Brutal Love Never Fails?

Hey Everyone! 

Some of you may be wondering why I named my blog “Brutal Love Never Fails.” Really, it’s quite simple...I read a book about it, was impacted by it, and learned that God’s brutal love never fails. The name of the book is called Sifted, written by Rick Lawrence. Lawrence goes through, and dissects, Luke 22:31-32 which says,

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again,  strengthen your brothers.”

When you actually stop to think about this verse, you may come to the realization that it's pretty weird. If Jesus was basically God, then why didn’t He just stop Satan? Our thought is that if Satan demands, Jesus should rebuke him and be our biggest advocate. Lawrence tells us of the meaning of Peter’s sifting, and the book really answers a lot of questions about suffering in general. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Lawrence goes on to say that some of us may describe God as brutal because of something that has happened to us. However, that doesn’t mean that is an accurate description of who God is. That may be an accurate description of an experience we’ve had with Him, but that description is not true in whole. Let me explain a little more...If my little brother wants to go outside without a sweatshirt and my mom says no because it’s too cold, he will usually call her mean (this happens all too often...). Even tho, in that moment, my brother sees her as mean because of that particular experience he had with her, that is not true about my mom. She is not mean. I know that, and my brother knows that. BUT it was true to my brother in that moment.

I think sometimes we like to look at God to see how loving and compassionate He is. But we never want to look past those characteristics or think our suffering came from God. 

Ever. 

So what happens when we read the Old Testament. Do we ignore the fact that God indirectly allowed Job to suffer to prove Satan wrong, when He simply could have told Satan not to touch Job, his family, or his possessions?

Do we ignore the fact that God allowed His people (the Israelites) to kill so many others? Or do we take that and look at why? Why would God allow that? Why would God allow so many non-believers to be murdered by His people? Maybe this was some kind of preparation for the coming of Jesus.

If we look at Rahab’s story, we can see that news about the God of Israel was spreading fast. Rahab helped the Israelite spies to escape out of the town they were looking to take over. The story of Rahab also shows us that anyone could belong to the God of Israel. We see this with Ruth as well, which teaches us that God was not closed off to just the Israelites. This is very important to take note of. All these cities heard about what the God of Israel was doing for the Israelites and how he parted the Red Sea. Yet, they still fought them.  But seeing that all these places heard about God and what He did should be comforting. He wasn’t doing this for nothing. There was a plan.

Most of us know how the story plays out...
The land God promised the Israelites was finally given to them. And then the Messiah came many many years later. The Messiah didn’t only benefit the people of that time. He came for us as well. I believe the Messiah (aka Jesus Christ) was the result of all the brutality that was shown by God in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is true love. God had a plan in all His brutality. His plan was to show His love for us.

I know what you’re thinking...that hardly makes sense.

I know.

It’s crazy.

I want to believe there was an easier way too, and there may have been. BUT I think God likes challenges. What if God chose the Israelites as His people because He knew they’d be the toughest, the hardest to satisfy, and the the biggest complainers? Maybe He knew we’d learn the most from their mistakes. If God chose a loyal, patient group of people with low standards, we probably wouldn’t be able to learn very much from them at all. God chose the Israelites for a reason.

I hope this is coming together a little. I hope some of you can see this in your life. But there is a chance some of you may never see the purpose of God’s brutality in your life, just like the Israelites who escaped from Egypt. They didn’t get to see God’s love for them played out thru Jesus here on earth. And that sucks. But, we still need to place our faith in who God is. Because one day, God will show us the purpose for His brutality if we let Him.

 

 

One last thing...

(This is my favorite example from the book!)

Sometimes when we feel we’ve lost control of our lives, we will try anything to get that control back. We’ll try everything to first save ourselves only to realize that we’re not able to cut as deeply as we need to.

Jesus will dig deeper than we ever could.  

We need to give ourselves over to God who is brutal enough to get the job done. He will use terrifying things we would never try. He will bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things for us. 

His brutal love will never fail us.

