Relationship with God

Come to Your Senses (Restorative Recovery)

by Steven Gledhill for FREEdom from MEdom Project and NLX 101

If you haven’t already, I recommend that you read the articles posted to FFMP entitled, Guilt and Shame, Scabs and Scars and Caged by Shame. These articles speak to the matter of guilt and shame and the differences between them. Guilt can be a vehicle for restored health by recognizing mistakes, learning from them, and taking responsibility to initiate changes and implement healthy disciplines for the purpose of repentance and growth. Shame, on the other hand, is the device of our internal self-centered devices, as well as a primary vehicle of our spiritual adversary to drive us into ourselves, internalizing our flaws and failures, and even the circumstances in our world to somehow define us to the point that we buy in to irrational beliefs about it all. Shame is the driving force behind self-condemnation that ultimately debilitates and ruins us.    

 

Jesus knew this matter of self-condemnation would be a problem for us so he told us about a very wealthy father who had two sons. One of his son’s became uncomfortable with all that he had, and the way things were, and chose to leave and do his own thing his own way. He asked his dad if he could receive right now the inheritance that he would receive when his father died. Then, he thought he would have it all, everything he needed, and he would not be uncomfortable. Besides, money and possessions would mean power and control. Driven by an escalated sense of entitlement, the son would be able to do what he wanted, when he wanted to do it, without anyone telling him what to do. He wanted the control of his own life and destiny, motivated by discontentment, in order to minimize his discomfort.   

 

Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Give the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.” Luke 15:11-13 (NKJV)  

 

“I was so obsessed with me and the reasons that I might be dissatisfied that I couldn’t focus on other people… What I trace this to is a certain selfishness on my part.” —Barack Obama

The son left his family, and everything that was good, well, and secure, to go do his own thing. The problem, though, was that all this power and control was as addictive then as it is today. He could not stop once his brain was fueled by lust and greed and put into drive. It took more of his self-centered pursuits in an addictive lifestyle to overcome discomfort and dissatisfaction. This young adult man was so obsessed with the reasons of his dissatisfaction and repeatedly made destructive lifestyle choices necessary to conquer his problem. The Bible says he wasted what he had on “prodigal” living, including his participation in drunken sexual escapades with prostitutes.   

 

Words that describe “prodigal” living are: wayward, meaningless, self-indulgent, riotous, corrupt, wasteful, reckless, uncontrolled, degenerate, immoral, wicked, and depraved, to name a few. These words might also be descriptive of lifestyle patterns of our addictive behavior from lifestyle choices to address our obsession with dissatisfaction.

But then this son began to squander and lose everything he had and was lost in the cycle of addictive living. There are those stuck in addiction that know exactly what I am talking about, and others in recovery from addiction that know exactly what I am talking about. As we become more and more indulgent in addictive behavior, it develops into a lifestyle and the problems mount and life becomes a continuous struggle just to survive. Self-indulgent, reckless behavior may appear to be a good time at the beginning, but as it becomes a pattern of behavior and evolves into a lifestyle, the trappings of an uncontrolled addictive lifestyle and culture creep in a little at a time until they take over, and the addictive lifestyle costs outweigh its benefits.

This is what the lost son in the Bible came to understand as well. Not only did he experience the direct effects of an addictive lifestyle that contributed to his destruction in life, but there was an occurrence that came out of left field that he did not expect. He had already run low on his resources when a famine hit the land and wiped out whatever resources he had left.

“But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods (husks, shells) that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. Luke 15:14-16 (NKJV)  

  

Addicts in pain understand that this is how it is. It’s bad enough that our behavior as self-absorbed addicts has its direct effects but then we often find ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and it goes from bad to worse and then even worse. For the lost prodigal son that Jesus was talking about, a famine had hit the area where he made his home at the worst possible time, and it left him with nothing. He had to get a job caring for the pigs of an acquaintance. He could not even afford to eat the same “food” that he fed those pigs.    

 

When he was with his dad, he had it all. His father was a wealthy man who treated his sons well and blessed them from the love in his heart that a father has for his sons. When this son ran off with his portion of his father’s wealth without the loving guidance of his father, he couldn’t handle it. He took what was meant for good and chose unwisely and poorly, resulting in his undoing.  

 

Do you remember that Adam and Eve had it all, everything in the garden God provided them, but became uncomfortable when it was brought to their attention that they could have more? Do you remember that they essentially wanted the one thing that God had that in their hands would be their doom? God knew what they could not handle. They chose unwisely and poorly, and it was their undoing. Jesus tells this story of a man that bit a lot more than what he could chew, and, like Adam and Eve, what he bit into got the best of him, almost killing him.   

 

Listen to what Jesus says about this young man who lost everything and how his father responded.

 

But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food enough to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against God and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.’ And he arose and went to his father.

But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had great compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father I have sinned against God and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.” Luke 15:17-24 (NKJV)

 

Here is an opportunity to introduce the ABC principles of recovery right here in this wonderful story of the activation of the promise of God to empower us in recovery when we admit, believe, and commit. These are the necessary steps to help us recognize the responsibility for our mistakes, for which we are indeed guilty. Once we come to believe that the one we are responsible to, loves us enough to forgive us, it becomes bearable to admit our mistakes without the hopeless shame we tend to link with our failures—failed expectations.

 

Admit – The son admitted his way of handling what his father had given him did not work. The Bible says he came to his senses. I believe the son hit rock bottom and hurt bad enough to seek help. I suppose there was a period of ambivalence where he may have been conflicted between the pleasure he experienced with his booze, drugs and women; and the life of peace and stability he could have if he turned from his ways and returned to what he knew was of greater benefit. This really hit home with him when he realized that even his dad’s hired help had been better cared for than the care he was getting on his own (Luke 15:17).  

 

Believe – The son believed that his father could care for him in a way that no one else could and that the only resolution to his mess was to return to his dad, admit that he blew it, and ask for forgiveness in the hope that his father would indeed forgive him (Luke 15:17-18). He believed that becoming dependent on his father was his only real hope for a new life of recovery. He believed in his heart (his gut, his inner man) that his dad’s way worked.   

 

Commit – The son did not just talk about what he needed to do to be restored by his father into a place of recovery, rather he committed himself to doing it. He left the addictive lifestyle that left him hungry and devastated, and returned to the one who could rescue him from himself. In fact, he committed to the care and also the will of his father, when he said, “Make me like one of your servants.(Luke 15:19) The son was humbled and willing to do whatever it took to be successful in his recovery. Truth be told, he did what he had to do for a meal. But recovery was the payoff.

.     . (1) best robe

Best Robe – Upon arriving, the father immediately had his servants bring his son the best robe. The best robe in this story represents the robe of righteousness.The father was committed to helping in his son’s recovery. The son was lost in his own choices and behavior. He was dead in his shame. His father expressed compassionate mercy becoming reconciled with his son by covering him with his own righteousness. In other words, it was the goodness of the father that made his son good. The son would no longer carry the weight of his shame since his father removed it and replaced it with his goodness. The best robe of righteousness that Father God has put on us to cover our sin is his son, Jesus Christ. We wear the righteousness of Jesus when we return to our Father who is in heaven. 

 

Signet Ring – The father then ordered that a ring be placed on his son’s finger. The ring was a signet ring that meant that the son was restored into the family once again as an heir to his father’s estate. This is an astounding statement of a father’s love for his son—“Everything that is mine is yours, my son”. Everything the father owned would once again be inherited by his son now that the son’s debt of disobedience was forgiven. This reconciliation meant that there was full recovery of their relationship.

 

Sandals – The son arrived barefoot and his dad had the servants put sandals on his feet. Only permanent members of the family wore sandals, while the employees were barefoot in the master’s house. The sandals were a symbol of affirmation that the young man was back home. He no longer was the lost son—the dead son—but was alive. He was the found son. He was family.

