Jesus is the Reason for the Season?

Dear Christians, 

I love your zeal especially during the Christmas season, but please note that I was not born on the 25th of December. So please do not be worried about putting me in a celebration that is totally unconnected to me. If you have doubts, just google "Origin of Christmas". 

It's your call though. You are accepted no matter what! 

If you really, really want to express your love for me during this season, love that atheist who is upset with you. Surprise him or her with your kindness, with no strings attached. 

No pressure though; I love you no matter what, just like I love your neighbor who might be celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or simply holidays. ;)

Love,

Jesus

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."

- Thomas Merton

Why do we Receive and Give Grace?

Grace is about God's unconditional acceptance towards us, because all of us falls short at one time or the other. 

For example, Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

If we are honest with ourselves, none of us floats around in a bubble of love and grace all the time. 

This, therefore, puts all of us in the same boat. Grace levels the playing field.

So then, who is going to cast the first stone at whom? 

This is the mindset from which we receive and give grace.

Feelings

Religion is about what we must do. 

Grace is about what He has done. 

It is finished and we are complete in Him (Col 2:10), whether we feel it or not. 

While feelings are beautiful, they are not necessarily an accurate indicator of our identity. Right now it is 50 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and I am experiencing a comfortable 65 degrees inside. But my experience does not alter the fact that the actual temperature is 50 degrees right now.

Cease from Striving

I'm striving to please God."

Trying to "please God" is an OT concept, because in their minds, they were distant from God. Under the new covenant, we are accepted in the Beloved(Ephe 1:6 NKJV). 

"But what about good works? Because it is all 'grace' now, does that mean we are to ignore good works?"

We are masterpieces created in Christ for good works (Ephe 2:10), but the good works does not come as a result of us striving from our insecure need to 'please God'; it naturally manifests as a fruit, because it is God in us, who does the bearing (Jn 15:5, Phil 2:13).

In other words, relax. : )

The Mystics and the Analysts

I think there will always be a tension between the mystics and the analysts. "Why don't they just 'get' it?", says both the camps.

For a peaceful coexistence, I believe the trick is not to worry about anyone "getting it", because truths are discovered, not shoved down.

"The reason people awaken is because they have finally stopped agreeing to things that insult their soul."

- Unknown

"The entire law was based on the performance of man. The new covenant is based on the performance of one man, Christ." 

- Susan Woods Avello

Mirror, Mirror.

We mirror our understanding of what God's nature is.

If our understanding is that God is angry, judgmental, schizophrenic, a conditional lover and discriminates, we become that.

If our understanding is that God is love (without any but's), we become that.

Pray without Discriminating

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:28 NIV

If we are praying regarding the crisis (which has abated for the time being) in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians, let's pray without discrimination, for everyone - the Jews, the Palestinians, the victims and the perpetrators. 

"God so loved the world…" That 'world' includes the "other" side, the side we see as the "enemy", depending of who we side with (or not) in this crisis.

Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,.."

We may love our labels, the traditions, the Bible, our interpretations and all the associated religious activities. All those things may identity us with a religion or a denomination, but love is the only thing by which people will see that we are the disciples of Jesus. 

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - Jesus (John 13:35 ESV).

Married to Jesus and Sleeping with Moses

"Preaching a "mixed" (grace & law) message is a form of spiritual adultery . . . . married to Jesus, and sleeping with Moses."

- Ted Nelson

"If we presume that we are to somehow get stronger and more capable over time, then we set ourselves up for disappointment, even despair. The truth of the matter is that if we see ourselves growing weaker and less capable over time, then we are right on schedule. Christ's resurrection power is only made perfect in our weakness, not in any illusion of strength."

- Andrew Farley

"Faith is not a decision; faith is a discovery! The love of God realized awakens belief! Faith is not blind, neither is it unconscious; faith knows."

- Francois Du Toit

Free From the Yoke of Slavery

by Bob George

Under the law we become hypocrites. The word comes from the Greek theatre. A hypocrite is not an imperfect person; a hypocrite is an actor, a pretender. What made the Pharisees hypocrites was not their faults: It was their pretense that they were righteous. It was teaching one thing and doing another. But that is what law will always produce: people who are always hiding their real selves, always acting, always pretending, and never being real. 

But what happens when we are set free by grace? One of the most common testimonies I hear is, "For the first time in my life, I am free to just be myself! I'm free to be me." 

The ultimate consequence of living under law is outright rebellion when you give up because of the hopelessness of ever making it. 

Time and time again, I have seen these people who have been branded as "rebels against God" or "back-slidden Christians" come out of their chairs in excitement and joy as they learn for the first time about the incredible grace, love and acceptance of God in Jesus Christ. 

In all my years as a Christian, I have never heard anyone say, "I've had it! I am sick to death of the love and grace of God. I'm sick of other Christians loving and accepting me. I'm giving up this Christian life." No I've never heard that. But I couldn't count the number of Christians I've known who have given up because of being under law, who have been broken by the crushing burden of trying to be good enough to earn God's acceptance, who have been mangled by the competition, the judging, and the demands to conform to some group's standards. "We'll accept you if you look like, walk like, talk like, and act like us." And the implication is always, "And God will, too." So what are we to do? 

Jesus Christ came to free us from the burden of the law by calling us to a life united with His. We are beloved, accepted children of God, who have been called to His "banquet table" to experience Jesus Christ living in and through us every day. Abundant life is not "pie-in-the-sky" or nebulous theory. It is real, and it is ours for the taking if we will only believe. Let's not settle for anything less. 

From: Classic Christianity. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. ©1989.

Is God an Abusive Husband or a Deadbeat Dad?

"The main problem I have with the mainstream Christian view of hell is that it's starting place is that God's wrath must be satisfied against sinful man. 

I think before we can come to any conclusion about hell, our starting place needs to be "God is love." God's wrath needs to be defined in the context of love and our view of hell needs to be set within the context of love. God's very nature is love and he cannot violate that. 

If our view of hell turns God into an abusive husband (marry me or else) or a deadbeat dad (some are predestined for eternal torture), it can't be the right view because love is never abusive nor does it force itself on anyone, nor would love ever bring children into the world that it did not want and that it wouldn't die for." 

- Annette Hunsberger Presley

Related posts:

The Cosmic Turtle
Love is...
My Thoughts on Raising Hell

Who was the group that hated Jesus the most?

If the Church ever desires to be relevant to those outside the Christian bubble, she needs to love, unconditionally. Not the self righteous and judgmental "love the sinner, not the sin" kind of love. 

The group that hated Jesus the most were not the "sinners", but the "men of the Word" of the day. To those rejected by the religious club, he was a magnet.

Related post: 

Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin?

Love Trumps all the -isms

Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone is associated in some way, shape or form with an -ism. Arminianism, Calvinism, Universalism, Atheism, etc.

Without love, however, our isms have zero value, regardless of how well researched we think our findings are. 

Love trumps all the -isms. 

He may not speak in Christianese, but with love, an atheist experiences and becomes a conduit of God, without him being consciously aware of it. 

Love is God. 

God is Love.