The Truth of God

For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers. (Romans 15:8)

Well, each day I think I am going to go on to the next verse but I find myself riveted to this verse for whatever reason. I don't know if it is because my background is much closer to that of the Jews than the mindset of the Gentiles in Paul's day or if it is something else. But I feel like there is more that I need to hear from God before I push on to the rest of this passage. There is certainly a lot of wonderful insights and inspiration just ahead, but I want to allow the Spirit all the time it desires to do its work in my heart from this verse if that is what is going on.

What I want to understand better is the real reason for this phrase the truth of God. I can certainly think of a number of ways this could be viewed and possibly all of them apply. But my heart wants to know what God has to reveal to me about this verse and maybe what is most important might depend upon where I am circumstantially at the time I am viewing it.

Because there can be multiple meanings and therefore multiple applications for many passages, the Spirit can use the Word of God differently for different people or even for the same people at different times in different ways. So I suppose I am asking what God wants me to absorb from this verse for me in my present place in my experience. A year from now I may look at this same verse and see something radically different that will be equally relevant and true but is not the most important thing for me to notice right now.

One aspect of the Jewish way of thinking that also resonates broadly with very many people is the idea that God is somehow partial to certain people and relates to them exclusively – meaning that He arbitrarily discounts other people in favor of His chosen ones. Included in this line of reasoning is that God also employs the use of force to implement His plans for His favorites on earth. This also leads to believing that God loves certain people much more than everyone else which is also still a popular theme with many people yet today.

In many respects it is much easier to see the faults and selfishness in the thinking of the Jews back in the days of Paul than it is to observe and confess that the same faulty thinking and assumptions are lurking in our own hearts. But I have actually found it a useful instrument of insight to remember that whatever jumps out at me about someone else's character should be viewed as a strong indicator that it may very well be one of my own weaknesses that needs to be discovered and confessed to God. Paul made this very clear as well back in chapter two.

So what does this have to do with this phrase, the truth of God? Well, most of what we think about ourselves in relationship to others is founded upon what we really believe about how God relates to us. When we embrace ideas of God being arbitrary, partial and exclusive in the way we typically relate to the idea of exclusive, then we will reflect the results of those beliefs in the way we treat others around us. When we believe God favors us over others the temptation exists to treat others with disdain or condescension. In turn, those attitudes backfeed into our beliefs about God's favor for us and our deception deepens.

Likewise, we may be on the bottom side of that cycle of deception. We may start out with the false picture of God acquired from both our fallen sinful nature and the culture and people around which we live, and may feel constantly depressed and hopeless that God will never really love us because we are simply not one of His favored ones. He can love others who are more blessed than we are, but circumstances clearly indicate that we are not one of His favorites and so we feel we must resign ourselves to an inferior position with God, but maybe if we are real lucky we might still sneak into a corner of heaven someday if we don't offend Him too much.

These two kinds of thinking tend to feed off each other and reinforce each other. But they are both based on a common deception about God that distorts our relationship with Him quite seriously. I am convinced that all of our dysfunction, our sin and our confusion is firmly rooted in fundamental deceptions and misrepresentations about the character of God and how He relates to His children. This is the very core of the controversy and is the focal point of all of Satan's false assertions about God.

Satan has worked tirelessly for thousands of years to deepen the darkness in our minds and hearts about the real truth about God. He has actually caused us to believe that many of Satan's own characteristics actually belong to God Himself and that Satan is not really as bad as he really is. This reversing of truth has created the false reality in which we have to live and are forced to face constantly in this world. But as Jesus prayed to His Father for His disciples, which includes all of us, I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15)

A closer look at the surrounding context in that chapter shows some strong links to this verse here in Romans in regards to this thing called truth. Everything that John wrote in the Bible is probably the clearest material anywhere of the revelation of the actual truth about God and how He feels about us. And this truth is in sharp contrast to the ideas and teachings and attitudes that were so popular with the Jews in Christ's day and are equally embraced by most religious people today. Their ideas about God's prejudice in favoring the Jews blinded them to seeing the real nature and intent of His promises to their fathers. And tragically many people today still are blinded by notions of a God who favors their particular group or subculture in such a way that they excuse their own bigotry and prejudice against anyone who appears offensive to their lifestyle or beliefs or who simply does not agree with them.

