Bittersweet

With the passing of our Founder, Michael Car, Live To Know Him MIiistry is leaning now, more than ever, on God for guidance and wisdom concerning the shape of our mission in the days and months to come.  We invite you to join us in prayer and meditation (Psalm 19:14) that God's will of energizing love be done. In honor of God's reputation, we welcome a reprise of His goodness - the last article written by Michael. He writes:

I love chocolate, but I know eating too much is not healthy. Chocolate was not the reason I put on almost 75 pounds, and although chocolate is the bomb, it can blow anybody up if you have too much of it. Emotional eating, insomnia, and cutting back on daily exercise played equal parts in the decline of my health. In others words, I had forsaken all the healthy habits that helped me to drop weight in the first place.  I had ceased walking-the- walk. I knew what to do but did not do it. The apostle Paul writes:

“But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.” Romans 7-17-20

This was my Christian walk personified. I learned most of my religious beliefs from my parents. They taught my sisters and I many of the ways that they had learned and understood from their own Christian upbringing. I would read the bible, go to Sabbath school, sing in church, and pray like most children and preteens were encouraged to do. It was good until my teenage years. Honestly, I had trouble following and believing all this stuff, let alone believing in an unseen God...

Why the unbelief and resistance? Was it too much religion? No, but I was practicing my parent’s belief system and tried to make it work without testing and asking my own questions. I believe God wants us to ask questions. Not to question Him, but to come to Him with honest inquiries. For starters how about, ”Do you really exist, God?” or “Who are you, anyway?” First, how can we even understand what we cannot see with our own eyes? There is a verse in the Bible that I absolutely love and it helps me when I’m feeling discouraged. Hebrews chapter one begins with:

“Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words! "

Jesus mirrors the Father. In another translation it says the Son is the exact representation of the Father. So God was here on this earth and that helps answer the first question He also has been communicating with us through many people. When I think of these verses, it makes some of the fog clear up in my mind - not all of it but some. One of the boldest statements Jesus made, is a after He asks the disciple Philip:

"Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father.'”

For so long, God the Father, had been misrepresented by many people. God, the Son, Jesus, actually makes a revelation to get them to think! Everything that Jesus said and did was a reflection of who and what the Father is and will always be. Taken in the context of what pattern, God the Son, created us out of is eye opening. Genesis says;

“God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature.”

We were originally made to be Godlike, not Gods, but to show His nature to all and take care of this earth. Not a certain group but all of humanity has the potential of reflecting God! I like this passage in 1 John 3:

“What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that's also why the world doesn't recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to.”

We are all learning about God and are in the process of getting to know Him and are His children. Those who we believe not to be His children can be treated with contempt. Jesus never treated one person that way, instead each one was a brother or sister who is just unaware of how much He loved them. In other words, others do not see Him because we have not shown Him. John chapter 10:

 "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They'll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life.”

Jesus is the good shepherd; He knows who desires to know Him, as does the Father and He waits for us to show His nature to others. Jesus came to live on this planet for this reason.

“So, my dear children, don't let anyone divert you from the truth. It's the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil's ways.” 1 John 3

The Devils ways included but were not limited to practicing doubt, hate, lies which all will lead to death.  Jesus came to show us He can be trusted and practiced love, truth and life personified. We can put our trust in God and practice to do better but not because it gains anything, but because it was the right thing for us to try to do.

Loving someone else takes practice just as disliking those takes practice. How are we supposed to love an unseen God when at times we can barely stomach those around us? Honestly, that is a question that you may have to answer yourself. I believe a scripture gave the answer.

“Jesus said, "I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You've even seen him!"

I still have questions, honest questions. I may not always have answers, but instead of denying my thoughts I put them at the creator of the universes feet. God does not remove doubt. He will help you practice your faith. Before I practiced doubt, and was better at it. Now I practice trust. A friend once shared, practice as though it depends on you and trust as though it depends on Him! Oh yeah as far as chocolate goes, eat it in moderation. Look at the ingredients, many say the darker the better. I like the darker kind.  But I suggest that you try it for yourself!

Michael Car  2010  

All scriptures taken from Eugene Peterson’s the Message Bible