Jason Clark's Blog, page 28
December 5, 2018
God is an Optimist
(Hi Jason)
I wasn’t always that way, there have been wonderful times of believing in my life, but subtly over the course of years and while struggling through disappointments, I began doing good things for God even though I could hardly see Him. I became exhausted, unmotivated, and unsure where once I had been positive. Life became random and dull.
In one sense I still did what I thought God had created me to do but it no longer held as much meaning. I started filtering every experience through an attitude of hopelessness until every bump in the road was expected, while every triumph was fleeting. I began living a life where the glass was neither half full nor half empty. It was just… half.
I became a realist. It just made more sense.
I’m currently on the wagon…but it’s been an uphill fight, this my faith journey to optimism.
I remember the day I decided to be a realist. I’d asked my wife if she thought I was a pessimist. You see, I didn’t want to be a pessimist; they didn't fair well in the Bible and were a bummer to hang out with.
“I might still be a realist today if not for the wild yearning in my heart to want more, and God’s wild yearning for me.”My wife said “No, you are a realist.”
In the face of being a pessimist it sounded good, in fact it seemed like wisdom except there was no joy or hope…
I might still be a realist today if not for the wild yearning in my heart to want more, and God’s wild yearning for me. God in His grace and faithfulness intervened by giving me radical believing friends, and faithful family, and powerful stories about trusting God.
One day I chose to believe. To simply decide that God is an optimist and He only has goodness and love for me. It was a defiant act of faith. It was the best thing I ever did.
Since then I’ve discovered that while realism can often appear to be practical, respectable and wise, it’s simply unbelief. In fact I think that realism is just a socially accepted form of pessimism. Realism says “If you don’t have the money, God must not be in it…If you’re sick, it must be God’s will—maybe He is trying to teach you something…If you’re poor, get a job!...If you want to minister, go to Bible college or seminary…If you’re offending someone’s sensibilities, then stop.” Basically, whatever you do, be careful or you may come out looking like an idiot. In short, if at all possible, avoid risk. We must protect what God gave us; we need to be responsible and careful regarding our “Christian walk.” We need to be respectable, nice and tame... and oh yeah, did I mention frustrated, fed up and bored out of our minds?! And don’t forget aimless, empty and miserable.
“While realism can often appear to be practical, respectable and wise, it’s simply unbelief.”Believing is living in the kingdom of God. Believing inspires action, births revelation, and yields miracles. A realist would see a blind man and say he can’t see, end of story. But when Jesus came to earth, the blind saw, the lame walked, the deaf heard, Lazarus died twice, and Jesus told death, “Thanks, but no!” From what I can tell, God is not a realist. He is the Eternal Optimist and He has called all of us to be eternally optimistic with Him.
Believing is keeping your eye on the prize; it’s forward living, faith in motion. Belief is good, but for it to grow it needs to be nurtured by a believing lifestyle. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these.” Jesus’ whole message on earth points to a "greater works than these" lifestyle. Believing in Him is living in that promise.
The promise, your promise and mine, is one of a Spirit led life, a Spirit breathed life, a life of seeing where the Father moves and moving with Him.
What does this “greater works” promise look like for me? Well, I can’t see all of it but I’m learning that it lives in my heart and can be found in my dreams—particularity the dreams that most excite and most terrify me. I also am learning that the only way to see more of it, to engage it is to develop a believing heart.
We live in a culture that has deified the mind. Yes, God gave us brains, but the thinking mind is never to replace the believing heart. They work in tandem but the heart must come first. Or as a friend of mine says, we too often put the course before the heart. Jesus lives in our hearts. Believing often doesn’t add up in the mind, as something you can see. But faith, after all, is the essence of things un-seen.
Now I’m putting all my money on the promise-giver and following Him where He leads me, like moving my family to North Carolina and financially disappointing Dave Ramsey. I have made a decision that I am going to be a believer, whether it looks good or not, whether it feels good or not. I have made a decision to say yes. It’s really the only way to continue moving forward in my own story. It’s also the only way to live the promise, to experience life, immense joy and fulfillment.
My name is Jason and I’m a believer…
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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
November 28, 2018
The End of Empty
In fact, time itself is the father of need. The universe was created as finite, meaning there is a beginning and an end. In a finite reality, need is the principle in which time exists, it’s the skeleton upon which reality hangs.
