Learning to Tune In

I have had discussions with different people over the years that complain that God doesn't seem willing to talk to them like He does for other people. Of course, trying to argue them out of what they believe is generally not very productive or helpful for them, but it does raise an issue that bothers many people. I have a friend right now that has several times talked with me about the feeling that He does not know how to go about having a relationship with God, much less having a feeling of intimacy with Him. He has been asking me how to go about hearing God and I am taking His requests very seriously.

This morning while listening to a sermon as a visitor in another church, some thoughts came to me about this that I had to write down quickly on whatever paper I could find nearby. In this case it was the back of a visitor registration form in the pew and so I spent some time distracted from the sermon trying to capture the thoughts swirling around inside before they escaped.

An illustration that came to me was that the Holy Spirit can be compared to a radio signal in the air all around us. This is a constant signal that is being broadcast without interruption but is far more unique than any earthly radio signal could accomplish. God's “radio” broadcast is uniquely customized so that each person who tunes into it will receive messages designed just for them at just the time that they need it. These messages consist of directions, warnings, counsel, wisdom, comfort and encouragement – whatever is best for that person at any given moment or for any situation.

Even though the signal is custom tailored for each individual, the signal is broadcast on a particular wavelength or frequency that is dedicated for the use of heavenly intelligences. There are also many other broadcasts filling the airwaves that are not from God but are also somewhat customized for people with different interests. These are all spirits designed primarily to entertain and deceive the whole earth and keep them distracted from paying attention to the urgent messages from heaven for God's children on this world.

When people claim that they cannot hear any message from God and assume that it is because God refuses to talk with them, they are buying into one of the lies about God that are very popular on the alternate wavelengths. But the real problem is not that God is not broadcasting His thoughts and communications to people, but the issue lies ay the other end of the process, the receivers. God is faithful to give people messages of mercy and warning and help. But if we do not learn how to deal with the things that prevent us from hearing them the fault lies completely with us, not with God.

Some people are actually ignorant that they have within them the equipment that is needed to listen to the broadcasts from heaven. They may be so intellectual that they are almost totally out of touch with their own heart and so do not know how to listen through their own spirit to the spirit of other people or the Spirit of God. In this case they need to learn from others and from God how to access their equipment and be trained in how to properly operate it so that they can tune into and keep up to date with all the information flowing into this earth from heaven's intelligence center.

Other people are very adept at using their receiving equipment but are keen on keeping their dial tuned to alternate frequencies that suit their tastes better. They don't like the discomfort of convictions that the Holy Spirit brings into their heart and so they learn how to keep switching off the incoming signals from God and filling their minds, hearts and time with all sorts of entertainment designed to neutralize and drown out the many messages of warning and appeal to repent and turn to God for life and hope and peace.

Some people hear God's voice quite clearly and persistently, though they may not correctly identify it as coming from God necessarily. But they harden their hearts in resistance to the messages of truth and appeal and keep resisting until their receivers become so damaged and their hearts so badly calloused that they can no longer hear the messages being sent to save them from sin and imminent destruction.

I believe that God uses all sorts of means to reach every person with messages of warning and appeal. He may have to butt in on the alternative frequencies at times and issue warning bulletins that cannot be ignored. But if people continue to refuse to tune into heaven's frequencies and stay tuned in long enough to have their lives changed and their hearts transformed by His love, then they make themselves liable and responsible for all the disasters that are inevitable for those ignoring the warnings from heaven.

Each one of us is given the choice of how we are going to relate to the messages coming to us from the realms of light and love. Those who accept the invitation to join God's side and become loyal to Him will choose to stay tuned into His frequencies and fill their minds with His truths and His promptings for their lives. This is described best in Romans 8. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. (Romans 8:14 NRSV)

God also wants us to do something else to protect us from being misled by the many false frequencies that claim to be the Spirit of God to lead us in our lives. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1 NRSV) How does one go about testing a spirit anyway?

I think that once again an analogy may be very helpful. Whenever a person owns a computer, especially if it is going to be exposed to the internet, it is generally considered the better part of wisdom to have a virus protection program running on that computer to keep it shielded from being infiltrated and exploited by worms and viruses designed to harm the computer. But a very important part of having virus protection is to keep that software updated on a very regular basis or one may still be vulnerable to new viruses designed to outsmart the software.

Just as virus protection software needs to have its database of virus descriptions up to date, so too must our internal virus scanners need to be updated each day by spending very intentional and quality time listening to voice of God in the Bible, the virus protection bank. When we allow God's Spirit to upload into our minds the needed protection for that day from the reliable Word of God, we can be protected from the latest schemes of the enemy to infiltrate us with deceptions designed to sneak into our hearts and minds unnoticed and cause much damage to the work God is doing in our life.

