I often find myself processing in poem.  Below is an excerpt of a poem I wrote 10 months after he died.

Grandpa was so much more than the father of my dad

His smell, his walk, but especially the relationship he had

His relationship with Jesus Christ was the most important thing

When he’d pray he would get real quiet, like He was talking to a King

Towards the end I saw him cry when he’d talk about the Lord

He was so grateful for what his God, Christ Jesus had in store

We sat around and he told us all why he was so very proud

That’s when he started crying, and the noise all died down

He talked about how proud he was of my two cousins who are doctors

And he talked about the blessing of the two others who are pastors

Then he looked straight at me and got a big smile on his face

“Star of stage screen and radio” he winked and then he changed the pace

He talked about the gratitude that he held inside

To the One that gave out blessings, the One in whom he’d abide

He was so very grateful to Jesus Christ his friend

Who had proven to be faithful to the very very end

Tonight a certain Ms. Anderson lead the discussion on Rehab the prostitute in Joshua 2.  What we found has convicted me.

When the spies were with Rehab, she explained to them that she (as well as the whole region of Jericho) had heard of the fame of the God of Israel.  They knew about the red sea and about the two kings that were destroyed on the other side of the Jordan.  She states this strange thing: she knew that the God of Israel had given Israel the land of Jericho and her only request was that when they come to conquer the city that they spare her and her family.  Compare this to the King of Jericho who immediately sent a few people to Rehab’s house to capture the two Hebrew spies.  We know Rehab lied and sent the two off in a different direction (this is why the writer of Hebrews noted her faith in Hebrews 11).   These two reactions brought a lot of conversation.

Please note that everyone, including Rehab, had fear concerning the God of Israel.  Rehab knew He was the most powerful god.  However, the King’s fear caused him to go into self-preservation.  Rehab’s fear caused her to run to God.  Where the King was afraid of God, Rehab had the fear of the Lord. Rehab knew she couldn’t beat the Lord, so instead of bucking against Him she asked for mercy.  The King tried to see if he could win.  Consequently, he was deceived and it ultimately cost him his life.

In short: The difference between being afraid of God and having the fear of the Lord is the fear of the Lord causes you to run TO God where being afraid causes you to run from Him.

In my short 2.5 decades on the earth, I’ve observed that confrontation can be one of the most painful, yet freeing aspects of relationship.

When I was a child/teenager, I must have been sleeping through the class on confrontation. I missed many of the review sessions, and failed most of the midterms. The only thing I got down was that I needed to be quick to apologize and repent, no matter how much the other person messed up or not — a lesson HS must have imparted when I wasn’t looking, and for that I am forever grateful.

However, when I did confront someone because they hurt my feelings (again emphasizing confrontation was extremely rare) either I would overreact, decide I was probably wrong anyway and digress, or take it as an opportunity to learn how to be misunderstood well.

Recently, I found myself in a situation that was a complete misunderstanding.  I felt like someone meant A.  A was extremely painful and terribly confusing.  In processing it, I tried to convince myself they meant B…because B would mean I was over reacting and they were completely fine.  Then resigned myself to the fact that it was probably somewhere in the middle (and for the benefit of the alphabet, we’ll call this C). C meant they were wrong in many areas, but had good points.  Therefore, I needed to suck it up a deal with it.

Normally I would say that “suck it up and deal with it” worked well for me…though I know deep down inside it only makes things worse.  Nonetheless, i decided to go with option C and try to work through it without saying the simple phrase, “I don’t understand” or ask, “why do you feel that way?” or confess, “I feel like you mean such and such and that hurts.”

Really a variety of options presented themselves.  To be completely honest, I’m just straight up scared of confrontation mostly because I’m scared to be wrong.  (Don’t worry, after this situation, I’m learning to do better).

In actuality, they meant P.  (How do I always forget there are 26 letters in the alphabet and more than 3 options to miscommunication?).

People skills lesson 1: don’t wait 8 weeks to tell someone they hurt your feelings.  Your feelings are valid…that is until you talk yourself into an absurd non-reality for 8 weeks.  Simply, Bring it up fast.  Mostly because they probably have no idea they said it in the first place and consequently don’t know they are supposed to apologize for saying the thing they didn’t know they said.

