A + B = C

There is a lot of emphasis today on getting education. We start children in educational opportunities as early as pre-preschool and encourage advancing our education by adding advanced degrees to fill the period after the end of our college days, as well. Trade schools have risen all over the place, offering degrees to those who want to simply better themselves in one particular field of study without going the long route of learning all that other stuff the 'regular' colleges and universities require for a degree. Education is at a premium in our society. Why is it then that we scoff at the wisdom God offers - at the education he provides in his Word?

Give advice to a wise person, and he will become even wiser. Teach a righteous person, and he will learn more.  (Proverbs 9:9)  Show me how you work, God; school me in your ways.  (Psalm 25:4)

King David was adamant that the one thing he wanted in his life was to know how God works - to be schooled in God's ways - not just for his personal benefit, but also for the benefit of those he was leading. King Solomon, David's son, penned the words we find in Proverbs, with an equal focus on being taught and learning what was important in life. He also knew that learning the truths God reveals is a life-long process - something not to be ignored and definitely a guide to one's direction in life. Many of us finally get something when we are "shown" how that something works, how it comes together - what purpose it fulfills. We "get it" because we can visualize it - it moves from being just a taught concept in our minds to be something we can interpret with our senses. I never really "got" algebra - the concepts yes, but the working use of it, no. I knew how to do the equations so that I solved for "x", but I never really knew the reason behind needing to figure out what "x" represented. Algebra was a "concept", but not something I knew would "serve me" in my daily life.

The "schooling" God affords is more than just "classroom time". Yes, we have opportunities to attend Bible College, sit in Bible Study classes together, listen to good sermons and teaching. Yet, the greatest "learning" comes in the "doing" of what he teaches us in his Word. Learning becomes reality when we are engaged in putting into practice what we have embraced as a "concept". When we attempt to love another as God first loved us - unconditionally, even before the other person realizes the need for love in their life - we realize the extreme difficulty in fully "learning" all about love just because we have studied the actions of love. The "schooling" God affords is accomplished in the "living" what we have learned. Everything God teaches is based on "living it out" in our daily life. Having no other God before him is lived out in the choices we make each day. Learning how to be still and truly "know" that he is God is learned in the midst of chaos and discord. Trusting that he will never leave us, nor forsake us, is developed in the times when we least "feel" or "see" God's presence in our midst. His truths are made "real" in the midst of "living".

With "learning" comes accountability - we are expected to take what we have learned and "use it" in our daily living. That is why algebra did not move from "concept" with me into "practical use" - I never realized how to use it in my daily life. Then, one day while working as a cook in a daycare center, I needed to figure out how to make a recipe from my cookbook that could feed four people into a recipe that would feed 150. All of a sudden, I was "learning" how to solve for "x"! The concept became "practical" knowledge at that point. As God exposes truth in our lives, we are expected to use those truths - taking them from "concept" and making them the guiding influence in our lives. God gives us much wisdom - exposing us to much truth. Yet, truth is of no real benefit unless it influences the way we make our choices. God's methods of "teaching" always vary depending on how we will "best learn" in the situation, but they are consistent. His desire is to always take us from "concept" to "living". What is God asking you to "live out" today? Just askin!

Come on, breathe!

Many of us have a tendency to listen, but be less than attentive to what we are hearing - something which quite honestly results in a little less than "perfect obedience" when it comes to us listening to God.  It should not surprise us God puts these concepts of "listening" with "obedience" and "learning" with "living".  What we hear, we are to respond to in a prompt manner.  What we come to know, we are to live out.  It is repeated over and over in scripture.  In fact, James warns against being a "hearer" and not a "doer" of the Word - Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. (James 1:22-23 MSG)  This "in one ear, out the other" thing runs deeper than most of us would like to admit.  If we were all to stop long enough to really consider this, we might just realize we are "filtering out" a whole lot of stuff we should have been holding onto or paying attention to a little closer.  We do it unconsciously most of the time - not with purposeful intent.  We don't "shut off" our listening, we just drift into not paying close attention.

Attention, Israel. Listen obediently to the rules and regulations I am delivering to your listening ears today.  Learn them.  Live them.  (Exodus 5:1 MSG)

Let's look at these concepts of LISTENING and OBEDIENCE - LEARNING and LIVING:

- Listening is the first step in learning anything new.  To stay on the "cutting edge", companies everywhere hold "focus groups" aimed at discovering what their potential customers have to think about their current product, or perhaps some new line they would like to introduce.  Their sole intent is to "hear" from the customer - to get their impressions so they can learn from them. Wisdom tells us we actually begin to move from merely "hearing" to "listening" when we begin to "incorporate" what we are hearing into our practice.  The company holding a focus group would take the ideas shared and either determine to "scrap" their idea or put it forward as planned.  They use what they hear to determine future action.  In a practical sense, this is what God asks of us - hear what he is saying by "incorporating" it into our actions.  In this way, we move from just "hearing" his Word, and we begin to be "doers" of his Word.