As a result of this background and context, I believe that the main reason for Jesus' life and death and the focus of this verse is a reminder that the truth about God is quite possibly not what we are so often confident that it is from our distorted perspectives. It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking we have the scoop on the truth simply because we are so familiar with our own customs or we have spent years researching and filling our minds with facts, proofs and arguments to defend our own ideas and prejudices. Of course we don't consider our own ideas as prejudices, but when the light of heaven shines into our hearts, if it can ever reach there to do so, it will expose the diabolical nature of many of our notions about God. It is then that we are faced with the choice of clinging to our own familiar ways and beliefs or allowing God the freedom to introduce Himself to our hearts in radical ways that sharply clash with our lifelong beliefs that we have cherished about Him.

This was the issue that faced the Jews in times past as well as today. But it is also the same problem with Christians and Muslims and really everyone who is under the delusions inherent from living on this planet. This verse reveals that Jesus came to challenge our assumptions about God. And for those humble enough to respond positively to His drawing them into His way of living and thinking, His Spirit will synchronize them with the very heart of God. All of the promises God gave to mankind through the Scriptures when seen in the light of the life and teachings of Jesus take on a whole new meaning and dimension.

Prophecy can almost never be properly understood until the light of its fulfillment reveals the true nature of the One who inspired the prophecy. So to deny the validity of a new view of God as well as His prophecies because they do not agree with our long entrenched opinions is to chose to resist the truth about God that Jesus came to reveal to us.

One of the main reasons that the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah both back then and yet today was because He did not fulfill their expectations and fit in with their bigoted beliefs about their selfish desires to be God's favorites in the way they wanted to be. Their counterfeit picture of God led them to desire power instead of God's gentle Spirit. They wanted a God who would use force and fear and suppression against their enemies instead of a God who would demonstrate love and forgiveness and acceptance of His enemies. They believed in a God who inflicted severe punishments against those they didn't like while wanting Him to bless them unconditionally even when they refused to allow Him access to their affections or give Him the submission of their wills.

They helped to develop much of what is now world-wide and almost totally pervasive counterfeit religions that keep billions in darkness about the real nature of God. They worked hard to refine the art of performance-based religion believing that God was demanding of their external conformance while ignoring the more important arena of the condition of their hearts and their spirits. The Jews firmly believed that their connection to God through their ancestry gave them automatic leverage over others and that just because they were Jews that God was obligated to give them whatever their selfish hearts craved. In essence, they wanted God to be their servant to fulfill their selfish desires just as masters selfishly exploited the slaves within their culture.

The great surprise comes when Jesus indeed shows up as a servant. But instead of pandering to their selfishness and reinforcing their nationalistic bigotry, He showed them the superiority of real servanthood offered from a heart of completely selfless love and passion for the good of others. He revealed to them the true nature of their God who was nearly opposite of the one created in their minds that reflected their own sinful desires. And He came to show them the real nature and reason for all the promises made to their father's that they had misconstrued to support their bigotry and prejudice against those they hated.

How much of our own study of the Bible is designed to reinforce our biases and selfish exclusivity instead of leading us to question our own blind spots? How much do we wrest the Word of God to fit our picture of God that makes Him out to be more like us than the God that Jesus revealed and that John came to so clearly understand? It is our false ideas and beliefs about God that keep us from experiencing the power and transformation that Jesus came to give us. It is our entrenched opinions about God's character that leads us to discriminate against others and excuse our lack of real love for our enemies.

Christ has become a servant...on behalf of the truth of God. I want Christ to reveal that truth of God more clearly both to my mind and especially to my heart. And I know that as that truth of God permeates more and more of my thinking and displaces my false assumptions about Him that I will find myself reflecting His beauty and loveliness more easily and more consistently. Maybe I should say that others will find me doing that more than I will, for the closer I get to the perfect beauty and attractiveness of God the less I see myself as good. Anything truly attractive about me can only be a reflection of the attractiveness of God being reflected off of me, for as Jesus said, only God is good.

