A Rare Thing

Forgiveness is a rare thing because it is something that the world has never offered. 

The world offers excuses, and excuses don't account for what is innately inexcusable in the heart of all men.  It can pardon a murderer, but it can't account for the deeper, darker root of sin in his heart because it does not understand its own depravity.  "Everyone makes mistakes."  But why?!  It is not enough to redeem a man by excusing him from his mistakes.

God could care less about action then the state of the heart behind those actions.  Skeptics of the Bible often argue that Christians don't keep to Old Testament law or that Old Testament law doesn't apply anymore because Jesus abolished that law (which is not true because even Jesus himself said that wasn't the case in Matthew 5:17-20).

On one hand, we are saved from God's law because that law is what reveals our depravity (Rom. 7:4-6).  God set a standard for holiness in the Old Testament that he commanded be obeyed to a T, all the while knowing that we couldn't (Rom. 3:23).  No one has understood or perceived of the greatness and power of his mercy and grace through Jesus Christ without first being convicted of one's shortcomings in upholding these standards no matter how hard one has tried.  This is the beginning of what is called repentance, a turning away from one's old, dead, sinful life to the reception of new, fulfilled life in Christ Jesus through whom we have righteousness that meets the standards of the Old Testament law (Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 5:17, 21).

On the other hand, Christians are not excused from the law.  Remember that Jesus did not abolish the law, but he fulfilled it, meaning that he lived the perfect life that we could not live on our own.  Because we are in him, the drive to pursue holiness by these standards changes the way we live, and it is constantly changing the way we live until the day we die or Jesus returns to take his followers home.  This is what the Bible calls "sanctification."  A constant transformation in heart and mind to the heart and mind of Christ to be obedient to the commands of God.

So, when I fail, when I fall short of the commands of God, I will strive to set the cross before me because there is nothing else to relieve me of shame, guilt, sadness, or darkness.  Defeat is burdensome for me without the forgiveness of God.  It's like trying to swim to the surface of the ocean with a millstone tied to my ankles.  On the cross, God did not only excuse my actions, but he forgave my inexcusable sin, the deepest dark of my heart.  No court of law or any man can do that apart from understanding the forgiveness of God first.

Forgiveness is a rare thing in this world because the world rarely acknowledges the cross.

Fifty-One

I used to think that my heart was heavy,

But it had gotten heavier

When Mom turned on the TV,

And suits behind desks

Orated about catastrophe to the north of us.

Things got twisted, flipped over,

Torn to pieces like paper.

There were fifty-one gone

(To Hell or Heaven, I do not know).

And they’re still searching…

Here! is the sting of Death;

A hornet that stings

A small, helpless infant.

It pierces deep into our veins,

And our mortality stares at us with cold, grey eyes.

God, are you watching?!

If I feel far from You,

How much further away are they?

Those who have debris to pull out of their yards?

If You would be near to me,

Be near to them, and closer still.

There is hope to be found,

And it isn’t in this terrible world.

Hope is beyond what we have ever seen,

And it has a voice like a watchman’s horn.

Who hears it?

Magnitude

Four hundred years we waited for Immanuel,
And he came a servant king,
As a shimmering, no, a majestic, magnificent light
Making the dark cower like a ship sinking
Beneath the weight of towering waves.
And the earth was blind, lame, and cruel,
Calling the Prince a blasphemer
For he said that one day he would rule.

Oh! the magnitude of sin, the serpent's rattle,
That this man, who was in fact divine,
Saw it fit to secure himself to a tree
Where dead branches find life in the vine.
It took a thief's death to redeem the thief,
And a crimson flood to cleanse a crimson stain.
How dear the price that was paid
For the life that courses through my veins.

Journal Revisions: Loving Wrath

"Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.  Blessed are all who take refuge in him." --Psalm 2:11, 12

Understanding the wrath of God has always been a challenge for me.  As much as I know and believe God to be loving and gracious toward me, I cannot deny the truth of his wrath, and that is hard.  Love and wrath always seem to take opposite sides.

The best analogy I can think of to help myself understand this (and hopefully those of you who read this) is the relationship of a father and his son.  We'll call the father "Dan" and his son "Murdoch."

Dan tells Murdoch that he can ride his bicycle whenever he wants as long as he wears a helmet, no matter how silly Murdoch thinks it may look.  If Murdoch ever disobeys this simple rule, there are consequences.  He will receive two swats to the rear, and his bicycle privileges will be taken away for a week.  In the event that Murdoch is disobedient, is Dan any less loving when he carries out these consequences upon his own son?  Of course not!  As a father, Dan has every right and authority to punish his son, Murdoch, for his deliberate disobedience.  Murdoch may disagree, at least for awhile, but he would soon learn to trust that his father does love and desires to see his son live a full life.  In short, Dan's wrath is not separate from his love for Murdoch.  Instead, it serves as a relational modifier within a loving relationship.

Unfortunately, this is only an ideal relationship; however, we are fortunate that God is the only perfect Father who never changes his ways and whose commands are just (Deut. 32:4).  We, however, are imperfect, prodigal children trying to find our own way apart from him, and God, like any rational father would, gets upset when we disobey him, and he's not so eager to just let it slide.

Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church, once said in a sermon that God possesses a "passive wrath."  In Romans, Paul writes that because man would rather go his own way, "God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done" (Rom. 1:28).  In other words, God is saying, "Fine.  You think you know what is best for you, go ahead.  Don't be surprised when things go wrong," or something like that.  It's Dan arguing with Murdoch to wear his helmet, but in the end stepping back and letting his son go, knowing that Murdoch could badly injure himself because Murdoch thought he knew what was best.  We don't know what is best for us.  One day we think it's money, the next day it's sex.  We are never satisfied by what we think is best (Jer. 2:13), and it ultimately leads to self-destructive living and death.

So, what does God say is best for us?

His only Son, Jesus Christ.

A lot of people skim over the gravity of John 3:16.  Let's face it.  We've used this verse in about every version of media we can think of, and so much so that it's become cliche and is only taken at face value by today's culture.  (If you really want to experience the gravity of this verse, read also verses 17-21).  I wonder if anyone ever stops to ponder the positioning of the word "perish" in this verse.  Is there not even a small hint of God's wrath?  God sent his Son to save use from sin, to bring us back into the holy, harmonious relationship that was fractured by man's rebellion against his Creator and heavenly Father.  If we don't want the Son, there is a very real consequence in place under the wrath of God.

He is a loving God because he wants us to be with him so that we may inherit his kingdom, and for that he paid dearly at a great cost only to himself by pouring out his wrath against us upon his own Son on the cross.  By the blood of Christ alone we are cleansed and made righteous before God (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 5:18; Phil. 3:9; 2 Cor. 5:21)  In his love, his wrath operates as a relational modifier between himself and his children.  For our disobedience, he is just in exhibiting his wrath toward us, but his love and his grace are constant despite our disobedience (Psa. 30:5).

God is worthy to be feared.  What have we to lose if we fear him alone?  Nothing.  Rather, we have everything to gain in fearing him.