I love you all. 
I hope you are able to put these concepts together to start to see and think about who God is and how He works.
(I also hope this made you want to read the book Sifted, by Rick Lawrence!)









-Erika

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28

Believe me. You do not want to read this.

“Lord, I give You all I have. But, what do I have to give that You don’t already own. I’m Yours” -Shane & Shane

That is so true.

I’ve noticed lately, that sometimes we sing all the songs in church, but don’t really think about what we’re saying. Just to be clear, I am not saying all of us do this! However, I have noticed some of us do, myself included. I think it’s safe to say that sometimes we get caught up in our own thoughts, and before we know it the song is over. I sometimes do this while driving, during class, while I'm at work, or during church. Mostly during class, but that’s a different story... Sometimes we forget to focus and I completely understand that! However, have you ever stopped to think about what you are singing about? For instance, in the pretty, old school hymn “I Surrender All,” you’re singing, “I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Him, my blessed Savior. I surrender all.” 

Have you ever stopped to meditate on what these words actually mean?

I believe many of us think there are things we are SUPPOSED to do to be “good” Christians, or that we HAVE to be something we’re not to get to heaven. For example: 

Bob goes to church on Sundays, and even a small group during the week. He prays before meals, does daily devotions, and tithes ten percent. He sometimes even volunteers for a ministry in his church when he feels like it. 

Those are all great things, but is that what being a Christian is? Is that what surrendering all is? Does it mean giving up two days a week to go to bible study/church out of obligation or guilt? Does it mean tithing ten percent even though you really don’t want to, but you don’t want God, or others, to think you’re selfish? Does it mean praying the same things day after day out of habit? Does it mean volunteering your time so God will give you a couple extra points? 

When Bob passes away and is standing in front of God, do you think God will take out his check list and start checking off action after action, and then say, “Oh look at that. You did everything you were supposed to do.” Then God will sign the bottom of the paper, pat Bob on the head, and hand him the paper so he can enter into heaven to be heirs with Christ.

OR

Do you think God will look at Bob with sadness in His eyes and say, “I’m sorry. I showed you my love for you over and over again, but somehow you still tried to work your way into heaven out of your fear for hell. Your eyes were on heaven and not me. Your motivations were not right.” 

What if the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit still existed, but heaven or hell did not?

If there was no reward for following Christ, would Bob still follow Him? Would you still follow Him? Most people would probably say there’d be no point. But what motivates us to take care of our parents when they are old and cannot take care of themselves? What motivates us to care for our children, or siblings? What motivates us to visit and take care of our grandparents?

The answer is love. 

No matter how many times Bob messed up, his parents still loved him. His mom went looking for him to bring him home safely after he snuck out to go to a party one night. His dad still loved him after he got in a car accident because he was texting while driving. Something his dad repeatedly told him not to do. 

What if we saw God as our creator, who has been by our side and who has loved us no matter how many times we’ve messed up? What if we loved God for who He really is and not for what He can give us? Even tho we may turn away, He is still right there next to us. We may not see Him, but He definitely sees us. 

Luke 14:26 says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Um...WHAT!?!

Let me try to explain this verse a little bit...

The word “hate” is used to imply that you must love God more than you love your own family and even your own life. If you don’t, you cannot be a disciple of Christ. I believe this is because God wants you to surrender your life to him and trust that he will take care of the ones you love. Look at the guy in Matthew 8 who asks Jesus if he can follow Him after his father passes away. But Jesus basically tells him not to worry about his father and to come and follow Him now. 

Not next year. 

Not next week. 

Not in an hour. 

NOW.

Jesus is saying we should love Him so much that we would go with Him on the spot. 

Would you leave your family right now to follow Jesus? 

One of the last things recorded that Jesus said to the disciples was “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) It would be really hard to leave your family if you did not love Jesus more than them. It sounds terrible to even think about loving someone more than your child, parent, or even best friend, but we cannot pick and chose what we like about the bible and follow only those specific commands. 

