"Bust My Buffers"

He took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10:16

It is not a very well kept secret that Jesus loves children. I appreciate this scripture in Mark for the glimpse it gives us of the day to day Jesus. The Jesus who got tired but not too tired to scoop up the kids. "He put His hands on them and blessed them." There He is again that God who wants to touch us.

He won't abbreviate His affection for us. No texted shorthand. No, He wrote it out longhand. He held nothing, holds nothing back. He put it all out there in the hope that we would feel safe enough to do the same.

Francis Frangipane wrote that the canopy of Christ's love is the perfect place of safety where we, sheltered by His feelings for us and washed by His sacrifice, can look at our faults and failures without being swept away by guilt and shame, then let them go. Where we can drop our defenses in complete confidence that He will not expose us to ridicule. His is unfiltered love and acceptance.

I have a friend who writes late at night when the 'two suns in her love sky' are safely tucked into bed. Those writings have been midnight meals for me. She sent me an email with her thoughts about Christ, "Busting Our Buffers," when she read my last blog. I never had Thomas the Tank Engine to read to John David so I was not aware of such buffer busting capabilities.

She makes the point that if David was someone who closed the distance between Himself and the God of his heart on the OTHER side of Calvary how much more so should we be unguarded with Him on the grace side of the Cross.

How we should be able to love God, worship Him, declare Him in complete freedom. No buffers between God and us. No buffers between you and I. None between us and the rest of humanity for Christ has "broken down every wall."

She writes:

"I've been thinking of King David. How many times do we read a Davidic Psalm declaring boldly that God will rescue him, God will crush his enemy - his impossibly huge and terrifying enemy? How many times does David brag that God will lift him up, avenge him, protect him, surround him, go before him, bless him, draw near to him, show him favor... All the things that we struggle to believe that God will do for us - we who live on THIS side of the cross!
I mean...really!

David lived in the days when you might fall down dead for reaching out to steady the Ark. We live in the days when the death of Jesus to pay for all our despicableness (I know it's not a real word) is preached on the street corners, on the TV, on the radio, on billboards...

David's despicableness was undeniable. He often blew it for all to see and when it was hidden, a prophet would come along to make the announcement. I'm amazed at the confidence he displayed living on that other side of the cross. He had a prophetic confidence, faith, in understanding the grace that seems to elude those of us born into it...where He (God) has busted our buffers." (Kim)

If I want to hang on to those buffers I will have to look away from Calvary to do it. Look away from the Jesus with a lap full of children, the Jesus who asks "Where are your accusers? Gone? Then neither do I condemn you. Sin no more." The Jesus who says He is the Vine and we are the branches. The Jesus who is my Shalom. My Resurrection. The Jesus who wants to give us "open faces."

Let me close with the lyrics from an album that has a great expression of faith as the title. "Everything Sad is Coming Untrue" by Jason Gray

It's Like Falling In Love

Give me rules
I will break them
Give me lines
I will cross them
I need more than a truth to believe
I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes
To sweep me off my feet
It ought to be

(CHORUS)
More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

Give me words
I'll misuse them
Obligations
I'll misplace them
'Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free
It's gotta be

More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

It's like I'm falling in love, love, love
Deeper and deeper
It was love that made
Me a believer
In more than a name, a faith, a creed
Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me
It's gotta be

More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

Let yourself fall right into His arms. After all, that is where your child heart belongs.

Special thanks to Kim Lorentzen whose words were used entirely without her permission and without buffers. Your spirit blesses my life. Thank you for a catchy title and a great thought.

To our Jewish friends a blessed and happy New Year. La Shana Tova!