Though it was an uncomfortable moment, two lessons were ingrained into my mind because of this event.  The greatest commandment Jesus gave us was to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  I realized why the love of possessions is such an evil in the Kingdom of God.  When I place my possessions as idols, then I cannot love my neighbor as myself, because I’m loving my possessions as myself, resulting in people coming second to things.  When we ignorantly believe that all we have belongs to us, then we start to identify our value through the possessions we “own.”  And of course the logical step following that identification is to use our energy and time and money to protect those possessions, because if they lose their value, then we lose our value along with them!

But what’s so wonderful about the world that God created is that we are to put HIM first and love HIM with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind.  We give God the greatest value in our lives, because through Him all things were made and in Him is life!  And when we put God first in our life, then we begin to identify ourselves through HIS eyes, and we see that we are made in HIS image!  And we give God our energy and time and money because we love Him and we realize it all came from Him and is His anyway, but we don’t have to worry about protecting God for fear of risking depreciation, because God will never lose His value.  The only risk of loving God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind is that we surrender our will to His, and when he tells us to go, we go.  When he tells us to give, we give.  When he tells us to serve, we serve.  When he tells us to pray, we pray.  When he tells us to fast, we fast.  When he tells us to preach, we preach.  We give our ALL, and we say for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain!

And this is where the second commandment comes in so easily.  When we love God and obey God, when we live with the fear of the Lord in our hearts, we tenderly and humbly see that our neighbor is also made in the image of God.  We see that those who have rejected God are like lost sheep who need to receive the mercy and love of their Shepherd.  We see that God loves His creation, and because we love Him, we have a deep respect and love toward those which he has created.  We see the likeness of God in our neighbor, and we recognize that we too are a humble creation, a pot in the Potter’s hands.

The second lesson I took away from this experience is that from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.  If my heart is full of bitterness and rage and idolatry and selfishness, then when my heart overflows, my mouth will speak these things.  If my heart is full of the grace and compassion and the fruit of a life living in step with the Holy Spirit and full of His fruit, then when my heart overflows, my mouth will speak His truth and His life.

Father God, You are worthy of all my praise and honor and thanksgiving and worship.  I’m reminded today of how deadly idols can be.  Please remove the idols in my life.  Reveal to me the things that I exalt over people and over You so that I may crush them in Jesus’ name!  Fill me with your Spirit.  I want my cup to run over with the power of the Holy Spirit.  I put You above all in my life.  Lord, bless the man who cussed me out today.  Reveal your truth and love and grace to him.  Turn his life around in such a way that when his heart overflows, his mouth speaks Your blessing and love to others.  Teach him what it is to be slow to speak and slow to become angry.  Thank you for being Emmanuel, God with me today and revealing truth to me in the midst of an unsettling encounter.  Lead me into Your path and Your way and correct me when I stray.  Deliver me from the desire to seek revenge.  I surrender all to You.  May Your name be exalted and glorified from the earth below to the heavens above!  You reign, Almighty God!  Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!  To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!  Amen!

Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise YHWH: “YHWH looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” So the name of YHWH will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the people and the kingdoms assemble to worship YHWH. — Psalm 102:18-2

One disclaimer: I do not intend to compare our experience at SOS with the experience of the missionaries who live in other countries for months/years at a time.

When I was a kid growing up in the Baptist church, we had a lot of missionaries who would come through the church and preach on Sunday evenings.  I don’t remember much about their various countries, stories, sermons, or even names.  One thing, though, that always stood out to me was the discussions about their re-entry to America and the American way of life.

While we were not serving for a long period of time in a remote third-world country, re-entry for me has been somewhat of a challenge.

Not from a physical perspective.  We still speak English, still drive our cars, etc.

From a spiritual perspective it has been tough.

During the week at SOS, we prayed alot.  (Standing on a roof, trying to hang the piece of lap-board that has now been cut for the third time and still doesn’t fit evokes a prayer response.)

We worshiped alot.

We spent time in the Word.

We grew our faith.

Coming home, we didn’t have that constant state of being in God’s presence.

Re-entry, from that perspective, has been a challenge.