We must learn how to effectively test the validity and authenticity of every spirit message with the Word of God stored in our memory bank. But when we have checked that message against the Word and find it compatible, we are held accountable for whether we embrace it into our life and heart or whether we reject it because we don't like how it makes us feel.

God's Spirit is given to rescue us from the deceptions that are all around us like a miasma of pollution. It is given to alert us to dangerous temptations that try to allure us into thoughts or activities that would betray us back into the slavery of Satan and selfishness. The Spirit is constantly working for our good, to rescue us from danger, death and unneeded pain and to guide us into a closer intimacy with God. Its messages are always available for everyone, but not everyone is making those broadcasts available to their own heart by tuning into them effectively. That is up to each one of us to choose how we will relate to the provisions of God for our complete salvation.

Confession or Faithfulness?

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 KJV) This verse is one of the most used references in my dialog with God. I memorized it as a young boy as part of my religious upbringing, but the significance of this passage has not really impacted me until the past few years as my understanding of how true religion really works has been coalescing in my mind and heart. I think the main reason that its importance has become so much more clear to me lately is because my perception about my relationship to God has so radically shifted in the past few years. It is certainly not because I think I am finally “arriving”, finally accomplishing what I was attempting to do throughout my early years of attempting to become “good” and trying to be obedient enough to appease God and those around me. Nor is it because I have finally amassed enough spiritual knowledge and experience or have gotten rid of enough sin in my life that I now can feel safe to confidently believe I am on my way to heaven. These were all unspoken goals that were assumed in my heart to be the way to live out religion when I was growing up. But these are also the main components of one version of counterfeit religion that has produced a huge crop of bitter, angry people who today reject God openly and are looking elsewhere for satisfaction and fulfillment. They are angry about the lost years that they spent growing up in a system that robbed them of joy and instead only offered impossible demands for perfection. They are resentful that the God they were taught about let them down and only seemed to provide lists of overly-strict rules to follow while their heart languished inside longing for someone to just care for their deepest needs and pains. I can identify with many of their frustrations and reasons for turning away from God altogether or seeking out alternative religious philosophies. But I chose a different path early on that has caused my life to go in a different direction from nearly all of my friends. I realized when I was a teenager that there was something inherently wrong with the religion of my culture and the legalism in which I was raised. One of my great temptations was to throw it all overboard and just go out and plunge into a life of open sin and self-indulgence so that I could return to God later as one of those people that had such glowing conversion stories that entertained us so much during testimony meetings. But something else inside warned me that making such a choice might well result in my never returning at all and only causing me to loose everything in the end. I had no guarantee that I would be able to repent at a later date and find what I was really longing for as a Christian. Something told me that Satan was sinister enough to allure me into indulging in a life of sin and then finishing me off before I would have a chance to return to God and find what I was looking for. After weighing the options many times I finally chose to take what looked to be the longest possible route to finding true religion, to finding out the real truth about God. I would choose to stay within the system reluctantly while trying to figure out what was wrong with it and seek to discover truth for myself in the meantime. During many years of living under the influences of the teachings of the fathers and traditional religion, this verse was not much of an encouragement for me. It was more along the lines of yet another demand or requirement of God that had to be satisfied before He would ever accept me or forgive me. It was this huge obstacle at the very beginning of this verse that tended to always stump me from finding much comfort or solace in the rest of the verse. It was the nearly impossible precondition that I seemed to run into everywhere I turned in religion that prevented me from ever finding assurance and peace with God. IF!!! IF I would confess my sins... IF I could just confess enough of my sins to please a very nit-picky, all-knowing God who could always find sins in me that I could not recall myself... IF I could just make myself feel sorry enough or grovel enough when I admitted my sins to God... IF I could even be capable enough mentally to dredge up every single unconfessed wrong act I might have ever committed at any time in my whole life, and then somehow do whatever it was that God demanded of me in some elusive act of repentance, confession and begging endlessly for Him to forgive me... The main focus of my life for many, many years was an attempt to figure out how to fulfill this enormous precondition to receiving the grace and forgiveness of God that my heart so longed for. But no matter how hard I tried, no matter how many times a day I confessed sins over and over – even the same ones many times – I could never find peace inside of me. It always seemed to come down to a sensation that I could never quite achieve the perfect confession or figure out just what would satisfy God in repentance that would bring me the inner rest that I so desperately needed in my heart. So over time this verse lost much of my attention. Since it seemed impossible for me to meet its nearly impossible demand for my perfect confessions I gave up trying to follow this route to God and simply let this verse sink into the background for a number of years. Sometimes it would come up to haunt me again and I would wonder just what this text really meant, but mostly I just tried to live a good enough life to stay out of much trouble with God, try to get along with others as best I could and look reasonably good in the church. I became busy with raising a family and just trying to survive financially which I didn't do too well at either. Even in those arenas I found myself frustrated, angry and confused much of the time. It seemed that God was so out of touch with the problems of my life. At times He might throw a few crumbs of blessings or rescue me in desperate situations occasionally, but most of the time I felt somewhat on my own trying to figure out what was wrong with the religion that I had and why it didn't seem to work for me like it did for a few others who seemed to be close to God and happy as well. About twelve years ago God began to work in my mind and heart in a more direct way that I had ever encountered Him before. As I reread a book that had previously been nothing much more than a written description of the life of Christ, this time I sensed something very different going on in my heart as I read each day. I sensed an inner voice pointing out many inconsistencies between what I was reading and what I had grown up assuming about God from the teaching and examples of those around me. I began to see a Man who cared about people's hearts instead of making impossible demands and preconditions for coming to God. I began to feel stirrings of a deeply wounded heart beginning to wake up and ask disturbing questions about the religion of my childhood that almost no one seemed able to answer. I began to see myself in the stories of Jesus' interactions with people and was stunned at times to perceive that He usually treated them very differently than how I expected He would or that I had been treated by most religious people. Over time I was forced to make a conscious choice about the direction of my own spiritual life. I found myself confronted by the Holy Spirit to choose between staying in the comfort zone of my beliefs about God that I had assumed all of my life, or embracing the radical new truths about Him that I was beginning to see and feel whenever I read about the life of Jesus. The two belief systems were clearly incompatable with each other. I could either accept the offer of the Holy Spirit to retrain me and challenge everything I thought I knew about God or I could remain in my current belief system and not face my fear of change. The choice was up to me. I am glad that I chose to release my grip on the traditions of my past and gave God permission to reveal Himself to me in brand new ways that I had never allowed myself to consider before. But like the last time I faced a fork in my spiritual journey, I chose not to simply toss everything out immediately but to allow the Spirit to deal with each aspect of my old religion over time and open my mind and heart to the reality of what God was really like, replacing the false notions about Him that have kept me in discouragement and fear for nearly all of my life. This has been a very long and slow process for me, but it has also been very effective in building a stronger foundation for my spiritual experience as I have examined and revised one thing after another in my search for the real truth. What I have noticed maybe more than anything else in my pursuit of what is real and true is that the most important aspect that has to change is my feelings and beliefs about how God looks at me. This has been the core issue that has taken longer than anything else to change inside of me and continues to be challenged. But it has also been the basis by which I am coming to measure every other claim or assertion about what is true and real. As a result of my complete shift of emphasis about what is important in spirituality and in life altogether, I now have a completely different paradigm in place whenever I come back to look at anything I read in the Bible. Instead of starting with the assumption of a God who is looking for reasons to keep me out of heaven, I am now living in relationship with a God who is passionately devoted to doing everything possible to attract me into an intimacy with Him in every part of my life. He is working behind the scenes and through all the circumstances of my life to allure me into trusting Him more fully, urging me to let go of the lies about Him that have frightened me all of my life and to allow Him to have more access to the deep, wounded places of my fearful, timid, wounded heart. Now He is bringing me back to take another fresh look at this verse and show me the incredible power in it that I could never see before in this text. Now, instead of getting stumped at the supposed precondition of perfectly confessing every sin before God will accept or forgive me, I see that the focal point of this verse is really on the faithfulness and fairness of God. This verse is not about what I have to do to change God's mind about me but is a window through which I can glimpse a God who is eager to save and transform me if I will just give Him permission and believe in the truth of how He feels about me. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NAS95) If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NRSV)

Atomic Water

They say that fire and water don't mix. We usually depend on water to extinguish a fire, not start one. But in the kingdom of heaven you can never depend on your old traditions and assumptions to explain what is real and true.

What if you found out that drinking water could cause a fire to ignite inside your body? And what if you then learned that this fire would not only begin to infect your intestines but would spread deep into your bones and cause you extreme discomfort? Would this fascinate and attract you to want to try out this water or would it terrorize you and cause you to do everything possible to prevent others from getting close to this source of strange water?

But in the kingdom of heaven things are very, very different than how we perceive reality from our perspective. When a person finds themselves suddenly in the strange new world of kingdom realities they find that there are many surprises and many things that are opposite of what they would normally expect from their past experience and assumptions. Here is the true story of one woman who was entrusted above all other women to experience this very strange phenomena of water that burns.

Talk about burning hot! Her body was certainly not ready to accept the heat that surrounded her with suffocating intensity. The sun blazed unmercifully overhead in the same way that the glances of the people along the street burned into her soul. The shame that she lived with on a constant basis was just as inescapable as the heat of the desert in which they lived. She had long since given up finding any sympathy or solace from anyone who might feel pity for her condition or who would be willing to look past her lurid reputation to see the enormous weight of pain that filled her heart from the many memories that constantly haunted her. No, that was a vain hope that she had abandoned years ago. Now she was just in survival mode, living as much as possible outside much contact with other people while depending on the meager provisions of a man who was willing to support her in exchange for access to her body.

