from the pulpit lived out in
their lives.
The irony is that it was only through watching myself treat others the
same way these "hypocrites" treated me that God showed me my
sinfulness, the sinfulness of everyone, and the overwhelming need for grace
from our Creator and our ultimate Judge. I stubbornly refused God for common
reasons many refuse Him, but that was the very hypocrisy that I needed to see
to show me the hypocrisy in myself.
By Grace. Through Faith. In Christ. Reconciled to the Father.
But that was not the end for my story, and it never is the end of the
story for anyone. Redemption and Reconciliation are only the beginning. My
Faith is FOR something, not just FROM something. Saved from Sin and Death,
Saved for the Glory of Christ and the Ministry of Reconciliation (not just me,
but all those who believe 2 Corinthians 5:16-21). God was pleased to reconcile
all things to Himself through the Blood of Christ (Colossians 1:19-20), and
that reconciliation includes my entire life (not just me, but all those who
believe).
It was in my stubbornness that I attempted to overcome a pornography
addiction on my own, and in my stubbornness that I discovered that I was
incapable without the surrender of my heart. Pornography was a symptom of an
impure heart, and an unwillingness to trust in God for more than just my
salvation. It was in my stubbornness that I refused to acknowledge my feelings
for the girl who would eventually become my wife, and it was in my stubbornness
that I was able to keep my conviction to never date someone who was not a
professing Christian. My wife was saved a month before we started dating. I had
feelings for her for at least a solid year before that, and assumed that she
was a Christian because she went to my church.
It was in my rebellious nature that I refused to accept the teachings
of my Bible College professors, and in my rebellious nature that I discovered
God's Word and learned to love it, even if it was to prove my professors were
wrong (they weren't...mostly). It was in my rebellious nature that I refused to
listen to many wise advisers and took my first "real" ministry job at
a church whose theology I avidly disagreed with, and in my rebellion discovered
godly men and women who loved Jesus, who challenged my beliefs, forced me to
open my Bible and understand truly WHY I avidly disagreed with them on
secondary and tertiary doctrine. In my rebellion I wanted to show them why I
thought they were wrong, and in my rebellion I learned why they thought I was
wrong AND why I still thought they were wrong (Love you guys over at The Naz).
I learned why different denominations and churches exist, why we are separate,
and why we are all united.
I know many people like me can look back over the life and see how God
worked through their specific situations and the nuances of their personality
to effectively communicate the Gospel to them, to save them and to change them.
God is working in the lives of His people to display His Glory to them and to
bring them to a point of surrender. What will it take for God to bring you to
that point, whether to be saved and trust in Him, or to be changed and trust in
Him?
