5.Discovering God-
A huge piece in being able to be a romantic means being people who aren’t bored or uninterested in taking a look at the basics and the foundations of our beliefs. We need to come back to God with fresh eyes daily, to look into what we can know of God and search for deeper, new truths we haven’t noticed before. Many times the best approach is to take the simplest things and rest our hat on those things. So lets take a look at our foundations rather than the pretty bells and whistles.
God’s reason
Why did God create? Why would He make this world, the animals, and humans? In many ways there is a mystery in that question, but one thing we do know is that the Bible tells us God created the earth, and everything in it for His pleasure. Another cool illustration my friend Adam said to me once is, God is so great, so full of love that He was compelled to pour Himself out and create. We were made then for interaction with God, to worship Him, to be stewards of His creation. We were made to be little moons that reflect the light of God to everyone we come into contact with. We were made for worship, not in the sing-song sense, but in that our lives were meant to be megaphones announcing the greatness of God to everyone we meet. In Isaiah it is clear what God wanted His chosen people to be.
Isaiah 42:6 (New International Version)
6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
Isaiah 49:6 (New International Version)
6 he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
The reason we are here is because He created us to live in relationship with Him and praise him, He is our source and we were meant to bring honor glory and praise to the source. This isn’t really big news, most of us know that our job was to be stewards of the earth, but many people still forget that as stewards our job is to glorify the owner of the goods we are caring for by being people who are responsible, and by connecting and interacting with God.
In light of this fact we have to ask ourselves how we are taking care of the things God has placed before us. As Romantics we have to understand that how we act and how we take care of things, and how we care for the people around us, reflects our love for God just as much as our words, fasting or prayers. (Again I want to clarify that our salvation is not graded this way! If you have made mistakes you are offered a clean slate.) We will all struggle with acting out this idea. But the key is understanding the foundations of our beliefs so we know why we are doing the things we do. We do what we do because God first loved us, because God created us for mercy, and after we fell sent His Son to die for us. God sent His son because He loves us and longs to be in a relationship with us, His people who He made to worship Him.
God’s Mercy
It’s important for us to go back and understand that God is a God who showers Mercy down on us in failure and success. But it is also interesting to notice that He will let us fail as well. God’s love for us doesn’t always take the form of success, but sometimes in the failure we experience God uses the failure to temper us and mature us. No matter how God’s shows its face in our lives, one thing is for sure. God’s mercy acts in our lives in interesting ways. Let’s look at a few of the ways it works in our lives.
As inspiration:
Romans 12:1 (New International Version)
Romans 12
Living Sacrifices
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
As paradox:
Romans 11:31 (New International Version)
31so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.
As confidence:
2 Corinthians 4:1 (New International Version)
2 Corinthians 4
1Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
As patience and comfort:
Jude 1:21 (New International Version)
21Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
God’s mercy ultimately is something we cannot grasp in full. How we are all rejected, and yet also offered election as Sons and Daughters. But, one thing that we can rest in is that God’s mercy is perfect because God is perfect.
As inspiration God’s mercy is the fuse that when lit sends us racing to the paper and pen, to the pulpit, to the streets, to the ends of the earth, and to our neighbors door to serve them. When we experience moments where God’s mercy is clear to us we will be pushed to action, pushed to move. In this way God’s mercy is something that overwhelms us and shakes us to core in ways that move us to action.
As paradox God’s mercy is something that is completely beyond us, a mystery that both confirms God’s place as sovereign Lord above us and yet also confuses us, and thus compels us to get closer and try to fathom the Eternal Being. As a paradox God’s mercy is the drive for us to gather and learn, to read and pray, to fast, to doubt, and to ultimately engage God in a non-religious way, to engage God in a relational way. In the face of God’s paradoxical nature we are driven to be irreverent at times and non-religious, to raise our fists and shake them at God, and it is at this door way that the heart is either hardened or softened. Where skeptic either accepts or rejects the grace and love offered them, where the believer stumbles or rests, and where the non-believer mocks or bows. At this door way we accept God as real, active and living, or we reject Him as myth.
