Identity: An Adoption Parable

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Identity - 2

Once, there lived a little girl who was not loved. Her father abandoned her to seek after a life that would not include the burdens of parenthood. Her mother was left to shoulder the burden of parenting all on her own. The mother was so busy providing for the physical needs of the little girl that the mother forgot to simply love her.

The little girl felt shame and humiliation. Because she wasn’t loved, she believed that she was unlovable. In fact, Unlovable became her name.

At some point in her life, Unlovable noticed a Man who always seemed to be around, but since she was certain she was unlovable, she questioned His motives. And she never approached Him.

As Unlovable grew into a young woman, she became even more suspicious of Him. She yelled “What could you possibly want from me? Get away!” Yet still, He pursued her.

The now grown Unlovable became aware of an emptiness within her. She started trying to fill that void with things that she thought would please her or make her attractive: food, alcohol, shopping and drugs. She tried relationships with men, but since she knew she was Unlovable, she always ended up with the men who were the most unlovable themselves. The best of them were condescending and the worst were abusive.

And still, the Ever-Present Man pursued her.

Finally, after yet another broken relationship, Unlovable approached the Ever-Present Man. “Who are you?” she asked.

“I am the Great I Am(1). I am your Creator. Since I made you, I know every part of your heart. And I love you.”

“That can’t be true. I am Unlovable. And even if you did make me, why did you make me Unlovable?”

“Look at the birds in the sky as they take flight. See the sunset and the amazing colors it contains? And what of the beauty of these flowers? I made each of these things with great care and forethought. I paid attention to the finest details of everything I created. And you, who call yourself Unlovable, you are made by these hands. You are my workmanship – a masterpiece.(2) You are fearfully and wonderfully made(3) by the very hands that created the beauty of this earth. You did not get the name Unlovable from me.”

“If you, my Creator, didn’t give me this name, then who did?”

“I’ll share something with you. I have a Son. You may have heard of Him. His name is Jesus. When He was baptized, I could not have been more proud of this child of mine. When He was raised out of the water, I nearly burst with joy. I gave Him a special gift – My Spirit – and I said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”(4) Then immediately, that same Spirit I gave Him led Him into the wilderness where He was tempted by the Enemy – Satan himself. I had just spoken the words of identity over Jesus – ‘My beloved Son, the Son of God’ but Satan attacked that very identity. ‘If you are the Son of God . . . .’(5) then Satan tried in three different ways to tempt Him into abandoning the very identity I had given to Jesus. Three times Satan tempted and three times Jesus resisted the temptation to give up His identity.”

“How did Jesus not fall into Satan’s trap?”

“Jesus knew His enemy. He knew Satan loves deceit and hates truth(6). For every temptation, Satan looked to where he thought Jesus might have the most vulnerability. Satan took the true words I have given and twisted them into lies. Satan doesn’t have any new tricks. He is using those same tactics today – even on you.”

“How do you mean?”

“Let’s start with what you believe – that you are Unlovable. Who told you that?”

“My father left me. My mother all but abandoned me. Is that not enough for anyone to believe that I am Unlovable? And look at my history of broken relationships. Is that not just further confirmation that it is not possible to love me?”

“Let me ask you: When an inventor makes a new invention, who has the authority to name that invention?”

“The inventor.”

“My truth as told to my prophet Isaiah says, ‘But now, thus says the Lord, He who Created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’(7) I have a name for you and it is not Unlovable.”

“What is it, My Lord?”

“I will tell you, but first, I need to redeem – to buy back that name Unlovable. It was never your name. It was a name you accepted because of your circumstances and because of the lies of Satan.”

Unlovable became suspicious again. She knew this man was too good to be true. “I knew it. I knew there had to be strings attached. What is it you want? This ‘buying back’ of which you speak is surely going to cost me. How much do you want?”

The Man smiled. “You don’t yet understand, but you will. The price has already been paid. My Son, Jesus, has paid the price to redeem you(8). Did I mention I am well pleased with Him?”

“Why would your Son pay a price for me? He doesn’t even know me.”