Today was no different than any other day had been. Because she lived in a poor part of the world where there was no running water in the small houses people lived in, it was necessary for all the women of the village to travel some distance to a well that had been in place for centuries and fill up their containers with water to meet the daily requirements for cooking, washing and everything else involving water.

Usually the women enjoyed walking together to this well outside of town, chatting happily and enjoying each other's company while they did their work. But this was not the privilege of the woman in our story. Because of the shame heaped on her by the others in her community she did not feel free to join the others in the cool of the day in their socializing trips to the well. To avoid the stinging gossip and condemning looks from the other women, she had long ago taken to making her trips to the well during the most uncomfortable part of the day so as to reduce the intensity of the emotional pain she would have to endure during this necessary part of her existence.

By now you may recognize this story as the one recorded in John 4. This woman was a Samaritan woman and was considered about as low socially as one could get from the Jewish men who considered Samaritans to be some of the most reprehensible people on earth. On top of that, in those days women in general were not even considered worthy to be taught about the Torah, the Bible of the Jews. It was believed by Jews that teaching any woman religion was just as bad as teaching her to be immoral.

The intensity of prejudice by the Jews against Samaritans plus the disdain that women endured by men in general only led this woman to experience the greatest level of surprise possible when a Jewish man resting by the well began to talk with her. She had intended to avoid him and simply get some water and leave as quickly as possible. She was also quite confident that he would be quite offended if she even looked at him and so she was unprepared for the interaction that Jesus was about to engage her in that hot day at high noon.

When reading about the ensuing conversation that went on between these two, it seems that it only lurched from one disconnected subject to the next. But Jesus was no ordinary man and all of the encounters He had with people, particularly when on an individual basis, were usually not the routine dialogs that most people would expect. That is because Jesus, unlike most of us, was so tuned in to the atmosphere coming from their heart that He often gave answers to people's questions that seemed on the surface to have little to do with their external questions. That is because what He was saying was always geared toward addressing their real heart issues instead of playing the pretend game of shallow discussions that most people use when talking with others.

As I was revisiting this story today, something caught my attention like never before. That is partly because a few minutes after reading about this dialog between Jesus and the woman from Samaria, I also read a verse from Revelation that parallels what Jesus was talking about in John. Let me lay both of these verses out together here and then explore what really began to grab my attention.

Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. (John 4:14)

Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. (Revelation 21:6 NRSV)

Most people do not realize the amazing privilege and responsibility that Jesus gave to this woman. No other person, man or woman, was entrusted with the declaration that Jesus shared with this woman. That important information was the revelation that Jesus was the long-looked for Messiah that both the Jews and the Samaritans were longing to appear and deliver them. No one else was told directly by Jesus that He was the Messiah except this woman. So why did Jesus seek her out to entrust her with this most important announcement when He did not even share that with any of His own disciple's?

It is true, as many have pointed out, that Jesus deliberately did many things to shatter paradigms and challenge traditions that obscure the truths about God in the minds and hearts of people. He intentionally seemed to have encounters with women at a time when it was considered one of the most shameful things a man could stoop to doing. He also deliberately worked miracles on the Sabbath day to challenge the traditions of religion that had obscured the true meaning and purpose of the Sabbath as it was originally introduced at the end of creation week. This openness that Jesus had with a woman from a people despised by the Jews was no exception to His pattern of challenging traditions. But was that the only reason that He entrusted her with this vital piece of information that He shared with no one else while He was on earth?

I believe that the answer is found in the second text quoted above. Quite possibly this woman was the most spiritually thirsty person that Jesus encountered while here on this earth. Or possibly He chose her because of the combination of her social status along with her thirst. At any rate, I think it is very significant and worth examination to try to perceive the deeper significance of why Jesus chose her to unveil His true identity.

There is not very much information revealed in the very brief discussion that went on between the two before she hoofed it off back to town a totally transformed woman to compel everyone she met to come meet her Messiah. A careful analysis of this brief exchange cannot produce enough compelling evidence that would likely cause most of us to have the same kind of reaction that she had. In fact, for most of my life I have always found it very puzzling as to just why she suddenly acted the way she did and even the words she chose to invite others to meet Jesus. Obviously there was some important information missing from what I was getting out of this story.