“Need is the final singular truth by which our world operates. While need is the very substance of our existence, it has no place in God’s reality. And if God is love, then you could say it like this: need cannot exist in love. Need is actually counter to the nature of love. Love trumps every need, every time. It’s the good news that only gets better.”Need is the final singular truth by which our world operates. Humanity exists inside the confines of need. We trade in the currency of need. It is the foundational structure of our DNA. It’s the defining core value of our very existence. You could say that we are slaves to need.
Need is with us when we wake and when we sleep. And it’s not an abstract idea. It’s probably the most real thing many of us know. It’s an absolute, a physical, emotional, and spiritual reality woven into the very fabric of our existence.
For instance, we need air to breathe and we need gravity to keep us from floating away. We need food to sustain our bodies. We need clothes and shelter. We need money to buy clothes and shelter. We need jobs to make money so we can buy clothes and shelter. We need a good economy to provide jobs.
What I am trying to communicate is that we are one big walking, talking, breathing, need.
It’s not a bad thing. It’s actually beautifully brilliant if seen from God’s perspective. He created it. And because God is good, He only has good ideas and only creates good things. I believe God created need for one reason: to reveal His love. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
So creation took its first breath in the wonderful certainty of need. Our heavenly Father created a finite reality in which men and women dwell. And then He did something odd and absolutely amazing, He breathed His Spirit, His Neuma into us. He put eternal spirits in finite bodies. He introduced the immeasurable into a world controlled by measurements. He made humankind in His image—Love.
God is love and He is always good. It says so in my Bible. And yours too.
Love is the beginning and the end, and everything in between, and everything before and everything after. Love is infinite, immeasurable.
Love is complete. Love is the answer, not the question. Love is always good. That’s all in the Book as well.
“There is a revelation of love available to every one of us that settles the insecurity of need, that sets us free to become sons and daughters of a perfectly good, perfectly loving, heavenly Father.”Now here’s my crazy thought. While need is the very substance of our existence, it has no place in God’s reality. And if God is love, then you could say it like this: need cannot exist in love. Need is actually counter to the nature of love. Love trumps every need, every time. It’s the good news that only gets better.
I would like to suggest that need fosters insecurity, while love cultivates identity. Stick with me, I think I’m on to something big here. I believe there is a revelation of love available to every one of us that settles the insecurity of need, that sets us free to become sons and daughters of a perfectly good, perfectly loving, heavenly Father.
Before Jesus’s resurrection, we lived in a world where every emotion, every decision, and every moment was defined by need, by what we didn’t have and needed or what we would need later on.
After Jesus’s resurrection, our heavenly Father invited humanity to live free of the controls of need in a glorious infinite revelation—Love. The core value of our very existence was redeemed from a need-based reality to an intimate, measureless love relationship.
Jesus came and revealed the Father. He took all of our needs upon Himself and died. He took a need-based existence to the grave where it always belonged. And upon His resurrection, He introduced us to a greater revelation of intimacy with our heavenly Father, and access to the infinite reality of His Kingdom of love—heaven on earth.
What would it look like if we began to live with a greater revelation of Love?
I bet we would look a little more like Jesus…
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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
November 21, 2018
May You Know…
It suggests that everything is connected.
The Butterfly Effect goes something like this; if a butterfly moves its wings on one side of the planet; that small movement of air may well be the cause of powerful winds on the other side of the planet.
God’s love has been like that in my life. He comes in the gentle whisperings of the butterfly wings, always and only saying one thing, “Jason, I love you, do you believe me?”
“I have learned that this journey we are all on is about one simple thing, believing He loves us.”I have learned that this journey we are all on is about one simple thing, believing He loves us. My surrender or agreement with this thought has become the powerful winds of change in my life.
There are two kinds of surrender, one is forced and one is voluntary. Love never forces, Love only whispers “I love you” over and over until we begin to believe Him.
If you want to break down the Christian faith, it’s simply this; we exist to become sure in His Love. Faith is simply our “yes” response to the question, “I love you, do you believe me?”
And when we believe He is love, when we surrender, we experience the power of His love. A love that transforms, a love that answers every question that aches in the heart of humanity.
May you know both intimacy and the power of His great affection today.
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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
November 14, 2018
How Not to Fall Out of Love
Her back was resting against the railing that separated us from the waterfall. This was the girl I would spend the rest of my life with, and I knew it. Earlier, we had walked through the small New York town of Rush. We held hands and laughed. We dreamed and ate chocolate. Now we were hidden from the whole world beneath the fir trees, our very own hideaway. We kissed. It was sweet, magical, beautiful, tender, affectionate—all the things a good kiss should be.