Background: It was 2 years and 2.5 months ago when I was dialoguing with the Lord regarding good gifts.  He responded saying, “I will answer you in the Spring.” Both Springs since then He has spoken in precious, history building ways.

Here I am now looking at the next Spring and anticipating seeing the kindness and faithfulness of the Lord again.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe He is only faithful or kind in the Spring, and I definitely know He talks other times during the year.  But as an anniversary has the power to remind and strengthen love in a marriage again, so does the Spring remind me of His faithfulness.

As we reach another mile marker, I would like to declare how grateful I am  for His faithfulness:

Thank-you, Father, for asking me again to trust You.
Thank-you for holding my frame together by Your word.
Thank-you for raising Your Son from the dead.
Thank-you for giving me my daily bread.
Thank-you for giving me talents to steward, and being tender during my process.
Thank-you for wanting freedom and giving it freely.
Thank-you for bringing me into the fellowship of the Trinity.
Thank-you Holy Spirit for giving me wisdom.
Thank-you for treasuring the secret place.
Thank-you for serving me out of confusion.
Thank-you for causing praise to arise when pain seems to bring forgetfulness.
Thank-you for the beautiful boundary lines.
Thank-you for moving at the sound of my voice.
Thank-you for being near the weak, and coming quickly when I call.
Thank-you for providing a way out.
Thank-you for restoring the broken places, whether body, or heart, or family.
To put it simply. You are wise. The Proverbs had it right.

You’ve really perfected the leadership model, for I seem to always come back to it. I love that You see all, care about what You see, and will reward accordingly. I love that you love righteousness, for You are faithful. I love that you love justice, for it is true. Jesus, You continually lived before His eyes, and have invited me to do the same…it is the perfect invitation, and by Your Spirit, I can not pass it up. Great is Your faithfulness.

You will need to choose the December 30th 7pm service (with Jaye Thomas and Allen Hood).  The song begins at time stamp 2:19:10 and ends at 2:28:37.

http://www.ihop.org/Articles/1000098570/International_House_of/Events/National_Conferences/onething/onething_2010/Archives_Home.aspx

In order to bring the Bride into the fellowship and life of the Trinity, Jesus came to manifest the Father. At the end of his first epistle, John writes, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little Children, keep yourself from idols.”[1] John explains that his audience did not know God. He had spent the preceding chapters elucidating the life of Christ and the Father as one in the same, and that the only way to receive the life of the Father is through Christ. Here, he concludes his letter by re-emphasizing they could look to Christ to know and understand the Father, for Christ manifested Him. The book ends with instruction for his audience to keep themselves from idols. In context, the idol John seems to refuse was that of a false understanding of God. They once viewed God contrary to His identity, and as a result did not know life. John pushes that Jesus’ representation of the Father is true as opposed to that which they once thought and the idol they created in their heart. Now, Christ made plain the real character and life of the Father to the Bride.

One of the Father’s primary characteristics displayed by Jesus was His selflessness.  Throughout His ministry, Jesus repeatedly emphasized that He perfectly represented the Father.  He stated, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”[2] Here, Jesus declares that His primary purpose was not to show His own identity, but rather reveal His Father’s identity.  He laid down His own ideas, responses, and personality to move as the Father moved, respond as the Father responded, and speak what His Father spoke in order for those who watched to see His Father plainly.  Jesus possessed all wisdom and knew the way to freedom and wholeness, but instead of saying it as He would, He did what the Father did.  This action declares the selflessness of the Father. Jesus did all to reveal and glorify the Father, and thus one plainly sees that the Father’s character is to glorify and reveal His Son’s character.  It is as if the Father had experienced the humility of Jesus for eternity passed and simply wanted to display it. Where Jesus came in the flesh to glorify the Father, the Father sent Him in order to glorify His Son’s selflessness.  Jesus states this more plainly in His Passover prayer, “Father the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You.”[3] Jesus understood that the character of the Father was to glorify others.  In wanting this aspect of His Father’s glory to be manifest, He asked to be glorified for the purpose of revealing that His Father loves to glorify Him.  Thus the Son revealed the Father’s selflessness.

