Bible Tuesday

"but God shows His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

  Romans 5:8

God confronted me at Famous Daves's.

Now look.  Famous Dave's has some mighty good BBQ but it's not exactly the kind of venue wherein I expect to receive a revelation.  My thoughts at this place generally go no deeper than  "How do they get this brisket so tender?"  But that day was different.

Kevin and I were having lunch.  We were talking about Jesus and the Gospel of Luke.  This may seem like a strange lunch conversation to you but, for us, it's a pretty normal topic.  One of God's greatest gifts to me is a husband who will actually listen to me talk about spiritual things.  I don't take it for granted.

So during the course of our discussion, I mentioned a concept I had just read in a book called Ten Things Jesus Never Said.    The author asked why we (as Christians) expect lost people not to act lost. The idea was simple yet shattering. As we were talking about this, I began to think about how I pray for people to 'get their act together' and/or to 'get saved'.  I'm not sure when I became this person.  The thought did not make me happy.  Then God spoke to me.

Lemme try to explain here.  There was no burning bush.  The voice of James Earl Jones did not boom through the sky.  I believe God speaks to me.  Not every day.  Not in an audible voice.  But when it happens, I know it is God. 

So sitting in a booth eating BBQ, I felt God say "You don't trust me to change people."

What!?!?

That thought sent me reeling.  The very cornerstone of my life is trust in God.  Yet at the same time I was mounting a defense against this statement, I knew that my actions proved otherwise.  When I focused on praying for people to change their behavior, the unintentional effect of that prayer was that I did not trust God to change it for them.  Friends, there is more sin in that thought than in the entire city of San Francisco.  Or  Manhattan.  Or take your pick of Godless cities.  The simple fact is that I know better.

You see, I spent most of my life around Christians.  But it wasn't meeting some Christian that changed my life, it was meeting Christ. Once I had that experience, my behavior changed immediately.  My mind was changed along with my heart.  And don't miss this.  My encounter with God did not eliminate sin from my life, it just eliminated my love for sin.  Yeah, you heard me.  Look around at the world.  People love their sin.  And they love it because they don't know any better.  They don't know what the price of that sin really is and they have no idea how much it cost God to pay it. 

God did not wait for me to get my act together.  What hope did I have of being better without Christ?  The Holy Spirit is the only power that can change us.  I know this. So why did  I expect other people  to change without it?  It’s akin to demanding to know why someone's  house is dark when they have never even heard of electricity. 

So I am resolved to quit praying for you to change.  I am praying for God to change you.  I trust Him to do it because I am living proof that He can and will.  I'm not going to blame you anymore for living in the dark because I believe God has the power to turn on the light.