Busyness: What Will We Miss?

Busy.

More often than not, my schedule seems downright busy.  My husband is busy.  Our youth group teens are busy.  Their parents are busy.  My parents and brother are busy.  My friends are busy.  Everyone is busy.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.  After all, we were created to do work.  Ephesians 2:10 says that "we are [God's] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."  Even when God created Adam (before the fall of the human race into sin, mind you), He "put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it" (Gen. 2:15).  Working is one of our purposes in life.

Even so, just like anything else, work can become meaningless and detrimental to our fellowship with Christ if we separate it from Him.  It can even become an idol.  This can happen in several different ways, but there is one in particular that God brought to my attention.

This morning, I was reading in the third chapter of Exodus (nope, not Luke 10!  Although, the story of Mary and Martha is another one that God often uses to work on me in this area).  I've read this chapter many times before, but something caught my attention in a new way as I sat curled up with my Bible in our cozy little nook.  Feeling familiar with the passage, I read the following words quickly:

"Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.  So Moses said, 'I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.'  When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look..." (Ex. 3:1-4a).  

And I came to a screeching halt.

What if Moses hadn't turned aside to look?  I mean, I know it was a burning bush that wasn't being consumed and all, but still.  What if?  After all, he was working and going about his day just like any other day.  What if he had been so focused on the task at hand that he had somehow missed the burning bush altogether?  What if he had seen it and thought it was interesting, but decided that he just didn't have the time to stop and take a closer look?  What if he just wrote it off as some trick that his mind was playing on him or some coincidence?

But he did stop.

"When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!'  And he said, 'Here I am.'  Then He said, 'Do not come near hear; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.'  He said also, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God" (Ex. 3:4-6).

From here, Moses went on, along with Aaron, to be used of God to deliver the nation of Israel from the brutal, oppressive slavery of the Egyptians.  As they say, the rest is history.  

As I've thought about this passage today, God has been impressing upon my heart to:

(1) make sure that the work I am doing is the work He has called me to do.  I know even good work (e.g., ministries) can be worthless if it is not the work that He has designated for me to do.  I don't want to settle for what is good and miss out on what is best.

(2) make sure that I am not cruising through life so quickly and thoughtlessly that I miss His presence.

(3) make sure that I don't live with my eyes to the ground or so fixated on the work I want to do that I am blind to the ways God is showing Himself and working all around me.

(4) make sure that I am in tune to the Holy Spirit and that I respond to Him when I recognize His gentle, quiet prompting.  I grieve over the opportunities that I have missed the times when I have quenched Him.

God's timing is so perfect.  Lately, God has been rooting me in the fact that my work, first and foremost, is to be His witness: to make disciples who make disciples by sharing His Gospel message with those who don't know Him, by teaching His Word to those who do know Him, and by living a life that is evidence of the great gift that I have been given in Jesus Christ.  My husband and I took the youth group to a conference called Dare 2 Share recently, and I was greatly challenged to be an example in the area of evangelism to our youth.  In a couple days, we will also be participating in an Easter outreach to the community by taking cookies, homemade breads, and fliers for Easter Sunday to several families in our town in the hopes of building relationships and creating opportunities for Gospel conversations and encouraging prayer times.  Our pastor has been putting a huge emphasis on outreach and evangelism in his sermons, and my husband and I just started going through a devotional book together that is also centered on the Gospel and on outreach.  It is all very exciting and challenging.

Yet, I need to always remember the One whom all this is about and never get so wrapped up in it all that God Himself fades into the background.  It seems absurd that such a thing could even happen, but I know that it is a real danger.  I can do nothing worthwhile without His calling, His enabling, and His protection from the evil one.  I can do nothing if I am not abiding in Christ.

So, yes, I will be busy.  I will do the works God created me to do, but I will not let those works become an idol.  By God's grace, I will worship and adore Him alone and have fellowship with Him in the quietness and in the busyness.  By God's grace, I will do the works He created me to do in His strength and without losing sight of the One who is really doing the work.  By God's grace, I will notice the burning bushes, and I too will turn aside to look.  

                

                  

"Gentlemen, This is a Football"

A Bit of Background
I care very little about football.  My understanding of the game is very limited, so I lose interest quickly.  I have been trying to learn more about it from my husband as we watch our youth group teens compete.  However, in the cases when I do not know any of the football players personally (e.g. on TV), I am much happier to sit and crochet with my silky terrier, Nika, curled up next to me.  
   