 

Feast – Finally, the father told his servants to kill and prepare the fatted calf for a feast. This meant that they would be celebrating a very special occasion. The father proclaimed with joy, “My son was dead (in his independence from the father) and is alive again (in his dependence on the father). He was lost (in addictive shame) and now is found (in relationship). Let’s celebrate!” (Luke 15:24).

 

The point of this story is to recognize that Jesus is talking about our relationship with God. We are born into this world with the opportunity to submit to God in the person of Jesus Christ who has it all, and desires to show his favor on us and bless us with the riches of heaven. He wants us to be full of life. So why do we continually squander what God desires for us when we determine to live life our own way in an effort to minimize our discontented mindset? Why do we fall prey to selfish sin, and allow it to take hold of us?   

 

We have a fallen nature prone to addictive sin—the logical cause and effect of compensating for our dissatisfaction and the failed expectations we have of ourselves. It takes over our lifestyle until it finally ruins us and we hit bottom. When we finally hurt badly enough, we might just admit that we are powerless and are resigned to die in our shame. We must reach out to God who loves us more than we can know. He is compassionate, always faithful to forgive us and give us a shot at a new life through his plan of recovery, which begins by restoring us into relationship with him. Our way of thinking leads to disorder (James 3:16) and emptiness, while God’s way of recovery leads to peace and fulfillment. When we finally comprehend that letting go of our failed expectations means submitting to the will of our Sympathetic Savior Jesus Christ, we can know that he has set our captive hearts free. It is in submitting to recovery God’s way that we can finally realize freedom.     

 

God cannot wait to set us free. He wants to set you free from your addiction to you. When he receives us back into his family, he showers us with his incredible love through blessings from heaven. Whenever one who was lost returns home to the family, there is a party in heaven. It is at home that we are free. All that is his is ours, freely given by him.

 

“I say to you there is joy in heaven in the presence of angels over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10 (NKJV)  

 

Permanent of God’s family

One fact validated by the words of Jesus Christ himself is that he has the authority to set us free once and for all and that we are adopted into his family permanently. God has adorned you and me with the robe of Christ’s righteousness. He has placed the ring of the inheritance of the full blessings of heaven onto our fingers, and has placed sandals on our feet, spiritually speaking, as indicative of our position as permanent members of the family of God. Jesus said,   

 

“A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” John 8:35-36 (NLT)  

 

Our problem is that we don’t readily accept that we are slaves of anything until we are wiped out by it, and drowning in the wake of its shame. Receive this word today. Let it resonate with you. Freedom comes from knowing Jesus. He has liberated us from a life of addiction to sin and shame. Quit crawling back into the cage of shame clinging to the memories and methods of your past. Let it go. Let go of failed expectations and reach out to Jesus. Let him heal your wounds. His expectation for you is that you receive forgiveness from him and live with peace and joy in his grace.   

 

We all eventually understand the reality of hell we are living in. The prodigal son from the Bible came to believe in hell when his circumstances deteriorated to the extent that he was coveting the food he was feeding pigs. He knew hell when he had lost everything due to his addiction to overcoming dissatisfaction.  

 

The point is that it does us absolutely no good not to give your shame to Jesus Christ to free you from it. Let the price that Jesus paid for your addictive sin be enough. Receive his forgiveness and be free to start a new life. Be willing to let go of all of it and let God love you. Submit your life to his compassionate mercy. Let go and let Jesus take you upward from your hell into a new stable life of peace, freedom, and joy.   

Who Touched Me? (Revolutionary Faith)

by Steven Gledhill for FREEdom from MEdom Project

“Why don’t we trust God?” Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.” Faith comes from hope being realized in substance according to the evidence. We don’t see gravity but we experience gravity all the time. We know the truth about gravity and come to trust it even though we do not see it. It could be said that we have a relationship with gravity. Our lives are touched by gravity everyday.

The truth is that freedom is achieved through a revolutionary event. ‘Revolutionary’ means a sudden, radical, or complete change; a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something; a change in paradigm (belief, world view), meaning your standard for living. A sudden revelation of faith having encountered the Savior, Jesus Christ, will speak life into how you experience revolutionary transformative recovery in how you live everyday—a new standard of thinking and living, with healthy hopeful expectations. It is in relationship with Jesus that you will come to know God to be real and living. It is in relationship with Christ that you enter into the new age of grace that will usher you into the experience of new life.

So, what is it to truly trust God? What is it to experience the substance and the evidence that leads to knowledge of what is true? We don’t trust in what we don’t know. We trust in what we know, even when we cannot see what we know by experience to be true. We experience what we don’t see all the time; therefore we know it’s real. While we learn to trust in what we do not see, we put our faith in what we know by experience to be true.

When we don’t trust God it’s because we don’t really know God. You know, we don’t see wind either but we see and experience evidence of it. The howling of the wind that we hear is not actually the wind but the obstruction that is resistant to the wind. If we moved in harmony with the wind we would not hear it. God in a way is like the wind wanting to have impact on our lives by experience. When we resist the wind that is God we will hear the howling of our resistance in our circumstances that prove so dissatisfying. When we’re moving with God, we will hear God but the circumstances of our lives won’t be so loud. The more we know God the more we’ll trust Him, and the more confidence we’ll have when we communicate with Him—and the less we will resist His influence in our life experiences. Then we will experience the wonderful life benefits of our faith.

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately the bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” Luke 8:43-48 (NLT)

This sick woman had a serious problem. She desperately needed help. She believed Jesus Christ had the power to heal her body. She believed Christ could radically improve her circumstance. As Jesus walked through her town amidst the crowd, this woman battled her way through. Just as it seemed the moment was passing her by, she reached out to Jesus and missed him as he passed. She whiffed, barely clipping the hem at the fringe of his robe. Her heart sank. But in a split second, the woman went from that devastating sinking feeling to knowing absolutely that she had been delivered from severe affliction. Jesus blessed her with his power even when he wasn’t actually paying attention to her.

Jesus experienced it as well as he sought out the one determined to receive from him what he so lovingly desired to give. Something changed. Now the woman, formerly living in the shame of being and feeling unclean, was hoping to slip away in obscurity. Perhaps this little miracle would remain between her and God. But Jesus, loving her, wanted to know her and went looking for her; asking for her. He was fervent in finding her and he did find her. Touched by his healing power (the evidence), the woman then met Jesus, personally, and then was touched by his compassion and love (the substance). She began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. What you have here is a love story in relationship with Jesus Christ. Transformative faith when finally realized through an experience with Jesus is indeed a compelling love story to be shared again and again.

We can have difficulty trusting Jesus in relationship with him because we do not see him. When we imagine what he looks like, we might picture him suffering on a cross reminding us of our shame. According to Scripture, though, we are free from our shame and Jesus is on his throne as God in full glory wanting relationship with us. To visualize what he looks like, read Revelation 1. Even as a man with human limitations, Jesus “inadvertently” healed a woman who touched only his clothing. Jesus walked in the authority of his Father.

Jesus is no longer a man in one place at one time walking the earth. Jesus is God roaming the universe while dwelling in the hearts and lives of all that know him. Do you really know him who stands at the door of your heart knocking (Revelation 3:20)? He knows you’re home and he’d love to come in and spend time with you. Have you really let him in—all the way in where he can hang out with you, experientially? Are you experiencing God in your life? What is the evidence of your experience with Jesus? Do you experience the substance of what you hope for? Do you reach out with the determination to touch Jesus? Have you experienced in your life the touch of God?

