The thought for this week revolves around how far down the trust road we can walk with God. I realize that this is different for each of us, but I think the pivotal question becomes:
"How far can we trust God's ability to bring about His will, in His time, through His people for His glory?"
I know that almost every one of you is answering, "We trust God completely." That was my first thought. However, as I have reflected on this with vulnerability, I have wondered about my track record of trust in these areas:
Our kids, grand kids and parents
Our finances
Our work situation
Our retirement
Maybe you are getting the same feeling that I did. As long as things are going well it is easy to "leave it to God." When things are not going well, from our viewpoint, we feel the need to take over...step in and give God a helping hand. How many times have we bailed out our kids (not from jail, yet, fortunately); used a credit card for something we "needed" that God was a little slow in providing: took to the rumor mill about issues at work because the HS was not working in someone fast enough; or, reduced our giving to the Kingdom to focus more on our future because, after all, don't we need to be responsible?
I trust that you realize that I am not promoting being irresponsible here. I just wonder how many times our trust of God takes a detour when his timing, or answer, differs from what we have decided is best.
Honestly, my trust record is pretty poor. May God have mercy on me and help me to make the better choice next time!!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
So, I'm not who you expected...what now?
As I have blogged before, unmet expectations make for a rocky relationship.
I had a great discussion with a buddy at work a couple days ago. During the discussion I had another one of those moments when a light seems to go on somewhere near you and you spend days scrambling in the darkness to get near enough to it to illuminate some of the spiritual and emotional landscape that you are trying to navigate.
It seems that God, in his relationship with us, is inconsistent at least and undependable at worst. Now, please understand that this is from our, or at least my, viewpoint...not his! He doesn't always meet the expectations that I have set for him in my mind; products of my upbringing and my education in church and Christian schools. My friend shared that we have believed a lie about God and that is our undoing. What lie you ask? The original one, that we could be like God; that all of this is really about us...the one that our enemy is still playing over and over in our minds, that God is holding out on us. "Did God really say...insert slightly altered truth..."
Through all of this discussion and the processing that followed, Jesus has been asking me, "So, I'm not who you expected, huh? What are you going to do now; leave me?" Sounds familiar. John 6:67. The fact (for me) that God does not always meet our expectation; that he allows things to happen that are certainly not "good" by our definition; that he operates by "rules" in an existence that is beyond ours should not surprise us. C.S. Lewis, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, called it "deeper magic."
Treason, sin, demands the shedding of blood as payment for the offense. And so, since all have sinned, all must die. That is the magic around which the world operates. But, if one who is without sin offers his blood as a substitute for the traitor's, a deeper magic is put in play; one that goes beyond our comprehension and that supersedes the former. House rules no longer apply. The totally unlovable are somehow beloved.
So, how did I get into this in the first place? A random line of thinking, of course, led me hither. By law, Mary (the mother of Jesus) should have been put to death when it was discovered that she was with child without being married. She must have committed adultery. The lawful payment for adultery, God's law, was death. So, I guess God knew that his people, at that moment, would disobey his law and in doing so, keep Mary and Jesus alive. We believe, of course, that Mary did not commit adultery; that she was THE virgin prophesied so long ago who would carry Emmanuel. In all truth she did not deserve death.
A higher law....a deeper magic...an incomprehensible mystery. God didn't send his Son to us to convict and sentence us. No! That is normal magic. That was expected. God sent his Son to buy us back...and what a deal; the Worthy given as payment for the worthless.
Where would I go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68.
I had a great discussion with a buddy at work a couple days ago. During the discussion I had another one of those moments when a light seems to go on somewhere near you and you spend days scrambling in the darkness to get near enough to it to illuminate some of the spiritual and emotional landscape that you are trying to navigate.
It seems that God, in his relationship with us, is inconsistent at least and undependable at worst. Now, please understand that this is from our, or at least my, viewpoint...not his! He doesn't always meet the expectations that I have set for him in my mind; products of my upbringing and my education in church and Christian schools. My friend shared that we have believed a lie about God and that is our undoing. What lie you ask? The original one, that we could be like God; that all of this is really about us...the one that our enemy is still playing over and over in our minds, that God is holding out on us. "Did God really say...insert slightly altered truth..."
Through all of this discussion and the processing that followed, Jesus has been asking me, "So, I'm not who you expected, huh? What are you going to do now; leave me?" Sounds familiar. John 6:67. The fact (for me) that God does not always meet our expectation; that he allows things to happen that are certainly not "good" by our definition; that he operates by "rules" in an existence that is beyond ours should not surprise us. C.S. Lewis, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, called it "deeper magic."
Treason, sin, demands the shedding of blood as payment for the offense. And so, since all have sinned, all must die. That is the magic around which the world operates. But, if one who is without sin offers his blood as a substitute for the traitor's, a deeper magic is put in play; one that goes beyond our comprehension and that supersedes the former. House rules no longer apply. The totally unlovable are somehow beloved.
So, how did I get into this in the first place? A random line of thinking, of course, led me hither. By law, Mary (the mother of Jesus) should have been put to death when it was discovered that she was with child without being married. She must have committed adultery. The lawful payment for adultery, God's law, was death. So, I guess God knew that his people, at that moment, would disobey his law and in doing so, keep Mary and Jesus alive. We believe, of course, that Mary did not commit adultery; that she was THE virgin prophesied so long ago who would carry Emmanuel. In all truth she did not deserve death.
A higher law....a deeper magic...an incomprehensible mystery. God didn't send his Son to us to convict and sentence us. No! That is normal magic. That was expected. God sent his Son to buy us back...and what a deal; the Worthy given as payment for the worthless.
Where would I go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68.
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