Life Hack #3 - A Real Windfall

Life Hack #3:

Forbes magazine published an article November 28, 2012, entitled "Why Winning Powerball Won't Make You Happy" written by Susan Adams. Citing multiple studies which point out the IMMEDIATE high or exuberance of winning, but then focus on the quick return to a low point within just a short point in time, she concludes: "While winning the lottery can make a difference, it won't affect the other conditions of your life". We can "bet" on the one-time windfall, or we can count on the certainty of what God provides with consistency. The choice seems pretty simple to me, but obviously there are a whole lot of others who actually don't believe this!

Don’t gamble on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, hocking your house against a lucky chance. The time will come when you have to pay up; you’ll be left with nothing but the shirt on your back. (Proverbs 22:26-27)

"Life Hack #3" looks at where it is we determine our "windfall" or "riches" to rest - in the 'windfall' or in the 'consistency'. Life's joy isn't in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The "lucky chance" many take will do little more than make them more than financially broke in the end. Gambling seems like a pretty risky business to me. My mother used to say to me, "My poor wee lassie". My response to mom each and every time she says this to me: "I no so poor". Yep, the grammar is wrong, but you get the point. I am not poor in any respect - in fact, I am as rich as I can be, blessed beyond measure in Christ Jesus - even when things may not be "quite right" in my life. A lot of us determine our disposition in life based on the circumstances we are dealt. Look at the one who carries us through those circumstances, not at the circumstances themselves!

If we look at wealth to give us a sense of "worth" in life, we will always be chasing an elusive dream, for today's "wealth" will not keep up with tomorrow's demands. If we look at "image" to give us a sense of worth in life, we will be chasing a pretty unmanageable dream, for our "image" will fade in time, no matter how much plastic surgery we have done! God's direction to us is to look to him to give us our sense of worth - for this is truthfully the only thing which "imputes" value into our lives. We could hold out for the windfall at the end of the rainbow, but I would rather have my value determined today, not some day down the road when I "hit it big". I don't think there is anything "bigger" to "hit" than being redeemed by the grace of God from a life lived without him for all of eternity!

Keeping our focus on the "what if" of tomorrow will not benefit us any today. In fact, it serves to do nothing more than make us yearn for what we don't have and what we will be unlikely to ever achieve. Rather than focus on the "what if" of tomorrow, we would do well to focus on the "what is" of today. We have been granted so much in Christ Jesus - it will take us a lifetime to actually realize the significance of the TRUE and lasting "windfall" we have in HIM! Just sayin!

Extravagant Love

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

When you stop long enough to watch another, you might just see a thing or two which you'd have missed otherwise! The power of "observation" is a learned habit. It just doesn't happen one day. In fact, you have to learn to look beyond the surface to get really good at this - otherwise, you draw conclusions which are far from reality. It would be like the game we used to play as kids. We'd see someone or something and we'd make up some kind of story about what we were seeing. We saw what we wanted to see and formed the story around what we interpreted in our mind's eye! But...in the real world, this is a dangerous thing! We are indeed to be "watchers" - watchers of God himself. He is the one we should "observe" - taking in his "behavior" in order to learn how we are to approach life, answer life's questions, and create life's best outcomes. Watch what God does - and then do it! Instead of just "creating" a story about God, we are to do like God does! In God's world of reality, I am quite comfortable asking God if I can be on mission with him! How about you?

"MOSTLY what God DOES is love you". I added the emphasis here because I think it is important to realize God's greatest and most easiest observed attribute is his LOVE. It is in his actions, even when we don't see it! Look at how we learn how to make this attribute ours - we "keep company with him". I have special friends - enjoying every moment of "company" I get to keep with them. They fill my days with laughter, hold me close when I am low, and can just fill my "space" with warmth without even speaking or doing a thing. At my weakest moments, nothing and no one else fills my "space" as well as Jesus, though. In his extravagant way, he reaches into the "space" of our lives - loving us through to wholeness! It is more than making the lame walk or the dumb talk. He meets us at the point of our most desperate need and there, he transforms us. This may not seem significant, but his love is learned in observing his extravagance. 

His love is not miserly - it is extravagant. In what actions can we observe the extravagance of God's love? We see the extravagance of his laying down his divinity to take on the form of a human - in coming as a babe in a manger. We see the extravagance of his love in being willing to touch the untouchable in the world - those labeled as unclean by the others in society. He never skimped on his love - making not only wine from water, but the best wine of the evening. He always found time for even the least in the crowd - embracing the child, touching the grief of the mother who'd lost her only son, and restoring the guard's ear to full function after Peter attempted to lop it off. Nothing is "outside" of God's extravagant love - he is willing to humble himself for the sake of another; give the touch of hope where no hope exists; and restore what we so foolishly destroy in our haste and misunderstanding. Yet, his greatest display of love - his willingness to hang on a cross for our sins. The man who knew no sin, becoming sin for all mankind. Now, this bespeaks the ultimate sacrifice - the ultimate display of love.