(next in series)

Reaching Both Conservatives and Liberals

For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and [Christ has become a servant] for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy.... (Romans 15:8-9)

As I meditate on these verses to get a sense of the underlying truths here, I remember the two main ideas or attitudes that define the differences between the thinking of Jews and Gentiles. It is the same contrasts that can be seen yet today between what some term conservatives and liberals, legalists and teachers of “only grace”. The first group is generally concerned mainly with what they view as justice and righteous living. They put great emphasis on keeping rules and on obedience and living a righteous life. Their focus is generally on the externals and behavior and most of their effort and attention is absorbed in trying hard in one way or another to satisfy what they believe are the demands and requirements of God.

The second group sense that there is something inherently wrong with the obsessions of the first group and so they shift their focus to the opposite extreme. They might seize upon all the texts that talk about grace and mercy and love and generally move past the passages that might make them uncomfortable in their lifestyle choices or bring painful conviction to their souls. They believe that believing in Jesus only means just having good feelings in connection with church or enjoying emotional highs each weekend. Anytime the subject of the law of God comes up they are ready to discount any obligation for obedience and teach instead that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law so we are somehow exempt from perfect obedience. Of course, this kind of talk plays right into the hands of the first group and they are appalled and outraged at the liberal views of the second group and so the fight is on.

But is truth to be found by winning the argument conclusively that has gone on for centuries between conservatives and liberals? Or have both groups failed to listen to the real Spirit of God with a humble heart to discover the face of God in Christ Jesus? Is truth a carefully crafted compromise between the radical extremes of the left and right or is it something along a completely different line?

As may be seen, I am firmly of this last opinion. I am disenchanted with the strident claims of both camps that engage endlessly in bickering, attacks and criticism of each other while they both base their opinions and doctrines on false premises about the character of God. In fact, because of this it will be seen in the end that both conservatives and liberals will join in a strange coalition to fiercely attack those who dare to believe a completely different picture of God with their lives demonstrating evidence of the kind of transformations that the other two camps have been claiming to pursue all along.

I believe a careful look at these verses from this perspective reveals some important things about how God relates to people coming from either of these two directions into the real truth that bonds them together in a completely new body called the body of Christ. It will be seen that these believers in the truth about God's character will increasingly demonstrate a new spirit of acceptance, humility and love toward each other that is not forced or faked in any way but is spontaneous and heart-felt. But at the same time this genuine kind of relationship is one that will have its times of conflict due to the element of maturity. Just as it takes time to grow up as a child and many mistakes will be made in the process, so to learning to view each other through the eyes of heaven takes time as our hearts are carefully molded by the Spirit to think and feel and react differently than we are previously accustomed to doing.

Last time I visited a little about what it looked like for Jesus to relate to the first group of people, the Jews who also generally represent legalists. I want to maybe revisit that a little while at the same time explore how He reached out in the spirit of a servant to Gentiles who generally represented the opposite extreme.

I notice that what this verse says was important to Jews was “truth” as well as the promises given to their fathers, meaning their ancient ancestors early in the Old Testament period. In contrast to this, Paul notes that what was evidently more important to reach the mind of Gentiles was the revelation of a God who is full of mercy. This would seem to imply that the deep need of the Gentile heart was to encounter a God who was not obsessed with justice so much that it dominated all His dealings with humans. They were used to gods that demanded attention and were harsh and arbitrary. And the God presented by the Jews who claimed to serve the only true God was not that much different from the demanding gods of the pagans from their perspective.

Now, I realize that some of these statements can easily be misconstrued by anyone wishing to discredit me. But the underlying problem is that we must be very careful to understand the real meaning of each of the words we are using before we can begin to comprehend the deeper truths revealed when these words are used together. Justice is one of those words that has been very much hijacked by religion and is generally filled with all sorts of dubious notions at best. What we generally think of when we use the word justice is quite different, I believe, than what God means when He talks about justice. I am not saying they are totally opposite. However, justice is a word and concept that is seriously misused both by religious and non-religious people alike.

