Real Love

Hosea 5 and 6 don't seem like much of a love letter from God to Israel and Judah. God is informing them through the prophet Hosea that their disobedience and sin has caught up with them and judgement is coming. Hosea 5:4 says," their deeds do not permit them to return to their God." For us on this side of the New Covenant, who are allowed access to the throne room of God because of the debt Christ paid for us, not being able to return to God seems harsh.  We want to shout, "What about the love?"

Isn't it interesting that we tend to comprehend love only in the context of what feels good or happy or fun. That's how Valentine's Day is presented. Shower those you love with gifts of candy and flowers! Spoil the ones you love! Be mushy-gushy! Don't get me wrong, expressing our appreciation with excitement and joy to the ones who make our lives more worthwhile is a good thing to do. The difficulty I see is love is a greater emotion than happiness and demands a deeper commitment that being nice.

Hosea 5:15 reads
"I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me."

God isn't shutting His people out forever. God isn't acting differently from His character. God IS loving them; God is demanding they live in the way that is best for them.

l have recently been working to lose some excess poundage so that my clothes fit appropriately and I maintain good health. I have been recording what I eat in an app on my tablet, and counting those nasty calories. There have been times that my husband has questioned my food choices (and not in a mean way I must clarify). I don't always take his inquiries well. I have to remind myself that he isn't being critical of me, he knows my goal and wants me to be successful and happy with who I am. He is truly loving me. Though my example is very simplistic, God loves in a similar fashion.

God desires the best for us. As the one who designed and created us, God knows what that best is -always. God continually works in our lives to bring us to the place where we live a life that is truly full of fulfillment, purpose and blessing. Sadly, we often get in our heads that a different life than what God suggests is going to be better. And that's what's happening in the book of Hosea. God's people are thinking they know best and God-out of true love - is speaking harsh realities into their lives.

To celebrate Real Love on this Valentine's Day, I challenge you to let God honestly love you. Even if it seems hard or uncomfortable. Even if you perceive He is asking difficult or harsh things of you. His love is always about giving what is best for you. Trust He is good, believe that the One who created you knows how to give you the love you long for.

Live out Hosea 6:1-3 as stated from The Message
“Come on, let’s go back to God . He hurt us, but he’ll heal us. He hit us hard, but he’ll put us right again. In a couple of days we’ll feel better. By the third day he’ll have made us brand-new, Alive and on our feet, fit to face him. We’re ready to study God , eager for God-knowledge. As sure as dawn breaks, so sure is his daily arrival. He comes as rain comes, as spring rain refreshing the ground.”

Jonah and me

I recently read Jonah 2. I've read it before and I've heard the story since I was a child in Sunday School. There were no surprises and I found it interesting in an intellectual sort of way. I read the notes from the NET version in my Bibe app, to see if there was more to discover. Jonah prayed to God and it seemed more about Jonah than God. Jonah gives God credit but Jonah never says he is sorry for disobeying. Disobedience never even comes up. Yet God commands, and the Large Fish spits Jonah onto dry land. I read, the story seemed the same, I was done.
Then I read part of the book "A Life of Obedience" by Andrew Murray. There God fleshed out the concept of disobedience more concretely for me. Murray began the section I read with the idea of obedience unto death. Not an easy concept to grasp -especially in my comfy, sheltered American life. Murray encourages uncovering specific areas of disobedience with the help of the Holy Spirit and then asking for forgiveness → no general 'I am sorry for my sin,' but more along the lines of listing areas where I know I grieve God because I am choosing my own selfish way.
Murray states, " Christ revealed the new law of love. To be as merciful as the Father in heaven, to forgive just as He does, to love our enemies and do good to them that hate us, and live lives of self-sacrifice and benevolence—this was the walk Jesus taught on earth .... Christ spoke much of self-denial. Self is the root of all our lack of love and obedience. Our Lord called His disciple to deny himself and to take up his cross; to forsake all; to hate and lose his own life; to humble himself and become the servant of all. He did so because self-will, self-pleasing, and self-seeking are the source of all sin."
The phrase that first grabbed me was "live lives of self-sacrifice and benevolence." Don't get me wrong, I want to be nice and help others, be benevolent. I think Murray is stating something much greater, that becomes clearer, I think, when he states "self-will, self-pleasing, and self-seeking are the source of all sin."
In Jonah 2, Jonah's prayer has a lot of "I" Statements and declarations. His prayer truly has the allusion of seeking God's help and yet it seems an awful lot about Jonah.  I wonder if my prayers appear that way to God. My heart is to follow Christ, to be completely obedient, to bring Glory to God Almighty through the life I live. How that fleshes out needs to be examined. It's not easy asking the Holy spirit to identify areas of my life where I follow self-will, and have been more concerned with self-pleasing and self-seeking then living a life of self-sacrifice and benevolence. God is calling and I need to be obedient. If I do not obey, if I claim it's too hard, or takes too much time, or that's just for those 'radical Christians,' I am disobedient. Murray states "when self-will is allowed to assert itself and we make provision for the fulfillment of its desire, we are guilty of disobedience to His commands."
My will complains its discomfort, my soul declares its commitment to a Holy and Loving God. Thanks Jonah for the lesson,

The Princess and Propitiation

Propitiation
I don't think the word Propitiation is one I will be throwing around in general conversation. 1.) It's a big word!  2.) It has lots of I-don't-get-that-religious-stuff conotation.  3.) It's not a word that just "flows" in a sentence.  4.) Deep down I'm scared I will use the word incorrectly!

