Where to, God? Part 1

Sometimes, it feels like there aren't ANY choices...
Sometimes, that's because there are just too many.

My favorite song by Rich Mullins is one he recorded as a demo, shortly before his death in 1997. In the final verse of "Hard to Get," which is about the struggle to understand God's relationship to man, Rich sings:

I can't see where You're leading me, unless You've led me here
To where I'm lost enough to let myself be led

It can be difficult, in the midst of depression or despair, to feel the Hand of God on your life. In an economy where finding a job that allows you to support your family is itself a monumental task -- so monumental, in fact, that many have simply given up looking -- it's easy to wonder: where is God's plan for my life?

Before my children were born, that was where I found myself. I had left my job -- a dead-end position in corporate communications that, at least, paid a living wage -- in order to more fully engage in freelance video production. I was an entrepreneur! I had begun working with a woman who had established herself in the professional videography world, and we had plans to take her company beyond weddings and graduations. The time was right. People would pay for our services, and there was plenty of money to go around.

I had planned to leave my position right before 9/11/2001, and left shortly thereafter. I was just too short-sighted to understand the economic impact at the time. I learned. After years of struggling and taking on part-time jobs, I was offered a position with another company to do exactly what I had wanted to do, but with full-time hours and pay. I would build their video services business from the ground up, and it would be exciting, and new, and fulfilling. And, to make a long story short, it was a bitter disappointment.

Just like that, I was back to substitute teaching. To taking whatever wedding video job I could find, and filling the rest of my hours through a temp service. I was briefly offered a full-time, entry-level position with a multi-billion dollar corporation, only to see the position eliminated before my first day of work.

It was depressing. It was debilitating. There were days I couldn't even get off the couch. I was just... ashamed. Saddened that I was unable to provide for my family. Beginning to crumble under the debt and pressure. My wife and I were fighting about everything. Put simply, if my little family had a future, I couldn't see it.

Jeremiah 29:11-12

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

I love to look back and see now how the Lord moved in my life. How He positioned  me from depression to trust in Him. This is all part of a larger story, of course... one that is still playing itself out, even now. 

I couldn't see God's Hand leading me. I couldn't see that He led me to exactly that point -- the point at which I could realize that I -- and my family -- needed to let Him lead.

The Law of the Lord is to Love

The one thing Christians seem to have a hard time with, when it comes to the "religion" aspect of our Faith is how easy it really is to become a follower of Christ. On many levels, this really makes a lot of sense. After all, noting worth having is simply given away, right? You work for it; you fight for it; you grab hold and never let go.

Fair enough.

Then you have that whole Law and Prophets -- more or less everything before Jesus came to the Earth. Ancient Israel certainly had to do more than just sit back and accept a free gift. Certainly, that doesn't just disappear, right?

Strangely, though Jesus Himself shows and tells us how to follow Him, it's still so easy to get caught up in "being religious."

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

He gives further explanation in Matthew 22. 

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
 
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (34-40)

So, when it comes to following Jesus, the daily question I ask myself is this: why is it so much easier to try to obey "the law" -- that is, to be religious -- than it is to simply love? We're so caught up in "do"s and "don't"s that it becomes easy to judge others rather than love them.

The truth is, sometimes, Jesus is asking a lot when he asks us to love our neighbors. Other people can be rude, obnoxious, or otherwise just plain unlikeable. It's so much easier, sometimes, to cling to our religiosity and to look down our noses at all those sinners out there, and to believe ourselves to be "good people."

It's easier to forget that we, too, are fallen and that, if it weren't for the Love of Christ and the indwelling of His spirit, we, too, are just a bunch of sinful people who need a little Grace. And a whole lot of love.

Too Bad The Colors Don't Match

I grew up in Michigan with a Barry Sanders poster on my wall. It wasn't always easy being a Lions fan... heartbreaking, in fact, during the Sanders years. But it's what I grew up with and, as somebody who really has never had time to be a regular sports fan, liking the Lions was simply a part of my heritage. As an adult, I found I longed for those Thanksgivings with my family, watching the Lions braving the cold while the smell of turkey, stuffing, and varied pies wafted from the kitchen. A New Yorker for seven years, I never cared about their teams one way or another -- a condition borne of the fact that I simply didn't have anyone with whom to watch the game. Yeah... I'm a social football watcher.

Since moving to Wisconsin, of course, football is an inescapable part of the culture. Especially when you live just a quick drive away from Lambeau Field. After being introduced to the team in the best possible way -- a friend took me to a Packers preseason game shortly after we moved out here -- I developed a genuine affinity for my new home team. Which is great... except for when they play the Lions. Like this coming Sunday.

Try as I might, there's a bit of a divided loyalty there. Though I really do like Green Bay, my childhood self won't let me wish defeat on my Lions. The result is a sort of apathy, the end result of which is that I root for the most convenient.

Go Pack!

Jesus said in Matthew 6:24,

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Ultimately, in football or in life, you will choose sides. If your loyalty is split between you and God, your heart will simply do what is easiest and, before long, God won't even be in the picture. If you're going to serve God, you must make your choice.

As for me, praising God that He is as stable as I am fickle, I gladly choose to serve my Savior.