We learn by observing, so God is asking us to consider the many "extravagances" of his love and then to begin to display those same extravagances in our actions. It takes a little change in our focus to do this. We have to begin to see the extravagances of God's love - first through our eyes, then through his. I really never understood the extravagances of my parents' love until I was a parent myself. In fact, as I was being loved through some of the ugliest periods of my life, they were faithfully extravagant in their love, but I was oblivious to their extravagance! I am older now, and I hope a little wiser. As I look back at their examples of love, I see the extravagance of God's love imitated in their lives. It is like God opens our eyes to his "extravagant love" not so much when we are experiencing it, but almost after we have been through it! Maybe it is because we have "clearer perspective" after the fact than we do when our emotions are all muddled up in the moment. What examples of God's extravagant love have you been observing of late? If we look hard enough, we might just see the example of his love in the one right next to us today. If we are willing, we could be the very example of his extravagant love the one next to us needs! Just sayin! 

That is truly GREAT

Blessed...what does that term mean for you? There are definitely times when I look at others and can see just how much God is blessing their lives. I have made the mistake of proclaiming how wonderfully lucky someone was when I observed a good thing happening in their lives, forgetting all the while how 'trivial' that term 'lucky' is after all. It is easy to say someone is 'lucky' while the truth is really that they were "blessed by a tremendous God". Sometimes we need to be reminded of the intensity of God's blessing in our lives! We are being blessed daily - by seen and unseen blessings alike. It may not be with stuff we see or feel or immediately appreciate, but every moment of life comes with some form of  blessing for those God declares as righteous! As I look back over the most recent weeks of my life, I can recount many blessings. 

 
Hallelujah! Blessed man, blessed woman, who fear God, who cherish and relish his commandments, their children robust on the earth, and the homes of the upright—how blessed! Their houses brim with wealth and a generosity that never runs dry. Sunrise breaks through the darkness for good people— God's grace and mercy and justice! The good person is generous and lends lavishly; no shuffling or stumbling around for this one, but a sterling and solid and lasting reputation. Unfazed by rumor and gossip, heart ready, trusting in God, spirit firm, unperturbed, ever blessed, relaxed among enemies, they lavish gifts on the poor—a generosity that goes on, and on, and on. An honored life! A beautiful life! (Psalm 112:1-9)

Do you know what makes these blessings extra special? We never expect them - so the joy in receiving what we receive makes it extra special. In looking at our passage today, I see several truths about one who has their steps ordered by God. They recognize the source of their blessing - it is God himself - not luck or good fortune or even the aligned stars. The condition of their being blessed is their hearts are in a place of "relishing" the commandments of God - seeking to serve him well in all they say and do. They are nurtured by his commands and they find them pleasing to their senses. An odd thing to say, huh? Yet, it is so true! When we come to hold dear to his commands, we are nurtured by them. When we are nurtured, we come to a place where their very presence brings pleasure - blessing galore. We might find some of his commands a little hard to lay hold of or 'make practical' in our lives at times, but consider the results of embracing them! The off-spring of our lives will rise up and call us blessed. I know we don't all have children in the natural sense, but we ALL have others in our lives we mentor in some respect. They are in essence our "off-spring". The modeled forgiveness and obedience in our own lives becomes something others can latch onto in theirs. There is nothing more honoring to God than to have his kids model his grace! In turn, he honors those who honor him.

The last thing I'd like us to gather from our passage is the promise of light in the midst of gathering darkness. Notice particularly - this is not a promise of never experiencing gathering darkness! In fact, we might just walk through some pretty dark places in our lives from time to time. The promise is for sunrise to break through the darkness - sunrise manifest in God's grace, mercy, and justice. Unpack that a little, why don't you? Darkness is dispelled when God's grace - his unmerited favor - enters into the dark spot. Sometimes darkness comes because we move INTO the storm - other times it is because the storm comes UPON us. Either way, it is dark! Whenever we are the ones to move INTO the storm, we often need God's grace and mercy - because it was one or more of our choices that placed us there! And...oftentimes, not they are not so wise choices, either. Why does God couple justice with his grace and mercy? God's mercy and grace are what restore - his justice is the principle by which he defines the boundaries for our lives. In other words, his justice helps us know the things which are "morally right" for our lives (just). His mercy and grace restore us to the place of living right! In turn, we live honored lives - both outwardly and inwardly. We live blessed lives. Sometimes the blessings go unnoticed, but if we stop long enough to acknowledge them, they point us to the greatness of the God we serve! Just sayin....

