Speak the right words

What words matter to you? For some, it is hearing they are loved beyond all measure, while others want to hear that 'well done' at the end of a project they have engaged their efforts to undertake. Often we 'judge' the 'value' or 'worth' of something or some relationship based on the words we hear spoken. I don't thrive on the 'well done' to determine my worth. I have learned there is a much more important 'worth' in my life - it is the life lived well each and every day that matters more. Being able to lay my head upon the pillow and realize I have made something a little better for someone, created a solution that will help someone do well in what they have before them, or that I just got caught up with something - these things create a sense of well-being - but it is knowing I am "right" in relationship with God that makes me rest well at night!

The earlier revelation was intended simply to get us ready for the Messiah, who then puts everything right for those who trust him to do it. Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it’s not so easy—every detail of life regulated by fine print! But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story—no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. So what exactly was Moses saying? The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!” (Romans 10:9-10 MSG)

There are things in life that get us ready for bigger things and there are also things in life that don't really accomplish much in the end. If we engage in too many of the latter, we can find ourselves looking at unrealized goals. If we engage in too many of the former, we can find we look back upon what may have mattered more, but was overlooked in the pursuit of those bigger things. Balance is always important in our choices. We need to balance work and rest, intake and output, time spent and time saved. All of life is a series of checks and balances. Unfortunately, we sometimes assume there is a list of checks and balances that must be in place before we can be made right with God. The fact is that we need 'balance', but it is a balance we don't achieve. It is a balance that comes because we finally stop achieving!

Four simple words bring balance into our lives like no other - "Jesus is my Master". We create all kinds of other 'solutions' to the imbalances in our lives, but none of those solutions helps us achieve that balance. Why? Those solutions are based upon what we do or don't do, or simply put as achievements realized along the pursuit of balance. Life is way more than achieving our 'zen' in life. We need to be more than 'totally meditative' or with all our 'chakras' in balance and alignment. Invite God to go to work in your life with those for simple words and see what real balance is like! There is no longer the need for us to 'achieve' any point of 'perfection' in life - it is already a 'done deal' when Christ sets things right within us.

I have watched as someone who has real 'style' sense arranges furnishings in a room, complimenting them with just the right accents and touches here and there. The room comes alive. It is apparent what purpose the room will serve because they have created it is such a manner that conversation is easy, or productivity becomes easier. The work they do because they possess the knowledge of how it is to be done is so much better than us just throwing some furniture into the space and driving a few nails into the wall to hold a few quickly hung pictures! Why? The person 'doing' the job at hand wasn't all that suited to the accomplishment of the task!

We spend a great deal of time in life trying to hear the 'right words', when all the while we simply need to 'speak the right words'! It isn't a formula we follow, it is an acknowledgement we need the one best suited to the task to undertake that task! Just sayin!