“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  — Romans 5:8

At a recent business awards dinner, the winner of the top award was asked by the emcee what drove him to succeed as a businessman.  The winner replied, “Fear of failure. . . . I just cannot fail.”

He’s not alone.  To some degree or another, fear of failure is a motivating force for us.  No one enjoys the humiliation and negative consequences that come with failing to meet a standard, whether it is set by ourselves or someone else.  Which makes the love of Christ all the more spectacular.  The reality is that we all have failed and will continue to fail.  None of us is perfect.  Jesus knows that.  He knows every failure in our past, and he knows the failures that await us in the future.  The disease of sin will never let us live up to the perfection of God — that is failure of cosmic proportions.  Despite knowing all this, Jesus still chose to die for us.  Yes, all our failures — past, present, future — were known to him when he took his place on the Cross.  Not only did Jesus die in spite of our failures, but he died because of our failures so that we can be made perfect in God’s eyes.  That’s how seriously God loves us.

Let us be driven not by fear of failure, but by gratitude for grace.

There’s a line from David Crowder’s song How He Loves Us that’s been staying on my mind:

When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

I’ve been feeling kind of down lately.  There’s no one specific reason; just the combined weight of various burdens, I guess.  These lyrics remind me of what will lift me out of my doldrums.  “Afflictions eclipsed by glory” — yeah.  I’ve experienced that before.  I can remember times when my outlook was grim like it is now, and then God allowed me to see His glory.  All I could think of then was Him, not me, His love for me, not my self-pity.  I’d like to get to that place again.  Any time now . . .

P.S.:  Check out Crowder’s new album, Church Music! 

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.  When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy and went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  — Matthew 13:44

What’s the value of knowing Christ?  For some, being a Christian is like purchasing an insurance policy — a guarantee that life after death will be spent in heaven.  That’s not bad, but no one ever gets excited about insurance.  Try singing the praises of your auto insurance policy sometime, and see if others won’t call you looney.

Jesus explained that citizenship in the kingdom of heaven is precious. Priceless, in fact.  Like a a field containing hidden treasure, the kingdom of heaven is worth giving up everything we have that we might possess it.  Why?  Not just because of the kingdom of heaven itself.  It’s the King of the kingdom that matters most!  He is the one who gives us a new life that we can start living immediately.  He is the one who frees us from the grip of sin.  He is the one who gives us guidance and counsel in the midst of chaos.  There’s nothing sweeter than knowing the King who graciously loves us.  Now, that’s worth singing praises about!

“Do you not know?  Have you not heard?   The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.   He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”  — Isaiah 40:28

When starting a program of strenuous exercise, it’s a good idea to do it with a partner.  Better yet, geta  partner with more endurance than you so that you will have someone to motivate you when you’re ready to quit.

Isaiah 40 speaks of God as the perfect partner.  In the chapter, we find the people of Israel in a woeful state.  Because they fell away from God, he withdrew his protective hand, and they were conquered by other nations and exiled from their homelands.  No doubt hope was in short supply.  But God tenderly reminded His people that He is the everlasting God.  He does not grow tired or weary, and he has a plan.  If they put their hope in Him, they too would renew their strength.  “They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  Isaiah 40:31.   God was reminding His people that he ran alongside them.  From that, they should draw hope.

Life is the ultimate endurance test.  In times when you’re drained of energy and hope, who will motivate you then?  Have you asked God to be your partner?  Will you draw hope from him running alongside you?

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  — John 4:24 (NASB)

The majesty of God is evident in things all around us — take in the beauty of a sunrise, for example — but oftentimes we are oblivious to it.  But then there are moments when the enormity of God hits us at a gut level.  Then we realize how great God is and how utterly small and flawed we are in comparison.

We need such moments of epiphany to learn what kind of worship God deserves.  How could we ever adequately worship a God who is flawless us in every way?  The word “worship” might evoke thoughts of singing or engaging in some kind of ritual, but worship is so much more than that.  Singing songs of praise does not begin to be worship God in the way he deserves.  Nor does taking part in ceremonies or keeping religious rules.  Worship by human effort is, ultimately, human.  Worship fit for God is inspired by the Spirit of God.  Complete submission to the Spirit is what molds us into instruments of worship fit for the King.

“Now remain in my love.”  — John 15:9b

Most decisions we face each day present us with choices that have either loving or unloving implications.  Which will we choose?  Jesus counsels us to remain in his love.  Remaining in his love is different from having syrupy feelings for Jesus.  Jesus is presenting a choice of residences.  We could live in a world ruled by hatred and brokenness.  That is the realm of sin.  Or, we could live in a world where God’s unconditional love is the governing standard.  That is where Jesus resides.  Jesus advises us to live in his world, and not just that, but to remain there.