I am coming to realize that there certainly is a great deal of missing information in this story that needs to be discovered. But that information is not intellectual information as many have supposed – more details to be filled in to explain this sudden rash of bizarre behavior. No, this woman was actually acting quite normal for a person who has just entered into the true kingdom of heaven and is now living freely from the heart instead of from fear and shame. She was a livid example of a heart suddenly healed and coming alive in an explosion of faith and joy and love in response to meeting a man unlike any man who ever walked the face of the earth. She was suddenly in love and was acting quite normal given the conditions.

The missing information is heart-type information, not head information. To perceive this secret but vital information one has to themselves have their own heart softened by the same Spirit that awakened and healed the heart of this animated woman of Samaria. But interestingly, this water of life has the effect of causing a fire inside that is in reality the same fire that emanates from the very heart of God. When one drinks of the water of life they find themselves suddenly filled with a growing passion to infect others with this healing love that is burning away all the fear and shame and guilt that has kept them feeling like slaves for so long.

The more thirsty one is the more thrilling and wonderful the sensations one experiences upon receiving refreshment. The strange part of this whole story, the really sad part, is the exposure in most of us reading this story of our lack of real thirst for the water of life. The reason that most of us are baffled by this story is our own lack of thirst for healing and wholeness. We have analyzed this story, have pontificated upon it, have extracted all sorts of lessons and truths from it, but until we begin to sense our own deep emptiness of soul that causes us to ignore anything anyone might think about us in our desperate lunge to grasp the water of life, we will continue to be baffled by the actions and words of this woman who had suddenly received eternal life.

“Because of the cross, the water of life is freely available to all who recognize their thirst (John 7:37-39). Sin, however, makes many of us deeply unwilling to accept the gifts of God. To receive a gift is to, in some degree, lose control of our lives. As a result, many vulnerable people feel reluctant to take gifts, even those from God.” (The Gospel from Patmos p. 350)

Father, please prevent me from being one of those standing near the spring telling people they have to pay something before they can taste this water. That is a spirit of anti-Christ, for Christ says that this water is a free gift. The only qualification is that a person must be thirsty. Father, make me more thirsty so that I will drink more deeply of your water of life. And make me a truthful, humble, bold witness to the fact that Your water has the power to burn away all of my inner resistance and to ignite an atomic reaction deep within my soul that will cause me to glow with the strange and beautiful light of Your presence.

New Glasses

A couple weeks ago I wrote about my close encounter with a flying missile that blasted a hole through the corner of my glasses. I believe that an angel was there protecting me from serious harm, for if it had only been slightly closer I could easily have lost at least an eye and very possibly my life with a nail embedded in my brain. After I realized what had happened I also felt a sense of responsibility to acknowledge God's protection and care for me openly and not allow my flesh to try to pass it off as good luck or just a coincidence. I don't yet understand the significance of what is going on, but I sense that there is a much deeper meaning to not only this incident but the following events that have happened as a result of it.

You see, those glasses were my very old glasses that were a wrong prescription for my normal long-distance vision. About three years ago I purchased two more pairs of glasses, one for distance and the other a pair of bifocals for long and very short distance.

But I continued to wear my old glasses even though I was having problems with the frames coming loose and I couldn't read the road signs while traveling on the highways. The reason I continued to use them so much is because they worked very well for my intermediate vision which neither of my other glasses could do for me. When I worked in construction they were ideal for seeing clearly at about arm's length so I could read my tape measure, hammer nails or turn screws and everything else I normally do with my hands. In addition to that they were just right for reading the screen on my computer and so I always used them when writing and reading posts on blogs and pretty much everything else I did around inside the house.

So when I had one lens of those glasses broken into pieces I found that I had a very difficult time being able to use my computer because I had to hold it uncomfortably close to me to see clearly what I was doing. For a few days after they were attacked I continued to use them while on the computer even though I had to peer around the cracks in the lens. But two or three days later they dropped on the floor and all the pieces fell out ending any hope of using them again.

This left me feeling a little stranded as I didn't know how to handle my problem of not being able to focus well at arm's length. I struggled to type with the screen so close to me that my hands felt awkward on the keyboard and at work I found myself making many more mistakes due to not being able to read numbers on my tape clearly or cutting on the wrong marks. I found myself constantly taking my glasses on and off trying to adjust for the varying distances that I needed while working or doing other things and I realized that I needed another pair of better glasses to replace my old ones, but this time preferable safety glasses.

When I got home from Pennsylvania I contacted the office from which I had purchased my last two pairs of glasses. They were the only place I had been able to find after searching for a number of years, that carried the type of frames that I need. So I felt that they were likely the only ones who would still have what I needed now. But to my great disappointment they informed me that the manufacturer no longer makes that kind of frame and in addition the lady informed me that she was certain the doctor would not allow me to simply buy a pair of glasses using my old prescriptions without getting an exam first.