I knew I needed this girl in my life and I wanted to be a part of her life—till death do us part. A year later we got hitched. Two became one.
I married Karen because I needed her, every part of her. As Jerry McGuire said “She completes me.” It’s the truth, a healthy absolute. I am truly lost without her. I need her mind, her compassion, her patience, her wisdom, her revelation, her encouragement, her smile...
“If a relationship is built solely on needs being met it will eventually collapse into a legal partnership.”And it isn’t wrong to need her, but I have discovered over the last twenty-something years that while “needs met” is a beautiful part of love, it can't be the foundation.
If a relationship is built solely on needs being met it will eventually collapse into a legal partnership, a business relationship, a sterile agreement to cohabitation. If each person in a relationship is primarily focussed on their needs being met, at some point their love will grow apathetic and cold, at some point the lovers will fall out of love.
True love is measureless, it grows exponentially, it defines and makes sure, it empowers and encourages, it has an answer and redeems every issue, heartache, and disappointment. Marriage is meant to be an intimate covenant of this love, a beautiful expression of the measureless power of love.
When love is at the center of a relationship, when we are becoming love, then a relationship is not about what I can get or how I meet my needs, it’s about what I can give. And the generous truth in this relationship is not only are needs met, needs are exceeded in the measureless abundance of love. It's in laying down our lives for each other that we grow in love.
“Falling out of love is not possible if you are becoming love.”Falling out of love is not possible if you are becoming love.
If Karen and I only loved each other for needs met, we would miss out on intimacy. Intimacy is the greatest expression of love and trust. I am not just writing about the physical. Intimacy is available in every aspect of a relationship where giving is the foundation. Intimacy is way bigger than needs met. Intimacy is about revelation, about knowing and being known. Karen and I have been married nearly a quarter century and she is more fascinating to me today than yesterday. The more I give myself to her, the more I want to know her. The more I know her the more I have to give.
It's the same in our relationship with God. If we only love Him for what He can do for us, if our love revolves around needs met, our love will grow stale, lukewarm. And if we aren’t in a growing discovery of love, received and given, we will end up relating to Him through the dysfunction of need.
“If we only love God for what He can do for us, if our love revolves around needs met, our love will grow stale, lukewarm.”We love because He first loved (1st John 4:19). He already gave - everything. Every aspect of who He is, is available to us and discovered in giving ourselves to Him.
In the revelation of His perfect love is an invitation to knowing, to giving, to growing sure, to trust and intimacy. To grow in love is to give love like God gives. May we all grow in love.
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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
November 7, 2018
You Don't Have to Be a Sinner
She was literally ripped naked from the bed. She was half chased, half dragged through the streets by angry idiots with rocks. They meant to throw them at the woman until her bones were broken and her flesh a bloody pulp. They meant to kill her for her sins. It’s what she deserved!
Then Jesus, in all the Father’s splendor, is thrust into the middle of the story. Can you picture it? The woman, weeping and afraid, is flung before Him. Then yanked to her feet, she’s forced to stand. She tries to cover her nakedness. She won’t meet His eyes; the condemnation is so great, her shame so real, her guilt so sure. She knows it, the vicious mob knows it; even the disciples know it.
“The law says she should be stoned” the men scream, frothing at the mouth.
Then Jesus, our hero—perfect theology—does something so stunning it brings tears to our eyes. He reveals the Fathers love… and it looks like mercy.
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7)
His words resound through the city streets, the nation, the world, and all the way up to heaven. “She will not get what she deserves. I will show her mercy.”
“At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. (John 8:9-11)
“Mercy by itself isn’t enough. Jesus didn’t just come to set us free from sin; He came to empower us into righteousness.”Mercy! It’s beautiful—stunning in its simplicity!
Even if the story ended there, it would be worthy of the good book, worthy to be retold century upon century. But it didn’t end there. Why? Because mercy by itself isn’t enough.
Jesus didn’t just come to set us free from sin; He came to empower us into righteousness. He didn’t just reveal the Father in all His mercy, He revealed the Father in all His grace. Jesus never released mercy without following up with grace. In fact, mercy is incomplete without it.
In my opinion, the next thing Jesus says to the woman is just as beautiful, just as stunning as what’s already been proclaimed.
Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11)
You may have heard it said like this, “Go and sin no more.”
That is grace; the power, and the wonder, the beauty, and the fullness of His glorious love.
It was mercy that set the woman free from what she deserved, but it was grace that transformed her into His likeness. It was mercy that forgave her, washed her clean—white as snow. But it was grace that empowered her to live as a pure daughter, a saint, and an over comer—free from an adulterous nature.
“Mercy covers sin, grace releases identity. Mercy sets us free; grace empowers us to become how He sees us. Mercy redeems, grace transforms.”I want to make this clear, not once, not ever did Jesus release mercy without grace. He always empowers who He forgives.
As stunning as mercy is, it’s only half of the story. It’s the Oreo cookie without the cream center. It’s Seinfeld without Kramer. Mercy and grace are two sides of the same coin; they perfectly work together to reveal the fullness of His love—the whole story. Mercy covers sin, grace releases identity. Mercy sets us free; grace empowers us to become how He sees us. Mercy redeems, grace transforms.
The woman caught in adultery not only left set free, she left transformed. She received mercy AND grace—the fullness of our Fathers love!
For most of my life I've lived from earth to heaven. I have received the wonder of His forgiveness but somehow grace seemed too good to be true. And so I've embraced mercy and colored it grace… and in so doing I limited the impact of the transforming power of His love.
“Our relationship with God is not only about the beauty of His forgiveness, there is more! It’s also about the wonder of our transformation into His righteousness through grace.”Our relationship with God is not only about the beauty of His forgiveness, there is more! It’s also about the wonder of our transformation into His righteousness through grace. When all we embrace is mercy, we are playing with one hand tied behind our back. But grace empowers us to fully live.
Grace is seeing ourselves from His perspective—in Christ. Grace releases heaven on earth. It’s the authority and power of Love. I believe we are called through mercy into grace—it is the fullness of the Fathers love—the love Jesus lived in and revealed.
While mercy shows us Dad, grace shows us how Dad sees us. While mercy sets us free from sin, grace reveals our identity and empowers us to become saints. When we begin to embrace all of His love, His mercy and grace, we begin to live from heaven to earth. Suddenly we are not just forgiven, we are overcomers. Suddenly we are not just set free, we are made whole. Suddenly we are not prone to sin, we are prone to love!
“Regarding the woman caught in adultery: Jesus wasn’t suggesting that she would never sin again, but He was saying, ‘You no longer have to be a sinner.’”Regarding the woman caught in adultery: Jesus wasn’t suggesting that she would never sin again, but He was saying, “You no longer have to be a sinner.” I am convinced He was revealing why He had come, not just to forgive our sins but also to set us free from a nature bent on sinning. Jesus was showing us that life no longer had to be just about not sinning; instead life could be about loving. No longer must we live trying not to be bad, instead, in Him we can be made whole in heart, mind, and soul.
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we have been invited into the revelation of Love—both knowing and becoming! We are being transformed and we no longer have to be sinners.
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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
October 31, 2018
What You Believe About God
What we believe controls our thoughts, our emotions, and our actions. What’s crazy is that we don’t even need to have all the facts. We live by what we perceive to be the truth.
“If we believe our Father is love and His love is perfected in His goodness, then we will trust Him. We will live in the expectation of a fuller, more powerful life.”When it comes to our heavenly Father, I think it’s astounding how greatly our lives are determined by what we believe. If we believe our Father is love and His love is perfected in His goodness, then we will trust Him. We will live in the expectation of a fuller, more powerful life. Our days will be marked by hope and joy and peace, even when life is hard, sad, and violent. If we believe that His love settles every need and answers every question that aches in our hearts, then we will step out boldly and risk. Our lives will be marked by love and the dangerous favor of God. We will be radical responders, living in a greater revelation of our Dad’s love.
That said, if we are unsure regarding our Father’s good love, then we’ll find ourselves living on defense; our days will be marked by fear. Trust, hope, and joy will be fleeting; they will become principles that are impossible to maintain. In the good days we will be anxious, always waiting for the “other shoe to drop.” We will try our hardest but we will live defensive and life will become a reaction to perceived attacks.
