Renegade Atoms

Soon and very soon, my King is coming
Robed in righteousness and crowned with love
When I see Him, I shall be made like Him
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon
I’ll be going to the place He has prepared for me
There my sin erased, my shame forgotten
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see Him
There my soul with be satisfied
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon, See the procession
The angels and the elders round the throne
At His feet I’ll lay, my crowns, my worship
Soon and very soon

Though I have not seen Him
My heart knows Him well
Jesus Christ the Lamb, the Lord of heaven

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see Him
There my soul with be satisfied
Soon and very soon

These are the lyrics from one of my favorite songs, simply called “Soon” (you can find it here).

It embodies hope, presents challenge, it gives joy and comfort, it speaks purpose. The day will arrive when he will come to meet us, whether at the end of our earthly days as individuals or at the end of all days. 

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  1 Corinthians 13: 8-12

Our best efforts to know him, and we should strive to know him more, are not enough to know everything about him. It is no different than how one can learn new things about a spouse 50, 60 or even 70 years into a marriage. Given the promise that we will one day know fully, it can be easy to shrug off getting to know him more today. I can’t possibly know or learn everything about him, so why bother putting in all that effort?

When we fall in love, we anxiously await every opportunity to spend time with the one we are pursuing. We want to know everything about them, we look for every excuse to get more of their time, it is never enough. Shouldn’t this be the way that we pursue our relationship with Christ? 

I love the words of this song, they are a declaration of intent. Though I have not seen him, my heart knows him well… I WILL be with the one I love, with unveiled face I’ll see him. 

On the other hand, to not pursue the person of Christ, to not seek the personal relationship he offers to us, can have dangerous consequences. 

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’  Matthew 7: 21-23

Preaching, teaching, and serving alone is not enough. It is possible to know a lot about someone without knowing them. It’s also possible to know someone intimately without knowing everything about them. I want KNOW Jesus, not just know about him. 

The great news is that I can. 

Phillipians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the Peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me—put it into practice. And the peace of God will be with you. 

There are times when I read the Bible and am overwhelmed by my inability to comprehend the meaning of the words. Times of frustration and angst, where it is seemingly impossible for me to break through to understanding. 

Then there are times, which I hope you’ve also experienced, where I stand in absolute awe of God and the ability of his word to reveal in me a truth so profound that there is really no way to describe it. Today, not in focused prayer, not while reading the word, but just in the course of my daily activity, has been such a time. These verses from Paul’s letter to the Philippians are more real and tangible to me today than they have ever been. 

The reward Paul speaks of is nothing short of amazing, perhaps second only to salvation itself. We are promised the peace of God, but to get to this we are presented with a tremendous challenge. 

Paul, who is imprisoned at the time of writing this letter, first encourages us to rejoice. To be anxious about nothing, but in everything to be in a focused place of prayer, allowing God to take care of the details. I don’t know about you, but this is a hard task for me, letting go of control is never easy. When things are tough, rejoicing is often farthest from my mind, and while I might readily submit my (often selfish) requests to God, I have rarely been willing to actually relinquish control of the situation. Instead, I say my prayers and then we leave God on his own while I go off to tackle the problem at hand. 

Anxiety is something that I’m all too familiar with, particularly in the area of household financial health. I’ve been tremendously blessed and yet, whenever I’ve seen the slightest dip in our family prosperity, I often panic and start to fret about how to deal with the situation. God has always comes through.

Recently I’ve gone through some changes in my financial situation and the experience this time has been vastly different. I have been deliberate in seeking God, focusing not on the problem or even trying to work out a solution, but instead just seeking God, being thankful for the blessings I have and also praying more for the people around me. It’s truly amazing what happens when you just trust that the God who created the universe is able to take care of your problems. 

I have not yet seen resolution in full, but I have every confidence that I will. I still have brief moments of anxiety, but when I make an effort to turn my focus away from myself, suddenly the peace Paul talks about washes over me again.

There is a reason that Paul describes the peace of God as transcending all understanding. It’s because it’s true! The logical part of me cannot comprehend the way that I feel. I cannot describe what it is like to you, but can only encourage you to find that peace for yourself. Rejoice in the Lord, consider the blessings you have, look at the world around you and marvel at what is there. 

Learning to approach God is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done (and continue to do) in my life. This is not because God makes it difficult for us to approach him, but rather because we make it difficult for ourselves. In the second portion of this admonition, Paul provides instruction that can help us accomplish the task of not being anxious. 

We have some tips on what we can do to move closer to God, for as Paul says, the Lord is near. How do we do this? We focus on truth, we look for rightness, we seek purity, we strive to find things that are noble. In these we see God for he is all of these. The struggle comes with finding these things in a world that is so largely negative. We cannot look to the media to provide us with stories of truth on a consistent basis. We cannot look to politics to see pictures of noble people. Sure truth will be mixed in and there are those who are noble amongst the rest, but it’s like a needle in a haystack. 

I start by looking at those closest to me. A spouse can offer truth, which although not always easy, can open your eyes to see truth elsewhere. Children are a great source of purity. Parents often display nobility. As you start to look for these things in those closest to you, you will notice that the circle in which you find them is ever broadening and you will start to see them everywhere. Think on these things in times when you become overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety, for these are the important things in life. 

As you put into practice these instructions from Paul, as you strive to grow closer to God, the peace will come. This doesn’t mean that we ignore the issues of life or that we neglect the challenges we face. Instead we embrace the challenges, not with anxiety in our hearts, but with faith that we God will handle them with us. 

