gladitudes

Every once in a while, I’ll read and hear and see things that make me wonder if God is trying to get something across to me. It seems to be happening now.

A week or two ago I read this and it really humbled me:

Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV84)

5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death–
even death on a cross!

Jesus Christ was the only man to ever walk the earth who had the right to demand respect, service, honor, and worship from other men. He was, “in very nature God.” He, however, set the ultimate example of service–he allowed himself to be restrained into the form of a human, he was born in a lowly position before men, he never demanded anything from us, but simply served. He did this to the point of dying the death we deserved to die, because that is all of our most urgent need: forgiveness of sins.

That’s incredible! And I’m called to live likewise. That’s scary and humbling and hard and often times I don’t think I could begin to do it–but I’m called to.

A few days ago Lecrae (Christian artist from Atlanta) tweeted this, and it coincided with what I’ve been thinking about:

Be careful when you find you’re only thinking, praying, & living for yourself. A selfish lifestyle is a Satanic lifestyle.

He puts it harshly (in my opinion)–It offends me for someone to say I’m living a Satanic lifestyle. But, they say: if the shirt fits, wear it. And it’s true. When we live only for ourselves–even if we’re doing “Christian” things like praying–we’re living selfishly and it’s evil. I do not want to be like that, but, O, I need grace to change.

Finally, I read this bit this morning from My Utmost for His Highest and it really resonated with me:

The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God.

I really believe (largely from my own experience) that when we get totally self-focused, it starts to eat away at us. At worst we can go crazy (literally: insane), at best we just become useless for any good (to others and, incidentally, to ourselves).

I believe the full life that God has designed for us, is one primarily of outward focus. A focus on God first–His sufficiency, provision, love, grace, kindness, etc and secondly on the people He has put in our lives–loving, serving, and caring for them.

Now, I’ll be honest: This is wildly hard for me. I’d rather not. But, I’m also wicked. And, I guess, I know and believe that the best thing for me and the most true and right thing is obedience to God. So, alas, I will do my best to trust and obey.

A final word that comes to mind is what Jesus said in Luke 9:24-25:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

So, I will press on to lose my life, that I might gain in the end. God is faithful, good, and just and is fully worthy of my trust and obedience.

I had a good conversation with a dear friend of mine last night about God and His interest in our hearts over the outside appearances that we put on. I read this today and really loved the image it gives.

Matthew 21:28-32 (NLT)

“But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. ³⁰Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go.

³¹“Which of the two obeyed his father?”

They replied, “The first.”

Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. ³²For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.”

This parable makes it really clear: What counts before God isn’t the neat, tidy lives that we try to portray. The thing that counts is a heart that is humble and repentant before God. Jesus affirms the hearts of prostitutes and thieves here over the hearts of religious people whose lives look stellar.

This is convicting to me on a personal level because I know that oftentimes, my energy and my efforts are spent more on making my outside appearance good, than on having a humble and right heart before my God. It makes me think..

Be blessed today…

Sometimes there are these moments in life where I question my ability to continue moving forward. It’s like I’m on a journey and ahead of me is a mountain and the closer I get the bigger it seems. I gaze at the mountain and begin to fret wondering how I will ever be able to scale it or at least how will I ever do it without injury or defeat.

I guess that is a little bit of where I am and have been. In these moments my need for help—my desperation for grace and salvation—becomes so apparent that I often find myself crippled with anxiety or overjoyed at the fulfillment of my need. I find (and am finding) that my deepest moments of despair can be the greatest opportunities to learn to trust God and find peace and joy in Him.

Now, if you’re a Christian and especially if you’ve been one for any period of time, this will sound very cliché. The notion of crying to God when we’re at the end of our rope and finding His grace there is common. What I am finding, though, is that when I actually find myself at the end of my rope, I don’t know what to do. I haven’t been here that much and all the sermons, books, and teachings on trusting God through trials seem to be just vague shadows in my mind. I’m on that border of the lands of theory and reality. The land of theory where the solution is a cliché is comfortable and familiar to me; the land of reality where one must take each step by faith instead of by reciting a phrase to make things right is unfamiliar and scary to me.

But in this land where I must walk by faith and not rely on what my eyes tell me or my heart wants me to believe, I find there is overwhelming peace and joy. These not, though, because of the faith I’m expressing, but completely because of the one in whom I am expressing the faith.

Isaiah 30:18 (NASB) says,

Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you
For the LORD is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.

God wants to give us grace and he wants to show us compassion! How often we stumble in the dark instead of just reaching for His hand? We forfeit such grace in doing this.

Psalm 43:5 (ESV) says,

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my salvation and my God.

Again, why do we get down? Why do we fear? God is worth trusting! We must believe it!

And finally, Psalm 44:3 says,

They did not conquer the land with their swords;
   it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory.
It was your right hand and strong arm
   and the blinding light from your face that helped them,
   for you loved them.

The reality at the end of the day is that victory only comes at the hand of the Lord. Our success is totally up to Him. If we only would seek Him and look to Him when we’re in trouble, we would live lives that would be so much more peaceful and so much more full of joy.

Psalm 16:11 (ESV):

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 1:1-2
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

I think I have heard these verses many times, agreed with them theoretically, and quickly forgotten them. Reading through them now, I want to actually learn from them.

I have two quick thoughts after reading this. The first is more about the verse, the second about our hearts.

1.) Something I’ve really been struck with over the past few weeks is the deep need that we, as children of God, have for His word. Psalm 19:7-14 talks of how good it is and therefore how much we have to benefit from it. In Matthew 4:4 Jesus speaks of how man shouldn’t live only on physical food, but also on the spiritual food that is the word of God. And here in Psalm 1, it speaks of the blessings that are to be gained by delighting in and meditating on the law of God. I want to be faithful to give God’s word the place in my life that it deserves.

2.) For a few weeks about a week ago, I have just had a really rough time reading God’s word. I would read it, but it just seemed so stale and dead to me. This has been really frustrating to me, because I usually love God’s word and even crave it when I am not reading it. I’ve been praying that God would help me figure out what’s wrong. I am not completely sure, but in thinking a lot about stuff, I am pretty convinced that it has been my own pride.

I think it’s easy to read the word of God having a get it done mentality and not really being open to what He has to say. 1 Corinthians 2 says that spiritual truth of God is only communicated to us through the Spirit of God. If we’re living and acting in pride, I think it really blocks us from hearing from God’s Spirit and it keeps us from understanding His word. Not that He’s silent or distant, but that in our hearts we are opposed to Him.

We ought to come before God in humility so that when He wants to speak, we’ll be willing to hear and obey.