“If we are unsure regarding our Father’s good love, then we’ll find ourselves living on defense; our days will be marked by fear.”I once heard a great analogy that best describes this kind of powerless life. Let’s say I have a million dollars in my bank account but I’m only aware of a thousand. If that’s the case, then I will live in the limitation of the thousand. Every decision I make will be restricted to the lie that I only have a thousand bucks. My needs will go unmet, my family’s needs will go unmet, and giving becomes virtually nonexistent. I live broke and powerless.
When we, by faith, choose to believe that our heavenly Father is always good, that His love is perfected in His goodness, and that He only has goodness and love for His us there is a great shift that takes place in our hearts. We are free and empowered to discover our authority. The authority Jesus gave us through His life, death, and resurrection. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matt 28:18)
“When we see our Father and become sure in His love, all impossibilities become possibilities—it’s called heaven on earth.”When we see God as our Father and become sure in His love, we are transformed, giving us access to our destiny. When we see our Father and become sure in His love, all impossibilities become possibilities—it’s called heaven on earth.
The fact is, whether saved or unsaved, what we believe about the nature of Father God determines how we relate with Him and directly affects how we live.
May you become surer in His always good love today.
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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
October 24, 2018
Practicing in His Presence
When I lead worship, most of the time my eyes are closed. So I didn’t see the speaker come on the stage and stand next to me. He gently touched my arm. He had a microphone and looked like he wanted to share. I brought the song to a close. At first I thought he would have a word from God for the church, but as he spoke I realized he was talking to me.
“I would like you to take your guitar and step down off the stage,” he said kindly. As I did this, he continued. “Now turn your back to the church, face the front.” I complied. “Now worship.” I looked at him, a little confused. He smiled reassuringly and said, “Pretend we aren’t here. Worship the way you do when you are at home by yourself.”
“You can only take people where you have already been. If you go first, you will stir those around you to hunger for a greater revelation of God.”I began to play. At first I was a little uncomfortable, I could feel the people looking, waiting. I pressed through. I began to praise God in song while playing a random chord progression. I praised Him for His goodness; I thanked Him for His love and for my wife and my new baby girl. At some point I actually forgot about the two hundred people behind me. Just like when I am alone in my living room, God’s presence became real to me. I worshiped this way for about ten minutes. I forgot the people; it was just God and me. I started to sing a song, “I am standing in Your presence on holy ground.”
As I began to sing this song, the band, still onstage, joined in. Then the two hundred people behind me joined in. That song led to another and another until we had worshiped forty minutes or so. It was a sweet time, one of my fondest worship memories to date.
“Every one of us has a promise that is way bigger than we can imagine. This promise is birthed in the heart of God and is encountered in His presence.”When we finally came to a resting spot, the speaker was back on stage. He looked directly at me and said, “You can only take people where you have already been. If you go first, you will stir those around you to hunger for a greater revelation of God.” A greater love encounter. “You must be practiced in His presence.”
Every one of us has a promise that is way bigger than we can imagine. It’s a promise that isn’t just for us but for the world we live in. This promise isn’t found on a stage, it’s not about a title; our promise is birthed in the heart of God and is encountered in His presence.
God is looking for men and women who are not worried about being on a stage—those who aren’t seeking titles but instead are seeking His presence. We can’t take people where we haven’t been. We can’t give what we don’t have.
We must be practiced in His presence. We must know how to worship when no one is looking so we can worship where everyone can see.
“For David, it was never about a stage, it was about the presence, and because of that, he was a king long before he wore the crown.”David killed the bear and the lion while shepherding in obscurity before he killed the giant in a crowd. David experienced and demonstrated who God was while alone in his “living room” before he ever experienced and demonstrated who God was before a national stage.
For David, it was never about a stage, it was about the presence, and because of that, he was a king long before he wore the crown.
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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
October 17, 2018
Put Your Sword Away
Shaking and disoriented, he breaths heavy. There’s blood everywhere, it’s spattered across Jesus robe. Peter can taste the iron saltiness of it on his lips. He stands frantic with desperation over a mutilated piece of flesh. Angry tears blur his vision; he grits his teeth and, with trembling hands, moves to strike again.
“Put your sword away!” Jesus commands.
Peter barely recognizes his Lord and friend’s voice. The night is full with panic and horror. Jesus speaks again, His words weighted and resolute.
“Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
It felt like a fist to the gut; everything Peter believed, being sifted like wheat.
Peter watches as Jesus leans over the man he just struck with his sword. The man, now on his knees, whimpers as he clutches violently at the right side of his head; blood running between his fingers, down his arm, dripping from his elbow.
