Jesus

Follow Me

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

Matthew 5-7 is known as the Sermon on the Mount and there is a ton of great stuff in there. Jesus teaches on the Beatitudes, how He fulfills the Law, loving your enemy, giving, praying, and on and on. There is enough for a whole sermon series but what struck me was the 5:1 when it says Jesus saw the crowds and sat down. Jesus saw the great crowd and took a seat. He is so comfortable in His teaching and authority that He did not need to walk around and convince people of what He was saying. He just sat there and gave some of the most profound teachings recorded in history.

I am so amazed and thankful that we have a Savior who sits down. He is not worried about anything. He is not struggling to achieve. He is not stressed out about the future. He is content and can sit and rest. Not only that He calls us to do the same thing. Jesus says come to me all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Why are we not resting in Him? Why are we not coming to Him to lay down our burdens? He is seated why aren’t we?

If we are following Him and we trust that we know His will we can relax. We can take a breath. We can rest in Him. I am not going to tell you how to know you are walking in His will. He is your Savior. You seek Him for that, but I can tell you that He will reveal it to you. Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd and His sheep hear His voice. If you are His sheep, you will hear His voice. If you are not hearing it then press in harder. If you are not feeling His presence, then push in deeper. He might be calling you into a deeper level of intimacy. You also need to be in a position to and willing to listen to His will.

Why would God reveal His will if you are not going to obey? What is the point of instruction if you are disobedient? God wants and seeks willing hearts. He says that His eyes roam the earth looking for hearts attuned to His will. If you want to rest and to lay down those heavy burdens you need to be willing to obey what He is saying.

Jesus’ command is a simple one, He says follow Me. That is the whole thing right there. Just follow Him. If we do that we will walk as He walked, we will love our neighbor as ourselves, and we will love God with all our heart soul and mind. We just need to follow Him. It is terrifying and peaceful to follow Jesus. Jesus does not promise it will all turn out OK on this earth. He does not say He will reveal everything. He does not say I will explain later. He just says follow Me. It is simple and pure. It is true and light. It is the most basic command and it comes from the most glorious One. Follow Me. When we follow Him, we can hear His voice and know His will. We can trust His teaching. We can obey. We just need to follow Him.

Today I would suggest that Jesus is still sitting only now He is in heaven. He is sitting and speaking. He is saying follow Me. He is not worried or concerned about the future. He is not restless or unsure. He is not confused about options. He is sitting at the right hand of the Father saying Follow Me.

Just a thought,

Mike

Apologetics – A Big Story and Bridges

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I want to talk about apologetics today. I am a fan of apologetics but I would never suggest it is a strong suit of mine. I am a simple man and have some pretty simple thoughts. That being said I think there are some things we can talk about. Specifically today I want to look at one method called the Big Picture and another called the Bridge Illustration.

The Big Story presentation starts with something that most people can agree, namely the world is a messed-up place. This is helpful because it seems almost regardless of where people stand on their thoughts about the divine they can agree the world is not right. It moves to a modified ontological argument because it argues that man understands that there is something more and that the world should be a better place. The ontological argument in its most basic form says that if we have a concept of a most perfect being or God then that concept had to have come from God because man could not dream up the idea of God on his own. The Big Story also has sprinklings of the anthropological argument as well as intelligent design arguments because it presupposes that people believe in absolute morality and believe the interrelated complexity of nature. From there it rejects Deism.

The argument continues not necessarily with a rejection of original sin but a statement of sin choices. The argument is that regardless of Adam’s sin humans chose to sin and selfishness as a lifestyle. From there the story moves to the incarnation as the answer to the question of why if God is loving does he not intervene. The Big Story shows that God does love and did intervene. Jesus took on the sin of mankind Himself and He paid the penalty for that sin. In return what is required is submission to Jesus’ lordship (leading). By following Christ and trusting in Him to lead we can be the people we want to be. Finally, it ends with allusions to the Bridge Illustration.