All that to say, this post really has nothing to do with football.  Last weekend, Jonathan and I went to the Continuous Worship Conference at Maranatha Bible Camp.  The main speaker quoted Vince Lombardi (the quote found in the title of this post) during several of his messages to illustrate how we needed to come back to the basics of our faith.  At the time, I mentally assented to what he was saying (I had heard the same message many times before and will hear it many times in the future), but I didn't give it much more thought than that.

An Unexpected God-Appointment
Today, I found myself strangely motivated and energetic for a Sunday afternoon and began to sort through piles.  You know, those piles of newsletters, partially used gift cards, coupons, magazines, random mail, and other odds and ends that tend to swallow up some poor, unsuspecting counter.  My piles had been re-located to a bookshelf when we had some company over and were gradually pushed to the bottom of the priority list.  For some reason, the piles are less offensive to my organization-obsessed personality when they are on the bookshelf than when they are scattered haphazardly on the counter.  I've digressed.

While shuffling through said odds and ends, I came across a little booklet that my husband had given me several months ago.  He was wanting to use it for the youth group and asked me to read it so that he could get my thoughts on it.  "Life in 6 Words" was its title, and it was published by Dare 2 Share Ministries, Inc. as a companion for a short YouTube video titled "Life in 6 Words: The GOSPEL."  I started reading it during a trip to see my parents, but I was interrupted; I am ashamed to say that after my return home, the booklet was added to my pile and slowly forgotten until today.

After I finished with my sorting project, I sat down on the couch, watched the video, and read the booklet (the WHOLE booklet this time).  I had seen the video before, but it had been a while.  Just as it did the first time I watched it, it brought me to tears.  If you haven't seen it, go look it up.  Seriously, you can go do it right now.  It is a beautiful picture of the basics of the Christian faith to which the speaker at the conference pointed: the basics of the Gospel.

THE Truth: THE Gospel 
I have heard the Gospel hundreds of times in my life.  I say this not as a complaint but as a statement of fact.  I am very thankful that I grew up in a home with God-fearing parents who took me to a Bible-believing and Bible-preaching church.  My parents, Sunday School teachers, camp counselors, Vacation Bible School teachers, mentors, Bible college teachers, youth group leaders, and more wonderful people have all been very dedicated to teaching me the truth, and I acknowledge the incredible blessing that they have been to me.  Nevertheless, it has been easy for me to let the Gospel become mundane: to lose grip on the reality of it.

I am a sinner.  My sin separated me from a perfect God.  God is the only One who could possibly pay the price for sin, so Jesus (God) paid the punishment for my sin through His death on the cross.  His resurrection proves that the payment was acceptable and effective.  All I have to do is believe in (trust in/rely upon) Jesus alone to save me, and I am forgiven and have eternal life forever.  My relationship with God is restored.

The words can come so easily and thoughtlessly, but to get a glimpse of the reality of those words is something beyond compare.  When I truly contemplate how utterly hopeless, enslaved, and doomed I was before Christ and how He...how God, completely undeserving, took every drop of the punishment I deserved.  GOD Himself!  The all-powerful, all-knowing, sovereign GOD died for me.  Jesus died for me.  He did that while I was still a sinner: while I had no desire for Him, no love for Him, no thought of Him....Him: the One who created me!  It makes no logical sense, but God loved me.  God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son.  Jesus died to take the punishment for my sin against Himself.  Now, He is alive!  Death could not hold Him, and He wants to talk to me, to guide me, and to listen to me.  He wants to show me how to live life for Him because, after all, how could I do anything else?  All that He has done for me, He has done for you as well.  The relationship He desires to have with me, He desires to have with you too.  Does this stir up your soul as it does mine?

I thank God that He brought that little book to my attention today, not because the book itself had some sort of mystical power, but because it clearly, biblically, and effectively brought me back to the point of grasping the reality of the Gospel once more.  This is not at all to say that I was saved again.  I believe that once a person believes in Jesus once, that person is saved forever (eternally secure).  Yet, today I was blessed to remember the essence of my faith and to experience the power of it all over again.

A Challenge
This is not the first time that I've been brought back to the basics of my faith since being saved, but times like this one have been too few and far between.  I am curious to see how my heart and attitude would change if I were to make remembering the Gospel part of my regular routine...even more so than at Communion once a month.  Because of this, I am embarking on an adventure, along with any who would join me, to intentionally meditate (spend serious time thinking deeply about) on the truth of the Gospel at least once a week for two months.  The Gospel brings all the issues of life and various doctrinal beliefs back into perspective.  It is the focus of Scripture as a whole, and it is seriously life-changing: not just in the single event of salvation, but in the gift of daily life on this earth.  What would happen if it were consistently the center of our thoughts and actions?

Will you join me?

