Content

On my mind today is how much all of us really just want to feel passionately about life. We get tired of what we are doing day to day and we want something else. We see people around us living what seems like such a great and fulfilling life, while ours seems dull and pointless.

So what may we do at this point? Do we seek a new job perhaps, one we’ll like more? Do we get involved with a new club or hobby? Maybe the answer is in joining the intense sports fans…they always seem excited! Maybe a new ministry? Maybe a new family, or just escaping the life we are in to move to a new place and start over.

Often the answer we are looking for rests plain and simply in remembering who God is and what He has planned for us. Our passion and excitement can be in Him, in kindling our love for the God that made us and desires a relationship with us.

In our sinful world, one common struggle we all have is being discontent. We want to compare ourselves to those around us and naturally become competitive. Especially if we find no peace or purpose really in our own lives, at least we can make ourselves feel better by having more, or doing more than those around us.

We think we are doing our children a favor by engraining in them this idea that they can be whatever they want. The world is theirs to rule. Go ahead and plan to be president, a Nobel prize winner, a celebrity. We are just planting the same seeds of discontentment in them that we struggle with. Living a good life is often just working a regular job and choosing to spend our free hours in ways that matter. A society needs people in all of the roles to function well but we like to teach that everyone can have those high profile jobs and wonder why no one wants to stoop down to do the daily stuff. We don’t value the 75% of jobs that keep us eating food each day, not living in a heap of garbage, learning our ABCs.

The answer I’ve found after many, many years of searching for that mysterious contentment is that contentment is being at peace where God has me, doing my daily work with excellence, loving the people around me well. The excitement may or may not be obvious today, but regardless we can focus our passion and purpose on the God that loves us and has saved us from ourselves. Our contentment can only be found in God, not in anyone else or anything else. Those we should admire most are the ones that have peace in their lives and refuse to buy into the world’s teachings that I deserve more of everything to be happy. There is no peace if it’s not in Jesus, our true Savior and Lord.

Thirsty

God calls all the thirsty to Him to have their thirst quenched.

Isaiah 55:1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”

But what if we aren’t even aware of our thirst? I really enjoy coffee but I can totally forget about drinking water throughout the day. Then I find myself sluggish and irritable. I’m not always in tune with how much I really do need water.

Do we do this God as well? Absolutely. We are prone to wander. Many of us struggle with our attention span in many areas of our lives. It’s pretty typical for Christians to swing back and forth between being passionate for God and being bored with Him. We need to walk closely with God and stop wandering, but this isn’t easy quite often. We can find ourselves spiritually dehydrated, unaware of how poorly we really do feel.

How do we know we are “spiritually dehydrated”? Here are some “symptoms” I’ve noticed:

1. My mind is more on myself and my plans and less on God and His plans.

2. I become increasingly anxious and worried. I need to control more.

3. The fruits of the Spirit are less obvious in myself and it doesn’t bother me that much.

4. I demand more from the people in my life and find they increasingly let me down.

5. My emotions swing to extremes, overwhelming or non-existent.

6. I am bored with life, with church, with my devotions.

7. I find myself happier alone and avoid people.

The nice thing is most of the time, just like drinking a nice big bottle of water, we just need a whole lot of God to get out of this rut. We can get back into His word, get back to praying, refresh ourselves with uplifting music and fellowship. We know that dehydration can be very serious, even deadly. Are we aware spiritual dehydration can be just as serious?

So, “Are you thirsty?” And if the answer is no, then why not?

The Life-Long Hike

People that know me well will chuckle at my topic today: hiking. It is bit of a sore subject, pun intended, when one is married to a hiking fanatic as I am:) But what a great comparison to our daily walk with God!

The Christian life is really a lot like a hike we get to take with God. When we become Christians, we are so excited to get walking with Christ. We think we know it all. Our plan is to see amazing breathtaking views every day. And we feel it should all be easy, effortless perhaps. It’s not long before we realize, we are in way over our heads.

Our expectation was that God would walk the pace we want to go. And of course He’d help us carry all our stuff (which is a LOT). We assumed there would be a long period of getting ready and training, but turns out there’s none. We just hear, Let’s go! We try hard to be a good sport for a while but it seems He walks so fast. And He isn’t helping me carry all my stuff. Clearly something is going to have to change for this to work.