The Bridge Illustration answers the question of faith and relationship with God by saying that there is a God and man is separated from God and man’s good works cannot reach God. Just as in the Big Story, there are some presuppositions but not as many because it removes the ontological, anthropological, and intelligent design arguments and simply presupposes a belief in God. The Bridge Illustration moves on to say that while man cannot reach God, God can reach man. It argues that the central message of the Bible is that God loves His creation and has done what they cannot do making a way to Himself through Christ.

The Big Story is a fairly good presentation of the meta-story of the Bible. It coves God creating, man sinning, the world in despair, and God providing redemption. The problem comes from the many presuppositions it uses. The old adage that more is less can be true when speaking to people. Whereas the Bridge Illustration does use some presupposition it is limited to only a belief in God. Which one to use would depend on who you are speaking with and that situation.

I find that if I am speaking to someone who is more science-based the fewer presuppositions I have the better. It gives them less wiggle room to argue and more time can be given to the actual topic of God’s redemption of mankind. However, if I am talking to someone who is struggling with real-world problems the presuppositions are generally shared by them and I. We both agree the world is a messed-up place and that there has to be something more. We can agree that God would not leave His creation to fend for itself and that He wants to be part of it. It is almost as if the more presuppositions the better because they build to a big beautiful picture.

As for which I prefer I like them both. I am a fan of the meta-story of the Bible because it is the most beautiful picture I have ever heard. Yes, there are details that are hard to understand but that does not dilute the beauty of the story. It is the most wonderful thing I have ever heard. I am sure it has sounded like I am against presuppositional apologetics and to a degree, I might be, but it is still the best story ever. I also love the Bridge Illustration because it focuses in on Jesus and His work to reconcile us to the Father. It showcases the majesty of God. It is the focal point of this wonderful song that began before creation and rings out that God is with us. I could not pick one to prefer. I can only hold on to both and use them at their appropriate time.

Just a thought,

Mike

Four Statements you need to hear

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

Did you know God is calling you? Not on the phone, although I am sure he could. No, God is calling and has been calling you all along. We can think God is distant, but He is not. He is present and calling. I for one know there have been times when I know God is calling me and other times like after I sin that I am sure He is not calling me. But again, He is present and calling. Not only is He calling but I like the way River Tree church in Ohio puts it – He is For, With, One of, and In Us.

God is the one who sought out Adam and Eve after they sinned. It was God who initiated the seeking. It was God who called Abraham to leave his homeland and become the father of the faith. It was God who called Moses. It was God who called Samuel. When we read through Scripture we read God calls to people. If we go back further even than the garden to pre-creation creation itself, we read that Christ was slain before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8 NIV). Because God is omnipotent He knew before forming Adam that He would have to send His Son to pay the penalty for sin and still He was for us.

Because God is for us He was moved to be with us. Because God loves us He was moved to send Jesus to take up residence with us. Jesus chose to leave heaven and take on human form. Not only did He take up human form He spent time with some really bad people. How often did the religious leaders of Jesus’ day accuse Him of being friends with and liking sinners? It makes one wonder if I could be accused of such a thing.

Moving on, God is one of us. This is the incarnation! An event so great that all of heaven sang out in wonder that Christ is born as they gave glory to God and proclaimed peace on earth (Lk 2:14). This was a moment creation and heaven was waiting for. This was the first of what I think are four of the most profound statements in the Bible that relate to God’s relationship to humankind. The first being that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us (Jn 1:14). God clearly pronounced what it means to be for someone. The incarnation is God demonstrating His great love for us. While the world is still sinning and far from Him, He has come to bring life. This creates the possibility for a second profound statement when Jesus says it is finished. God’s being for us moved Him to be with us, living like us and then dying as one of us.

Finally, we get to the God is in us. This is the third profound statement when the angels declare He is risen! The grave could not hold Him, and He is alive once again. This makes a way for the final statement which is in Colossians 1:27 when Paul declares that the glorious wealth of the mystery is Christ in you the hope of glory. God was for us and now He is in us.

FOUR Statements that changed the world!

