Friday morning my heart broke when I heard the news. 12 people killed and
over 50 people wounded at a midnight premier of the new Batman movie in Aurora,
CO. It consumed my thoughts, broke my heart and built my anger as I read and
listened to the stories coming from the media. How could this be happening,
again? Columbine, Fort Hood, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma City, the World Trade
Center, Norway, London, Mumbai.... and those are just the ones that come to my
mind the quickest. This vicious pattern just keeps rolling through history. But
what can I do except for pray for the victims, their families and friends that
are left with a gaping hole and communities that once again are being asked to
rise and stand when they want to crumble in fear and grief?
Walking in to Citipointe Fort Collins yesterday, I could tell that so many others were being
troubled with the same feeling of helplessness. It was like our hearts were
yelling, "give me something to do!".... and Pastor Chris did.
As he started off with prayer to begin the sermon Honor (part 2), In Your
Face, I expected him to pray for the victims, the family and friends, those
still in the hospital, the law enforcement and medical staff that were handling
this tragedy... and he did. What I didn't expect though was for him to pray for
and honor James Holmes, the man who went into the theater and fired off round
after round at movie goers less than 48 hours before. Chris honored him with disregard
for his actions.
In my mind I thought “Whoa Whoa Whoa Pastor Chris! Don't you know what this
guy just did? How can you honor who he is and forgive him so quickly?” My head
and my heart couldn't grasp the concept immediately, but he was speaking truth.
Check out my internal conflict below......
Me: But I don't want to pray for him........
Matthew 5:43-47 You have heard that is was said, "Love your
neighbor and hate your enemy." But I tell you; Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your
Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends
rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what
reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you
greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even
pagans do that? (From Jesus)
Me: But he killed someone........
Matthew 5:22 You have heard that is was said to the people long
ago, "Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment."
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will
be subject to judgment. (From Jesus)
Me: But he didn't just kill one person.....
Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord,
how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven
times?'
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times,
but seventy times seven."
Me: But can't I just hold on to this a
little longer.....
Ecclesiastes 5:4
When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no
pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.
Ephesians 4: 26, 31
In your anger do not sin; Do not let the sun go down while you are still
angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Get rid of all bitterness, rage
and anger, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one
another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Me: But do we really have to honor who he is....
1 Peter 2:17 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor
the king.
Me: But if Pastor Chris is honoring him, do I still have to.....
Romans 12: 10
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in
showing honor.
Honoring means to value, respect, highly esteem, to treat as precious, weighty or valuable.
God honors us in our hot mess.... Psalm 91:14-16 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and HONOR him.
It doesn’t mean that what we do is honorable, BUT who we are, a children of God, created in his own image, should ALWAYS be honored and be honoring others.We are commanded to treat everyone with honor because God says they are precious.
I love the messages at North Point Community Church, hence why I found
myself listening to two of their online sermons today. If you want to check
them out for yourself, you can find the sermon series "Age of Kings" here! Here's where
my heart led after watching Part One - Resistance is Futile.
(This was not the same direction Andy Stanley took, so feel free to check them
both out!)
Every time I hear someone preach about the bible, I get more excited about
it. I know that it's living and moving, but today I learned more about how
powerful the history side of it can be. Andy Stanley explained that history
buffs should love the bible, especially 1-2 Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. Call
me slow, but I didn't realize that these three books were talking about the
same time period through different perspectives. As Andy explained though,
these 6 books tell the story of the Kings of Israel and provide insight into
our own hearts.
In 1 Samuel, you start to see history unravel when the people of Israel go
to Samuel, and ask for a king. Up until this point, they had no king ruling over
all of Israel. They instead followed (or attempted to follow) the commandments
and God was their king, but 8:4 says that the people same to Samuel and said "You
are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us,
such as all the other nations have." This broke Samuel’s heart.
Everybody else had a king, and they wanted to be like everybody else, even
though they were favored.
So Samuel went to God and this is what he heard:
“Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they
have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.8
As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this
day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now
listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will
reign over them will claim as his rights.” (1 Samuel 8:7-9)
When he went back to the group and told them
“This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights:
He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and
they will run in front of his chariots. 12
Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of
fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others
to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will
take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will
take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to
his attendants. 15
He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his
officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the
best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He
will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will
become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will
cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
(1 Samuel 8:11-18)
Wow. Why would anyone choose to be ruled by a dictator? Especially those who
had been ruled before. These were the decedents of the people that had been led
out of Egypt and slavery under pharaoh, and yet, they wanted a human king to
rule over them.
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they
said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other
nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before
the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give
them a king.” (1 Samuel 8:19-22)
Looking back now, it's easy to say "Wow. That was a dumb move."
Why would anyone ever want to make an imperfect man king?... especially when
they have a perfect God who knows them so deeply that they can't understand the
lengths He's willing to go to in order to bring the best to His children who
desires to be the king of their lives? Yes, Samuel anointed Saul as king and
the chain of command was passed down from Saul to David to Solomon and without
them we would not have Psalms, Proverbs and The Song of Songs, but each of
these men fell short of the glory of God because they were human. After the
reign of Solomon, the kingdom split and continued to crumble.
But isn't this an example of what we're doing right now?
Think about what your heart. Where do you spend your time, your
talent and your treasures? If your heart is the "wellspring of
life" (Proverbs 4:23), where you place your heart matters. Who you
let rule over your life makes a huge difference in the course of your life. Samuel
tried to warn the people that they would become slaves to this king, but they
didn't care. They just wanted to be like everybody else.
When you give someone the power to be king, you give up that power over your
life, a power that humans will eventually abuse and misuse. When you give in to
an addiction like alcohol, food, porn, drugs, body image, relationships, power,
popularity, money, etc. you lose control and become a slave to that
object/activity whether you notice it or not. You serve that "thing" instead
of God because you cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
But serving God is different than serving anything else. Serving God is
choosing the light yoke, a yoke that He bears the weight in
and you get to learn from the big guy that already knows everything (pretty
cool huh?). Serving God is freedom. You get to lose the chains of sin and death
when you are clothed with righteousness that comes from just accepting a gift
that is completely free to you but came at such a high price. You get to lose
the burden of working out your salvation because God has done that for you. No
matter what you do, God could never love you more, and No matter what you have
done, are doing and will do, God will NEVER love you less.
God created us to want to follow; that's why so many people look to others
to show them what to do. In the bible, we are referred to as sheep, something
that I've never really liked because of one bad lamb experience many years ago,
but something I've learned to take pride in lately because I am loved by my
king, my shepherd.
I belong to him ...." the One who created me. The One who loves me. The
One who died for me. He will never lead me off a cliff or feed me to the wolves
who stand back and wait for the moment I step out of the herd. No, they cannot
devour me because my Shepherd guards, protects. He sees the path ahead. He
might not show me the final destination... because He wants to enjoy the
journey with me. He wants me to rest in "green pastures" and soak up
the "quiet waters"... "He guides me along the right paths for
his name's sake." He and I will go through valleys - dark ones where death
surrounds us - but He won't lose me in there. I will "fear no evil"
when I am with Him. Because everything about Him - like His rod and His staff,
which are sometimes all I can see when His face is turned - gives me great
comfort. He anoints me and He blesses me with an "overflowing cup." -
Krissi
(from Psalm 23)
God's got sweet sweet sweet plans for your life but He's not going to make you follow him. If He did, it wouldn't be real love; it would be slavery. But why would you want to rebel from the only one that truly has your best interest in His mind and his heart?
We can not win this fight inside out rebel hearts so raise the white flag and surrender. Love has already won.