If You're Still Stalling, You Haven't Been Repaired

This has probably happened to you, too: I took my car to a shop a couple years back, because it wouldn't start properly. The mechanic looked it over, fixed... something... and declared it repaired. Within a couple of days, I noticed the car still wasn't starting the way it should and took it back. I don't know what the mechanic fixed, but it wasn't the problem. If he had, I would have seen a change. Pretty basic stuff.

In the same way, a lot of people claim to know Jesus -- that He has come in and transformed their lives. But, when you actually look at their lives, it seems nothing has changed.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that in Christ we are a new creation. Not a changed creation -- new. Meaning, if we are truly transformed in Jesus, we will be different than we were before. We will reflect Christ to those around us, creating an undeniable witness.

If the book of 1 John has an overall message to it, I think it's this: that people truly transformed by Christ will show it in the way they treat others.

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. (1 John 2:3-11)

God's will in our lives is evidenced by our love for those around us. It's really that simple. 

I don't have a lot to add, except this: First John is an exceptional book, and not extremely long. Ask God to prepare your heart, to open it to His teaching, and then take a moment to read this epistle. And as you read, compare it to your own life and ask: Does my life reflect the change God has made in me -- and if it doesn't, can I really claim to know Him?

Really, It's Just a Fun Word To Say

John 10:10 is a familiar enough verse, neatly tucked at the end of Jesus' description of Himself as a shepherd, who keeps the gate of the sheepfold against "thieves and robbers."

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

There's a lot of confusion in our world about the meaning of that word: "Abundantly." Purveyors of the prosperity Gospel will tell you it means God wants to grant you health and wealth on earth, and to give you a comfortable life.  Of course, if we look at the rest of Scripture, we can pretty quickly rule that out. But what does it mean?

Some synonyms for "Abundant:"
copious, profuse, overflowing, plentiful, teeming, rich.

When Jesus talks about Life, most often, He is referring, not merely to our temporary bodies, but our entire selves. Our souls. He's not talking just about our brief time on this planet, but our eternities, starting right now. 

I have come to believe that an Abundant Life is one given up to the Will of God. It is a life filled, teeming, overflowing with the Love of our Savior. It is a life of service to God and His people. An abundant life is a life free from Sin, not given over to temptation, and filled with the joy that can only come by being called a Child of God. 

Miracles 2: Who Brought the Fish?

"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." The very first words of Scripture establish without a doubt that the Authority over all things is such simply because He had the power to create it. Everything we see, hear, feel, touch, know, sense -- and even more than that! -- was created by God.

So, when it comes to the miraculous, we can also know that what we call supernatural is just God interacting with His creation in ways only He can. Yet, for all of that, have you noticed how often God requires a human component in His works? Four separate times in the book of Luke alone (7:50, 8:48, 17:19, 18:42), Jesus tells somebody, "your faith has made you well."

Not, "Hey, look what I did." Not, "God made you better." Even though He could have rightfully said either, where He focused was "your faith."

Throughout Scripture, there is a pattern of cooperation between God and Man. God could have simply knocked down the walls of Jericho, for example. Instead, He commanded Israel to march around it, and finally blow their trumpets. Why? Perhaps so there could be no mistake that it was the God of Israel, and not a mere earthquake, which accomplished the task. Or perhaps to set the standard of obedience and trust.

One of my favorite stories from Scripture is from Matthew 14:13-21, where Jesus feeds over five thousand people with five loaves of bread and a couple of fish.

Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
“Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The Lord actually accomplished this type of miracle at least twice in recorded testimony, and each time, He asked that the food first be brought to Him for blessing.  But did you notice what Jesus said to His disciples? "You give them something to eat." 

God accomplishes miracles today; but we are His hands, just as His disciples were when He walked on Earth. He will bless the work of our hands, and multiply it to His purposes. All we have to do is bring the fish.

Miracles 1: The God of the Mundane

I've noticed something about the miracles of Jesus: no matter the reason for the miracle, no matter how big or how small, Jesus performed it with the same attitude and nonchalance as if He were carrying a box from one room to another. Something was one way; He wanted it to be another way. He made it happen.

He walked on water, as though He were walking down the street. He commanded a storm to be still as if telling His dog to "sit. Stay." He can do that. He created the water, and the storm.

I think we often feel as though a miracle ought to be accompanied by fanfare. As though we have to sing and dance and shout, and announce from on high before God will so much as heal a cataract. Televangelists have an organ playing obnoxiously before dancing down the aisle, raising up a trembling hand, and smacking a troubled audience member while declaring, "Be Healed!"

Jesus spat in some mud, smeared it on some guy's eye and told him to wash his face (John 9:1-7).

Very often, when we look for miracles at the hand of the God of the Universe, we're looking for some big announcement: Hey, look! I'm performing a miracle over here! Thunder! Lightning!

But the Jesus of the Bible just says, "Get up and walk." (Luke 5:22-24)

The truth is, when we look for the mighty miracles, for the trumpets to sound and a voice to come over the wind, we miss the every-day miracles. And when we miss the miraculous in the every day, we also miss the chance to be a part of a miracle ourselves.

(Coming up tomorrow... "Who brought the Fish" -- how God uses us to perform His great works)