All during this time I was sharing my thoughts, feelings and frustrations with God and asking Him for guidance and blessing in getting me the right glasses so I could work and read better. As I am getting in the habit of doing about most things, I simply discussed everything with Him as I went along, but I was somewhat surprised at how providential everything happened in this situation. There were simply too many “coincidences” happening to believe that there was not divine influence working just out of sight in how my new glasses came to be provided for me. Once again I feel obliged to acknowledge and praise Him for what to some might seem like little blessings. But to God everything is important when it comes to taking care of His children. What He wants in return is for me to have a spirit of gratitude awakened and exercised so that the blessings He provides become tools to mature and strengthen my character.

The kind lady at the office, Chris, who was very helpful promised she would try to find me the right frames. She said she would make some phone calls to see if she could locate any leftover frames that might not have been sold yet by the manufacturer or see if she could locate any other company that might sell similar ones. A few days later she left a message on my answering machine that she was sorry to inform me that she had not had any luck finding any frames like what I wanted and that I should just come in and see what else was available. Then about five minutes later she called again and left another message saying that in the intervening time she had discovered one pair of frames identical to what they had sold me previously that had been sent to her without notice evidently by the factory rep. I could come in anytime and get the process going for a new pair of glasses.

That day I had left work early because my boss was not feeling well. That is rather unusual but I later felt was also providential. Since I still had about an hour before they closed I ended up having enough time to run in and provide them with what they needed. But I am getting a little ahead of myself.

As soon as I heard her message upon arriving at home I called her back to discuss my options. Again she informed me that she was very certain after working there for 17 years that the doctor would refuse to let me simply get a copy of my old glasses without getting another eye exam for intermediate distance vision. I prodded her at length to ask the doctor for a waiver but she was adamant that she knew what his answer would be already. So we began to discuss when I might be able to set up an appointment for an exam so I could use the new frames that had mysteriously shown up at the office.

It became clear that the schedule of their office and my work hours preempted me from being able to schedule an exam when I was normally off work. Even though they were open for about an hour after I quit work their office is nearly 45 minutes from where I work and the doctor leaves the office an hour sooner than closing time anyway. So setting up an appointment without taking off work, which would cost me even more money, became very problematic.

She then suggested that I come in on Saturday since they are open then. I told her that Saturday was unavailable and she asked if I work on Saturday also. I then decided to share with her the reason I do not work or conduct any kind of business on Saturdays. I explained to her that I “keep” that day which she seemed to somewhat understand except that it seemed strange as far as which day I “kept”. I then told her that nowhere in the Bible does it talk about keeping Sunday holy but it is very clear that the seventh day is the Sabbath and that those who follow God all the way will keep it holy as He asks them to do in obedience and loyalty to Him.

At this point she said something about getting in too deep and that she was a “heathen” anyway so she wouldn't understand stuff like this. I assured her that it was no problem and that feeling like a heathen was not something that might make me feel any different about her. I told her that I was simply sharing facts of reality with her and what my convictions are.

I then asked her if there were any evening appointments open on Saturday. At this she was quite surprised and asked me what difference that would make if I was unable to come in on Saturday already. Then I explained to her that according to God's perspective each day begins at sundown so Saturday night is not part of God's Sabbath. She thought that was very strange as well. “Why would a day start with the night?” she asked.

I told her that if she read Genesis it would tell her that when God created the world at the very beginning, each day is described as the evening and the morning were the first day... the second day etc. That tells us that the dark part of the day comes first and the bright part of the day comes afterward.

At this point she said that this all sounded a bit strange but what should we do about getting an appointment set up. Again I urged her to talk with the doctor and at least ask him if I could simply bring in my old lenses including the broken pieces and let them make new ones from that prescription. I said, “tell the doctor that it is simply impossible for us to coordinate our schedules, so we just have to do it this way.” She then replied that he would probably say it was impossible too and nothing would happen.

Then she told me to hang on while she went to get my file and look over my history and exam information with them. After a long wait she came back to the phone and began to share with me in amazement what had just happened. She told me that she had just talked with the doctor on his way out of the office and that he had agreed to let me have the new glasses made from my old prescriptions after he looked over all the information and compared it with my most recent exam results. Immediately I sensed that God had once again intervened and that I was watching Him at work in real time.

I told her that I would get my old glasses and come in right away before they closed so I could let them get started as soon as possible. I took in the broken pieces and helped her figure out where they came from in the old frames while she checked them on her instrument. I wanted to share with her my sense of how much God was involved in this whole affair but didn't quite know how to do it effectively. So I just left it in God's hands and decided that it was His job to take what I had already shared with her and use it however He wanted in the future.

The next afternoon while I was working I shared with a coworker what had transpired and told him that I was expecting a phone call from the office telling me that I could come in and try out some temporary lenses as she had told me they would do. About two minutes later I received a call from Chris and she told me that the glasses were ready for me to pick up. They were completely finished with no testing necessary.