Jesus leaned over him “touched the man’s ear and healed him.”
And Peter has seen this so many times, Jesus kindness, His goodness, His healing, His sovereign love.
“I don’t understand” races through his mind again as Jesus, the man he loved, the man he followed with all his strength, the man he had just given his life for, admonishes him, “All who draw the sword will die by the sword…”
“I don’t understand,” tormented Peter as he followed the prisoner Jesus through dark city streets and finally into the temple grounds.
“I don’t understand,” ravaged his heart as he denied he knew the man he loved, once, twice, three times.
“I don’t understand,” wrecked his soul as he caught Jesus eye from across the courtyard just as the rooster crowed.
“I don’t understand” sifted all of him like wheat as he fled the temple grounds.
“And he went out and wept bitterly.”
“The theology of control perverts everything, even our passionate love of God! Sovereign control manipulates love into a desperate defense of our broken ideology.”Just hours earlier, Peter thought he understood; he thought he knew. He promised he’d never deny Jesus, “Lord I’m ready to go with you to prison or death.”
Just hours earlier, Peter believed Jesus kingdom on earth would need swords and men willing to use them. It would require sacrifice, the willingness to die for Jesus, and also, the willingness to kill for Jesus.
The theology of control perverts everything, even our passionate love of God! Sovereign control manipulates love into a desperate defense of our broken ideology.
We see it evidenced throughout history: well-meaning Christians committed to murder in order to defend their idea of God.
The mindset is alive today. Open up Facebook and you’ll see it—well-meaning Christians attacking others to defend their idea of God.
It’s everywhere, well-meaning Christians preaching from church pulpits, political platforms, across the web and airwaves, attacking a person or organization in order to defend their idea of God.
Well-meaning Christians destroying families and friendships and derailing great moves of God; well-meaning Christians manipulating scripture to develop cult-like devotion to the desperate defense of ideologies absolutely contrary to the revelation of Jesus.
“Peter believed that, if the kingdom was to be established on earth as it is in heaven, at some point Jesus must assume control. There are still so many Christians today who believe this… Except, Jesus never once modeled this. ”Understand, Peter didn’t truly defend Jesus; he truly defended his belief about Jesus. My point? While Peter’s defense was true, it wasn’t the truth that sets free.
Peter believed that, if the kingdom was to be established on earth as it is in heaven, at some point Jesus must assume control. There are still so many Christians today who believe this…
Except, Jesus never once modeled this.
Peter’s belief in the lie of sovereign control ultimately set him against the very revelation of Jesus and led him to do something perversely contrary to sovereign love.
The control narrative is so perversely deceitful. It led a man who had walked with Jesus for three years to believe killing another person was the only way to advance the kingdom; that murder was the way to bring heaven to earth.
Please get this, if your understanding leads to anxiety and fear, you don’t truly understand. Put your sword away!
If your love of God leads you to act out of fear, you need a greater revelation of His love. Put your sword away!
“If you feel you must attack someone in order to defend your thoughts about God, it’s a good sign your thoughts about God are wrong. Put your sword away!”If you feel you must attack someone in order to defend your thoughts about God, it’s a good sign your thoughts about God are wrong. Put your sword away!
If you find yourself desperate and insecure on God’s behalf, you don’t have the whole story. Put your sword away!
Desperation is not a sign of spiritual maturity, it’s a sign we are not yet sure in sovereign love; it’s a sign we’re still journeying into a greater revelation of His goodness, our minds still being renewed…
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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
October 10, 2018
I Just Let Him Love Me
Anthony and Mary Keith are worshipers who know the love of God. Anthony is a dad, a singer/songwriter, and an author; and Mary Keith is a mom, a teacher, and an encourager. They are a lot of things, but mostly they are loved.
“People who have lived immersed in the Father’s love, simply can’t help but love; they’ve become trans- formed—they have become love.”You know what was really refreshing about the Skinners’ visit? They didn’t visit us for them. That’s not to say we aren’t good company, because we’re amazing. But they didn’t come to receive; they came to give. They walked through the door and started loving us before the coffee was fully brewed. And you know what was amazing? It was easy; they didn’t even have to try. People who have lived immersed in the Father’s love, simply can’t help but love; they’ve become transformed—they have become love.