  • The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. John 1:14
  • It is finished. John 19:30
  • He is risen. Matthew 28:6
  • The glorious wealth of the mystery is Christ in you the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27

Just reread those four statements and let that sink in. If you are “far” from God read those statements because they tell you that God is not “far” from you. If you are a lifelong saint, then read those statements because Christ is in you and He is your hope so don’t forget that. If you are a new Christian read those statements because they will be what you hold on to in times of trouble. If you are wondering what the purpose of your life is when read those statements because they will show you that Christ died and rose just to be with you. The beautiful thing about these simple little statements is they show so much about God and so much about you. So what are you going to do about it?

Just a thought,

Mike

Sojourner or Scattered Ambassadors

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I was recently asked if you can have a regular job and own a home (or rent) and still be a sojourner. Well yes of course but we have to understand what it means to be a sojourner.

I do not think you have to leave your job or home to be a sojourner, but I am not sure you can be attached to them either. I think it is partly about what kingdom you are building. Are am I building God’s kingdom or mine? Am I amassing wealth for my benefit or His? Am I desiring to see His name proclaimed or mine? It is like Steve Saint says in the Great Omission when he talks about not everyone is called to be a missionary, but everyone is called to the mission (my paraphrase). Peter writes to the diaspora or exiles who are strangers or sojourners in 1 Peter and Paul calls us ambassadors. If I can put them together we are called to be scattered ambassadors who represents Christ. When thought of in those terms we can easily work a job and own a home as long we remember where our allegiance is.

That being said some are called to go. If you are called to go then you need to go. I know that sounds simple but that is because it is. There is great joy found in following God. We read stories in the Bible like those of Abraham and think it would be easy to follow if we could hear God like Abraham did. The problem is Abraham went years not hearing from God. There are only a handful of times we actually read that God spoke to Abraham. Scripture records more silence from God to Abraham than communication. I think we have it easier because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We can commune with the divine daily. Yes sometimes God is still silent but sometimes that is because you have not listened to the last thing He said.

There is a Rita Springer song called If you say Go and part of the lyrics say, “If You say go we will go If You say wait we will wait.” We have to get to the point where we are willing to lay down not just our lives but our wills to God.

As Christians, we are called to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests but the kingdom we belong to is invisible. It is real, and it is present, but it cannot be seen which is why geography, to a Christian, is more about direction than political allegiance. We have to come to the place where we are as willing to walk away from it all as we are to stay in it. The will is what is important and what God is after. Jesus prayed not my will by Yours be done. God wants us to turn our wills over to Him. We must be willing to go when He says God and stay when He says stay.

So yes, you can absolutely be a sojourner or scattered ambassador who represents Christ. But you can also go.

I have heard so much about you

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I have this habit of talking about my wife a lot. I don’t really mean to do it, but it just happens. More than just talking about my wife I talk about my wife like people know who she is because I think they should. Sometimes I have said multiple things about her and then realize I have to clarify that Julie is my wife. It is usually just little things like Julie and I like to do ______, my wife was telling me about ______, or Julie is doing ______. I find that if I spend enough time talking to someone that by the time they meet my darling bride they say something along the lines of “it’s so nice to meet you. I have heard so much about you.” My goal is for people to love my wife as much as I do. I want people to know what an amazing woman she is. I love when people met her and see what I see. It gives me such joy to see people see the wonder of my wife.

I want to do the same thing with Jesus. I want to talk about Jesus in such a way that people feel they just have to meet Him. That after spending time with me they think “wow this Jesus guy sounds amazing” because honestly, He is. I love Him so much and I want other people to love Him so much. The problem is that all too often I get in the way. I start to talk too much about the things of Jesus and not Him.

I can tell you all sorts of things about my wife. Fun facts and figures that would make you think me a crazy stalker. I know every mannerism about my wife. Usually, I know something about my wife before she does because I study her so much. If I told you these things you would know about her too, but it would not drive you to want to meet her. You would know a good deal about her, but they would not be things that make you meet her and say “it’s so nice to meet you. I have heard so much about you.” Instead, you met her and say, “wow your husband knows you a lot.” By me telling you all the facts and stats about my wife you would learn a lot about me. You might even think I am awesome for knowing my wife so well. But that is not my goal. My goal is for you to meet her and thinks wow she is awesome.