Again I was filled with gratitude and even a sense of awe that God was so involved in caring so efficiently for my need for new glasses. It is the awareness of His involvement that is so encouraging even more than having new glasses to make it easier to work and write and read. After work I drove over to the town where the office is and picked up my new glasses. I was thrilled at how well they meet my requirements. Now I can once again see at the distance that I need for so many things I do, and with the doctor's input with a few tweaks on the numbers they seem even better than my old ones. I repeatedly expressed my gratitude to the receptionist and asked her to share my appreciation with the doctor as well.

This morning as I woke up I realized that there is likely something much deeper in this story that what I am yet seeing spiritually. I realize that there are things about my life, my spirit and my relationships that are like the fuzziness that was causing me so many problems when I lost my old pair of glasses. Things may be clear at very close range or far away at times, but my biggest problems in my spiritual life are often with my social interactions with others, my intermediate focal length. I have a very difficult time relating properly at times to those I interact with because things are so fuzzy in my perception of what is going on inside of them. I definitely need a new pair of spiritual lenses to help correct my faulty vision in this part of my life.

But I also sense that maybe God guided every detail of this process of getting new glasses very quickly to assure me that He will do the same for me in my spiritual weak areas as well. He knows all about my fuzzy vision in the way I see others through selfish, pride-based thinking. I do try to see others through heaven's eyes but it always seems to be such a struggle. I really want new lenses so that I don't have to constantly have to try to fight my resentment, bitterness or critical assumptions about them. I want to have the nature of Christ living in me so so thoroughly that my first reaction is one of compassion, forgiveness and love instead of judgment or criticism.

But just like my natural eyes need corrected vision that I cannot do for myself, my spiritual eyes need the corrective lenses of heaven to cause me to see others from a heart like Jesus instead of with the pride and near-sighted vision that I have known far too long. I pray that God will quickly give me new glasses so that my spirit and witness will always be an honor to His reputation and bring glory to His name.

Rightousness of Christ Revisited

Why is it said that the righteousness of Christ is the only safe foundation on which we can build our spiritual experience?

What does it really mean anyway? It can't simply mean to just believe that Jesus was perfect and righteous, can it? I am sure that the demons believe that Jesus was righteous as far as His behavior went, but that belief is not going to save them.

What are the alternatives to believing in the righteousness of Jesus alone that are so dangerous?

What does it really look like for a person to believe this truth? How would it affect their life and their thinking?

What parts of a person's psyche need to be involved in this belief?

One thing that I have been slowly learning over the past few years is that at least part believing in the righteousness of Christ alone for salvation means to reject all open or secret ideas that involve thinking that somehow I can contribute to the righteousness that earns me a right to enter into heaven. In the qualifying robe (which in the Bible represents righteousness) that is needed for each person to enter into the joy of the wedding feast, there cannot be even one thread of human devising or that person will be disqualified from participating in the feast.

Is this an arbitrary rule by a nit-picking God looking to keep as many people out of heaven as possible? Or is this kind of thinking itself a clue of the presence of a lack of belief in the righteousness of Jesus?

Our assumptions about what this teaching means really is greatly dependent on the angle from which a person chooses to view all of these things. And the angle of perception is determined by what our preconceptions are about how good and fair God is, especially what we believe deep in our hearts that may often be heavily masked by our professed beliefs or our church's organized and predigested doctrines. We may have convinced ourselves through years of professing belief and outward practice of saying the right answers to please those around us, that we think we really believe that God is righteous. But our motive for saying these things may be more from fear of saying the wrong answer, not because the answer resonates in agreement with how our heart feels deep inside.

But one thing I have been coming more and more aware of over the past few years is that the belief that is needed for me to be saved is definitely not primarily an intellectual assent or acknowledgment of factual truths about God but is much more involved in having my heart and mind congruent and synchronized together in their beliefs about God. And I am observing more and more that there are millions of people who are secret believers in the real truth about God who don't even know yet that they are believers. Outwardly they may even seem hostile to religion, but that is because the religion they have seen is so mis-representative of the truth about God, and in their heart they know He must be much better.

Now I am also beginning to perceive that this issue of believing in the righteousness of Christ alone is also subject to update just as my perceptions of why Jesus died are being radically updated and revised. If Jesus did not come to appease an angry God and run interference between us and the Father to keep Him from being mad at us, as most Christians assume and teach so widely, then most all the assumptions about the cross as taught in popular Christianity fall in disarray on the ground and I have to discover for myself the real reasons that Jesus came to earth to live and die and be resurrected.

And parallel to this I also have to discover for myself the real issues involved in this doctrine of the righteousness of Christ alone. Just as Jesus was not here to change the Father's heart about us but to change our hearts about the Father, I am now starting to see that my heart's opinions along with my intellectual ones about how authentically righteous both Jesus and God really are lies along the very same path of reforming my opinions about religion, the Bible and what is really truth.