Jesus loves you! Go after him fervently. He’s fervently looking for you. Scripture tells us that he responds to fervent prayer. Go after God, telling him what you want until you receive from him. The woman in the Bible fought against substantial opposition to get to Jesus. The sick woman never gave up as she pursued him until she got what she wanted—what she needed only from him. It was the faith of the woman that motivated and empowered her to seek what she wanted from Christ Jesus—to be made well and whole again. It was the faithfulness of Christ Jesus that compelled him to pursue what he wanted from her—a relationship in love with his daughter.

Jesus is your Sympathetic Savior. He knows you and sympathizes with your discomfort (Hebrews 4:14-16). He is paying special attention to you. You cannot sneak up on him. But sometimes things get in the way and try to prevent you from touching Christ with your prayers. How badly do you want what God has for you? What do you believe about God, really? Go after it. Go after him until he turns to ask the angels, “Who touched me?” And the angel says, “Are you kidding? There’s so much commotion everywhere! How can you ask, ‘Who touched me’?” And then Jesus says, “I have felt compassion and love as power has left me because someone deliberately came looking for me.” Be confident that Jesus loves you and loves to bless you from his abundant wealth—the resources of heaven. All that is his is yours. Do you believe it? Do you want it? You have direct access to God through Jesus Christ. Pursue him fervently. After all, you can bet that he is pursuing you.

BRAINWASHED into Something Beautiful… New Life

by Steven Gledhill for FREEdom from MEdom Project

The first two steps of the Twelve Step model state the following:
1. We admitted we were powerless over addiction* – that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

* “addiction” is substituted for the word “alcohol”

Step Three of the Twelve Steps says, “Made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” Many will say that this is the Commitment or Surrender Step. I have said that and will continue to say it. It is probably more accurate to state, though, that Step Three is the decision to surrender. It is steps four through twelve that one acts out surrender and commitment in recovery. 

It is often said that this third step is the most difficult of the twelve, which is understandable… you know… because it’s about commitment and surrender and all that. Let me suggest that when one is truly working in the truth of the first three steps that step 3 is the simplest step of the twelve. Step three is the only thing left to possibly do and is an instinctual response to the first two steps.

If you were trapped in a burning building where flames are everywhere and out of control, calling for help hoping that maybe someone will hear you, and in your moment of despair, through the intense flames and thick smoke, the fireman appears and says to you, “follow me!” What will you do? Are you at all reluctant? Why is it that when the fireman appears fully equipped to rescue you that you may cling to all that you believe you can save… which, by the way, is all on fire… when you can’t even save yourself? The fireman says, “Follow me!” and you say, “I appreciate that you can help me but I am better off on my own. I won’t burn, I’ve got this. I am all that I need.” On the other hand, if you recognized and then admitted that you are utterly powerless in the flames of such adversity, when the fireman came to your rescue you would most certainly ascertain that your odds improve greatly should you do whatever it is the fireman says to do. Believing enough, you would commit to going with him since it has to be better than what you’ve got going on on your own. So Why resist?

The evil in your addiction wants to sabotage your peace and steal your joy by deceiving you into believing its lies about you. The lie is that you need to come clean before God, even though His Word says that because of what Jesus did as the sacrifice for your sin, you can approach God with bold confidence as you are in the shape you are in. The shame of your past is on fire. Who you are in your addiction is on fire. Your past failures are on fire. Your weaknesses are on fire. Your selfish pride is on fire. The jealousy and resentment you can’t seem to shake is on fire. What you covet is on fire. Your hypocrisy in trying so hard to do right and good in your own strength is on fire.

The lie is that while the fireman fully equipped has arrived to deliver you from being engulfed in the flames, you’ve been duped into believing that on your own you can somehow fight fires. Honestly, if you were trapped in a burning building and the fireman stormed in to rescue you, would you for one second attempt to send him away so that you could put out the flames with your bucket of water? Or, would you admit sensibly that you are powerless to save yourself; believing that the fireman is your only real chance to survive, would you by necessity commit to following the fireman, doing whatever he says to save your life?

......fireman rescue (2)This decision to surrender is predicated on the belief in a power greater than ourselves who can rescue us to safety; then restore us into sanity. As we come to understand who we are in relation to who God is, the decision is remarkably sensible to turn our unmanageable lives—our mess—over to the ONLY ONE with the authority to renew and restore us through His plan of surrendered recovery. It is so sensible that to decide anything else only adds to the insanity of our addiction to selfish obsessions.

Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. James 1:14-15 (NLT)  

“Gives birth to death“… how insane is that? When we come to understand how our brains work—selfish to the core—with automatic thoughts based on chemical reactions in the brain, fueling beliefs so irrational that they generate feelings that drive behavior willing to risk so much for instant gratification (reward), we do so at great risk and cost. The result is loss: lost freedom, lost peace, lost hope, lost trust, lost love… lost life. I am often asked, “Why do I settle for that?” It is our nature. When we seek to know ourselves through an honest inventory of ourselves, hoping to identify the exact nature of what is wrong with us, the more our self examination breaks down to our deeply rooted selfishness. We can try this and try that to fix ourselves, but it’s like pulling weeds that break off at the root but the roots are so deep that the weeds always grow back, bigger and badder than ever.

We have taken the brain that God created in us to be good, and allowed evil to come in and spread like a cancer until we are rotten to the core in our selfish thoughts, beliefs, and behavior. How does that change? It changes when we come to believe that we are powerless to our selfish motivations and intentions, come to believe in what can and will do to wash our brains, transforming them into something new, and the commit daily to letting Him brainwash us since He has afforded us the opportunity to enter into relationship with Him as an act of our will.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world (‘aeon’ or ‘age’) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

– To read more about the translation of this passage, click New Age Living (and oh by the way, your feet smell)

While God’s love for us is unconditional, the quality of relationship we have with God is conditional. This is evident throughout Scripture. Relationships always have a when-then quality to them. When one thing happens in relationship, then another thing happens in response. To experience the life of transformative recovery empowered in relationship with God, we need to be about the when in the relationship. God will then change us into something new.

Pastor Fran Leeman unveiled from Scripture some truth I had not seen before. He said that the Greek word for ‘world’ in Romans 12:1 is ‘aeon’ (pronounced ee-on). The word means age. Apostle Paul is writing that we are not of this age who have come to believe into relationship with God through Christ Jesus. We are no longer tied into the fate of this age once transformed into new life, so why reach back thinking as though we are still what we were. God desires to change our thinking by the renewing of our minds so that we come to believe and live in the new age of the coming of the Kingdom of God, which has come by way of resurrected Christ.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

There is what we do in this transformative relationship, and there is what God does. What we do is offer our bodies to God sacrificially with our actions–our behavior. It is what we do with our eyes and our ears. It is what we do with what goes in and what comes out of our mouths. It is what we reach for with our arms and hold on to with our hands. It is where we go with our legs and where we stay with our feet (Romans 12:1). It is with our bodies that we give in to selfish urges and fall into addictive patterns, and it is with our bodies that we quit giving in to them.

There is what we do from the outside in when we offer ourselves sacrificially to God by the way we behave with our bodies. Then there is what God does in us from the inside out to completely transform us by the full renewing of our minds—literally rearranging our brain chemistry so as to empower us to live better and to think and feel healthier. God exchanges our desires and intentions with His desires and intentions. We then can resist self-centered addictive urges through the power of prayer and actually live in freedom, proving that God’s plan for us is perfect and beautiful. (Romans 12:1-2)

“Be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2). The word “be” is a passive verb, meaning that it is not something we do but rather something that is done to us when we act sacrificially with our bodies committed to God’s way of behavior. Then what God does is completely transform our character and our thinking by rearranging the way our brain works, restoring it to what He created in the first place. The promise is of this transformation is that when we live according to our new God-given desires and objectives, both our behavior and what we think about and feel is healthy again. We are better having become well. We then prove in this new life that God’s plan for us is perfect and beautiful. This is how we can know and experience God’s will for us.

