Charisa Stories

Tag: philip yancey

  • How God Sees Me Is Hard To Accept

    How God Sees Me Is Hard To Accept

    Perhaps it was my early church teaching that causes me to struggle with the concept that God loves me. I believe He can love others. I believe He loves the homeless person on the street and the struggling inner-city mom trying to hold her family together. But I am less sure that He always loves me. I know me. I know what lies hidden in my heart. I know my reactions. I know my thoughts. God knows all of that too. So in the sad and difficult moments I wonder how He could possibly love me.

    Perhaps that is your struggle as well.

    Philip Yancey wrote these thoughts in What’s So Amazing About Grace. “Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc.) thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible’s astounding words about God’s love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?”

    I am learning to look into the mirror and see someone that I accept by faith and not by my feelings. I see a saint. That’s right. Many (maybe all) of Satan’s accusations about me are true. But what I now see is a man who is a saint. I found twenty-nine references to the “saints” in Paul’s writings. I am pretty sure from the content of his writings that they were not always behaving like saints. They were saints because of Christ and not by meticulously following the law.

    God sees those who trust Jesus as holy. No matter how many accusations are thrown at me God sees me as holy. Amazing.
    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. (Ephesians 1, NLT)

    That is my (and your) identity. Holy and without fault in His eyes. I will be accused again and probably sooner than later. But I am learning to simply say this to myself.

    “That is not who I am anymore. I am a saint who sometimes sins. I am holy because of Christ.”

    There may be no more important element to living fully in the moment with God than accepting that you are loved by Him right now just as you are. That is so counterintuitive to how “love” so often works in our experience. I will love you while you are attractive. I will love you when you make me happy. I will love you when you do what I ask you to do. Human love is almost always conditional. That is not God’s love.

    The attributes of God’s love are mind boggling. It is personal. We can relate to God the Creator of the universe as our Father. Think about that. I mean really think about that. I love this thought from Brennan Manning. “We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that he should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at his love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”

    We are conditioned to believe that if something seems too good to be true that we are being deceived. That is what the aforementioned accuser would have us to believe. But the stunning radicality of grace is that what seems to be too good to be true is more true than we can imagine. This unconditional love from God is unrelated to the emotions, expectations and desires that taint our human love.

    • God’s love is offered to the undeserving and unworthy.
    • God’s love does not consider status, gender, color, nationality, wealth, or educational achievement.
    • God loves us first. He is the one who woos us to Him.
    • God’s love is one way. He is the patient lover who never leaves and is always there when His child finally comes home.
    • This love is ours by simple faith. We don’t have to do a single thing except bring our wounds and sin to the loving Great Physician.

    I am choosing to believe that today. I am going to allow God to love me today. I am not going to attempt to earn that love. I am not going to remind myself why I am not worthy. I am going to open my arms and my heart to His love. My feelings ebb and flow. God’s feelings for me are an eternal fountain of grace. Jump in the fountain today. Splash around. Laugh. Rejoice. You are loved. You are cherished. You are adored. You are the child of the King. Live like it today.

    Excerpts taken from Waking Up Slowly – 21 Ways to be More Connected to God and One Another. 

  • What Can You Do Right Now to Make a Difference?

    What Can You Do Right Now to Make a Difference?

    I believe that God uses difficult circumstances to grow us in our faith. The lengthy pandemic has given us lots of opportunities to reevaluate priorities in our relationship with God and others. The frightening uncertainty on the world stage has also given followers of Jesus a chance to show how faith makes a difference in crisis. The results have been mixed. 

    I used to get angry and judgemental when those who identify as Christians didn’t live up to their title. Now I mainly feel sad at missed opportunities to show how Jesus makes a difference when we trust Him during trials. Christians should have a message of hope during this confusing and anxious season. Jesus followers should be demonstrating that trusting God gives peace and hope in dark times. A song by Thomas Rhett neatly summed up how Christians can be different in a good way. We are called to show a different path and a better way. 

    In a world full of hate, be a light
    When you do somebody wrong, make it right
    Don’t hide in the dark, you were born to shine
    In a world full of hate, be a light

    Jesus told His followers that we are to be a light to those around us.

    “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

    I don’t know about you but those challenges from Jesus can feel daunting. Sometimes I don’t feel much like a light to the world. I often feel like the dimmest bulb in the Church Light Store. A quote from one of my favorite authors gave me hope.

    “Imperfection is the only prerequisite for grace. Light only gets in through the cracks.”~ Philip Yancey

    For years I tried to patch the cracks with new disciplines and teeth gritting self-effort. Now I own each and every flaw and crack that allows the light of the Gospel into the dark corners of my soul. And when I am vulnerable to others they see that light shining right back through those same cracks of imperfection. And suddenly the command of Jesus is not so daunting because it has NOTHING to do with me. It is all about letting the light of the Gospel into my heart and sharing that light with others.

    Remember where your light comes from today and let that light shine. Praying for others is good. But it is time to put legs to our prayers and let good deeds reflect the loving light of God. Does Jesus make a difference in how you face trials, fear, and the future? More that ever followers of Jesus need to demonstrate that there is light, hope, and comfort even in the darkest times.

