Ears to Hear

How does God speak to you, personally?  For me it can be through people and experiences.  In fact, this blog post has been inspired by my pastor's message from two weeks ago, which I feel is very relevant to what has been on my heart.  But aside from hearing God through people or experiences, I feel God speaks to me most through strong convictions.  I do believe God can speak using plain English (or whatever language you speak best), but I have yet to experience this “audible” voice of God for myself.  Regardless of how God speaks to you, it is good to understand that God is speaking to you. 

For the rest of this journal, or for as long as you wish, the moments in which you believe God speaks to you will represent your metaphorical “ears” in which you hear God. 

Revelations 3:22

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The first thing I think of when I read this verse is that I have two ears, one more than just “an ear”.  Fortunately for me, it doesn’t mean that I am twice as guilty when I fail to hear God speaking in my life.  Still, ignoring God’s call or voice in our life is often the easiest thing to do, but it is never the best thing for us.  Rarely are the best things in life easy to come by; you should anticipate difficult challenges, uncomfortable conversations, radical living, and having to think intentionally every step of the way.

In my last posting, I wrote about how strong feelings and convictions should receive special attention, well I’ve got a little bit more to say about dreams, visions, listening, and actions versus inactions.

Revelations 3 is most famous for discussing the topic of “lukewarmness”.  While I am not going to focus on what it means to be lukewarm, I intend to focus on listening (which still has a lot do to with remaining in a lukewarm state or moving out of it).  To be a useful tool for God we have to be able to listen when God is speaking.  When we struggle with complacency, urgency, listening, or even usefulness, we struggle with lukewarmness.  But don’t worry; God never stops pursuing us when we lose sight. Doubt may set in, and we may fail to obey. Struggling to carry out strong convictions, understand strong feelings, or trust God’s vision for our life is something that will happen.  However, even when we fail to act God is still standing at the door of our lives knocking, waiting for us to listen and respond (verse 20), “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” 

The next question is, “are we listening?” 

This is the part I struggle with the most, I can spend hours talking to God about all of my problems and transfer immediately into a grocery list of request, but never once do I stop and just listen.  I have “ears”, I know when God is speaking to me, but I still find it difficult to allow God the opportunity to speak before I interrupt with more concerns.  Fortunately for me, Jesus will knock for an eternity if that’s what it takes to get my attention…  I hope that’s not the case.

So here is the good news: when we finally learn to listen and respond to the Lord’s callings in our lives, Jesus promises us this (verse 21), “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

If you missed that part, let me give you play by play- God does not stop loving or pursuing us, still we are reminded that all who have "ears", have been called to act on the strong convictions that are of God...  and even though we will struggle and face adversity, those who overcome have been invited to the throne of our Father in heaven, sharing this seat with Jesus.

AMEN ("GLORY" and "HALLELUJAH" are also acceptable responses to this amazing truth).

The Profile of the Lukewarm

So we've been reading this book for our SMT discussions, Crazy Love by Francis Chan. While everything that Chan writes about is straight from the Bible, there is something about how he puts things that make his words so convicting.

The God of the universe, does not need us, yet He still loves us so much He continues to pursue us. The reverse is what we most commonly see. We need God, but often times we act like we don't want Him or that we don't really love Him, we just love his stuff.

"Even though we could die at any moment and generally think our puny lives are pretty sweet compared to loving Him, He persists in loving us with unending, outrageous love."
-Francis Chan, Crazy Love

In Chan's fourth chapter he gives various examples that would categorize different profiles of the "Lukewarm", or people who have become useless to God's cause through their actions and lack of conviction. The problem (or the answer) with the profiles that Chan presents, is I fall into just about everyone of them at some point or another. I struggle with some more than others, but I still know that I am guilty of just about everyone of them. Now I hope it is not just me, and I am pretty confident that I am not alone in this, but so many of us struggle to understand Christ's love before we are able to show it.

Is this because we are unable to fully understand unconditional love, or that our God would give us a gift of grace that we often times knowingly reject? Francis Chan starts our one of his chapters by saying just that... "Most of us, to some degree, have a difficult time understanding, believing, or accepting God's absolute unlimited love for us."

How could something so great, be so easily forgotten?

My best guess, and personal understanding, is that we relate our experiences with "love" (from friends, family, and even the love of ourselves), to God's love. We have trouble separating conditional, from unconditional.

Still, we know it... but we don't always act on it. Do we change our thoughts and actions, or do we keep on doing what we are doing without God. While I wish I could say that I love God so much that I am always aware of His love for me and that I live my life in accordance with His will and not my own, I cannot. Like so many others I have fallen into all of these categories of Lukewarmness. Here's Chan's short list of what many Christians do, believe, or think on a regular basis. Just a warning, it may hurt.

LUKEWARM people may still...
attend Church fairly regularly (it is what they believe a "good Christian" does)
give to charity and to church (as long as it doesn't impinge on their standard of living)

LUKEWARM people...
Tend to chose what is popular over what is right (they care more about what people think of their actions more than what God thinks)
Don't really want to be saved from their sin (they just want to be saved from the penalty of sin, is this new life really better than my old sinful one?)
Gauge their morality or "goodness" by comparing their lives to others' (being better person does not make you a Christian)
Only allow Jesus in a section of their time, money, and thoughts... He isn't allowed to control their lives.
Love God, but not with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind.
tend to focus their love on others who will "love" them in return.
Do whatever is necessary to keep them from feeling to guilty.
Probably drink and swear less (but other than that they aren't much different from most other unbelievers)

Basically, we are all guilty of a lot of these things... but a life characterized by a pursuits of God and not a flee from punishment is the kind of love God wants from us. I had a hard time reading this chapter without trying to justify why I fell into some of these categories, And i kept thinking, "No way am I LUKEWARM."

The reality is, as Francis Chan puts it, none of us are immune to these actions and thoughts. The difference is a life that is characterized by these actions versus someone who consciously struggles to correct these issues of lukewarmness. I hope that I am struggling.

This leads me to my verse of the week.
James 4:8
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Draw near to God, pursue Him wholeheartedly and you will realize how He is in constant pursuits of you.