Cats and God: Persistence

Our dear Susie (the older cat) is somewhat focused on food.  Every morning she joins us in the kitchen and asks for her breakfast.  'Demands' would be a better word -- she tells us how much she wants her food and keeps on telling us until she is fed.  If I ignore her she keeps it up, and gets louder!  So the only action that keeps any peace is to feed her. 

Jesus used a similar idea, with a different illustration, to encourage persistence in prayer in Luke 18:1-8. The widow who was asking a judge for help continued in her persistence until he answered.  "So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night?" Jesus said.  That emphasizes two things:  God's desire to give 'justice' -- and lots of other blessings -- and the importance of crying out to God in prayer and not giving up.  


God knows what we need, and he supplies it (Matthew 6:28-30).  We are his beloved children, and he cares for us more than we can understand.  He knows our needs before we even ask -- after all, God is all-knowing!  So why should we ask?  That's one of the questions about prayer that has puzzled Christians through the ages.  The answer seems to be "prayer doesn't change God; it changes us."  God has already called us his children and welcomed us into his presence, because he desires a depth of relationship with us.  One of the ways we pursue relationship with him is through prayer.  


If Susie only meowed once at me in the morning, I wouldn't think she really wanted food that much and I wouldn't be in much of a hurry to get it; but she is insistent and persistent, to prove to me that she is serious.  I think something like that is true of our prayer time with God; only we're not proving our needs to him, we're learning to understand and feel our need for him.  Praying for our bank account to be sufficient is obvious and urgent.  How often, how urgently, how persistently, do we ask God to deepen our understanding of our own sin and offensiveness, or to show us how to forgive someone who has wounded us?  Yet it is in those times that we submit ourselves to the mind and heart of God; and when we are that urgent and willing to listen, he is able to teach us what we could not hear before.  And how about persistently praying for help for victims of injustice, disaster or war?  Persistence might teach us compassion that a less-intense prayer would not.


Jesus described God's "chosen people who cry out to him day and night" -- to describe our pursuit of him in prayer.  I think he had a good point.  Here's an idea Joanne and I are working on:  a time of prayer in the morning before the busyness of the day; another at midday to stop and re-focus; and another in the evening, to reflect and give back to God all the things we couldn't resolve during the day.  How about pursuing God that way for a month, and see what happens?

Cats and God: Mornings

The Lovely Joanne and I have developed a routine with the girls (our cats Haley and Susie).  Every morning when we get out of bed, we spend 5 minutes or so playing with them -- wrestling on the floor, playing chase-the-string, and giving them some affection.  They meow at us, perhaps telling us what they did during the night, and asking us how soon breakfast will be.  They love this routine, and we've grown to enjoy this time with them every day.


Our heavenly Father deeply wants the same kind of closeness and enjoyment of fellowship with us.  He walked and talked with our first parents in the garden, remember?  And in the end of the book, he says he will live among us forever:  "I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, 'Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.'" (Rev. 21:3)

He wants the relationship to be mutual -- so we will want to be with him just as he wants fellowship with us.  In Psalm 42, the psalmist expresses longing for God, comparing his desire for God to a thirsty animal: 
"As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God."  And several of the psalms begin with encouragements to worship: for instance, 108, 111, 113, 117, 118, 122, 134, 135, 136 and the crescendo in Psalms 145 to 150.  Some talk about rising early; others about pursuing a relationship of awe, worship and love with God.  Psalm 100 is a good example of a heart filled with joy and energy from knowing God and wanting to know him better. 

So we would know him better, and so we could know his love for us, the Father sent the Son into the world (John 3:16, John 14:9; Heb. 1:2).  It's been his plan -- which means he really, really wants this, and that's why he has invested so much in creating that relationship with us -- from the beginning.  God loves his children, all of them, and he loves it when we turn to him in repentance, faith and love, to come closer to him.  It brings a smile to my face to see the kittens come bounding up to see me every morning; and even more, our desire to know and love God brings great pleasure to him. 

Would it be worth it to spend that first few minutes every morning thanking and praising God?  I know of one man who pivots himself when he gets out of bed, so his knees hit the floor first, and spends a few minutes there talking to his Creator.  I enjoy taking a cup of coffee to a quiet place to connect with him.  What could you do to create a 'holy space' in your life to spend with him, every day?  It will be worth it!

