Measuring Up

Lately God has really been speaking to me about not judging.  Not so much judging others as judging myself.  So many times we are hardest on ourselves aren’t we?  Isn’t it funny how we can know a truth of God’s so well and yet be blind to the fact that we are not lining up with that same truth in certain areas of our lives.  Well this year He has been gently reminding me in various ways that it is through His grace and nothing else that I am saved, and not through my own works.  That means when I go through a test it is not up to me to figure out how good I did and where I needed to improve but God who does this.  God does not grade us the way we would grade ourselves or even each other for that matter.  Once we have confessed our sins and been washed by the blood of Jesus we are no longer slaves to sin or the law but set free and we are now measured by grace not the law which is very different.  Romans 6:14 “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”  Grace is not an excuse to sin but rather it is what allows us as imperfect beings to be able to live in the freedom provided by the death and resurrection of Christ.  So often when we are tested we look at ourselves and our minds want to analyze the situation and see where we went wrong and what we could have done better.  But God says no.  As someone said recently ( I wish I could remember who) “God says give me that pen and let me do the grading.”  Because we would look at each and every mistake and subtract all the points and in our minds we would never pass the test.  But God sees things differently.  It’s that perspective thing again.  With grace the blood of Jesus washes our test before the pen gets to mark it, so essentially we are graded on a curve.

This point was made so clear to me when I was looking at a ruler.  This ruler has only inches on it but on each edge it has 12 inches marked out on it.  the first thing I noticed was that it was made by a company called Grace Manufacturing.  Hmmmmmmm….   there’s that word again…  I think God is telling me something, I had better pay attention.  So I keep looking at the ruler wondering what God is going to show me.  As I look He is speaking to me reminding me of the things He has been speaking to me about.  I look at the numbers and realize that as they are on both edges where one edge has a 11 at that end the other edge has a 1.  So 1 is next to 11 and 2 is next to 10 and so it continues along the length of the ruler.  Hmmmmm…  I keep looking at it and God is still speaking, reminding me that even though I am not perfect “His grace is sufficient for me.”  Then I realise that the numbers line up in pairs that add up to the full 12 inches.  1 + 11 = 12, 2 + 10 = 12,  3 + 9 = 12 and so it goes…  And then God says that no matter where I fall on the ruler I still measure up to the full measure.  WOW! what an incredible analogy!  That IS grace!  I just love it when God shows you something in a new way that makes it impossible to forget it.

Every now and then God will remind of things we already know and understand so well.  Every now and then He says hey, don’t forget….  And each and every time He does that I learn a little bit more, and understand a little bit deeper.  I love how His words can do that if we are willing to let Him speak to us.  The revelation keeps on coming in stages as we gain deeper and deeper understanding of him.  And each time the meanings go a little deeper into our hearts than they did the first time.  But sometimes He will say things in a way that will stick in your head so well that you can’t possibly forget it.  At least not for a long time.  Be blessed as you go through your week!

T.F.Lemieux 07-26-2012

Our Vision vs God’s

Perspective is something we often take forgranted.  We get so used to seeing things the way we see them everyday that we often forget that others can have a very different perspective from our own.  One of things I used to love doing when I was a kid was looking at the world from different heights.  I would get down on my hands and knees and crawl around and see the world from the perspective of our cat.  Or I might like to stand on a chair and look around and see what it would be like to be two feet taller.  It was amazing how much the same ordinary everyday things became so interesting when I could look at it from a different angle than I normally did.  All it took was just a little effort and I could see things in a whole new way.  Well I may not go around crawling on the floor or standing on chairs just to look at the world from a different perspective but sometimes I find myself looking around when climbing up a ladder or scrubbing the floor, taking in the different perspective.  And I still love it.

So what does it look like, the way God sees the world?  How do the things we see everyday look to him from HIS perspective?  How do the things that we see everyday look to him?  Well I think the only way we can see that is from spending time with God everyday and asking him to show us the world through his eyes.  I remember when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.  The devastation was extensive.  Everywhere you looked there were homes and businesses destroyed from the fury of the storm.   Thousands of people were still there in the midst of it all, homeless, jobless, with no where to turn.  I remember seeing news footage of different convoys heading into the mess with trucks full of food and clothes and buses full of people wanting to help others.  Many of those convoys had the names of churches boldly displayed on the sides of the trucks and buses.  Declaring that church such and such was here to help because God sent them.  Is that what God sees?  Is that His vision for the church?  Or….   is it something different…  something bigger…  bolder…  perhaps, just perhaps it looks something like this more like this.  Picture those same convoys rolling on into town with the trucks full of food and clothing and the buses full of people.  But this time there is something different, something that people don’t notice right away but they do notice it grabs attention.  This time there are no church logos boldly painted on the sides of the trucks and buses. This time the people instead of saying “Hi we’re from such n such church and we’re here to help because God loves you.”  This time they say “Hi, we’re God’s children and He sent us to help you because He loves you.”  I mean what are we trying to sell God? or our church?  A very wise person once wrote “They will know we are Christians by our love”  and I believe those words to be so true.  I believe that if we can come together and reach out to the people of this world as one body they will really begin to see the love of God.  Now I’m not saying we have to abolish our denominations and all become one church.  In fact I believe that there is a purpose and a reason for the different denominations.  You see while we are all created in God’s image we are not all the same.  We all have our own thoughts and personalities.  We all have had different experiences which have caused us to develop different perspectives.

If you look at the ocean you will see that there are different bodies of water encircling the globe.  But did you know that where these different bodies of water meet you can see the line where they meet?  why is that?  Well each ocean or body of water has its own unique properties  and contains unique elements that make it unique and cause it to look different from the one next to it.  Our different church bodies are just like that. They each have their own unique color as they have unique properties that set each one apart.  Now when you see a picture of the earth taken from space you do not see these lines.  What you see from space is one huge body of water wrapped around the earth.  I think that’s how God sees the church.  I think He looks at the church and sees one body.  When the waves move across the ocean do they stop at those nice little boundaries?  No, they keep right on rolling as if there was no boundary.  I think we could learn a lesson from the ocean.  We need to be able to move and flow as though we are one body.  We need to be able to work together with in our bodies and yet allow God to flow through us as though there were no barriers.  If we want that we will have to get more of God’s perspective in us.  We need to really let it sink in.  We need to get His more vision for His church.  And we will need to learn how to work and flow together as one body.  It is going to take time, patience and practice but I think we can get it.  We are already so much closer than we were before.  I believe we are already heading in this direction and that it is just a matter of time before we get there.  “They will know we are Christians by our love.” that seems to hit the nail on the head doesn’t it?  See when the world sees the church responding to each other and to them with the love of God then people will know that He is real.  The enemy has worked hard to deceive people and keep them from seeing the truth but we have a powerful weapon on our side, God’s love.  And when we wield that love the way we are supposed to we will be able to cut through the lies that have kept people deceived for so long.

“…  and the greatest of these is love.”

T.F.Lemieux 07-18-2012