Why the discussion of propitiation? I know it doesn't seem to fit my normal random, have-fun attitude. I read the word today while I was reading my Bible (THE Word). As I read propitiation I thought to myself "Self, you should know what that word means. You've heard it before. You've even perhaps nodded your head as if you understood. So → what does it mean? Spit it out!"  Sometimes I'm a little hard on mySelf, and this time around I felt mySelf stumped.

I read propitiation in Romans 3:25.

(v. 23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (v. 24) and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (v. 25) whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

Confusing isn't it? My Bible gave me a cross-reference of 1 John 2:2 so I looked it up! I cross-referenced in a different Bible and it had a very helpful note on the very word I Was struggling to grasp. Fortuitous wouldn't you say? The explanation given stated that the original Greek word was hard to translate into English. The Greek word could be translated propitiation or atoning sacrifice. Okay...
I literally looked up the word propitiation from the dictionary linked into my Bible app: "the action of propitiating or appeasing a god, spirit, or person" Hmm... appeasing a god. Right below that definition I found "pro·pi·tious adj. giving or indicating a good chance of success; favorable" Which I thought was helpful. This action of appeasing is favorable, and gives one a better chance of success.

I looked back at the verses in Romans 3 and I worked to simplify in my head what I was reading.
• I have sinned. Everyone has.
• This sin separates me from God.
• Because God is full of Grace, He gives me a gift (even though I have this sin problem)
• This gift justifies; the gift pays the debt I owe because of my sin problem. (like getting out of jail in Monopoly, you have to roll doubles, or pay the price demanded...no relationship with God without paying the bill)
• This gift of grace comes through Jesus and the blood He shed when He died on the Cross. (The payment, or the punishment, for sin is death. Someone had to die for my sin to be erased)
• Jesus' blood that He willingly offered (sacrificed for me) appeases God.

In my little mind, this is how I See it.
Entry into the Royal Throne room is free, you just have to have a ticket. The tickets have all been paid for by Jesus. When I choose to believe that this ticket deal is for real I can just ask for one. I admit I am in need of a ticket, that all by myself, I am not fit to enter the Royal Throne room and hangout with God. I get a ticket, it's a gift card really, and it is all gorgeous and sparkly - fit for a Princess! I take my new sparkly Princess gift card to see God. The card is swiped and it shows I don't have to pay anything -the gift card paid the complete balance owed! I enter God's presence with a happy skip and God is delighted to see me! My new "Princess Card" allows me complete access to the Royal Throne room, and God Himself, anytime, anywhere.

I think I like this word propitiation. Propitiation gives me access to the presence of God. Propitiation allows me to have a relationship with God Almighty, the King of Kings! I wonder if I can get the dictionary people to accept my definition for propitiation: a prepaid Sparkly Princess gift Card that gets one entry into the presence of the King of Kings.

It's Morning

What a morning and l've only been up a couple of hours! let me explain....

l. Today is Superbowl Sunday. I don't care.  Football is not my thing and I woke up bemoaning all the hoopla that surrounds this day.  My hubby and I have plans to go over to friends' house for the big game, but as I was getting ready for church I was whining to God about going.  God's a great person to whine to because He always helps my perspective whether I want help or not.  In a nutshell, God asked me if I loved and cared for my friends. That's one of those "well, duh!" questions. Then God asked me if my friends ever do things I really like to do -that maybe is not their favorite choice.  You see where this is heading don't you? Thankfully, the Holy Spirit didn't bean me with a frying pan. He did suggest to me that I view today, not as Suberbowl Sunday, but as Friendship Celebration Sunday. Umm....yup- good idea God.

2. Still experiencing a little "leftover funk" from my previous whine session, I prepared breakfast in  a "ho-hum mood." That in and of itself is not bad, but I definitely wasn't preparing my heart and mind for church. I was listening to Pandora and an orchestral version of "This is my Father's World" began to play. I know a good portion of the words since I've attended church my whole life (and some might classify me as 'older'). I'm sure the Holy spirit reminded me of the words He wanted me to focus on.  Soon I was preparing breakfast and weeping. This world I live in is not by chance. The things that happen on the political scene, in the entertainment world, and even on the global scale are still under the Sovereignty of God Almighty. Jehovah has a plan and is continually working His purposes: This is HIS World! Hallelujah and Amen!

3. God gives bonuses. After God set my total attitude aright , lined up with His, he blessed me with my favorite hymn, "Come Thou Fount", on Pandora. My soul sang and prayed along with the music -especially since the Lord just helped my "wandering soul." And then another song played that reminded me that Scripture says He dances over me! The Holy Spirit reminded me that I am so cared for and adored by an Amazing God. (Double Bonus!)

God gave me a fantastic gift today. He graced my life with personal proof that He is Alive, and involved in the daily details of my life. It's going to be a Glorious day!

Happy Friendship Celebration Sunday!