So, something that has been on my heart and mind lately has been the three persons of God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So during prayer time, God reminded me of a devotional I wrote over a year and a half ago while on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic over New Years 2016, so I am sharing it with you all as well. It is over radical faith, titled ‘Will You Dare?’
(P.S. I know this is incredibly long, 1956 words to be exact, but it is definitely worth the read… in my opinion anyway. But either way, expect to see a blog soon over the grace and compassion I was shown after climbing to the top of a pyramid.)
Here it goes.
Faith is a topic that has confused me—to me faith means to always be attempting to live like God. At this point you may be thinking, “that doesn’t sound too bad, Jesus loved everyone, right?” And while you are correct, that is only a portion of it.
I’ve come to notice that when talking about God, many people dissociate God from His full, true self—His Holy Trinity.
From my own observations, I’ve seen people talk about God the Father OR God the Son (Jesus) in great detail, yet when asked how the Trinity comes into action, their answers fall extremely short—with most mumbling through an answer that somewhat combines God the Father and God the Son, while almost always forgetting to even mention God the Holy Spirit. Yet God, and in turn radical faith, encompasses all three.
For a simple explanation: God the Father is just and fair—He is the loving parental figure that sees His child (you) straying away; He lets you “do your own thing,” but always, “keeps half an eye on you,” allowing you to learn through train and error. Yet, when you, the proverbial prodigal son, finally decides for yourself to actually come back home, He will be waiting.
Next, God the Son is the easiest to describe, but the hardest to explain. Simply put, Jesus is love unconditional—I’ll go into this deeper in a moment.
Lastly, there is God the Holy Spirit. And I’ll be the first person to admit that compared to my “knowledge” of Gods the Father and Son, my “knowledge” of God the Holy Spirit is severely lacking. However, my personal experience with the Holy Spirit is ten-fold my experiences with the Father or the Son.
Now, I have a theory that “understanding” the Holy Spirit works similar to a bell-curve comparing what you think you know about the Holy Spirit to how much you have experiences His impact on your life. You begin hyper-aware that you are lacking the knowledge at first, but then the dangerous part comes when you gain a little bit of insight and have a first-hand experience and assume you understand how God works—just so you know, in case you didn’t already know, that is impossible.
This is the point where you may think you understand it, but really you’re only at the top of your bell-curve; this is dangerous because many people are naïve enough to think they understand Him, but at that point—maximum “knowledge,” or so they think—their experience of the Holy Spirit is only half of what it could be. Once that principle is understood, “Phase 3” occurs.
Once in “Phase 3” a Christian will, in theory, never leave—it is a place back at the bottom of the bell-curve, yet unique because this is the point where you have “enough” experience with God the Holy Spirit to know you cannot put a label on Him—He is infinitely more dimensional than you can fathom. In his book Radical, David Platt describes the Holy Spirit beautifully. He says,
“Think about it this way. Maybe you are going through struggle in your life. So you go to God in prayer, and you ask him to comfort you. Do you realize what God does? He doesn’t give you comfort. Instead he gives you the Holy Spirit, who is called the Comforter. The Holy Spirit literally comes to dwell in you and puts the very comfort of Christ inside you as you walk through your pain.
Suppose another time you are making a big decision in your life and you need help. You have a couple of different options before you, and you need guidance to decide which way is best. So you ask God for help. But he doesn’t answer with guidance. Instead he answers by sending the Holy Spirit, who is our Guide. God sends the Helper, who will live in you and not only tell you what decision to make but also enable you to make that decision.
Yet another time you need discernment, and God gives you the Spirit of wisdom. At other times you need strength, and God gives you the Spirit of power. Still other times you ask God for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control, and he gives you the Spirit who makes all these things a reality in your life.
The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, the Helper, the Guide, the very presence of God living in you.”
This description comes from the book of John in Chapter 14 where it depicts Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:15-17, 26, 20-21
“15If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
So to sum it up, God the Father sends God the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide you as well as remind you of all the glory and love God the Son had and continues to bestow upon you.
Which brings us back to God the Son and His unconditional love. A classic section of the Bible for this is Luke 6:27-36.
Luke 6:27-36
“27But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
At this point, a problem that arises is that His love is so encompassing that people (both Christians and non-Christians) have a tendency to view Christ as a push-over—which is so not true.
In a blog that one of my sister’s teammates on The World Race wrote (3rd Generation Y-Squad, September 2015), she perfectly addressed this situation by saying “Now Jesus never tells us to be idiots, or to be naïve. He took evil seriously, and so should we. But Jesus never let evil dictate where He went, how He loved, and who He welcomed.”
Do you honestly understand where that last sentence she wrote comes from? By being both God and man, Jesus knew every person’s sin, no matter how ‘large’ or ‘small,’ yet despite knowing the worst of the worst about everyone, He still chose to love everyone equally. However, despite the love being unconditional, Jesus was never reckless with it.
God knows that it is impossible for us, sinners each in our own way, to be able to love everyone as commanded, without being reckless; therefore, through the Holy Spirit, God gives us discernment. In Ephesians 6:10-12, writing to the Saints in Ephesus, Paul states:
Ephesians 6:10-12
“10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Which leads to the popular phrase, “Hate the sin, Love the sinner.”
So after God shows us how to guard ourselves, how exactly are we supposed to “love the sinner” unconditionally with the boundaries set into place for us? The answer: By always placing God first and loving whole heartedly. Although it is a little long, in Romans 12:9-21, Paul wrote…
Romans 12:9-21
“9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Love in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, I will repay, says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’
21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
So the first morning I was in the Dominical Republic on my mission trip with Casas Por Cristo, I asked one of my missionary leaders, Josh, what the tattoo on his wrist said, to which he told me a phrase that severely impacted me, “Always preach the gospel, and when necessary use word.” I feel that this is a perfect example of overcoming evil with good—by letting your day-to-day actions be your biggest proclamation and example of Christ’s unconditional love. (On another note, while being out on the Race myself, I am also learning the power of bravery and the impact that intentional evangelism has on people—both are equally good and needed to be a living testimony for God and Christ’s love.)
Again, in her blog, my sister’s teammate, Kayla, wrote “Christians seem to forget that the battle has already been won. Evil lost, and Jesus triumphed. Any battle that we fight here in this world is an opportunity to express a higher love and invite people into relationship with Christ… God’s Kingdom is in us. His courage is in us. His love is in us. And we choose when to advance it.”
So… Will you dare to love without abandon?
Will you dare to love the unlovable, the broken, the unreachable, the lost, the lonely, the beggar on the street corner, and the forgotten?
Will you dare to love as Christ loves?
Will you dare to attempt to live like God?
