God Doesn't Make Trash

God's vocabulary doesn't include words like trailer trash, misfit, freak, drunk, slut, loser, bum, no-good, lesser, and many other derogatory words I can't write publicly. Not only do these words not exist in His vocabulary but they aren't even a thought. Yet, we will toss them around from our virtuous high perches without batting an eye. Ouch. God doesn't make trash.

There isn't a soul that God doesn't yearn to save. Every person has a face and a name. Every life, a purpose. Every tongue, a language. Every heart, a beat to joy and sorrow. There isn't one person on the whole planet that God doesn't understand or love, including you. 

See the ones forgotten -  they aren't always the obvious (at all). The leveling game stinks. We're all pretty equal, it's just that some dress up better than others. Through the eyes of Jesus, is the best vision and operating within the sphere of the Holy Spirit is the only way to do it. Why?  Because we are all conditional lovers with limited eyesight and there is no such thing as "by my own power." Today, just LOVE. Simply. When you don't understand. When you don't agree. When you're frustrated. Courageously. With your whole heart. In action. With a thought. With a word. When you don't feel like it. When they don't deserve it. With faith or fear. In the name of Jesus. Just begin. LOVE. ✝

Bring Complexity to the Cross

 I was thinking on my way home from work today about how people's lives are complex. In the middle of real success and great strides, are steps backward, fumbling, fears, and seeming failure. We can hold hatred and love at the same time for the same person. We can have empathy and compassion with pieces of bitterness and resentment running through. We can forgive and let go of one offense and harbor another for a lifetime. We can mess up, only to turn the corner and do something pretty special. What works for one person or family, wouldn't for another. What one can accept, another couldn't or wouldn't. I bring this up because sometimes it feels like, myself included, we impose our way of walking through a situation, onto someone else. Or, our belief must be someone else's. Even more, our experience should match another's. Or, how about my reasoning should make perfect sense to you? These are mistakes and lead to disappointment, hurt, miscommunication, and friction - rip your hair out burnout, even. Trying to frame another person's complex life with our cut and dry solution is a time waster. Very few things in life are cut and dry, especially people. And, people are not things. They are soft and warm, hard and unyielding, complex, worthy, valuable, and each come with their own set of baggage only our Savior can hold (and often see). This might be the perfect time to refrain from telling people how we think they should or should not struggle and take a few deep breaths. It might be a good time for self-reflection and to consider our own complexity. We can do this at the cross. There is something powerful there. It's the place of greatest truth and most profound love. It is where we offer all the complexities of who we are in safety because God's love is secure. And in doing this, we feel Jesus' acceptance. We dare lift our chin to meet the warm love in His eyes. And, when we walk away there is renewal. We feel less critical. More compassionate and gracious. More eager to be edifying and to root for people. Less desperate to control, doubt, or judge. Fear diminishes. It feels good. 

Peace. We all need it.

Thank you, Jesus.

Dee M. Kostelyk

Love Wins

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire? Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." (Zechariah 3: 1-4)

There are many lessons in these four verses. I hardly know which way to go this morning! But, what strikes me is how we have the humble and deeply amazing privilege to stand before God. The "angel of the Lord" was either God Himself, or one the Lord was speaking through. Secondly, Satan often stands up close to accuse us. Sometimes, the accusations in and of themselves are true. Sometimes, they are wrought with lies. The trouble comes in what we believe about those accusations in regard to ourselves, situations, others, and God. What is the swift response to Satan's accusation toward Joshua? God rebukes him, not once, but emphatically, twice. Satan despises God's grace and mercy. And, he especially hates it when we receive it, live it, and breathe it. The Lord pointed out to Satan that Joshua was hand-picked and pulled from the fire by His mighty hand. (We are all this burning stick snatched from a fire). Thirdly, Joshua was standing in filthy clothes. This was necessary because someone being plucked from a fire is someone who needs saving. The filthy clothes represented Joshua's sin. How remarkable is it that we get to stand before God in filthy clothes? This is the place where love wins! Lastly, and my favorite, is when the angel of the Lord requests that Joshua's filthy clothes be removed and replaced with rich and clean garments. Isn't this so characteristic of who we know God to be? He rolls out the red carpet for us. How can it be? How can His love be so total? He annihilates the accuser, here. The truth of who we are and who HE is, is made known. 

We can learn so much from these four short verses. Do you feel accused and oppressed? Do you feel covered in soot? Do you wonder if you even have the right to look up at God? Oh, but you do and you can. That short scene was not written by me. It was breathed by the God of the universe. Those are HIS words to show us we are deeply loved and forgiven. Not just forgiven, but gently cleaned off, tears dried, and brought to a place of restoration and DIGNITY. Love wins. Thank you, Lord!