I Never Knew You

We all know someone who works too much. We all know the story of the wife who sits at home while her husband works long hours to give her everything she wants only to discover (after their divorce) that what she really wanted was time with him. There is a story about a child who asks his dad “How much money do you make an hour?” When the dad told him the $$ amount, the child went to his room, emptied his piggy bank, and then asked his dad if he had enough to pay for an hour of his time.

We all run the risk of forgetting that the best thing we can give the people we love is ourselves. Our time. Our attention. Our affection. The people we love need to know that we will put aside our agenda, our to-do lists, calendars and schedules to be with them. Without putting effort into developing a meaningful relationship, the stuff we do for the people we love is just more stuff. We can work 60 hours a week, bring home a 6 figure income, have the biggest house on the block and the newest car in the drive way, be PTA president, Scout Parent, Dance mom, Team dad, and many other things that keep our calendar full, and still not give the people we love what they want most.

We know this.

So, why then do we cram our lives full of “church stuff” and leave little or no room for time with God? I have been guilty of this myself on more than one occasion. Writing for God, leading VBS for God, Teaching Sunday School for God, teaching Ladies Bible Study for God, serving on the outreach committee for God, singing in the choir and on the praise team for God, leading Children’s choir and Children’s worship for God. Lots of stuff. Just like the husband that works 60 hours a week, I had little TIME for God and my relationship with Him suffered.

This isn’t new, or surprising. Scripture puts it like this:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
Matthew 7:21-23 NIV

Of course God wants our service. If we are going to carry out the Great Commission, we must work. Even so, our works should not take priority over our relationship with Christ. Our time in service should not outweigh our time in prayer and our time in God’s Word.

Our service, our works, all the things we do “for God” are meaningless if He doesn’t have our hearts. I’ve learned from experience that when He has my heart and my relationship with Him is strong, the joy and fulfillment I experience from serving is exponentially greater than when I spend ALL my time and energy serving and neglect my time with my Savior.

The Parable of the Weeds

 

 

Over the past few months, I have been faced the challenge of choosing how to react to certain issues. It’s caused me to dig into the New Testament and see how Jesus dealt with normal, everyday, sin-filled people who didn’t follow Him.

Last week I wrote about 3 Bible stories that helped me understand Jesus’s heart for unbelievers. Over the weekend, I was also reminded of Jesus’s parable of the wheat and the weeds:

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.  But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” Matthew 13:24-30 NIV

We have weeds everywhere, in our churches (even in our small groups), in our schools, at work, in government, in every group we are a part of. I admit, my natural response is to pull them…get them out of my “wheat”. After all, we all know that weeds suck up vital nutrients and can even choke out the things we are trying so hard to grow.

Jesus says no. HE says to leave them be. Why? Look at it again:

“‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Oh my goodness, how many young Christians have been hurt by church turmoil? Church splits destroy young, immature Christians. Jesus says, “let me deal with the weeds when I get ready. YOU focus on the task at hand…growing wheat.”

Another interesting little nugget… notice that the weeds aren’t separated until the wheat is ready to harvest. Thinking about people I have known throughout my life and ministry, I can think of several  who LOOKED like “weeds”, but were really just very immature, new Christians.

We have to give everyone time to trust Jesus and to mature in their faith.

Our job is to grow wheat. Give them good fertile soil. Water them and let them soak up the Son so that they grow deep strong roots and are able to withstand all the storms of life.

We can trust Jesus with the Wheat...and the Weeds.

 

The Heart of a Christian

There is much in the news about hate-filled, judgmental “Christians”. They are loud and want to speak for all Christians, but they don’t speak for us. They aren’t even the majority. Just like extremists from other faiths, these are a handful of people who use their “faith” to justify hatred in their hearts. They hide behind their “faith” as an excuse to do unspeakable things to other human beings because they aren’t brave enough to admit that they themselves are conceited, hate-filled, and judgmental. They blow up abortion clinics, march, carry signs, and spew hate all in the name of Jesus. Many justify their actions by citing one incident from Scripture (Mark 11:15-17) where they say Jesus “lost his temper", forgetting that Jesus was rebuking the Temple leaders (religious people) for misusing the Temple.

Followers of Jesus do not spew hate. We are not loud. We don’t post passive-aggressive comments on social media. We don’t feel that another person’s lack of faith in Christ is an insult to us or to God. We know that, were it not for a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ, we’d be just like them. We just want everyone to know Jesus. Why?

Look at John 8. The religious leaders caught a woman in adultery. They stood her before Jesus and said that the Law commanded she be stoned, then asked what Jesus said about it.  Jesus responds, “Let anyone of you who is without sin throw a stone at her.”  It goes on to say that “Those who heard began to go away, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman.”  Then Jesus asks “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” to which she replies “No one sir” and he responds… not with a monologue on why she is so bad… He simply says:

“Then neither do I condemn you, Go now and leave your life of sin.”

THAT is who I serve, the Savior I love. I’ve been on both sides of the story. I’ve been the girl, condemned by religion, knowing I am “bad” and that they are justified in their judgment of me. I have also been the religious person with the weight of a stone heavy in my hand, ready to punish someone who chose to disobey God’s law... and I have felt the weight of that rock become too much to bear as I remembered that I received forgiveness I did not deserve.

In Mark 10, we discover the Rich Young Ruler. The young man asks Jesus what he needs to do to be saved. Jesus responds that he must obey the commandments and the young man says he has. Jesus then tells him to sell his possessions and give to the poor, “and come, follow me.” God’s Word then says that the man went away sad.

Jesus gave the woman caught in adultery the choice to leave her life of sin… or not. He gave the rich young ruler the choice to sell all he had and follow Him…or not. Just as He gave me a choice, just as He gives you a choice. You can follow Him or not. You can’t continue to live contrary to God’s Word and follow Him, but the choice is yours.

When Jesus sent out the 12, he told them how to deal with people who didn’t want to hear their message: “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.” (Matthew 10:14 NIV) I only include this to explain why I don’t get all worked up when someone doesn’t believe like I do. I believe God’s Word. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the forgiver of sins, and I believe that eternal life in heaven is only available through Him, but I know that others believe what they believe just as strongly as I believe what I believe. I tell people about Jesus, about what He has done in my life, and explain the Gospel. From there, it’s their choice

Just as it was mine.