As a Newborn Baby

If you've ever been around toddlers, you know what I'm talking about when I say that they don't like to be helped. Mommy (or Daddy or Big Sister or Babysitter) wants to lend a helping hand when it comes to getting dressed and Toddler furrows his brows, yanks the clothes away and states, "I do it myself, Mommy!" Of course Mommy knows exactly what will follow. Toddler will quickly become frustrated when he gets tangled in his shirt and can't find the right hole for his head and when both legs end up in the same pant leg.

I hate to admit, but sometimes I'm a bit too much like a toddler spiritually. I'm not meaning toddler as in, I've matured from a baby, I mean toddler as in, I have a tendency to shout, "I can do it myself, God!" I have a natural discomfort when it comes to situations where crying out to God is the only thing I can do. Maybe it's my American pride, but I sometimes I start feeling like God has done so much for me, I want to do something for Him in return. I don't like always being the one that needs help. I don't want to always be "bothering" God with all of my problems. I don't like feeling needy, I don't like feeling incapable of doing things on my own, I don't like feeling dependent- Whoops! Did I just say that?

Ridiculous though it is, I think that I sometimes forget that total dependence on God means that I have to be.......dependent. I would never come out and say that I don't want to be dependent on God. Of course I need to be dependent on God! But I don't think I quite always realize what that actually means. So many times I find myself thinking things like, "I don't know how to tell if these health issues are serious or not, I hope they go away, otherwise all we could do it is cry out to God." or "I hope our financial situation improves soon so we don't always have to ask God for the next thing that we need." "I wish that we could just get our car looked at so that we don't always have to be asking God to keep us safe." Silly me! Don't I know what total dependence is? It means looking to God for everything, to meet every need!

I think that sometimes God has no other choice than to put me in situations where I am incapable of doing anything for myself in order to teach me to be dependent on Him. He doesn't want toddlers who try to "do it myself!", His desire is for us to be much more like infants whose natural response is to cry out to their Father to meet every need.

Much to my chagrin, I have come to realize that there is no such thing as a spiritual adult who is so mature that they don't need to depend on God anymore. If you try that, you will end up much more like a toddler yelling, "I can do it myself, God!"

Do you like Jesus?

"I am not ashamed of being a Christian. Jesus said, "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." Sadly, 95% of Christians who read this will be too afraid to repost. Copy and paste this to your status if you aren't ashamed of Jesus."

Oh boy...........where to start? We've all seen stuff like this on facebook. That status that has some cliche little saying at the beginning and then tries to put a big guilt trip on you by saying that you must not love Jesus, must be ashamed of being a Christian, must be too afraid, etc. if you don't repost.

The ones that get me the worst are those that include Matthew 10:32&33 and imply that somehow if you don't repost, you are denying Jesus. Please just humor me for a minute and think about what those verses are really talking about.

When Jesus talked about not denying him before men, he was talking to his disciples. He was not talking to a group of people who really needed to go home and "like" Jesus on facebook, He was talking to a group of people who were going to stand before some of the highest authorities of their day and be called to give an account of their faith in Christ. He was talking to men who, within just a few years, would have to choose between denying Jesus and imprisonment, torture and death. These were words that He spoke to them as He was preparing to send them out into the world to preach the Gospel. I don't know how we can take these powerful words of Jesus and cheapen them to mean, "If you don't repost this cheesy facebook status, you're denying Jesus."

If you are a follower of Christ, there should be no doubt in anybody's mind that you are not ashamed of Jesus, whether you repost that status or not! Living for Jesus is so much more than "liking" Him on facebook! C.T. Studd never reposted that status, would you say that he was ashamed of Christ? Corrie Ten Boom never "liked" Jesus, was she afraid to let people know that she loved Him?

I'm not ashamed of Jesus, what I'm ashamed of is this namby-pamby, impotent version of Christianity who's greatest accomplishment is "liking" Jesus on facebook!

I'm not saying that you can't have a witness on facebook, because you definitely can! In fact, if you are a follower of Christ, and you have a facebook account, use it in every way you can to promote the glory of Christ! What I'm saying is that if the only way that people can tell that you aren't ashamed Christ is by the fact that you repost those statuses, there is a problem.

This is the point- It doesn't matter whether or not you "like" Jesus on facebook. It doesn't matter whether or not you repost a status about how much you love Jesus. What matters is how you live it out in your life.

The Good Shepherd........Drives Away His Sheep?

I had an argument some time ago with someone who tried to convince me that during Jesus' ministry on earth, His goal was to drive people away. According to this individual, Jesus tried to drive everyone away from Himself and then somehow only the people with extra determination were accepted by Him. My mind was reeling! Where in the Bible do you find THAT? He tried to tell me that the stories of the rich young ruler and also the Syrophoenician woman, with the demon possessed daughter, were examples of Jesus trying to drive people away.

After looking at both of these stories, I believe that you really have to read a lot into it in order to say that Jesus intended to drive the people away. Sure, Jesus made it clear that following Him was not easy, sure He tested their faith, but I don't think that that means that His motive was to get rid of them. He invited the rich young man to come follow Him! He healed the woman's daughter. Those are definitely not good techniques to use if you want to get rid of people. In fact, all throughout Jesus' ministry, He demonstrated this kind of love and compassion over and over again. When blind Bartimaeus sat beside the road calling out to Him, He asked, "What do you want me to do for you?" and then He healed him! For the woman caught in adultery, He rescued her from death, told her that He did not condemn her and gave her a second chance saying, "Go. From now on sin no more." When the little children came to Him, Jesus even became upset with the disciples for trying to send them away (Now why would He be upset with them, if they were only following His example?). He said, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Then He took them in His arms and blessed them. It is clear that Jesus was in no way trying to drive people away.

Unfortunately, it is only of recent that I have really felt free to search these things out and truly disagree with what the previously mentioned individual told me. I never really believed his argument, but it for so long he had cultivated the idea that he was infallible, that I had a hard time rejecting what he told me.

Even though I didn't fully believe this lie in my mind, it still wreaked havoc in my heart. I became afraid that Jesus would drive me away. What if I wasn't "determined" enough? My spiritual growth became stunted and my fear paralyzed my relationship with God. I longed to continue growing closer to Him, but I was so terribly afraid that He would find me "not good enough" or "not earnest enough" and turn me away. I felt that I needed to make myself more acceptable to God and muster up a sufficient amount of earnestness (I was never exactly sure how much was enough) before I dared seek Him.

It has only been within the last year that I have begun to see this teaching as the lie that it is and root out the stronghold it has had in my heart.

All throughout the Bible, God continuously portrays Himself as a shepherd. Jesus is even called, "The Good Shepherd". Can you imagine a shepherd standing in the midst of his scattered sheep, waving his staff and driving away any that tried to get near him? Shepherds don't do that. Especially not good shepherds.

Listen to what Jesus says about Himself,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My o

wn and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd." (John 10:7-16)

Does this sound like someone who is trying to drive His sheep away, or someone who has come to care for them and draw them to Himself? Jesus said directly that He would "draw all men" to Himself. He does not drive away, He seeks, He heals, He forgives, He invites us to follow Him.

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10)

*All Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible