See Your Depravity
“Bummer man! That’s a total drag!”
I left the meeting totally bummed out. The youth leader had given a message he meant to be encouraging, but it had the opposite reaction in me. I was discouraged. I had wanted to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, but after this message I figured that was not an option. I felt disqualified.
I was a teenager struggling to figure out what it meant to walk with Jesus. I knew I wanted to live my life for Jesus – I had already given Him my life and asked Him to be my Lord and savior. But now I wondered if this was somehow a one-sided relationship. I wanted Him, but He didn’t want me…
The youth leader had shared from 1 Corinthians 1:27-29:
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”
He wanted all of us to know that Jesus isn’t looking for the super stars. He chooses the weak and the foolish, the lowly and the despised to know Him. Sounds like great news right? Not if you think you are a super star who wants to walk with Jesus.
I know, I know, you are thinking I must have been a kid who was full of himself – and you would be right. But the reality was that I really wanted to walk with Jesus, but I now truly believed I did not qualify to be called by Him because I wasn’t weak, foolish, lowly or despised. Of course I was in error; I just didn’t know it at the time.
The reality is, all of us are weak, foolish, lowly and despised, but there are some who see it and some who don’t. We must see our depravity before we can truly taste the grace of God. Recognition and admission of our brokenness is the perquisite for our healing. Recognition and admission of our weakness is the perquisite for true strength. Recognition and admission of our depravity – bondage to sin – is the prerequisite for true freedom.
There came a point in my life when the Lord confronted me in a very public fashion with my sin and depravity. I had subtlety believed for many years that God was lucky to have me on His team. I was a great guy and a big contributor. I was totally blind to the depth of my sin nature. Until I really saw the depth of my sin, lostness, brokenness and helplessness I would never wholeheartedly experience the grace and mercy of God and the God-breathed freedom, strength and life He had for me.
I remember a very painful period of time when it literally felt like the Lord had His hand on the back of my head and was forcing me to look in the mirror at my depravity: the very sin nature inherent in me from which He wanted to set me free. And all of this was taking place after I had been a Christian and a leader for years.
At some point we must all have a profoundly painful encounter with the depth of our sin nature in order for us to powerfully live in the grace, mercy and love of Jesus. Remember, it is not our sin that disqualifies us, it is our pride. In our pride we refuse to repent or even to acknowledge our sin, our need, our weakness, our lostness, and our helplessness to help ourselves – and that disqualifies us from the grace of God.
Jesus tells us that those who have been forgiven little love little, but those who have been forgiven much love much. The truth is, we have all been forgiven much, but only some truly understand that. We must be willing to face the depth of our depravity – the depth of our need for forgiveness – in order to experience the exhilarating freedom of the grace of God. And then be able to wholeheartedly love God and others.
Be willing to see your depravity in order to be catapulted by the grace of God into the life and love of God.
Luke 7:47
“… But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Colossians 2:13
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”
Isaiah 66:2b
“This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”
Who Do You Think You Are?
“Doesn’t he know who I am? Who does he think he is? He can’t treat me this way! This is not how it was supposed to be. This was not how I expected things to be.”
That’s how it begins – ‘offense’ that is. We get to thinking that we should be treated a certain way, with a certain level of respect. When we don’t get treated that way we get angry and offended.
That’s how it began with the General. He was, after all, a General of one of the most formidable armies of his day. People trembled around him. He wielded authority and power in a way that few men on earth ever experience. He really was ‘the man’. But right now, he was not being treated like ‘the man’. He was not getting the respect he felt was due him. This could easily end in death for the one not meeting his expectation.
However, the General was over a barrel. He was sick and needed help. He needed healing. He came a long way with his gloriously pompous entourage to be given the utmost of respect, care and attention. He even carried a letter from the king demanding he be treated exactly the way the General expected. But this encounter was not going according to the plan.
General Naaman had leprosy. He was commander of the armies of Aram and was used to being treated a certain way. Elisha apparently did not get the memo that a VIP was coming by for a visit. Elisha had heard that Naaman had leprosy. Naaman had heard that Elisha had the power to heal him. He first came to the palace to see the king and was then told to go to Elisha’s house.
This was where things went sideways…
Elisha didn’t even bother to come out and greet him. He sent a messenger to tell him to go wash in the Jordan River 7 times in order to be healed.
“What??!!? You have got to be kidding me!” Naaman was enraged!
“I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.”, ranted Naaman.
His was ready to take off offended, resentful and unhealed until his servants convinced him to at least give Elisha’s directions a shot. Who knows? It could work…
So, Naaman swallowed his pride and washed in the Jordan 7 times. Guess what? He came out totally healed. He returned to Elisha a different man – a humbled man who submitted to the Lord, experienced His grace and power, and now considered himself Elisha’s servant.
Elisha did to Naaman what the Lord often does to us: he offends our mind to reveal our heart.
Is there a situation you are in the midst of that is not going the way you thought it should? Are you angry? Are you getting resentful and offended? That’s arrogance. You are not being treated the way you think you should be and it’s ticking you off. Just like Naaman.
