Post-Haiti Thoughts

These are some of the things the Lord has started teaching me during and after my trip to Haiti. My trip was great...God has stirred some things in my heart that continue to have me searching still...so far here is what He's stirred in me.

Apathy is intolerable. It is ungodly to be apathetic toward things that God cares greatly about. The hearts of people, the souls of a nation, the suffering of the poor, and the affluent indifference of the wealthy – these things are serious matters and as a Christian I cannot turn a blind eye and pretend that I don’t see it. It is these things for which we will be held accountable.

Jesus Christ is the only hope for a person, a community, a nation, and the world. There is no other option. No government can solve the problems of society. No relief effort can absolve spiritual poverty.

Worship is my created purpose. It’s not an option, although I am given the freedom to express it or not. Worship is not circumstantial. Worship is NOT music or singing. Worship is a lifestyle. If I should choose not to worship God with my life, I am missing the very reason I am here. Though I am given the choice and freedom to worship, I am not fulfilling the purpose of God when I choose under which circumstances and situations I will worship and under which I will not worship.

As John Piper says, “Missions is bringing worship to a place where worship does not exist.” Missions is an extension of my primarily calling to worship my Father.

I want my life to count. In some ways that can be an extremely selfish statement, and I may be selfish in making it. However, my purpose in saying it is this: When I stand before God I want to know that what He called me to do, I did. That when He told me to sacrifice Isaac, I went “early the next morning” and climbed Mount Moriah with no other plan than to give away what is most precious to me. Obedience is better than sacrifice.

I am so incredibly in love with Jesus and so thankful to Him for salvation and freedom from sin. Without hope for my rescue from the curse of sin and without the promise of eternal life, my existence has no meaning. I am so blessed to be loved by a God that created the mountains that He can also command to move. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit who lives within me and who gives me power to be His witness. I am thankful to Jesus for bearing the weight of my sin and choosing not to call legions of angels, but rather to endure a gruesome death by choice.

In closing, II Corinthians 2:14-15 sums up my feelings pretty well. “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

What Will They Say?

I recently heard a song that was acclaimed as the theme song of the Welsh Revival of 1904. It is called “Here is Love” and captures the heart of the Father in His amazing love for His children as His heart as it is poured out at the cross. It seems to call me back to a place of child-likeness resting in the arms of Daddy God who loves me beyond what I can even understand. It also makes me appreciate times of revival, anointing, and refreshing where the people of God are called back to true relationship and away from religious pride – back to intimacy with God rather than the idolatry of tradition. How amazing it is that the Welsh Revival, a movement from over 100 years ago, birthed a song that still rings true in our hearts today. It makes me wonder, what will generations from now look back on and remember about us today? What are we doing now that is so eternal that it will outlast us and impact our great-grandchildren? Will our descendants look back and say “look at those testimonies of 2009” or “wow, what a song that generation had as a beacon of hope”. Or will we be remembered as the generation that wasted their time and ignored the move of God in their day? Eli and his sons in the Old Testament brought the tabernacle of God to shame. Eli’s complacency and his sons’ wickedness were remembered for years. Contrast that with Solomon who, after assuming his father’s throne, removed the wicked leaders and established a temple for the worship of Jehovah. We look at Solomon even now as the wisest man who ever lived. Let me get more personal…what am I doing now that will make a difference even in 5 minutes much less 500 years? It’s a question I have to ask myself on a regular basis. Will my family in the 22nd century look back on this period of time with awe and wonder at the works God did in hearts or will there be a tinge of regret knowing that so much could have been done, but so little was? Let’s make today count – it’s the start of a revival that might just be remembered and sung about for eternity!

Wiped out and ready to go!