Truly Good

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God! (I Corinthians 15:55-57)

It was guilt brought on by trying to keep 'all the rules' on our own that gave sin its leverage. The 'law-code' that says we have to obey all these rules upon rules actually did more to keep us under a load of guilt than anything else. We just aren't capable of keeping all the rules on our own. Rules are boundaries - some are set by men to keep men in line; others are set by God because he knows the destructiveness of sin's full consummation in our lives. Either way - they are hard to keep all of the time in our own effort or 'will-power'. 

In a single stroke - sin, guilt, and death - all are wiped away. How is that possible? Guilt seems to linger on long after we have confessed our short-comings. Sometimes shame replaces the feelings of guilt, making the 'sting' of our sin felt time and time again as we come to believe we are never going to be free of the sin's pull. Yet - - - in a SINGLE action, Christ dealt with all three! Sin was swallowed up in the action of the cross - along with the guilt and shame of that sin. Death - life lived apart from God for all of eternity - was dealt a final blow. 

Don't miss it - freedom from sin; victory over shame; and triumph over the 'finality' of the grave is ALL ours - as a gift given by the one who holds all three in his claim - Christ. Not anything we earn, but everything we count on as ours from now through all of eternity. So, why do we live as though we don't have victory over our sin and shame? We likely do so because we are listening to the lie that we will never be good enough, do enough good, or influence enough good in this life. That is true - apart from Christ's presence within us. 

With the presence of Christ within, 'good enough' is made 'so much more than just good enough'. We are exalted into the position of Kings Kids - we are royalty! With the presence of Christ within 'doing good' isn't about keeping all the rules, it is about living the way he desires because we are so in love with him that we desire to do nothing less. With the presence of Christ within, our life is an influence for good and a deterrent to evil. We are light and life - examples of his love, grace, and peace. We are living testimonials of his ability to release from the hold of this 'do good' spin we try to convince ourselves we can do on our own.

Death swallowed by triumphant life - sin brings death in the spiritual sense - separating us from the presence of God and the peace that comes by living close to his heart. Christ did what none of us is capable of doing - triumphing over death's pull and sting. Nothing pulls us toward eternal death any longer - everything pulls us toward eternal life - a life lived in the presence of the One True God himself. We can 'try' to live good, but only the presence of a good God within us can make us truly 'good'. Just sayin!

He's got your back!

God's love is meteoric - a brilliant thing, appearing suddenly, swift in its path - but continual and on course in all respects. There is a sense of the spectacular in beholding his love. Nothing else compares to the magnificence we behold in God's love and grace. It is there exactly when we need it - no delay in his reaching out to us.  It is direct - meeting us exactly where we are. His loyalty is astronomic - enormous, exceedingly great. Loyalty is faithfulness. His faithfulness to us is greater than we can ever imagine - even in our unfaithfulness, he remains steadfastly faithful. His purpose is titanic - his aim for our lives is enormous in strength, power, and possibility. He does more than create us - he sustains us, he guards us, his back is never turned to accomplishing his purpose in us.
His verdicts are oceanic - his judgments are large, going beyond the surface of what can be seen to the inner recesses of a man's heart - looking not on what we display for all to see, but on what only he can truly see. His decisions are sure and they are all-encompassing - God never leaves out the details.

God's love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks. (Psalm 36:5-6)

Yet, in God's "largeness", nothing ever gets lost! This is probably the one point in this passage that gives us the greatest hope - not one thing escapes his view, not one thing escapes his attention! We may feel like "no one is paying attention" to the chaos of our lives, but when we stop to consider the greatness of God, we become acutely aware that not even one hair on our head escapes his attention.
A man or woman who realizes these things about God's love, loyalty, purpose and judgment will be quick to run TO God - not from him. We run for the shelter of his wings - kept there in the midst of all that comes rushing in upon us. I daresay that we often run the opposite direction in our inability to really trust God with the outcomes of our lives. In so doing, we run INTO chaos, rather than escaping it.

Trust is a hard thing for many - but look at what this passage says about who it is that we are called to place our trust in. If we begin to consider God's greatness and his carefulness over our lives, we begin to sense that he is "trust-worthy". You may not be able to trust many around you in the throws of your life's present chaos, but he remains steadfast and fully worthy of your trust. Throw yourself into him and begin to enjoy the shelter of his wings. Enjoy the vastness of his greatness. Celebrate and revel in the goodness of his grace. Just sayin!