Men often marvel at how women just know things. Women like to refer to women's intuition and instinct, but I think that women are just more tuned into their thoughts and feelings than men are. I'm not saying anything against the guys, it's just a fact that women tend to feel more than men do. For the most part, women's thoughts and emotions bathe everything they do, from getting dressed in the morning, to what they decide they're "in the mood" to eat for lunch, to carefully chosen words in conversations. Men, on the other hand, tend to dress in whatever is clean, eat whatever is readily available, and say whatever they're thinking at the moment. Naturally, there are exceptions to every rule, but psychologists have worked long and hard at figuring out the differences between men and women, and after studying this stuff for a few years in college, (and my own personal observations) I think they've got it pretty well. There's one guy, however, who was actually rather good at tuning in to his feelings, and lucky for us, God allowed his beautiful poetry to be passed on to us for our enjoyment, encouragement, and at times, a little Spirit-lead conviction.
In Psalm 27:8, David expresses the truest of gut instincts: "My heart says of You, 'Seek His face!'" (I love that the NIV adds that commanding exclamation point.) Seek God's face - what greater instinct could we have? This natural instinct to seek out a relationship with our God is one of the greatest gifts He gave those He created in His image. God made us to know Him.
Reading further, we see that David's answer to his heart's command is the one we should also have: "Your face, Lord, I will seek". But so often, we seek other relationships instead. I'm guilty of desiring relationships with people so much more than I desire a relationship with my Heavenly Father. We are drawn so strongly to flesh and bone - we want to be hugged, we want to go out to lunch with friends, we want the give and take of a face-to-face conversation. It's natural to want these things. Yes, God did create us to be in relationship with other people as evidenced by His creation of Eve to keep Adam company and help him in his work (Genesis 2:18-22). Too often though, our seeking after human relationships takes precedence over our heart's command. But without a good relationship with the Creator of the concept, how can we expect that our human relationships will be fulfilling?
We need to listen to our hearts and follow that God-placed instinct to know Him. The often-abused promise in Psalm 37:4 tells us that if we first and foremost delight in knowing God, He will give us the desires of our hearts. (Imagine for a moment what that could mean if our heart's desire is to know Him!) We want to have relationships. In fact, we need to have relationships. But even if all our human relationships fail to fulfill us, there is a greater one that never will. It's the one that our hearts crave above all others. And the best part is that it is also the one God's own heart craves.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
On Standing Firm
I watched The Chronicles of Narnia last night. Those of us who have put our faith in Christ can't help but see the connections between the characters of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy in C.S. Lewis' epic novels and ourselves: We are royal as children of the King (1 Peter 2:9) , we will one day rule with Christ (Revelation 20:6), we have been given weapons and armor to help us in the battle of life (Ephesians 6:10-18), and at times, we still struggle with doing what we're told versus doing what will bring us immediate satisfaction (Romans 7:22-23). (What is Turkish Delight anyway?)
One of the most striking scenes in the movie is (naturally) the battle scene toward the end. The White Witch orders her army to charge Aslan's army. They take off across the valley, weapons drawn, shouting. But what struck me was what Peter ordered his army to do. Rather than running straight into the battle as soon as the enemy did, the army under Peter's command did exactly what today's verses talk about. They stood firm. They waited for instruction, and they trusted their commander.
At least three separate times, God, through Paul, tells us to "stand firm". 1 Thessalonians 2:15 simply says to stand firm in the teachings we receive from godly leaders. In I Corinthians 6:13 and Galatians 5:1 and we're told that standing firm in our faith will keep us on guard and will keep us from falling back into slavery to sin. The word used in all three of these verses is steko. The idea is to persevere, persist and to keep one's footing. It speaks of a determined effort to stay standing while being attacked. It also speaks of standing still, feet firmly planted, able to resist a force pushing against us. If you've ever played a game like King of the Hill, you know the concept - standing still allows much greater resistance than when running at (or away from) someone.
In these verses, it is not our own spiritual strength or power that keeps us standing firm. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It is only in surrendering our will, and our stubborn determination to help ourselves that we find the will and determination to stand up to attack. It is our faith in God, His power, and Christ's death and resurrection that gives us the ability to stand still, quietly and calmly until our Commander tells us to do otherwise. And if and when He does give the order to charge, it is that same faith that will give us the victory, and again, not anything we do or are on our own. I find a lot of comfort in that thought. Our faith in Christ absolutely assures us the victory over sin and, someday, death. Now if only we could remember that in the heat of the battle.
One of the most striking scenes in the movie is (naturally) the battle scene toward the end. The White Witch orders her army to charge Aslan's army. They take off across the valley, weapons drawn, shouting. But what struck me was what Peter ordered his army to do. Rather than running straight into the battle as soon as the enemy did, the army under Peter's command did exactly what today's verses talk about. They stood firm. They waited for instruction, and they trusted their commander.
At least three separate times, God, through Paul, tells us to "stand firm". 1 Thessalonians 2:15 simply says to stand firm in the teachings we receive from godly leaders. In I Corinthians 6:13 and Galatians 5:1 and we're told that standing firm in our faith will keep us on guard and will keep us from falling back into slavery to sin. The word used in all three of these verses is steko. The idea is to persevere, persist and to keep one's footing. It speaks of a determined effort to stay standing while being attacked. It also speaks of standing still, feet firmly planted, able to resist a force pushing against us. If you've ever played a game like King of the Hill, you know the concept - standing still allows much greater resistance than when running at (or away from) someone.
In these verses, it is not our own spiritual strength or power that keeps us standing firm. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It is only in surrendering our will, and our stubborn determination to help ourselves that we find the will and determination to stand up to attack. It is our faith in God, His power, and Christ's death and resurrection that gives us the ability to stand still, quietly and calmly until our Commander tells us to do otherwise. And if and when He does give the order to charge, it is that same faith that will give us the victory, and again, not anything we do or are on our own. I find a lot of comfort in that thought. Our faith in Christ absolutely assures us the victory over sin and, someday, death. Now if only we could remember that in the heat of the battle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
