A while back, and I mean a long while back, I posted ‘Security‘ . . . it was quite long but still more needed to be said I thought.  If you’ve not read it already you should for this post to make sense . . . well I think anyway.  I got the sense that perhaps things were not ‘real’ enough at the end of the aforementioned post so I thought I’d add some “flesh” to the post as I got the idea that it may have come off as kind of ‘pie in the sky’ thinking and that some may think I have no grasp on the harsh realitys of the world.  So . . . consider this a follow up.
     Several years ago I was given the moniker of ‘The Friar’.  For some reason I liked it and thus it stuck . . . at one point I had a disclaimer on my site that stated I had no official title or affiliation with the Catholic church and that the nickname ‘Friar’ was just that; a nickname.  That’s still the case . . . oh I’ve done my share of reading books on Theology . . . even taken a few classes . . . but all in all I’m just a regular guy.  I would love to tell you that I never have any fear and that my faith is solid and unshakable.  I’d love to tell you that I’ve jumped out of the boat and walked on water just because my King asked me too . . . but I’m really not all that inspiring.  Not that it really has anything to do with me anyway, thank goodness.  Because if it had to do with my own merit then think how hard we’d have to work at being perfect.
     No I’m full of flaws; the list of which I will not go into at this point and time.  In fact I feel absolutely inadequate at times . . . am I doing the right thing, am I saying the right things; a constant stream of questions fill my mind.  The fear that someone will not come to Christ because of the way I’ve behaved or that someone may see me acting like everyone else and that I won’t seem like I’m “separated” enough . . . oh the pressure I put myself under.  It’s so hard to believe . . .
I have had the privilege of speaking with a great number of people . . . some in regards to business matters, some personal, while others spiritual.  I take inventory of my own past and knowledge and try to respond best I can.  I’d like to say I always do but I often just get myself out of the way and try to rely on God for answers.  I struggle with that though . . . that I can be used or that I can be good.  I think of the husband and father that I am, the friend, the church member, the co-worker, the supervisor; all of which are areas in which I think I fail.  After a ‘dream interpretation’ one Sunday the individual returned to me the following Sunday and was singing my praises.  They made mention of me being a great man of God and being anointed . . . how do I deserve such?  It’s inaccurate to say the least; if anything was gleaned from my words then it was God revealing Himself and not me.  And it’s not a matter of feigning humbleness . . . it’s not like I think God “can’t” use me . . . or that if I was “good” that He could use me.  It’s just that I find it hard to believe.
     My King, the Glorious God of all, Christ alone, the spotless Lamb . . . why oh why would I ever be used?  Why would you use a lieing, lustful, murderous, wretch like me?  I sure wouldn’t be the first choice . . . why would you come and die for me?  It seems absurd . . . it seems crazy and completely so far out of the mind of normal human thought that it seems almost unbelievable.  Why do I get a good wife, a wonderful daughter, a daughter at all; why do I have a job that I enjoy . . . I’ve done nothing to earn this.
     That’s the point . . . I’ve done nothing to deserve this . . . in fact if I got what I deserve I’d be burning in torment forever for the things I’ve done.  I think it’s easy to apply human attributes to God . . . we are after all made in his image right?  But remember that what you and I see as the image of God (man) is broken.  This world that we live in is not as God intended . . . sin and death have entered in . . . the aches and pains of my body are not God’s image.  Sometimes I think we judge God based on His creation . . . which is not at all an accurate process.  There are plenty who profess to love God but they’ll . . . well for a lack of a better word, cruxify someone that makes a mistake.  We’ll slap a scarlet letter on someones chest without helping the broken heart.
     As I said earlier . . . the good thing is I’m not the one calling the shots.  No matter what I do God still loves . . . His Son still sits at the right hand of the Father making intersession for me.  The security comes in the knowledge that God is not as fickle as man . . . He is true to His word.  Now it’s human of us to ask the “why’s” as I was earlier . . . why did you make us God, why am I blessed with knowing you, why am I blessed at all?  There are several different answers and perhaps with a more pointed question a more pointed answer would be given . . . but the over arching theme of all there is about God is . . . well this song says it best:

     For the Glory of it all.  We cannot apply our human mindset to an all powerful, all knowing God.  Our thinking has to be modified . . . our thought process put on the shelf and our mind open to the possiblity that there’s a being that knows more than we do.  His thoughts are not our thoughts . . . what human on earth would have absolute authority to pour out their wrath on an ungrateful creation but instead of giving the creation what they deserve the love that exists within him send his own son to endure the wrath.  God’s wrath demanded punishment, God’s love sent His own son to take the punishment.  (50 Reasons Christ came to Die ~ John Piper)
     So . . . what does it all mean?  Does it mean an easier life?  Hardly . . . does it mean everyone will start treating you different?  Probably . . . but probably not in a way you’ll expect which can be good or bad!  But I can promise you this . . . in your darkest of moments . . . just as in mine . . . He’ll be there.  You don’t rescue someone from the type of torment we deserve and then leave them to their own devices.  He forgives . . . He repairs . . . when your life is shattered he’ll put the peices of your life back together better than before.  He never changes, that’s the security and the promise . . . that you’ll never be the same once He’s been allowed into your life.  Don’t judge Him by a broken creation that probably hasn’t spent time with Him in years . . . judge Him by Him.  As it was pointed out in this mornings message . . . God uses messed up people . . . drunks, murders, adulterers, people out of their mind . . . He uses people like me . . . He uses people like you.  Now that’s security that even in our brokenness, in fact probably more so when we’re broken past the point of what seems like no return, that He still loves us . . . He’s still there, we only have to yeild to Him.