It follows that if we have peace with God that we can keep peace within our soul. It all depends on the sincerity of our efforts and belief. While it’s easy to complain, it’s difficult to be content. We all have dreams. They are from our childhood, a relative or your very best friend. In order for our aspirations to be achieved we must believe in them. Then we must work to make them come true. Battling life is difficult enough; battling yourself is crazy making. When I was young I always wanted to be a world class spy. That didn’t work out. So, on to another dream. I wanted to be able to travel the world. That did work out! I have travelled extensively and enjoyed every place I’ve visited. I’ve even gone back to same place time and time again. I usually don’t have just one dream. There are several that are being worked on in a multitasking way. As a result I have a lot of projects planned or started but not completed. My last book took over 12 years from start to publish. The confusion that has existed with this multi-faceted approach to my dreams has been self-made. Somewhere there has to be a plan. Not just any plan but an attainable plan. I know I can find a diagram somewhere but I think you know what I mean. To make matters worse, I have ADHD! How funny is that!! Multiple dreams, projects and aspirations and very few completed.
Things get in the way of our dreams. I think its called life. Just when we made a right turn the world turned left. Then there is the catch up on projects or dreams that should have been done yesterday. It’s like putting off the dream and waiting for it to magically be done overnight. That doesn’t happen. Reality has us rushing to finish painting that fence just before the house goes on the market. We’ve manufactured our own confusion. When we are in this mode; there is no peace in your soul. Whether we live life offensively or defensively is determined by how we are reacting. If we make things happen we are living offensively. If we wait for things to happen and then react, we are living defensively. What type are you? I’ve put in time in both arenas. I do accept responsibility for the confusion and helter skelter life I have lived. Some of it was really great and other parts were heartbreaking. Regardless, you and I have both let or put things in the way of our dreams. It should go without saying that the same would be true as to what we do to God’s dreams through us. Maybe he needs you or me to be the person to intersect another’s life about to crash. Can we put our dream down long enough to take care of business?
What are God’s dreams for us? The Bible says he wants to give us the desires of our hearts. I think this is a trick statement. We hear; God will make sure the dream I have will take place. What God means; if we are surrendered to God we will know the dream he works out through us and we do it. So, in reality we’re talking different languages. We are hearing in filtered hearing what God wants so we don’t really know how to do what he asks. There are prosperity leaders who claim to be Christian that ask you to believe that you can be rich because God will take care of all your wishes. That is not true. People are led astray but something that sounds too good to be true. Those people who preach the prosperity gospel are set out to make a buck off innocent and sometimes poor people.
The big idea is that God does want us to have the desires of our hearts; IF the desire of our hearts is consistent with God’s desires. There is a strange interchange that takes place in the Christian’s life regarding giving and receiving. Here it is. Don’t miss this. When we are fully occupied doing what God wants us to do we don’t have time or thought to think about self. In the meantime, God has been taking care of the desires of your heart. The labor of love we give to God is returned to us a thousand fold. When we are so focused on sharing the love of God to others in any situation, we rarely have time to think about ourselves. Sometimes we even forget what it was we wanted God to do for or to us. Don’t believe me? Yeah, I wouldn’t at first either. We have a world that looks at things backwards. As soon as you pay me I’ll do this or that. As soon as I have a signed contract I’ll take care of that job. When I’m sure you have the means to uphold your part of the bargain I’ll get started. The law of the world is to take what is yours first and then give to others only what the contract specifies. Begrudgingly we do the same to God. We have time to meet the boys at the bar after work but can’t get up on Saturday morning for a men’s breakfast. You know this is true.
God does want us to have the desires of our hearts. When we are giving ourselves to him we often are so blessed that it no longer matters if he gives us the desires or not. Life becomes more about God and less about me.
