How many of us can truly say we are true to our word? Not just some of the time, but each and every time? I don't imagine it is many of us - for we all struggle with this at times - no matter how much we live in a manner which consistently follows through on what we say we will do. In fact, most of the time, we struggle with the "promises" we make God more than we do the ones we make to our fellow man. Today, we look at two inter-related character traits: Faithfulness and Fullness. I think we will begin to see how much these two are really intertwined - for learning to be faithful leads to quite a full life!
You are right and you do right, God; your decisions are right on target. You rightly instruct us in how to live ever faithful to you. My rivals nearly did me in, they persistently ignored your commandments. Your promise has been tested through and through, and I, your servant, love it dearly. I’m too young to be important, but I don’t forget what you tell me. Your righteousness is eternally right, your revelation is the only truth. Even though troubles came down on me hard, your commands always gave me delight. The way you tell me to live is always right; help me understand it so I can live to the fullest. (Psalm 119:137-144 MSG)
I think we follow through on what is important to us. If we hear our doctor tell us we will be dead in a year unless we make some dramatic changes in the way we eat and exercise, I daresay most of us would be on Weight Watchers and the treadmill by the end of the day! Why? We "value" our time on this earth, so we will make the necessary adjustments to our way of living because we want more than a year! If the "thing" motivates us enough, we take whatever steps are required in order to realize the goal, don't we? This is exactly where the "rub" comes at times in our lives. We find certain "value" in some things because they have an immediate evidence of "return" - such as when we get our haircut in order to deal with our "dowdiness". The haircut lifts our spirits and makes us feel better about our appearance. It is immediate - at least within an hour! When the "value" of something isn't immediate, we sometimes wane in our commitment to it because we don't see the "return" for quite some time.
Faithfulness is something God honors - as David put it, God is right and always does right - his decisions for our lives are right on target. Then why do we struggle with his decisions so much? I think it may be the "immediacy" of the "return" we are struggling with more than the decision! Faithfulness is based on a certain steadiness of allegiance - commitment to a purpose, the ability to remain even when the going gets tough (or the results just don't seem to surface). Faithfulness begins in listening. What we are "willing" to hear often makes the determination of heart much easier. When we "hear" the doctor with both our mind and heart, we are moved to action. If we just hear it as a "suggestion" of change, we might just linger in our unhealthy lifestyle a little longer. David says God rightly instructs us on HOW to live faithful lives. Any good teacher will confirm that a student only learns when he takes what he hears and puts it into action. This is the "bridge" between knowledge and learning. We can possess knowledge, but be devoid of learning. God's desire is for the "bridge" to be made.
Why is it we can stand on God's promises? Isn't it because they have been tested and they stand true? Then why do we struggle with them so much? For example, Matthew 6:33 tells us one of God's promises to us is to be anxious for nothing - to seek first his purposes - and then we will have all our needs met (maybe not all our "wants", but definitely all our "needs"). Yet how many times do we worry over where we will find the money to pay the next bill, what we will do when we lose our jobs, or the like? There are even "smaller" worries we take into our lives each and every day - not because we have no resource to find them met, but because we aren't making this knowledge - learning bridge. We have the knowledge of the promise - we just don't have the "connecting" bridge which makes it a fact in our hearts!
Faithfulness if directly linked to fullness. When we have this "connection" between "hearing" and "doing", there is a certain "fullness" which is created in the deep places of our lives. Fullness is defined as containing all that can be held. The amazing thing about God is his ability to expand our capacity! When we think we have come to the place of holding all which can be held, he gives us more capacity! Not capacity for "stuff", but capacity for him! Maybe this is where we find our struggle with faithfulness - in seeking "stuff" instead of him. We "want", but our "want" is sometimes for stuff which limits our capacity for being filled! I think it can be said - capacity is directly linked to our willingness to be emptied. David puts it well: "The way you tell me to live is always right." Look at what he says next: "Help me understand it..."
There is nothing God loves more than to hear us ask for his help with understanding his ways in our lives. I don't think he ever leaves us hanging when we do. In fact, he often begins to "piece together" the knowledge we possess until they begin to become "learned". In so doing, he is "piecing together" the very bridge which will become our lifeline in times of need. The "piecing together" process may seem a little tedious at times in our lives - seeming to not show immediate evidence of the "bridge", but be assured of this - no bridge is built without a good master plan. Every piece fits because their is a plan for it. We want a bridge - no matter how well constructed. God wants it to endure! So, in order to endure, sometimes there is a "clearing process" in order to lay the foundations of endurance. Empty vessels are God's choicest vessels, for it is the empty ones he can fill! Just sayin!
