My Secret

My kids and I like to “share secrets.”  Elias and Risa especially.  They’ll look at me and grin one of those irresistible grins and say “Daddy I wanna tell you a secret!”  (I think their mother started doing this with them, and I love it.)  I’ll lean in real close and their “secret” is always the same. 

“I love you!”

What a rush!  My kids are telling ME that they love me!  In fact, I wouldn’t keep that “secret” to myself for ANYTHING!  See, I’m even writing an article about it! 

Some secrets, though, are hurtful.  A lot of people that I work with have things in their life that they believe are unbearably “secretive.”  Some have told me in the past that, “if anyone else knew about this…”, but usually they cannot finish the sentence.  In reality, their secret is what is holding them back from a better life. 

Sounds like sin, doesn’t it.  Sin is hurtful, especially to God, but also to us.  Sin is confining.  It keeps us from becoming close to our Heavenly Father.  Sin is isolating.  We tend to believe that our sins are ours alone and that no one can help us through it. 

That’s where Jesus steps in and says, “I know your secret, and ‘I love you!’”

The church of ME

I get worried whenever I hear these words coming out of Christian’s mouths:

“My needs aren’t being met by (fill in ministry name/minister name/church name here).” 

“I don’t think (fill in appropriate minister/elder/teacher name here) can connect with what I’ve gone through in life.  I just don’t think he/they have anything to say to me in my life.”

“I just don’t get anything out of worship anymore.”

Since when did the concept of Christianity become about “me?”  I don’t know that I read ANYWHERE in the New Testament about Christians looking out for themselves in the first church.  (Flipping through Acts…)   Nope.  I don’t see it. 

The SECOND we start looking to our own needs and desires is the second we lose the focus of what church should be about: getting closer to what GOD wants. 

True: We may become “filled” when we do serve others in the name of God.  This is a SECONDARY gain.  If in fact we were only out to be served, we would constantly be looking for the next “high” or “feel good feeling.”  Sounds kind of like an addiction, doesn’t it.  Maybe that’s what it is: “The church of ME addiction.” 

Nightlight

Think of a dark room.  Maybe a room in your house late at night.   It has to be completely dark, though.  No cheating.  Got it?  Ok…now read on:

 

How do you feel in the dark?  Can you get your bearings?  Even if you are familiar with the room, you probably would feel hesitant to move around in it for fear of knocking something over or injuring yourself.  It’s your house, though.  Shouldn’t you be able to move around in your own house, whether or not you can see in it? 

 

Now imagine a little nightlight is placed into a socket in that room.  It’s not a big light, but it illuminates the sharp corners, the toys left out on the floor, the leftover pizza on the coffee table.  With the help of a little light, no matter how big or bright, you’re able to navigate the darkness.

 

The world is dark.  We are called to be those nightlights.  Notice what Jesus compares those who are “Blessed” to in Matthew 5.  He compares them to lamps on a stand.  Not a searchlight.  Not a lighthouse.  A lamp.  A candle.  A nightlight. 

 

“Jesus is my nightlight.  I am not alone!”

Looking for Good…

It’s easy on sunny days to find good in the world.  A soft breeze may remind you of a great family vacation that you had growing up.  A fresh and bright snow blanket on the ground might seem to give the world a “newness” it may have lost. 

It’s even easier to find the bad in the world.  Look around you.  You can find countless examples of evil in the world.  Yet, somehow, when brought out into the light, it makes us even more disgusted.  (Ever wonder why bars don’t have windows?  Ever wonder why most “bad things” happen in the dark?  People don’t want to be “seen” doing “bad” things, yet they still do them.)  It’s hard to battle Satan when he knows your weakness.  What’s worse, he plays dirty.  He’ll try to separate God from the world so that all you see around you is evil, vile, disgusting things.  It’s hard for ANYONE to deal with…  

It’s even harder when dealing with hurt people all day long.  When you surround yourself with “expertise” in helping others, hurt people will eventually start asking for your help.  With those petitions for help come their stories of abuse, neglect, and all around mistreatment.  Sometimes I have to stop and start looking for the good in those hurt people’s lives.  Sometimes they themselves can’t find it and need help in carrying on. 

