An earth-shattering truth was shared with me sixteen years ago by a professor in college. She said to me, “Marty, God knew exactly what he was getting into when He created you.  Your failures are no surprise to Him. Even though you would have flaws, He knowingly brought you into existence anyway because He loves you.” Those words changed my life. You see, I was in a dilemma that was my absolute worst nightmare, and in my mind life would not be worth living anymore. Suicide was going to be my only option. I had failed myself, my family, my church, my college and most of all my Jesus. I was a total disgrace. But thank God —-oh, thank God —- for these wonderful words of truth spoken by a powerful, godly woman. All of a sudden the magnanimous grace of God was revealed to me in a way I had never even imagined it could be. I realized that I must have value to God even at my worst. I was God’s child, even if I was His “problem child.”

Since then I have learned that we all are His problem children. You know the kind. We get in trouble at school, sometimes make mistakes, and just have a hard time learning our lessons. But just like any caring parent, He gently guides us back on the right track and hugs us saying, “you’ll do better next time.”  When He does this, we become determined to make Him proud of us. The heavenly father then watches us as we try harder and start to overcome our problems. We may slip up on occasion, but in general we start to make the right choices. We are motivated by the love we feel from our Dad. It feels so good to make Him proud.  As we start to grow up, we look back and realize that He was content to be our Father in every situation and He would have never disowned us even at our worst. It’s at that point that we really fall in love with Him. It’s then that we know what grace means.

God loves His problem children because they are His. He’s infatuated with the bond they share. In some ways, He wishes to spare us from any hurt or distress or lapses in judgement, but He knows that with His guidance we can learn so much from our mistakes. In the times of our failure, His love rushes in to comfort us if we accept it. 

I am glad to be called His “problem child.” 

The following is from the 58th chapter of the book of Isaiah in the Bible. It says so profoundly what’s been on my heart in recent weeks as we have started the “no poor among them” venture at R2.  Please read this and then sign up on the “no poor among them” message board at www.r2live.tv.   Your life will be richer because you did.

“Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back - a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!

They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people - law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side.

But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’ “Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard.

You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground.

Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.

What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.

Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins,

If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places - firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

Am I poor?

I know when I look around that most others seem to have more in their possession than I do.   I know that I am limited as to what I can do and where I can go because of my very limited means.  So, I guess I am poor.  But I don’t feel poor.  I feel very content.

I don’t want to sound like a cliched Christian (you know the kind, they sound like rehearsed robots who have no clue about the realities of life), but it seems like every time I have a real crisis situation —- financially or otherwise —- it all works out in the end.  And this has happened often enough, in so many different ways, that I have learned from life itself, just to have faith.  Ironically, it doesn’t feel like faith because it is not operating from the evidence of things not seen, but rather just a “mode of operation” from the familiar way things stack up.

God has used so many people to bless my life.  He has used so many situations to teach me about Him.  His people and His circumstances have taught me to trust.  In fact, I trust Him enough to bless other people when I can, and sometimes when I can’t really.  Risky business? Oh yeah, but just wait, God’ll show up.