When we offer our bodies, meaning our physical strength to God as a living sacrifice, no longer committing our bodies to addictive patterns of behavior;

Then God completely transforms (metamorphoo) our hearts and our souls by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). Then we can love God with our whole being, and our neighbor as ourselves.

When we commit to change externally from the outside in, changing what we do (Romans 12:1-2a),

Then God changes us internally from the inside out, changing who we are and what we think (Romans 12:2).

When we delight in the Lord in our action,

Then God gives us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4) by changing what we want according to his will and purpose.

When we rejoice, celebrating our recovery in relationship with Christ, offering praise and presenting prayer requests with our mouths, as well as showing considerate acts of service with our physical ability;

Then God replaces our anxiety with peace to our souls, guarding (covering) our hearts and our minds by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, empowering us to do anything (Philippians 4:4-7, 13).

When we commit to doing the will of God,

Then God changes our intentions and motives, according to His will (Philippians 2:13).

When we take responsibility for our behavior, repenting of our guilt (godly sorrow),

Then God mercifully removes our shame (worldly sorrow) and pain (2 Corinthians 7:10).

When we seek to know and see Jesus through prayer and a lifestyle committed to his will,

Then Jesus Christ will turn our sorrow into joy (John 16:20-22).

When we are committed to action according to the will of God, as his will takes over in us converting our intentions into doing what he intends we do,

Then we can ask him for anything and he promises to grant our requests (John 15:7).

When we commit to behaving according to the will of God, imitating the model of recovery set for us by the life of His Son Jesus,

Then we have joy overflowing as true friends of God (John 15:9-16).

“That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or, they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines in it.”
—C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

.                  .          2) (5These promises from the Bible reveal a when-then relationship. When we are committed to turning away from the things of our addictive flesh—outside-in change, then God is faithful to transforming us from the inside out. The original Greek translation for the word ‘transform’ is metamorphoo, meaning to metamorph from one thing into another; like a caterpillar changing into a butterfly.

Did you know that for the caterpillar to become a butterfly it is completely broken down into something of a goo (see “Something of a Goo” below), maintaining only the embryonic essentials necessary to be remade, rebuilt, reborn into something brand new that is beautiful and free. This miracle has a name; identified as “chrysalis”. In the same way, it is essential that we allow ourselves to be humbled and broken down, melted hearts and minds, to the point that we’ve no other option but to surrender to the process of transformation, rearranged and reformed into something beautiful… NEW LIFE.

As God transforms our character into a new person by changing how we think, it is like starting a new life. Not only do we act on what is healthy, mature, responsible, and godly, we want to willfully do that which pleases God. Whenever we do what pleases God it is always to our benefit, never to our detriment. That doesn’t mean we never have problems again. It means that we have his powerful support to manage and resolve problems and conflicts. When we commit our will to do the will of God, doing recovery God’s way, we do much better.

It is entirely possible with God’s help that when we pray with our mouths, and read the Bible, God’s written word, with our eyes, that our minds will be changed. We read in Romans 12:2 that the perfect will of God for you and for me is realized as we come to trust him completely and commit to our recovery his way. This is God’s way of challenging us to prove that his will for us is ideal. What an opportunity we have to experience all that God has and wants for us. Our lives make sense again as we commit to the sensible will of God and experience what God has for us in every facet of our livelihood.

Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. But when God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. Titus 3:3-7 (NLT)

“Something of a Goo”

In order for the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly to take place within the pupa, the caterpillar begins releasing enzymes that literally digest nearly all of its own body. What’s left inside the chrysalis is mostly just a very nutrient rich soup from which the butterfly will begin to form.

It was thought until very recently that the caterpillar was completely converted to goo, excepting certain special cells necessary to create the butterfly body parts. This idea has recently been debunked with researchers at Georgetown University proving that moths retain at least some of the memories they had when they were caterpillars. For this to be the case, at least some of their memory storing neurons must survive the enzyme digestion process. Further, these neurons must somehow be incorporated into the moth or butterfly’s brain, which is quite a bit larger and more complex than a caterpillar’s brain.

Also left within the goo are very tiny imaginal disks, which are similar to embryonic cells. These disks are actually present within the caterpillar its whole life, but they stop growing at a certain point in the caterpillar’s development and only start again when it is time for the caterpillar to morph into a butterfly. Once the proper time comes, the imaginal disks use the nutrients from the digested body of the caterpillar as they form into different parts of the butterfly’s body, with different disks forming into different tissues. For instance, there are imaginal disks that will form the legs, antennae, specific organs, etc. of the butterfly. There are even four imaginal disks that form wings. If one of these forming wings is removed, the other three will simply adapt to form bigger wings to compensate for the loss of the one wing.

Once the process is complete, the imaginal disks ultimately replace nearly every part of the dissolved caterpillar’s body with new “parts”, forming the butterfly.

Do You Want God’s Best or Is Yours Best Enough?

 

by Steven Gledhill for FREEdom from MEdom Project

Let’s take a quick look at a passage of Scripture from the prophet Isaiah to set up this teaching. Consider that idols are the obstacles of selfish indulgence that are in the way of embracing God’s best while engaged in the best of relationship with God.

4 I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.

5 “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?
6 Some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a god from it.
Then they bow down and worship it!

7 They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there.
It can’t even move! And when someone prays to it, there is no answer.
It can’t rescue anyone from trouble.”
Isaiah 46:4-7 (NLT)

It’s been said that “good is the enemy of great” (Jim Collins). Perhaps then, ‘better is the enemy of best‘. Ambivalence in recovery and in life tends to be most evident when one settles for good, or good enough, through the process of gratification, at the expense of great and best, which would mean being satisfied to the full. If I am satisfied then I do not need more of a thing, or something else, or something different, or something new. This interplay between better and best is the wrestling match of life. I want best but if what I get is better then it tends to be enough. Why settle for better? Because better is better than it was.

It is the typical human response to settle for ‘better than it was’ or ‘good enough’. Again, why? Because better than it was is good enough. It is better enough. It’s immediate. It’s right now. It’s when instant gratification trumps big picture satisfaction, ignoring altogether adverse consequences. Instant gratification does not care about or respect long-term consequences. If I am in pain, I need relief. If I am bored, I need to be entertained. If I am lonely, I need the company of another. If I am poor, I need resources. If I am in distress, I need some peace. If I am restless, I need to relax. If I am without, I need to be with. If I am bound, I need to be set free. If I am ill, I need a remedy to get well. RIGHT NOW!

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. .                                     .          (           2) (7)5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” John 5:1-7 (NKJV)

Did the man answer the question? What did Jesus ask him?

He asked the man what he wanted. Did the man tell Jesus what he wanted? Or had the man already settled for less?

What would have been great and best for the man, even according to his own limited understanding, would have been for Jesus and his friends to help the man into the pool when the waters stirred, whether that Sabbath day or the next. Instead, the paralyzed man settled for understanding. So long as Jesus understood his problem, that was good enough; at least it’s better than it was, when no one seemed to understand or care enough to even ask him what he wanted. “Thanks for caring enough to ask. I’ll take it from here.” At the end of the day, everyone goes their own way and the man is still stuck on the deck of the pool.

Jesus asked the lame man, “Do you want to be made well?” My clients live in a prison. They can reside there for several years. Imagine that an inmate at the prison is called before the warden and asked, “Do you want to be set free?” The inmate responds, “Well, the doors and gates are locked. There is no one that will unlock the cell doors and the gate for me to let me out.”