Emotionally tiring. 

But…it’s what I’m built for. 

Maybe I’m not necessarily looking for good in those poor people’s lives.  Maybe I’m looking for God in my own life in order to be able to point out the good in their life.  Make sense?  In order to really find good in the world, you must first find God in your “own world.” 

What blessings has he given you today? 

What “neat things” did you see today?

Who encouraged you today?

Who did you “bump into” today? 

What “sunbeam” came to you today?

My prayer for you today is this: May God show himself to you in your WORST moment today.  May God continue to work in your life today even when you don’t think He’s really there.  May God surround you with support, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually.  May God use you in spite of Satan’s attempts to separate you from Him. 

Sunday’s a comin’! 

In Transition…

I’ve become more and more convinced that we are creatures of habit…

No kidding. 

Think about the last time you became uncomfortable with the changes that may/may not be occurring in your life.  Those changes (or lack of) can bring about feelings of discomfort, anxiety, and uncertainty.  We get comfortable in our routines (or our chaos, depending upon our situations) and any change causes ripples in our life.  We react by pushing others away, scrambling to keep things “under control,” or flat out breaking down emotionally.  To a lessor degree, we end up getting headaches or other physical ailments, and our friends wonder if we’re “o.k.”  One word comes to mind in all of this:

Process

How we handle these transitions (changes in our lives) is what God is most interested in.  Face it.  We like being comfortable.  That idea of ambivalence also means that we aren’t moving (or moving productively).  It also means we aren’t growing.  Change in our lives causes us to reflect upon the way we approach different issues/people/relationships.  It also forces us to examine what we place value in.  Do you value your relationship with God above all else?  If not, you will feel worry, anxiety, or stress more profoundly than others.  I’m not saying that you WON’T feel these things if you do have a good relationship with God, that is a reflection of utter dissociation with the things happening around you. 

Transition means growth.  Transition means learning. 

If you aren’t moving, you aren’t alive…

Conversation

“You know God, I’m not really sure about things that have happened today.”

 God: “I know.”

“I’m not sure if I’ve done everything that I should have.  I’m not sure if I’ve done things to make you proud of me.  I’m not sure if I’ve done right by YOU.”

God: “I know.”

“So, what should I do?  Should I continue struggling like I have in the last few months/years/decades in order to try and find you?  I’ve seen you working in my life when I look back, but I still can’t seem to find you IN THE MOMENT.  I trust that you are there.  I trust that you are working behind the scenes for my good.  I know that I’ll fail even when I don’t want to, but it’s still hard to think that I can get back up after I’ve struggled for so long.”

God: “I know.”

“Maybe that’s the issue.  Maybe that’s what faith is all about.  It could be that the journey is the thing, and not the outcome.  I KNOW that I’ll fail, but I also KNOW that you’re there.  If I’m truly called to be something different than the world, then maybe I shouldn’t be afraid to convey these feelings to others, but also tell them that I’m confident in You.  Maybe it’s not the fact that I work hard and things keep happening.  Maybe it’s the fact that I keep working hard and KNOW that YOU keep happening.”

God: (smiles) “I know.”

Placement and Purpose

Comedians will tell you that the key to a good joke is timing.  This inherent trait in “good” comedians is something that always amazes me.  Some regular Joe can take a Jay Leno joke and get no response whatsoever, whereas Jay can usually bring down the house (if not, garner a few groans). 

How does God’s timing work?  Are we destined, inevitably, to accomplish (or not) certain things in our lives?  Are we bound to bump into the people we are “supposed” to bump into?  Are we puppets on a string?  Does God control everything or doesn’t He?

Yes. 

