Solid Foundation

Photo courtesy of pwnzone2.blogspot.com

Since God’s love is the bedrock from which we build our foundation, we need to look at what is true about God’s love. We need to stare into the darkness that begins to grow in our hearts and search out what is true versus and what we’ve believed that is not true. It’s one of the hardest things we can do, because seriously, we believe what we believe because we’ve already weighed it and reckoned it as true.

We may add faulty rock to our foundation when we incorrectly weigh the ingredients. Perhaps a lie has been justified because we were wronged and we overcompensated for a thought we wanted to believe, to somehow ease the pain we’ve suffered.

If, for example, in high school, my boyfriend cheated on me, I may overcompensate in the part of my heart that was broken, by assessing the ‘fact’ that all guys cheat and reckoning it to be true, thus easing my own burden of heartache. I might justify his betrayal by asserting that it had nothing to do with me, or our relationship, it’s just something guys do. Or I might hide behind the ‘fact’ that all young women go through this. By doing this, I’m laying foundation in my heart that sets me up for future heartbreak and faulty baselines for relationships that have nothing to do with this guy. 

The truth is, all guys don’t cheat. So, I’ve lowered my expectations and may now settle for the kind of guys that do, because I allowed myself to believe this lie in order to protect my heart.

Does this make sense?

It’s normal to discover a protective mode early in life, and in it we set boundaries that are based on lies. As we continue to experience life in an imperfect world, we add to our foundation based on how we interpret what we’ve experienced, no matter how faulty that interpretation is.

So how do we discover what is true? Some might say that what is true for me is not necessarily true for you. That’s like me insisting that as time goes on, the world becomes blurrier. The world is a place of concise lines and beautiful detail – for everyone that doesn’t need glasses.  Since I wear glasses to see that precision, it’s a fallacy for me to assert that now the world is blurry for everyone. To remedy this situation, I simply put on my glasses.

When it comes to matters of the heart, we see through distortion. The lens we need to see truth is God’s Word. When we read the Bible daily, whether we understand it all or not, our everyday life begins to clarify, just like my world comes into focus when I put on my glasses. Then, and only then, can we build on a secure foundation, a foundation of Truth.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” ~ John 14:6 (KJV)

Betrayed By a Kiss?

The point of all this is to get us pondering. I promise, I won’t insist on the glory of “the final word” on any point.

The other night Dave took me to see The Thorn, an Easter-time production portraying biblical themes leading up to the brutal crucifixion and glorious resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It was superbly done. The makeup was phenomenal, and the set, the music, the pyrotechnics and special effects were all incredible.

Of course, many points set my mind a-pondering. For instance: Judas, did he actually want to betray Christ? This thought never occurred to me, perhaps I’m the odd man out – but did you ever consider that he didn’t?

At this point in the storyline, our narrator, Thomas the Disciple, makes an appeal for his friend Judas, pointing out that he was his best friend, he always made sure that in their travels they had a place to eat, food to eat, etc. After all, he was in charge of their money. He asks how it could be that Judas would betray the Master? Perhaps, he draws us into his point to ponder; perhaps Jesus wasn’t moving things along fast enough for Judas. Like in so many of our lives when we think God should have moved already, and like when Sarah tried to “help God out” by providing her handmaid to Abraham through which a child could be born of natural means, versus the child of promise. Was Judas forcing Jesus’ hand? Surely he didn’t believe that Jesus would allow Himself to be arrested, beaten and killed! If he led the soldiers to Jesus, he’d force Jesus to show His hand and usher in His kingdom, which they’d all been waiting on. This is a possibility, rather than assuming he’d plan to betray Jesus all along, or rather than thinking he was all about those measly thirty pieces of silver.

But God had a different plan; a better plan. To our carnal eyes it may look like there should have been an easier way. But this was God’s way, and He provides freedom for us all through that cross.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 (KJV)

Is there something going on in your life right now that you’re hoping and expecting God to do something about? His way may not turn out to be the way you expect. His way is better, though….for your good and His glory.

Pointing Fingers?

No one blamed Judas….. How odd. We don’t read of a single soul pointing a finger at him for this hateful betrayal. When Jesus was betrayed by Judas there in the Garden of Gethsemane, His disciples were there with Him, Peter even cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant. They saw that it was Judas that betrayed Him, yet we never hear of any of the disciples condemning him for doing so, or gossiping amongst themselves over how he’d done it.

No one accuses Peter for denying Jesus, either. Jesus plainly said it in front of all the disciples there at dinner, that Peter would deny knowing Him three times before the cock crowed the next morning.

Maybe they were all ashamed of themselves for scattering the night the soldiers took their Jesus away. Or did they feel the guilt of not having stood up for Him when He was accused by Jewish leaders? When Pilate himself washed his hands of Jesus’ fate, did they watch from behind pillars, wanting to cry out and run to His rescue?

Oftentimes when we feel guilt and shame over our sin and fears, we point fingers at others around us, to take the focus off of ourselves. If someone else looks small, we feel bigger. Instead of lifting each other up, we often kick our brothers and sisters when they’re down.

The disciples didn’t do that.

No, there wasn’t any dissention amongst the ranks at all. The Disciples of Christ loved each other as He’d commanded them……………………just as He commands us.

Trusting

“See, I knew it! I knew you’d do it again,” she screamed in a fit of rage, storming out of the room. “Once a cheater, always a cheater," her voice trailed off behind the slammed door.

What do you harbor in your heart – so that you can be “right” later? What do you hide there “just in case” you might need to fall back on it later?

You can’t truly trust someone if you’ve tucked that fear into the back corners of your heart.  You don’t want to be “right” later, you want that fear to never come to pass. You want to be free of it. Letting it go won’t necessarily be easy, but waiting for it to show up and slap you in the faced hinders your ability to live in the here and now.

Do you remember what Job said? “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”  Job 3:25 (KJV)

Don’t collect fears in your heart, there’s too much life to be lived in trust.

Hurts may come your way again, cross those bridges when you come to them. But the hurt you’re secretly dreading may never happen. And honestly, if you’re hanging onto that fear, you’re not living in trust, and if you’re not trusting, you’re not really living.

Pull that fear weed out of the garden of your life – and give it over to God or it may grow and consume you. Once it’s gone, you’ll be able to see beauty blossoming everywhere. A negative, “I knew it!” is a blinder keeping the finer things in life at a distance.