Thought One: Thoughts are quite strange. Sometimes they're frantically running around your mind rushing to get where they're going. Other times they're leisurely strolling around, taking their time getting to where they're going. Sometimes they just sit there. And stare at you. They refuse to move. They just stay there and refuse to get to the point. You don't even know why they're there. Sometimes they hide behind bushes. It's pretty obvious the thoughts are there, but you can't for the life of you find them. Anyway, that was Thought One. (By the way, that was a leisurely stroll thought. :])
Thought Two: Non-Christians often seem to think accepting God's grace is way too easy. A lot of Christians struggle with it, too. They seem to think you can't possibly receive forgiveness through simply asking the God of the universe for forgiveness. Accepting God's grace and vowing to make a change in your lifestyle can also seem cowardly because you aren't offering any compensation for God's grace (something we're used to and comfortable with--one service in exchange for another). However, from my point of view, accepting God's grace is one of the most courageous, humbling, and difficult things a person can do. It comes down to pride. People don't want to admit they can't get forgiveness by themselves, and they don't want to admit they can't get forgiveness by themselves because they don't want to admit they have something they need forgiveness for. That's why it takes courage and humility to accept God's grace. Before you can accept God's grace you must first admit to God that you need grace and forgiveness. Before you can admit to God that you need grace and forgiveness you must first admit to YOURSELF that you need grace and forgiveness, exposing yourself to all your own dirt. We spend a lot of time covering up our dirt. It seems anything but cowardly to humble yourself enough to admit you have dirt in the first place. Anyway, that was Thought Two.
Thought Three: I often try to reach people through experiences we have shared. It's usually good ground to get a conversation going, and if you're counseling someone, well, the only thing you can logically speak from is experience. But I was thinking about this. Sometimes do we try to fit ourselves into Jesus' place? Let me explain. Do we try to act like we've been through everything? Do we get up on our mighty pedestal of "been there done that"? Something I realized today is I haven't been through everything. I can't relate to a lot of situations. But that's okay. I don't have to try to help everyone who has a problem, because that's not my job. My job is to lead them to someone who does understand everything. And (wait for the cheesy part) God CAN understand every situation. God does know how your situation feels because He was right there with you. That's right. I said it. God understands because He was with you while you were in that situation. Anyway, that was Thought Three.
Last thought:
Thought Four: I was watching America's Next Top Model the other day. One of the models had just come back from a photo shoot. This model had very fickle photoshoots. Some days they were amazing and others, eh. Not so much. As Tyra so wisely said to this model, "Your problem is this shoot theme is not your favorite. You need to make it your favorite!" Now let me tie this completely secular reference to my favorite man--Jesus. So we're supposed to serve Jesus with all our passion, all our energy, and everything we have, right? And we're supposed to serve Jesus in everything we do, right? Well, if we're serving Jesus with everything we have and we're serving Jesus in everything we do, doesn't it make sense to do everything with all our passion and everything we have just as if we were doing it for Jesus (because we are)? Just like the model on America's Next Top Model, we have to make things our favorite. We need to act like everything we are doing is our favorite because we're serving Jesus and we're supposed to serve Jesus with everything we've got.
And that's another thing. Why NOT serve God with all we've got? First of all, every facet of us belongs to Him anyway. He created us. I'm pretty sure that entitles him to ownership. Second, He bought us with the blood of Christ and we owe him everything we have, so why not act like we owe him everything?
Anyway, those were the thoughts in my head.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
My Own Personal "Isaac"
“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.”
-Hebrews 11:17
A couple of weekends ago I went with some friends to go hear a guy named Eric Samuel Timm speak. Eric was speaking about the passage of Scripture that tells the story of Abraham and Isaac as they journey up the mountain to the place where God had commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Eric took this bible story and turned it into a modern application. He challenged us to find the “Isaac”s in our lives-- the things we treasured more than God himself. The audience was challenged to consider how our “Isaacs”s are gifts from God, and we tend to focus on them more than we focus on the one who gave them to us. In conclusion, Eric challenged his listeners to find their “Isaac”s and use it as their sacrifice to God, giving it to God for His purpose. I couldn’t think of my Isaac while I was sitting listening to Eric speak. I couldn’t think of my Isaac when I was thinking about what I was going to write this TJ about. I found my Isaac after I had read the Scripture for the TJ and had thought about it thoroughly.
I have a problem where I become completely overwhelmed if I see something wrong, especially in our broken and hurting world, and know I can’t fix it. Today I realized this problem is my Isaac. I focus on how overwhelmed I am and I begin to worship the feeling of helplessness. When I say worship, I don’t mean I’m singing praise songs to this anxiety, or anything. When I say worship, I mean I devote more time to thinking and worrying about my problem than I devote to meditating on God’s words and God’s presence in my life. This worried, anxious, overwhelming feeling has become my Isaac, the thing casting a shadow over my life, blocking God’s presence from my sight.