The same goes for Jesus. I love to study the things about God (what we call theology). For me, it is so much fun. I enjoy talking about it and learning about it. I also think it is ridiculously important and the more I tell you about these things the more you will know things about Him too, but they will not drive you to want to know Him. The more I tell you about theology the more you might start to think “wow this guy really knows His Jesus.” But I don’t want you to know I know Jesus. I want you to know Him.

I want to talk about Him in such a way that you can’t wait to meet Him. That the more I talk about Him the more you think “I have to meet this Jesus.” That is all I want in life. I want others to know this same God who loves me and saved me from myself. I want people to know that Jesus loves them and wants to be part of their life. That Jesus looked down from heaven and said, “I want you.” That’s it, that is the good news right there. God sent His Son to come and be with you. That He says you are pretty messed up, but I want you and I am going to do something so big and so amazingly crazy to make this relationship work.

That is all I want right there. I just want to be so in love with Jesus that I talk about Him in such a way that people say to Him “it’s so nice to meet you. I have heard so much about you.”

Just a thought,

Mike

Faulty Teaching or Bad Language Part 2

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

In the last post, we looked at the results of some ideas that were put forth by the author of an article. They were that Jesus is no longer human and that reconciliation to the Father removes humanity. This time I want to tackle the next three which deal with emotions as it pertains to Christ, God, the Holy Spirit, and us (humans). As a reminder the sentence in question is “after Jesus ascended into heaven, he was no longer human. He had been fully reconciled to the Father and wasn’t experiencing human emotions and doubts anymore.” So, what we are going to look at is:

  • Jesus does not have human emotions. Statement
  • God does not have human emotions. Implication
  • God’s emotions and human emotions are different. Implication

All throughout the Bible emotions are ascribed to God. So, the question we are really asking is, when the Bible speaks of God having emotions is it anthropomorphic like when the Bible speaks of God having physical human traits (eyes, ears, arms, etc.)? Put another way does the Bible give God human emotions like it does physical attributes so we can relate or understand Him, or does He truly have emotions? Additionally, are our emotions as humans different than God’s emotions, if in fact, He has them.

First, just to give a clear picture the Bible does use figurative language about God. There are multiple passages about the eyes of the Lord or the arm of the Lord. This language is sometimes used to convey a nearness about God or His seeking of people. This type of language is used to communicate something about God in a way that we as people can understand. We can grasp things like eyes being used or seeing or arms used for strength, but we cannot grasp how the spirit seeks or has strength. It is something that is beyond our understanding. That should lead us to ask if the language used about God having emotion is similar language. Is the language used about God having emotions figurative? I say no.

To start with we must go to the beginning. Genesis 1:26 God says let us create man in our image. This tells us a lot because if I tell you I am building something like a motorcycle then when you come by you already have a reasonable idea of what you expect to see. You know what a motorcycle is, and you would expect to see something similar. Here what we have is God saying “I am going to create something like myself” so we should expect that whatever we have is like God right? Now let’s work backward. If I tell you I am building something like a motorcycle and you don’t know what motorcycle is then when you come by you have no idea what to expect. But, and here is the kicker once you see the thing I have built and learn that it is like a motorcycle you will then have an idea of what a motorcycle is like based on the new information. So, for starters what we have is an understanding that we are like God because we are made in His image. We have emotions and He has emotions. But there is more that is not simple reasoning.

I could leave it at that and I think that is a fairly decent argument but because there is more I will provide more. Theology places the perfections or attributes of God in categories. Why? Because we need more categories in the world. Anyway, two such categories are the Incommunicable and Communicable attributes of God. Incommunicable are attributes He alone possess and Communicable are ones He shares (for lack of a better term) with us. An attribute like Omnipresence (all present) is His alone but truth, while He possesses it to the ultimate degree, He shares with us. Omnipower (all powerful) is His alone but unity, as in being united as the body of Christ, we can share in. We can see there are things about God that rubbed off on us in creation. These are just two examples.