I’ve noticed something. There is a definite difference in my level of tiredness (is that a word???) depending on what activity causes it. I’m typically a night owl. I can and do stay up late pretty often. The only problem with this is that I have a job! And getting to work by 7 after a late night often necessitates a large coffee, 8 creams and 4 sugars, from McD’s. However, I have noticed that my reason for being up late often makes a difference in how I feel. For example, yesterday I (along with my sister and parents) drove to Brunswick, Georgia for a family funeral visitation. It was great getting to see family and reconnect with them, even under those circumstances. However, driving back from Brunswick caused a late night and an early morning. But strangely enough, I felt somehow a little rested! Yes I was tired, but it was different. If I stay up ‘til 1 AM because I’m chatting on Facebook or watching a MacGyver episode, then I am usually wiped out like a zombie the next morning. To me, it seems that God provides a special grace and strength that sustains us when the needs in our life necessitate a late night or extended periods of physical or emotional strain. Not that it is easy, but it’s bearable because God is sustaining us during a time that’s a little out of the ordinary (whatever ordinary is!). Now I’m not saying that God’s grace depends on our performance…let’s not even go there because that’s a different issue. BUT, when I am living the fullness of the life of Christ and following the leading of His Spirit, I can rest in the fact that He will provide for what I need. He will multiply rest, finances, and resources to keep us sustained and strengthened. Usually the times when I am tired beyond repair, or stressed out financially, is when I have been a poor steward of those resources. It’s like God is saying, “I gave you enough time to get adequate sleep, now go to bed!”. Or, “I’ve provided for all your needs, but don’t waste your money on the vending machine!” Again, it’s not a performance trap to get God’s favor. It’s knowing I have God’s favor and resting in His abundant provision – while also making the best use of what He has already provided. Instead of dragging through the day thinking, “Here I go again with only 4 hours of sleep”, I can trust that He will get me through with sufficient provision. When I waste my night, staying up late for no reason and waking up tired only makes me feel like I’m rehearsing the same old story – amazed at my stupidity in repeating the same mistake! But knowing I’m involved in the things God is blessing causes a much different response and makes a late night or stretched bank account well worth it.

Holding the world (and my heart) in His hands

I'm becoming more aware of the fact that God has a time and plan for everything that is often very different from what I've "planned" on. I've seen this in my life for a while but I forget it so often...that man orders his own life, but God really does direct him and lead him through things that he could never in his wildest dreams imagine. I think two things are key. First, realize that God loves me completely without condemnation and holds the world in His hands. And second is to live like I know that! Yes God is sovereign and above being compared or understand because He is so incredible. Just last week I was struggling with how to process some things - mental stress. And I started praying that morning just declaring the faithfulness of God. That He was the God who created the stars, who governed the laws of physics. He is the God that created the concepts for the Taylor Series (if you're not a math nerd you will have no clue what I'm talking about!!). He is the God that allows the earth to orbit and lets the seasons and weather systems coincide together. Knowing He does that makes me realize that He is quite capable of directing my heart through anything I face in life. Life is often very challenging. But God loves to show Himself faithful in those times. What I desire is that regardless of where I'm at in life, I will maintain such a personal and intimate relationship with God that I trust Him. Right now I have a lot of unanswered questions. But God knows that and He knows I don't need the answer to some of those things right now. Growing in relationship with Him is me being ok with the things that go unanswered. Not there yet, but I want to be. Right now what I do know is that I am forever loved by Him and a recipient of His awesome grace that I will never deserve.

Reconciliation...

I was reminded of some awesome Scripture today reading Perry Noble’s blog (highly recommend his podcasts…newspring.cc) – they’re found in II Corinthians 5…the Scripture not Perry Noble!

One my favorite verses starts in verse 17 where Paul tells us that if ANYONE is in Christ – meaning anyone who has experienced the life-changing work of Jesus – they are made completely new. This is some awesome stuff right here that I won’t elaborate on right now. But moving through the rest of the chapter Paul address reconciliation. I’ve heard this word for several years and always in the context of human relationships; husbands reconciling with their wife, children being reconciled with their parents, fellow Christians being reconciled because of offenses being forgiven. While these are great examples and certainly part of what God wanted us to understand I think we miss the most incredible part of this chapter – Jesus has reconciled us to God!