“It was always my plan for Christ to play the pivotal role in your redemption(9). You see, for centuries, man tried to earn this redemption by keeping a bunch of rules – by showing their worth to me by their own actions. But even the best of them could not be perfectly good. It pained me to see them try and fail, again and again. I so loved this world that I sent Jesus – not to condemn you and everyone else – but to save you.(10) It is not by your own efforts that you can be redeemed(11). No human can possibly do that, but with me, all things are possible(12), not the least of which is you being bought for a price for no other reason than the fact that I love you and Jesus loves you.(13)”

“Is there anything I need to do to get in on this redemption plan of yours?”

“Write that Unlovable name you have accepted on a piece of paper and hold it in your open hand. No, don’t cling to it. Place it in your open palm and simply offer it to me.”

The woman placed the paper in her hand and she offered that Unlovable name to the Man.

The Man didn’t even look at it. The woman was amazed to see that as soon as He touched it, the paper disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

“But wait! That was my name! If that name is gone, what will I be called?”

“I am your Creator. I have always had a better name in mind for you – a name that will lead you to the abundant life(14) I always intended for you. Your earthly father may have abandoned you, but I have always planned to adopt you as my own.(15)   As my adopted child, you are a co-heir, a joint beneficiary(16) with my own Son, Jesus. Did I mention I am well pleased with Jesus? And I am well pleased with you too!”

“But, what is my name?”

“Your name, my beloved, is Daughter. You are mine. Now, go walk with all the privileges of your inheritance, knowing that you are the Daughter of God(17).

Scripture References:

1 – Exodus 3:14
2 – Ephesians 2:10
3 – Psalm 139:14
4 – Matthew 3:17
5 – Matthew 4:3
6 – Matthew 13:19
7 – Isaiah 43:1
8 – 1 Peter 1:18-19; Matthew 20:28; Colossians 1:13-14; Romans 3:23-25; Matthew 20:28
9 – Ephesians 1:4
10 – John 3:16-17
11 – Ephesians 2:9
12 – Matthew 19:26
13 – Romans 5:8; Romans 8:37-39; Ephesians 2:4-5; 1 John 4:9-11
14 – John 10:10
15- Ephesians 1:3-6
16 – Romans 8:15-17
17 – 1 John 3:1

Heart Check

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Create a clean heart
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a new heart, oh God and renew a right spirit within me.
(The Message):
God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.

This past week, I’ve had a heart check. Due to some random episodes of racing heart, I had the joy of walking around with an ambulatory EKG strapped to my chest in the hopes of capturing a recording of an event as it occurs. Not fun. I did have a captured episode and the good news – contrary to some people’s opinions – I have a heart. The other good news: the condition I have is not life threatening. The bad news: This condition can take a toll on my long term health. I have to make some different lifestyle choices or go on medication for the rest of my life.

I have read David’s Prayer of Misery many times and sung it as words to a song many more. It is a different kind of “heart check”.

When I read The Message version of this scripture, it made me wonder about the word “create” in this passage. I am not a theologian, but I am a Google Scholar, so I googled the Hebrew word used in Psalm 51 and compared it to the word used in the creation story in Genesis 1:1. The word used in both verses is the same: “bara”. It is a verb used almost exclusively when God is the subject of the sentence. Bara is typically used when the matter being created is from nothing – “ex nihilo” used in Latin for “out of nothing”.

The Creator of the universe, who took nothing and in 7 days created this amazing world, can take the nothingness of a life and create an amazing new spirit within me.

As my body has taken to telling me (thus the racing heart issues), I don’t always take care of myself physically. When I ignore my physical health, eating wrong foods or not exercising, I put on weight and my doctor threatens to put me on medication to fix the damage I’ve done.

And, I often ignore the health of my spirit. My spirit can get too fat – fat with too much me. I feed it on self-pity, selfish interests and pride and anything that focuses on me.

Thankfully, I have the Great Physician who can take this sick, weak spirit and undo the damage I have done. He can take my heart and shape a “Genesis week” of it, making me new again.

I just have to be willing to give Him my heart – all of it.