Emotion is one of those things. But how do we know this? Well, the most two popular are probably God saying He is a jealous God and Jesus weeping. However, because we are arguing the point of emotions for a preincarnate and ascended Christ we will skip over the earthly life of Christ for now even though I think that foolishness.

Here is a brief list I stole from a website because I am feeling a little lazy:

The list above shows us that God not only has emotions, but He has multiple emotions. More than that He is in control of His emotions. God is able to have emotions and not let them control Him. This, by the way, is an attribute of God which I place in the unity section because there is no division within God. He does not wrestle with His emotions like you or I do. He does not have to be conflicted over being angry at sin or feel sorry He hated something. There is perfect unity in His emotions.

I think one of the reasons people might reject the emotions of God is because to acknowledge that God has emotions and is able to remain in control (for lack of a better term) of them highlights the lack of emotional control we feel. We know that sometimes our emotions get the better of us and that we should do a better job at keeping them in control. To acknowledge that God has emotions is to either run the risk of being afraid God will fly off the handle at you or is to suggest you are not as in control of your own emotions as you think.

Additionally, we cannot attribute our general basic understanding of emotions to God. For example, we overuse and misuse the word love so much that when we attempt to think of God as love we uncut the real meaning of what that means. In the western world, and especially the English-speaking western world, we can say we love everything and the meaning can be anything from a fleeting infatuation to romantic desire to lifelong service to a spouse. The biblical definition of love, however, is vastly different. I like the way Charles Ryrie puts is when talking about love “love seeks the good of the object loved.”[1] Love is an emotion, but it is so much more too.

Lastly, because we have laid the groundwork we can probably now talk about the emotions Jesus has while in heaven and I will only mention one. Jesus sympathizes. According to Hebrews 4:15 Jesus sympathizes with our weakness. The Greek word is sympatheō. We could not even come up with an English word for the emotion or action. He intimately understands and relates to our weakness. Sympathy is an emotion and Jesus feels that for us while in heaven. This is why He lives to make intercession for His people.

None of this even gets into the emotions of the Holy Spirit see for example Eph 4:30. But whereas He is a full member of the Godhead He too has emotions.

We could probably keep going but I think the point is clear. Yes, Jesus has emotions because He is God and yes God the Father has emotions. God is not some impersonal force that is void of emotion who creates beings with emotions and then leaves them to fend for themselves. Jesus experienced all the “human” emotions and when He returned to the Father He kept those emotions.

We must be clear with the words we use to describe and talk about God because words are the basis for understanding and thinking. If we use the wrong words we start to get the wrong idea. It is not easy, and I have failed many times, but we must push forward never settling for cheap theology. We can never adequality explain God, but we can try to better understand and use the right words.

Just a thought,

Mike

[1] Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, (Moody: Chicago 1999), 44.

Faulty Teaching or Bad Language Part 1

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I think before I get started it is important for me to preface that I know I am a little weird. I get excited with things like theology, church history, word choices, church structure, and so on. Topics like these make me happy and if brought them up in a conversation you will quickly realize this. That being said, I also think it important to note that I get excited about them because they are highly important.

I was reading an article the other day and it was good. Nothing mind blowing but more of a comforting you can do it too type article. Nothing really jumped out at me except this line “After Jesus ascended into heaven, he was no longer human. He had been fully reconciled to the Father and wasn’t experiencing human emotions and doubts anymore.” At this, I slammed on the brakes. The brakes were hit because there are some large problems with this statement which is actually composed of multiple statements. I am going to give the author the benefit of the doubt and say they did not mean to express what I think this statement says and what it implies.

Here is the statement and some implications broken down:

  • Jesus is no longer human. Statement
  • Reconciliation to the Father removes humanity. Implication
  • Jesus does not have human emotions. Statement
  • God does not have human emotions. Implication
  • God’s emotions and human emotions are different. Implication
  • Jesus does not doubt. Statement

Of these statements and implications, only the last one has a biblical foundation. Jesus (i.e. God) does not doubt. That’s it. I have problems with every other statement and implication brought on by the sentence. I do not want to get long-winded here so I will try to be as succinct as possible while not doing damage to the importance of the problems brought on by these statements.

First, we have the question of the physical body of Christ post-resurrection and ascension but before we can get there we do have to look at the preincarnate and the incarnation of Christ. As Christians, we believe that before Christ walked on the earth He existed as the eternal Son. This is part of what we call the eternality of the Son. He was part of the Godhead along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. John chapter 1 speaks to this in detail. He had full rights as God. What happened at the incarnation was that Jesus came and was born of the Virgin Mary and became a man. He did not lose His deity but instead became a man as well. This is what we call the hyperstatic union of Christ. It means that the two natures (God and man) existed in Christ simultaneously but never mixing or diluting. He did not stop being God but as Philippians says He did not use that His advantage (Phil 2:6). Now there are many questions about this and not a whole lot of agreement on some of the questions brought on about this, but we have a phrase or word for it (hyperstatic union). That being said, it is a mystery. As a side note, a mystery is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If you tell me you can explain or understand everything you believe you are a liar. If you could explain everything about God, you either have the wrong God or you are a little too big for your britches. Either way what we see in the incarnation is God becoming a man.

This was important for multiple reasons beyond substitutionary atonement (Christ died as a substitute for us). Jesus is called the King, Prophet, High Priest, and Apostle of the faith. For Him to be these things He had to have a physical body. If He did not, then, as an example, He could not be king in the line of David. A physical body was and is required for Him to be those things. If when we ascended into Heaven He somehow lost the body He would also lose the ability to be those things because those things require Him to be and remain human. More can be read on that here.

Additionally, to deny a continued physical body by Christ is dangerously close to Docetism which denied the physical body of Christ and said that Jesus only appeared to be human. Colossians 1:15 says “The Son is the image of the invisible God” and Colossians 2:9 says “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Docetism is a form of heresy that was denied at the Council of Nicaea in 325. Now please hear me, I am not saying the author is a heretic. My point is only that we have to be careful of the seeds we plant. I would not plan the seed for an oak tree in the garden that butts up against my house. The seed is small, but it grows into a great tree that would fracture my foundation. We have to follow seeds along their path to know what will grow from what we plant.

Moving on to the next point which is an implication. The author states that Jesus is reconciled to the Father and while I have trouble with this wording I am going to chalk it up to bad writing because reconciliation carries a very specific connotation in Christianity. For us, as Christians, it especially carries the idea of being separated by sin and no longer having free-flowing relationship or fellowship. Christ came to reconcile us to the Father and God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. To say that Christ became reconciled to God would imply He experienced a time when He was out of relationship with the Father which would imply disunity within the Godhead and the whole universe would collapse because Christ as God holds all things together (see Heb 1:3). I suppose I have a bigger problem with the wording than I thought.

Anyway, the other problem with this statement is that it implies that humanity or humanness cannot be connected or near God. That Jesus being reconciled to God meant He lost His humanity would imply the same thing for us. After all the Bible says that we will be raised like Him and while this speaks to union and eternal life I see no reason why a physical body would not be included especially because 2 Cor 5 talks about a new heavenly body which is one that does not see corruption or death. This again is Docetism and Gnosticism which says the physical is evil and only the spiritual is good. This means the flesh can never be good and leads to hedonism. There is a lot more than be said about this, but I think you get the picture.

We will stop here for now and split the rest up into another post. For now, we can summarize what we have. Jesus ascended to heaven and kept a human body. He was glorified (not reconciled) by the Father and then returned to heaven again. The physical or matter is not inherently evil and when we are united with Him in heaven or on the new Earth we too will have new, but still human, bodies. Next time we will talk about emotions. That will be a fun one…

Just a thought,

Mike

Trading Glory

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking about Psalm 106:20 for a little over a week now and just in case this verse is not in your list of memorized verses (it was not in mine) it says, “They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.” The King James says it almost the same way, but some other versions say something along the lines of “they exchanged the glory of God…” either way I think we get the point.

