Does God get what God wants?

“As surely as I live,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather than they turn from their ways and live. “

Ezekiel 33:11

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some understand slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

God our saviour wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:4

Does God get what God wants?

So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty but accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:11

And I, when I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

John 12:32

Every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.

Philippians 2:10-11

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Acts 2:21

The whole world will be consumed by fire. Then I will purify the lips of the peoples that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder.

Zephaniah 3:8-9

God is Love + Love never fails =

GOD NEVER FAILS

1 John 4:8, 16 & 1 Corinthians 13:8

Forgiveness

Musings on forgiveness

Forgiveness in the Bible seems to be about:

Releasing people

Untying them

Setting them free

 

For me to truly forgive people

I need to accept them exactly as they are

Release the expectation/s I had of them

Untie them from my needs and desires in my relationship with them

Set them free from my judgements about their behaviour

Allow them to be themselves and/or to wear their desired facades (as we all do)

And love them

 

I may protect myself from danger

I may alter the conditions of the relationship in order to forgive myself just as much as I forgive them

I may desire a healthier relationship between us and I may even ask for one

 

But I forgive and accept when relationships are not the way I want them to be

I trust that in the afterlife God’s greater forgiveness will heal and release us from all relational bondage

And will reconcile us one to another

Amazing Grace How Offensive the Sound

Real grace means that anyone can get away with anything
Because everything is forgiven
God allowed for sin in the world
He permitted it
We sin in front of his eyes every day
Instead of wiping out sin and sinners
God so loved the world that he gave
Love. Forgiveness. Acceptance. Grace.
Grace is offensive because we don’t want to forgive the way that God does.
We don’t want those who have hurt us to go unpunished.
We sit around asking “why?” When we are hurt.
And the only answer is grace.
Why did someone smash my car?
There’s grace for that.
Why did my mum die when she was 48?
There’s grace for that.
Why was I molested when I was 3?
Oh yes, there’s grace for that as well.
Why all the war?
Grace.
Why the drugs, sex and rock’n’roll?
It’s all grace.
I think that we need to start accepting sin.
Accepting when people sin against us and ourselves when we sin against others.
Forgiving one another for our sins.
Loving one another in the midst of pain, failure, rejection, disagreement, confusion – sin.
But what about anarchy?
What about protecting myself and my family?
What about trying to do right things and be good?
Haven’t you already been trying to control life and people and behaviour ever since you were born?
I know I have, and I continue to try.
Let’s face it: it’s not working!
Grace is the only answer to sin.
Real grace sets people free from sin to become more like their true self which is love.
God is love.
And as he is: so we are in this world
Your identity is LOVE
1 John 4:16-17

Tearing Down Facades

They drew a picture of me
But it looked all so wrong
My nose was far too round
And my hair was far too long
They drew a picture of me
But it wasn’t me at all
My face looked round and fat
And I was much too tall
They drew a picture of me
And it was very strange
My skin was very pale
My freckles out of range
Why did they draw that picture?
Was it really what they saw?
They haven’t looked too hard
For that isn’t me at all

I read this poem to my class in high-school. What they didn’t realise is that I was screaming for attention. I was trying to tell them: “I’m not who you think I am.” I put on a façade of being happy, but I was spiralling into depression. I was well behaved and moral on the surface, but on the inside I felt guilty and dirty all the time. I used to criticise people for swearing, but by 17 I was the biggest swearing hypocrite of all. I was interviewed for a magazine about abstaining from sex before marriage and later became addicted to masturbation and felt I had no one to talk to about it.

We all wear facades. But some facades, if not most/all, become oppressive. Trying to be a perfect (self-righteous) Christian as a teenager and young adult, drove me to depression, anxiety, shame, secrets, facades, lies.

In the future (which begins now) I want to write authentically about who I am and who I have been. I want to bleed out my guilt and learn how to truly accept myself. I want to speak to the church about why facades are unhealthy.

We need to start having healthy conversations about sex, masturbation, pornography, homosexuality. If we can’t be honest within the church – where can we be honest? If we can’t be accepted by our Christian peers – where can we be accepted?

Jesus was called a drunkard because he partied with drunkards.
Jesus was accused of breaking the Sabbath because he didn’t follow the rules the way people wanted him to.
Jesus’ mother was called a slut, yet Jesus cherished her and told John to look after his mum when he died.
Jesus talked about eunuchs being “born that way” and who’s to say he wasn’t talking about gay people?
Jesus forgave adulterers and hung out with prostitutes. Did you know that when Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with oil she was following a common ritual of prostitutes when they seduce a man? Jesus called it an act of worship and said she would be remembered forever. He wasn’t ashamed of her lack of understanding that this could “look” pornographic to the other people in the room.
Jesus accepted people.
Jesus called the self-righteous “white-washed tombs” because they were clean on the outside and filthy on the inside.

I was like that white-washed tomb in high-school. I’m probably still like that. I still wish I was perfect. I still want you to think that I’m a nice person, I have morals, I’m polite. I try to be these things.

But my desire to admit that I’m not perfect is starting to win out. I want to talk about depression and anxiety. I want to talk about my sexuality. I want to break my facades down piece by piece. And even when I am criticised, I want to rest in the love and acceptance that God has for me. I want to emanate that love and acceptance to everyone, as much as I can – I’m pretty shit at it though. For that I apologise.

I dare you to join me in becoming naked and vulnerable, and to change the way we do “church” and “Christianity.”