Following with your whole heart

May 2, 2009 · Filed Under freedom · Comment 

From BobHamp.com

Christianity, Life in Christ. Is it an act of man, or is it an act of God? 

If we answer with a Biblical understanding, it is an act of God to which humans surrender.  God, through the cross, accomplished a great exchange, trading our need for His free gift, to which we surrender in faith.

Now try this question: Freedom. Is it an act of man, or is it an act of God?

This is the exact same question.  What God offers us in Jesus Christ is not an exalted man whom we should try to follow as best as we can.  Rather, again, He offers a great exchange where He trades our inability for the free gift of His ability. 

We live in a time in history when western thinkers are re-learning the importance of living from our hearts.  I am concerned, however, that this shift sets up a new form of law.  Now, along with the requirement that we should obey rules, we also receive a new requirement, that we should be passionate followers of Jesus.  

Here is what it sounds like, in sermons and conversations.  

  • “He gave His all, should we do any less?”
  • “You need to decide to follow Jesus with your whole heart”
  • “Will you give God your everything?”
  • “We need to be fully devoted…”

While I may sound a bit heretical for questioning such whole hearted, passionate statements, consider this dilemma.  In those statements, and others like them, do you hear anything that could not be applied to any other human, or organization?  Could you not follow a political figure with your whole heart?  Could you not be fully devoted to an influential poet, or rock band?  You see, at the root of statements like these, is the push toward reliance on our ability, desire, or commitment to dosomething.  An act of man, or an act of God?  These statements push us toward relying on our passion, our devotion, or our whole-heartedness.

This is the very dilemma that the Apostle Paul addressed with the early believers in Galatians Chapter 3.  

“Did you start this walk with the Lord by following the works of the law, or by believing (in Him) and receiving (what He did)?”, He asks them.

Then he follows with the crucial second  question, “Then do you now live this new life by the works of the law (your ability to perform), or by believing (in Him) and receiving (what He did)?”

While it is important to love Him with our whole being, would it even be possible for us to love Him if He did not first love us?

While it is important to follow Him with our whole heart, can we manufacture this whole-heartedness without His restoration?  And didn’t He “follow” , or pursue us long before we even knew it was an option to follow Him?

While our passion is a valid response to His offer, it was His Passion that opened the door for our hearts to be rightly directed.  It was His passionate following of us that made it possible for our relationship with Him to be restored.  It was His power in us that made us new creations, and it is His power in us that allows us to live as new creations.  

I am in no way suggesting that we have no role in living an engaged relationship with our saving Father.  I am however urging us to remember He is both the Author and the Finisher of our faith.  Our role is to relax and let Him do His part.  Jesus tells us, “I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give My life as a ransom for many.”  Here is how we can understand this; Jesus came to do the things for you that are impossible for you to accomplish without Him.  This covers more territory than you think.

Jesus is really really good at Christianity, we should let Him do it.

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Can we really be free?

April 20, 2009 · Filed Under freedom, spiritual hearing · Comment 

From BobHamp.com

“I have just learned that this is something I will have to deal with the rest of my life… the good news is, I am learning how to cope with it.”

I have heard this statement, and variations of it for years.  I always have a visceral reaction to this thought.  On one hand, the person usually speaks with a certain amount of relief.  At least  the monster has been named, and they are learning how to tame it.  At the same time I hear the disappointment, the surrender, as they finally give in to “inevitable fate”.  This, they have resolved, is my cross to bear.  It is easier to give up, than to fight and be disappointed one more time.  The struggle comes to an end, but it ends by putting hope to death.

Is it fair for me to try to inject hope back into this “relief”? With hope the struggle returns, but without it, what is left?

For years we have received the Message of Christianity as tasks and stances we must achieve and maintain.  Be good, try hard, restrain your urges, and believe.  As if “believe” is something we must manufacture against all odds.  Real faith doesn’t come from us, it comes from hearing Him.  Stop and listen.  It is so sad, that somehow out of Jesus’ words and life, we have once again shouldered the very yoke He came to remove.

A disease, a habit, a mindset, or any other struggle, these are the chains He came to remove.  He, Immanuel, God, The God, continually in the midst of us, reaches out to change something we perceive as unchangeable.  We look back and with our best understanding we say, “I have learned that this is something I will have to live with the rest of my life, the good new is, I am learning to cope with it.”

Jesus forgives, but forgiveness is just the entrance.  It is the open door that allows us to interact freely with the Divine Nature.  Through that open door, He now hands us the key, He makes us new.  He may or may not change our circumstances immediately, but in the worst of outward experiences, He renews our inward self.  This is revolutionary.  It means that no outward circumstance can hold us in bondage, because we can be free to connect and respond to the inward reality of the Ultimate Creator in us!

Desparately wanting to respect the real struggle of the human race, and the courage and nobility with which men and women face their foes, I still want to stand and declare:  Do Not Cope with what you can Be Free From.  Hope Again.  Jesus changed the game when introduced the power of God again into the human realm.  He may not interven the way you expect, or when you would like, but He spent His whole Life so you could be free!! Not relieved; Free.  Look again, ask Him to help you Think Differently.

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Surrender

December 12, 2008 · Filed Under renewing our mind · Comment 

My family and I spent Thanksgiving at my parent’s house just south of Austin. We made the 4-hour trek down there the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. We had a great time with the family. It really was quite restful for me.

On the drive back, I just had this most wonderful connect time with the Lord. Often, when I drive on long trips, I take my iPod and earphones and just listen to sermons or podcasts or praise music. This trip was no different.

I was really sensing a call from the Lord to just surrender. I knew there were a few things in my life that I was holding on to–things I put my hope in. And, I knew the jealousy of God was fighting fiercely for my heart.

As I drove back to Dallas on Sunday, I listened to Jimmy Evan’s message on The Power of Surrender. And, through it, God really just touched my heart on the need to let go of those things in this life that I trust in for peace, for provision, for whatever. Because ultimately, God is my source of peace, my source of provision, my source for everything.

As we were about to roll into Dallas, God outlined four steps to help me surrender:

    1. Guard my heart
    “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

    2. Take thoughts captive
    “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

    3. Speak Godly thoughts
    “May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalms 19:14).

    4. Believe
    “Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it” (Mark 11:24).

Guard, capture, speak, believe.

As I studied these four steps, I kept wanting to add a step 2.5, to listen, because you can’t really do much until you listen to God and hear his heart.

Then, just yesterday, I knew that it wasn’t a step 2.5. Rather, it was the encompassing step that wraps around all four of those steps. Think about it:

  • To guard your heart, you must listen spiritually to what’s attacking your heart.
  • To take thoughts captive, you must listen to those thoughts and discern the source.
  • To speak Godly thoughts, you have to listen to God to know what his thoughts are.
  • To believe, you must first listen, because faith (believing) comes by hearing.

So, let me challenge each one reading this to guard, capture, speak and believe, and do all those things while listening!

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