Two other verses that seem to go along with this are Jeremiah 33:16 and Romans 3:22. These verses are good because they highlight the fact that it is God who is our righteousness and glory. It is Him and faith in Him that provides the blessing. I am intentionally not using Romans 1:23 because that is more about nonbelievers. Anyway, that is the housekeeping portion.

What I want to get at is there are times when we as believers in the Almighty trade His glory which is our righteousness for something else. Sometimes it is as harsh and dramatic as the Israelites making a golden calf and other times it is more subtle but the result is the same. The result is we trade our righteousness and God’s glory for something less. We have this gift as Christians of Christ being our righteousness and our glory. He is the “thing” inside us that makes us something different. The indwelling and filling of the Holy Spirit in us sets us apart and makes us more than we could ever choose to be. His gift to us is Himself and sometimes when we are not careful we trade that for something less. Really that is dumb. Kind of like this story…

We recently moved to Knoxville, so I can work on my degree full-time. The move has been awesome and amazing. God has been lining up all sorts of blessings. Some big, some small, and some just to show off. One such blessing is that the school provides internet. This was an unexpected blessing and will save us about $90 a month. I did not know that when we moved up here, so I had originally ordered cable from another company (rhymes with Bomcast). Today I called to cancel said service. It was easy enough but the young woman I was on the phone with kept trying to get me to keep Bomcast as my service provider. I explained to her a few times that I do not need it because I already get service for free (well I mean at least not a monthly payment) so I don’t want to pay for it. She wanted me to trade my blessing for something I would need to pay for. She was trying to get me to purchase something that had been given to me.

That is what we do sometimes. We have gifts from God and we instead fall into pride thinking we created something. We have blessings and think we need to work for more. We have faith and think work is required to earn more, and so on. We trade our glory and our righteousness for something else.

We must be careful to always turn our eyes back to the Master. We must turn our gaze back to Christ and seek His glory and kingdom and in doing so we lessen the possibility of trading Him for less.

Just a thought,

Mike

My Torn Joy

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

Joy

It was nine months ago that we go the call. It was not the first time we had received the call, but we thought it would be the last, at least for a while. “We have a little boy who needs a home are you available?” yes of course we are. We were prepared and had everything ready. A few hours later we met C. It was love at first sight. He was the most adorable thing we had ever seen. He looked at me shot a little sideways smile and my heart melted. I knew I was in for a world of hurt. Within two weeks we were ready to keep him. We knew instantly that if he needed a permanent home he had one with us. Our goal with fostering is to give 100% of ourselves to the kids because they need it. Granted we have not done this for that long but it was still our goal. So, he got it all. All the love he could handle and trust me he can handle a lot of love.

Everyone who has met this little man has fallen for him. He walks down the hallway at church and almost everyone stops to say hi and give a high five. He puts a smile on everyone’s face and brings joy to everyone he meets. At the grocery store, he is king of the isles. I’ll be honest because we have different skin tone we were so nervous we were going to get questions and stares, so we wanted to keep a lower profile. I would have hated to have to slap a fool. C did not care. He wanted everyone to see him and us. He would kiss and hug me in front of anyone. He just wants to see the whole world smile. And they do.

Today he comes back from a weekend visit and then he will be leaving in a little over a week. I am so glad that he has a family to love him and I am heartbroken that I will not see him anymore. I honestly feel like I am going to die. He brought so much joy into my life for these nine months and I will never forget that, but it does not do much to soften the pain. I wanted to give 100% of myself to him and I did. Now part of me is leaving with him. It was hard when the last placement ended but for different reasons. This is torture. The waiting for him to go. The knowing the end is near and never showing him. Knowing each kiss goodnight is one less I get but making him feel like each one is forever. I have to be honest this hurts more than I ever knew possible. But again, he gave me joy and so much more.