A daily study in the Word of God. Simple, life-transforming tools to help you grow in Christ.
Showing posts with label Fullness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fullness. Show all posts
Monday, May 27, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Fullness in the emptiest of places
I came across a quote the other day which kind of made me take a moment to contemplate what the author must have meant when the words were penned. The origin of the quote is unknown, but it states, "Life is like a flute. It may have many holes and emptiness, but if you work on it carefully, it can play magical melodies." I would like to point out it is not the work "I" do on my life which produces the melodies which are pleasing to the hearer, but the works "GOD" does in my life! He is the only one capable of bringing melodies out of our empty places, not by "plugging the holes", but by covering them with his grace and love.
I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones. (Isaiah 58:11 MSG)
To be fair, I cannot pick this passage out of Isaiah to stand all by itself without giving you the preceding couple of verses. They outline some "conditions" God outlines for our right living. Here is the "rest of the story", as Paul Harvey would have said: "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight." (vs. 9-10 MSG) How is it God will always show us where to go - when we begin to walk in the way he has called us to live.
Unfair practices have no place in a Christian's life. You could call these anything which "place a yoke" upon another. In other words, you place another in bondage to do or be what you want them to be by what you demand of t hem. I think God was aiming at the idea of placing demands upon others we would never place upon ourselves. As a child, I would often think someone got to go first in line, had he biggest piece of cake, or simply got to swing first, all the while thinking how "unfair" life was! Isn't it amazing how we "judge" the fairness of life by the standards of who goes first, gets the most, or has the best ride? I think this passage deals with matters a little bit deeper than who got the biggest piece of cake, though. It deals with the attitude of heart which places another under obligation - holds another in a place of being oppressed. The instruction to us is to get rid of the unfair practices - to stop placing demands upon others and to start living above the demands others have placed upon us. We are to live free - serving but one master - and he doesn't place a yoke which oppresses!
Blaming victims? What on earth could this mean? Well, I think it might deal with the tendency we have to tell someone "I told you so". It is easy to see we might even do this with ourselves on occasion. When blame victims for what happens to them, we might just be placing them under a yoke of burden they were never intended to bear. Pointing the finger is an easy thing to do - realizing the remainder of the fingers are actually point back at us is much harder! The old adage "it takes one to know one" might just apply here. We are not in a position to judge the hearts of another - we can see their actions and even observe their emotion, but we cannot judge their hearts. Only God can do this. Whenever we try to even judge our own heart, we fail - because no one knows our heart as well as God.
Gossip is an action which is dealt with multiple times in scripture - more than most of us would like to admit. Looking at the progression of what Isaiah has penned here, we can see he is dealing not so much with the actions or deeds of another done toward us, but the actions and attitudes of our heart done against another. It is an easy thing to gossip about another's short-comings. It is quite another to allow those short-comings in another to begin to unveil the same short-comings in us! When we stop talking ABOUT another, and start praying FOR another, we might just realize how closely our own actions and attitude mimic those we would most like to criticize in the other!
Instead of unfair practices, blaming victims and gossiping about the sins of another, we are instructed to begin to "give into" the lives of others. The first three actions "take away from" the lives of another - the instruction to live generously, not only in terms of our material stuff, but in terms of the expenditure of our lives, actually "gives into" the life of another. Isaiah is pointing out the difference between justice and injustice. One builds up - gives into - another's life. The other takes away - tears down. We are called to be "builders" - to live in a way which exemplifies the generosity of a great God who has redeemed us with the most valuable of things he possessed - his Son. In this way, the tides are changed in the lives of the oppressed and the victims - and we play an active part in the changing of this tide!
The end result of this "shift" in our way of responding is an ability to shine in darkness. Instead of creating darkness, we actually allow light to be shed where only darkness once dwelt. This brings us to our highlighted passage - being filled to overflowing in even the emptiest of places. If you have ever wondered how it was someone could face the most horrific pain, endure the greatest loss of their life, or face terror with boldness, it was probably because they had this type of "grounding" in their lives. God is the only one able to give us a full life in the emptiest of places. We all will face some of these "expanses" in the course of living on this earth - places where the emptiness becomes so apparent it hurts. In those moments, God brings fullness. God is a God of the opposites. He sees hurt and gives healing. He hears defeat and gives courage. He encounters emptiness and fills the space with his presence.