As confidence God’s mercy allows us to not have all the answers but be confident that God does. God’s mercy becomes the affirmation of God’s place as Lord, and in that moment where we place all confidence in Him we can rest. God’s mercy becomes the reason for us to not place trust in ourselves, but wholly in God. A confidence that is not based on a God who makes complete sense to us, but a God who has revealed pieces of Himself to us and who is fully beyond us at the same time. This confidence is a steadying anchor to our lives, God’s mercy allows us to not focus on ourselves, but to focus on God and others. Jesus’ work on the cross allows us to take our eyes off ourselves to be able to do the work of true praise and worship, to honor God and love others completely because we know what we are given has nothing to do with us. In the wake of this truth our confidence rests in something completely beyond us.
As patience and comfort God’s mercy is the steady and sure rock that we know we can build our foundation on. We know that God’s mercy is not contingent on us, that the grace and love of God was not offered on some sort of action of our own. Our purity is not the contingency of our contract with God. God and God alone is the supplier of our salvation. Because of that we can wait, and will wait on God’s perfect providence in our lives knowing that He will provide for us as He sees fit as He always has, and that His plan for us is much better than our own. Trails come, God may not be visible, but God’s mercy will always come. Though the night may fall, we know there will always be a morning where the Son of God will rise and we will be called Sons and Daughters.
God’s Breath, God’s Fire
God’s Breath, God’s Fire, God’s Spirit, The Holy Guest, this is God’s movement through us Spiritually. The power that opens our eyes, that allows us to see and comprehend in a way that will cater to our human minds one minute and push us beyond all our understanding and reveal to us things that we could never say, do, or receive outside of the Spirits movement in us, God’s Spirit works for us in spite of our short comings and continues to listen anyways. On our own we would be completely incapable of knowing what we need, yet when we speak God is working and honoring our efforts and sending help to us in the perfect way.
Romans 8:26-28 (New International Version)
26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
More Than Conquerors
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[a] who[b] have been called according to his purpose.
God’s Spirit also doesn’t come to enslave us but to free us. Though being sons and daughters of God will open us up to attacks from the world around us and the dark forces that are at work in it, we can have confidence through the Spirit’s ministering work. The Spirit will remind us of the truth and be our guide in times of trouble, allow us to see the end will in the midst of trials if we will open our eyes.
Romans 8:15-18 (New International Version)
15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Future Glory
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
God’s Spirit will also remind us and be our guide in moments where we are about to hurt ourselves, or others. Through God’s love God will reveal to us foolishness that the world might recognize as wisdom. God’s wisdom is beyond mans and only through humbling ourselves to His will can we truly understand God’s work. God wouldn’t have it any other way and we ought to think the same. Paul reminds us of the necessity of this truth so that no man says he is saved because of another man, instead God’s Spirit works so that we may never boast in human understanding.
1 Corinthians 3:16-20 (New International Version)
16Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
18Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”
It is also important to note that in my opinion we will see God’s Spirit move in people that don’t come under the banner of the Christianity we know it. This might seem difficult to grasp but I think C.S. Lewis’s example in The Last Battle in the Telmarine guard is something we should think about and allow the Spirit to speak to our hearts on.
“…even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert. Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou has done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reason of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites. I take to me the services which thou hast done to him, for I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if a man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted.”
God’s Compassion
God’s compassion for the weak, the sick, the lowly and the needy are hallmarks in His character that we need to remind ourselves of DAILY. God loves the week above the strong, God loves those who do humble themselves to Him, who don’t pretend or try to stand on their own too feet. The world may see these people as weak, but God calls them His beloved.
Matthew 5:1-8 (New International Version)
Matthew 5
The Beatitudes
1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3”Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
When we experience trails we ought not complain or feel like God is doing horrible things to us, or allowing something that we can handle. Again this goes along with the paradox within God, we have to be empty to be filled, and we have to be rejected to be accepted. When the world pushes us down, Christ is there to pick us up. The world around us doesn’t value the weak, they value the strong, through Christ we know that again, although we may be in the wilderness there is a paradise right here right now, if we choose to look at life through God’s eyes.
