1000 pieces and counting

2 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.  4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:1-7 NLT)

It is a long passage this morning, but it is all good stuff! The stage is set with the words: "Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins". Then the door opens to reveal the results of God's actions taken to counteract all our sinful actions. The most important thing within this passage is very easily "glossed over" - "You used to live..."  It doesn't say we continue to live, but that we used to live...past tense...a done deal. If we have been wondering if our walk with Jesus really "took hold" because we are continually struggling with some kind of sin or another, then let me just assure you - it did! It is no longer the spirit of the devil at work in our hearts - it is God's Spirit - and there is no greater power available to us to turn us away from sin than his indwelling Spirit.

I have spoken before about the power of that tiny word "but" - it cancels out everything that comes before it and focuses us squarely on what comes after. So, all that giving into sin and being ruled by our sinful desires, fueled by the enticements of the world, they are all behind us. Look at the passage again - we were raised - it is a finished work, my friends. Think for a moment about a jigsaw puzzle. On the outside of the box, what do you see? Isn't it an image of the finished work inside that box? Is the "stuff" inside the puzzle box a finished work? No - because there is a "fitting together" of the pieces which is required in order to have it resemble completely the image depicted on the outside of that box.

In much the same way, we are like puzzle pieces not yet fully fit together to resemble the image of Christ. The image is there, constantly reminding us of what it is that is being created each time a piece falls into place within our lives. As long as the pieces are moving into place, we are on the right track! They aren't all fit together yet, but they are sorted into "piles" much the same way we sort puzzle pieces into color or design before we go about trying to assemble them. The edges are important - because they form the framework in which we fit the pieces. There are some sections of the puzzle which are quite easily fit together - because the design is simple or the color is the only type of that sort in the whole puzzle.

In life, not all the pieces fit together as easy as some may. I think God gives us those "easy pieces" or sections of our life's puzzle that seem to "fit together" easily because he wants us to begin to see the resemblance we have to the image he sets before us - his Son. If I try to make the puzzle in the box resemble anything other than the image it is patterned after, the pieces don't fit. It is the same way with our life - the pieces fit best when they are held up to the pattern of Christ, then places into that pattern in just the right place at just the right time. We don't see how all these pieces of our life fit together - but thank God, we have a continual pattern before us to help guide us into that perfect fit! Just sayin!

The final piece of the puzzle

^10-11Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.

(James 5:10-11 The Message)

The very last sentence of this passage is my focus this morning.  Yet, to understand the importance of a passage, one must understand the context of that passage - so I give you the rest as a gift of "context".  James is concluding the letter to the churches.  He writes about some very practical "rules" of living that will keep us in solid relationship with Christ, build meaningful relationships with each other, and help us to exemplify Christ in all our dealings.  Now, in concluding, he reminds us of the importance of having solid examples - mentors we can look to.  For that, he points us to the prophets of the Old Testament times.  His reason - they developed a lifestyle of trust.  They went through much because they had come to know with a certainty that they could trust God with the course of their lives - the outcome was in his capable care.

The simple statement that God brought it all together in the end is often the story of our lives.  It is indeed God that does the bringing together of our lives.  We, left to our own devices, have a tendency to allow it to fall to pieces!  God, based on his intense love for us, brings the mess we call life together for us in the end.  You know, I think God is kind of like the master jigsaw puzzle champion of the entire universe!  He knows how all the pieces will fit, carefully finding just the right piece for the next step in completing the puzzle, then goes about this process until the very last piece is laid into place.  We need a "pattern" to follow in order to get a puzzle put together, but even then, we struggle to find the right pieces in the right order!

If we take time to look at how God "fits" the pieces of our lives together, the exact order he brings things into "play" within our lives, and how carefully these "pieces" all fit together to bring about the desired effect, we will be amazed at the wonder of his care.  I think that is what James had in mind here - an awareness that God cares!  Not just on the surface, but right down to the nitty-gritty details of our lives.  Not one detail escapes his care.  When James refers to the "care" of God, he is pointing us toward the protection and oversight God has taken.  He is not "slack" in his protection, nor is he "missing" any of the details from his watchfulness.

The prophets had learned to "trust" God.  Trust is a reliance upon the integrity of the one who is in control.  The integrity of God had been proven in their lives over and over again.  They came into a place of determined trust that even when the puzzle of life did not look like anything they could recognize, they would still trust the one putting the pieces in order to bring it all into a recognizable thing in the end.  We sometimes don't know how to trust God with the pieces of our lives - holding back some piece or pieces because we aren't sure what he is "fashioning" from the pieces.  When we do, the puzzle is incomplete, does not present what we can recognize as a "good outcome", and therefore, we resist the process.  

