God's Love

Here's a quote from this week's sermon at LifeBridge:

"You and I are never gonna lock eyes with anyone who God doesn't love as much as he loves you." - Rick Rusaw, Senior Minister

Now maybe to many people, that doesn't sound particularly profound or jarring. But it was something I needed to hear.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm one of God's favorites. Not because I feel entitled or like I deserve his love more than anyone else—I know I don't—but because he's blessed me so much and I just feel such a great connection with him.

But you know how sometimes on the Bachelorette, guys that think they are a shoe-in and keep telling the camera they have the strongest connection with the girl...those guys end up going home? It's easy for them to think they've got a stronger connection because they don't see the girl's relationship with the other guys. They only see their own. And they make a comparison even though they only see the one side.

This quote was in the context of a sermon about James 2, where he says not to show favoritism. I'll be honest, I judge people far too often. How they dress, how they wear their hair, how they talk. And at least in my head, I show favoritism accordingly. But this passage tells us not to show favoritism because that's not a reflection of God. God doesn't show favoritism. I'm not one of his favorites because he doesn't have any.

When my neighbor felt it was a good idea to blast music for hours straight from his car...at midnight...God loved him as much as he loves me.

When my other neighbor let her 5- and 8-year old girls play outside at midnight on a different night, presumably while she was passed out drunk...God loved her as much as he loves me.

When the creepy guy came up to me in Walmart and starting telling me about math equations in Spanish...God loved him as much as God loves me.

When someone disagrees with me about religion or politics or moral values...God loves that person as much as he loves me.

When the people from Westboro Baptist who give Christians such a bad name picket at gay people's funerals...as hard as it is to believe...God loves those misguided baptists as much as he loves me. (And he loves the gay person who died just as much, too.)

I want to learn to see the value of others through the eyes of God. To see how even people who don't meet my standards of lovableness do meet God's. Which is pretty backwards since he is much more entitled to harsh standards for lovableness. I want to realize that I am no more lovable—or more to the point, no more loved—than anyone I come into contact with. I want to really get that in my thoughts, words, and actions toward others.

Faith + Works

I attended a new-to-me church this weekend and I think it's just what I'm looking for. The pastor began a series on James and talked about how faith and works mesh together like gears to propel one forward. He talked about living out faith and how genuine faith results in good works.

And I kept thinking about this woman I'd seen in the Wal-Mart parking lot last Monday, standing with a cardboard sign that said "Help! I'm stranded!" And I'd driven on by.

Now I know that there are a lot of scammers today who just want to milk you for money. I heard of one guy who saw a beggar at his highway off-ramp every day on his way to work, and he'd give him some money. Finally, he stopped and offered the guy a low-level job at his company. When they got to the issue of payment, the man said, "I make way more than that standing on that off-ramp every day and I don't have to pay taxes on it." And he turned down the job.

And of course there's the stereotypical view that they'll just use the money to buy alcohol. A habit I don't want to foster.

But that being said, there are genuine people in need, and they shouldn't have to suffer because of the bad apples out there. So a while back I bought a few $10 McDonalds gift cards to have handy when I saw people in need. That way they could get a meal or a few warm cups of coffee on a cold day.

And yet, when I saw this woman in need, I drove on past her. My $10 gift cards remained in my purse, a tangible reminder of the so-called faith that remained tucked safely away behind my brand new dress. A faith not lived out is as useful as a pre-paid $10 gift card not given to someone in need.

Plus, I'm a newly trained victim's advocate for a local non-profit. And I keep thinking about this woman and wondering if maybe she was on the run from an abuser, and that's why she was stranded. If I'd stopped and talked to her, maybe I could've heard her story and called the agency to see if they could help. But instead I hurried about my business.

Upon hearing the sermon, I resolved to keep a special eye out this week for people in need, and be prepared to give out the first of my stash of gift cards. Lo-and-behold, not an hour after leaving church, I saw a man with a sign on that same Walmart parking lot corner. So I pulled over, got out of my car, and gave him a gift card. I told him to get a good meal, and went off with a "God bless you." It's not much, but it's something.

Maybe he's just playing people like me for the pity card. At least I know he can't buy alcohol with a McDonalds gift card. But I was glad God gave me the opportunity so quickly after that sermon to put my faith to action and to help someone get a meal.

Words

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be." - James 3:9-10

I admit, this verse convicts me every time. I've been known to say a few mean things - sometimes in jest, sometimes not. To people's faces, behind people's backs. This time I read the verse, it reminded me of when one of my dogs tries to lick me shortly after vomiting or snacking on a morsel from the backyard (though thankfully they've gotten over that habit). There is no way I want that mouth showering me with kisses.

And it makes me really sad to think God might have the same reactions to my praises when I've been puking up mean words to people made in his image.

Sometimes there seems to be no redeemable thing about people. Sometimes you like them perfectly well, but they're just fun to make fun of. But the bottom line is, God made all people in his image. All of them. I'd never go to someone's house and, upon eating their home cooked meal, start talking about how disgusting it is. Even if it is disgusting. I'd try to be polite. After all, they worked hard creating that food.

But I do that so often with God. Right in front of him (since he's always there), I criticize his workmanship. Then go on to praise him with the mouth that still reeks of vomit.

So this is my resolution: to speak only kind words to/about people, so that my praise is as sweet as the clean-mouthed puppy kisses I love so much.

Do Something

I'm reading James right now. It's challenging because it's very much about faith in action. It puts it pretty simply: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (James 1:22). I prefer to just think about God and blog about faith. But actually helping the orphans and widows? That takes a lot more effort.

I've also been thinking about a missions trip I went on in high school. I went with my youth group, and one of the nice things was that I needed community service hours for a class I was taking in school, so I got to use those hours. But I needed photos of me there.

During the day we dug ditches and painted houses and such. And in the evenings we helped run a VBS for the kids on the Apache reservation we were staying at. I remember the first night of VBS, I was awkwardly talking to a kid here and there, but mostly just watching what was going on, taking some pictures of my own, and worrying because the youth pastor wasn't taking any pictures of me, even though he knew I needed them for school. I was pretty pre-occupied with the fact that I needed photo evidence, so I was watching and waiting for him to take some pictures.

Finally I said to him, "Rick, why aren't you taking pictures of me?"

He responded, "You gotta get out there and do something worth taking pictures of!"

That's when I realized I was so focused on getting credit for serving that I wasn't actually serving. So I jumped in and helped with the crafts. And I chased some kids around. And you know what? Rick took some pictures once I started actually serving. And I didn't even notice him taking them.

I think this is a great picture of the way humans tend to behave. We want credit. We want glory. So we talk a good game about our faith, or about our efforts, but what we're really doing is sitting on the sidelines waiting for the credit. Real faith happens when we get out there and do something worth taking pictures of - credit or not.