Luke 6:19-22 (New International Version)
19and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
It’s also important to know that as God’s people, as Romantics, God’s love and grace are offered us, but that God also desires for us to go out and help the needy, NOT just because we have food, clothing, or help to offer but because they have so much to offer us. It’s interesting what Jesus says at the end about the righteous and the sinner, because to Jesus there is no righteous one, we are all lost. Those of us who have been so blessed as to see Christ and live for Him are only given what we have by grace, so when we go on “missions” or when we “evangelize” it’s interesting to me that we think we approach people with a spirit that presupposes that it is somehow better than them, as if we were able to help them on our own accord. More importantly I find it interesting that some of us go on missions to “do God’s work,” as if to say we don’t do God’s work, or can’t do God’s work in our current situation.
When we travel to other areas of the world it should not be driven by a mission that is separate from our mission here at home, if we are going to Africa to serve the poor we ought to also serve the poor here, if we go to India to feed the hungry we ought to feed the hungry at home, if we go to help the needy in Palestine we ought to also help the needy here at home. Now, as Americans I understand we have been given so many blessings that allow us to go out into the world and help, that is an amazing gift that we ought to use. But, if we think that we are going to Africa to “help” those “poor” people, I think we will be surprised to find that when we return it is them who have helped us, and it is not we who are rich, but them. In that again lays the Paradox of following God, the weak feed the strong, and the broken will lead the whole.
Matthew 9:10-15 (New International Version)
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
12On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
God’s Grace
If God has compassion for the poor then God also has grace for those who should know better and have become so full of pride that they become more interested in their religion then their relationship with God.
Acts 4:33
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.
When we go out and proclaim the gospel we will not say all the right things, we will by our own hype, we will get lost in theology and philosophy, but in the midst of all of that, God’s grace will remain and as always work in spite of us.
Romans 3:23-24 (New International Version)
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
It is by grace that we who know better, who have seen God work in our lives, and who still choose to sin, are granted forgiveness and freedom from our sin, our guilt, our shame, and ultimately our pride. Grace works on our behalf because although we will think we are strong for a time, our strength will betray us, we will begin to believe our own knowledge and understanding, we will create new laws, new theologies and new philosophies that will ultimately be our undoing. We will never be able to live up to our own expectations or God’s level of purity. Jesus comes and brings us grace, from the Father, and through the Spirit. It is by this grace that are given peace, and through this peace we are able to become humble, having realized we can not do it on our own we will daily lay our lives back down at Christ’s feet, realizing how much we come up short.
God’s Redemption
We have to remember that God longs for all of creation to be reconciled unto Him. God’s plan is to redeem all of creation back into Himself, and that is not something that we have to wait for either. As Christians it is our job to try our best to be life Christ and be what Isaiah 42 prophesies about.
Isaiah 42
The Servant of the Lord
1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him
and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4 he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his law the islands will put their hope.”
5 This is what God the LORD says—
he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it:
6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
7 to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
8 “I am the LORD; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
9 See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you.”
We need focus on God so that we can be the tools God uses to free those captives, we accept the gift we have been given through Jesus Christ so that we may receive the gift of life, of true purpose, of living for something other than our own happiness and tranquility. When we accept the gift of grace and love from Jesus and choose to live for Him we are choosing to offer ourselves as tools that will be used to bring redemption and reconciliation back to the world. The only way to do so is to be people who are humble, who are full of love, mercy, and compassion.
God’s Love
Ultimately God’s love for us is so perfect we can’t really understand it, but one thing we can be sure of is that God loves us and is pouring out His love on us daily. When we allow God’s love to capture us, when we take part in what Phil Wickham describes as “The Devine Romance,” we take part in the greatest love story ever known. The love between God and His creation, the love of Jesus, the love that drove the Son of God to the cross, that changed the heart of a murderer like Paul, a love that used a fisherman like Peter, is the same love that calls you and I to be used for amazing adventures. It’s amazing how often I forget that, but again, as romantics we have to go back and remember who God is daily, to never take our eyes of Jesus. If we forget who Jesus is, or stop trying to learn more about Jesus, we will fall apart.