As I have shared before, I am somewhat of an "environmentalist." I can be very easily shaped by my surroundings and can let them determine my mood and my consequent actions. I watch my children being so easily overwhelmed by :
"I'm too hot."
"I'm too cold."
"That's too much for me."
"I want more."
"That's too short."
"This is too long."
As I work to help them grow in understanding of Him, I smile, as they are merely walking the same journey I am. He promises that He will complete the work He began in us as His children. Oh how I wish He would hurry up and complete it! :) But He says He will be completing it in us "until that day" (the day we are with Him at last!). So until then, I know that He will continue His sanctifying work in me- the work of molding me into the image of Himself.
As He continues this work in me, I find myself making decisions with the wrong motivations. (Oh I kid you not- as we work hard to make decisions about what to take overseas and what to get rid of and the big "WHY" behind every little thing, and even as we consider potential tribes to live among, there are many more inner battles than I ever would have imagined!! ... go ahead, try it next time you do your spring cleaning... try and get rid of everything that is not necessary. This isn't a right/wrong issue... but I promise you it will give you the opportunity to confront corners of your heart that you didn't even know were hiding. You'll discover yourself clinging to things or to ideas that you didn't realize had any value to your heart!) I make decisions based on the world around me. But see, I know that if I live that way, I will bring 'destruction'. I will be 'wrapped up in my own kingdom' instead of His. If we ALL walked in our own way, that would bring an unbelievable amount of destruction. In fact, it does! And it did for Israel as well, as we read about in Judges- "every man did what was right in his own eyes."
But if I fix my eyes on Christ, and set my mind and heart on things above, He can so much more effectively use me as a tool in His hand! No one would be dumb enough to swing the hammer down with their eyes closed! And yet we do it all the time... striking our own thumbs and crying and blaming Him or someone else for it. He has made it clear that He is our life. He is to be 'the openness of our eyes.' In other words, if I am not focused and motivated and living for the hope He has guaranteed for me, it is as though my eyes are closed. Dark. Blind.
So let us throw off everything that hinders and run with perseverance the race that is set before us! (Heb. 12.1-3)
Letting go of "all" (all the nothingness) this world offers and walking in this hope makes breathing in and breathing out worthwhile.
It makes it worth walking a different direction than I had wanted to walk.
It makes it worth freeing myself of the rigidness of my own opinions.
It makes it worth throwing off the weight of earthly material possessions.
Oh how incredibly worth it He is!!
And what wonderful freedom, contentment, and joy He brings, JUST AS HE PROMISED, when we let go of our lives for His sake.
*Enjoy the inspiring song below, which speaks about this topic.
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