As a people of God, we are called to continually dwell in the presence of God.  Yet, we don’t always succeed (or in some cases even know how to) in doing that.

Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians that we must put on the full armor of God and “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Ephesians 6:18 NIV).

Paul gives us some further instructions in 1 Thessalonians 5 to aid us in living continually in God’s presence:

1. Be joyful always
2. Pray continually (cf. Ephesians 6:18)
3. Give thanks in all circumstances
4. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire
5. Do not treat prophecies with contempt
6. Test everything and hold to the good
7. Avoid every kind of evil

Throughout Paul’s writings, he expounds upon each of these points.

In 1 Corinthians (chapter 13), after a long discourse on the works of the Spirit and how the Spirit uses us and the types of work the Spirit urges us to do, Paul says this:

And now I will show you the most excellent way.  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.

We’ve all read that passage.  Most of us can quote versus 4-8.  What many fail to see is the true context of the passage.  It falls in the middle of a discourse on the Holy Spirit, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and proper usage of those Gifts (Chapters 12-14).  What Paul tells us is that at the center of living continually with the presence of God is love.

Love is the most excellent way.

Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise YHWH: “YHWH looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” So the name of YHWH will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the people and the kingdoms assemble to worship YHWH. — Psalm 102:18-22

Monday.

I usually complain about Mondays.  This Monday wasn’t really an exception.  As an adult leader, I had to be up and in devotions with the SOS staff and other adult leaders at 630am.  I’m not a morning person.

However….

When you start a day with worship, it’s hard to complain about being up early.

After getting the youth up, having breakfast, and a bit of fun in the chapel, we headed to our worksite.

Once there, we met OUR angel — Ms. Hanh.

I call her OUR Angel for a reason.  Many times throughout the week, Ms. Hanh referred to us as her angels, yet as is always the case, when God makes you into a blessing for someone else, you WILL end up being blessed far more.

Ms. Hanh came to the United States from Vietnam in the early 1980′s.  She lived in a small apartment for the first four years while she saved up enough money to buy a little (1k sq ft) house in the Binghampton neighborhood of Memphis.  Ms. Hanh works full-time, but makes only enough money to met basic needs.  Her house needed work.  Lots of work.  She prayed for many years for someone to help.  Finally, SOS came.

For seven weeks prior to us arriving, SOS had been working on her home.  They had replaced the roof, redone the front two rooms, kitchen, and outer walls.  Work was outstanding in the front of the house on the outer walls, in the kitchen and in the hallway.

We prayed and went to work.

God moved in us throughout the day.  We all overcame fears, learned to do things we never thought we’d ever need to learn, and saw faith in action.

James tells us that faith has an actionable element associated with it.  We witnessed that first hand.  As we worked on Ms. Hanh’s house, she was always right there paintbrush in hand, working alongside us.  We learned about faith.  We learned about hope.  We learned about love.

1 Corinthians 13 became very clear to us very early on in the week.  As you do the work of God, then the cloudy reflection in the mirror becomes more complete.  The image of God becomes reflected back as one created in God’s image.  Being created in God’s image, truly means that you have God’s heart, you are God’s hands, and you do God’s work.

There was much work to do.  I can’t speak for all of the team, but I know that as the day wore on, I was a bit overwhelmed.  The emotions of the hardship that Ms. Hanh (and others in the Binghampton neighborhood) lives every day hit me.  I began to realize the excesses in my own life.  I began to realize the pettiness in my own life.  Yet I also began to see that there was faith.  Ms. Hanh was exhibiting faith unlike any that I have ever seen.

In devotions at lunch on Monday, we learned how man is by nature a slave to sin.  How due to the fall of man in Genesis 3, we were condemned to die.

That evening in my personal quiet time I read this passage in Galatians 4 (verse 7): “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”

Now, a week later, as I reflect on that passage, I think of Ms. Hanh.  I think of the faith she exhibited.  I can do nothing but pray that God gives me (as well as the rest of the team) the revelation that Ms. Hanh clearly has.  It is a revelation that tells us that we are no longer slaves.  It tells us that we are not merely children of God.  It is a revelation that proclaims that WE ARE HEIRS OF GOD!  In other words: “All that belongs to God also belongs to us”.

