Who Cares?

Have you said this lately?

Whether out of anger, disappointment, or hurt...you said it.

Ever stop and actually think about that question/statement?

I have!!

So, let me ask another question...if someone does care, how do you know it?

Because they like your status on Facebook?

Like your photo on instagram?

They throw some money at you...what I mean is, they buy your love.

To know "who cares" we have to first know what the word care means as a noun and a verb.

noun

1. worry

2. caution

3. serious attention

4. protection

- verb (used without object) cared caring

5. to be concerned

6. to make provision

- verb (used with object) cared caring

7. to feel concern about

So let's ask the question again. Who cares, and how do we know it?

Because care as a noun means nothing without the verb. I can say that I care about my wife and kids, but without the verb, the action, the application...it is meaningless!

I saw a news story on the World News (which I normally don't watch) which was the exact definition of care...as a noun and a verb.

It was a story about a man and woman who have been married for over 50 years. The wife desperately needed a kidney to continue to live and the husband felt useless. But, because he loved and CARED for his wife, he had signs made and walked around his town wearing these signs that said "Kidney 4 wife", with his phone number listed. Long story short, a donor saw the sign, called and donated a kidney.

Awesome, moving, inspiring story about a man who CARED for his wife.

You might be saying "ok, what's the point...or how does this apply to me"?

And that's my point.

We care...about ourselves...and we expect God to just care about what we care about!

I am guilty of this.

*Disclaimer...it's about to get real, if you're not comfortable with honesty stop reading here*

No God, I care about my house, why should I sell it? I thought you cared...why are you telling me to sell it?

Or,

I thought I was called to be a youth pastor, why am I not doing what you called me to do, I thought you CARED God?

Or,

I feel like a failure, God why haven't you come to rescue me...DON'T YOU CARE??

Damn what he's trying to teach us,

Damn where he's trying to guide us,

To hell with where he is leading US!!

 If things don't go our way, we don't care anymore.

Could it be possible that in the middle of our turmoil and pain and frustrations and anxiety...

That God may be changing what we care about?

Back to the news story.

If the husband was only concerned about himself, would he have swallowed his pride and been a walking billboard to save his wife's life?

I'm pretty sure what he cared about when he first got married (honeymoon and sex) changed to partnership and self sacrifice and compromise.

I know I find myself saying...

I care about my family,

I care about my future,

I care about my relationship with God.

But is there application? Does the word care change from a noun to a verb?

So what about you?

What do you care about...and how do you or other people know?

Do you care about money and work and everyone knows it...but when it comes to caring for your wife and kids...there is no action? By the way I suck at this one!!!

Do you care about football so much that when your team loses, look out, you turn into Mr. Grumpy pants? I still suck at this too!!

Do you care about what Jesus did on the cross, but you don't apply it...you don't act on it? And yes, I still suck at this one too!!

So the next time you blurt out "who cares" out of frustration or anger or disappointment...remember, God does!

And this is nothing cliché, there are 66 books that display and showcase how much God cares about you, yes you reading this. Now let this knowledge change your meaning of the word care from a noun to a verb.

So God, we know in our heads you care for us, but let us feel it in our hearts, in our bones!! And let that care transform our meaning of the word care into action! 

Grace AND Mercy

It seems like you can’t talk about one without including the other.

It’s like peanut butter AND jelly,

Red beans AND rice, (for us New Orleans peeps)

Ham AND burger!!

But is one more important that the other?

Is peanut butter more important than the jelly?

Is the rice greater than the red beans?

Can one have a burger without the ham…?

Can you experience/express mercy without the grace?

Grace defined:

Is the free and unmerited favor of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowing of blessings. It is God's gift of salvation granted to sinners for their salvation.

Mercy defined:

Compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power; also : lenient or compassionate treatment.

All I know is I need both!

What about you?

I can’t survive without either! It’s because of God’s grace that I even have a relationship with Him, and it’s His mercy…His kindness and patience with me…that I am even able to live day by day.

It was through a teaching series, which I had the pleasure of being able to listen to, that I began to think about grace and mercy.

This teaching series was about the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32).

Before this teaching series I was inspired by how the “prodigal son” came to his senses and went back home to beg for mercy from his father…prepared for whatever judgment his father was willing to hand down. And this is as far as I took the parable.

But what I lacked to realize was this is a beautiful picture of God. Sometimes we are the prodigal son, but most times we are the older brother who looks down at his younger brother in disbelief that the father would accept him back into the house after squandering his part of the inheritance.

So, instead of this being a long blog about how much this parable being broken down in this teaching series impacted me, let it be a time of challenge and reflection for you…

If you shall!

Are you able to show grace AND mercy to those whom do you wrong, come at you sideways, lie and bash your good name?

Are you able to show grace AND mercy to someone who may have walked out of your life…wishing you were dead…but came back?

Are you able to receive grace AND mercy from God who welcomes us back into the family…

Puts a robe and ring on us…

Calls for everyone in the village to come and have a party…

Even after we say “No God, I got this, I know what I am doing…I deserve this…I need this” and before we know it we are eating out of the pig trough!

I am relearning how to receive and show grace AND mercy, even when I feel like I am the filthiest thing walking the earth!

Even when life feels like a tug of war!

Daddy God, I pray that you continue to lavish grace AND mercy upon us, not because we deserve it, not because we have made it to the next “level” of some religion…but because the blood of your precious son Jesus washes away all our sins (seen and unseen) and you welcome us back into the house, back into the family after every time we tell you we don’t need you. Thank you for your grace AND mercy, for your kindness and patience!