God is in control and so are we.  Paradoxical in nature, so as not to be “understood” by the conventional wisdom of man, God allows us to choose our placement, predicament, or people that we connect with.  He gives us the basic outline of our lives through our physical makeup, talents, and social support structures, and then He allows us to make our own path in that life.  But there’s a catch…

He’s still in control. 

God can use any and every mistake, miscalculation or success in our own lives for His good.  In fact, that’s the plan. 

If you’re able to completely understand how this works, please fill me in.  My brain hurts from trying to comprehend how a choice I make in my life (that I think I have made of my own accord) ends up being EXACTLY what God had in mind in the first place. 

Did God PUT that decision in my mind.  No.  Was I acting in a vacuum with absolutely no other influences?  No, yet the decision was still mine to make.  How then do I find MY personal purpose in this walk? 

Live your life. 

Base it on God and His word (although we’ll never attain this perfection described in the Bible, we should try to attain it if we claim to be disciples of His).

Have faith that God will use you in ways that you may be unaware of.

Now…if I can just get my delivery down, maybe I can make the Tonight Show…

Interesting…

Seems I’ve started a little conversation with my last post.  Thank you to all of you “non-family members” who have shared your thoughts.  They have all been insightful.

Can one “sound biblical” without actually “being biblical”?  I believe so.  I seem to remember reading about a certain angel that actually USED SCRIPTURE to try and tempt our Lord and Savior.  Simply because one knows scripture and is able to “sound” like a Christian, does not necessarily mean they are a Christian. 

Jesus himself told us that all men will know that we are his followers by our love.  He does not say that we will be recognized by our vast amount of biblical knowledge.  What exactly does “love” mean?  The word “love” has become so diluted over the past 30 years in the US culture that we REALLY don’t know what true love is…However, knowledge must be sought after in order for us to mature and become more like Christ…maybe more on that later…

James also admonishes us to not just “listen to the word” and therefore “understand it,” but to also DO IT!  So, yes, I do believe that there is a fine line between “playing Christian” and actually living the life. 

Political views and religious ideology seem to have become one and the same as of late.  Hence the popular idea that you have to affiliate yourself with one political party or another in order to be a Christian has gained ground in past elections.  So too has the idea that you have to check your brain at the door in order to be a Christian.  Faith does not require evidence.  Knowledge requires evidence.  I have faith in the pilot of my airplane that he knows how to fly from my little hometown to the Great White North.  I have NO evidence other than his past flight behaviors, but this in and of itself is not predictive.  Science (and I consider myself a scientist) is only a small part of my overall life experience.  If I were to require predictive evidence in order to make any and all decisions of my life, I would have to lock myself in my house and order take out.  Even then, I’m not sure I could be CERTAIN that my Chinese food would be the food I actually ordered…Big metaphor, I know, but I’m trying condense a complex argument into something usable. 

Faith does not know boundaries.  Faith in God requires an acceptance of our own relinquishment (is that a word?) of control.  True peace and contentment comes from “letting go” when every ounce of your being screams for more concrete solutions to problems.  Give up?  No way.  See this post by Larry James for more.

Well….enough dogging it on the job.  Hope everyone has a good day today!

All You Need is…

Thought for the week:
How do you show someone that you truly love them?
What would you be willing to sacrifice/give/pay in order for someone to know BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that you love them?

Anticipation

Mom’s having a procedure done today.  Nothing major, but she’s still “having a procedure.” 

My first clients will walk through the door today.  Nervous?  You bet.  Prepared?  Hopefully.  Prayerful?  Always.

Sunday’s lesson could be challenging.  It was for me.  The finishing touches were put on it last night as we watched “Law and Order SVU.” 

So, how does one balance out “seeking out opportunities” and “being used in current opportunities”?  I ask because I have great hopes and dreams for my family, church family, career, and other things.  However, I do not wish to run ahead of God, so to speak.  I know that God is using me.  I also know that he WILL use me in the future.  Do I wait for those opportunities, or do I seek out where He is working already?