It actually happens sometimes that an inmate’s case has been reviewed by a judge who in turn reverses the decision on his case and throws out the original verdict, declaring the inmate a free man.

When the warden said to the inmate, “Do you want to be set free?” The inmate gave him an explanation as to why his freedom is impossible and did not answer the question. Of course, the answer is a resounding, “Yes.” This is the case with the paralytic. Jesus has the power to set the man free. He knows the man wants his freedom. It’s just ironic, I guess, that when asked he didn’t say so.

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. John 5:8-9 (NKJV)

What on earth did Jesus do there? As far as the record shows, the man never the answered the question about what he wanted. Yet Jesus, typically moved with compassion, was about setting the captive free.

Of course, the man wanted to walk. He may have been ambivalent about his life free from his infirmity. He would have to resume responsibility for life as a productive citizen of his community. He might have to find work if he can get it. He will likely not receive whatever handouts that may have been coming his way; even if they were scraps and crumbs. He might have settled for people feeling sorry for him and showing him pity. They might have been good enough for a time. I doubt he ever imagined that he’d walk again.

And then, Jesus did a thing… HIS thing.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)

Through Jesus Christ, the power of God was activated working within this man beyond what he could imagine. It really happened. The man was healed.

I wonder what that felt like… you know… before he actually began to walk. Did he feel something? Could he sense in his nerves and muscles a sense of strength and coordination that gave him the confidence that he could actually walk? It had been almost forty years since his last step. Did Jesus or a friend of his help him to his feet? It must have been quite an event seen by all around the decks of the pool… a really big deal. For the healed man it was a game changer; a life changer. The transformative work of Jesus cut through the man’s ambivalence toward change. The man walked.

But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” John 5:14 (NLT)

Wait a minute; what just happened?

What if the man’s paralysis was a consequence of sin in the first place? What if the man contracted his condition from fornicating with women from the pagan temple? That might be quite a presumption, but it makes for a meaningful point. The sin nature is such that once the man is set free he is set free to choose and to act to gratify the sin nature. According to one’s selfish nature, the choice is made to postpone what is best and great and settle for what is good enough and better in the moment than what it has been. It might be safe to consider that the man was preparing to engage in fornication with someone he would meet at the temple. It is at least possible to suggest that he was relapsing into the very thing that may have paralyzed him almost forty years ago.

I will bet that when he saw Jesus again it made an impact on him. This would be an intervention of another kind, like an addict’s friend or sponsor checking in with him to see that he is going to be alright. Jesus warned him, according to what he had seen and known, that if he returned into his sin that something worse would likely be experienced, whether in this life or the next.

The man had been set free from paralysis but was he entirely free?

Pastor Fran Leeman (LifeSpring Community Church, Chicago-Plainfield) preached one Sunday on this subject and spoke of what Jesus meant when he asked, “Do you want to be made well?”. According to the original Greek text, the question is better translated, “Are you willing to be made whole?” This does a lot to enhance and clarify Christ’s intention behind the question. So when Jesus saw the man again he understood that, while the man could walk, he was still in his sin nature and not whole in his relationship with God.

To be made whole in relationship with Jesus is to come into a disposition of holiness; meaning to be separated from or set apart. Jesus said to strive for perfection, meaning maturity.

If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48 (NLT)

How is that remotely possible? Since I cannot attain to perfection in this life, why try?

The Scripture is meant to challenge me to grow continually in my relationship with God. In the original Greek text, to be perfect (τέλειοι) speaks to those who have attained the full development of inherent powers, in contrast to those who are still in the undeveloped state—adults in contrast to children. Jesus was telling the healed man to not be content with being able to walk; using that power to walk back into a life of sin, which would not be complete freedom from sin, but to strive to grow into the stages of development until mature in everything he is in relationship with God; made whole, living in the best of relationship with God.

The kind of transformative work that God wants to do in our life is beyond what I would even think to want or ask for. Even when God helps us out of difficulty and pain He wants to do in us so much more, for our benefit. What did Jesus really mean when He said, “Be ye perfect”?

“Some people tend to think this means, “Unless you are perfect, I will not help you”; and as we cannot be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not think he did mean that. I think He meant, “The only help I give is help to become perfect. You may want less, but I will give you nothing less.”

Let me explain. When I was a child I often had a toothache, and I knew if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother—at least not until the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go was this: I did not doubt that she would give the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else. I knew she would make me go to the dentist the next morning. I could get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain, but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists. I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache.” —C.S. Lewis 

Jesus knows today that I am selfish and carnal and will not—cannot—obtain perfection in this life. C.S. Lewis is suggesting that to be perfect is to be made perfect through the transformative work of God in my life and the condition and disposition of my being clothed in the righteousness (God’s best) of Jesus Christ.

Just as with the phrases in Scripture such as “be anxious for nothing” (Philippians 4:6) and “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), the word ‘be’ in “be ye perfect” is a passive verb. It is not what you do (since you can’t) but what happens to you when you bring every need to God, rejoicing in relationship with Him. It is what happens to you when you sacrificially give every part of yourself to God in view of His mercy in your life. ‘Be’ is what happens to you when you commit to blessing even those who are hostile toward you for surrendering all into relationship with Christ. You are covered with peace beyond human understanding, transformed into newness of life and mind, and made perfect in the sight of the living God of the universe.

That being said, why do I continue to persist in what I do not want to do with any kind of rational (reasonable, sensible) thought? (Romans 7:14-25)

The reality as that I continue to feed into my emotional responses to desire that, as long as I do, deprive my rational mind (what I know and agree to intellectually) of sufficient nutrients needed to surrender my will and wants over to what God wills and wants for me. How insane is that? How sick is that?

So He asks again, “Do you want to made well?” Do you want to be made whole? Do you want to me made perfect? Do you want to be transformed into newness of life? Do you want peace that transcends comprehension and joy that can’t be described adequately with words?

The truth about ambivalence is this: it can create resistance to change; to getting well and to staying well. The man was once again free to choose, and choose he did. So Jesus challenged the man’s ambivalence again, essentially asking the man a new question: “Do you want to stay well?”

There are those I counsel that will experience something similar; those that will return to active alcohol and drug use; relapse into committing crimes again; most of whom will get caught and be sentenced to substantially more time. Then they will lose contact with their children and loved ones. They will grieve the loss of loved ones while they are locked up. Or even worse, some themselves will get hurt or perhaps killed during a drug deal or robbery gone bad. Criminals themselves are in the line of fire and get robbed and beaten, stabbed and shot. It could be that something worse may happen to them.

All of my clients will leave prison. When I talk to them about what it will take to stay free upon their release, the critical point central to their freedom is understanding and challenging their ambivalence against maintaining the standards of sustained recovery. While they are held prisoner, freedom is of the essence. It is treasured and cherished; invaluable. If prison is hell then freedom is heaven. I will ask the men, Why is heaven not reward enough? Why is it that there is this premium on freedom from inside the prison walls but outside, freedom can become trivial and trite?

When Jesus saw the man he had healed with the opportunity for new life, I suppose he may have asked him similar questions. Why risk it all for temporary, fleeting gratification only to be outdone in the end by adverse consequences so severe that they could again change his course back into bondage, even worse than his previous condition?

It is our nature to forget the pain of past mistakes. We get caught up in the present circumstance and become desensitized to how we struggled before. We might talk about keeping the pain up front; leveraging the remembrance of pain against the instant gratification that is anticipated in the next decision that carries with it enough risk to jeopardize our recovery into freedom.

We will mourn a heartbreak, grieve the loss of a loved one or the loss of something we valued, but in time we will get over it; at least get over it enough to move on and enjoy new things. That is what happened to the man healed by the power of God. Not long after, he went right back to the sin that had such a devastating impact on his life, without much thought to the burden he carried for those thirty-eight years.

