Do you suppose there might be a correlation between fear of pain and fear of love? Just observing people in our own realm of relationships, we can readily detect that anyone who balks at the prospect of having to sacrifice won’t likely be a “poster person” for a good “lover” either. Love and sacrifice are inseparable, aren’t they? Love has an  “other” orientation, doesn’t it?

When have you loved without at some point experiencing pain? At some point, love promises pain. And sadly it delivers on that promise.It offers an open invitation for it. So, why do we seek it, risk love,  participate in it? I suppose it’s because we personally sense a greater opportunity for gain or pleasure by loving than by choosing not to love and thus deprive ourselves of love’s benefits. We seek the potentially greater reward by loving than the fear over the perceived risks. Maybe we’re blind to the risks. I think sometimes that happens too.

Parents are expected to love their kids. We even plan to have them because we have a reservoir of love we feel a need to impart to them. God is like that too. He’s not just love, but He certainly is full of love. In His reservoir of perfect, “no prerequisites” quality of love, He wants to lavish us with Himself to the point where this “God love” in us overcomes any sense of fear we may have in releasing it to others. Growing to understand God’s love, we come closer to knowing that we are secure in His love. It is a love that requires no fear. No fear of loss. No fear of abandonment. No fear of being regarded “less.”

Is there risk that the love we give won’t be appreciated or reciprocated? Sure! Is there risk for God that His offer of love might be rejected? Certainly!  This happens daily – by the millions. Even so, He never loves in vain. Neither do we. Never. Expressing love is always worth it, regardless of any dividends or return. Because expressing love is expressing God. That’s always a good thing. And we are told in 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love.”  That’s a God kind of love. Good lovin’. Only God can do it. And love of this quality only God can create and channel through you and me. Love fearlessly!

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Years ago, singer songwriter Cat Stevens performed a song called “On the Road to Find Out.” Isn’t our journey towards a broader and deeper and more fulfilling faith much the same?

Knowledge of God and understanding of the biblical paths of truth and faith are meant to be a growing and expanding experience in a “seeking” Christian’s life. This “road to find out” is much the same for someone “seeking” to explore the claims of the bible and Christian faith to determine their interest in moving farther down the road . . . or not.

Belief can be an eye opening and soul enriching process for those who choose to pursue it. If we begin at all, we begin by just “starting” to believe, just as the honest novice proclaimed in Mark 9:24

Saying, “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.” Such honesty, I believe, is to be commended –  not belittled. Too often those a little “farther down the road” react with judgment instead of encouragement towards those whose infant faith is developing. I hate it when that happens. Jesus even affirmed those having an open, trusting, child-like faith.

Certainly there are many facets of faith we should or will eventually know for certain. God’s love, His sovereignty, His compassion, His sense of justice, the ability to discern God’s will, and much much more. But even as we begin to grasp the essences of these not so elementary attributes and concepts, we are only starting to believe. We would be wise to keep our minds and spirits open to the “developmental work” of the One who guides us on the road to finding out, and take pleasure in His company as we sojourn together.

The Christian experience will always be one of finding out. People who profess they have “found it out” tend to worry me.

Mark Carlson

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“What must I do to receive eternal life?” This is surely a fair question for any seeker to ask. It’s a question also raised long ago by an expert in religious law in Luke 10:25. The answer from Jesus was “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your strength, and all your mind. And . . . love your neighbor as yourself.” (Like 10:27) These are the two conditions that God wants me to get right, make top priority, in order to please Him as I relate to Him. I believe this is true as much for me (and you) as individuals as it is for the church.

Now, what are the details? The “sub-rules?” Give me some guidelines, parameters, or instruments to measure my “performance” by. Like those 1-800-How’s-My-Driving reports. I think those are fair requests, but the answers are not so cut and dry. Strive to love God with all I am, all I’ve got, all the time? God help me! That’s a tall order – just what is all? How much is enough? Sometimes the Law gives me the illusion that it would be easier to comply with than living by grace. The “cut and dry” bottom line approach to pleasing God? But even performing according to law has its drawbacks. So that leaves me with grace, a grace that pretty much requires that I hang closely with God and learn to be sensitive to the voice of His Spirit within me. Now that’s a real “friend with benefits! “

So, as I live and breathe by the Spirit empowering me, I am mindful that I must question myself often if my motivations really do consider God first in everything. And sadly, they don’t. Every man knows asking directions will tend to slow him down. But seeking God first will cause me to be more contemplative and dependant on Him. In the long run this is a good thing. I must also evaluate what attracts my attention and affection. Do these things compete for my love of God? Regarding strength, do I apply my best energy and enthusiasm in a way that reflects the presence of God? Am I willing to endure in things for the sake of God no matter if they turn unpleasant? And what about “all my mind?” Do I give my mind over to thinking along the lines God thinks along, as best I humanly can? (God calls this “setting your mind” Col. 3:2) Do I take on His word with the desire to be transformed by it, set free by it, obedient to it – despite my understanding of it? As my thoughts come into play, do I hold them up to God’s scrutiny? (God calls this “taking every thought captive” 2 Cor. 10:5)