This actually takes us straight to the very core accusation that initiated the whole war, the great controversy between Christ and Satan that has gone on for millenia now. Lucifer (now Satan) laid out the accusation that God was not just and fair in His dealings with His created beings and he proposed an alternative form of government that he claimed would be based on real justice for all. Lucifer claimed that the way God ran His government was enslaving and restricted far too much the real freedoms that intelligent beings deserved. He came up with a new slant for defining justice that was so convincing and deceptive that vast numbers of brilliant minds throughout the universe, minds far more acute than any human mind has ever been, fell for the deception and joined Lucifer in his grand new plan.

So it comes as no surprise that each of us has grown up with very distorted perceptions of the real meaning of justice given that we were born and raised in the enemies territory and under his deceptive influences. God is very patiently providing means and ways for us to become reacquainted with the real truth as it is revealed in Jesus, but it is a process that is taking a very long time, but it will soon come to a final conclusion. Part of this process called salvation (which means healing or being restored to wholeness) is having our distorted assumptions replaced with real truth and being filled with God's Spirit at the heart level so that we can once again reflect the realities about God that were obscured by Satan so long ago. God intends to find a people who will be completely willing to be perfect reflectors of His truth, His character and His grace. And these will be people from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures. They will come from the left and the right, from the high and the low, from everywhere imaginable. And in the process of being knitted together by God's Spirit into full unity they will often find their old assumptions in conflict with each other and in need of further adjustment and repair or replacement by God.

So in contrast to the background of a heavy emphasis on justice by Jewish minds, Gentiles were in need of seeing a God who was full of mercy in contrast to the stern view of God presented by the Jews. The Gentiles, living in much more open sin than the self-righteous Jews, were in some respects much more aware of their fallen condition and their need for grace. What they needed was not a God who demanded justice (read “harsh punishment”) as the Jews delighted to believe, but they needed to encounter a God who would surprise them with overwhelming grace and mercy and forgiveness that would awaken love in their own hearts in response. In turn, this awakening love would be the catalyst that would motivate them to praise God for His faithfulness, love, forgiveness, mercy and all the other wonderful things about God obscured by the lies promoted about Him by both legalists and satanic influences.

The greatest surprise that then emerges is that as praise and gratitude fills the heart, the whole being becomes transformed and new life springs up in the soul. This is the kind of life that Jesus was constantly trying to educate people about and introduce them to while He was among us here on earth. He came to demonstrate the servant-spirit of God that was not afraid to stoop to suffer any disgrace or humiliation to entice us to change our opinions about His Father.

So Jesus came to serve the legalists. And those among them with honest hearts would perceive that indeed Jesus really did fulfill all of the predictions of the prophets and all the real requirements of the law when properly understood. However, Jesus did not fulfill the expectations of the false ideas about justice and national bigotry that had been built up for centuries in the traditions of men, and that failure to meet their false expectations led them to kill Him on a cross for not complying with their demands for a God who would support their false criteria.

But when understood properly and perceived with the heart, everyone, whether liberal or conservative, will see in the life and death of Christ a radical revelation of the God who does not fit any of our paradigms. This is a God who simply will not fit into any of our boxes or be controlled by our restrictions and regulations or religions. This is a God so full of mercy and extravagant forgiveness that the conservatives are scandalized just as were the unbelieving Jews. And this is a God who is so meticulous and particular about details and determined to perfect His character fully in His people that unbelieving liberals are likewise scandalized.

But for those willing to surrender their own paradigms and have their hearts transformed by a power outside of themselves, God comes to offer His perfect and effective plan of healing and restoration that will bring a final end to all this long history of sin and pain and death. He is right now drawing all men unto Himself as He promised to Nicodemus, and all who are humble and willing enough to be drawn will find themselves energized and empowered to live the very life of God – full of grace and truth.

(next in series)

Servant to Jews

Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy.... (Romans 15:7-9)

What does this thing called “acceptance” really look like? What does it involve? It seems to be so important according to the surrounding passages that I think it is essential that I don't just pass over this concept without really understanding it and even more importantly absorbing it at the heart level.

I believe that these verses are a major clue in understanding what it means to accept others the way God want me to accept them. It might be much easier to pretend to accept people by putting on a polite demeanor, talking nice to them and stressing that we must all have unity in the church. But I strongly suspect that God is not interested in that kind of unity. Everything I have learned thus far in my intense study of the book of Romans points to a radical transformation of the heart and how it relates both to God and to those around me. If acceptance is not something that happens from the deepest levels of a changed heart then it is not the kind of acceptance that God is talking about here.

