Auto Repair Shop Owner's Daily Dose 35: Just Listen (Faith)

Just Listen by Rick White, President 180BIZ

What I want to talk to you about is this is our faith edition. Please remember, I am not a preacher. I'm not ordained, although Sandy has tried to talk me into it. I don't even play a preacher on TV. This is just stuff that has touched me that I'd like to share with you and hopefully put a positive spin on everything we're going through right now. So, one of the things that I really love is this time of year it's Easter season.

The last thing that Jesus said on the cross was “It is finished.” He had completed the work, he had fulfilled the prophecies. Before Jesus, you could not go directly to God. You had to have a priest in between you and God. You had to have an intermediary, someone that would intercede on your behalf. So, you never had a direct relationship with God. This is one of the most amazing things to me, and it brings a tear to my eye every time I think about it. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” the curtain in the temple between the Holy and the Most Holy ripped from the top to the bottom. That signified that we can now have a one to one relationship with God through Jesus. I think that is amazing that I can talk straight to the Lord. I can sit there and listen.

How many of us sit and listen? You know, there's this great concept I heard that I've started using and it's called Two Chairs. It’s where you sit in one chair and the other chair is empty. You pretend that God sitting in that empty chair. You ask God 3 questions.

1. Do you know what's going on? And we all know he does.
2. Are you in control? And we know he is.
   
   And those first two questions give us a little bit of peace. They remind us that there are things we cannot control but he is here and in control.
3. What can I do to help?
   
   And then be quiet. Just sit in total silence and listen. You will hear God not from your head, but from your heart, you will hear God inside. All we can do is listen.

There have been times in my life when I've felt really separated from God. I felt like he's pulled away from me because I wasn't good enough. And I keep doing the same things wrong and I'm not very patient and I get to be a little bossy sometimes yet. There are things that I do that disappoint me all the time and I feel like I'm not worthy. What I've learned is that God is not pulling away from me. I'm pulling away from God. I stare at the sin and don’t let it go is causing me to pull away from God.

God doesn't just love me. He doesn't just love you. God is love. Isn't that amazing? He is love. He is where love comes from. Every ounce of love we have in ourselves, in our lives comes from him. And one of the things that I have really been working on is learning to love myself. Realize that I'm a child of God. I am a child of the highest God and he has my name written on his hand. That's what the Bible says. My name is written on his hand. God is love. He loves me no matter what.

There's a movie that I watched a while back called The Shack. One of the most touching moments in that movie is when God wants the main character. Sam, I think it's Sam, to forgive the guy that murdered his daughter. And when Sam said, “No, I want him to burn in hell!” God looked at him and said, “But he's my son, too.” If you're a real parent, no matter what your kids do, you always love them. And we are broken. We are just poor, broken examples of what we're supposed to be. I love my children. No matter what they do, it doesn't matter. It does not matter. I'll bet you Adolf Hitler's mother loved him to pieces. She may not have agreed with what he was doing. Maybe she didn't like it. Maybe she didn't condone it, but it never stopped her from loving him. And that's what God does for us. He never stops loving us. He never lets go of his embrace. We are the one that steps back. I think we've got to remember that.

The Bible says God is knocking on the door. If you will open the door and let me in. He is waiting at your door for you to let him in and have a relationship with him. In Roman somewhere it says that we cannot earn grace. Grace is a gift. We can't be good enough. We can't do enough to earn grace. And again, justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve, but grace is getting what we don't deserve. And we're getting that because of Jesus. We're getting that because he was willing to carry my cross and to put himself on my cross. And I hope as I'm saying that you're saying the same thing. It was my cross. He was putting himself on my cross and he was paying for my sin and he saw me. I honestly believe he saw me. That's how much God loves us. God is love.

The thought for today is when Jesus said, “It is finished.” And that veiled ripped separating the Holy from the Holiest places. It means we can have a one on one relationship with God. He will come into our lives and he will take over our hearts as much as we're willing to let him do that free will. Free will is one of the things God gave us. And to see him working his miracles the way he does within those boundaries. It's not us that has boundaries, it's him and it's amazing. I'm going to ask you, where are you at with God?

Get that second chair. Sit down and ask, do you know what's going on? Are you in control? And how can I help? Just listen. I was brought up Catholic, and at least from my upbringing, the Catholic priests in my area made me feel like dirt all the time. So, one of the things that I want to point out is that when Jesus taught us to pray, he taught us the Lord's prayer and it starts “Our Father.” But, when Jesus said the prayer in the Jewish language, he said, “Aba.” ABA is a form of father it is closely related to our word daddy. He didn't say father, he said daddy. It was familiarity.

God loves you. God loves me. We got to let that in. Start to love ourselves so that we can start to love others and be that light. This is where everything I've talked about from day one all the way to here works. If you don't love yourself, you can't love others. If you don't love yourself, you're being judgmental on yourself and judgmental and everyone else. In fact, a lot of times you're judgmental on others to take your vision off you. It’s to take your eyesight off you and what you're doing. That's why the Bible says before you pull the stick out of your neighbors, I pull the log out of yours.

Let that love in. God just wants to give you a hug. Honest to God, that's all he wants. I want to wish you all a blessed Sunday. I hope it's an amazing day. Give yourself time to recharge, to fill yourself up with what really matters. Think about what's eternal and what isn't, and concentrate on those things

So, let's just say a quick prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for these people coming in and thank you for those that are going to watch this afterward. Please bless them, protect them, and show them how they can help make this world a little bit better. How they can be your angels here on earth. I ask in your son's mighty name. Amen.

I want everybody to have a great day. Take care. God Bless