RELIGIOUS

09/26/2005

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I don’t like that word. When I am called “Religious,” I bristle at the sound of it. I heard it again the other day as someone used it to describe my love and devotion for my Lord, and I came home with it ringing in my ears…religious…religious…and then God helped me see the word in a new light. He asked me to make up an acronym for it.

How, you might ask, does God make a request like that? Good question--it’s sort of a nudging, a suggested thought that fills my mind and challenges me. But then, of course, I balked at the “suggestion.” I told God there were just too many letters there to be able to do that, I was not able to…so if He wanted me to do it, He’d have to give me the words to use for each letter. Little by little, the words came and I wrote them down. This is what He gave me.

R – Really
      E – Expecting
             L – Life
                    I –  In 
                         G – God
                                I –  Insures
                                      O – Our
                                             U – Undeserved
                                                    S – Salvation

Now, that’s something that won’t make me bristle! If someone asks me if I’m religious, I can answer back with a resounding, “YES!” I am very religious, because I am really expecting life in God insures our undeserved Salvation! What a fun God we have! He can take those little things that sometimes make us uncomfortable and change them into something that brings Him Glory!! Now I look forward to the next time someone calls me, “Religious.” Of course I am religious, I’ll tell them, it’s the only way to survive in this life, because life is hard! It will take its toll on us; it will cause us to become exhausted with all that we must endure from day to day.

So many are hurting right now. It’s all over the news, with hurricane Katrina and now Rita…Those are big events that are happening and our hearts go out to all who are left homeless in the wake of the storms. But even closer to home, for those of us who don’t live in those areas, there are people all around us who are wandering through this life broken and depleted, ready to give up under the strain of it all. If we’re not really expecting life in God insures our undeserved Salvation, then what do we have to really look forward to?

I’m not writing out of my own pain today, or maybe I am…the pain that fills my heart for those around me who are hurting so deeply. There seems to be struggles and missing and heartache and questions and condemnation and loss and anger…the list is endless with all the needs out there right now. My prayer list grows rapidly as I hear of so many who are hurting…will it never end? It just seems to increase…and yet I know it will end. I know it will because I am RELIGIOUS!! Thank you God!

I am happier than ever to be a religious fanatic now that God has given me a new definition for that word! I don’t semi-believe that good things are coming…I REALLY believe that they are!! I am EXPECTING them, looking forward to them, longing for the victory that is assured in Jesus Christ! I know that life is hard, but LIFE IN GOD makes it possible to greet each new day with joy because there is great hope even in the darkest of times. For those who believe, we need not doubt that what Jesus died to give us will be ours one day--it is our INSUREance policy against all disasters, death, and loss that we have to face during our time on this earth. It is OURs!!! No amount of sin can steal it away from us because it is UNDESERVED! We cannot work for it, be good enough for it, or lose it in the chaos of life. It belongs to us, free of charge, when we believe! After all is said and done, we will be saved, pulled from the fires, released from any hold the enemy has on us, be healed, restored, renewed and enjoy everlasting life!! Ahhh, the sweet smell of SALVATION!! It will be ours in full one day!!

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying,
our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles
are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us
an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So right now;
rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the
troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will
last forever!
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NLT)

In today’s terminology, I believe Paul is saying, “Hang in there people!!!” What we are going through is temporary, what is awaiting us as believers will make all of this worthwhile! We will one day understand all that we have been called to endure and to work through. We will see God’s eternal plan in all of this, and we will be satisfied! I know that’s hard to believe right now when some things seem so very wrong, but we must “trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) Otherwise, we will lean, and lean and lean in the wrong direction and fall into the hands of the waiting enemy who is ready to devour us the minute we give him the opportunity to do so.

Sometimes it’s not the big things in life that the enemy uses to try and destroy us, those can be too obvious. We know we need God’s help to get through great loss, great hurt, great difficulty. Our cries will ascend to Heaven as we search for answers with the big things in life, things way over our heads, beyond our comprehension or strength…but so many times the enemy’s weapons of destruction are small, irritating things that work on us day after day after day until we are worn down and wanting to call out “UNCLE!!” It can be a weight issue, an addiction to work, an unforgiving attitude towards someone, a sense of hopelessness or loss of direction in life, troubled relationships…sometimes it can even be a rat, as in our case right now!!