Verse seven says that Christ accepted us. I think it is safe to say that Paul might be referring here to himself as a Jew or possibly the us might mean Paul and all the other believers who were accepted previously to those he was writing to. But it could equally be true that Paul is referring to all believers collectively or in another respect all of humanity that has been redeemed by the demonstration of God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. At any rate, Paul is pointing me to Jesus' example as the first illustration to look at to understand what accepting others should look and feel like if it is to be the real deal.

Using Jesus as my example and mentor of what it means to accept others effectively and genuinely is really the only safe course to follow so as not to become sidetracked or blinded by all the inferior imitations and counterfeits of the enemy. There are many ideas and activities promoted as being acceptance and many denominations profess to be very accepting until the truth is exposed by comparing their methods or spirit with the example of Jesus. I must be very careful not to be deceived by powerful results and exciting feelings as the ends that justify means that are not in alignment with the ways and spirit of the servant God who came to earth to show me real acceptance.

I feel like there is a great deal in these verses that is still eluding me or waiting to be uncovered. But what I sense is that I am beginning to see here that Jesus clearly relates to people from very different backgrounds and with radically different assumptions about God somewhat differently. Paul says here that the way Jesus related to the religious-heavy Jews, what he refers to as the circumcision which was their favorite point of discrimination, was different than the way he related to Gentiles who were not obsessed with what consumed the Jew's attention.

Jesus' focus while appealing to the hearts of Jewish people, those who had taken religion to unhealthy extremes, was to first of all approach them with the attitude and posture of a servant. Now this was certainly not the way that necessarily would appeal to proud people who had more faith in their religion than they actually had in God even though they would disagree with that assertion. This is why some of the prophecies about Jesus predicted that His activities and presence would expose the hearts of many. But at the same time, the presence of real Truth and the demonstration of the real character and disposition of God in their midst would cause the hearts and minds of those who were still honest enough to sit up and take notice and be convicted of the truth.

What was emphasized by the Jewish religion was what was termed “the Law and the Prophets”. This is reference to what we know today as the Old Testament. The “Law” was the writings of Moses that laid out all the rules and prescriptions that defined the Jews and largely formed their identity in distinction from all other peoples on earth. The “Prophets” is what the rest of the Old Testament consists of which not only contains prophecies about the future at various points in time but also the stories and other writings that gave the Jews their sense of identity and rooted them in history. The Law and the Prophets in the mind of a Jew was the reason for their existence and was more important than life itself to many of them. It was what they lived and died for, very much like much of the nationalistic emotions and beliefs that we see in various cultures today.

Over the centuries the Jews had become so engrossed in focusing their sense of identity on their history and the prophecies given to them by God about their potential future if they would be faithful to Him, that a great deal of prejudice and bigotry had taken over their thinking and beliefs. Tradition became such a prominent part of their thinking and living that it more and more obscured their ability to discern the real reasons God had related to their ancestors and the real purpose for giving them the Law and the prophecies.

So when God showed up among them in the form of Jesus to reveal the true reason for everything that had happened in their history, very few Jews were ready to see the linkage between the God that had spoken to them in all sorts of ways throughout their history and the man who claimed to be God who was walking around relating to them in the present while Jesus was with them on earth. Prejudice and tradition had so blinded their minds and hardened their hearts that most of them were unwilling to believe the love that Jesus demonstrated in their midst. They instead demanded that God could not possibly be as nice and kind and forgiving as this apparent weakling who refused to participate in any way with their bigotry.

But for those who were receptive to the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit in their hearts and were hungry to see and experience the real truth about God; those who were dissatisfied with the externalism of religion and were hungry for a real spiritual connection with the real God – these were the Jews who were able to respond to the drawing power of Jesus to point their attention to the intimate connection between the real truth about God in the Old Testament period and the demonstration of God in the life of this humble peasant from Galilee.