We are right there…things do need to change! But how long will it take for us to realize that it is ME that needs to change, not God? It’s not rocket-science…..I’m going to have to leave some of this stuff behind. And, I’m going to need to get in better shape too! Until these things begin to change, the Christian walk is really not much “fun”. It’s just hard and painful.
God helps us sort through what we need to take and what we need to leave behind. Our entire wardrobe of clothes…..leave behind. Extra water…..take. Stuff I think could one day come in handy, like extra chargers, my Swiffer and a futon…..leave behind. Healthy snacks….take. My bike….leave behind. The first-aid kit….take.

We also find the more we leave behind, the more possible it is for us to keep God’s pace. Not only that, but we find He is really quite an amazing companion. He always has interesting things to discuss with us. He teaches us about our surroundings and the complexities we didn’t even know existed. The days begin to be quite enjoyable and move quickly by. Then out of the blue, we do see some of the breathtaking vistas we had only heard about. We enjoy them for a time, then must move on as God beckons us.

Learning to walk in step with the Lord is the only way we can really enjoy our lives here on earth. Our lives are often not at all what we thought they would be like. As we adjust though, we realize, they can be much better. We don’t know exactly where we are going or why, but God does. We also find every day has its own joys. We don’t have to have that mountaintop view every day (plus once we realize we have to climb the mountain to see it, we think twice about it any way!)

The question is, where are we on this journey right now? Are we still at the beginning, fighting to drag along all the things we think are absolutely necessary? Or maybe we’ve begun to know the difference there, but we just can’t keep God’s pace. We are spending most of our time stopping to throw a tantrum. Are we finding we enjoy getting to know God better as we walk? Or are we just complaining about things being boring? Every day is a new adventure as we walk with the Lord. And no matter what comes our way, we find we can get through it with Him by our side.

In Step With God

I know that God has the best plan and pace for my life. I know that waiting for His timing will be the best for everyone. Yet walking with God at His pace has always been such a challenge for me. I’d like to think I’ve learned and grown in this area, but honestly sometimes I wonder!

The Message translation of Romans 3:27-28 says this:
God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.

This chapter in Romans deals with the fact that we all are sinners. All that God did by sending Jesus to this world to reunite us to Him He did for all people. Including the Gentiles in this gift was hard for the Jewish people to embrace. It was quite new and foreign that after the thousands of years of being God’s chosen people, now God was including others in the mix. The Jewish people had to get in step with God’s plan or it was possible they could be the ones to miss out on God’s great salvation through Christ. The path they were walking with God had taken a sharp turn and they had to take the turn with Him.

We are not able to predict all God is going to do in our lives. Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God outlines Who He is and His plan of salvation for us in the Bible, but not every detail of what our lives will include. We only know God’s plans will be for our good and for His glory.

I have to be very intentional not to continually run ahead of God. I think I know the plan and I am so tired of what seems to be a slow pace. But then I end up lost and scared asking God why He seems “so far from me”.

Lord, I pray that You keep me close to You today, and every day. I don’t want to wander. Hold my hand tightly, Lord. I want to be by Your side and on Your path every moment of every day. Give me faith to trust You when you make those sharp turns and when I don’t understand. I am so thankful that I know what the ending will be, but I don’t know exactly how I will get there.

Built Up and Torn Down

Only God can teach us as Christians that we are both special and unique yet no better than anyone else. It is an interesting combo. I’m sure many people are like me, needing a whole lot of assurance from God that I am truly seen and loved by Him. On this earth we can feel lost and forgotten. We really aren’t sure of our worth (though of course we often act like we are). I would say it took years of God pouring His truth into my heart on the subject of my worth to Him before I could really begin to believe it was true. Even so, it’s a topic that resurfaces quite often.

Yet at the same time, it’s far too easy for us to to judge and condemn others. I can feel better about myself because for a moment I feel superior. Most of us aren’t even aware of all of our prejudices. We absorb so much from the people and places we are around. Even at our “best”, really seeking to be more like Christ, we can find ourselves prideful about our progress! From the moment sin entered the picture, pride has been our biggest problem. It’s a tall order, ripping out the weeds of pride that endlessly pop up in our hearts and minds. But no worries, God is up for it! We will learn humility, one way or another, so we may as well cooperate with God in this.