Another problem we pose in this question is our sincerity. More to the point is how little sincerity we actually have with God and with others. Do we really want to serve God? Do we really want to serve our wife? Do we really want to serve our children? Do we really want to serve our neighbor? Do we really want to serve our boss? We know the answer to these questions and because we know them, we avoid talking about them. Why is it we don’t do things as unto God? Are we that calloused that we cannot see how fake we are to God? What has happened to a heart for God? Do you really want to be serious with God in your life or do you want to get what you can and avoid the rest? Still think I’m off base? Let’s take a look at what compels us to do God’s will. What are our motives for doing for God and man? This requires you to take a serious look at yourself. Why do you think you should drop by the bar and have a couple cold ones with the boys instead of going home to your wife and children? Where does your priority fall? Perhaps you will only have to tell a little lie about how the boss wanted to talk with you. That won’t explain the alcohol on your breath. You have chosen you. That’s who was taken care of. How about that weekly trip to the beauty parlor to have your hair, nails and toes done? Is it really for God who already knows you are beautiful? Are you really doing it for your husband? The kids don’t care what you look like. They just want you. Who gets what? Well your friends are there and you can talk about Jesus with them. Really!? Instead of swapping prayer concerns, you swap rumors. That is exactly what Jesus wants you to do. And so when you get out of the parlor you telephone you know who and pass on those prayer requests. How gracious of you.
How can anyone have peace with their soul when there is none in the first place? Having a drink with the boys doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong. Having a set time for you to take care of you at the parlor isn’t necessarily wrong either. Remember in both examples that it was God who brought the income to your home so you could do just what you are doing. What you need to ask God is if he is pleased with the way your spent the money and time? I’m not sure it will go over very well. Remember that our lives can be full and blessed if we want them to be. Just not in the way the world thinks. I was asked one day years ago if my selfishness had hurt anyone. I answered yes. It was the truth. Selfishness is self-love. Selflessness is God’s love. Big difference if we can dare to compare the two. Selfishness very seldom brings about peace in your soul. Selflessness comes from the peace in your soul. Big difference…
I no longer dream of being a spy. It’s childish to engage that thought when God has better for me. My life and your life shouldn’t be a comparison to anyone else’s life. Yet that is what happens. We learn it as children, carry it into the teen years and it bears fruit just when we are trying to figure out who we are. From the first time teams were chosen and you were chosen first or last. To the batting order where you are last because the "better" batters carry the game. You didn’t fit with this group or that group so you ended up with "that" group that didn’t fit anywhere. We carry this into college, work and relationships. It’s difficult to have and exercise God’s labor and aspirations when all of this is swirling around our heads and hearts. Confusion reigns and peace is non-existent. Your soul is neglected and you wonder why you were put on the earth. If this is you, there is hope. Break free from the bondage of those stereotypes and be the person God has wanted you to be. When you do so the peace of God that passes all understanding will settle into your soul like a well-worn hat on your head. When we are pressed by our inner desire to give ourselves to God’s service the Holy Spirit comes near and takes care of our hearts desires. Why? Because our hearts desires reflect God’s hearts desires.
When we are in love with God and enthralled with his presence in our lives we are concerned of little else. Do you remember the day you first believed? Were you at peace for the first time in so much of your life? Did you feel you could run into the Father’s arms and be held and comforted? I did. My life was changed on that day forever. I’ve gone off the side of the road many times since but God is always just a step away walking beside me. He’s always there waiting for us to come to our senses and return to him. Then he forgives us and loves us like nothing has ever happened. How does that work? Well, it’s sure not a human trait. It’s an out of this world thing and I’m glad it’s there.
Many times mankind labors in vain, loses track of aspirations and are unable to keep peace with their soul all because we forget the sincerity factor. I don’t know about you but I tire of those speeches, letters, advertisements that promote what I will call the impossible. I know all things are possible with God but this isn’t about that. This is about how we can take a pill a day with a glass of water and lose all our fat in a month or two. The vain element is thinking something can happen with no input from us. I’m not going to become fit unless I exercise. I’m not going to be literate until I learn to read. I’m not going to become famous if I remain a hermit. I’m not going to be skinny if I continue to not exercise and eat too much. There. I’ve printed the truth. If we think contrary to this and believe the hype put on by the world, we are vain. Changing our statement of "I can…" to "With the grace of God I can…" makes all the difference in our lives and the lives of those we know. Romans tells us that we "can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens us." Apart from God our self takes over and lays claim to our successes and ignores our failures. Many of us do this. When I go through papers and letters I have written years ago I find some of my language telling. The "I can" or "I did" or "I think" used to permeate my writings. There was no God included in my writing. Consequently, I had only to look at where my life was at that moment and see that there was very little peace in my soul. There was also a lack of sincerity in my desire to live a godly life. I’m not proud of those times in my life. I’m not proud of the times God had a door open only for me to ignore it. The instant we act or don’t act the moment is gone. We cannot go back and get that moment back to do the task God wanted us to do. Lost opportunity was all too familiar to my life.