Those who were honest enough to ask questions, when asking questions was strongly discouraged by those in religious power – those who dared to allow their minds to question the assertions and assumptions of their leaders and listen to the sound of a different drummer, those were the ones who were susceptible to being drawn into true repentance by the sudden revelation of the true nature of God in the kind, humble ways of Jesus. Contrary to the teachings popular both in those days and in ours, it is not fear and terrors of hell or dread about events in the last days of earth's history that lead one to real repentance; it is the kindness of God that leads a heart to melt in response to the affections of God shown to them in spite of their sins.

This concept is just as foreign to us today as it was in the days of Jesus. There are very few who really believe that it is the kindness of God that effects real transformation and repentance in our lives and not manipulations by fear. But as these passages are revealing to me, accepting others in love and compassion is the only really effective way to move toward true unity of the kind we are designed to enjoy.

Paul says that Jesus became a servant to the Jews to confirm the promises given to their fathers. Unfortunately most Jews even yet today are blinded by their prejudice and pride and stubbornness from seeing the fulfillment of the promises in the Old Testament in the life of Jesus. But nevertheless it is a clear truth that can be discerned by those who are willing to see reality from heaven's viewpoint. But while it is easy for most of us to cast a critical eye on the Jews for rejecting Jesus as the fulfillment of all the promises given to their ancestors, we equally fail to discern our own traditions and preconceptions that blind us just as effectively to the real truths about God's character and ways.

Blindness of heart and mind are by nature very difficult to discern because of the intense deceptive nature of that blindness. How do you know if you can't see something if you have never seen it and don't even know for sure it can be seen? It is so easy to see how others might be deceived, to point out other's faults and blind spots. But when it comes to our own the pride and selfishness and stubbornness of our own sinful hearts usually prevent us from accepting the truth about God just as effectively as it does for the Jews. This exposes the enormous level of hypocrisy in Christianity today that decries the stubbornness of the Jews. Most Christians are no different in their level of clinging to tradition that displaces the real truth about God as are the Jews. We are just as much in desperate need of seeing the real truth about God as demonstrated in the life and attitudes of Jesus as are the Jews.

But for the honest in heart, whether Jews or non-Jews, the Holy Spirit will guide and impress and reveal the beautiful congruency and perfect harmony between the promises and prophecies found in the Old Testament Scriptures and the much clearer revelation of God as exposed in the life and teachings and example of Jesus, His Son. When anyone is willing to suspend their assumptions and lay aside their preconceptions of tradition, when they are ready to not blindly accept what preachers and teachers tell them but begin to pray and study and search for real truth with all their heart for themselves, then they will begin to discover and experience the mind of God and will begin to feel the heat of the passion that always glows from His heart.

(next in series)

Unity in Woundedness

Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. For I say that Christ has become a servant.... (Romans 15:7-8)

Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. (Romans 14:1)

I sometimes feel that I am writing about things about which I know very little. That is a very hazardous undertaking for anyone, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. But at the same time, I feel that if I don't at least attempt to begin to understand these things – and writing seems to be the most effective way right now of doing that for me – that it is even more difficult for my heart to move in the directions of living in sync with what I am learning about reality from the Word of God.

But how does one go about explaining something they have very little experience in doing? When something is written it many times takes on the air of authority in some people's minds. Then it can be disputed, argued with, countered, and discredited. Of course that can lead to feelings of rejection, shame, humiliation etc. that are all feelings that actually are very frightening to my heart.

And yet, I have noticed something in this arena that almost seems counter-intuitive. I recently was led to a blog of someone who is writing about their own struggle with depression, who is actively involved in therapy for the healing of many traumatic memories in their past and is exposing their emotions and feelings they are going through in such a transparent way that I find myself encouraged. So many of the things this person writes resonate very deeply in my own heart and I am amazed at how eloquent they are at exposing what I am unable or too frightened to express myself.

While this other person is dealing with actual experiences that I have never encountered that are quite different factually from my own, the heart wounds and the blocks to healing seem strangely familiar to me. As I read about their ongoing, tortured lurches toward greater freedom of their spirit I get the sensation that they are in some ways much more advanced in maturity than I am even though I suspect they would strongly disagree with that assertion. But as I was sharing with my wife yesterday, I sense from the teachings of Jesus that from heaven's viewpoint the people who appear to us the weakest and most vulnerable may in fact be considered the greatest and most advanced in the eyes of God.