I don't know about you, but emptiness is a challenge for me. If you look closely, you will find I have tried to mask those empty places in my life - but no amount of "masking" will ever bring fullness out of emptiness! It is only when I reveal my emptiness that I am able to have it filled to overflowing! How about you? Need to remove some "masking" from your empty places today? It might just take some getting used to, but when you are willing to live without the mask, the emptiness has a tendency to get filled with the best of stuff! Just sayin!
I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones. (Isaiah 58:11 MSG)
To be fair, I cannot pick this passage out of Isaiah to stand all by itself without giving you the preceding couple of verses. They outline some "conditions" God outlines for our right living. Here is the "rest of the story", as Paul Harvey would have said: "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight." (vs. 9-10 MSG) How is it God will always show us where to go - when we begin to walk in the way he has called us to live.
Unfair practices have no place in a Christian's life. You could call these anything which "place a yoke" upon another. In other words, you place another in bondage to do or be what you want them to be by what you demand of t hem. I think God was aiming at the idea of placing demands upon others we would never place upon ourselves. As a child, I would often think someone got to go first in line, had he biggest piece of cake, or simply got to swing first, all the while thinking how "unfair" life was! Isn't it amazing how we "judge" the fairness of life by the standards of who goes first, gets the most, or has the best ride? I think this passage deals with matters a little bit deeper than who got the biggest piece of cake, though. It deals with the attitude of heart which places another under obligation - holds another in a place of being oppressed. The instruction to us is to get rid of the unfair practices - to stop placing demands upon others and to start living above the demands others have placed upon us. We are to live free - serving but one master - and he doesn't place a yoke which oppresses!
Blaming victims? What on earth could this mean? Well, I think it might deal with the tendency we have to tell someone "I told you so". It is easy to see we might even do this with ourselves on occasion. When blame victims for what happens to them, we might just be placing them under a yoke of burden they were never intended to bear. Pointing the finger is an easy thing to do - realizing the remainder of the fingers are actually point back at us is much harder! The old adage "it takes one to know one" might just apply here. We are not in a position to judge the hearts of another - we can see their actions and even observe their emotion, but we cannot judge their hearts. Only God can do this. Whenever we try to even judge our own heart, we fail - because no one knows our heart as well as God.
Gossip is an action which is dealt with multiple times in scripture - more than most of us would like to admit. Looking at the progression of what Isaiah has penned here, we can see he is dealing not so much with the actions or deeds of another done toward us, but the actions and attitudes of our heart done against another. It is an easy thing to gossip about another's short-comings. It is quite another to allow those short-comings in another to begin to unveil the same short-comings in us! When we stop talking ABOUT another, and start praying FOR another, we might just realize how closely our own actions and attitude mimic those we would most like to criticize in the other!
Instead of unfair practices, blaming victims and gossiping about the sins of another, we are instructed to begin to "give into" the lives of others. The first three actions "take away from" the lives of another - the instruction to live generously, not only in terms of our material stuff, but in terms of the expenditure of our lives, actually "gives into" the life of another. Isaiah is pointing out the difference between justice and injustice. One builds up - gives into - another's life. The other takes away - tears down. We are called to be "builders" - to live in a way which exemplifies the generosity of a great God who has redeemed us with the most valuable of things he possessed - his Son. In this way, the tides are changed in the lives of the oppressed and the victims - and we play an active part in the changing of this tide!
The end result of this "shift" in our way of responding is an ability to shine in darkness. Instead of creating darkness, we actually allow light to be shed where only darkness once dwelt. This brings us to our highlighted passage - being filled to overflowing in even the emptiest of places. If you have ever wondered how it was someone could face the most horrific pain, endure the greatest loss of their life, or face terror with boldness, it was probably because they had this type of "grounding" in their lives. God is the only one able to give us a full life in the emptiest of places. We all will face some of these "expanses" in the course of living on this earth - places where the emptiness becomes so apparent it hurts. In those moments, God brings fullness. God is a God of the opposites. He sees hurt and gives healing. He hears defeat and gives courage. He encounters emptiness and fills the space with his presence.
I don't know about you, but emptiness is a challenge for me. If you look closely, you will find I have tried to mask those empty places in my life - but no amount of "masking" will ever bring fullness out of emptiness! It is only when I reveal my emptiness that I am able to have it filled to overflowing! How about you? Need to remove some "masking" from your empty places today? It might just take some getting used to, but when you are willing to live without the mask, the emptiness has a tendency to get filled with the best of stuff! Just sayin!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)