Consult the Maker
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Psalm 139:14 (NIV)
I came across the story of a pipe organ that stopped working in a beautiful cathedral in a small Swiss village. This pipe organ had pleased listeners for fifty years, and visitors would come from all around to hear its music. But something went wrong with the organ and its notes became discordant. Because the organ had been custom-made, no one knew how to fix it. They called in experts and musicians to repair it, but none could.
Finally, they gave up.
After some time, an old man came to visit the cathedral and asked why the pipe organ wasn’t being used. When they told him it was broken, he asked if he could try to repair it. The staff figured they had nothing to lose, so they gave him permission to work on it. The old man tinkered with the organ for two full days, with barely a note coming from the organ.
On the third day, everyone was astonished to hear beautiful music coming from the organ. The whole village was drawn to the cathedral in amazement at the wonderful sounds emanating from it.
Astonished, one of the listeners asked the old man how he was able to fix it when the world’s experts had not been able to. The man answered, “It was I who built this organ fifty years ago. I created it, and now I have restored it.”
In the same way, the Lord can always fix what He has made. And since He made us, He knows how to fix us. Sin has tried to destroy our lives. Our lives are no longer good and perfect. They cannot give out beautiful music. But God sent His Son into this world to bring restoration to us and turn our discordant notes to melodies.
Maybe you’ve spent countless years consulting the “experts” of this world regarding the things that are broken in your life. I want to remind you that it is God who made you, and He can fix you.
Where Does Jesus Fit In?
“ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Mark 6:33 (NKJV)
Where does Jesus fit into your search for meaning? Where does the Lord fit into the myriad of conversations you have in your own head about decisions and options and dreams and burdens and weights and gifts and blessings? As you define your life, and as you edit that definition based on maturation and experience and growth and exposures and hurts and joys, where does Jesus fit into all of that content which creates the meaning for your life? As you wrestle with the questions that require answers, is Jesus enough?
I'm talking about questions such as these:
Do I stay here or transition to the new thing? Do I sit still or do I go? Do I try again or do I quit? Do I keep the wall up or open myself up one more time? Do I love, even though the last time I loved my love got crushed? Do I take the leap or do I wait and watch? How do I handle the me that I have become? And what does the me that I have been contribute to the shaping of this me that I am? How much of who I was needs to stay in my past, and how much should move forward to who I will yet become? What am I taking with me right now? What does it all mean?
Your aging, your activity, your connections, your interests, your hurts, your value, your control versus your surrender, and the ambiguity that is created by all of these things is asking you one real salient question:
Where exactly does Jesus fit into your search for meaning?
Is He centered? Is He central enough that all unanswered questions are covered by your trust in His plan for your life? Because that is what it all boils down to, doesn't it?
Does Jesus fit in the center of your life amidst the lack of details and the absence of certainty?
The Strength of Forgiveness
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)
Your faith grows by counting blessings. Your faith grows by identifying and acknowledging your gifts. Your faith grows by sharing your witness and hearing the eternal Word of God. Your faith grows by nurturing your belief and exercising your devotion to religious practice.
Your faith grows through all of these things—but can I tell you how else your faith grows? It also grows by the depth at which you accept, affirm, acknowledge, and rejoice over how forgiven you really are.
Your sins have been washed away. Your penalty has been covered at Jesus’ expense. His blood was offered so that yours did not have to be. You and I live forgiven.
There is so much power in simply affirming that fact: You and I have been forgiven!
That fact calls not only for love of God, but for love of self. In fact, I suggest that you can't love God or neighbor without loving yourself. Maybe that's why Scripture teaches that you should love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Salvation, and the redemption that is released from it, brings forth an awareness of who you truly are in God. This self-realization comes as you affirm and accept that you have been forgiven. Forgiveness helps you to accept yourself, to get over the you that needed to grow and mature and change and be transformed. It helps you to get over the fact that you had to be rescued. It helps you realize how far you wandered from the fold of God.
You live with a lot of amazing stuff that Jesus’ presence has extended to your life, but I dare you to find something stronger than the forgiveness that comes with salvation. You can't find anything that is stronger than living forgiven by God.
Keep Fighting
You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you.
Deuteronomy 3:22 (NKJV)
You have fight in you.
You have more fight in you.
You have enough fight in you.
How do I know? Because the Lord is in the battle with you.
I don't care how tired you are. I don't care how many knockdowns are on the record for you. I don't care how many times you've already had to suffer defeat. I am certain that you have more fight in you because you're not fighting by yourself. Jesus stands with you in the battle.
One of the ways the Lord teaches us to engage in battle is by trusting our faith, even when it takes us down irrational paths. What kind of irrational paths am I talking about?
Loving enemies. Using prayer as a weapon and a shield. Waiting or remaining still when other credible options are right in front of us. Remaining silent when we know our words are strong. Staying sacrificial when we thought it would be our time to live showered in blessings.
Irrational paths include building arks, wielding slings, stretching rods, walking on water, climbing Sycamore trees, and so much more.
It's the surrender to the irrational that releases discernment. You know you are progressing and maturing spiritually when your faith makes you trust the irrational. You're fighting to live better when faith starts creating options that require belief more than strength, trust more than facts, spirit more than flesh, promises more than people.
I'm not sure what irrational task the Lord has given to you, but whatever it is, obey it—because it is your path back from brokenness.
This fight you are in—this comeback from brokenness—may not look like what you imagine. It may not come when you imagine. It may not be much like you have envisioned, but you are nonetheless coming back from brokenness. You'll know it when you ask to step out of the boat. You'll know it when you stretch that rod over an expansive body of water. You'll know it when you stand in front of Pharaoh and relay God’s message.
The Lord may lead you down some irrational paths, but He is with you in the fight. So keep on fighting.
God’s Acceptance
“He has made us accepted in the Beloved.”
Ephesians 1:6 (NKJV)
I don't care how much money you have. I don't care what kind of car you park in the driveway. I don't care where you work or what your salary is. I don't care how many friends you have. I don't care where you take your vacations. I don't care how superlative your health is. I don't care how you matriculate in the marketplace. I don’t care what kind of delicacies you eat on a daily basis.
None of that is stronger in your life than this: You get to live every single day in the extension of God’s forgiveness.
Understanding the depth of your forgiveness gives you permission to accept all of who you are. In other words, I can accept the me that God forgives and accepts. As a result, I don't need to restrict my movement. I don't need to suppress my dreams. I don't need to apologize for my ambitions. I don't have to disqualify myself from active participation in the pursuit of godly things. And neither do you.
I don't have to hold back on what I ask God for. I don't have to read His Word and not see myself in every promise or receive for myself every expression of love. I don't have to hide my thanksgiving or my gratitude or my gifts. And neither do you.
Because God has forgiven and accepted me, I’m moving, I'm chasing, I'm progressing, I'm elevating, and I am working to make things happen. That is the freedom that comes from forgiveness.
This freedom qualifies you to chase the vision framed for you by the revelation God has given you about your life. So go for it. Show up. Present your offering. Offer your worship. Pour out your gifts like perfume on the Master’s feet. Present your body as a living sacrifice.
You don’t stand before Him on the basis of a spotless life. You are there because no matter how spotted your past may have been, you have been forgiven. Forgiveness is worth everything. It's the permission to try everything that God extends. It is what allows you to claim every one of God's promises and to chase every one of God’s blessings.
Because of forgiveness, God accepts you. Accept yourself, and live for Him.
