Skipping Rocks And Faith

It happens more often than you think.  In fact, you’ll find it every day if you know what to look for.  And if you know what to do with it.

Perfection.

It’s when a situation meets preparation and gumption.  A pass, a dive, and a catch.  A man, a woman, and an introduction.  A broken person, a dying savior, and faith.

Today it was a riverbed, a rock, and a throw.

If you’ve skipped many rocks, you know that half the challenge is finding the the right rock.  Flat, not too thin, not too thick, round, even, not too big, not too small.  Typically you just have to make due with what you can find - clunky, flimsy, odd, random – and make up for it with the throw.

But every so often you stumble upon the perfect rock, the perfect water, and the perfect throw.  And the results can be quite impressive.  Today was that day for me.  I found it.

And I paused.

Have you considered that the very characteristic of the “perfect” skipping rock that makes it ideal has less to do with the rock itself and more to do with the one who finds it?

The rocks perfection is only completed by the finder’s willingness to throw it away.  And not just throw it, but wholeheartedly zing it so that it travels as far away from himself as he can get it.

Faith is a lot like that, too.

We comb the waterfronts of our lives looking for that “perfect” something that will make all the difference.  A career.  A spouse.  A house.  A physique.  A reputation.

More often than not we’re forced to “spin” those things the best that we can to see how far they can go.  And inevitably they all fall remarkably short of the perfection we seek.

What about this gospel (literally “good news”) of a perfect God providing a perfect sacrifice to perfectly deal with every imperfection in me?  Have you found that “Rock” yet?

And if you have, what have you done with it?  Is your faith buried deep in a pocket?  Forgotten upon a shelf?  Left in the riverbed?  Or have you exerted you’re best effort into seeing just how far this “Rock” is really capable of going?

The Bible talks about faith being “perfected”.  Now, God IS perfect in His power, and Jesus’s sacrifice IS perfect in provision (there’s no need for us to finish anything for Him).  But there is the aspect of faith being perfected IN us.  IN you, and IN me.

That work requires some gumption on our part.

First, pick up the rock.  Take hold of that salvation, hope and life that Jesus has provided and extended to us.

Second, throw it as well and as far as you can.  Our lives the continuation of that One perfect Rock and His eternal “skip” through history.

(By the way, I threw the rock I found today.  And it WAS perfect!)

Know. Love.

What do you love?

I bet you can tell me a lot about it/him/her.  We know most about what we love.  That’s kind of the way it works.  We discover something new.  Our interest is sparked.  We dig deeper.  We learn more.  Knowledge feeds the fire of love, and love drives us to know something more deeply.

Love IS possible apart from knowledge, but it will lack all the depth and robustness of which love is capable.  In other words, loving a stranger may be done purely by choice/will, but how much better could that love be expressed given a greater knowledge of that person.  I can serve any stranger a meal, but serving someone their favorite meal takes friendship which requires knowledge.  And the more I know the better I can love.

Now, seeing as God is eternal and timeless, both His knowledge and love of you has been perfect from the beginning.  Your beginning.  Think about that.  God knew you before you, your parents, your grandparents, or your great-grandparents were ever born.  To take that a step further, replace “knew” in the previous sentence with “loved”.

Love’s provision.

Would you agree with me that we provide most for the things/people we love?  So, provision is another way to say love.  When I look at the provision of God in my life, do I make that connection?  Or do I chalk it up to chance, luck, self-sufficiency, or something else?

Am I aware (vitally aware) that this dinner before me is a direct result of God’s love for me?  When I dress in the morning do I realize that my entire wardrobe has been provided to me by One Who cares about me?

This sounds familiar

When Jesus stood on the mountainside as recorded in Matthew 6 and began to introduce people to the Kingdom of God and the love of His Father, he revealed this knowledge-love-provision picture.

He said, “Don’t be anxious about the daily things in life like clothes and food!  Your heavenly Father KNOWS that you need them all.  Seek him first who is seeking you most and all these things will be PROVIDED to you.” [Matt 6:31-33, author’s paraphrase]

This was a reintroduction of people to the God who knows.  When Israel had travelled to Egypt and found themselves enslaved under heavy burdens they did what all hurting people do.  They groaned.  They cried.