Karen and I have begun to live this way as well. We are daily becoming convinced in our Father’s always-good love. And so we too are being transformed. You know what the best thing is about becoming love? You don’t have to try to love; it’s just the natural expression of one who is loved. All you have to do is walk through the door and before the coffee is fully brewed... well...done...
Love is an awesome thing. The more you know and experience, the more transformed into love you become. There is an ease that enters your life. Even in the midst of hardship there is a grace to live at rest—like Jesus when He slept through the storm.
“When you are loved and you know it, you don’t have to try not to sin, you don’t have to beg God for breakthrough, you don’t have to strive to obey, you don’t have to work up your love for God, your wife, your kids, your neighbor, your coworker, or even your enemy.”When you are loved and you know it, you don’t have to try not to sin, you don’t have to beg God for breakthrough, you don’t have to strive to obey, you don’t have to work up your love for God, your wife, your kids, your neighbor, your coworker, or even your enemy.
Jesus was love. It wasn’t hard for Him either. There was no striving. He didn’t have to try. All He had to do was keep His eyes on His Dad.
We went to Queen City Church, a wonderful family of believers, to worship with the Skinners that Sunday night before they headed to their Nashville home. It was beautiful, sweet, and powerful. It was all those things for several reasons. First, as my friend Andy Squyres says, Anthony Skinner’s voice is a million bucks. So there was that. But it was also beautiful, sweet, and powerful for a profoundly simpler reason: the Skinners weren’t there for themselves; they were there for the Father... and for all of us.
Mid-strum, Anthony muted his strings and paused, “I used to try and love God, but now I just let Him love me.”
Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
October 3, 2018
Meet the Father
I have tasted it in my own life— the insecurity of the orphan. Even though I have a wonderful father and mother, I have lived most of my life searching for someone to make me sure, someone to answer the question, someone to relieve the ache, someone to settle my haunting crisis of identity.
It’s not just my crisis. Everywhere I look I see it. I live in a world that is desperate to know Dad. It surrounds us, engulfs us, this crisis of identity. It is the overwhelming battle we all face. From the tent cities in Haiti to the house down my street, from the orphanage in China to the Sunday morning service around the corner, humanity is living in the ache of fatherlessness. We are in crisis.
“From the orphanage in China to the Sunday morning service around the corner, humanity is living in the ache of fatherlessness.”It was evident in my friend’s seventy-year-old grandfather when she witnessed his gut-wrenching weeping after he heard the news of the death of a father he had never even met. I saw the haunting in the eyes of the four-year-old girl being held by a hurting mother on the front porch while the little girl waved to her weekend daddy as he drove away. I heard it in the voice of a young man of God who leads a small group and is passionate about his faith. It’s evidenced in the lives of the rich and the poor. And while it’s an obvious issue for those who have not yet said yes to God, oddly it’s hardly less prevalent in the church. Humanity aches in the insecurity of fatherlessness.
It was Adam and Eve who did this to us. They cursed us to live in the desperate ache of insecurity. They took their God-given freedom, and yours and mine in the process, and they spit on it. They chose this hell. They chose to trade security for insecurity. They placed the law of need between our Father’s love and us. That’s what that stupid apple cost us. The knowledge of good and evil positioned humanity to live in the absolute and overwhelming reality of need. The moment they sinned, we all became orphans, stumbling along, scared and unsure, separated from God the Father. There have been days when I’ve hated them for it.
But “God (the Father) is love” (1 John 4:18). And He is always good. Two thousand years ago, something so remarkable happened that I can’t help but grin when I think about it. Jesus, God’s only Son, became Love in human form. Then He walked the earth sure in His Father’s love and He lived as the Father’s love perfectly revealed.
“I would like to suggest that our questions, longing, insecurity, and identity are forever answered, settled, satisfied, and secured in our revelation of God as Father.”God has more names than there are ice cream flavors. He is the Creator, Shepherd, and Deliverer. He is Holy, Majestic, and Righteous. He is our Peace, Provider, Comforter, and Healer. He is Lord, King, Master, and Savior. The list goes on and on. And while Jesus certainly revealed all of these attributes, they weren’t His primary objective. He came for one reason: to reveal the Father. But why?
I would like to suggest that our questions, longing, insecurity, and identity are forever answered, settled, satisfied, and secured in our revelation of God as Father.
I have forgiven Adam and Eve; Jesus made that possible. He lived, died, and lived again so that we would no longer have to live as orphans. He settled the crisis of identity forever.
Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org