I have heard rumors at times of churches that have toyed with the idea of putting God's priorities in place in the choosing of leaders ahead of man's standards of measurement for maturity and qualifications for church office. This would certainly make things radically different that it is today in most churches, but would also likely result in far more real growth both in internal effectiveness and personal healing, in the bonding of the hearts of believers to each other and in drawing many more to the body of Christ. But sadly I don't believe this is going to be seen very much until after all of our human ways of doing things have been fully exposed as a fraud and we have experienced complete meltdown of monumental proportions that will cause us to abandon all of our notions of hierarchy for God's form of family in our organizations.

But that should not prevent us from individually recognizing the gifts and God's measure of maturity and the personal value of each person within our own circle of influence. When we see a person that in God's eyes has become real and in touch with their desperate need to cling to Him in every situation, we can treat that person with the respect and honor and admiration that heaven has for them. We can learn a great deal more from the humble of heart who to us may appear to be very weak by our standards but in the eyes of heaven are actually models of the grace and delicacy that is prized in the heavenly realms.

This reminds me of another aspect that has come to my attention lately. As I ponder this issue of vulnerability and the pros and cons surrounding it, I sense that what humans view as objectionable, weak and despicable may actually be the fragility of real beauty. When we consider the examples in nature of some of the most stunning beauty that we love to admire, much of it is actually extremely fragile and in need of a very protective environment for it to even exist. In my mind, this is an important lesson for the body of Christ. As a family of God we are supposed to be that protective environment in which fragility can be a thing of beauty and admiration instead a condition to be scorned and avoided.

This is what I am hearing all through these chapters in Romans as I look over them. Following the example of Jesus who made Himself a servant to us to protect us from the harshness of this world's abusive system of thinking, He showed us what real family should look like, how we must learn to relate to and care for each other that is radically opposite of what we have always assumed.

Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself... (Romans 15:1-3)

When we truly discover the power of relationships in the way demonstrated by how Jesus treated people, we can be free of a spirit of condescension that makes someone feel shamed, and instead foster a spirit of comradeship that empowers and encourages them and fills them with hope and love. Again, writing these things and sensing them in my spirit seems to give me a sense of real truth, but there is another part of me that still taunts me and derides my conclusions as hollow and hypocritical because I am not a very good example of what I am learning.

I was reminded last night by someone how my own children repeatedly say that they don't care to listen to what I have to say until I start producing the fruit that I talk about. That certainly appears to be a legitimate statement, but it also frightens me that they seem to be waiting until I am fully healed before they are willing to even begin. It makes me feel very sad when I see people procrastinating their own healing process, using as an excuse the faults of those who promote ideas of healing. But each person is responsible for their own choices in life and I must pay attention to my own heart first.

But the amount of truth in their accusation certainly brings real pain to my heart because I feel that I am a stumblingblock preventing them from experiencing the joy of entering into real life and true intimacy. I feel the sting of the master accuser taking up their words and amplifying them many-fold in my mind and trying to drown me in discouragement. I hear his words internally, “You should just give up. You know that every time you try to come out into the open that it always backfires and people falsely accuse you of subversive motives, so just give up and become what they accuse you of being. Then at least you won't be a hypocrite any longer.”

At these times of feeling helpless and hopeless, when my inner false gods attack me and there is no one around to help bear my weaknesses, I have to turn away my attention from the accusations against me, turn away from trying to defend myself and assert the truth about my motives and intentions and simply cling to the One who promises to be my defender and protector. He knows all my faults, mistakes and the injuries that I have caused in other's hearts, but He does not heap condemnation on me even if I might deserve it. For condemnation only leads to despair and sucks away the life out of the soul.

It is in these moments that I am reminded that God is my only hope and that no matter how illogical it may sound or feel that I have to take my attention off of my own faults and the accusations of my friends and enemies and look to my Savior for guidance, strength, hope and direction for the next step. I have to hide myself in the atmosphere of His protecting grace where the delicate formations of beauty that He is creating in my heart can once again begin to grow and unfold.