But, it’s not about us.  It’s about taking all that belongs to God, and giving it away.

Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created.  When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”

Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink?  When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?”

The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” — Matthew 25:34-40 (CEV)

So many things have been going on in the Simants house over the past several weeks.  God has been moving in our lives and directing our steps.  It’s been quite the adventure, and has been nothing short of an ongoing lesson in faith.  Yet, as Hebrews 11:1 tells us, faith is action.  It demands God’s people to be missional.

I could (and someday (soon) will) give you a background lesson on how I’ve come to know faith, love and grace as characteristics that demand a missional response.  I will say this much now, as you grow closer to God and come to know the awesomeness and bigness of God, then you will apply yourself to the work of God.  sksimants and I have separately, but simultaneously, come to know the heart of God for orphans, widows and the poor.

For sksimants and I, the work of God has taken on a four pronged approach.  I won’t take time to get into the details of each prong, yet should note that one of the prongs is the youth.  Another of those prongs is missions.  We’re not exactly sure the extent to which God is going to direct us in this prong, yet do know that there is a requirement for us to do (at least part of) this work under the authority of our home church — Asbury United Methodist.  To that end, we are engaging ourselves in the local missional work of the church (feeding the hungry, servant evangelism, etc).  Yet, are also undertaking larger missional efforts.

Tying the two aforementioned prongs together is our adventure that begins tomorrow.  We will be joining Ellen Brown, Asbury’s Youth Minister, and the youth from the church on a missions trip to the inner-city of Memphis, Tennessee.  We will be working with SOS-Memphis.  In Memphis, we will be working on the homes of people who are in need.  Additionally (and most importantly), we will be able to minister the love of God and the salvation of Christ to those people.

We believe that this is the first of what will be many mission trips.  As I said earlier, we don’t know all of the twists and turns that God has plotted on this pathway, yet we know that when God calls you respond.

We ask that you keep us in your prayers and thoughts as we progress through the next seven days.  We know it won’t be easy, but we also know that the lives of those whom we will touch are anything at all but easy.  Pray for us that we might be full of God’s love, examples of God’s mercy, carriers of God’s grace, and that we will be full of faith.

Also, keep an eye out here.  I’ll try to update as I can through the week both here, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Finally, below is what has become something of a theme song for us.  It is called “Carrier” and was written by Jared Anderson.

When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God. But even if we don’t feel at ease, God is greater than our feelings, and [God] knows everything.  Dear friends, if we feel at ease in the presence of God, we will have the courage to come near [God].  [God] will give us whatever we ask, because we obey [God] and do what pleases [God]. — 1 John 3:19-22 (CEV)

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. — Psalm 91:1 (NIV)

If you make the Most High your dwelling–even YHWH, who is my refuge — then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.  — Psalm 91:9 (NIV)

Take a look at the connection.  We find in 1 John that in order to feel at ease in God’s presence (which we enter through the gates of thanksgiving, praise, and worship), we must love others.  Psalm 91 gives us the image of what it means to live in the presence of God.

Love is a prerequisite to dwelling in the presence of God.

The underlying message of 1 John is that you are either with God or not.  There’s no middle ground.  There’s no “I’m righteous, but I need to turn back to God.”  There’s no “backsliding”.  There’s only you are either with God or your not.  Period.

To dwell in the shadow of the Almighty takes us acting through love.  1 Corinthians 13 teaches us this.  If we love, then even though we now see only a backwards and foggy reflection of God, we will see God FACE-TO-FACE.  (Think Elijah, Isaiah, and John in the book of Revelation).

The onus is on us to make God our dwelling place.  This is accomplished by first choosing to love (and act on it), and, second, by entering into the presence of God (thanksgiving, praise, and worship).

While we’re on Psalm 91, dwelling in the presence of God, means that God becomes real and personal.  Consider the language in verse 2 (NIV): “I will say of YHWH, “[YHWH] is MY refuge and MY fortress, MY God, in whom I trust.”