Finally, what about loving my neighbor as much as I care for myself? First of all, who is he, this neighbor? Luke 10 concludes with the confirmation that the one I recognize to be in need is my neighbor, and I become his neighbor as I come to serve him. The young inquisitive expert in the law had asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor,” probably hoping more for a limit to the number in the “neighbor pool” than for clarity in his own faulty theology. Jesus turned it around and answered by telling the “Good Samaritan” story and closing with this question to this “legal eagle” . . . . “Who would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked (needed help)?” (Luke 10:36) Jesus never directly answers the question. Instead, He reveals His concern that we are to be more concerned about being the instrument of care and healing than worrying about who “qualifies” for our attention and aid. Interesting.

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God’s grace really does defy description or explanation. It flows by the will of God to destinations we might deem undeserving. But isn’t that the point? First of all, it’s His grace and it flows at His discretion – where – when – and how much. But the impact of God’s grace stands out the most when He directs it towards those most lowly or who exist in the darkest shadows – even to those who would be most surprised to receive it.

We sing about how amazing it is, this grace. Take time to think about it. Where and how is grace touching your life? It is all around us. Really, it is! Or did you just think you were “lucky?”

Mark Carlson

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If God goes where He is wanted, then He responds in like to both individuals as well as nations. Saying He goes where He is “wanted” is probably more accurate and more “prerequisite” than saying God goes where He is needed. The “need” for Him is in every circumstance of every person in any nation whether or not God is acknowledged as God. We all have an open door to God, but do we all have an open door for Him? No we don’t. When we limit God’s access into the everyday affairs of our lives, we are insuring for ourselves an incomplete and unsatisfying spiritual life – trading the “gold dust” of His presence for the desert sand of our isolation from Him, even our partial independence accomplishes this distance. He beckons us to draw near to Him so that He can draw nearer to us. (James 4:8) We need not fear doing so under any circumstances. God is for us ( Romans 8:31) – no matter what state we may find ourselves.

Mark Carlson

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I Love You More

I received these sentiments in a birthday card recently and had to reflect on them and how they applied to my relationship with Christ. Consider them yourself:

”Of all the things that fill our everyday lives . . . .

Of all the things that compete for our time, our energy, and our attention . . . .

I love you more”

I have to be honest. There’s still a lot of competition in my life for the attention and affection that is rightly due God. There is no major idol or object of desire that I am aware of that stands out above all others or ahead of my love for God. Not family. Not work. Certainly not things. I can be very Spartan. Maybe it’s more of a percentage thing, where my attention and affection and devotion and worship just aren’t at 100%.

What is 100% anyway? How can I measure? How can we measure? I don’t trust in the Lord with ALL my heart. I do still sometimes lean on my own understanding. I don’t think I love the Lord with All my heart, mind and strength. Who does? This could get depressing, looking for some visible, knowable standard of measurement. Yes, thank you, I know Jesus did all this quite well.

My fallback is this. God lives in me. I have given Him my heart, mind and soul as best I knew at the time (which was pretty limited), and I did commit to surrender to and cooperate with the work He chooses to do in my life to conform me to the image of His son. My love for God will never equate with the perfect love He has for me and you. So I choose not to wrestle (much) with my progress on the journey. There really is no “How’s My God Relationship” dial 1-800-ASK-GOD to get valid feedback like there is on the back of the tractor trailers we see driving by.

So I rest and say like King David, “Search my heart, O God.” And I try to listen as His Spirit speaks, keeping me on the path and  in-between the guard rails and with growing sensitivity to the inner voice of God. I am getting better than I was at hearing the fainter whispers, but there are still times He uses the megaphone. All because He loves me, has patiently begun a work in me, and will be faithful to complete, yes complete the work He desires to do in me even though I don’t and won’t know just what that looks like. Because I know these things, I have what I need to love Him more, and in a way that seems to be acceptable to Him.

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Probably all of us have heard them before: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Reminds me of Army Basic Training and a very colorful yet effective Drill Instructor. But the Five  P’s have spiritual application too, you know.

If you have been committed to Christ for some time, you’ve probably figured it out by now that Jesus doesn’t do a lot of “rescuing” as we face life’s tough challenges. If you want to top that off with a potentially unsettling thought, here’s one. Jesus Himself was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1) Point being, if this tempting and testing was part of God’s process in refining and “proving” Jesus, it’s not a leap to think He would do (or does) the same with us in His effort to conform us to the image of His Son.

Jesus, through His Spirit, is less of a rescuer and more of an “accompanier.” He’s with us – walking with us through the “stuff” that worries and frightens and challenges us. Seldom, if ever, does He zap us out of it, though it’s pretty natural for us to pray that He would. His life with the disciples is a pretty clear demonstration of that. He is concerned that we are left “standing” after our temptations and trials, not that we avoid them or don’t experience their refining potential.