And this atmosphere of grace and protection and joy strength that I experience in the presence of Jesus that allows my heart to heal and begin to thrive once again is the same thing that Jesus is asking me to extend to others. It is described here as the spirit of a servant, one who chooses to put other's needs ahead of their own, who accepts the potential of pain and shame in identifying with others who are even more vulnerable in order to protect them from the shaming attacks of the world around us. I can be an assistant to help Jesus create an atmosphere of grace around another hurting, damaged vulnerable heart so that it can begin to blossom with the unique beauty that God planted within it that has never yet been seen by other humans.

God, I hardly know how to even express these things in words. I feel so much in need of being strengthened myself and yet I hear You saying in these passages that I too need to minister in humility and love to others who are vulnerable. Please give me the eyes of heaven to perceive beauty and Your glory where others only see damage, scar tissue and ugly wounds. And I suspect that as I cooperate with Your healing work for others that I may find my own heart being strangely warmed, restored and energized with healing life.

But God, this all seems still like just a pipe-dream, an illusion that looks so wonderful but is not yet forming in reality in my experience. The more aware I am of my own weaknesses and vulnerabilities and failures the less capable I feel of engaging as Your assistant. Please take me under Your training and fill me with Your disposition so that I can be more effective in Your projects, in Your plans, in Your work in human hearts.

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Unity and Repentance

Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. (Romans 15:5-7)

As I look at this again (I can't seem to pull away from these verses they are so compelling), I notice a sequential progression here. It starts out with each individual person becoming willing to cooperate with the instructions from the recent verses and chapters. That means laying aside our prejudices against those who are still caught in the bonds of fearfulness and spiritual timidity and accepting them as equal siblings in the family of God.

As this takes place the next step emerges. We collectively become more and more bonded with each other in love, joy and worship of our one Father and His Son Jesus our Christ. We find ourselves having the same way of thinking and feeling as others who are pursuing the heart of God – the same mind with them. This comes about by imitating the example of Jesus who showed us what it looks like to accept others and love them unconditionally with the spirit of selfless service.

According to these verses, the purpose and outcome of this growing unity of heart and mind is to glorify God, the Father of the one who gave us the example and empowers us to follow it. But what do we need to participate in this progression to glory? I see three things listed here: perseverance, encouragement and acceptance.

Another interesting link that I found comes from Revelation 16 that also talks about a reason for giving glory to God. Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. (Revelation 16:9)

I find this intriguing. This thing called repentance has very different implications than what I grew up assuming about it. My first radical shift in thinking about repentance came when I learned that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. (Romans 2:4) I also learned that repentance comes as a gift which means that it is not something I can just work up myself whenever I feel like it. Yes, I have to exercise my choice to embrace repentance and then utilize it deliberately, but there are times when I may want to repent and not be able to do so because it is no longer an option for me. (see Hebrews 12:16,17)

So, does repentance have anything to do with what I am contemplating here in Romans? Although I don't notice the word show up prominently here, I believe that the spirit and process of repentance is described in these passages. Since the purpose of repentance according to Revelation is to get us to glorify God and verse 6 here says that the purpose of our unity is to also glorify God, I rather think that at least one of the ways we will arrive at the unity needed to glorify God is through a spirit of repentance, both toward God and toward each other.

Though it can be frightening, I think it sometimes can be helpful to take a glimpse at the alternative to obeying what I am reading here. If I choose to go on clinging to prejudice against others, if I refuse to accept them in brotherly love and resist having my heart knitted together with others so as to bring glory to God, then undoubtedly I will be found among those described in this verse in Revelation who end up blaming God for all the terrible suffering that will fall on those who have rejected His protection from the terrible plagues coming on the world very soon. At that point I will have so hardened my heart that I will be incapable of embracing a spirit of repentance and will find myself outside the bonds of unity that comes about through humility and love with other believers who imitate the example of Jesus.

I choose to embrace the offer of repentance and ask God to instill it permanently into my spirit. I choose to embrace the methods that Paul describes here that will bring unity between me and those who don't think exactly like I do. I choose to look to God to direct my ways and to connect me with other hearts who are seeking to know Him intimately as well. I choose to trust God's heart to guide me into that experience in a much deeper and fuller way.

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