As you read through Psalm 91 (and 1 John), it becomes very clear that the message of the Psalmist is that the sweetest dwelling place is the shadow of the Almighty.  1 John tells us that the mortgage for that dwelling place is love.

]]> http://mdsimants.com/2010/07/08/day-189-love-is-our-mortgage-payment/feed/ 0 http://mdsimants.com/2010/06/23/day-174-stopped-dead-in-my-tracks/ http://mdsimants.com/2010/06/23/day-174-stopped-dead-in-my-tracks/#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:09:54 +0000 mdsimants http://mdsimants.com/?p=286 Continue reading →]]> I’ve been reading Francis Chan’s book “Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God” (Amazon) (Book website).  I’ve made it to chapter 7, where I have been stopped in my tracks.

The passage reads: “Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy.  Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.”

Honestly, I’m not sure how to respond.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally re-made the commitment to follow the path that God wants to guide me down.  It’s been a long-time coming, yet finally came.  Now, I’m not sure what that entails, but then that’s probably the point.

Then I read this.

I’m going to be honest with you.  I don’t know what God is directing me to do.  I haven’t, as of yet, been able to separate the “God-Dreams” from the “everything else”.  Still working on that one.  This phrase, though, doesn’t make it any easier.

I get that unbelievers are confused by the work of God.  That makes sense.  If you are not intimately attached to a particular type of work, then that type of work won’t make sense to you.  I can wrap my head around that one.

However, this concept that faith is evidenced by our actions, and that our actions may be nonsensical to some, is tough to swallow.

Here, though, is what I do know.

When you are pursued by the love of a relentless God, and you realize that no matter what you have done or where you have been for the last 10 years that God is still in the same place, that is when it doesn’t matter that your act of faith may not make sense.  Remember the story of the Prodigal Son?  He squandered things away.  Wasted a portion of his life.  Spent his inheritance.  Finally, he decides that it would be better to go back to his father and face the consequences of his blatant disregard for his father’s love.  The father’s response isn’t at all what the son expected.

God welcomes us back with arms open.

God restores us to the place we left.

Wait.  Let me say that again.

God places us back into our place within the Kingdom.

That is grace.

That demands a response of doing something crazy — having faith.

So, while I don’t know what all this necessarily means, I do know that when you realize the overwhelming relentlessness of the love of God, you have no response other than to do something crazy — live out your faith.

And then it hit me.

That was almost 20 years.  19 to be exact.  But closer to 20 than 15.

Really?!?!

Yeah.  Really.  Reality.

As I looked at those young people in the front of the auditorium, I tried to remember (unsuccessfully) what advice people gave me at that time in my life.  Then I thought what advice do I have to offer?  Surely 19 years has taught me something.

Yes.  It has.  Alot.  But it can all be summed up in three points:

• Learn to love unconditionally
• Learn to trust God with everything
• Learn to listen intently

1 Corinthians 13 teaches us about unconditional love.  It teaches that the Christ-follower is called to love.  Called to give freely of themselves for others.  Called to use the gifts that God has granted us to one end.  Yep, you guessed it, love.  It teaches us that even though we may not fully understand God or the path which God has laid out for us to walk down, and even though we may not always agree that we are to love.  Faith, hope and love remain.  Of these, love is the greatest.   Learn to love.  Unconditionally.

I’ve posted previously on trusting God (link here).  The long and short of it is this: Trust.  God knows your needs.  God knows your shortcomings.  God knows your heartaches.  Put it all in God’s hands.

God’s got it.

When I learned to say those words, and mean them, life shifted from being stressful, painful, and impossible to being joyful, stressless, and easy.  Trust God.  That simple.

Consider this:

Commit everything you do to the LORD.  Trust him and he will help you. — Psalm 37:5 (New Living Translation)

Learn to listen intently.  Remember the story of Elijah.  He defeats the prophets of Baal.  Gets scared.  Runs.  Hides.  Tells God that he was the only true prophet left.  No one loves me.  No one wants me.  I’m doomed.  If I show my face, then it’s all over.  He tells God, “I’m it.  Only one left who believes in You.  They’ve killed all the rest.  I’m next.”  Then:

The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”  Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind.  After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.  — I Kings 19:11-13 (NIV)

Still.  Small.  Voice.  God speaks in the silence.  Listen intently to the voice of God.

