Hi all,
A
glimpse into our lives: We have a soap dispenser next to the kitchen
sink that has a motion detector, so when you hold your hand under the
spigot it senses movement and squirts out a portion into your hand.
Nearly
every time I do dishes there is a little pool of soap that has dropped
onto the base of the dispenser, as you can see in this photo. (The
little guy on the left is our potato scrub brush; Barb's doing, lol)
Here is where the trouble starts
Now
when it comes to kitchen duties, I am the pot and pan man, so I take a
scrub pad, wipe up the pool of soap on the base of the dispenser, and
wash the pots and pans. If I need more soap THEN I hold the pad under
the spigot and let it squirt some out.
I
don't recall how I ended up with clean up duty, all I know is Barb is a
great cook and practices the belief that a dirty pot or pan can be set
aside for 'later' so she can focus on completing whatever she is
cooking. My name is 'later'.
We've
had that dispenser probably 5 years, and other dispensers before this
one. I've known Barb pretty much since we were 7 or 8 years old. We went
to the same birthday parties when we were kids because we had the same
friends. Our parents knew each other. My grandfather was their doctor.
My uncle was a partner in a law firm with their next door neighbor,
whose daughter was Barb's best friend and one of my best friends. We
started dating at ages 15 & 16. We have a LONG and deep history
between us and our families.
But I thought...
The
other day she was at the sink and asked if I wiped up that little pool
of soap on the base, and I replied I did and told her my routine. She
asked me not to do that because when she washes her hands she doesn't
want a whole squirt of soap, she just swipes her fingers across that
little pool to get just enough to wash her hands.
Why
is this the first I've heard of it? I've always swiped up that little
pool of soap first, thereby saving soap by using the excess, doing what I
thought was a favor to her and keeping the kitchen just that much
cleaner looking in the process.
Over
35 years of marriage and I'm just now learning I frustrated her all
these years by wiping up the little pool of soap? I didn't know until
that moment I was frustrating her efforts to wash her hands. Argh!
Frustrating grace
And
so it is with many Christians who think they are doing God a favor -
good hearts but wrong application. Maybe by religious formulas and
exercises, maybe tallying people they've won to the Lord like notches on
a wild west gunslinger's belt, or marveling over their huge auditorium
with Italian tile they built for Him, or counting up the record number
of people in the Easter service, they think that is what God wants.
Or
maybe they've filled auditoriums with 3,000 others to shout and yell
for an open heaven and pray for revival in that city, and being told by
the leaders revival would come within 30 days if they fasted 30 days.
Perhaps
like me frustrating Barb while I thought I was doing her a favor, what
they think He wants and what they are doing is actually frustrating to
Him.
They
overlook that amazing fact that Christ lives in them, and they can stop
doing things to impress Him and just walk with Him through life. He
enjoys the process, so enjoy it with Him.
We think...
We
think we are doing the Bible thing, to constantly remind ourselves that
Jesus died for us because He loves us. We witness to the unsaved that
Jesus loves you SO much that He died for you - and all that is true, but
only half the truth for He didn't stay dead. Taking people only 1/2 way
to the resurrection keeps people focused on death and sin instead of
resurrection power.
When
brought before the leaders after healing a lame man, Peter didn't stop
at the cross: "Be it known to you and all the people of Israel, that by
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, by Him this man stands before you whole." (4:10)
When
the believers were gathered in such unity in Jerusalem after Pentecost,
meeting from home to home, having meals together - what was there
focus? "And with great power the apostles gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord." They
weren't giving witness to His death on the cross, but of His
resurrection, because it was resurrection power that had changed
their lives. (4:33)
Life
When
the apostles were imprisoned and an angel opened the prison doors to
set them all free, He said: "Go stand in the temple and tell the people
all the words of this Life." (5:20) He didn't tell them to talk of the death of the cross, but rather 'this Life'.
Is
it any wonder then that Paul opens his letter to the Romans saying,
"And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit
of holiness by the resurrection of the dead." (1:4)
Paul's heart's desire was, "To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings..." (Philippians 3:10)
Know or believe?
Is it any wonder our church culture has raised up 'believers' in the Lord rather than 'knowers' of the Lord. You cannot know a dead person,
and because people are focused on the cross only, they believe in Jesus
who died, but without going to the resurrection they aren't able to
KNOW the risen and living Lord!
Because
they are believers in His death rather than knowers of His
resurrection, they veer off in their faith to erroneous teachings,
chasing after whatever fad doctrine is selling right now, chasing the
spectacular while missing the supernatural work the Lord is trying to do
in their heart.
They
mentally agree He is raised from the dead, but in daily life they
identify with the dead Man on the cross. The New Testament is all about
the risen Lord and that power changing lives.
Back to soap
I
started dating Barb a few months after I turned 16. Give me a situation
and I can predict how she would react, what she would say. But I still
had no idea she liked swiping up the little pool of soap that collected
under the dispenser.
Many
who have walked with the Lord for years are just now discovering
they've perhaps been frustrating His grace all this time. Thinking He
wanted formula and process, they are just now learning to simply walk
and talk with Him in the conversational lifestyle of a knower and
disciple.
How can you become a knower rather than just a believer?
Christ in you is the focus of the New Testament. The risen Lord is the focus of the New Testament. How can you make it your focus?
Knowing Him is the source of revelation...and more on that next week.
Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
Remember to use cwowi@aol.com for email to me
New CD/MP3 Series:
(2 cd/MP3, $12/set or MP3 $10)
Part 2 of this
series details how Satan gets us to believe lies about ourselves, our
purpose, our life, how his lies become truth to us, and then how to
un-believe those lies. This includes how the enemy gets us to do things
we don't want to do, the process of agreement with the old thoughts or
with God's thoughts, the comfort zone known within those old thoughts
and risk of thinking new thoughts, and how to bring thoughts captive to
the obedience of Christ. It is about the time involved in the process of
becoming transformed by renewing the mind, and how to walk it out in
victory!
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