Since it is clear that Jesus came to reveal the heart of the Father to humanity, not to change the heart of the Father toward humanity, then Jesus and the Father both feel exactly the same way toward us and have all along. When I choose to fully embrace that fact and to change my opinions, especially at the heart level, about how God feels about me and how radical He is in trying to bring me back into safe harmony with His dangerous and passionate presence of love, then I am actually believing in the righteousness of Jesus. For the righteousness of Jesus implies by association the righteousness of God as well.

So what does this really mean anyway? What does it mean to believe that both Jesus and God are righteous? What really is righteousness?

One thing that is becoming more and more clear to me is that righteousness is not based on behavior and performance. Those are symptoms of righteousness, fruits of righteousness, not righteousness itself. So to focus on the acts and performance of Jesus while living on this earth as a human and thinking that those things constitute righteousness is to miss the main point and to view reality through skewed lenses. It also creates the atmosphere that promotes legalism which is the counterfeit and enemy of real righteousness. Trying to be righteous enough to get into heaven is based on a secret belief that God in some way is not totally righteous Himself, even though that is very difficult to understand. But it implies many things about salvation that are perversions of the real truth.

That righteousness is a precondition for any person to enter heaven is a solid fact of reality. No one can ever enter into the presence of God and survive if they are not totally cleansed of all sin. But a proper understanding of the true meaning of each of these words is essential or the counterfeit ideas are quick to creep in and distort our thinking and reinforce the many false assumptions about God and about salvation that we have been immersed in for all of our lives and that permeate almost all of religion.

Sin, like righteousness, is not performance oriented but is a condition or attitude of the heart. The “sins” that we typically believe are the definition of what we think sin is are only symptoms of an underlying condition of sin in the heart. Sin is an attitude of independence from God, a desire and choices based on that desire, to live apart in any way from the perfect design on which all the universe was created. It is choosing to resist living in total dependence on God for everything.

So when I believe in the righteousness of Christ alone as the basis for my salvation, I also need to accept the fact that I am completely incapable of having a pure motive of any kind untainted with selfishness (which is the essential core of sin). Only Christ exemplified a nature completely free of all selfishness in every detail. And the opposite of selfishness is pure love.

So the only way I will ever be prepared to enter into heaven is to have the presence of Jesus and His Spirit of totally selfless love living so thoroughly inside of my heart that it will displace all of the selfishness of my flesh that wars against the impulses that Jesus inspires within me.

Believing in the righteousness of Jesus alone will also mean that I will let go of all the lies about how I think the Father views me that are contrary to the reality that Jesus came to show me about the Father and His attitude towards me. It is an acknowledgment that only Jesus is capable of revealing the total fairness, justice, mercy, love, forgiveness, compassion and perfection that is the identity of both Him and His Father. And when I allow Him full access to every part of my own heart and life, His perfect righteousness has the power to displace every lie that has been embedded in my mind, heart and soul due to the sinfulness of my human nature.

What I am slowly learning is that this is the real reason Jesus came to die on the cross. It was not to change God's heart toward us in the slightest, for God's heart was already in Christ reconciling us to Him. No, this glorious revelation on the cross was completely designed to change my mind and heart about the Father and to embrace the fact that only God is really righteous, totally unselfish and is not arbitrary, vindictive or lacking in patience, mercy or anything else He has revealed about His goodness. And embracing this truth will force us to rethink what really happens in hell when all of creation will finally meet its Maker. For our beliefs about what really happens in hell are some of the surest indicators of what we really believe about the righteousness of God.

If we believe that God executes sinners using force and vengeance as we think of it, then that belief will be incongruent with our claim that God alone is righteous. Instead of testing our doctrines against the righteousness of God, we change our interpretation of the word righteousness to fit our theology and our doctrines of hell and then call that the mystery of God, His strange work. But what we are really doing is hiding all sorts of terrible implications just under the surface of our teachings.

But when we really understand and embrace the real truth about righteousness and then understand how that reveals the real heart of the Father through Jesus Christ, then our ideas about what happens in hell as well as many other interactions we have with God here in this life will be radically altered, updated and will become congruent will all the other truths that are more plain to us even now.

What we need is a revival of true godliness in its original sense. We must have a revelation of the true glory of God, His perfect, selfless and consistent character of love, mercy, grace and justice that are never out of harmony or in conflict with each other. We need to understand the real truth about what righteousness really means so that its attractiveness will become so obvious that every honest, sincere heart will embrace it with enthusiasm and eagerness.

God, send us the light!

Some other time I want to explore what 1 John 1:9 really means in relation to understanding the truth about the righteousness of Christ.