So I’ve determined my Isaac, now I must discover how I will sacrifice it to God so He may show me how to use it properly for His plan. First, I must daily hand my Isaac over to God. Second, I must ask God to help me with the temptation of resorting to worshipping my Isaac. For this second step, I must not only say “Lord, help me with this temptation,” but I must mean it, too. We often ask God to take our temptations away, but the largest problem with this request is we don’t usually mean it. As C.S. Lewis says, “he realized that while his lips had been saying, ‘Oh Lord, make me chaste,’ his heart had been secretly adding, ‘But please don’t do it just yet.’” When I ask the Lord to keep me from the temptation of retreating into anxiety, I must mean it with all of myself, or I will never be able to use everything I have to serve God.
Once I have succeeded in turning my Isaac into a tool God uses to do great things, there is another thing I must remember. Hebrews 11:13-14 says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance... Instead they were longing for a better country-- a heavenly one.” In the words of one of my mentors, I must remember, “We were not created for this world, but for eternity.” Whenever I feel my Isaac sneaking back in I must remember not only that results from my actions might not be seen in my lifetime, but also that heavenly results are waiting for me.
So just as I was challenged by Eric Samuel Timm, I am going to challenge you to find your Isaac. Is it a fear? Or is it a relationship you know you value more than your relationship with God? Or it might even be something material such as your car. Once you find your Isaac, sacrifice it to God with your mouth and your heart. Let Him show you how to use it for His glory and purpose instead of your own. And lastly, once you have started on the path of God’s will, don’t get discouraged. Always remember that although you might not see immediate results, the results will come even if they don’t come during your lifetime. God is faithful and His timing is always perfect.
Prayer: Lord, show us the Isaac’s in our life. Give us the desire to turn them over to you entirely. Show us what once interfered in our relationship with You and show us how to use it for Your glory. I pray the Holy Spirit would guide us to follow You with our whole heart, and I pray You remind us of Your presence with every step we take.
-Hebrews 11:17
A couple of weekends ago I went with some friends to go hear a guy named Eric Samuel Timm speak. Eric was speaking about the passage of Scripture that tells the story of Abraham and Isaac as they journey up the mountain to the place where God had commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Eric took this bible story and turned it into a modern application. He challenged us to find the “Isaac”s in our lives-- the things we treasured more than God himself. The audience was challenged to consider how our “Isaacs”s are gifts from God, and we tend to focus on them more than we focus on the one who gave them to us. In conclusion, Eric challenged his listeners to find their “Isaac”s and use it as their sacrifice to God, giving it to God for His purpose. I couldn’t think of my Isaac while I was sitting listening to Eric speak. I couldn’t think of my Isaac when I was thinking about what I was going to write this TJ about. I found my Isaac after I had read the Scripture for the TJ and had thought about it thoroughly.
I have a problem where I become completely overwhelmed if I see something wrong, especially in our broken and hurting world, and know I can’t fix it. Today I realized this problem is my Isaac. I focus on how overwhelmed I am and I begin to worship the feeling of helplessness. When I say worship, I don’t mean I’m singing praise songs to this anxiety, or anything. When I say worship, I mean I devote more time to thinking and worrying about my problem than I devote to meditating on God’s words and God’s presence in my life. This worried, anxious, overwhelming feeling has become my Isaac, the thing casting a shadow over my life, blocking God’s presence from my sight.
So I’ve determined my Isaac, now I must discover how I will sacrifice it to God so He may show me how to use it properly for His plan. First, I must daily hand my Isaac over to God. Second, I must ask God to help me with the temptation of resorting to worshipping my Isaac. For this second step, I must not only say “Lord, help me with this temptation,” but I must mean it, too. We often ask God to take our temptations away, but the largest problem with this request is we don’t usually mean it. As C.S. Lewis says, “he realized that while his lips had been saying, ‘Oh Lord, make me chaste,’ his heart had been secretly adding, ‘But please don’t do it just yet.’” When I ask the Lord to keep me from the temptation of retreating into anxiety, I must mean it with all of myself, or I will never be able to use everything I have to serve God.
Once I have succeeded in turning my Isaac into a tool God uses to do great things, there is another thing I must remember. Hebrews 11:13-14 says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance... Instead they were longing for a better country-- a heavenly one.” In the words of one of my mentors, I must remember, “We were not created for this world, but for eternity.” Whenever I feel my Isaac sneaking back in I must remember not only that results from my actions might not be seen in my lifetime, but also that heavenly results are waiting for me.
So just as I was challenged by Eric Samuel Timm, I am going to challenge you to find your Isaac. Is it a fear? Or is it a relationship you know you value more than your relationship with God? Or it might even be something material such as your car. Once you find your Isaac, sacrifice it to God with your mouth and your heart. Let Him show you how to use it for His glory and purpose instead of your own. And lastly, once you have started on the path of God’s will, don’t get discouraged. Always remember that although you might not see immediate results, the results will come even if they don’t come during your lifetime. God is faithful and His timing is always perfect.
Prayer: Lord, show us the Isaac’s in our life. Give us the desire to turn them over to you entirely. Show us what once interfered in our relationship with You and show us how to use it for Your glory. I pray the Holy Spirit would guide us to follow You with our whole heart, and I pray You remind us of Your presence with every step we take.
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