I am just so thankful God knows what He is doing as He works on me. I admit, I don’t always love the ways He does things but I know they are always for my best. Often my biggest challenge is to stop trying to “help” Him and learn to trust Him instead.

I Need to Need God

It’s ironic to me that the easy life I crave is exactly what would ruin me. It’s a bit like the child that dreams of unlimited candy and no bedtimes. Wouldn’t that be wonderful, we think.

As I read through Exodus and all the Israelites went through to get to the Promised Land and then to live in it, I don’t really envy them. My first thought is always, why? Why did it have to be so hard! In my version, Moses tells the Israelites they will be leaving Egypt. They do. They get to the Promised Land quickly and easily settle in because all the people are gone. But that would not have been the bliss I imagine! My guess is that they would have just become like the Canaanites themselves sadly.

We as people need to need God. It is great when life is easy but the fact is, that’s when I wander. Sadly, it is way too easy to forget about the God of the Universe and start to build my own kingdoms. To start with, I want to eat only candy and have no bedtime. I wander because my attention span is so short and my eyes naturally prefer to look to myself. It’s like entering a House of Mirrors at a carnival. What do I see? Me! Me! Me! I’m everywhere! Thankfully God, plain as day, marks each step I need to take to get out of that “fun house” and back to reality where we see God first and care about what He cares about.

I’m so glad that God is persistent with me and refuses to abandon me to my own ways. At times He does allow me to see what “my path” would be like and it scares me to the core. How can I so quickly be my three year old self again?
Thank you Lord that your ways are best and you insist on them. I know one day in heaven I’ll know what life without sin is like. That wobbly wheel that always seems to get me off course won’t be around any more. I’ll finally just crave You and have no desire to wander and sneak away. Until then, I can expect a lot of trials and difficulties because when it comes down to it, above all else, I need to need God.

The Plans of the Heart

Proverbs 16:1 tells us that, “To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.” I certainly do come up with a lot of plans for my life, don’t you? I have all sorts of goals for myself and for my family, so many dreams and hopes. How can I talk God into them, I wonder. I want Him to say yes to my great plans but I am not that confident that He will.

When I was in elementary school, I remember trying so hard to talk my parents into this great plan I had. My best friend was from Yugoslavia and she and I planned to go visit there in the near future. Her family was going to visit at some point, so it wasn’t just a silly plan to us. We were sure this would happen. My friend taught me some of the language and filled me in on all the different customs so I would know what to expect. I was a little leery about the cuisine, being a burger and fry gal, but other than that, I was all in!

My parents didn’t say much when I would talk about this plan of mine. I get it now. What do you say to a ten-year-old bent on going to a country full of social and political unrest with people you barely know. I guess they just did their best to humor me because the fact was there was absolutely no way they would ever let me do that! I’m amazed they didn’t just tell me, “Enough, drop it!”

I’ve spent so much of my life doing the same thing to God. I have so many plans that I really want to get His okay on and I am probably about as annoying as I was at ten trying to talk Him into it! It’s taken me a long time, but finally I think I get it….if I just start by asking God what His plans are and plan to go with those, life is a lot less frustrating and disappointing. And best of all, it turns out God’s plans really are the ones I love most of all. He knows me so well. He created me after all. He knows what will bring me true joy and fulfillment and what will just be years of problems and grief.

So, now when I meet with God, we have a new set up. I just ask Him, what do you have for me today, Lord? What are your plans? Sometimes they are obvious but often He just holds out His hand to me so I can walk with Him today. I’m good with that. His plans are amazing.

My Ways and God’s Ways

As Christians we are supposed to want God’s ways, God’s plans and God’s purposes first and foremost. God is perfect. He sees absolutely everything going on now in our world as well as knowing every detail of the past and future. He knows every person and what it will take to open our eyes to who He is and how much He loves us. He knows better than I do what I will love best. He knows it all and is perfectly trustworthy.

So why do I struggle so much every day to choose God’s ways?