In revealing the selflessness of God, Jesus wanted man intimately acquainted with the Father as the servant of all. It was the night Jesus gave Himself over to the Sanhedrin.  He already finished the meal His forefathers had partaken of for centuries in remembrance of the blood of the lamb that saved and the God who brought them out of Egypt.  This lamb painted a picture of Himself.  This meal always pointed to His sacrifice.  It was in this context that Jesus again displayed the character of the One who had parted the Red Sea.

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands…rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.[4]

This demonstration shows Jesus responding to exaltation by serving.  Jesus knew the Father gave Him everything, even before He died on the cross.  In response to this, Jesus laid aside His garments.  This perfectly parallels Philippians 2 where He fully knows His position as the second person of the Trinity and responds by “taking on the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.”[5] From the place of honor, Jesus took the place of a servant. In view of the fact that He manifested His Father, the Father clearly takes the place of a servant also. The Father was glorified through His Son, and from this place of honor and through the hands of Jesus, the Father washed the disciple’s feet.  Paul the apostle supports the servant hood of the Father when he wrote, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.”[6] As the Son served the Father in the manifestation of His character, the Father served His Son’s name.

Jesus’ invitation for the Bride to enter into eternal life again exemplifies the character of His glorious Father. Jesus defines life when He prays, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”[7] The vibrancy of life that Jesus experienced from before the foundation of the world was fellowship with His Father. The patterns, the natural reactions, the rigors of eternal dwelling in the Trinity remained the fullness of life for Him.  Again, the Trinitarian expression of fellowship was the continual selfless exaltation of the other members. Jesus knew this intimately. He could hang on the cross in obedience to His Father because He knew how His Father would respond.  He did not need to defend Himself before those mocking, for the Father had never failed to extol Him. He could wait in the grave for days until His Father raised Him, for They had eternal history of the Father’s consistency in responding with more than simple affirmation, but rather exalting Him to the highest place. This is fellowship. This is life. This is what the Bride is invited into. For eternity the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwelt in the eternal life of fellowship.  Though fully satisfied in each other, the extent of the Father’s selflessness is displayed in not wanting to keep this eternal life strictly between the Trinity.  Rather, He would prefer to include someone else.  He wanted someone else to serve. He wanted someone else to glorify His Son as He did. He wanted someone else to enjoy the fullness of life.  He wanted to bring man in.  The night before Jesus was crucified, He prays, “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us…”[8] The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are so selfless and so love to serve and esteem others as better than themselves that not only were they willing, but they desired for a fourth party’s involvement and influence in this life.

Eternal life is more than life that will last forever. It is life that has already lasted forever.  When God told Adam that he would die if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He was talking about eternal life. In disobeying by eating the fruit, he would cease to serve and submit to God, thus removing himself from the way the Trinity lived – the continual service and submission to one another and the response of serving again. It was not simply the submitting to God that the Father longed for.  Rather, He longed to include man in the circle of life.  As a result of the death, now when He asked man to serve, they saw Him as a demanding, selfish God who viewed His people as pawns and slaves– like Zeus and Allah.  Mankind does not, and cannot outside of the blood of Jesus, see the command to pick up the cross as anything more than being controlled.  However, every time He asks us to obey, every time there is an opportunity to serve, it is an invitation to be included and experience the love expressed in the Trinity.

However, eternal love remained voluntary.  The Son had never been forced to serve.  The Father had never been obligated to love.  It was innate.  Therefore, the only love He could impart to His creation was that of free will.  When man chose to believe they could decide for themselves that which is evil and that which is good, they rejected the eternal love of serving, submitting, and selflessness and as a result began to interpret God instead of experience Him.  To man, God became One to understand as a concept instead of One to be known through fellowship.  Yet, the life in which the Trinity abides is that of divine love and experiential knowledge; fellowship with God remains the only source of life.[1] When humanity chose independence from God, they actually sold themselves into slavery to Satan and signed a contract with death.  They began to see God through the lens of their own broken knowledge and skewed wisdom, possessing no option of experiencing Him accurately.  As a result, they thought He was altogether like them.[2] All action thenceforth was birthed out of this distorted perspective.  When Eve ate the fruit, she did so believing God wanted to keep for Himself the best and highest wisdom.[3] When Cain killed Abel, he saw God as One who had withheld His love from him.[4] This carried on from generation to generation having no alternative other than to increase in their distorted perspective of God.