We can often have expectations for how God should deal with us, or how the people of God should deal with us. When those expectations are not met we can either get angry or get low. We can get mad in our arrogance, or get low in humility and surrender to a bigger story the Lord is leading us in that we may not even see.
“Lord I surrender to your will.”
You never gain weight swallowing your pride. You know if you have a servant’s heart by how you respond when someone treats you like one.
If things aren’t working out the way you thought they should, take a lesson from Naaman and submit to the Lord’s will and direction even though it may seem ridiculous. God may be offending your mind to show you what is in your heart – pride or humility? Humility leads to healing, but pride leads to offense, resentment and alienation.
God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Who do you think you are?
2 Kings 5: 11-14
“But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.”
James 4:10
“Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
Good, But Not Easy
My mom suffered a minor stroke recently. As strokes go it was a good one. No long term effects. No real damage or debilitation thankfully.
What it did do was prompt my mom to recognize that she and my dad, who suffers from the early stages of dementia, need to make a change in how they were living. They have lived in the same home for 30 years, but just could not do the work necessary to maintain their home and property. In addition, due to the stroke, mom is not allowed to drive.
So, everything pointed to mom and dad moving to an assisted living residence. My sisters live on the North Shore of Vancouver, while my parents lived in White Rock, so we thought it best to look for a facility on the North Shore. All the siblings kicked into gear to make this happen. And, most importantly, the grace of God kicked into gear to make everything happen as seamlessly as possible.
To cut a long story short, roughly 2 weeks to the day from mom’s stroke, mom and dad were sitting in their new chairs in the living room of their beautiful 10th floor 2 bedroom unit in an amazing assisted living facility 5 minutes from my sister’s home in North Van. We had moved out and moved in the furniture they wanted to keep; bought, assembled and moved in the new furniture they needed; packed up and moved in all their clothes and household necessities; separated everything from the old house the children and grandchildren wanted; set aside everything we were giving to MCC, and filled a container full of garbage.
We interviewed 4 real estate agents, picked the one we wanted to work with, cleaned the house, staged it, and hadn’t even formally listed it before someone wanted to see it and put an offer for full price. To accomplish all of this my brother came out from Winnipeg so the two of us could do all the heavy lifting while my sisters did other necessary tasks.
Ron and I worked long hard days. We were bagged. We were beat like rented mules, but getting my parents happily in their new home and well cared for was worth all the effort.
While Ron and I were pounding it out during one of our 12 hours days we realized this was a demonstration of a profound spiritual truth. It was clear that God’s grace was all over this move. This kind of thing just does not typically go this smoothly. And, it all coincided on the only week Ron and I had free to be able to do it. It was very evident God’s hand of grace was very active – His finger prints were all over this move.
However, His purposes required our engagement, our effort. In order to reap the benefits of God’s purposes and grace we had to choose to engage. I will not bore you with the details of how much work went into this by the family, but suffice it to say there was lots and lots of work put in. And that is the lesson we recognized in this situation: God’ will is good, but not easy. God’s grace is great, but He demands our engagement to experience it.
We can often erroneously think that if it’s God’s will then it will be easy. That has not been my experience. Sure, there are some occasions when God simply makes a way and we enjoy the ride. That tends to be the exception, not the rule though. Story after story in scripture demonstrates God’s will and grace in action, but demands the engagement of God’s people.
Paul in the epicenter of God’s will suffered beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, and many, many difficulties. God’s will is not easy, but it is good.
Whatever you may be facing, whatever God may be inviting you into will demand your engagement and effort. God never promised things would be easy, but He did promise to be with us. He promised to provide His grace and strength. He promised He would never leave us or forsake us.
God’s will is good, but not easy. Don’t give up. Don’t grow weary in doing good. His grace is sufficient for us in the midst of the difficulty.
Deuteronomy 31:6
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
II Corinthians 9:8 (NASB)
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;”
Philippians 4:13
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Galatians 6:9
“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
Out Of or Into Prayers?
Have you ever been in a very distressing situation from which you desperately wanted to escape?
You know, one of those gut-wrenching, overwhelming, soul-crushing scenarios that brutalize your body, soul and spirit? It could be the death of a loved one, a sickness or disease of some kind, losing a job, financial distress, a business going down, a broken relationship, betrayal, or the exposure of your own sin. There are many, many scenarios that can grip us so deeply we may not even want to get out of bed, or worse, we may not want to continue living.
I have known a few situations like that over the years. I have had days when all I wanted to do was run away from my life and start all over again somewhere else. I have also had days when all I wanted to do was die. I have had seasons in my life when I felt I was falling into an emotional black hole – I saw no way out, and no hope for any positive resolution.
I have also walked with friends through a wide variety of life’s tragedies: death of a spouse, lost jobs, lost businesses, betrayal, divorce, and reaping the harvest of their own seeds of sin. These are all situations no one wants to find themselves in, and no one wants to repeat them – ever.
Many years ago I went through a particularly horrendous 7 year crucible of the soul. It involved broken relationships, a broken marriage, unemployment, betrayal, a lost career, lost hope, homelessness, and the harvest of my own seeds of sin. Thankfully God’s wonderful grace is far greater than anything we may ever face and the Lord used this incredibly painful death to usher me into His resurrection life with a new heart. I call this my million dollar experience that I would not trade for anything, but never want to repeat.