Yes, we have a rat in our RV! Now, this may seem like a ridiculous example of the enemy’s tactics as I share this story with you, considering all that you are going through right now in your life, but maybe in the midst of this story of our rat, God will have a lesson in it for all of us. I’m not quite sure…

Rodney, as he’s come to be known to Jim and me, is relentless!! He’s been “visiting” us for about two weeks now, joining us each evening as he comes in out of the evening chill, I suspect!! I usually go to bed shortly after eight now, knowing he will soon be making his appearance, and I don’t want to be there to see him!!! Sitting in our chairs, I can hear him making his way into our home…that’s enough for me!! I retreat into the bedroom and shut the door. He seems to have decided that he will at least leave us in peace in there!

You may be wondering why we haven’t done anything to rid our home of this irritating creature…well, we figure he is an escaped rat from the Livermore lab, one of their more intelligent “lab rats,” hence he has moved in with us instead of enduring their testing!! We have come to this conclusion because every attempt we have made to rid our home of Rodney has so far failed!! He is much too clever! He will eat the bait on the traps, set them off and be gone! Jim put a trap in a box, cut a hole in one end so he could go in, get his peanut butter, get caught, and we could dump him out with the morning garbage!! Oh no!! Rodney wasn’t about to enter the hole that had been cut, he chewed his way through the opposite end of the box, ate the peanut butter, set off the trap and was nowhere to be seen in the morning! We’ve put out sticky rattraps, which he actually must have gotten stuck to and then spent the rest of the night, while we slept, chewing his way off the stickiness.

We’ve tried to trap him in a cage. Not only did it take three nights before he would even go in after the food--he must have gone back home to study “cage entrapments,” because he came back to eventually eat the food he could get to, doing so without springing the door shut. He has, thus far, outwitted our every feeble attempt at catching him. There is one sliver of hope we are clinging to…he does like the poison we are putting out each night. We know because each morning when we get up, it is gone…it has been a week now of poisoning and we are waiting…waiting…waiting to get up one morning and see no more signs of Rodney. We are ready to have our home back…

What seems to be a very small thing in the grand scale of life, does affects our life right now. Rodney is stealing the peace in our home, he is diminishing our daily comfort and causing us to not want to return to our place of refuge when the day is done…knowing he will be joining us…a very unwanted, unwelcome visitor that we seem to have no control over. He rules our home life at night right now…this tiny creature of destruction. We adjust to his wants and needs and although it may seem ridiculous, our lives will not be all that God desires for us until he is gone for good!!

So, perhaps that is the lesson of the “rat” in all our lives. What is ruling us, what is stealing our peace, diminishing our daily comfort and causing us to miss the place of refuge offered to us by our Lord?

My enemies come out at night, snarling like vicious dogs
as they prowl the streets. They scavenge for food but go
to sleep unsatisfied. But as for me, I will sing about your
power. I will shout with joy each morning because of your
unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of
safety in the day of distress.
O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are
my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.
Psalm 59:14-17 (NLT)

We all will go through some big things in our lives, times when God is all we’ve got to see us through. As believers, we will call out to Him, looking for a place of safety in our distress, but will we do the same with the little irritants in our lives? And yes, I’ve prayed about the rat, just in case you’re wondering. I also chuckle when I think that we could get him out of our home instantly, unlike most people. We could hitch up our RV to our truck and leave him behind! Most can’t do that!! Oh, if only the other little irritants in life were that easy to be rid of…or are they?

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down—
when we die and leave these bodies—we will have a home in heaven,
an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.
We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when
we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.
2 Corinthians 5:1-2 (NLT)

I smile, because God just revealed to me in that piece of scripture that we all do have that same Hope of eventually being rid of life’s irritating things. When God calls us Home, our tents will be taken down, we will move on and all the things in life that the enemy used to cause us sadness and discomfort and pain will be left behind. Our lives, our human bodies, are not stuck here forever; we’re not formed and set here on a foundation of cement. It’s like we’re all living in an “RV” body, the day will come when we will pull up our stakes and move to a heavenly location.

“They agreed that they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on earth…they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a heavenly city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13b & 16 NLT) What plagues us here will one day be finished, it will be past history for those that choose the foundation of their lives to be set in the truth of Jesus Christ.

You are members of God’s family. We are his house, built
on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the
cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We who believe are
carefully joined together becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
Ephesians 2:19b-21 (NLT)

Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple.
He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who
chose him. And now God is building you, as living stones,
into his spiritual temple.
1 Peter 2:4-5a (NLT)

And we wonder why life is tough, why we feel like we’re being pounded on? Well, it seems there is a lot of “construction” going on, and we’re part it. We’re the living stones that God is placing into His spiritual temple. That’s where our permanent Home will be.
What an honor!!
What a privilege!
This is a holy experience as He readies us for that transition!

No wonder the Lord says “whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.” (James 1:2 NLT) It feels like trouble to us, it feels like tragedy and loss and sorrow and pain. Sometimes it even just feels irritating like our friend Rodney right now, but it’s all part of the building process going on, as we become part of the “holy temple for the Lord.”

