Love Wins

I told my teens on Thursday that God isn't afraid of their hard questions. Sometimes I confess, I am. The reason I am is simple. I have some hard questions. Questions, doubts, you name it...

One of the main ones, the glaring one for me personally, is Hell. Our understanding is that those who don't believe in Jesus (accept him as their Savior and Lord) will be cast into Hell for eternity when they die.

First of all, for eternity? Multiply a billion time a billion and it's but one drop in the ocean compared to eternity. This used to be my view of life here on earth - instead of seeing a Loving Father, I saw a tight rope extending in front of me spanning a wide chasm, and heaven is on the other side and hell is where I'll go when I fall off the tight rope. Now my view has changed, but where did that view originate? My mom and dad didn't go around telling me to listen or I'd go to Hell...It originated with well meaning Christians trying to "help" me get to heaven. That's not Love, that's manipulation.

Personally, I have been saturated in an environment (partly of my own choosing) that has cultivated in me a deep and humbling Love for my heavenly Daddy that has grown out of receiving Love from Him. As I receive his Love, I understand more about his character, his heart, his ways, his purposes and his goals. The bible is a love story from beginning to end. It's the story about a creator that desires to Know his creation. It's about the greatest rescue operation the world has ever seen...in the form of a man, Jesus.

1 Timothy 2 says it's the Father's desire that "all people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth" So God the Father, who is all knowing, all powerful, all present...fails? But wait Jason, we have free will...absolutely! But here's the problem - outside of God's rule and reign, sin runs rampant and we hurt one another. How many people do you know that have a "right" view of God the Father? Some...but most don't. Research shows that a child's first impression of God is seen through the person of their Father. What happens when Dad beats them, or beats mom, or molests them or any number of other horrific things that some men do? After Dad there's all other authority figures, pastors, youth pastors (gulp), teachers...you name it. Do they just play the cards they were dealt and hope? Do they know what's on the line? I mean, have they heard the stories about Hell? What happens if they die prematurely before they can work things out? They spend eternity apart from God? The God who stated that it was His desire that all people know him? That's just not the God I know.

The bible isn't a story about how to avoid going to Hell. The bible is a story about our Loving God pursuing us. Is there wrath? Absolutely! But always His wrath is temporary. His heart is always for his people to turn from their wicked ways so that He can be their God and they can be His people. Restoration.

To be honest, this makes me even MORE aware of my actions and how I live. Who are the people that Jesus got angry with the most? The teachers of the law who missed it! They abused their power, got wrapped up in works and totally missed Love in the form of a Man. I don't want to miss Him. Luke 17:2...- 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. if that doesn't make you double check the message you're putting out nothing will

Here's another thing - I don't think that My God would set out to do something knowing that he was going to fail, or that he'd only succeed in small part. The God I know is a better planner. He's also waaay more powerful than that. Death didn't stop my God. Why should our death stop His Love for us?

Isaiah 55:8

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

If it's his desire that ALL people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth...don't be surprised if He succeeds.

And I still have no idea how that will look or have any answers....but I'm betting on Love winning.

Living in the tension

Tension is a dirty word. It can leave us thinking of stress and headaches and problems and junk. Yet it is tension that fuels our Kingdom Theology. It is the tension between grace and the law; mercy and judgment; love and discipline. It is the people of unclean lips lifting praise to a holy God. It is God wearing flesh, and Gods imminent return. It is life between the first and second coming of Christ. During this time we experience many blessings, but none of them in the fullness that we will experience when Jesus returns. In the here and now we are more than conquerors, yet even though Christ has defeated the power of death, we are still dying. We are made holy by the blood of Christ, yet we are continually becoming holy. Jesus said that the work was done when he died on the cross, yet James says that "faith without works is dead." We pray for healing, yet not everyone we pray for gets healed. We believe in a God who sets captives free, but we know Christians trapped in bondage. Do we stop praying for healing? Absolutely not! Do we become complacient with bondage? No! Do we try to be more effective in the way that we pray? Absolutely! but it's not the primary thing we focus on. The primary focus always has to be increasing in knowledge of our heavenly Father's will. Seeking first the Kingdom.

Colossians 1:9-10 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.

We need to grow in knowledge of His will, His ways, His desires, His purposes, His thoughts and His heart. We can only do that by becoming a people who continually seek his face. Jesus said "...I can only do what I see my Father doing". He is our example and model. If we want to see more people healed, we need to spend more time seeking the Father so that we can see what HE is doing, and then do that.

Psalms 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

All that being said, there's a BIG place for signs and wonders when we dwell in the tension. Not everyone knows Jesus. Nothing will close the gap between belief and non-belief faster than watching someone being supernaturally healed, or when someone is given a word of knowledge (Check out John 1 to see how Nathaniel was called as a disciple). It's the will of the Father that ALL people be whole, physically, emotionally and spiritually. All of the awesome gifts that we were endowed with through Holy Spirit and our inheritance are meant both for edifying the church and evangelism.

Is there a place and a time for everyone in a given location to get healed? YES!, is there a time for the shadow of a Son or Daughter of the King to set captives free? YES! Is there a time for changing water to wine? YES! So the question becomes how will we know when that time is? By living a life of worship, pleasing and acceptible to the Father, by Seeking first the Kingdom, by practicing Love...and when the time comes, by walking in all the authority that you've been given as a Son. Live in the tension.

It is messy and stressful and beautiful and exhilarating. It is the tension between The Now And Not Yet. Let it leave you longing for His return.

Embrace Grace, Seek First the Kingdom, Practice Love, Walk in Authority.