In Exodus 2:25 we see what a loving Father is doing when His children are hurting.  “God saw the people of Israel – and God KNEW.”

Enter Moses and a burning bush and deliverance.

It’s the same today.  When we hurt (through sins of our own or others), God sees.  God knows.  God loves.  God provides.

Enter Jesus and a cross and deliverance.

Don’t miss the love for you and knowledge of you that is behind everything you find yourself provided with today.

The Pain of Love

Not all pain is bad.

I just put my little girl down for bed tonight, and as I closed the door…my heart sank.  It hit me that another day with this precious treasure is past and gone.  But there was another sentiment as well.  I just flat out love her so much that it hurts.  So much so that any physical pain I might encounter on her behalf pales in comparison.

The flesh’s capacity for sensation is nothing compared to the heart’s.  And the power of a punch can never compare to the power of love.

Consider that the next time Jesus pops up on the radar screen of your thoughts.  How could He have done what the bible says he did?  Crucifixion?  Voluntarily?  For me?  For you?

While it may be hard to swallow what Jesus did, it should be downright gobstopping when we attempt to grasp why he did it.

Love.

Love that hurt so bad even whip scourges, thorns penetrating skull, fists pounding face, spikes through wrists and ankles, spear thrusts into the chest don’t begin to approach a comparison.  (Hebrews 12:2)

There is a pit in the heart of God that aches simply for you.

Consider that the next time pain enters the arena of your life.  “God, you don’t know how much this hurts!”  His reply: “Then you don’t know how deep my love is for you.” (Ephesians 3:18)

It’s hard to conceive of anything being greater than the pains we feel (especially in the depth of the moment).  But this characteristic of Love, this godly ache, is deeper still.

Deep.

Deep in the pits of hellish thoughts, feelings of abandonment, numbing loss, echoing sobs of loneliness, or paralyzing pain there is the presence of Another.  His arms reaching down even deeper than you can feel in order to embrace and carry you.  (Deuteronomy 33:27)

There is NO pit deeper than the love God has for you.

God, whether I ascend to the heavens or lie down in the depths of all that is known, you are there.  You are here.  Though I feel that I am at the bottom, there is yet your upholding hands beneath me.  Your love and care for me is deeper still.  Awaken my mind to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, and, once knowing, then to feel.  Help me to interpret life by the truth and not the other way around.  In humility and awe, Amen.

Affirmation

If you could have only one thing completely affirmed about yourself today, what would you want it to be? (Deeper question: what should you want it to be?)

That you are financially secure and set for the rest of your natural life? That you are physically healthy and free of disease for decades to come? That your name and reputation or widely respected and will be honored throughout history?

How about this: That the salvation spoken of in the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and real and yours?

Which of these choices would you want to have undoubtedly affirmed to you today? Your answer will reveal much about what you value and desire.

Let’s add another perspective to the question. If you had ALL of the first three options (wealth, health, and honor), but nothing changed with the last one, how would you feel? And if we flipped it. You had continual questions and doubts about ALL of the first three, but an unshakeable peace about the last one. Now, how would you feel?

Jesus spoke of this very situation when He asked, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

The context of that statement is the conversation Jesus has with His disciples about WHO He truly is. The Christ. The Messiah. The Son of God.

After that conversation, Jesus tells His followers WHAT He must do and WHAT will happen to Him. Derision. Suffering. Torture. Murder. But also, Resurrection!

Peter latches on only to the earthly elements of Jesus' foretelling and declares, “NO, no, no! Never! Not that! Not you!” Jesus then points out Peter’s nearsightedness, and asks that probing priority-revealing question we looked at above.

What does it matter if you have the house(s), and the car(s), and the toys, and the income, and the bank accounts, and the honor if you don’t have an eternally secure soul?

What does it matter if you DON’T have the house, or the car, or the toys, or the income, or the bank account, or the honor but you DO have security beyond all that those things can ever hold – salvation?

Out of all the options we listed at the beginning of this entry there is only one that is truly secure, truly valuable, and freely attainable today. The salvation spoken of in the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and real and yours…TODAY.

“This is the testimony, God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” - I John 5:12-13

“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” -Romans 10:13