Paul gives a command in Philippians which says:

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Philippians 4:6, ESV

The problem is that often I don’t even realize that I am getting anxious. In those times, I lose sight of what is really important in the press of the urgent stuff around me.

I should point out that “do not be anxious” is a command and it is in the present tense, so it is something that needs continual attention. More often than I would like, I lose sight of God’s love for me and respond to my circumstances out of insecurity rather than in the knowledge that God is in control.

Fortunately, Paul gives the antidote in the same verse. I am to make my requests be known to God by “prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.”

If we do this, God promises to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus by supplying the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.

I need some of that peace right now. How about you?

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I have heard it said from a few pulpits (and I’ve said it myself) that the longest measurable distance known to man is the 18 inches between the head and the heart. The point being that what we think and what has been internalized can be vastly different.

This morning as I walked, I thought of an example.

In John 8, we are provided with the beautiful story of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus, in response to her sin said, “neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Jesus expressed his love for the woman with the words, “neither do I condemn you.” The whole point of the story is a demonstration of the love of Jesus.

Paul tells us in Romans 5:8, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (ESV)

The love of God is not dependent upon our behavior. It is not dependent on how well we follow His commands. It is not dependent upon espousing good theology. It is not dependent on anything that we do or say.

I have been a believer in Jesus for almost 60 years. But I now realize that for all of those 60 years, I have put Scripture, and what people say through a grid that is neither right, nor helpful.

Jesus expresses his love for sinners in the words, “neither do I condemn you.” But what I internalized growing up in the church is “go and sin no more.” To focus on the latter outside of the former is to develop some weird pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps spirituality that is contrary to the Gospel.

Jesus is not telling the woman, neither is he telling me, that more effort is needed, but that is the way I have responded to Jesus’ statement.

When someone has an unrealistic expectation of me that I am trying to fulfil, I hear “go and sin no more.”

When I read Scripture and it highlights my failure, I hear “go and sin no more.”

When someone unfairly criticizes me, I hear “go and sin no more.”

When someone fairly criticizes me, I hear “go and sin no more.”

The list goes on, but I realize that I have put everything through the grid of “go and sin no more.”

That is not the gospel that I believe. I fully understand that I am only saved by Grace. I fully understand that it is God’s love the prompted him to reveal Himself in Scripture. I fully understand that Jesus freely offers grace to all who believe in him and that grace is not earned or deserved.

But there is a broken piece of me that still seeks the illusion of perfection. There is a piece of me strives to be above criticism.

The biggest problem with this is that it shifts my focus to performance and away from relationship.

The two great commands are all about relationship, not about doing. But the grid I’ve used to evaluate my life switches this around and makes it all about doing and I lose sight of the relationship.

Perhaps in a future post, I will explore some of the reasons why I got into this ditch, but for now, I share this for the benefit of those who have internalized the same message.

I now chose to view Scripture as a message of love and acceptance rather than an impetus to try harder. In the face of Jesus we see one who loves sinners like me. In the face of Jesus, we see the God who loves us more deeply than we can ever imagine.

Rather than try harder, I need to take a deep breath and bask in the love of God.

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A friend of mine who is a pastor sometimes says that he has no problem thinking that God has included him as part of the group plan, but he does have a hard time connecting with the thought that God has loved and included him as an individual.

I can very much relate to this sentiment. There are times when I wonder how God could love me as an individual since I know how far short of anyone’s standard I fall.

Reflecting on this brings back memories of lining up to get picked for kickball in elementary school. Since every kid got put on a team there was no question about whether I would be included, but there were huge questions about whether I was wanted by the captain who chose me.

Yet, one of the names associated with Jesus is Immanuel which is translated as “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Jesus himself promised to be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). There are no qualifications to this bold statement. Jesus gives us no indication that we can mess this up in any way.

Jesus is with us no matter what.

Now, the grammarians in the group might look at Matthew 28:20 and point out that the “you” is plural, so we still have the issue of whether I am accepted as part of the group or as an individual.

To answer that question, I point to Matthew 11:29 where Jesus says, “take My yoke upon you.” The “you” in this command is also plural. Thinking about this for a few moments will cause us to realize that we cannot collectively take up Jesus’ yoke, taking up Jesus’ yoke is an individual decision. We individually come into relationship with Jesus and follow his commands.

So, Jesus is “God with us” as individuals. He is with me, he is with you and he is with every other believer. And because he is with us, he understands the joys and the difficulties we face. Furthermore, he promises to see us through until the end. If you doubt this, see Philippians 1:6 where Paul tells us:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6 (ESV)

So, Jesus is with us:

• When we succeed
• When we fail
• When we are joyful
• When we are sorrowful
• When life is good
• When life is difficult
• When we feel loved
• When we feel rejected

The bottom line is that Jesus is God with us at all times.

We are never alone, even when it feels like it.

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While it is always dangerous to judge the heart of someone else, we are called to exercise wisdom in determining who we spend time with. I was reminded of this when I read this verse in Jeremiah.

” . . . you are near in their mouth and far from their heart”

Jeremiah 12:2 (ESV)

I wonder if most believers have experienced this in the church at one time in their lives. We find people whose talk and whose actions seem to be vastly different. What is really difficult is when this type of person is in leadership in the church.

Sure, we all suffer from this gap between our words and our actions. Who among us hasn’t found solace in Paul’s lament in Romans 7 of his inability to live as he knew he ought to live. We are encouraged to know that we are not alone in our sense of falling short of where we’d like to be.

We then take great comfort in Paul’s declaration in Romans 8:1 that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

The goal is to find those who confess the gap and are seeking to allow God to work in their lives to close that gap. You will know this by how they react when confronted with their hypocrisy.

I’m thinking at this time of a painful experience in a previous church. The pastor would say really stupid things like he and his wife never had an argument. He maintained that he had a perfect marriage.

Those of us who have been married know that this could only be the case if one spouse was severely medicated at all times. Put two sentient people in a relationship and sooner or later there will be conflict. So the pastor’s statements about having a perfect marriage were obviously pure nonsense.

And even if it were true, by some amazing miracle, a man who reached such an elevated state of perfection would be of limited use in helping someone like me since he could hardly understand my struggles.

My lament is that I lingered too long in that church thinking that I could make a difference or I could help people in the midst of the confusion. Because the pastor had a skewed view of reality and a huge gap between what he claimed to believe and what he actually practiced, the church became a huge mess, and people were deeply hurt as a result.

So, what am I looking for in a church?

I’m looking for other sinners who know they need lots of grace. I’m looking for people that welcome the broken knowing that only God can make them less broken. I’m looking for those who ache with a desire to close the gap between their belief and their behavior and who are willing to submit to God and their fellow believers for that closure to take place.

If you are encouraged by this post or would like to make a comment, please use the comment form below to offer your feedback. If you are reading this in an email and would like to comment, you can reply to the email or click on the “Read in browser” link below to go to the web page where you can enter a comment. I enjoy hearing from you.