I have a gift for of over-complicating things. Just recently, I was on my way back from a hurricane assessment trip and went on a search in the airport to find my stolen cell phone while one of my co-workers went to hang out in a club (the frequent flier airline club). The plan was simple: I will go search for my phone, if I find it, great, but if I don’t, I’ll stop by the club, let my co-worker know that I didn’t find it, and then head to my gate (since he was making a connection for another city).
I came up to the club door and there was a big, carefully stained wood door that looked like only really important people would be allowed to touch the handle of. The sign outside stated that if you wanted permission to enter, ring the doorbell, have your club card ready, and be sure to be dressed appropriately. Given that I had shorts and a t-shirt (my only clean clothes left), I hesitated and wouldn’t push the button or enter.
It’s moments like that where, 30 minutes later, I think back and wonder – am I 4 years old? I can jump off of cliffs, but I can’t ring a doorbell? I try to do a back flip off of a rope swing into water, but I can’t go on one date because I don’t have a 5-year plan for the relationship penned on paper? I can do a belly flop off of the top of some bleachers onto a big gym mat (undisclosed location J), but I can’t answer a simple questions like, “what would you like to eat – chicken or pasta?”
Yet, through all of this hesitating and over-complicating of situations, it sometimes strikes me as odd that there are some areas of my life that have become unshakable.
I am at a point in my life where I am long past being a fake. I’m at a point where more of the same just doesn’t cut it. I’m at a point where I believe that if we truly believe what we say we believe, there should be some changes.
Jesus.
What does that name me to us? We put it on t-shirts, hats, mugs, websites, our cars, billboards and our bracelets, but after all the commercialism attempts have been exhausted and we have no more money for W.W.J.D bracelets, there are still people deeply hurting who NEED the Jesus that we advertise but don’t truly know in our hearts.
This blog is a written sermon to myself : a challenge for me to be a better man after God’s heart, but it’s also put on a public site because I wish the same for all of us!
If a pastor says to a congregation, “how many of you gossiped about someone this week?”, how many hands do you think would go up? Same group of people, same pastor, but say he asks, “how many people here want to be richly blessed by the Lord?”, let’s be honest, (almost) every hand in the place would go up.
This is not a blog about gossip, but about the condition of our hearts and how highly we view ourselves.
If the God I serve loves me, wants to bless me, has the best plans for me, has riches in store for me, wants me to have a big house, wants me to have a great wife, wants me to live a painless life, wants me to wear my (way too tight) “Jesus is my Homeboy” t-shirt, wants me to say “bless you” when someone sneezes, wants me to smile on good days and wants me to tolerate my co-workers for His sake – then THIS god is not the God of the Bible.
Yes, He has great plans for us. Yes, He has our back, BUT the God I serve is not a heavenly care bear sugar daddy looking only to make my existence an endless birthday party…HE is so much more than that.
We have consumed ourselves with a culture that demands respect to be earned and, in some ways, have expected the god we serve to earn that respect for providing for us whenever we need him to - a mindset that is SO far from who HE really is…
God became man and humbled himself even unto death – even death on a cross! What a shameful way to die! He did it for us, yes, to provide a way to Him, but He did it for his own glory!
He doesn’t need us as we are tempted to believe – although our responsibility to share the gospel is clearer than anything – but we do need Him. If you were some kind of electronic, you can have all the functions in the world, but if you lose your power plug, you ain’t gonna do anything.
I believe we have to change our theology that God created us to be awesome and it’s for His glory that we are awesome – and change it to the truth: we are wicked and depraved people and if not for His grace, we would remain that way. He is the only redeeming factor of me and I am therefore so incredibly grateful for His seemingly ridiculous sacrifice that made a way for me, a wicked man to come to Him.
This should be our viewpoint, a full reliance:
“9 But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us”
- 2 Corinthians 1:9,10
6 comments:
Very good thoughts- thanks for sharing. I esp. like where you said that some things in your life had become unshakeable. May the Lord establish and keep you in that firmness of faith.
Thanks Melany - there really is no other way to live. He has been so faithful to me, it literally brings me to tears thinking about it AND faithful really for no reason. The God of the universe, sending his only son to die for us - only God could come up with a redemptive plan like that :) Blessings on you!
I totally appreciate your honesty here... took a lot from this part:
"I am at a point in my life where I am long past being a fake. I’m at a point where more of the same just doesn’t cut it. I’m at a point where I believe that if we truly believe what we say we believe, there should be some changes."
I definitely agree and relate.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)!
My favorite part: BUT the God I serve is not a heavenly care bear sugar daddy looking only to make my existence an endless birthday party…HE is so much more than that.
Okay, I got more from it than a giggle over your "heavenly care bear sugar daddy" (and I definitely heard your voice in my head saying it). I totally understand the ability to complicate things, including my thoughts about God. I've been feeling really challenged by Him lately in some simple things. But for an over-thinker, the simple things are usually the hardest.
Thanks Amy - when I wrote that blog, I was (and still am) just frustrated with overall complacency.
If it really is ALL about the worthless things of life and those things are what we live for, then we're wasting our time.
I would say I'm always looking for Him to do something that I couldn't even fathom, but not expecting (or wanting, for that matter) that to always be material, relational, financial, etc. blessings.
We've way over simplified a God who is not bound by time when we open up our hands and say "bless me" but negate what He's called us to do.
that's all :) Thanks!
Eek. The idea that life would only be about things or acting like God is a vending machine is really depressing. What a pointless existence.
While I truly appreciate the ways God has provided financially or with lovely people in my life, I think the most powerful moments are the simple moments when He reveals Himself when I least expect it. Those are the times I feel the most honored to be in His presence. Not when He gives me something, but when He shows that He sees me and loves me.
I've been reading a book called Praying Dangerously that talks about prayer and how we present ourselves to the Lord. That it needs to be face down :) with a humble heart full of gratitude, reverence, repentance, and asking how we can glorify Him. I think that actually takes the pressure off. Because then I'm not connecting God to stuff and I'm not left feeling failed when He doesn't do what I want. It puts me in my place to remember that I was made to serve Him and glorify Him. And that my mission should be that I keep living my life in a way that will bring Him praise and honor. Sorry. I may have gotten a little carried away. :)
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