I know a man who has never had it easy. Since birth, his life was an uphill battle. He was victimized by people, to put it mildly. The details of his story are his to tell — just know the series of tragedies that came his way should never happen to anyone.
Equally unfair, his trials persist. He faces often-overwhelming challenges. While many of us struggle in an area or two, his burdens are multitudinous: physical, domestic, social, emotional, psychological, communicative, financial. It seems he can’t catch a break on this planet.
Still, remarkably, he rebounds. He somehow comes through each injustice with his hope and motivation intact. He has a kind nature and inexplicable optimism.
This embattled friend taught me a great lesson recently. He wrote ten words, a timely sermon distilled to profundity:
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27
There are sheep who don’t listen to nor follow His voice, sheep who follow everything but the Holy Spirit. They go the opposite direction entirely, or run a somewhat parallel course. Until that road diverges and they end up miles and miles from the watchful eye of the Good Shepherd.
Some follow not God but people, especially leaders who sound sure of themselves, or who present a “feel-good” gospel such as legalism. Doesn’t it feel good to be always right? Doesn’t it feel righteous to never need to go through those refining fires you demand of others? Doesn’t it feel set-apart to be morally superior to everyone who doesn’t conform to your belief structure?
Stop and ask yourself:
Did you shop around for same-breed sheep so that you can all affirm each other in your “rightness”? Do you view “outsiders” as all wrong without turning that same critical lens on yourself? Do you think, “They are wrong, they are lost sheep” without seeking God’s insight on the heart of each and every one of those people you so cavalierly lump together? Do you put on your “good Christian” costume, complete with a forced, compassionate smile, say “God loves you,” and then inflict corrupt laws, guilt, shame, or manipulation on them? Do you force-feed Koolaid — pollution, poison, cyanide — all in the name of Christ, in order to gain others’ conformity or to position yourself as their guru? Do you corral those who are insecure and vulnerable, or lower people in your eyes so that you can lord over them? Do you look for and play to people’s needs, lavish compliments and gifts, or amp up the charm to obligate them to you?
Do you silently and shamelessly communicate, “I have conformed. I do what is expected. Now you conform to me or to us. Do what we demand and expect of you. It is the Great Commission of which we fastidiously participate. It is love. It is freedom. It is The Way”
Is it?
Or is it this?:
Doing what is expected will produce a splendid Pharisee.
(“The Taproot of Religion and Its Fruitage”, by Charles F. Sanders.)
Stop and reflect:
Who are you following? If it’s a person or group, are you denied the right to think for yourself? Because that doesn’t happen when you are in relationship with God — He is a Counselor, a Teacher, a Friend who confides and shares insight and who listens and understands. He is a Helper, a perfect Father, a fiercely-protective but astoundingly-gentle Shepherd.
Maybe it’s not a false shepherd that you are following but YOU that you are following. Check your motives. Inspect your heart. Do you find yourself rationalizing your distorted theologies? Are you sure you ever stood on the solid rock of truth of Christ and Christ alone? Did you at one time and have since drifted from it? Has it gone on so long that you are no longer aware of the distance between you and God? Did you refuse His help, direction, and discipline He so lovingly offered in the past? Have you expected His long-suffering patience to last forever while you knowingly, habitually, pridefully reject His interventions on your behalf?
Are you looking for an easy ride on the shirt-tails of someone who is doing all the work? Do you plan to use them to reap the benefits and rewards of their hard labor? Are you too important, too proud, or too dishonest to lay yourself bare at God’s feet and let Him do what He wants with you? — however painful it may feel or long it takes? — regardless the loss of some part of yourself that you know is wrong and yet refuse to give up? Do you follow after anything BUT the Holy Spirit of God because you want a shortcut? Is it because you know at this point you may be left behind to go through His consecration process while others who already did that hard work over long years move on ahead?
Remember:
Matthew 7:13-14
The Narrow and Wide Gates
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Many Christians think that applies to “non-believers”. They are exempt from any concern. But there’s this:
Matthew 7:21-23
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
My prayer is:
That you press on to find the narrow gate and enter through it. Nobody can find it for you, it is between you and God. Do you genuinely search for the gate? Do you sincerely want Him or not? Do you seek Him? Yield to Him? Desire Him? Do you actually love and obey Him? — You can fool people and deceive yourself that you do, but not God, of course God knows. So seek Him. Sincerely. He guarantees to you that you can find him. It’s never too late to start, or too hopeless to begin again.
Jesus said:
John 10:9
9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.
Jeremiah 29:13
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
When God births a promise, he does it in a stable.
Why?
The stable is simple, humble, and void of the embellishments which would detract from the miracle.
In the stable, the newborn promise is kept from the public eye. During the infant miracle’s most vulnerable stage, it is shielded from scrutiny, jealously, criticism, theft, and attack. Birthed in seclusion, it is given the best chance to survive and grow to maturity.
Once the miracle has strengthened, and has acquired agility in its movements, it will be released to spend time in the outdoors. That experience too, will be controlled for safety’s sake. Fences keep out predators and prevent the young promise from roaming naively into the path of danger.
Development takes time, and with it, the manifested promise will be permitted more and more freedom. Until then, be thankful for the fences. And be grateful for the chosen birthplace of the simple stable, where the newborn promise is accorded its greatest chance of survival.
“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him”
This was Jesus’ message to Simon and Andrew—follow Me, learn of Me, pass through My refining fires, experience firsthand My nature and My message. Only then will you be able to be fishers of men.