Ambivalence is equal and opposite motivations that promote resistance to moving one way or the other. Ambivalence suggests discrepancy between where we are and where we want to be; between what we are and what we want to be. When we experience enough pain and struggle, discrepancy comes in the awareness of what it could be not having the difficulty, leading to resistance toward continuing in the thing that causes the pain and struggle; even if the thing was fun. It’s not fun anymore.

Ambivalence will also create discrepancy from missing out on what was fun at that point when we have become desensitized to the pain, having forgotten the adversity associated with the thing that was fun. Ambivalence will then generate resistance against recovery from the fun thing that was also associated with pain. Enough resistance against the discipline required in recovery from the pain—recovery no longer necessary when the pain is forgotten—and choices are made to reengage in the thing that was fun….. until it (again) hurts too much and is (again) no longer fun. This ambivalence is the catalyst—the cog in the wheel—in the repetitive cycle of addictive behavior.

I want to experience the best of what God wants and has for me… but something inevitably distracts me. What is it that can be so distracting that I would hold back from the best that God has for me? Do you ever feel like that… that you want it but something seems to always be distracting you from surrendering your best to receive God’s best?

It is this ambivalence that inevitably leads to settling for ‘good enough’; settling for “at least it’s better than it was.” Instant gratification is the enemy of that which satisfies completely. When the gratification “wears off” there is a need for more; to repeat again and again until satisfied. Oops, there it is… the insanity of doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. The different result is satisfaction. When satisfied, there is no need for more, no need for something else when the gratifying thing no longer gratifies.

Can you imagine being paralyzed for most of your life, being set free from the bondage of paralysis, and then at some point not finding satisfaction in your freedom, having forgotten enough the pain and struggle of your infirmity? Why is freedom not reward enough? Why is new life and heaven not reward enough? Why is relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, not reward enough?

It is the human struggle; the never-ending wrestling match between the pursuit of righteousness—living in the best of what God wants and has for me—and the pursuit of what I want from my perspective, settling for what feels right to my selfish, immediate gratification-centered mind. The Apostle Paul referred to this battle as a war between the Spirit of God within the person and the spirit of flesh, the self-centered will within the person.

14 So the trouble is not with the law (God’s moral standard from the Bible), for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Romans 7:14-24 (NLT)

The Apostle Paul at one time was so deceived by what in his carnal thinking he believed to be right that he punished his own people for believing in and following Christ resurrected. In fact, on occasion that punishment resulted in the execution of Christians while the government looked the other way.

Paul’s life changed when he met Jesus in the most personal way, literally being struck down blind and scolded in love by Him, and then healed by God for the purpose of the most vital ministry in human history, second only to the ministry of Jesus himself. And yet, even Paul would go on to become numb enough to God’s glory that his thinking would turn inward and he would struggle as a slave to sin, which he described in Romans chapter 7.

My guess is that by the time Paul wrote about his ambivalence, he was actively seeking recovery through repentance.

But understand this: What Paul claims he hated and did not want to do, he did want to do, or he would not have done it. Even though the things he did that he hates is in direct conflict with what he wants the most—God’s best—he still did the other thing that something in his sin nature wanted to do.

I want this and I want that but they are opposite from each other and in direct conflict with one another. I want God’s best but when I don’t get it when I want it (and might not get until heaven), I become willing to settle for the other thing that my sin nature says to my thoughts, feelings and beliefs that I want, and even need. I hate that!

Jesus was the first to use the metaphor of slavery to describe the issue of sin… “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” John 8:34 (NLT)

Then Apostle Peter wrote, You are a slave to whatever controls you. 2 Peter 2:19 (NLT)

As slaves of sin, Jesus goes on to say, “There’s no room in your hearts for my message.” John 8:37 (NLT)

The message is, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 (NLT)

The truth is, Jesus said, 16 “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” John 3:16-21 (NLT)

Speaking about the truth Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me… “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:1 and 6 (NLT)

About living in this truth, Jesus left a warning and a promise, saying, “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” John 10:9-10 (NLT)

The truth is that there is such good news in the promise laid out in these verses from God’s word. Yet we can stray, become wayward, even lost, as we struggle against the forces of best and worst; the forces of truth and lies; the forces of Spirit and flesh, as Paul put it; the forces of what satisfies in the Spirit versus what gratifies in the flesh.

It’s as though these forces are like magnets and we are stuck in the middle. On one side is our new Spirit nature in relationship with Christ that is the satisfied life that Jesus spoke of, and on the other side is the sin nature that gratifies the flesh (selfish as it is) for a season until real-life consequences steal what felt like happiness.

These magnetic forces are pulling us from both sides, both attractive at their surface. Both forces look good through the lenses of the flesh. Both forces have happy faces. But if you look deep into the eyes of these faces, these eyes are inviting. Look deeper into the eyes and you will find that one set of eyes is an invitation into authentic joy and peace and full of light, while the other set of eyes are deceitful, seducing you into something dark.

But the selfish sin nature is funny about that. There is the thrill of enticement into something uncertain. Somehow you are compelled by that. It’s like approaching the edge of a cliff. You will advance closer and closer to the edge until you get a pretty good look and then there is a surge of fright and you jump back. The problem with the sin that leads to instant gratification is that in the jumping back, the rocks give way from under you and you fall, plunging into the depths of the consequences of sin. What we don’t get is that the sin draws us in until it is too late to turn back.

Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. James 1:14-15 (NLT)

This is what Jesus meant when he said to the healed man, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Even worse than what? Than paralysis? Yes! When drawn away—dragged away—by desire, we become stuck in our selfish ways until the edge of the cliff collapses and we plunge into the depths of our unrighteousness until we die in our sin. That is what is worse.

It is in the ambivalence we have about living in the best of what God has and wants for us that we allow ourselves to be seduced by instant gratification. Even as a believer in the Gospel, “If the best of God is heaven, if the best of God is peace and joy in the glory of all that God is, yet being that I have not experienced that kind of peace and joy and so I don’t know what I am missing, then I will settle for the best of the peace and the so-called joy that I can get from the world in this life at this time.”

I believe that was the problem Paul wrestled with until he turned to something better than instant gratification.

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 7:24-25 (NLT)

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. Philippians 3:7-10 (NLT)

Wow! So, that’s it! I love that! Now, how do I get to that place?

Paul’s not done yet…

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7 (NLT)

Wow! So, that’s it! I love that! Now, how do I get to that place?

Paul’s not done yet…

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)

I love that, too! Now, how do I get to that place?

.                                     .          (           2) (6)And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world (of this time), but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 (NLT)

Jesus is asking you the question, “Do you want to be made well? Do you want to be set free? Do you want it enough to let go and let Me do what I do in your life?”

Will you answer the question? No explanations, rationalizations, and justifications. Please, just answer the question.

At some point, I suppose I can quit interjecting my thoughts and let the Word of God do all of the talking. I believe God has given me this word for you. Now, live in the truth and the perfect will of God for you.

Oh, one more thing and I’ll stop… promise.

Live as Jesus did with this in mind from his mouth when he explained to some religious know-it-alls how he acted on God’s holy authority when he healed the man on the Sabbath, saying, “I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.” John 5:30 (NLT)

Even Jesus understood surrender to the care and plan of God as vital to resisting temptation in the face of whatever ambivalence he may have experienced along the way as a man with human desire from a human nature. What evidence is there that Jesus experienced ambivalence? We have the event of adolescent Jesus staying behind when mom said it was time to go. We have the event of Jesus resisting the miracle of turning water into wine (telling his mother it’s bad timing) before actually turning water into wine. We have the event in the garden of Jesus pleading repeatedly for another way to satisfy the debt of sin. Jesus understood the pull of human nature and desire (read Hebrews 4:14-16).

