Dear Friend, we love Him, we love Him not

February 13, 2009 | dear friend, faith

Dear Friend,

You ask me if we have made Christianity a sappy love story, where God allows us to do whatever we want and yet he’s standing there with open arms. That doesn’t seem like love to you, you say.

And you know what? I agree with you. I believe in God’s love. I know that the sacrifice He gave was based on love for humanity. I don’t understand it always. I know that we don’t merit it most of the time, and these words from Romans 8 convince me that He loves me when I least deserve it:

I’m absolutely convinced that nothing–nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable–absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

But I also struggle with the way we love Him sometimes. Like He’s a convenience. Pull him out in the hard times. Tuck Him away when Scripture seems to ask us to go against feelings, desires, or wants. Argue and debate with others, as if we are superior and faith is all about us or our opinions, when the reality is we should be pointing the way to Him. (more…)

Dear Friend,

December 23, 2008 | dear friend

Suzie, This is the question I have been struggling with lately and I thought maybe you could help. The phrase… God so loved the world he gave his only son. Now as I reflect on it. I think… didn’t God really take his own son back. Jesus died and rose into heaven. God is in heaven. Aren’t they together now? If so, then how can ite be said God gave his son. He really took him back. Heidi (more…)

Dear friend. . .

October 27, 2008 | dear friend

You ask me why I dare touch such a hot topic in today’s political scene. After all, it’s a women’s right to choose. It’s private. It’s not right to push your opinions on others, you say. Thank you for your questions, for allowing me to be the one to listen.

I don’t often talk about abortion, but friend you asked the question so is it okay that I share my story?

My mom was 15 when she found out she was pregnant with her first. A young naval guy on her base told her he loved her. She believed him. Nine months later she gave birth to a sick child. Cystic fibrosis. She was far from home now. “You made your own bed; lie in it,” her mother said. (more…)

Dear friend…

October 22, 2008 | dear friend, faith

You ask how I can believe in a world that looks at Christianity in such a negative light. You ask me to describe my faith. Are you fundamental? Are you moderate? Liberal?

I don’t see myself as a label. I simply follow Him because I cannot see my life without a relationship with the God that transformed my life.

There was a time when I didn’t know God. Didn’t believe in him. I saw life as black and white and without the shadings of faith. And then one day I challenged that assumption. Is there really a God? The answer came in that moment. Yes, there is a God and somehow, inexplanably, I mattered to him. It was a transforming moment, a word I don’t throw out lightly.

It seemed simple to me. One day I lived without the knowledge that God was real and the next I couldn’t shake the truth that my life had taken a turn. Knowing him was suddenly a thread through the fabric of every choice, every decision, every part of my existence.

It was simple, really.

It only became complicated later, when somehow faith became tangled in a to-do list or was scrutinized under a microscope of culture that wanted me to defend what I knew had taken place in my heart. Funny, but the complexity came from both within and outside of the church. (more…)