So when enemies provoke us to respond in anger, remain in his love.  When we are tempted to further our interests at the expense of others, remain in his love.  In times when our faith in God’s goodness is attacked, resolve to remain in his love.  You might not feel like it.  In the moment, you might want to live elsewhere.  But really, there is no better place to be than God’s love.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”  — James 1:17

A person’s idea of a blessing might be very different from God’s.  While waiting for a blessing to come, one might dream of what the blessing will be like.  “Oh, it will come in this way,” or “God must bless me in this area of my life or I shall not be satisfied.”  Be careful of fantasizing about how God will bless, down to the color of the gift wrap and the ribbons, so to speak.

God gives good and perfect gifts.  What makes a gift perfect is usually beyond our ability to grasp.  Human notions of blessing are like child’s play to an infinite God.  The intensity of desire for a certain blessing can hinder our ability to evaluate objectively whether the blessing we want (and the way we want it) is truly good.  Thankfully, God will  bless us a way that is good to the core, not necessarily in the way that we want.  It might be that the blessing, to be perfect, must come from a direction you did not expect.  The timetable for receiving the gift could be longer than what you consider ideal.  It might even be His plan to bless you in an area you did not think you were in need because He knows this blessing must come before the one you crave.

The key is this: Focus your anticipation not on the gift, but on the goodness of the Giver.

On my walk in the neighborhood park this afternoon, I spotted a father picking up his son from what appeared to be basketball practice.  The kid was about 10 years old.  He was dressed in a snazzy outfit, complete with jersey and droopy basketball shorts.  I can only imagine how much the kid wanted to be like his favorite basketball star (I couldn’t tell which basketball player’s name was stitched on his jersey).  The kid walked with a swagger, projecting about as much bravado as a 10-year old could muster.  As father and son walked side by side, I saw the father place his hands on son’s shoulder.  “I’m proud of you,” the father’s gesture seemed to say.  The son responded by nudging his head ever so slightly into his father’s side in an embrace.  His father’s approval gave him more confidence than a jersey could ever inspire.

That got me thinking — how often do we act like the son did?  In comparison to our heavenly Father, aren’t we just like powerless children?  Yet, we try to build up our self-confidence in artificial ways.  We puff out our chests, tout our titles, dress ourselves in the accouterments of power and wealth.  We work hard to get others to like us.   We feed on their approval.  None of that actually works.  In the end, it’s the approval of our heavenly Father that makes us confident of who we are.  Thank God that if we receive Christ as Savior, God looks upon us and sees Jesus.  Does He approve of Jesus?  Oh, you better believe it.

“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait for the LORD, be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”  — Psalm 27:13-14

What inspires confidence in David (the psalmist) to wait for the Lord?  For one thing, his focus was not on what he was waiting for, but who he was waiting on: the Lord.  David knew in his heart of hearts that the Lord is good without fail; that the Lord answers prayers in this life (“the land of the living”); and that the dependability of the Lord is as solid as a mighty fortress.  David’s intimate knowledge of God’s character convinced him that his patience is worthwhile.

Maybe you are in a situation that requires you to exercise patience.  If so, don’t preoccupy your thoughts with the object of your wait.  Focus, as David did, on the goodness of the Lord.  Get to know him better.  Confidence in His goodness will inspire you to “be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

CNN.com reported this story about Lisa Gibson, the sister of a victim of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, welcoming Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi to the United States during his visit this week.  You read that right.  Libya formally admitted responsibility for the bombing.  Gibson lost her brother in the attack.  Here she is welcoming the leader of the country that admitted killing her brother and many others.    This is an amazing demonstration of forgiveness.

Why did she do it?  Some explain it away as a way to grieve over her loss, according to the article.  Gibson has another explanation:

Gibson said she is motivated by her Christian faith and one of its overriding tenets — forgiveness. However, she added that she isn’t exonerating anybody.

“As a Christian, I need to forgive you. Only God knows if you are responsible,” she said.

***

She wrote a letter of forgiveness to Megrahi a few years ago and she said he wrote back to say he was sorry for her loss.

“At the heart of terrorism is hate and the only way to effectively battle that is with love,” she said.

How inspiring!  I love hearing stories of Christians who earnestly put the Word of God into action.

In case you didn’t get it above, here’s the link to the story again.