Through this experience and my experiences with a number of friends in their crucibles I have realized there are 4 critical factors that enable men to overcome their “deaths” and enter into the resurrection life God has for them. I have also seen other men who did not embrace these factors and, therefore, didn’t enter into the life God had for them.
- They humble themselves and choose to surrender and lay down on the cross for God to put the old man to death.
- They choose to believe what God says is true.
- They walk in openness, transparency and vulnerability with other men.
- They pray “into” instead of “out of” prayers.
Let me elaborate on the 4th point: “Out of” prayers are those prayers that focus on begging God to get us out of whatever overwhelming situations in which we may find ourselves. They are escape prayers. They focus on getting out of whatever uncomfortable situation we are in so we can begin to feel good again. They are self-centered prayers: “I want to feel better, so get me ‘out of’ this.”
There is certainly room to pray prayers of deliverance. Even Jesus, when confronted with the reality of the cross, expressed His desire to escape the cross, but submitted to His Father’s will knowing God had a bigger purpose than simply His comfort and well-being.
The prayer of a surrendered heart is to invite God “into” our situation so we can discover His purpose, His plan, and His heart for us and through us. “Lord, I really want to be free from this situation, but I want You and Your purposes in me and through me more than my own comfort. So, would you work your good will in me and give me the grace to die to myself and discover your resurrection life. Lord crucify me so I can experience Your resurrection life.”
Humility is the key to unlocking the grace of God in the midst of our sufferings. Praying God-centered prayers by inviting the Lord into our sufferings will enable us to discover Him, His purposes for us and through us, and receive His grace for whatever we may be facing.
Praying “into” prayers focuses us on the heart and purposes of God, and speeds our death to self so that we may live in Jesus’ resurrection life.
Luke 22:42
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Philippians 3:10-11
“I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”
Matthew 10:38-39
“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
Galatians 2:20 (The Living Bible)
“I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Time for a Shine
Do you own any silver? Something in your home you use or have on display that is made of silver?
We have one article made of silver. It sits on the hearth of our fireplace. It’s a silver cylindrical container, 6 inches in diameter, with a hinged lid and ornate edges. We keep matches in it to light the fire in the fireplace.
It has sat there for years doing its job, but not looking very good. It’s all tarnished. It has become a combination of black, steely blue and dark grey. You wouldn’t even know it’s silver. It just looks like a dirty metal container because it’s completely covered in a thin layer of corrosion known as tarnish.
In our pastor’s message this weekend he mentioned something about silver and how his mom used to shine up their silverware. I thought of this container and figured I would try cleaning it. I scoured through our cleaning supplies and discovered a little metal container of something called “Silvo Metal Polish”. You pour a little out on a cloth, wipe down your silver and when the cleaning compound has dried you buff it off with a clean dry cloth.
Simple enough – kind of like waxing a car. So, I gave it a shot.
Wow. I was amazed at the results.
Our grubby little match container was transformed into a brand new glory. No more was it the forgotten, drab, lifeless metal “box” covered in dust sitting on the hearth beside the firewood. No way. It is now stunning. It is brilliant. It is eye-catching. It is glorious.
The transformation is really quite miraculous. I have it beside me now while I write and am astonished with its brilliance. Previously it had no capacity to reflect or shine, but now you could use it as a mirror.
I think this little match container is a metaphor for you and me.
James encourages us not to be polluted by the world. Not to become tarnished by the world. The writer of Hebrews also exhorts us to lay aside that which hinders us and the sin that entangles us and run the race set before us looking to Jesus for life. In other words, to get rid of that which tarnishes us and shine in Jesus.
Just like silver we get tarnished. It’s part of life. Yes, we can choose to resist and not engage in sin, but we are not going to bat 1000 on that. We are going to mess us. We live in an imperfect world and will not be perfect this side of heaven. So, even though we are brilliant, glorious, redeemed sons of God, we get tarnished by sin and the things of this world.
We can, however, choose to get regularly shined up. Jesus has paid the price for our sin, once for all. He knows we need regular shining to be the glorious sons of God we have been created, crafted and called to be. We need to choose to be shined up so we can profoundly reflect the Lord; so His heart can shine in and through us.
So, how can we get shined up? Well, I believe there are four profound ways we can get shined up: Surrender, Confession, Repentance, and Worship. It all begins with surrender to the Lord, to want what He wants to do in us and through us. We need to confess our sin and ask Him to forgive us and cleanse us from unrighteousness. We need to walk in repentance: to think differently, believe differently, and act differently. And then we worship Him: focus on and declare His great goodness and His good greatness realizing it’s not about us, it’s about Him.
This has got to be an ongoing life-style.
We are going to get tarnished in this life, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are glorious sons of God. It simply means we need to continue to surrender, confess, repent and worship Him in order to shine and reflect His life in us and through us.
Don’t settle for a tarnished life. It’s time for a shine.
James 1:27
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Psalm 51:10-12
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
1 John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”