“Church” has different meanings. Let’s start with two definitions of the word. 

Definition 1

Church: An institution built (sometimes loosely) upon the belief that there is one God, who created the universe and everything in it, saw man fall into sin, sent a saviour (his Son) to die on the cross, and at the end of days will judge the living and the dead based on whether they believe.

Definition 2

Church: People who believe that there is one God who created the universe and everything in it. They gather in the name of a saviour who came to earth to die on the cross for the sins of all, and at the end of days he will return to judge the living and the dead based on whether they believed in him.

You might read these two definitions and think, “Aren’t those the same thing?”. They’re not, and the difference is in focus. Let’s refer to these definitions as simply 1 and 2 as we break things down a little. 

1 is about buildings and monuments, 2 are about people and relationships. 

1 is an organization, 2 are a movement. 

1 sees the world as the enemy, 2 see the enemy in the world.

1 is often resistant to change, 2 embraces change without compromising belief.

1 is divided on the basis of doctrine, 2 are united on the basis of faith. 

1 is about membership and exclusivity, 2 are about acceptance and openness. 

The people that make up 2 are found in every building, denomination, or congregation that would cause people to define Church as 1.

It doesn’t matter whether you are Catholic, Anglican, Pentacostal, Lutheran, Nazareen, Methodist, Presbyterian or any other denomination or non-denomination. If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and opened the door for us to have direct, personal relationship with God, then you, along with all others who believe this, are the Church.

People who, as a result of their love for Christ, show love to the world, we are the church. People who strive to know God and while on that journey seek to make the world a better place, we are the church. People who, in our own imperfections, can embrace others who are not perfect, we are the church. People who can admit weakness and freely accept the gift of salvation offered to all, we are the church.

One of the first things we usually ask someone when we first meet them is “what do you do?”. For most of us, we immediately proceed to identify with the thing that we spend most of our time on, our work. We are a society full of bankers, real estate agents, construction workers, contractors, doctors, lawyers…. This is how so many of us identify ourselves, we are our careers. 

Usually though, when asking this question, what we really mean is “how do you identify who you are?”. If we asked this, I think that many of us would still provide a similar answer. Sure, we might throw in a few other things, some hobbies, a bit about our families, maybe something about volunteer activities. We get hung up on the things that we do. Who we are is defined by our actions and interactions.

When things are great, when our career is on track, when our relationships are in a good state, then it’s easy. We look at what we do, the day to day activities, our crafted identity, and think, “I’m not too bad”. When things go poorly though, this all falls apart. Our identity starts to unravel. We wonder if any part of ourself was ever real. But then we find something else to identify with and we start over. 

I’ve been through cycles like this in my life, where I get myself focused on an identity that is wrapped up in things like my work, my hobbies, my choices, my things. Inevitably, every time that I got too far down this road, something changed and I would have to reinvent myself, try and figure out my identity all over again. 

I’m sure that I’m not the only one that has had this experience. It may not always be apparent from the outside, but I would guess that the majority of us struggle with this concept of identity, of always having to adapt to the next thing that becomes the focus. It doesn’t have to be this way. 

I’ve had a faith and belief in God for as long as I can remember, but that faith was always just another part of my identity, accompanied by more things that I do, like go to church, pray, read my Bible.

It’s only been recently that I’ve started to really see and understand my true identity. It’s not founded in the things that I do, the people I know, the places I go, the job that I work. It’s founded in my relationship with a loving saviour who gave up everything so that I could have an identity. 

“So God created mankind in his own image” Genesis 1:27

We are made in the image of God, and more than that, we are loved such that we are called his children, given equal status with Jesus Christ, the true Son of God. In this, we can find an identity that doesn’t need to change through the circumstances of life. If we accept this, then we can hold on to this throughout our lives, through everything we do. 

We can do great things because we understand that we are empowered as sons and daughters. Instead of our actions defining us, who we are defines our actions. Just as children strive to make their parents proud, finding identity in the love of family, so we, identified within the love of our heavenly father, will live in obedience and trust to make him proud to call us his children. 

I can’t earn the love of God any more than my daughters can earn my love. I have loved them since the moment I knew they were growing in the womb. In the same way, God has loved me.

Son of the living God. What greater identity can I hope to find than this? 

I’ve been wrestling with feelings of frustration and angst over the way that I have lived my life. Caught up in the rat race, along with most of those around me, striving to work towards the next major purchase.

Why is it that happiness is such an elusive thing for us in western culture? Where did we get this idea that “things” would make us happy?

Over the past months I’ve been contemplating these questions, spiralling in towards the ultimate question: What is the reason for living?

For me, the answer is found in my faith. A belief that I am created by a loving God, not just a random act of evolution. A belief that I will be taken care of if I make an effort to know him more. That in seeking God, the rest will become clear.

See happiness is not about stuff. Stuff is okay, but it won’t make me happy. To see this, I just need to look to pictures of people in the third world. In the midst of starvation, persecution, and disease, there are still smiles, still glimpses of great joy. Picture the last time you walked down a busy downtown street, people rushing to and fro between meetings and business and commerce, how many smiles caught your attention?

For me, freedom and happiness are coming in the form of seeking first the kingdom of God. We pray asking “Give us this day our daily bread”, but do we understand the implications? THIS DAY, not tomorrow, not five years, not “what do I need to do to retire at 55?”.

This day. This is freedom. This brings joy.