My Creator and Physician, I am just so grateful that you love me enough to keep creating a new and right spirit in me.  I give my heart to you.  It is yours.
Amen

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Crocodile Dundee2 Corinthians 10:3-6
We are human, but we don’t wage war with human plans and methods. We use God’s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons to knock down the devil’s strongholds.

There is a scene in the first Crocodile Dundee movie where a mugger pulls a switchblade on Mick and demands his wallet. The girlfriend says, “He’s got a knife.” Mick laughs and says, “That’s not a knife.” He pulls out a machete and says, “THIS is a knife.”

Paul was reminding the Corinthians in the passage above that when he and the others in the early church had to fight against false prophets, they were not relying on worldly weapons, but they had the advantage of “God Tools” for smashing warped philosophies and for tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God. We have those same God Tools available to us.

And of course, God doesn’t give us weapons the world uses. In His own wisdom, his weapons defy our earthly logic. They are: prayer faith, hope, love, God’s word, the Holy Spirit – not what typical warriors think of as battle tools. But my God Tools are mightier than anything the devil can throw at me. Because I am a child of God, I can be like Mick when I come up against my own false prophets. “That’s not a knife. THIS – my faith, my hope, God’s word, His unconditional love, the power within me through the Holy Spirit – THIS is a knife.”

My Father, what an amazing and generous God you are. I thank you and pray that you will keep me ever vigilant in the use of the God Tools you have so lovingly provided to me. Amen.

Just Jump

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Just Jump

                                            
Ephesians 3:20

Now glory be to God!  By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infitetly more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.

 

Fleas jump.  If you catch them and put them in a jar, they still jump.  When you put a lid on the jar, they still jump.  But after a while, they quit jumping because they learn that with a lid on, when you jump, it hurts.

Somewhere along the path, I put a lid on my jar.  I learned that if you jump, it hurts, so I quit jumping.  I make safe choices in life.  I have forgotten that through His mighty power at work within me, God is able to accomplish infinitely more than I would ever dare to ask or hope.

So, I am taking the lid off.  I will dare to ask and I will dare to dream and I will hope.  My God IS able and I will trust in His ability to accomplish the impossible. 

I will take “I can’t” out of my vocabulary and replace it with “He can.”

Look out world – this girl is jumping!

Dear Father, You are the God of all possibilities.  In my pride, I have tried to rely on my own abilities.  I cannot.  You can.  Help me remember how to jump – jump into the realm of impossibilities that is ours through the mighty power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Being Good Salt

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Luke 14:34-35  Salt is good for seasoning.  But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again?  Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for fertilizer.  It is thrown away.

When I read this, it struck me that I didn’t understand why salt would ever be good for the soil.  I am obviously NOT a farmer.  (Remind me to tell you about my $200 tomato)

So, I googled “salt in soil” and learned what Jesus obviously knew (and He knew it without Google, I might add.)  Here’s what I learned about salt in the soil:

  • Salt is essential to all of life.  Plants use salt for food.
  • Either too much salt or too little salt can be harmful.
  • The kind of salt used in soil is important as some salts are more effective than others.  Common table salt is the wrong kind of salt for fertilizer.  Its sodium content can actually destroy soil structure and clog the flow of soil water.

In His teaching, Christ was comparing salt to disciples.  If I take what I learned about salt and apply it to discipleship, I learn:

  • Following Christ is essential to my life.  As essential as food.
  • Like salt, too much of being a disciple or too little can be harmful.  Too much is harmful when a disciple is heavy-handed, legalistic or fanatical.  Too little is harmful when non-believers see disciples not acting Christ-like and thinking we are hypocrites.
  • The church cannot grow without disciples “in the soil”.  To me, being in the soil means being among believers and non-believers.  Non-believers come to Christ only through the work of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit may choose to use a disciple to speak into a non-believer’s heart.
  • The kind of disciple I am is important.  Being just a common table salt adds seasoning, but is totally ineffective for growth.  How can I be the type of disciple that doesn’t just sprinkle seasoning, but provides for spiritual growth in myself, my family and others?

Thank you, God for this lesson in salt.  Don’t let me be a common disciple.  I crave the kind of salt that facilitates growth – in myself and others.  Let me be that kind of salt.  Amen.