And yet many of us were never taught to follow Jesus. We were instead taught “Fishing for Men 101”. It goes like this:
As a believer of Jesus, it’s your duty to get out there and fish. Pull in those converts. You don’t need to know God to do it, only this simple formula: Build rapport with your target fish. Be interested in him. Gain his trust. Wait…
Some religious people make all kinds of claims about God and what He endorses: a certain cultural value or political view, a specific theology, and, increasingly frequently, a dismissive conclusion about people who don’t comply with those views. But who among those “so-sure-of-themselves-people” even stops to ask God what He has to say?
I’ve asked that question of a few individuals before — people who are so entrenched in their “correct”, hateful stances that they don’t even see they are nothing like the Christ they claim to represent. Their answers were all some form of the same “We’re done here” rebuke:
“I don’t have to ask God. He clearly already commanded it in His Word.” The intimation is, ” If you were in right standing with God, you would know this, too”, said non-verbally with a parting prolonged stare, the equivalent of a gavel pummeling their bench of judgment.
I have come to hate that word, clearly. Clearly — enough said. I am right and you are wrong. End of discussion. Guilty as I charged. It is used by those who are embedded in self-righteousness, safety-in-numbers, corporate self-exaltation, and “outsider” judgement, dismissal and relegation.
They are so proud, that they no longer have eyes to see that many of those “outsiders” are actually “insiders” with God.
Many are meeting God all by themselves (“What, they can’t do that!”), and responding to Him, loving Him, even obeying Him. (“But we didn’t get to take credit for their conversions, or assign them to ourselves as their mentors!”) Many are sacrificing for Him, enduring the refiner’s fires for Him. Many, many, many people actually KNOW Him all on their own. (“Without interventionists?! Not possible! Clearly!”)
Yes, possible, and they actually LISTEN TO God. And HONOR God. And have given their lives to do with as He pleases. They are forging ahead in admirable and honorable relationships with the Holy Spirit of God, and are grateful for the poignant, humbling, sometimes-difficult, occasionally-painful, always-sublime PRIVILEGE of knowing Him.
So, to the Pharisees of present day, you “clearly correct”, self-assigned and self-promoted “ambassadors of Christ” …
Many of those who you disqualified actually ARE ambassadors of Christ. Because they DO think about God. They DO listen to God. They DO care about what He thinks, what He wants, what He says, what He endorses, and where He leads. They actually connect directly with Him as a branch to the vine.
You say they can’t do that? — They must connect to the humans that claim His name, they can’t bypass the religious institution?
Oh, but they can. And they are.
I ask those who already think they know everything of God …
“Do you ever think about God?” Oh, not what your religion says about God, not even what you have read in the Bible — Do you KNOW Him? If you can’t tell me what He has “spoken” to your heart and mind about a myriad of present-day questions and issues, that’s fine, that’s honest — just don’t claim that you already clearly know exactly what God thinks and feels about those issues.
If you haven’t cared enough about God to even ask Him, to wait as long as it takes to hear it from Him, and Him alone, then …
It’s time you stop demanding others comply with your views.
It’s time for you to push the “PAUSE” button of your religiosity …
It’s time for you to “STOP” …
It’s time for you to “LISTEN”.
I have thought about God and my own life’s existence
And it’s not like I’ve not been on my knees in repentance
Bigger than life and out on my own
I’ve come to these conclusions about God
I have thought about God when searching for solutions
Disappointment and cost birthing such confusion
Surrendered my trust to the truth, not a system
And to God
How can we walk underneath an open sky?
How can we say we have eyes and yet we can be so blind?
You have your race and religion and I guess I have mine
What about God?
I had thought about God when my own father was dying
I thought the idea of death and its timing
I turned the other cheek only because I was crying
Out to God
How can we walk underneath an open sky?
How can we say we have eyes and yet we can be so blind?
You have your race and religion and I guess I have mine
What about God? What about God?
How can we walk underneath an open sky?
How can we say we have eyes and yet we can be so blind?
You have your race and religion and I guess I have mine
What about God? Do you think about God?
You can look through the windows of a stained-glass cathedral
You can speak in tongues in a church with a steeple
Who holds the keys to your own heart’s temple
I wonder if it’s God, I wonder if it’s God
Do you ever think about God?
Do you ever think about God?
Written and performed by Rita Springer, “About God” from the album “Effortless”.
Someone I know has had an agonizing time trying to get a family member out of a foreign country. The specifics must be withheld, for good reason. Just know it has been a grueling, potentially life-and-death ordeal based on politics and power.
It’s a case of individuals imploring national government, the small guys rebuffed by powers that be, living conditions prime for contracting diseases, a divide of thousands of miles, travel restrictions, and complicated laws. Add to that finite personal resources of time and finances, and it’s been two long years of herculean efforts going nowhere.
Meanwhile, life must go on, including attending to other family and responsibilities, and when able, going to the same vocation-related meeting I do. Yesterday we were mid-discussion when someone rounded the basement stairway to join us. We looked up to see our friend had arrived.
Why is it that negative circumstances so often speak more loudly than positive ones? It’s as if they hoist megaphones to gleefully scream: TROUBLE! FAILURE! IMPOSSIBLE! LACK! RUIN! DISASTER! DEFEAT!
Their goal is to kill your hope, your faith, your expectations of good on this Earth we share, and thereby extinguish the life that could be yours.
On discouraging days, tune out the voices of cruel, mocking, arrogant circumstances — they are the words of an assassin — and refute deceptive rhetoric with truth:
God is a shepherd to the sheep. His ferocity is directed at marauding wolves, not his dependent charges.
To the vulnerable, he is gentle. He does not scream, he whispers. He does not accuse, he commends. He does not deprecate, he encourages. To the defenseless, he does not destroy, he builds. He does not take, he gives. He does not smother, he preserves. God does not kill, he creates…
Cindi Gale 