- Obedience is an outcome of listening - we take action by "incorporating" the things asked or taught.  Going back to our illustration of the focus group, if the company simply paid all this money to hold the focus group, then never really did anything with what they learned, of what value was the information? None, right?  If we are going to take the time to hold the focus group, then we need to take the interest in using the information they provide to assist us with the direction our company should take in the future.  God doesn't hold focus groups to get common consensus of how we are feeling about things, but you get my point.  He invests an awful lot in our lives - not because he has to, but because he wants to.  In turn, he asks us to take a little time to focus our attention on him, his teachings, and then to incorporate them into our present and future actions.

Living is a process of putting into practice or use that which you have at your disposal.  Yesterday, my Kindle froze - oh my!  As I told this story to my dear friend, she laughed hilariously at my humor in this moment, so I thought I'd share it with you.  I love to play word games on it and read as I have time, but as I was counting on about a half hour of word challenges, my screen froze - no sign of life could be seen.  No response to hard reboots - just plain screen.  After about twenty attempts to revive it, I placed it aside on the charger and prayed I'd have some revelation of what to do in the morning.  In the morning, I brought it to the computer, thinking maybe it just needed a software upgrade and I could "hard-wire" it to the computer.  I logged into the website and began to "diagnose" my "patient".  After all, my Kindle had "flat-lined" and maybe if I could "jump-start" its heart again, it would return to life! I followed the instructions with tender-loving care, hoping for any sign of life. Even a little flutter would have bolstered my faith, but alas, nothing.

I sat the thing down, ready to pronounce it "dead" - no signs of life.  I turned away for just a second, believing I would need to go online to purchase the next generation of reader, then turned back to see a little glimmer of hope! The Kindle screen was beginning to flash to life - and the little grey bar which showed it was "rebooting" told me it was trying to breathe again!  I sat there cheering it on with words like, "Breathe, you can do it!"  As I began to see the signs of life, my heart began to soar again!  My Kindle was coming back to life!  Woohoo!  Now, lest you think there is nothing to learn from this little incident, let me tell you, even a dead Kindle can give this writer lessons for life!  You see, God gets each of us in a place of "no signs of life" - there just isn't much happening which gives much hope we will ever "breathe again".  In "reconnecting" with us, we begin to "flutter" to life once again.  He connects to us through his Word - breathing life into a once pretty lifeless existence. If we refuse his "breath", we refuse that which will restore us to "full capacity". I can hear God sometimes just saying, "Breathe, come on, breathe!"  He has given me his Word, helped me to hear it with my ears, then he stands tenderly by, waiting for signs of life!  

When God brings his truth, we have the ability to allow the "connection" - opening the door for us to incorporate what that connection will provide - signs of new life!  We learn and live only to the degree we listen and obey - just sayin!

Skin in the Game

^1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God showed up and said to him, "I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! I'll make a covenant between us and I'll give you a huge family."

(Genesis 17:1-2 The Message)

Two things popped out to me from this passage - God's call is never too late, and his expectations are quite extensive!  Abram (Abraham) was nearly a century old when God placed the call on his life.  Imagine that in today's life-span and it was late into life that he received his call.  There are times that I hear more mature Christians saying that God cannot use them any longer.  That is hog-wash!  God's call is irrespective of age, natural talent, or financial means!  His call transcends our physical limitations, infuses us with talents we never thought we'd possess, and makes miraculous provision for every inch of the journey!

The Lord spoke with Abram and gave two very specific expectations to him:  1) Live ENTIRELY before me; and 2) Live to the HILT.  Let's just take a couple moments to dig into those expectations.

Live ENTIRELY before me:

• Live - be alive, be entirely capable of vital function; exhibit vitality in your life.  In other words, God was telling Abram that he wasn't an old, dried up man!  You and I could take a lesson here - we still have capacity to live for God until we take our final breath on this earth!
• Entirely - completely and unreservedly.  God was making it clear that service to him is not complete if there is any reservation in our heart about our commitment.  Just this last week, I was talking with a friend about the difference between commitment and perfection.  Too many times we think that we are not "living" like God wants us to because we still struggle with sin in our lives - temptation is a real thing to us.  The fact is, God examines our heart for our commitment - how much "skin" we have in the game.  He doesn't look for us to be perfect.  If he did, he'd have a mighty small family!
• Before him - our lives are to be lived before him.  We could live our lives on display for the world to see, but God reminds us that the only one that really matters is him.  We live for him - not for others.

Live to the HILT:

• To the hilt - the hilt is the handle of a sword or dagger.  What is depicted here is that we are "all in".  We don't hold back - just plugging into God with part of our mind, a little of our heart, and some of our talent.  It is all or nothing with God!  He is saying that we are to live to the maximum degree in him.  I think God is asking that we live with undivided hearts.  Remember Jesus telling the disciples that you could not serve two masters at one time?  It was this thought that he had in mind when he said that.  We cannot serve both man and God at the same time.  It makes no difference if that "man" is our own selfish desires, or those demands of another.  We must keep God in the center of all we do - only then will we be "all in" with him.

Just a few thoughts from the calling of Abram.  God's promise to Abram are still in place today.  His call was without "recall" - God never went back on what he said he would do.  I think the same is true for us today - God never goes back on what he says he will do.  We do what we can - being "all in" with God - and he does what we cannot!  Abram could not bring forth any offspring on his own - but when he did his part, God did the rest.  That is how it is in God's economy - when we are "all in", he is "all sufficient"!