It's Not About You...

 Have you ever considered that salvation is not about you? It’s about God. The nature of God is love.  Love in a way we cannot fully comprehend.  Somewhere lost in the noise of our Christian babble, is this one inescapable fact: He loved us so much He was willing to die for us. This all-consuming, sacrificing love is not unlike a mother bear separated from her cubs.  No one is going to keep a mother bear from being reunited with her cubs, even if it costs her life. That same kind of fierce protective love is what God feels towards us. When He saw us threatened by the just consequences of our sin, eternal separation from Him, He reacted as any mother bear would react; He placed Himself between us and the threat, eternal damnation.  He endured the full measure of the penalty of sin, taking our punishment upon Himself, in our place. 

That is why He sent Jesus to die for our sins, that we might be safe and secure, held fast in His loving arms. 

Christians endlessly talk of salvation and knowing God, but we rarely talk about how much God wants to know us.  Yes, we assume that because He created us and is everywhere present and all-knowing, that He knows all about us (sometimes more than we’d like) and He does.  But, knowing all about someone is not the same as being in love with them in a true, two-way relationship.

God very much wants to have a profound intimate connection with you. He wants not just your bowed head and prayers. He wants you, the essence of you, your thoughts, your desires, your hopes, your dreams, your failures, and your despairs.  He wants to so totally love you that you will be filled with joy and anticipation for each new day, as well as rescued from discouragement and disappointment as you walk with Him hand in hand forever. 

He wants your heart, the complete package. When we say someone “gave them their heart,” we mean they gave all of themselves, holding nothing back, abandoning all caution, leaving nothing in reserve. 

We have the amazing capacity to keep things hidden, inaccessible to others, always holding something in reserve that only we can see.  While God knows exactly what those things are, whether they be fears, anxieties, or insecurities, He will not force you to give them to Him.  He wants you to open yourself willingly, to give of everything you have because you love Him and feel loved by Him in return. 

Salvation is about God.  It is about how much He loves you and wants to know you in an experiential way, with nothing held back.    

Copyright 2014 Kathy F. Sanders 
(Personal use ok)

Ministry or Serving?

"Christ gave those gifts to prepare God's holy people for the work of serving."
(Ephesians 4:12, NCV)

Ministry has become a catchword to signify a platform by which we dispense wisdom and knowledge to those less learned than ourselves. It allows us a chance to be visible, to be up front, share and teach without thought or opportunity of receiving in return.  It's not, "We're all equals and each of us has something to give to each other," but rather a hierarchy based teaching format.  There is no function of caring, sharing intimacy because intimacy requires vulnerability, something most of us are unwilling to allow happen, especially when we are supposed to be the "expert".  To be vulnerable means that for at least a moment in time, we open ourselves up to another individual as complete equals, both giving and receiving. 

In Christian culture, "having a ministry" means something only one person has or does, with others always on the receiving end.  There is no mutual submission or expectation of learning from each other. 

Christ gives gifts to each believer for the mutual blessing of all. How can we receive that blessing if our palms are always face down, trying to impart our wisdom, instead of listening with our hearts, palms upward, open, empty, and ready to receive?

A true servant knows himself or herself to be less than those they serve.  They work quietly and without expectation of accolades.  They serve because they love Jesus. They expect nothing in return and seek only God's approval.

“But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head—Christ. From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.” (Ephesians 4:15-16, HCSB)

Copyright 2014 Kathy Sanders

Pontius Pilate

“Meanwhile, the leading priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. So the governor asked again, ‘Which of these two do you want me to release to you?’

The crowd shouted back, ‘Barabbas!’ Pilate responded, ‘Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify Him!’

‘Why?’ Pilate demanded. ‘What crime has He committed?’ But the mob roared even louder, ‘Crucify Him!’

Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!’”

(Matthew 27:20-24, NLT)

Pontius Pilate

The shining afternoon

gathered into darkness

like a blackened drape

pulled across the golden sun.

I only did the expedient thing.

A wooden cog caught

in the wheel

of spinning mob hatred.

What else could I do?

Their shouts fell as arrows

—piercing insurrection promises

should I not release

Barabbas instead.

In deepest night still

I hear their thundering cies,

“Crucify Him, Crucify Him!”

Yet stood He mute,

crushed like a white

unblemished rose

under heels of hypocrites.

A bruised petal

whose fragrant

aroma

ascended

as incense upon the altar.

Our eyes locked—

He knew—I knew

—innocent.

Now dreams destroy me.

Awakening,

I go wash,

yet again, and again.

 —Kathy F. Sanders

© Kathy F. Sanders 2006

(Poem published in Evangel magazine, April 16, 2006)