Guilty?

There it is again - that silent, nagging feeling of heaviness - GUILT!

Oh, there's plenty of evidence to make a case against you and me...we're quite the sinners, aren't we?

Sometimes we sense that thought fleeting through our minds - that wistful expression of desire for getting better, "If I could only forget...If only I'd not done, said, thought..."!!!

GUILTY! Our conscience - sometimes quiet - now screaming! GUILTY!!!

Oh, then the horror of that next thought, "Do you really think God loves you after what you did, said, thought?"

If the above describes you then perhaps the following scripture will be a refreshing drink for your soul:
ESV Romans 8:35 & 37-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?...37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You may sometimes feel as if your conscience is your enemy. It's not...but your enemy is real. The battle for your focus is real. The devil wants to distract you from Jesus and the glorious truth of who you are in Him. If you are one who confesses Jesus then you are forgiven, loved, set free - free to walk in a manner worthy of the high calling to which you've been called in Jesus.

Orphan Trains

Recently I watched a documentary on Orphan Trains. It seems that many years ago in the US there were trains that carried orphaned and abandoned street kids from New York City way out into the Midwest. At each train depot the hope was that there would be a family or two or three that would take a kid or two or five!

Some stories were gut wrenching - like the one young man who was a part of a sibling group of brothers and sisters. He watched as at stop after stop a sibling was picked for adoption - then on to the another train depot where he said a forever goodbye again. This went on till he was the last one of the siblings left on the train. He finally was picked by a family.

So, what's better? Live like an animal surviving on the streets of New York city or being put on an orphan train and shipped to the Midwest? You can decide.

Adoption is not a new concept.

Orphans have been around for millennia - so has adoption.

The methods may have changed on how we find potential adoptive families - but the needs are the same.

Every child belongs to the human race...just not to a particular human family.

We all want to feel the embrace of a loving parent - to feel as if we matter - that we're not human garbage to be discarded on the street, used for personal pleasure, or forgotten about - tucked away in an orphanage somewhere.

We want to belong! You and I want to be able to say, "Mom...Dad."

God loves orphans:
Exodus 22:22 "You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.
Psalm 68:5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows-- this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
God wants followers of Jesus to love orphans:
James 1:27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
When one really thinks about it - Adam was the first "son" of God in the human line of "sons". He became an orphan because of sin. He, along with our mother Eve - became estranged from their Heavenly Daddy.

We have all followed in the line of Adam. Because of sin we are all spiritual orphans. We need to be re-captured by the Father - ADOPTED by Him.

My wife and I have been preparing to adopt children. Since January of this year we've taken classes, had a home study done, looked at profiles of available children. It's been quite the process. DHS has a means in place whereby qualified families may adopt available children.

God has His means in place as well by which spiritual orphans are adopted. That means is a Person and a Process.

The Person is the second Adam - Jesus Christ, THE perfect Son of God.

The Process of spiritual adoption is linked to the Person.

It goes like this: Before God created the world He looked ahead in time and saw an entire globe that would be filled with spiritual orphans - sinners who needed to be adopted by the Heavenly Father.

Just like my wife and I will choose to adopt certain kids someday - God the Father, on obviously a much deeper and much broader scale - chose certain kids to be brought into His heavenly family. He chose us in Christ before He even created the world.

Now, in time and space, as those orphans are born and living in the world the Father sends His good news of grace for all to hear. Those who truly hear and respond in faith are those whom He has already chosen in eternity past and now in time have been given faith to believe.

Have you been spiritually adopted?

Are you chosen?

Okay - that's a question that needs a little explaining.

We're not talking about the trauma you received in your grade school PE class when two team captains chose who they wanted on their dodge ball team!

We're not talking about submitting your resume' with the hopes that yours shines brighter than the rest! Will they choose you?

What we're talking about is much more about life and death - eternal life and death, that is.

Has God chosen you?

Now that's a little deeper question...don't you think?

It's also a question that ticks some people off even as it fills some hearts with gratitude.

Chosen by God? Doesn't that just smack of elitism - of better-than-you-ism?

Or...maybe I didn't do anything to earn it! Maybe I'm just as surprised as the next person that God would choose me over others...after all, I've lived in this skin and know the sinful jerk I've been.

Yet, God in His mercy chose me before He even created the world? Man, that just about blows my mind out the top of my bald head!

I'm praising God for His kindness and grace today.

Saying, "Yes".

Okay, so how do you know when to say, "Yes", and when to look the other way?

I mean, Moses was secure in his mundane life of shepherding. "What is this flaming voice telling me to do? You want me to go where...do what?!?"

"Come on, I'm too unqualified...after all, why would the people of Israel believe me...not to mention the Pharaoh! I mean whom shall I say sent me?"

"I AM", was God's reply.

And, He still IS!

God is still the enabler of the unqualified - the One who calls the broken and unprepared to service.

But He goes with us...and that's what makes it okay. Just as God empowered Moses so He does with you and me.

Maybe what God invites you to do isn't as dramatic as what God called Moses to do; however, has He invited you...called you to do something? Anything? One thing...now?

Are you in a habit of saying, "Yes", when God calls your name?

No, it might not be a flaming bush on fire as you walk your dog some evening; however, does the Spirit prompt you to do good to someone in the name of Jesus?

Maybe a submissive posture of "Yes" is all that is required.

"Yes, Lord, I'll talk to that person...I'll help this other person...I'll share my faith with..."

When we're used to saying "Yes" to God in the little opportunities maybe we'll hear more clearly when we are asking God for wisdom in the bigger things?

Selfishness

Unselfishness: How does that happen? Maybe you're like me - the bug of self has burrowed deeply into your heart. How does that vile bug get exterminated?

Paul points us to the attitude of heart that is winsome to others and toxic to the self bug:
NLT Philippians 2:3 Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
I don't think the Holy Spirit is wanting us to become like Disney's Eeyore - complete with a depressed attitude and low expectations. Rather, we should just have a quiet heart attitude of servanthood to others. This is my goal - not always how I perform - but it is my goal.