Nevertheless, the Son’s nature and goal remained consistent.  He continued in His natural service and glorification of the Father for He is “the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person.[5]” So as the Son saw that humanity did not know the Father and had no way to receive the love the Father wanted to show them, Christ was born. In his gospel and epistles, John highlights that one of the primary purposes of the cross was to bring the Bride into the fellowship and life of the Trinity by serving and glorifying the Father in the declaration of His name and character.

For as long as I can remember, my Dad has been lecturing me about how I shouldn’t exaggerate. Honestly, I felt as though he was annoyed more than wanting to help me. Consequently, I bucked and didn’t listen to him when he brought it up.

A few years ago I met a man whose name I cannot remember. He was a young man, probably 25 or 26. I would have blown him off as “slow” had it not been for a certain Mr. Sliker who prepared me before hand, explaining how much this young man was like Jesus. One thing I do remember about him was how carefully he spoke, as if he was searching through his brain to find the perfect word to describe exactly what he wanted to communicate. To be honest, he found them. Consequently, I took what he said very seriously. I knew he meant every word coming out of his mouth.

Within the past few months, my habitual exaggeration has ceased to humor me. Where before I thought it accurately described my feelings, I now see it as a betrayal of real emotional depth and food for self-pity, skewing judgment.

I was in a meeting when I mentioned that the proposal at hand would be, “an administrative nightmare.” Quite lovingly, it was taken off my plate and handed to someone else who could handle it. I was thankful at first, but then realized that as my superiors were figuring out how much I could do, my exaggeration misrepresented me.

It was around this same time when I started noticing how often I used “never” and “always.” However, this was not the only thing I noticed. I also recognized that instead of being impacted by my perspective, these words forced people to take my opinion less seriously. As one who longs for impact, this bothered me.

I realized that in my brokenness I misunderstood the boundary lines my father placed around me. I thought my perspective was one of honor, full of wisdom. Instead, in my rejection of his guidance, my foolishness was displayed. The most painful part is that it has been paraded for years.

I have recently come to a greater understanding that this is the same with my Father. For years, I have made excuses about why I don’t need to honor my parents, why watching this movie is actually fine because i don’t want to be “religious,” how speeding really isn’t a big deal because police expect you to drive 5 over. I have often ignored the very things the Lord has given me to keep me on the path of life–and I am reaping its fruit.

Lord, show me Your boundaries! They are the only things that work!

In his letter to the church in Colossi, Paul defined peace as the reconciliation between God and man.  In chapter one he writes, “and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him…having made peace through the blood of His cross” (1:20).  A rather simple but fundamental foundation of Christianity, here Paul clarifies that peace with God is made through the death of the Son.  Though most would confine this verse to a peace only between the divine and the mortal and disregard this as any full understanding of peace, I beg one to consider this verse not as limited but rather as the complete definition.  For the purpose of this paper, the terms “centrality” and “preeminence” of Christ will be used interchangeably.  At the core, both mean to keep Jesus as the main component (centrality=in the center or the origin, preeminent=the highest from which all things come).  In light of the commission given to Jesus by the Father, and His inevitable rule on this earth, it seems that it would be impossible for peace in any form, state, or expression to exist outside of the reconciliation between God and Man.

As a Christian, I believe that ultimately God is above all things and that everything He desires will be brought into fruition for eternity (Hebrews 11:6).  Clearly seen in the accounts of His life, Jesus’ mission on the earth was to do this very thing—the will of the Father.  This is shown in Luke 22:42 when Jesus says, “not My will but Yours be done,” or “most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does…” (John 5:19).  In like manner, only those who do the will of Father will be saved, or “enter in the kingdom of heaven” as Matthew records in his gospel (7:21).  In light of these things, if we listen to wisdom and do what Paul commanded us to do in Colossians 3:2 when he writes, “set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth,” then with eternity in view the main question should remain, “what is the will of the Father that I may do it.”

The will of God is that Christ would be central and exalted to the highest place in all areas.  Paul clarified the will of the Father as the centrality of Christ when he wrote:

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.  For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:18-20).

