Dueteronomy 4:29 - Confronting Yourself with God

It is clear from the Bible that God desires relationship with us and scripture makes all kinds of references as to what that relationship is:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, Ephesians 5:25

Throughout scripture God sets up the idea of a positive, incredibly intimate relationship with God...parent...best friend...spouse. But if you are like me, you find it a challenge to hold God in one of those spots; to see God in the same way you see that parents who you have an amazingly special relationship with, the best friend that you can call anytime day or night, or the spouse that you never want to spend a moment separated from. The big difference is that those people are physical and tangible and we are confronted with them, standing in front of us, on a regular basis.

But we do get glimpses of this, moments when God feels that close and that real. This comes at those times when we are see and are closest to God, at those times when we confront ourselves with God on a regular basis and we feel the intimacy. Dueteronomy tells us:

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. Dueteronomy 4:29

But how do we confront ourselves with God?

• Intentionally look for God - As you walk through your day, see what God has done and thank God. Make it a habit so that your response to beauty, a positive event, or something that causes wonder is, "Thank you God!"
• Meditate and think on God - Maybe this is a regular reading and meditation of scripture, maybe it is a time of prayer, or maybe it is a time of complete contemplation, emptying your thoughts of all distractions of the world and focusing on the divine. Make a time of meditation a daily habit
• Involve God in regular everyday activities - Bring God into routine activities, such as eating. Say grace before a meal, using your exercise time to memorize a key scripture verse, post scriptures on your bathroom mirror that you read to yourself every time you are in front of it. Make God a part of each day, just as your would a person who is incredibly important and special to you. 

When we are confronting ourselves with God on a regular basis, our relationship grows and we see those glimpses of God in the intimate relationship that he desires to be in with us.  We will find moments when we feel like God is that loving parent, loyal best friend, our other half.For me, the song The More I Seek You by Kari Jobe embodies this desired intimacy.

What are the ways you confront yourself with God and build that intimate relationship?

Luke 15:1-3: Are you a Prodigal?

Have you read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke chapter 11? Do you relate to one of the characters in that story? It happens to be the topic of the study my small group is doing called Prodigal God written by Tim Keller. This week, we focused on the audience who was listening to Jesus when he told this story and how those people (and we) fit into the story:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Then Jesus told them this parable: (Luke 15:1-3)

As we examined the characters in the story and how they were like the groups of listeners, we came up with the younger brothers or tax collectors and sinners and the older brothers or Pharisees. The tax collectors and sinners were on paths of "do what you want" but were now returning to God because they were lost. The Pharisees were standing on the moral high ground and were so focused on doing what was right that they failed to have relationship and were also lost. The problem for this group is that they were too proud to recognize and admit they were lost.

Of course that leaves one more character, the father, who is extravagant in his love to both his sons, just as God is with us. To the younger son, he gives him the inheritance that he asks for and then when the younger son returns having squandered that inheritance and recognizing that he is no longer worthy of sonship, the father gives him a robe and a ring, signifying that he has put him right back to his place of being a son in his household. Not only does he restore him to his place in the family, but he greets him by foregoing dignity and running out to him, not waiting for the younger son to approach him and apologize. For the older son, the father leaves his party and begs the older son to come in and join the festivities. He humbles himself and begs his own son just to celebrate. To both, the father lavishes an extravagant love.

This weeks discussion focused on the need to focus on relationship. In that relationship, we will find an understanding of what we are supposed to do and how we are supposed to love. We will not become lost.

I have had these ideas and thoughts rolling around in my head this week and thinking about how that plays out today, for me, and in the lives of others around me. I have also had my Google News notifications filling my inbox with news stories about Exodus International, which is an ex-gay ministry. Let me share a quote from one of the articles on CNN:

"From a Judeo-Christian perspective, gay, straight or otherwise, we're all prodigal sons and daughters," Chambers said. "Exodus International is the prodigal's older brother, trying to impose its will on God's promises, and make judgments on who's worthy of His Kingdom.
"God is calling us to be the Father -- to welcome everyone, to love unhindered."