Faith

I've been reading through the book of Hebrews again -- I recommend reading it once a year as a tool for re-focusing our understanding of God.  More on that another time.  But today, since I was reading chapter 11, often called The Faith Chapter, a basic question came up:  Why faith -- that is, faith in God?  Why are we encouraged to have faith, and in this chapter and others we are told the stories of those who had faith?  Here are a few of the reasons faith is so important:

1.  Faith is the basis for a relationship with God. Adam and Eve didn't believe God was giving, and would always give, the best to them, even though God had put them in this beautiful place, given them all they needed, and they still didn't trust him.  Instead, they turned away from God to follow what the serpent said, and suffered as a result.  By contrast, what experience did they have with the serpent, that would tell them he was trustworthy?  ("Would you buy a used car from this snake?")  So, Hebrews 11:6 says "And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him."    If you don't believe God, how would you relate to him?
2.  Faith in God tells us that what God has promised will happen, even though we can't measure it with our five senses.  Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."  So we have to trust that God will provide the reward of totally enjoyable life without end, in the presence of our Creator and Father -- a life we won't see or experience until after we pass from this temporary existence.
3.  Faith helps us make the hard choices to do God's will.  Noah 'built an ark'; Abraham 'went without knowing where he was going...was ready to sacrifice his only son Isaac'; Moses 'chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin'; and a hundred other stories.  Including mine, and I hope, yours.  Without trusting that God will somehow provide for us, how do we let go of the immediate desire in favor of the eternal joy?  How would we offer our finances to God, rather than holding on to every penny for our own uses?  Without faith, how do we know God will take care of us?
4.  Faith is our link to salvation.  Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us that God saves us by grace through faith, and that salvation is not a reward for our obedience or works.  In fact, verse 9 tells us that the faith itself is a gift of God -- which we must receive obediently, rather than insisting we can work it out ourselves somehow.

Trusting God -- another definition of faith -- is essential for a life spent listening to and responding to God.  The stories in Hebrews 11 and many other places tell us it's possible to have that faith, and encourage us to ask God for a clearer and stronger trust in him.  So if you feel yours is 'running low' or you're not doing too well at trusting him, now might be a good time to read those again and let God refresh your tired heart with his own strength and peace. 

Half a Cup of Jesus

I'd like half a cup of Jesus, please.  Only half a cup.
That's just enough to wash away my sins and give me life.
Just enough to let me sleep at night and figure I'm all right.
Half a cup is about right for what I think I need.
Just enough for heaven later, but not enough to challenge me,
Not enough to slow me down or puncture my self-will.

I like Jesus to be my friend and helper and give me what I need,
Perhaps that health-and-wealth idea and maybe whiter teeth.
It's handy thinking he loves me and gives me life forever,
I just don't want to think about him interfering with life now.
If I had more of Jesus I'm afraid my life would change,
I might have to give up habits that are so comforting to me,
And be more generous and kind, and maybe forgive my spouse.
I'd have to read my Bible, or volunteer at church,
Or try to help the homeless or the poor out of the lurch.

If I had more than half a cup of Jesus, I'm afraid
I might be pressed to talk to friends about my faith.
I might be tempted to go on mission trips or even across town
And give up my vacation to build a house for someone else.
I might have to stop watching some TV, or stop my drinking then,
Or speak more kindly to my spouse or help the neighbor kids.

No, half a cup is just the thing -- half a cup, no more.
I don't want people thinking I'm one of those Jesus freaks
That actually believes he loves my neighbor, and so should I.
I might get funny looks or lose my reputation
By telling people Jesus died to save them, and every nation.

Half a cup of Jesus is all that I can manage.
In fact a quarter-cup might be more like it; do you want the rest of mine?

Cats and God, part 2

If you don't know, the McCulleys recently adopted two kittens.  It's been a lot of fun to see them learn their way around the house and create toys out of all kinds of things I didn't expect.

When we got them, they both had colds so we had to take them to the vet. The vet assured us that humans and cats don't infect each other, because we are different kinds of beings.  That was helpful, because I was concerned we would catch what they had.

In somewhat the same way, God is a completely different being from us -- completely 'other' than we are. He is the Creator, but he is uncreated, and outside of his creation. We can never be 'god,' because we are created beings, utterly distinct from him.

But by the incarnation of the Son as Jesus, God entered the creation, and our state of being! The uniqueness of Jesus Christ is that, although the Son of God (uncreated and eternal) he also took on the same flesh that we have.  By doing that, his unique union of God and flesh enables us to become children of the Father. Jesus Christ is the Father's Son by nature as God; and because of his birth into human flesh, we are the children of the Father by adoption through Jesus.

We read this in Ephesians 1:3-5 "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.  Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."  Because of what the Son did by becoming flesh, due to God's decision before time and creation began, we are His.  And although we will never be God as God is God, we are adopted into the circle of love that exists within the Trinity, and we will experience that love forever.

