Just a Spectator

Have you noticed that so often in the Bible there is action required? I can’t recall any place in scripture where there is a call to laziness.  I imagine it would go something like this:   “Go therefore and sittith down.  Doeth nothing and thou will reapeth all the benefits of the gifts thou hast been giveneth by me, sayeth the Lord.”  Instead, we are told to do things like: be strong, stand firm, resist, walk, put on…, be kind, love one another….  Life in Christ is an active thing. It is not a spectator sport. 

When I go to my son’s football games I am a definite spectator. I am an enthusiastic spectator, but still, just a spectator.  I jump up and down, yell at the refs and for our team.  I am sad when we lose and ecstatic when we win.  I encourage the players and tell them they have done a good job.  Still, I am just a spectator. I never actually think to myself, “Today is the day I will play the game.  I’m going to suit up, go out there, and give it my all.”  If you are really going to play the game, you can’t just sit on the sidelines.  No matter how enthusiastic you are, you are still just watching the game.

When you consider your life, are you a participant or are you sitting on the side lines watching life go by?  As a follower of Christ we can take off the old uniform for the team that didn’t fit (life outside of Christ) and put on the new one given to us when we became part of the family of God.  And as we put on this new life, our new uniform, we are renewed and we learn to “know our creator and become like Him” (Colossians 3:10).  Becoming like Christ also requires action. It isn’t just that we get the new uniform that says” I play for Team Jesus”.  As we seek Christ through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers, we become more like Him.

A friend and I were having lunch and she was saying how she just couldn’t tell if she was really saved. Where was the proof? The proof in her life and mine is in the transforming work of God.  Are you becoming more Christ-like? If you belong to Jesus and examine your life you can see him at work through your attitudes and decisions and priorities. Sometimes we see transformation in the corners of our lives we hide from others and sometimes we see it like a beacon: there He is, working, moving, changing and ever active.  Want to know Him more?  Join the team.  Really join it. Stop yelling on the side lines, suit up and give it your all.

Colossians 3:6, 10 “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.  Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your creator and become like him.”

Ephesians 4:23, 24 “Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God-truly righteous and holy.”

Comforter

The other day I received one of “those” emails. The ones that people forward, the ones sometimes viewed as “junk”, the ones I usually don’t even open before deleting! This email reminded me that today and every day, God is my comforter.

 “A four-year-old child had a next door neighbor who was an elderly gentleman, who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old Gentleman's' yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.  When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy just said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry.'” (author unknown)

God knows our heartaches and our hurts. He knows the cry of our hearts.  We can absolutely climb onto the lap of our Savior. He will comfort us, and he will understand our deepest hurts and longings. He will hear our cry.  Psalm 56:8 tells us, ”You keep track of all my sorrows, you have collected my tears in your bottle, you have recorded each one in your book.”  Like sea glass or shells collected on the shore as a treasure, God collects my tears. My tears and sorrows have meaning to him. 

Psalm 10:17 says, “O Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear.”  When all else is failing me, when I can’t stand alone, I can rely on God to strengthen my heart.

Our heavenly father knows your heart. He hears the desires of those who seek Him.  He strengthens our hearts, and he listens to our hurts.  Such a blessing.

Herding Ducks

Proverbs 3:5 & 6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path.

I have never thought of having “ducks in a row” as a bad thing.  I admit it. I value a good plan.  It is good to have a plan, to know the purpose of the plan, and to know where, how and when the plan will be executed.

To do this, you need skills with ducks.  It sounds crazy, but when anyone says "my ducks are all in a row", I think of little yellow ducks lined up on the side of the bathtub. Just as the ducks are finished lining up plans go awry. Life keeps moving regardless of the plan. Catastrophe somehow over takes the ducks.  In the bathtub of life large waves, mounds of bubbles, and squirt guns take out them out. One by one ducks are snatched away, lost at sea, wander off, and drown in the dailiness of life.

Good News!  Never once in scripture does God tell us to go forth and herd ducks. Instead, He tells us that we should be sheep yielding to the care & direction of the Good Shepherd.  He doesn’t tell us to go forth and plan, he tells us to allow him to direct our paths.  What about the sheep? Sheep are stupid! Sheep may be known for being stupid, but what God values about the sheep is their ability to recognize and follow the shepherd.

John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

I think God loves a good plan. But what he values is his plan. All through scripture his perfect plan is written out and woven through history for us to see. In regard to our plans,

Proverbs 19:21 tells us, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.” 

My plans must fall into alignment with His plan. I should be actively seeking his will for my life. When I am doing this, my plans will naturally fall into line with what He desires me to do.  This doesn’t mean that my ducks will cease to succumb to the catastrophes of life. It does mean that I will be able to see God’s purpose for me and know that His plan is perfect. It will help me to remember that he will accomplish the plans that he has set before me.