So, what happens when you are led into stressful and challenging, maybe even crisis situations? How have you prepared yourself to face, endure and overcome them? Over a three year period Jesus actually stretched the faith and minds of His disciples to help prepare them for the mission ahead – a mission of confronting and attempting to comfort a broken world with Jesus’ message of redemption, restoration and victory. These 12 common men were not ready, they became ready. They listened. They remembered Christ’s words. They misunderstood and so they questioned. They watched, and sometimes failed to believe. They tried to follow Christ’s example. They practiced. They sometimes failed. They often succeeded. Each left us a unique legacy.

How about you? Have you crumbled? Will you falter? For all that life and the enemy and maybe even God will throw at you, what are you doing to insure that you survive, you carry on, you

re- invest Christ’s passion, power and promise into our broken world? How are you preparing and protecting yourself? We’re in a war! Prepare! Plan!

Mark Carlson

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All Things? Really?

Have you ever considered what the Lord meant when He said through Paul, “All things were created by Him and for Him?” (Col. 1:16) Ok then, take a minute before reading on and think, “How does this apply to me?”

That’s right. You  and I are one of the “all things.”

That’s right. He made you.

That’s right. He made you for His use.

Stated bluntly, we exist for Him. That’s right!

Now, honestly, what use are you?

It’s true that Paul was writing to the Colossian believers, but wasn’t his message “all things?”

This would encompass people of faith in God as well as those without saving faith. We might expect a non-believer to be unconcerned about such a statement . . . although this lack of concern is not the safest or smartest long-term route. My concern is this:   What use am I ? I need to know the answer to that question.

Mark Carlson

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Matthew 7:21-23. These are alarming and potentially frightening words from Jesus. Read them for yourself. We can talk the “talk” of Jesus; do works that simulate the works of Jesus – even miraculous deeds – and still hear Jesus say “you were never mine because I was never really yours.”(Paraphrase)  And to be called an “evildoer” because of my pretentious acts? How could I miss it? How could I have fooled myself and missed the main thing?

Certainly the “will of God” Jesus speaks of does not exclude the “works” He references here. But preceding anything we “do” is our desire and efforts to cultivate intimacy with God from which our new desire “to do” stems from. Am I as diligent to develop and preserve closeness with God as I am to be busy about doing “kingdom business?” Yes, works are part of our Christian experience. But they had best be byproducts instead of credentials.

What about you? Are you sure your future with God is certain, based on your love commitment to Him on His terms rather than possibly being deceived by just doing the “stuff” we “good Christians” sometimes fall back on? I would suggest we check it out. And check often. An awful lot depends on it.   

Mark Carlson

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I suppose it could just as well be said, “Player or spectator?” But the point of asking “Believer or Experiencer” has a lot to do with the way we have become conditioned through our traditional Western “church life” experience. I realize I am generalizing when I say this condition presents itself more through the lives of those who were born and raised in the church rather than those who came to faith more recently or from a less conventional route. And I apologize for the generalization. But there is truth to it. Those who were not raised in the church probably see this more clearly than others.

There is something cultural to both our Christianity and our mainstream “church” experience. I am not saying our experience may be part of some watered down conspiracy. I don’t sense anything malicious or even intentional. But gang, the church has been somewhat benignly asleep at the wheel while the culture has shifted around it. It seems inevitable that we are always a bit slow to respond – but we have to respond. It’s not so much a failure to market the “product” as it is to demonstrate Jesus in a relevant manner to our present day culture. Ours is not the same religiously receptive culture our Momma grew up in. A lot of people just plain don’t like us!

We have become more domesticated than God intended, intimidated by a hostile culture that says to our face, “We aren’t buying what you’re selling, and we’re just not interested.”  Jesus did a lot of teaching. No doubt. (In some of our bibles, He even highlighted what He wrote in red letters.)  We are at a time in history when the average person doesn’t give a flip about our Christian faith or the church. Our culture moves increasingly in that direction. (call this post-modernism if you wish) To many the existence of the church is irrelevant. Our presence as “salt and light” to the world appears to them as more shadow than substance.

Part of the reason for our “non-presence” is that the church continues to be pretty much geared towards more education / indoctrination than learning and practicing appropriate” rules of  engagement” with our culture. Much of the church still views discipleship simplistically as “one more bible study” or discovering biblical minutia than carrying on the hefty part of Jesus’ ministry of communicating the gospel, reaching the lost, healing the hurts, and serving the needs of others in practical ways.

Yes, the gospel is central. Yes, we need to be anchored to truth to capture the fundamentals of the faith. But our balance tilts toward the cerebral and ministry to “self” rather than towards equipping believers in how to personally touch lives with Christ’s love. “One more class” will not achieve what Christ calls His “A team” to accomplish with Him. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation. We are Christ’s ambassadors of hope and good will. We are to teach and reach. Reach and teach. Winning the right to be heard by first listening and helping – and speak when the opportunity presents itself. Let’s get in the game and see what happens.

Mark Carlson

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