I:60 Wall Licker

A Wall Licker for Jesus.

The more I give up, the more He fills up. Over the past three years, God has worked overtime in my life. What I've found is that all the things I held so strongly, God has shown me how wrong I was. In discovering this, I can't help but think of a man named Saul. For those who are not familiar with Saul, he was a strong and well-equipped Jewish leader, a rising star. He was so zealous for God that he almost missed the point of all that God was showing him. Saul loved God and did all he could to be God's enforcer in his own right regarding the Jewish religion. But God loved Saul. He loved Saul enough to break Saul and sort of give Saul a long “time out”. God's Son, Jesus, met Saul on the road to Damascus, where Paul was on his way to persecute more Christians. But Jesus overwhelmed Paul on his journey and said these words to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” The last part of what Jesus said to Saul is what causes me to realize that for most of my life, I had a Saul complex. Jesus says to Saul, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Jesus is saying to Saul a few things. First, Paul, do you realize who you are fighting against? You are fighting against the God you think you're fighting for, and the fight is futile. Second, are you so blind, arrogant, and filled with pride that you cannot accept the truth in the evidence that you have seen? Third, Saul, stop and surrender, join me, and you will be released from religion and embrace a true and abiding relationship with me. Three years ago, God sent me on the road to Damascus, and it is there that he showed me that my theology (study of God) was getting in the way of my true purpose as his child and his messenger. I was going beyond, and trying to be a gold-star student in reaching for the knowledge of God, enforcing, and at times forcing what I learned on others, and bypassing the simplicity and freedom in loving my brothers, sisters, and the lost with no strings attached. In other words, “Love like Jesus, and find comfort in knowing that the Spirit will do the rest.” My ears and eyes have been opened in hearing from many men saying, “I believe in God, but I don't know Him, and I want to.” I love that these men are transparent in sharing this, and I can't help but smirk a little, knowing that the Spirit is stirring this in them, and all I have to do is love them and show them Christ through my love for them. Jesus has shown me the beauty and fun in sharing and living the gospel. I can’t help but laugh in this comparison that my pastor shared a while back in a sermon about comparing one another. I am taking it out of its original context, but in my twisted, humorous mind, it makes sense. He said that as a parent, we go to our kindergartener's open house hoping to see how amazing our kid is in comparison to the rest of the children. We see all the achievements of the kids hanging on the wall. We squint to see if we can make out the name on each project. In frustration, we look to find our child to show us which is theirs and while most of the kids are with their parents showing off their accomplishments, you turn to see your child with his younger brother licking the classroom wall and laughing at one another, my son not caring to impress others with his academic accomplishment but rather living in the now and having fellowship with his little brother by being “wall lickers.” It may sound weird, but I kind of want to be a wall licker for Jesus. Being there with my brothers in the moments that matter no matter what other think , hearing my brothers, praying with my brothers grieving with my brothers, encouraging one another, laughing, and not allowing the etiquette of religion to shame us from an intimate relationship with the One who frees us from man's traditional strongholds. Please know that theology is important for a follower of Christ, but good theology should never undermine or limit the expression of love in being imitators of Christ. Be wall lickers for Jesus.


From Saul to the new man named Paul

1 Corinthians 13
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Paul