Even if you don't know Jesus or this "Gospel," will you give Him a chance?  A REAL chance?  If you don't know where to start, you can start with the video I mentioned earlier.  You could also go to www.biblegateway.com and read the book of John.

Even if you have been burned by a local church or by believers in Jesus, I implore you to set aside all of your preconceptions and hangups and give Him a chance.  Other people, including Christians, will change, disappoint, and fail.  Jesus will not.  Please, give HIM a chance.

Even if you are where I have often been and can recite the Gospel backwards and forwards, will you let the Gospel continue to work in your heart?  Will you take time to remember what God has done?

I am going to start by reading the book of John with the intention of meditating on God's great salvation, and I can't wait to see what He does.  In the signature phrase of my brother-in-law, "Hallelujah, Jesus!"  Thank You for the gift of You.                                      

Renewing the Mind: From Complaining to Thanksgiving

I caught myself again today.  I caught myself entertaining those thoughts that so easily creep in, tear my focus from where it should be, and completely change my attitude if I let them.

Why all the snow?  Mr. Huseby just said that we are supposed to get anywhere from 3-18 inches this weekend, and Becca is supposed to be coming to visit.  Hasn't it snowed plenty already?  What if it keeps snowing like this and I can't go to Sterling next weekend?  What if Jon and I can't go to Marysville over Spring Break to look for a place to live once we are done with school? Why can't it just stay nice like it was several days ago?   

Ahhhh!  What in the world is that wretched sound that just came from that key?  This piano is in desperate need of a thorough tuning.  Why hasn't it been tuned?  There are even business cards for tuners sitting on the piano!

It's Thursday: cleaning day.  What is the point in cleaning on slushy days like today? I'd rather just crochet while I watch Downton Abbey.     

You get the idea.  Complaining comes so easily, and it is so easy to rationalize.  I don't like to hear myself complain, and I know that no one else does either, not to mention the stench it must be to my Lord.

Before heading too far down road of discontentment and irritation, He nudged me gently.

My child, why are you thinking this way?  Your vision is far too narrow right now, and you are being very ungrateful.  

It's funny how counting my blessings (including the ones that are incognito) can so quickly stifle my complaints, worry, and discontentment.  Looking at what God has done instead brings rejoicing, peace, and contentment: not because I assume that God will turn everything to roses and sunshine, but because I remember what is true and Who is true.

Lord, I am thankful for the abundance of snow that is quenching this parched land.  Thank you for Becca's friendship and for the technology to communicate with her even if she can't come to visit. Thank you for having the future in your hands.  Whether that future includes trips to Sterling and Marysville or not, I trust you.  Thank you for clearing the skies enough yesterday for me to get to town to get groceries for the next several weeks.  

Thank you for pitchy pianos that keep me humble.  Thank you for a mom who wouldn't let me quit taking piano lessons when I wanted to so badly.  Thank you for excellent the excellent teachers I had, and thank you for the opportunities to play here at school.  

Thank you for a cozy apartment where my husband and I can escape from the frigid outdoors.  Thank you for the discipline you are developing in me through keeping the apartment clean and somewhat organized.  Thank you for the time I have right now to develop that discipline and the confidence you then give me to use this place you have provided for hospitality.  

Thank you for a husband with a servant's heart who, quietly and without fanfare, does whatever needs to be done when he can, even if it is the simple task of picking up empty Communion cups or folding a load of towels.  

Thank you for a wonderful family that makes silly videos, worships together, and loves each other.  Thank you for a God-fearing dad and father-in-law who both work so hard in different ways to provide for their families and to reach out to hurting people at the same time.  Thank you for a faithful mom and mother-in-law who are always available, who share my heart, and whom I can text about plants, crocheting, worries, puppies, struggles, joys, and jokes.

Thank you for friends who still share their lives with me even though many of them are so incredibly far away.  Thank you for the ways you are growing them and growing me through them.  Thank you for heart connections with my dearest friends that go so deep, they are difficult to express.       

Above all, thank you for Your Son.  Thank you for sending Him to take all of the punishment for my sin on the Cross.  Thank you for the institution of Communion and the way it helps me to slow down and remember who You are and who I am.  Thank you for your forgiveness, mercy, grace, and love.  You satisfy my soul's deepest needs and desires.  Thank you for making salvation so simple.  I believe in Your Son, and I am saved.  Thank you for nudging me when I need to be nudged, even when I am stubborn for a time.  Thank you for the hope you have given me by the resurrection of Your Son, and thank you for the promise that you are coming again.  I love you Lord.  Help me to love you in my obedience today.  

This is the day that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it!