A Lenten Reflection
Limitless
"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all" (Romans 8:32)
We like limits.
Oh, we say we don't, especially in America (Don't tell me what to say or do, I'll do things MY way, thank you very much)....but we do.
We cling to limits. Some for safety (that's why we're generally okay, as a society, with the government putting in more and more laws...to keep us safe, right?). Some for what we think is right and proper.
Mostly, we use limits so that we're comfortable. Limits frame our world and our understanding...they show us where the lines in the sand are, so to speak.
We especially like limits, as a culture, in faith. Boundaries are good, we think....they should us what to believe, how far to take that belief, what to expect from others and what our consequences and rewards are for behavior. We want our faith life to "make sense"....and we want it to be comfortable.
We don't want to change, we want our faith to adapt to us. (Heaven forbid we have to become uncomfortable!)
Too bad Christianity doesn't work that way.
Because the faith and tenets that Jesus Christ, very God of very God, only (and very beloved) begotten Son of the Father, gave to the Disciples, that has been passed down unto us, throws our concepts of reasonable faith and limits out the window.
We're supposed to do what? Love our enemies? That's crazy, Jesus!
Forgive others or our Father in heaven won't forgive us? What kind of thinking is that? Did you see what that person did to me? How am I supposed to forgive them?!
Be merciful if we want mercy? Come on....that'll make us suckers and saps! We're Americans, we're tough and that's not what we do. (But you feel free, God, to give that mercy to us, okay?)
Condemn not? But we LOVE condemning....it's so fun to feel self righteous.
Blessed are the gentle and meek? Blessed are the peacemakers? Have you seen, God, the kind of shows we watch, and our foreign policy as a country? We don't do gentle...we certainly don't do peace.
Feed the hungry, look out for the elderly? No...they have no power, why should we, as a culture, care about them?
Those outrageous commands, that so go against our culture and the nature of so many of us, scare us. They're really outside of our comfort zone. They mean that if we want to follow Jesus we have to be different than our neighbors, different than the world...and we're not sure we're ready for that.
We're not sure we're ready to put in that much work and effort either....it's easier to conform our faith to how we want to live, rather than how Jesus tells us to live.
And it makes us face the question...who is Lord of our lives....Jesus, or us?
Because it's not a co-rule......there is room for but one Lord.
If we accept Jesus as Lord, that means letting go of our limits, of surrendering, and letting Him make us into someone new. Change is hard.
But when I think of limits, I think of how grateful I am that Jesus didn't limit His mercy, His compassion and His love. He could have said, "My mercy is only for this group of people." Or maybe, "My grace belongs to this caste of the religious." Perhaps, "Only people that look like this, or live in this region, will enter my Kingdom."
Yet God spared not His only begotten Son, but "gave Him up for *all*...." All who would come to Jesus, in faith and in repentance, calling and confessing Him as Lord, are welcome into the Kingdom. All who believe, no matter from where, or what social class, or what ethnicity, or from what background...all may come to Jesus. The door is not barred, the way is not blocked. Jesus calls to all who will listen, "Come, the feast awaits." He whispers to all who are heavy laden, "Come and rest, my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
His arms stretched out upon the cross, with nails driven into wood and blood dripping down, are wide enough to claim all who love Him, and all who cling to Him.
His empty tomb tells us that there is life everlasting for all who put their faith in Him.
God had One son. One beloved begotten Son is all the Father had. And He sent him. For us. For we who are wretched and sinful, mired in our own fallen natures and unable to save ourselves.
And out of love for us, the Father sent His precious Son, and out of love for us, the Son came.....and died.
In limitless, unfathomable love the Son has secured our redemption, so that nothing shall come between us and the love of God; from now through eternity. That God is with us in ease...and in suffering. In joy...and in pain. He walks with us through life, and He has defeated death on our behalf, so that we might be with Him forever.
God spared nothing to redeem us. He gave everything, all that is most precious, even to the giving of His Son. He withheld...nothing. He did not put a limit on how far He would go for the likes of you and I. He loves us so dearly that all boundaries were broken, the Lord of Life Himself died upon a Cross so that we need never be held under the sway and power of death.
That limitless love is radical. History shaping, soul changing. And Christ Jesus, Lord of Lords, calls us to have that love for others. To go against our natures and love our enemies, and show kindness to the outcast. To be merciful and gentle, to forgive and to seek peace. To be unworldly and instead seek to be godly. To be His, to call Him Lord and to step outside of the limits we are so comfortable with.
Who shall we say is the Lord of our lives, Jesus....or ourselves? Whose bidding shall we do?
On towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
Limitless
"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all" (Romans 8:32)
We like limits.
Oh, we say we don't, especially in America (Don't tell me what to say or do, I'll do things MY way, thank you very much)....but we do.
We cling to limits. Some for safety (that's why we're generally okay, as a society, with the government putting in more and more laws...to keep us safe, right?). Some for what we think is right and proper.
Mostly, we use limits so that we're comfortable. Limits frame our world and our understanding...they show us where the lines in the sand are, so to speak.
We especially like limits, as a culture, in faith. Boundaries are good, we think....they should us what to believe, how far to take that belief, what to expect from others and what our consequences and rewards are for behavior. We want our faith life to "make sense"....and we want it to be comfortable.
We don't want to change, we want our faith to adapt to us. (Heaven forbid we have to become uncomfortable!)
Too bad Christianity doesn't work that way.
Because the faith and tenets that Jesus Christ, very God of very God, only (and very beloved) begotten Son of the Father, gave to the Disciples, that has been passed down unto us, throws our concepts of reasonable faith and limits out the window.
We're supposed to do what? Love our enemies? That's crazy, Jesus!
Forgive others or our Father in heaven won't forgive us? What kind of thinking is that? Did you see what that person did to me? How am I supposed to forgive them?!
Be merciful if we want mercy? Come on....that'll make us suckers and saps! We're Americans, we're tough and that's not what we do. (But you feel free, God, to give that mercy to us, okay?)
Condemn not? But we LOVE condemning....it's so fun to feel self righteous.
Blessed are the gentle and meek? Blessed are the peacemakers? Have you seen, God, the kind of shows we watch, and our foreign policy as a country? We don't do gentle...we certainly don't do peace.
Feed the hungry, look out for the elderly? No...they have no power, why should we, as a culture, care about them?
Those outrageous commands, that so go against our culture and the nature of so many of us, scare us. They're really outside of our comfort zone. They mean that if we want to follow Jesus we have to be different than our neighbors, different than the world...and we're not sure we're ready for that.
We're not sure we're ready to put in that much work and effort either....it's easier to conform our faith to how we want to live, rather than how Jesus tells us to live.
And it makes us face the question...who is Lord of our lives....Jesus, or us?
Because it's not a co-rule......there is room for but one Lord.
If we accept Jesus as Lord, that means letting go of our limits, of surrendering, and letting Him make us into someone new. Change is hard.
But when I think of limits, I think of how grateful I am that Jesus didn't limit His mercy, His compassion and His love. He could have said, "My mercy is only for this group of people." Or maybe, "My grace belongs to this caste of the religious." Perhaps, "Only people that look like this, or live in this region, will enter my Kingdom."
Yet God spared not His only begotten Son, but "gave Him up for *all*...." All who would come to Jesus, in faith and in repentance, calling and confessing Him as Lord, are welcome into the Kingdom. All who believe, no matter from where, or what social class, or what ethnicity, or from what background...all may come to Jesus. The door is not barred, the way is not blocked. Jesus calls to all who will listen, "Come, the feast awaits." He whispers to all who are heavy laden, "Come and rest, my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
His arms stretched out upon the cross, with nails driven into wood and blood dripping down, are wide enough to claim all who love Him, and all who cling to Him.
His empty tomb tells us that there is life everlasting for all who put their faith in Him.
God had One son. One beloved begotten Son is all the Father had. And He sent him. For us. For we who are wretched and sinful, mired in our own fallen natures and unable to save ourselves.
And out of love for us, the Father sent His precious Son, and out of love for us, the Son came.....and died.
In limitless, unfathomable love the Son has secured our redemption, so that nothing shall come between us and the love of God; from now through eternity. That God is with us in ease...and in suffering. In joy...and in pain. He walks with us through life, and He has defeated death on our behalf, so that we might be with Him forever.
God spared nothing to redeem us. He gave everything, all that is most precious, even to the giving of His Son. He withheld...nothing. He did not put a limit on how far He would go for the likes of you and I. He loves us so dearly that all boundaries were broken, the Lord of Life Himself died upon a Cross so that we need never be held under the sway and power of death.
That limitless love is radical. History shaping, soul changing. And Christ Jesus, Lord of Lords, calls us to have that love for others. To go against our natures and love our enemies, and show kindness to the outcast. To be merciful and gentle, to forgive and to seek peace. To be unworldly and instead seek to be godly. To be His, to call Him Lord and to step outside of the limits we are so comfortable with.
Who shall we say is the Lord of our lives, Jesus....or ourselves? Whose bidding shall we do?
On towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
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