We can't cure our kitties' colds; we have to give them medicine and wait.  But because the Son entered our world, our humanity and our mortality is cured forever:  As Hebrews 2:14 says:  "Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death."  

Our death is swallowed up in Jesus' death, and his resurrection ensures our future life.  What a wonderful life we will have forever with God, because of his Son! 

Cats and God, part 1

The McCulley household once more includes cats, by name Haley and Susie. They are cute, I must admit, even though I'm not a cat lover. They do what cats do -- eat, sleep, play ChasePounce, stretch, test their claws on the furniture, and so forth. It's easy to see that they are cats; they act like cats. And the reverse is true: if I see claw marks on something, I know they've been around -- clawing is one of those things cats do (and I don't).

It's like that as we come to know God. We can know God by what he does (I don't care how many meteorological explanations there are for a sunset, God makes them!), and by what he tells us he is like in the Bible. And we can be sure that what we are told about him is not only true, it's according to his nature -- to who he really is in his being.

God told us a lot about himself in the Hebrew scriptures, what Christians usually call the Old Testament. But as the opening verses of Hebrews (the epistle in the New Testament) say, now God has spoken to us directly: "Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son." However, more than his speaking, but in his very essence, Jesus the Christ was the person of God among us: "The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven."

If I want to know what cats are like, I watch cats. If I want to know what God is like, I watch Jesus, because he wasn't just a representative from God, he was and is God. That's why Jesus could say to Philip, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" in John 14:9. Jesus wasn't an apparition, he wasn't an angel, he wasn't an exalted human, he wasn't just a special teacher -- he was (and remains) God in the flesh. He deserves all honor and glory and praise because he is God. And on top of that, we have an eternal debt of gratitude to him because he did us the eternal favor of dying to pay the penalty of all sin, so we could enter into shared life with him.

God really is who he reveals himself to be through the Son. We can fully trust that Jesus truly reveals the will and character of the Father, and his love for us. The surprise, when we finally get to see God, will be in the sheer magnitude of his person; not in what he is like. That, we already know, through the Son. Hallelujah!

Doors

Wearily, the donkey trudged through the dusty streets of the little town. His journey had been long, more than a week walking up and down the hills on well-worn trails. Familiar smells of other animals, clean straw and grain came to him, promising comfort after his long trek.

The man and woman with him were just as hopeful of rest and provision. Mary had been feeling strong contractions all day, and was getting anxious to lie down and let her labor begin in earnest. She was still a young woman, well under 20 years of age, but she knew plenty about these things. Joseph, wearing a cloak over his common workman's clothing, had been hearing his young wife alternately hiss and sigh during the afternoon, and knew those were urgent signs. But everywhere he had stopped that evening, he had been turned away.

Joseph had been sure, coming to the town where his grandfather had been a well-known citizen, that he would be welcomed by kinfolk. But the town was full for the Roman census, and and every door had been shut, firmly and sometimes unkindly, in his face. Did his relatives know that Mary's pregnancy had started before their wedding? Rumors travel a long way, even by foot, and the whole village of Nazareth had known of the pregnancy. Not even an innkeeper would take them in to earn a few shekels, but finally a kindly villager offered them room in the animal shelter cut into the rock face behind his simple home. There, during the night, Immanuel was born, welcomed by a few animals, his parents, and all the hosts of heaven.

This scene is not only history but a picture of a greater reality. Both at his birth and later during his ministry, his own people didn't accept Jesus. He was reviled as an illegitimate child, rejected as a teacher who challenged the authorities, and generally not welcomed. So, the question inevitably comes from the Bible teacher, does the hearer or the reader offer this Jesus 'room in your heart'? That's a good question, as far as it goes.

A little background, for clarity: by becoming flesh, God inseparably united all people with himself in a way they had never yet experienced. So in one sense, all people are already in God's heart; but God is not yet active in the hearts of all people. As a lot of teachers have explained over the centuries, that door -- like the doors of the homes and inns in Bethlehem that night -- opens from the inside only. God doesn't force anyone to love him; but he desires intimacy with you so much that his only son died to make it possible (John 3:16-17). So the question is legitimate -- have you opened the door to let him in?

But wait (like in those TV ads) there's more -- which room have you let Jesus into? And which ones, in the house of your mind and life, are still closed? Which rooms are you still guarding, through unwillingness or shame, from God who knows about them anyway? Jesus has already died and been raised, to wipe out the sins and weaknesses we try to hide by not admitting them. The only solution to all the things in life we can't solve, is to give them up to the God who came to be with us, and is still with us (see Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 7:25).

Revelation 3:20 says: “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends." Today would be a good day to open all the rest of those doors, wouldn't it?