Back to the main point...

I think that is what surrendering all is. Giving your life to the one who loves you out of your love for Him and allowing God to change your heart. 

I may be wrong...but I think we like to think we have control over everything in our lives...at least I do. Yes, we have free will and make our own decisions. However, I wonder what would happen if we started praying over our decisions, and took time to listen to God instead of talking the whole time. What if surrendering all is something we like to think we’ve done because we're scared to face the truth? Surrendering all is scary, and you can't do it without love. (I want to encourage you to read through the book of John to see how Jesus lived in complete obedience to God, his Father.) 

What if God is waiting for you to listen to what He is trying to say to you? Or maybe you are exactly where God has planned for you to be. Maybe He has these HUGE plans for you, but He is waiting for you to let go of something, or maybe God's told you His plans for you because you've already let go. I don’t know, but I think you do. 

Giving up your Sunday mornings to worship a God who loves you, because you love Him. Volunteering your time in a ministry at your church to serve the one who loves you, because you love Him. Tithing ten percent because God loves you, and because you love Him. Doing your daily devotions because He loves you, and because you love Him and want to know Him more. Spending time in prayer, not only talking to God, but listening to what God has to say to you, because you want to follow Him...because you love Him. Spending time with God because you love Him. (If you sincerely love God, you’ll want to spend time with Him.) If we can do these things out of love, our relationship with the Lord will grow so much, and we’ll be more willing everyday to surrender all to Him. We’ll learn how to trust in what we cannot see, but what we know is here. If you love Jesus, and start doing these things out of love, your life will look dramatically different. 

God is only limited by our capacity for wanting to know Him. Let Him fill you with the knowledge of Him.

How great does that sound? Knowing God more and deepening our relationship with Him. Why wouldn’t we want that? The thing is, we love to hold on to things...at least I do. No matter how much that thing is hurting us, or holding us back, we just do not want to let go! We don’t want to give up our comfortable lives to serve the Lord. We don’t want to let go of our hate for someone because they hurt us. We don’t want to do our school work because we think school is pointless. I’d like to let you know that if you give these things to God it will give you joy, it will bring you peace, but most of all it will glorify Him. People may start to wonder what is different about us.  But we can't do this alone. We need each other. Lets let Him take control of the life He has given us. 

Let go with me. 

Give up with me.

Why are we so scared?

Why are we holding on so tightly with all our strength to what isn’t ours? Aren’t you tired?

I know I am. 

-Erika

Hi my name is...

Hey friends!

Yes. I am writing a blog. As long as God is giving me something to write about, I will write!

I feel like I need to introduce myself...

My name is Erika.

I am 21 years old.

I have a wonderful family who loves me and would do anything for me. I am so grateful for them. 

I have a wonderful Christian family, who I also love so much. 

I am a guitar player/song writer. 

I am currently going to an art school, majoring in audio production. 

I love Dunkin Donuts.

I do not like fast blinkers.

I think huge statues are ridiculous...as well as manniquins.

Let me tell you why I am writing...

I see a HUGE need for change in the world. Don't get me wrong. Change is coming...but not from Christians. I believe Christians need to be the change the world needs, not the media. We need to tell of Jesus's love, and that is exactly what I want to encourage. I see a huge lack of love all over the world. Whether its from someone selling a young girls body for a couple of dollars in Cambodia, or from a dude freaking out because someone took his parking spot at Wawa...we're lacking love, and I believe through Jesus, we can change hearts. 

I want to make you aware of the influence the media has on our society. I want to show you music videos and songs that you or your children may be watching and listening to, that may cloud your/their minds. I want to make you aware of the war that is happening around us that you may not be aware of. I want to write of things that will give you hope, encourage you, and maybe even scare you. I want to inspire you to share with others, pray with others, and love others. I want to make you to think. I want us to move. 

I want us to love.

I want us to be like Jesus.

Lets be Jesus to someone today.

 

"Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting

you are God."

Psalm 90:2