  • Want to Make a Difference?

    Want to Make a Difference?

    I believe that God uses difficult circumstances to grow us in our faith. The lengthy pandemic has given us lots of opportunities to reevaluate priorities in our relationship with God and others. The frightening uncertainty of the past year has also given followers of Jesus a chance to show how faith makes a difference in crisis. The results have been mixed.

    I used to get angry and judgemental when those who identify as Christians didn’t live up to their title. Now I mainly feel sad at missed opportunities to show how Jesus makes a difference when we trust Him during trials. Christians should have a message of hope during this confusing and anxious season. Jesus followers should be demonstrating that trusting God gives peace and hope in dark times. A song by Thomas Rhett neatly summed up how Christians can be different in a good way. We are called to show a different path and a better way.

    In a world full of hate, be a light
    When you do somebody wrong, make it right
    Don’t hide in the dark, you were born to shine
    In a world full of hate, be a light

    Jesus told His followers that we are to be a light to those around us.

    “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

    I don’t know about you but those challenges from Jesus can feel daunting. Sometimes I don’t feel much like a light to the world. I feel more like the dimmest bulb in the Church Light Store. A quote from one of my favorite authors gave me hope.

    “Imperfection is the only prerequisite for grace. Light only gets in through the cracks.”~ Philip Yancey

    For years I tried to patch the cracks with new disciplines and teeth gritting self-effort. Now I own each and every flaw and crack that allows the light of the Gospel into the dark corners of my soul. And when I am vulnerable to others they see that light shining right back through those same cracks of imperfection. And suddenly the command of Jesus is not so daunting because it has NOTHING to do with me. It is all about letting the light of the Gospel into my heart and sharing that light with others. Then good deeds flow out of gratitude and not begrudging obligation.

    Another of my favorite writers is 19th Century preacher Charles Spurgeon. He said this about the topic of light.

    “I would not give much for your religion unless it can be seen. Lamps do not talk, but they do shine.”

    Remember where your light comes from today and pray that you can be a light this week. Let your good deeds reflect the loving light of your Father. You might be amazed how much of a difference that can make.

  • Weekend Wildcard – Vanishing Grace?

    Weekend Wildcard – Vanishing Grace?

    Philip Yancey always challenges me with his writing. He is the writer I want to be when I grow up. I have recently started his newest book Vanishing Grace : Whatever Happened to the Good News?. As usual, Yancey does not disappoint.

    I learned about the book from an interview in Christianity Today. Philip Yancey has written over a dozen best selling books and one of those is What’s So Amazing about Grace? I found the first question of the interview fascinating.

    Why did you choose to revisit the subject of grace?

    I know why the interviewer made the inquiry. You want “new” material from an author. Why plow the same ground? But I think that question is a mirror to one of the big problems in the Christian community. We never get past our daily need to revisit grace and the Good News of the Gospel. Martin Luther said that “you should preach the Gospel to yourself daily.” Why? Because you and I forget the depth and the power of grace everyday.

    Yancey’s response was thought provoking.

    Sociologist and researcher Amy Sherman has said that Christians tend to have three models for interacting with society: fortification, accommodation, and domination. To put that in layman’s terms: We hunker down amongst ourselves, water down our witness, or beat down our opponents. For many reasons, those aren’t New Testament models.

    So what should we be? We need to create pioneer settlements that show the world a different, grace-based way of living.

    That is brilliant both in diagnosis and prescriptive cure. Can you imaging the power of truly grace-based living in this wounded and desperately thirsty culture?

    His next observation parallels the message that I have awkwardly been trying to communicate in my decade plus of writing.

    We hear nowadays about Christian groups losing university recognition or public prayers and Christmas displays being banned. We feel on the defensive and that we’re the outliers. But much of Christian history has been lived this way, like it was during the Roman Empire, when a small number of Christians modeled another way to live. In a culture like ours, we need to demonstrate first how faith in Christ makes a difference in how we live.

    Simply put, when we encounter people resistant to our message we must show them grace and the source of that grace, Jesus. I wrote about how this ragamuffin band of Jesus followers went from cultural curiosity to world changing movement in my book When Bad Christians Happen to Good People. One key component was selfless service.

    Remember that the early Christians lived in a pagan culture that featured infanticide and gladiator combat. The early church’s revolutionary view of the value of life was sacrificially demonstrated during the two great plagues that devastated the Empire in the second and third centuries. While pagans avoided any contact with the sick and even cast them into the streets while still alive, Christians nursed and cared for the sick even though it cost some their lives. The selfless service of the early church won many converts to the fold.

    Against all odds and with no cultural advantage the early followers of Christ made a difference. Yancey concluded his interview with this thought.

    We’re tempted to rely on passing laws and winning arguments, but in the end, they’re not the greatest powers. The greatest power is what Jesus did. He died and rose again. That’s where it all started. The more we act like Jesus, not beating people down but showing a better way to live, the more outsiders will look back and say, “Those Christians are different.”

    There is a better way to live. Lord Jesus, give us the grace to show it.