Don’t just say, “NO!”

I’m reading a book called, “Boundaries “. I recommend it. You know how you think some things are just, “Captain Obvious “...turns out they aren’t.  “No!” Is learned behavior. It isn’t a natural response. Do you know why your child says, “No!” It’s because you taught them to. Yep...bet that’s not too popular.

I have good news though. You should teach your children to say “No!”  They should have complete power over their choices throughout their life. The Book “Boundaries” brings out this point very well when it describes a child that refuses to go to the dentist. The parent doesn’t argue, they simply offer another choice. If you choose not to go to the dentist, then you choose not to go to XXX’s party later today. The child in the books response was, “Okay, but I’m not going because you made me.” The child is absolutely correct. She was free to choose.

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about grace. Did you know that Grace allows you to say NO! to...God???? I bet your mind just blew up a little.  I never thought of grace that way before. You see, punishment is for things done in the past and Jesus already took on that punishment.  The Law says, “You must do A to receive B and if you do not do A you will receive C “, which is always a bad idea.

So, what does Grace say? Grace is used in training. It only has natural consequences, not law  enforced consequences. For example. If God asks me to tell someone about salvation. Which, in case you don’t realize , that is a given. But I say, “No!” I don’t want to do that right now. God is SO BIG! He will do one of two things....he will either find someone else, or he will put it on my heart so strongly that I’ll want to do it. Either way, he’s not making me do it.

I used to think that if I didn’t obey some unknown law of God that all hell would break loose. Guess what? No matter what I do, all hell breaks loose. We live on this fallen earth. Hopefully this is the only hell we will ever know.

I say hopefully, because God will not MAKE you give your life to Jesus. If he could make us do anything, he wouldn’t need to be God. We’d just be puppets.  I have been guilty of limiting God to my own personal power. Have you ever thought about it?

What if I don’t do something that I’m supposed to do? I’ve heard people say things like, “You’re going to pay for it.” Well, what does that mean? According to the Bible, Jesus already paid for my sin. Again... let me reapeat! THIS IS NOT A LICENSE to SIN! It is freedom FROM Sin.

Well, that just doesn’t make any sense, I hear someone in the back row saying. No, it doesn’t actually, Grace makes no sense whatsoever. If we could figure out grace we’d know how to manipulate it. Got your attention now!

Do you know that’s why sometimes prayers don’t get answered? People have tried for decades to come up with a “formula” to prayer. Oh yes, not knocking anybody, but there are many books that teach you how to pray. They are good guidelines. There are also books on how to be a good communicator.  Prayer in its simplest form is simply communicating with God? WHAT?

Yep, he doesn’t even have to give you permission to talk to him. Well, he already did. Check the telling of the crucifixion of Christ.  When the Temple Veil was “rent in two” (that doesn’t mean it was subdivided)... the curtain that kept God and man apart from each other was permanently destroyed!.  Mark 15:38.

If you read this scripture you’ll also note that the veil was not torn by man’s physical hand. No, it was torn from top to bottom! That’s how serious God takes the blood of Jesus. His death gives  me permission to talk to God just like Adam did. What? No, seriously. Adam walked in the garden with God. I can do that too!

I can talk to God anytime of any day , anywhere and he hears me. Now, this really should not be news to me, but it is. I’ve felt “condemned” for so long that I didn’t know how to feel Grace.

If I make someone mad and they say, “I’m going to make you pay for that!” What does that mean?  Well, let’s put it in the framework of divorce. Oh no! Getting too real. Someone told me that if I got a  divorce, whether my fault or not, I would lose everything. God would no longer accept me, I would no longer be worthy to minister, or play the piano or sing. I would be cut off from people. I would “Pay!” What they didn’t realize is two things... I was paying for staying. Uh oh!

I was paying by poor health, depression, anger, grief, hate....yep those were daily payments for something that did not work. Okay, let’s take a break. DIVORCE is NOT  God’s best plan. It’s not even his idea.  Man needed a way of escape...check out the  Old Testament. Yep, Divorce was a way to break a contract between a man and a woman. If you read it, you’ll see that it was pretty easy on the man and forever altered the life of the woman. I think that may be where people got the threats that I would no longer be “acceptable” to God as a living sacrifice. That was a lie!

People can only make you pay for what they own. They do not own my salvation. They do not own my calling. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance.

Now I’m really going to mess with your mind. If God gives me a gift...it’s mine forever. He’s given some people the gift of music. Obviously they don’t all use it for his glory. Was that the purpose? Did he give us lips to talk so we could tell of his grace? Did he give us gifts and talents as individuals to proclaim his goodness, ,to show parts of himself to the world? Yep. Do you know that doing your job well is a gift from God? He gave you the ability to do your job. No matter what that job is...as long as its legal.. lol!

Do you know that even illegal activities are born from a perversion of a gift that God gave someone? How can a man pursuiade hundreds of people to take their own lives? This makes no sense, but God gave that person the gift of communication. They chose to use it for their own purposes and BAM...dead people everywhere. I’m not making light of the deaths of those people. No, I pray that God intervened and saved their souls. I do know that whoever leads one child astray will pay for it.

Wait, but how can they pay for it? Two ways...natural consequences and spiritual consequences. God says that when we get to heaven we will make an account of what we did here on earth. That’s his job, not mine. The natural consequences are two fold as well. There are things that are called laws... if you break them and you get caught there’s this thing called “jail”. But, if divorce happens...the law doesn’t do anything. Nor should it. Marriage is a covenant between two people. If you don’t think there are natural consequences for divorce then you’ve never been through one.

Divorce is literally taking two people that used top be one and ripping them apart. It is not a decision to be taken lightly. But God does not intervene when one person makes a choice to get “unmarried” to another person. We don’t know what’s going on? Divorce isn’t about us, it isn’t about the children...it’s very, very personal. If someone blames you for their divorce DO NOT OWN IT! You didn’t make it happen. It was a decision between two adults.

So, let’s sum this up. I can say No to God and he will still love me. I told you that Grace didn’t make any sense. God doesn’t pout. He doesn’t get angry. He just moves on. He may “move on “your heart and you change your mind, or he might “move on “ to the next person that will do as he asks.  He will search the earth to find one person that will listen to him. Therefore the scripture, “Here I am Lord, send me.” (Isaiah 6:8) It’s really a commitment on our part, but it has a “NO clause. If I say no. he will find someone who will say yes. I don’t want to miss out on anything that God wants to do on this earth, do you?