Let’s look at some secular terminology involving reconciliation – bank statements. Yes those are the systematic envelopes your bank mails to you that sit in a folder or drawer indefintely until you finally open them up only to find them pretty much useless 17 months later!! Anyway, the idea with a bank statement (in case you didn’t know!) is to us it to balance or “reconcile” your own account to what the bank says. Basically, if my checkbook says I have $500 but the bank says I have $300, I have made an error and need to reconcile my account to theirs. The same principle applies to our relationship with God. Jesus reconciled us to God. So basically God has looked at our life – sins, offenses, inadequacies, etc – and has said that because of Jesus our account matches His. Now if we were to compare our own “goodness” and “righteousness” – which by the way, go look up “filthy rags” because it means just that – we would find our account severely lacking with insufficient funds to cover the expenses for which we are responsible. But that’s why we don’t compare our goodness! We take on the righteousness of Jesus because He has made all things new!!! Because of the new life we have in Christ, we are now made right with God and our “account” has been reconciled.

Now as incredible as this is for us, it also applies to rest of the world and here is where we come in again – God gave you and me the ministry of reconciliation! WOW! That means I get to play banker!! We have been given the awesome, most rewarding job of telling people that because of Jesus their account is reconciled – their debts are covered and the resources of heaven have covered all expenses! What a contrast to today’s “church” culture – full of judgment, criticism, and arrogance, waiting for “sinners” to trip up so we can condemn them. But that is NEVER the job that God gave us. As long as we are here, we are His reconcilers; given the privilege to be His representative to our circles of influence – our workplace, our networks, our facebook friends, twitter followers, gym members, classmates, and families.

What would change in us, in our home, in our church, in our communities if we were all about reconciling – first remembering who we are in Christ – and telling others that their accounts have been settled forever?

Directionally Challenged

Do you ever get frustrated about where you’re headed in life? Or where you’re not headed? It seems that we all struggle with knowing what to do. And to throw a real kink into things, we’re also told that we’re supposed to consider what God wants out of our lives. This can be a real problem! It seems that many times in an attempt to work things out Christians take two sides, or two extremes, and neither one produces any real joy and satisfaction. Either we completely immerse ourselves in a “ministry” of our choosing and shelter ourselves from anything beyond the doors of a church; or we completely ignore the callings of God and choose rather to develop our own careers at all costs, including our own spiritual life. Both are really the same problem – self-ambition found in two different ways.

Proverbs 3:5-6 is a set of very common verses – so common that it’s easy to tune them out and forget what they mean. In them God is telling us to trust Him in all things and in everything we do to “acknowledge Him”. The guaranteed promise of these actions is a life completely directed by God. But what does it mean to acknowledge? Is it a passing glance, like waving to someone riding down the road? Is it talking about an advisory type relationship where we only get God’s advice on “big issues” and let the rest be determined by our own ambitions? Or is there something more there? When we acknowledge God in everything that we do, we’re letting Him into the driver’s seat – yielding control to Him. Now this sounds real great to think about but what does this look like in a practical way? Simply put, we let Him talk and we listen. He does this in a number of ways often seen on a daily basis. What has God naturally gifted you to do? Those gifts are not mistakes! It may not be your career, but God certainly intends to use it. Eric Liddell chose to compete in the Olympics even though he had been called to mission work. He made a statement that though God had called him to missions, “He also made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure!” That’s awesome! God also works in other ways, like your circumstances or the people He puts in your path. Nothing in your life happens just because. Also in Proverbs God says that He orders (or directs) the steps of the righteous. If you belong to Jesus, that means you because you’re covered in the righteousness of God.

I had my planned out to the max and then God unsettled a lot of things in my heart causing me to really question what I was supposed to do. I didn’t get some big neon flashing sign from heaven with arrows pointing out the way to go. Instead it was in the small and “insignificant” things that God led me and it turned out so much better than if I had done “my thing”. If there is one thing I would emphasize in pursuing direction in life it is this – chill out! We spend a lot of time fretting over what we’re going to do in 25 years and in the meantime miss out on what God has for us today! Enjoy the journey! Isaiah 30:21 says that we will hear a voice behind us telling us which way to go. Wait for that still, small voice…and when you hear it don’t let anything stop you!