Here Paul explained that God becoming a man and the reconciling of man to God fulfilled the desire of the Father.  He also explained that the purpose of Christ’s resurrection was that Jesus would be preeminent in all things.  In other words, the Father decided that Jesus should be supreme in every sphere.  God desires the exaltation of Christ above “all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given.” (Ephesians 1:21)  His plan remains that every established system from waste management to international relations, from city hall to the white house, from education to health care would be rooted upon Jesus and exalt Him. His will for all men is that every prayer, every relationship, every teaching would exalt Jesus.  Stephen Venable, a Christology professor, explained it this way: “the extent to which we are abandoned to the preeminence of Christ in all things is the extent to which we are in agreement with the passion and plan of the Godhead.  Thus the first reason why Jesus must be supreme…is devastatingly simple—it is because God’s desire is that He would be supreme in absolutely everything” (June 22^nd, 2009—The Centrality of Christ in the Ministry of Prayer).  Therefore, the extent to which Jesus is central in all things in life, or in this context peace, is the extent to which peace aligns with the will of God.

When Paul defined peace in his epistles, he established it as the peace in reconciliation between God and man with the centrality and preeminence of Christ.  He discussed it in his letter to the Ephesians this way:

“for He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity…so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.  For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father” Ephesians 2:14-22

First, Paul explained that in Christ there is now peace and reconciliation between Jew in Gentile for in Him they are one flesh.  Second, Paul emphasized that the purpose of this “new man” was to reconcile them both as one to the Father in Christ. Third, Paul defined Christ’s message as the access to the Father through Jesus.  The primary emphasis of each section is the centrality of Christ.  Note “in Himself, “that He,” and “through Him” as the evidence. It also seems that Paul placed these in a particular order. “That He might reconcile them both to God” seems to say that they (the reconciliation between men and the reconciliation between God and man) are not two separate benefits, but rather the purpose of peace between men was for the sake of peace between God and men.  Therefore, if peace between men is not based on Jesus, then there is no possible way for that peace to be under the Father and consequently cannot be true peace.  Paul boldly expressed that the greatest enemies, Jew and Gentile, are reconciled only in Christ and that the purpose of peace between men is mostly for peace between God and men through Christ.

In order to fulfill the plan of God, Jesus will hand over the earth to the Father for eternity.  According to 1 Corinthians 15:24-25, in order for this to occur Jesus will return to the earth to reign and place all things under His feet.  “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and authority and power.  For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.”  The enemy is people or things that are against God and contrary to His plan.  Jesus’ purpose in returning to the earth, according to 1 Corinthians, is to bring all things under subjection of Himself by destroying all those that come against the Father’s leadership and plan.  Therefore, since the will of God is to place Jesus as preeminent, Jesus will abolish all established things that do not exalt Him as highest nor keep Him central. According to King David, this is not an inert or static take over.  Rather, Jesus’ domination when He returns is focused and relentless.  In Psalm 110 David described what all things being placed under His feet will involve when he wrote, “‘Sit at my right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool’…The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.  He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries…therefore He shall lift of the head” (1, 5-7).  David explained that Jesus will execute the heads of nations and piles up their dead bodies in order to bring all things under His feet.  In this the head (that is Jesus as the head of the church) will be lifted up.  This emphasizes that the reason of this morbid psalm occurs at all is so that Jesus would be lifted up.

I believe Paul held this conviction when he wrote in many of his epistles to the churches, “grace and peace to you.”  In other words, Paul said, “strength to you for choosing righteousness (a.k.a. grace) and may the knowledge that you are reconciled to God for eternity and therefore can rest in His perfect leadership “guard your hearts and minds” (Philippians 4:7).  For “no weapon formed against you shall prosper” because you are “hidden in Christ in Heavenly places” (Isaiah 54:17, Colossians 3:3).  This is the peace that passes all understanding, for it transcends inner peace, political or governmental peace, or relational peace.  Rather it is an eternal peace from which all other must stem.

Consequently, any peace between nations, any peace between brothers, any peace in mind, or spirit, or emotion must forcibly keep Jesus as the center, otherwise there is no true peace.  For if Jesus only does the will of the Father, and the will of the Father is the centrality of Christ, and if Jesus indeed in coming back to the earth to bring all things under His feet in order to present all things to the Father aligned with His will, then the only peace that will remain when He returns is that with Jesus central.  If He is not central, it is the will of the Father that Jesus would uproot, abolish, and utterly destroy it.  For all peace stems from the reconciliation between God and man and grows upon the centrality of Christ.