The organization is shutting down and reforming under a new name, Reduce Fear, with a new mission:

"This is a new season of ministry, to a new generation," Chambers said. "Our goals are to reduce fear, and come alongside churches to become safe, welcoming and mutually transforming communities."

 I want to give credit to this organization for recognizing that they were lost and needed to take a different path. For seeing that the mission of Exodus International made them like the older brother and also congratulate them on the new mission, which is one worthy of the father. I pray my blessings on their faithfulness to this new mission and that they could impact churches to make them safe, welcoming and transforming communities.

Back to my small group, one of the parting ideas we discussed was a health check on how churches were at embracing the marginalized and what they needed to do to improve in this area. It seems that Reduce Fear is on a path to help churches to do this.

Each of us can probably relate to the younger or older son in the story of the Prodigal Son, and possibly both at different seasons in our lives; more focused on "doing it right" or on our "own desires" and neglecting relationship. But it is only in relationship that we have opportunities to spend extravagant love, love that the world would see as wasteful, but we know to be the essence of life.

Let us find ways to be a prodigal, like the father in the story, giving away love extravagantly, spreading it everywhere we go with abandon.

John 14:6 - Black and White or Shades of Grey

So the last couple of days I have been thinking a lot about John 14:6:

Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Often I hear people quote this as a verse that  speaks to Christianity being the only way to heaven. And here is where I shock, possibly disappoint, or offend some of my Christian friends and audience...but I am just not sure about that. I have been considering this verse as a part of my search to better understand and possibly come to a more definitive answer on this. I want to share some of my journey on this.

I started by considering the language of the verse, particularly the word father. I had a suspicion that the word Jesus used for father was not the same as what was used in the Old Testament. In looking at a concordance to better understand this, I discovered that Father is only used 10 times in the Old Testament as a reference to God and Jesus introduces a term for Father that includes intimacy. The references in the Old Testament are along the lines of Father in the creative or in the protector sense. So this had me rolling around in my mind the following question: Is this verse saying that Jesus is the way to intimacy with God? And is this different than being able to go to heaven?

I then noticed something interesting about this verse, the phrase, Jesus told him. Looking at other versions, it says Jesus answered. I decided I needed to better understand what the question was and who asked the question. I believe that context is crucial to understanding the message of the Bible, and yet it can be often ignored. So I went back to look at the verses proceeding this one. In it Jesus is talking about preparing a place for the disciples where he is going (Jesus has just told them he would be betrayed and would be leaving them) and in verse 5 Thomas, one of the disciples asks a question:

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

So there is the answer to my questions. The person asking the question is Thomas and the question is how can we (the followers of Jesus or the disciples) know the way? Is this an answer then that applies to all people or is is an answer that applies to Thomas and the other disciples?

As I considered that, I can't help notice the phrase, no one. Now, of course this can be understood as no one period, or not one of the listeners (those the answer was given to), but I decided that it was time to be back to the concordance. Interestingly, I see reference to no one and not one, but I couldn't find an indication as to whether it was global or specific from a straight language perspective, commentaries vary in interpretation.

So what I find myself left with, and what I leave you with is a question of how to see this verse in the light of its context. I suspect that people will choose to see it in the way that supports their current belief, but maybe, this question will lead you to further study and to look at other verses to gain more understanding.


I find this to be a grey area. For me, I know that I can only understand God in very limited way, as human understanding is limited. I am reminded of the story of the elephant and the blind men. Each of these blind men experience a different part of the elephant and describe it through the lens of their experience. I often wonder if our experience and talk of God is the same, each one of us describing God as we experience God and through the lens of our experience and environment.

I believe in God and that Jesus is God and that He can and was a sacrifice that cleanses me from sin if I accept that gift. I believe that God wants us to be in relationship[ with God, and I live my life within that relationship. Can I stand here and say that what you describe as God is wrong and what I describe is right? No, I cannot. Even if I was in a conversation of only Christians, I would find we have different understandings, many areas are grey. I can not point to any definitive evidence that I am 100% right and anyone else is 100% wrong. All I can do is share my journey and invite others to experience the relationship with God that I experience (although theirs will be different because it is theirs).

Walk with me, and I will share my story. Share with me, and I will listen, and hopefully we will both come to greater understanding and love.