Coffee With The Lord

I’ve watched people over the years who are devoted followers of Jesus face incredible difficulties… The rejection of former friends, the unfaithfulness of a spouse, children who have rejected the faith of their parents and are far from God, false accusation, persecution at work, unemployment, failure of a business they had poured their efforts into, loss of health, home, possessions or savings… and I’ve seen the toll it takes upon them personally. Some of these things (or others) may have happened to you and the impact on your self-concept has been devastating…

This morning I read Romans 8:31-39 … great spiritual medicine for those who have experienced things like that and are struggling a bit with their sense of self-worth…

“If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one! For Christ Jesus … is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Taken from the New Living Translation)

My advice if you’ve been through all kinds of things that have left you shaken and wondering about God’s unconditional love and your self-worth? Read this passage over, and over, and over again!! Read it slowly! Read it prayerfully! Pray it! Praise it! Proclaim it! Do it until the truth of it dawns upon you deep within!!

Ever find yourself groaning?  We sometimes groan because of pain, or frustration and futility. Sometimes it’s effort that causes us to groan, or our groans almost become a sigh of resignation.  In most cases a groan is not a pleasant sound.

The apostle, Paul, addressed this issue of groaning in Romans 8.  Here is what he had to say…

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration… in hope that it will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time…

“Not only so, BUT WE OURSELVES, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, GROAN INWARDLY as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies…

“In the same way, the Spirit help us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for,  the Spirit Himself intercedes for WITH GROANS TOO DEEP FOR WORDS.  And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Sprit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”  (From Romans 8.18-28)

There is groaning going on all around us… In fact we, at times find ourselves groaning!  The good news though, is that “in Christ Jesus” we are never victims!  He makes EVERYTHING WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD!!  He can (and does) take our groaning –  whatever the reason – and turn it into a prayer in keeping with God’s will!  EVERYTHING WORKS TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD AND ARE CALLED TO HIS PURPOSE!  We groan in hope!!

And what is the hope?  Ultimately sharing in “the glory of God”  Here’s how Apostle Paul phrased it: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us!”  Then he described God’s process in our lives to bring it about… “He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Jesus)… Those He predestined He called… Those He called, He justified [made right with God]… and those He has justified, he also glorified!”  Hey, we’re in process to ultimately be glorified!”  To be “conformed to His image!”  Take heart!  His purpose for us is to take us “FROM GROANING TO GLORY!”

Don’t be a spiritual showoff!

That’s what came to mind this morning as I read Matthew 6.1-4 during “coffee with the Lord”

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven!  So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (NIV 2011 edition)

Pretty straightforward… You want your giving to be noticed by others (giving at any level!)… No reward from God!!  This applies all the way from the way you drop your giving in the offering plate to whether or not you want a building named after you for a large endowment… (Kinda makes you wonder if it’s appropriate for religious organizations to appeal to the pride of donors in order to get gifts doesn’t it? … Of course, the end justifies the means, right? 😉  …Moving right along…

Jesus said, if you want notoriety by others that’s all the notoriety you’ll get… no heavenly reward.

On the other hand, if you give just because there is a need… give from your heart… give what you can… give without a desire for attention… give as the Lord leads you… give as if you were giving to the Lord… God will notice!  And He will reward you (and believe me, He’s incredibly generous)!  Can you imagine the notoriety of a heavenly reward – a heavenly announcement!

Just a fun story to illustrate this… It sometimes takes some ingenuity to make this work.  Sharon and I were aware of a family going through a real time of financial trial.  Since we wanted our gift to them to be totally anonymous, we did it in cash (risky), put it in a plain envelope, no return address, and went to a nearby town to mail the letter.  Then simply prayed for them and waited… They got it!  It was absolutely delightful to hear this family rejoice in a “testimony time” at church over the fantastic “miracle” God had performed on their behalf!  Just gotta tell you… it was FUN! FUN!! FUN!!!  (And the best part? To this day they don’t know who did it… they thought God did it (and he did!)