God speaks to us on an individual level.  God desires relationship.  Think about the Adam story.  God creates Adam for what reason?  Companionship.  God wanted a companion.

Let’s return to the Elijah story.  Elijah has just heard the voice of God.  The actual voice of God.  Still.  Quiet.  Whisper.  Awe.  God asks Elijah (my paraphrase), “What’s the deal?  You have things to do.  Yet, here you are.  In a cave.  Hiding.”  Elijah replies.  His reply?  The same exact phrase that he used before God told him to do wait on the mountain for an encounter.  He says the EXACT SAME THING.  God’s response?  “Go do what I told you.  I have faithful servants.  Don’t worry about that.  Go do what I told you.”

See, it all ties together.  We love unconditionally, we are able to trust more.  We trust more, we are able to better hear God.  We hear God, and we learn to love unconditionally.  Unconditional love will result in action.  Listening to God’s voice, well, that will result in action as well.  It’s a cycle.  As we trust, we hear.  As we hear, we respond (love).  As we respond, it becomes easier to trust.

That’s the lesson of the last 19 years.

Love Unconditionally.

Trust God.

Listen Intently.

For the past several weeks, I have been occasionally attending gatherings in Second Life (if you’re in Second Life, I am known as Miguelski Simsider).  These gatherings are hosted by Neill Loxingly (in real-life: Neal Locke) and the 1st Presbyterian Church of Second Life.  These gatherings take on two primary forms.  The first is a prayer gathering on Sundays, and the second is an informal discussion gathering on Wednesdays.  I have found these gatherings to be everything that you would expect them to be in real-life with the only real difference being that in Second Life, I have hair — for now.

At any rate, the discussion last night centered around the question of Who/What is God.  We discussed God in terms of time and space, omnipotence, omniscience, Trinity, and other constructs.  It was profoundly interesting.  I learned a lot.  Discussions like this serve to help me further understand God in terms of more than the abstract.  They help me to understand the relational God.

But that’s not the point of this post.

At one point in the discussion of all these various ideas about God (i.e. “Can God make a rock so heavy that God can’t lift it?” or “How do you reconcile omnipotence with free-will?”), one of the group threw out this gem: “For now we see through a glass, darkly”  (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV).  That got me to thinking.

First, consider this translation (Contemporary English): “Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror.”  Interesting imagery.  The view that we have of God is, well, fuzzy and backwards.  But that’s another post.

But what really struck me — for the first time — was the overall context of the passage.  Paul is writing about love.  He’s telling the church at Corinth how to love and that love is the most important thing.  Yet, in the conclusion of this discussion, he throws out this idea that even though we try — feebly — to understand God and the ways of God, we will not be able to until we’re standing there face to face.  Let me point it out again, though, the context of that comment is in the middle of a lesson on LOVE.

It occurs to me that perhaps what Paul is saying is that it’s OK to wonder and seek to understand the higher concepts of God and who God is, but it is not OK to do so at the risk of losing site of love.  This goes deeper than how to conduct healthy debate on the matter.  Rather it seems to be saying that love is myriad of feelings and actions, and should serve to center our lives as Christ-Followers.

Anytime I think of what it means to be a Christ-Follower, I think of love.  Christ’s mission on earth was singular — love.  Christ’s mission given to us (His followers) is also singular — love.  I think we often miss that mark.  We take the mission of Christ and turn it into something akin to proselytization.  That’s so much easier than love.  Just force everyone to believe.  But that’s not what Christ has called us to do.

For me, the best definition of life as a Christ-Follower has always been Rich Mullins’ comment.  Consider this:

“Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my Savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken.”

For now, we see but a backwards reflection of God.  Yet, still, we are called to love.  We are called to help.  We are called to be the hands of God in the world.  To affect radical, foundational change through the living out of our Faith.  Not to force people into our belief structure, but to show them, through love, that God exists, God cares, and God loves.