I think we are pointed to our "elders" in the faith because they had the same struggles and came to the conclusion that God could be trusted.  Sometimes we need someone to encourage us to "give over" those missing pieces into God's capable hands.  He may not be ready to "use" them right away (fit them into the puzzle), but he carefully places them in his sight until he is ready to fit them exactly into the framework of our character.  So, if you find that God is asking for some "hidden" pieces of your life today, trust him.  He will not throw away any piece.  He doesn't "trim the edges" of a piece to make it fit.  He won't damage what he has in his hands in order to accomplish the "fit".  Instead, he already sees how it fits his design perfectly and will "fit it" into the framework of our lives in just the right order, in just the right time.

Rewrites Allowed!

^20-24 God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him.
   When I got my act together, he gave me a fresh start. Now I'm alert to God's ways; I don't take God for granted. Every day I review the ways he works; I try not to miss a trick.  I feel put back together, and I'm watching my step. God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. 

(Psalm 18:20-24)

Have you ever worked a jigsaw puzzle and been so frustrated because you could not find the last one or two pieces?  You have been working diligently to put together all the 1000 pieces only to find that the contents of what you believed to be a "whole" puzzle was really not that!  What a let down.  You simply cannot finish the puzzle without the missing piece(s).  At the most, you could say you know what it is supposed to look like "finished", but it is not truly finished without all the pieces.

Guess what....your life is just like a jigsaw puzzle in the hands of God.  He takes all the mixed up pieces, detached from each other, and skillfully places them together so that they bear the image of what he created us to be.  If we are holding back pieces, hiding them away, then the puzzle will be "incomplete" without those pieces.  You have probably heard the saying, "God wants all of your life."  Well, that is true.  If we "hold back" what we don't think should be part of the "puzzle" of our lives, the image will never be complete.

Look at what David says - I "feel" put back together!  For many of us, that "feeling" may allude us.  We simply don't "feel" put back together!  Why?  It is likely that we are withholding something from God's touch.  A puzzle is "fit together" by the hands of the one placing the pieces in just the right order.  I have tried and tried to make pieces of a puzzle "fit", only to find that what I thought belonged in the right lower corner actually fit in the left lower corner! Try as I might, that piece just doesn't "fit" where I try to place it.  The same is true when God is at work in our lives - we expect him to "fit" the pieces of our lives back together on our terms!  

We want him to "fit" us together in our timing, by our plans, as we see ourselves.  Simply put...we ask God to do it our way!  Who made this "puzzle" that we call life anyway?  God!  So, why do we resist the hand of our "maker" so much?  I guess it is like when we are trying to make the wrong piece fit in the puzzle - we just don't see any other piece that will work!  So, we try to do things on our terms because we "think" it is the right thing to do.  David had figured out that "our terms" just result in forcing pieces together that we are not ready for, won't give us a true image, or that is "close", but not close enough to what is really intended for us.

I love to work jigsaw puzzles - it is kind of relaxing to me.  It occupies my hands and my mind.  It challenges me to use my visual perception to see spacial things (the pieces).  So, I am actually using my mind in a couple of different ways when I am putting those pieces together.  Sometimes I have to stand back from the puzzle to see the object taking form before me.  I have all these "parts" put together, but don't really see how these gathering of small pieces into bigger parts actually comes together as the "whole".  The same is true with our lives - God has the perspective that we don't - he can stand back and see the bigger picture that escapes us!

The most amazing part of this passage we read today is the last verse.  God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. I don't know about you, but I always find myself apologizing to God when he has to "rewrite" my life.  The fact of the matter is that we all need a little "editing" once in a while - because we need someone to step back, see the end from the beginning, and then put it all together in an ordered fashion.  I guess the most difficult thing we have to do is to actually allow all the "content" of our lives to be at his disposal for "editing".  We just don't want some chapters included!  We want those chapters "re-written" or removed.  

Yet, when we really consider it, those chapters of our lives are actually like the puzzle pieces we just looked at...they "fit" together to make the whole picture.  When we remove them, we miss the "content" that make us exactly what we are.  For example, we may have done some things for which we are not too excited to put on display in our lives.  Yet, whenever I have been faithful to share some part of me that I would rather have kept hidden, God uses that exact thing to touch the hearts of others!  The "content" has purpose.  It is through the skillful editing of God's grace that these things of our past actually "fit" into the bigger picture of our lives.

We may not see the purpose in some of the "pieces" of our lives, but God does.  So, we need to trust him to "edit" them into the perfect order, making a beautiful display of what his grace can do!  I am so grateful for his "re-writes" in my life - and I also like to think of them as the "re-righting" of my life!  What's God got in store for you if you were to give him access to the pages of your life?