Jesus, fully man on the earth, having laid down all of his divine nature and privilege, a) admitted that he was powerless without the authority of almighty God at work in his life; b) believed that all authority was from God and that living his human life under that authority is right and best, and c) committed to turn over his own will and life over to the will and care of God as he understood God to have all authority and control. Jesus did that.

If that is what Jesus did to live his time fully man in the best of what God his Father wanted and had for him, why would you or I live any different than that?

When you come to realize something so profound to be true and right in your deepest sensibilities, agreeing with it intellectually and morally, it changes you. Sensible reason is set free, no longer held hostage by impulsive emotion. It’s that truth that sets you free. Your values about what you own change as you are willing to let go of whatever it is you value and own (that likely own you) in exchange for that which God owns and values for you.

So, the question stands. Do you want God’s best… or will you settle for yours? Do you want His best enough?

Reach out to the Savior, Jesus Christ, and ask Him to cleanse you from all that is (even a little) dirty and messy, essentially all that is selfish in how you process what you want and what you do to gratify your desires. Ask for wisdom to challenge your ambivalence that offers up the resistance to best right living in every circumstance. Then turn from the force of instant gratification and walk with Jesus into the eternal satisfied life that is right now, in this time. As He transforms you by the renewing of your mind, let Him fill your head and your heart with His desires.

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4 (NLT)

Now… STAY WELL in the life of all that is best in your life with Jesus.

Because I’m Worth It! (Worthy of His Best & The Rest)

by Steven Gledhill for FREEdom from MEdom Project

“He has brought me to his banquet hall,
And his banner over me is love.”
Song of Solomon 2:4 (NASB)

The wedding and reception between the Bridegroom and His bride is soon upon us. This is my study of such a love shared and fought over in the mind of the embattled disciple’s struggle to be disciplined in thought and consistent deed as that day approaches.

I have written that perhaps my biggest conflict living by faith in what God will do for me in this life is that of unworthiness. I believe God for my salvation in relationship with Christ Jesus, which is the biggest miracle of all for each and every one of us, but I am challenged to believe God for what I want in this life. You see, I need salvation, justification, sanctification and all that. And God will bless me with what I need. But what I want is another story entirely; even if what I want appears to be consistent with God’s calling on my life.

Alright… Am I alone in this? Does anyone else out there relate to this at all?

.              .       h (2)When it comes to what I think of myself and my God-given ability to answer what I believe to be God’s calling on my life, I am up to the challenge… the calling… ready for the big thing that God has for me along this journey in ministry. But when it comes to my carnal flesh and the things that dance merrily in my head, well… there is no way that God can bless me and be true to Himself. And if He can, there is no way that He will.

I am in no way worthy of the full compliment of blessing! Believers blessed by God are humble faithful servants living wholesome obedient righteous lives… the life that God intends for those that claim to love God heart, soul, mind, and strength; loving their neighbors as they love themselves. That’s not me. I am way too selfish.

I know it! God knows it!

Sounds like the victorious Christian life, doesn’t it?

I have had countless meaningful faith-driven experiences in my life with Jesus. He is so good to me and to my family. My wife loves the Lord. I have three awesome sons and two young grandsons that love their “grammy” and “grampy”. Last year included a time of adversity for me and my family beyond anything we could have imagined and God brought us through it, as He clearly informed me in advance that He would through tangible indication that had no other explanation except that it was all in His hands.

But how quickly I forget. I want more; and I want it according to my plan in my time. And considering the nature and objective of the plan, God should want it for me. While there have been some indicators along the way that this vision I have—that I believed was God inspired—is actually going somewhere, it hasn’t happened yet… at least, not the way I envisioned it… and I’m not getting any younger.

The only logical conclusion to be drawn from these unfulfilled dreams is that I am not worthy of that kind of blessing. That has to be it!

What does it mean that I am not worthy of blessing into God’s best for me? If that were true, what it would mean is that I am not worth it to be blessed into God’s best. That, however, has already been proven not to be the case. God sent His best in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the steepest price possible as a ransom in exchange for my life. He has already blessed me into His best. What’s wrong with me not to be content with that?

Once for All

1 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

3 But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. 4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God,

“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer.
6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin.
7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”

8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). 9 Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. 10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. Hebrews 10:1-10 (NLT)

Scripture informs us in a few places that God does not really want our sacrifice, He desires obedience. It is both a blessing and a curse for me due to my warped thinking. The blessing is that God is not all that impressed with my sacrifice anyway, so why stress over that. However, an obedient routine and lifestyle is paramount to the normal Christian life. Does this mean that God doesn’t particularly care if I fast when I pray? Not necessarily. If my fast is lost in willful disobedience then it is entirely ineffective… meaningless. (I say willful disobedience in the sense that I might take on a God-will-forgive-me-anyway approach to wrestling with before succumbing to temptation without much of a fight.)

The Best Blessing

Question: If God has already blessed me with His best when He sent His son to lay down His divine privilege in order give up his life for me, why would He withhold the “lesser blessings”?

.                                    .        (19)That is a question, alright. God has already given me His best so that I can rest in the assurance of my salvation, yet I admit that I struggle to believe that I am worthy enough (if there is such a thing) to experience much personal blessing in this life on earth. God has chosen me to serve and live for Him. He has gifted me with the ability and, dare I say, talent to reach those lost and bound in sin addiction with a message of recovery that makes so much sense to them. When I sin, I believe I am forgiven in the merciful grace that saves me for eternity but that I have to pay the price for my disobedience; that price being withheld blessing.

To convince myself that I am not worthy of the lesser or lower blessing compared to the blessing of Christ’s sacrifice and the Spirit of God living in me, is to convince myself that I am not worth it—not worth everything that Christ has already done for me. Have you ever give someone a gift and they insist that they cannot accept it and will not receive it? Or if they finally do so, it is with reluctance and it’s almost like they are mad at you for feeling forced to receive such a wonderful gift?

How did you, or do you, feel about that?

When someone expresses a kind of unworthiness about accepting such a generous gift from you—generous in the fact that you were so happy and passionate about offering such a gift—it can sour the relationship. It doesn’t taste right. I wonder how God feels when we are reluctant to receive from Him to the point that we doubt and, in our doubt, become resistant to receiving from THE gift-giver. It’s like the gift-giver has given me a brand new mansion to live in (way beyond what I can afford) and he has offered to furnish this huge house. It is as if I were to say, “Thank you for this beautiful home but I am not worthy of its furnishings.” How much sense does that make? How am I worthy enough to accept the house, and willing move in and live in it, but I am not worthy of the furniture? Again, how does that make any sense at all?

A Love Story

The context of what King Solomon penned (“His banner over me is love”) is the love story for all time; the chase that is the bridegroom in hot pursuit of His bride. In relationship with Jesus Christ, we have entered into marriage with Him. We are in covenant with Him; a blessed covenant that is a holy union.

This is both liberating and haunting for me. I am set free in the love of my Savior Christ Jesus while at the same time held captive by what to me are failed expectations (His for me) due to my habitual disobedient thinking and behavior that I allow to rob me of the fullness of His blessing in my life.

Being honest with you, I don’t altogether believe that my feeling unworthy to experience the wealth of God’s blessing is a lie of Satan or the truth about my rebellion. I am surrendered to a point in my recovery from sin into the Christian life, but like the parable of the rich young ruler, I am not sure that I have sold out and bought in entirely to the surrendered life. I believe in it as the precept for experiencing the transformed life, but does my lifestyle choices reflect what I say I believe?

What obstacles do I put in the way of what is best and right in relationship with Jesus (the bridegroom)? How am I distracted from doing what is pleasing to Him? How am I unfaithful in my relationship with Him?