It would be great if becoming a Christian meant I would always want to be on God’s path and do things His way. (That will be the case in heaven for sure!) For now, on this messed up earth, living a godly life is a struggle. Many times every day we must make choices to do things God’s way or our own way. I’m just so thankful that as Christians we have the Holy Spirit living in us, empowering us to live a godly life.

I often think of life as a very long journey with many different paths to choose from. There’s only so much of the path we can see so we have to trust God that He’s leading us the best way. Often we see steep mountains or endless deserts ahead and it’s hard not to lose hope. Meanwhile the enemy of course is offering us all sorts of side paths that look easy and fun.

I wonder what Joseph, in the Old Testament, thought about the twists and turns his life took. Everything seemed great at first. He was the favorite son in a wealthy family. He sauntered around in a special coat his father gave him. Then suddenly, everything changes and he is being sold into slavery by his own brothers. We read that he had crazy ups and downs through the next decades, being second only to Pharaoh at times while living in a prison other times. He could have never predicted what a wild life he would lead! Was he tempted to feel sorry for himself? Or to doubt God? We don’t read that in the Bible but I’m sure I would have done both in his place! Then we find out that through all of these crazy circumstances, God had put Him in the perfect place to be able to literally save his entire family from starving in a seven year famine. We get a small peek into how elaborate and unexpected God’s plans really are.

When the very brothers that betrayed Joseph finally come into Joseph’s presence decades later, they are sure they are going to be punished severely. I love Joseph’s reply,

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)

It’s a great reminder that God’s ways are very different from our ways. We think we know what is best for ourselves and those we love, but we can only see a very small part of the picture. God sees it all and in His wisdom weaves together our paths to result in what is truly best for us. It is hard to be in the midst of difficulties but we can rest in the fact that nothing is random or out of God’s control. He doesn’t want any evil to happen but since we do live in this fallen world, He will use everything, the good and the bad, to accomplish His purposes. Whether today is a great day or another one in the dungeon, we can rest assured that,

“…God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Walk With Me

I want to run, but God says, Walk with me. 

It’s hard for me to keep in step with the Lord many days. I really do want to but I get impatient for what’s next. His timing seems so slow to me. So I run ahead or take a side path and get myself all tired out. I try to force things to happen that are meant for another time. Finally in my fatigue and frustration, I get back to my spot walking side by side with Jesus again.

I’m sorry, I tell Him. That was a bad idea. 

He just smiles and says, Walk with me. 

I want to walk with Him. I pray I will this time.

The Cute Pet Tiger

Romans 6:2… “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”

Sometimes I just need to remind myself how God sees sin because I become too comfortable with it. Sin offends God. It’s hideous and nauseating. Yet we have a term for our most common struggles, our “pet sins”. Sure, they are annoying but they also seem oddly comfortable to us.

I come back to a story I heard years ago about a man choosing an adorable tiger cub for a pet. He knew it was a bad idea but did it anyway. No one else knew. It would just be for a time, he told himself. It’s so cute and manageable (right now). And it does need food and water! You can guess the ending of the story.

What the guy needed was a reasonable friend to knock some sense into him! Even better would be a person that knew the terror of being anywhere near a real tiger at all. He would have freaked out and called animal control right away. These are the people the guy really needed. Then he would still be alive.

It makes me think, what kind of friend am I? Where would I have stood on the adorable tiger cub issue? The cub did seem cute and cuddly. How many cute, cuddly sins do I keep myself? And does anyone else know about them?

I’ve been re-reading Frank Perreti’s book “This Present Darkness”. I remember reading it as a teen because it really changed the way I thought about good and evil in the world. As Christians we serve the God that has all authority so we don’t have to live in fear. Praise God! But Peretti did a great job showing how easily we as people can be manipulated into the devil’s schemes. Sometimes it’s simply complacency that blinds us to the evil in the world. Other times it’s pure foolishness. Whatever it is, we do need God’s help and the support of our Christian community to shake us out of our stupor once again so we can see what is real.

Give us your eyes. Lord! Help us see sin for what it is, be sickened by it, and kick it out of our homes and lives. We want to love what you love, Lord, and hate what you hate. In Jesus powerful name I pray, Amen.