What is He asking?

Yesterday, I had some questions peculating in my heart. I still do. While I was thinking through these questions, God had some questions for me.

His questions:

– If I take you down a path that looks illogical, will you follow and trust?

– If my dreams look different then yours, which will you choose?

– I made the heaven and earth and hold them in the palm of my hand. Do you believe I hold you?

– My ways are not your ways. Which ways do you cling to and why?

– Do you love me?

– Do you trust/believe I love you?

– Who do you say I am? Does your life look like that?

– Are you willing to wait? Are you really willing to wait?

– Why won’t you surrender totally to me?

– Have I ever disappointed you?

– Have I ever not fulfilled a promise?

What is he asking you?

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Do You Love Me?

One of the hardest attributes of God’s identity for me to grasp is his love. I have had great glimpses of what love resembles. I have experienced days and seasons of really understanding the character of God as being love. But I have a hard time trusting love. I can honestly say I struggle with the concept of love applying to me.

I desire to be a person who loves deeply. I really enjoy loving others. To love someone is so life giving for me. I have no problem believing love for another, but I just can’t seem to associate love with me.

“God loves you” is a common phrase used in the Christian world. It is a very true statement. God loves us deeper than we can comprehend. He loves us so much that he gave up his life voluntarily. God loves me so much that he remains faithful to me when I am faithless. God doesn’t just love, he is love.

There are two crucial questions I have come across in the bible. The first is Jesus asking the identity question of “who do we say he is.” How I answer this question should be reflected in every area of my life. The second question comes from the Gospel of John. The very end of the gospel, Jesus and Peter are having a heart to heart conversation about Peter’s devotion to Jesus. Jesus asks Peter three times, “Simon, son of John, do you truly love me?”

I understand that Jesus was asking Peter this question as a direct result of Peter’s denial a couple nights before. But I realized that Jesus asks us all the same question. Jesus asks me, “Tracee, do you love me?”

This is an intense question. Intense because I think we toss the word love around flippantly these days, and it lacks sufficient weight. How I answer that question really does affect my life.

When Peter respond to Jesus with “yes”, Jesus said “follow me.” How we answer this question will affects our lives. I know I do not answer yes every time. The times in my life where I am most self-sufficient, most condemning of myself and others, the times in life where I feel like it is all up to me, are the times I respond with “no God.” My response affects the way I trust and follow God.

For me, answering yes, is a risk of faith. To tell someone I love them is a risk of my heart and trust. I want to give my heart and trust to him. God is the one person who knows how to be responsible with me. Answering yes is where my faith and active belief is going to come from. That is a hard challenge.

Love is not just knowing we are loved by God, but he desires to know that we love him.

How would you answer that question?

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A good question….

I have been reading in 1 King’s lately. Solomon has a really interesting story. He is the son of King David. Solomon experienced royal sybling rivalry concerning the throne. At David’s announcement, Solomon would be king. I can’t even imagine what taking over a throne would be like. I can’t imagine the pressure I would feel to lead. Even if Solomon did not have the gift of leadership, now was his time to dig down deep and find some. Not only would I be intimidated for the responsibility of the throne, but trying to follow in the footsteps of one described as “a man after God’s own heart.”

The Lord then drops in on Solomon’s dream life and asks him a very weighty question, “ask for whatever you want me to give you.” whoa! that is a huge question. This is no genie in a bottle, this is God. I have been thinking a lot about how I would answer that question. What is it that I want God to give me?

There are so many ways this could be answered: good health, long life, popularity, wealth, good favor/fortune, success, no worries, no enemies, safe family lives….etc. After thinking about all those things I have realized no matter what it comes back to loving God first. With all of those things above, God has to be in the midst of them. I don’t think life would be fulfilling in any of those things if God were not in them.

One could say that Solomon only asked for wisdom because of the enormity of his postition, but I think he knew that living life was just as enormous of a task. I have been praying more for wisdom and understanding to know God as well as knowing what it really means to follow after him. It has been really interesting to see how God has revealed himself in that prayer.

How would you answer that question?

What is your motivation behind the answer?

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The Life Long Question

In the middle of Matthew chapter 16, Jesus asks the question of all questions. A question that I will spend the rest of my life answering. I am sure that in every season of my life….the answer to that question will change.

He said to them, But who do you [yourselves] say that I am?

Who do you say Jesus is? How do you answer such a huge question? Some of you might look at this question and think, “what’s the big deal about this question?” How you and I answer this question dicatates how we live our lives. Or at least it should.

My answer to that question is that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the one with the words of eternal life. So shouldn’t my life look like the answer. If that is what I really believe shouldn’t everything I do and say be effected by that answer? If I answer that question with “the one I long to follow..” My life better look like that.

Jesus looked at Peter after hearing his answer and said, “Peter, on you I will build my church.” God has some big plans for our lives. He wants to use us in such huge ways. We have to answer the question. We have to confess everyday who we say he is. What our answer is shows what we believe as well as how our days will be lived out.

I want God to use me in huge ways. I want to be a person who is recognized as one who believes in the answer to the question. God waits for us to choose him. He is a gentleman and waits for us to say “yes, you are the one who has eternal life.”

How do you answer the question in your life?

How does your life line up to your answer?

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