Some days, that process is extremely difficult. Some days, we wonder, do we really want to be a part of this…how can God hurt us so much? Why would a loving Father do this? Why would He make us struggle so when He has the power to cure whatever ails us, to raise people from the dead, to bless us with financial success or just fill our hearts with peace and never allow us to worry again…I think about that when I see so many around me suffering right now in so many ways. I think about the power that Jesus Christ had as the Son of God when He walked the face of this earth with us. When He came upon those that hurt, He touched them and relieved their pain. When He came across parents weeping over the death of their child, He raised that child up again. When He came upon lepers rotting away in the very body God had given them, He restored their flesh. He had great compassion for those who came to Him for help and He was able to help them.

I feel so helpless sometimes, unable to relieve the pain that fills someone’s heart when their loved one has died. Unable to bring healing or relief or hope when it is desperately needed…and yet I know that Jesus said, “The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!” John 14:12-14 NLT)

It seems that in this passage, Jesus is saying He has left us with all the power that He had when He was here when we call upon the power in His name…healing the lepers, raising the dead, returning the sight to the blind…are we missing something in our daily walk with Him? He said, “ask anything in my name, and I will do it!” and yet, we asked for our son to be healed and it seems we were denied that request. So what are we supposed to take from this passage of scripture that can help us in our times of need? I’m asking for an answer along with all the rest of you on this…what do we do with this God?

…ultimately, Jesus trusted His Father. Although many wonderful, miraculous things happened during His three years of ministry, it was to be short-lived. Jesus would die at the age of 33, on a cross, like a common criminal. He prayed, "My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away until I drink it, your will be done." (Matt. 26:42 NLT)

We can ask anything in the name of Jesus Christ, but we must trust God with the final answer to any of our requests. Jesus did. He could have gotten down off that Cross and walked away from being the living sacrifice God was asking Him to be. He could have saved His mother the heartache of watching her Son die. He could have spared His friends that tremendous pain…after all the miracles He had performed for others, He gave it all up when it came to His own life…all the power that was His, and He bowed to His Father God’s will in the most difficult of situations. He committed His eternal Spirit into the Hands of His Father. (Luke 23:46) He offered His Father everything, to the point of death.

In reading a book by K.P. Yohannan on the “Revolution in World Missions,” he writes, “Jesus was compassionate to human beings as total persons. He did all He could to help them, but He never forgot the main purpose of His earthly mission: to reconcile men to God, to die for sinners and redeem their souls from hell. Jesus cared for the spiritual side of man first, then the body.”

Most days, we are not quite so willing. We have a harder time thinking of the eternal reasons for things and we would just like the “pain,” whatever it is, to be resolved in our lives and in the lives of others. We struggle so, to give it all up, to trust in God each day. We worry instead of praying…or maybe we do both. When and if we get to the point in our own lives when we are willing to endure, willing to let God have His way in our own situations, it still can be extremely difficult to let Him have His way in the lives of those around us who are having to endure pain and hardship. We want to have the power to help them like Jesus did, to touch them and pray for them and relieve their suffering. We want instantaneous results--but what we want and what God wants are usually very different. We see what is right before us--He sees what is everlasting. Sometimes God answers our prayers, and we see His wonderful miracles. Sometimes God answers our prayers, and it seems we can’t see anything. Perhaps He’s saying, “Trust Me, wait on Me, I’m working on something here.” We can ask anything in the name of Jesus, but then we must trust that very Name with everything we hold most dear, even when it hurts beyond what we think we can endure. He will reach out and touch our hearts, giving us the strength to go on…if we will ask Him. Is there anything that we need more? Our Hope is in Him!

Through it all, we have no choice other than to be RELIGIOUS!! Very RELIGIOUS! Really expecting life in God insures our undeserved Salvation. Understanding that there will come a day when the “rats” in life will no longer be able to invade our homes. Our tents will be taken down, and we will move on, leaving all of this pain and suffering behind us. Our patient endurance through it all will be our crowning glory! The Temple of the Living God will be complete and we will have our place as a living stone in His Holy Temple. All the pounding and shaping and chipping away and refinishing will have been worth it, for us and for those around us who we are praying for—all who put their Hope in the Living Christ!

But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness.
May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, “God is great!”
Psalm 70:4 (NLT)

God is Great! God is great! God is great!
Diane

P.S. Rodney the rat has not appeared for the last two nights!! Perhaps once the lesson was learned, he has gone on to Rat Heaven now...should there be a place! Good riddance!! Let's hope it lasts!!