What do we do when we are sabotaged in our walk? We know that we do this to ourselves. It comes in the form of excuses and our old friends; rationalization and justification. Making choices based on me is always a lesser choice than if I listened to God and his choice. So, when I find myself about to make an excuse I try to corral the thought and not speak or act on it until I check it out with God. The more I do this, the more I choose to do what God wants me to do. When I spend the majority of my time listening to God, the error rate in my life also goes down. How about when we are sabotaged by others or even our spouses or families? One of my traits is to look for someone to sabotage my activity. That way later I can put the blame on them rather than take responsibility. Not exactly what God intended for me to do. Breaking out of this sabotaging cycle is not as easy as it sounds. As with most items in our life, we must begin with confession. Confessing our sins (yes, it’s a sin) is accepting responsibility for my choices. This may just be between God and me or it may involve apologizing to someone we may have injured (even if they don’t know it.). The Word tells us that "if we confess our sins, He is just and will forgive us our sins." Now with a clean slate in front of us we can and should do the right thing. This "change" in us isn’t to be temporary but permanent showing a change of heart. The change of heart is a direct result of true repentance. The sincerity by which we go through this process is a reflection of God’s wisdom in our lives.
So what does your life look like? More importantly does your external life reflect your internal life? Many years ago I read a book and was confronted with the question about how and what we think. The book, which I don’t remember the title, suggested we look at our lives from the perspective of having all of our thoughts spoken out loud all the time. I was shocked and extremely defensive. I didn’t want everyone around me privy to my thoughts. Who would want that kind of intrusion in their life? Yet, that’s exactly what situation we are to with God. He knows our every thought. The moment it goes through our mind God has already seen our heart. What would be your reaction? Mine was horror! Knowledge delivered in this manner is intended to promote wise choices in our lives. If we make the wise choices we needn’t be fearful of our thoughts. When God is a constant companion and we engage Him, the result is peace in our soul. The wisdom of God can then speak into our lives and into others’ lives through us.
We are called to be children of God. With that calling we will have our labors and aspirations that God has set in our soul. He has told us that we are to be in the world but not of the world. Just how does this take place? It’s difficult separating the noisy confusion of life from the need to keep peace in your soul. When encountering life (as we must) we are challenged at every turn to take the easy way out. We think (first mistake), and take action on our own (second mistake) and then assume (third mistake) that God will clean up our mess. Messes I have created I’ve also learned from. Integrating God’s will into our life is definitely good for us and others. The love of God should constrain me from sin. Remember that this is always my choice. God’s love doesn’t change and neither does his desire to have us choose the right choice. God always answers our prayers. That’s just the way he is. Those answers are: "yes", "no", and "wait." Even if we don’t like them, the choices are simple for a reason.
So, the big picture is this; God wants us to put our relationship with him first and foremost in the life he gives us. He wants all of us and not just the panic when we have messed up. God wants us to be totally his. Totally. We, however, like to keep a piece of this or that in reserve for the imaginary problem we justify it with. The reality is we lack faith in God. Yeah, I didn’t like that either when God first told me that I lacked faith in him. I could have pointed out all the times, places and situations where I did have faith but he already knew what parts of my life were his and which were mine. That’s the amazing thing. He has no conditions on his love for me. There is no contingency plan or clause. He loves us. That’s it. Don’t expect a more difficult answer because there is none. His motive has been, is now and always will be to love us. He wants us to have the same motive…to love him. This doesn’t seem difficult a request. We make it difficult when we put contingencies on our love. It’s not just God we do this with, it’s with those in our lives as well.
God has chosen to provide his wisdom in every area of our life. God has chosen to give us the desire of our hearts. God has promised to give us peace. These are all true statements. Yet, we, his fallen creation, are not so sincere. We have taken control of our life and defined what labor and aspirations we want. We live in the noisy confusion of life we have created. The peace in our soul is surprisingly small to non-existent. Choosing God and surrendering to his wisdom is the only choice we need to make. The rest of the choices in life will be easy to understand. Being sold out to Jesus is not a way of life. Being souled out to Jesus is life!
No comments:
Post a Comment