Through C God has shown me more of His love than I ever understood before. Through C God has shown me His heart for me. Even when he is a little punk I love him. Even when he tests I love him. Even when he is just a two-year-old I love him. Nothing will change that. God has shown how He feels that infinitely more towards me. My joy is torn just like this picture C made and then broke. It serves as a reminder of what it means to love. Love means putting yourselves out there being willing to be hurt because it is worth it.

Kids are worth it. People are worth it. People need love and yes, they can hurt you, but they are worth the risk. You cannot reach everyone. Sometimes no matter how hard you try there is just no getting to them, but we cannot let that stop us from loving someone else. We are called to walk like Christ and Christ loved Judas knowing he would betray Him. Jesus loved enough to be hurt and so can we by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I know I am going to be a mess when C leaves but that is because I love him and I am OK with that. Foster care is hard and sometimes it just sucks but they are worth it. Loving people is hard and sometimes you don’t want to do it, but people are worth it. If we just try and protect ourselves from getting hurt we may succeed but at what cost?

Just a thought,

Mike

Reconciliation, Sanctification, and Hot Glue

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I just completed repairing a table for someone. It was a good time because I like doing things like that. It was a fairly easy project. I just had to drill out the old dowels, sand off the old glue, cut new dowels, re-glue the seams, and clamp it all together. All in all, it was an uneventful project except for what I felt like God was saying to me…

One of the reasons I like doing little projects like this is because I often feel God speak to me during them. Not in an audible way but in my soul. Some of my biggest revelations about God and myself have come from one project or another. For some reason, God chooses to speak to me through my physical actions. Maybe it’s because I am a bit thick in the head and when I am working on something I am a little freer to hear from Him.

As I was sanding off the old glue I was getting pelted with hot glue bits because apparently a Dremel will melt glue and shoot it at you. This is a good tip for the future but as I was being assaulted with hot glue buckshot I understood something about God and myself on a deeper level. In going to the cross Christ took my sin and that sin was costly, and it hurt. It was brutal, and while my hot glue barrage does not compare but it did make me think. He took that pain because I needed that sin removed. In order for me to have the ability to be reconnected, or reconciled, in a proper and fitting way like the table legs the old had to be stripped away and it did not come without a cost. Now I know this because 1 Peter 1:18-19 among other verses tells me this but it is one thing to know it and another to understand it. We always have to remember that it was for our benefit that Christ died. He was perfectly fine before the incarnation, but He desired us. He desired to reconcile us to the Father. It was that desire and the will to carry it out that gives us life. Jesus desired us so much it moved Him to participate in humanity and literally put some skin in the game.

Now the second thing is that it hurts me too. If the wood could speak (and had feelings) it would tell me that this burns and it is painful. It would probably ask me to stop because this process is uncomfortable, however, because I know what it takes to reconnect the legs in a permanent way I persist. It might be painful for a moment, but that moment will pass, and it will be stronger than it ever was before but first, it must undergo destruction of the old. We are being conformed to the image of the Son and don’t think for a second that is not a painful process. Old things from you are being stripped away and torn off. It is painful and that is OK. God is trying to make you fit where you belong. He is trying to make you fulfill your purpose, but you have so much junk on you that cannot stay that way. Sure, He could patch you up and send you along, but He would rather do things the right way. God prefers to sanctify us. Yes, there is an instant part of sanctification but there is also this ongoing process of maturing and setting apart (sanctification).

I know the Bible says that our righteousness is like filthy rags and I agree but God still created you and built you for a purpose. You are handcrafted and on your own, you cannot do it, but He can. You cannot clean yourself up and make yourself fit with Him. He needs to remove all that sin and selfishness, so you fit like you should. Both Christ and we have skin in this process. That is not something that can be understated.

I am so glad that Christ took my sin and I am so sorry that I still fall short and sin. But I know that He has not given up on me. I know He is working to accomplish His good pleasure in me. I know that He has work for me to do that He has predestined for me to do. I know I am not worthy of it and I don’t even know what it is, but I trust Him. Let’s let Him clean us up. Let’s let Him rebuild us into what we were made to be. Yes, it is painful but never forget it hurt Him first.

Just a thought,

Mike