My relationship with the Bridegroom is intolerant of placing others before Him. He does not find favor with licentious fantasies and/or lifestyle choices and will not be mocked. Yet somehow I will engage my imagination in a reality that does not exist; where apparently God does not exist. Because if He did exist there, I would fear Him there as well.

For we are each responsible for our own conduct… Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant… Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. Galatians 6:5, 7, 8a (NLT)

These are words from the Bible that occasionally haunt me. I am at times ashamed about the thoughts I allow to live rent-free in my head. These things that I think and do run contrary to the life I really want to live as a man who truly loves God and is at peace when living obediently in the will of God. When I fail in disobedience contrary to the will of God, I struggle to trust in the promised blessing from God in relationship with Jesus. I hate engaging in this conflict.

14 The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Romans 7:14-24 (NLT)

The fact that I am in conflict engaging in disobedient thinking and behavior is the act of God’s Spirit convicting me of my sin; the sin between my ears. If I am not in real relationship with Christ, I can all but guarantee that there is no inner conflict or internal disagreement between what I know to be right and good and what I feel I want or perceive that I need in those moments.

The Apostle Paul wrote that this the internal struggle between what I agree intellectually that God can do in my life and the emotional doubt about what God will do. When emotion drives intention there is the tendency to settle for ‘good enough’ since it is better than it was, and then commit acts of disobedience contrary to the purpose of God. When I am trusting God with confidence that He is in control of my life with the best of intentions for me, I am motivated to drive down that road.

I have not forgotten a conversation I had with the late great Robert Schmidgall (Senior Pastor, Calvary Church, Naperville, IL until 1998) some twenty years ago. He told me about a very important wealthy man who was hiring a driver and asked this question to the applicants: How close can you drive to the edge of the cliff without going over it? The first two applicants boasted of their driving ability and the skillful approach and technique that goes into hugging the edge of the cliff while driving the man to his destination on time. The third candidate spoke of how he would not go anywhere near the edge of the cliff, staying as close to the mountain as he can, and taking as much time as necessary to get the man to his destination. Guess who got the job?

The mountain in this case is the life that God intends for me in relationship with Jesus. The mountain is the relationship I have with God. Key to this relationship is fellowship with God. The road is my journey through this life. On the other side of the cliff is the life without Jesus and everything that comes when I lose my way and drive over the edge of the cliff. Driving off the cliff would mean falling out of fellowship with God. If driving on the edge means risking fellowship in relationship with Jesus, how close to the edge of the cliff do I want to be driving in relationship to the mountain?

The mountain also represents the love of God. How close to the edge of the cliff do I want to be driving, distancing myself from feeling loved by God? Even the edge of the cliff is still a part of the mountain where I experience God’s love, but why drive so close to the edge, putting this transformative experience at risk?

The Work

This beautiful love affair we have in relationship with Jesus is made possible because He first loved us. What does this mean?

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, (then) you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. John 15:7-16 (NLT)

Let me be frank with you. As I am writing, not until now did I plan to use this passage from the Gospel of John. And not until I used it just now did I fully realize the impact it would have on me until right now, around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday night. This incredible promise is just what the doctor ordered for this beleaguered soul who has been plagued by a heavy sense of unworthiness in the call to deliver this message to you.

To suggest that I am not worthy of this calling is to suggest that I am not worth any of it, including my salvation in the first place. God will call those whom He deems worthy whether or not I entirely believe it. “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you” speaks to relationship not perfection. The relationship between Jesus Christ and this servant is not dependent on my condition before Him. This relationship works and the work is productive and effective because of His condition in relationship with me. He is righteous and perfect and I am righteous and perfected because of who He is in this relationship. I believe in Him and I am His disciple and He considers me His friend in the context of the mission. In the context of the family, I am His son, and in the context of the Kingdom, I am among His bride..                               (0   a) (8)

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. Colossians 1:9-12 (NIV)

While it is my responsibility to pursue right living through obedience in my daily Christian life of recovery from sin, it is not my place to judge myself unworthy of His calling on my life. God looks upon me and He sees the righteousness of Christ. It is in that righteousness that I am qualified to be blessed by God as He sees fit, regardless of how I feel about it. It is through that lens that He encourages my soul and empowers my spirit to forge on to endeavor in the work of spreading this gospel however He sees fit that I do it.

I cannot earn my stead in the economy of God’s kingdom. How ever the favor of God shines upon me it isn’t by way of anything I did to earn it. I am called to bear fruit for the enrichment of the kingdom from a heart of love for those in need of mercy, peace, joy, and rest. Not because I am a slave in debt to my master, but as free, delighting in the new life in relationship with my friend Jesus in the work of a common purpose; that which I understand in my deepest sensibilities must be accomplished; and motivated by love for those in need of the same provision given to me.

There are chosen servants around the world martyred, not so much for their faith, but for the work they are doing to advance the kingdom of God. They take the stand to choose delighting in the favor of God over that of man in a way that is noticed by enforcers of the laws of the land (both written and unwritten) and they pay dearly for it; persecuted for His name’s sake. Compelled by the work, regardless of cost, in certain parts of the world, can cost the worker everything in this life. The greater reward isn’t experienced here in this life. There is an anticipated eternal reward that cannot be measured.

Desired Favor

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4 (NLT)

Transformed by a renewed mind in relationship with Christ (Romans 12:2), I am thinking differently with the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2), with new (His) desire and motivation, able to discern finite human reasoning from infinite spiritual reason. Don’t get me wrong, it is there that lies the conflict for me. I feel a strong sense of guilt, regret and remorse over things that in my human reasoning ordinarily meet with thoughts of entitlement with reasonable justification for entertaining and acting on those thoughts and feelings. But operating in the context of the new life with new and much improved desires and motivations adjusting my perception of what I need, I can more effectively discern the plans of God as they conflict with my selfish motivations. So the more I trend toward choosing to indulge in my selfishness, the more I feel wrong and unclean about it; writhing in a prevailing sense of unworthiness to even be called by God to do anything.

Now there’s a word… discern. ‘Discern’ is defined by Miriam-Webster as “to detect with the eyes”; “to detect with senses other than vision”; “to recognize or identify as separate and distinct”; “to come to know or recognize cognitively”; which adds up to “to see or understand the difference.”

For me, to discern is to be able to do the math; solve the equation. It is disseminating intellectual sensibility while taking into account emotional response to circumstance and experience, and drawing some kind of conclusion. To be involved in the plan of God is to willingly engage in the pursuit of God’s best for my life, motivated to produce fruit through the extension and expansion of the love of God through humble service. It is there that I experience intrinsically the transformed life. So how is it that God has preserved and enriched my life to the extent that He has already, yet I walk around in the hesitation of what God will do for me when to God it is the “lesser blessing”?

So here’s the deal. For me and for anyone else out there that can relate to this, God sent His only Son as the only mandated sacrifice qualified to rescue and deliver us from our sin and sinful condition. In relationship with God through relationship with His Son, we have acknowledged my sin through confession, turning from sin through repentance, believing that only the sacrifice of Jesus is sufficient to be free from sin. We have been declared worthy to become sons and daughters of the living God of the entire universe. As sons and daughters of God, we have been promised the inheritance, which is the best of who God is and what He owns, which is everything. It is His desire and His plan to bless each of His sons and daughters into His best.

Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Romans 8:32 (NLT)

Discern that!

I’m well aware that the point’s been made for some time and now I am droning on and on about this. It’s just so important! Please receive it.

Rejoice in the day that the Lord has made. Let me say it again; rejoice!

Why? Well… Because I am worth it! At least that’s what I read in the Word of the Living God.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)

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