I was struck by a great irony today. I was talking to God about my tendency to not be a very trusting person. He's been asking me to trust Him lately, and while my spiritual desire is to do just that, my humanity leans toward worry and fear instead. I caught myself praying the words of the father in Mark 9:24 - "I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!"
Do you see the irony there? In order to make that request, I have to trust God enough to believe that He will, in fact, help me to trust Him. That just blows my mind. The act of placing our faith in God requires an act of faith. And where does that faith come from? Well, from God, of course. In His great grace, He gives us just enough faith to take the step of putting our faith in Him. In his goodness, He helps us believe when every part of us is gripped in unbelief. In His love He draws us to Himself so that we cling to Him, our Help and our Protection. Over and over again, God makes the first move. It's not about us. It's about Him. And it's all for His glory!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
On Sanctification
A few months ago, I felt God telling me that I had to get rid of something I had in my possession. It was something I enjoyed, something I thought was harmless. I kept thinking it was my imagination, or someone else's influence that was making me think I should get rid of it, so I kept ignoring the prodding. But it kept getting stronger, until I had no choice but to admit it really was God telling me to do it. So last week, I obeyed. To be completely honest, I thought that once I'd obeyed, all of my problems would instantly be fixed. Nope. They're still here. So I asked God a question I've just recently learned to ask in complete openness: "What else, Lord?"
Today, I felt it again - that urge to get rid of something that I didn't see as "bad" or "sinful" or "harmful". I'll admit, I argued with God about it. I told Him that there was nothing wrong with what I had. I told Him that I feel like He just keeps taking away things I enjoy, but that He's not replacing them with anything. (Where did I get the idea that that's how it's supposed to work?) But I knew very clearly that this time, it really was God telling me to obey. Just to be on the safe side, though, I thought I'd just take a minute or two to read the Bible. Yeah, that was a "good" thing to do. I guess I thought if I read the Bible, I might hear something else from God that would excuse me from what I was pretty sure He was telling me to do. Why on earth do we do that? Why, when we think God is telling us something good, do we just accept it, but when He's telling us something we don't want to hear do we look for a way out? And why, oh why, do we ever think that the Bible is going to show us a way out of obedience?!?! I'm laughing at myself right now...
Well, wouldn't you know, God really does bless the "Flip & Point" methodology... "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:10) I couldn't believe what I was reading! I had just gotten done arguing to God that the thing He was telling me to get rid of wasn't anything "bad", and I had felt Him saying, "but it doesn't bring Me glory". It wasn't that this thing was necessarily producing bad fruit, but it wasn't producing good fruit either. Busted! I have to admit, it really is getting easier to obey God, the more time I spend with Him. Yes, I still doubted and argued, but this time, it was a few minutes, not a few months before I surrendered and obeyed.
So here's what I'm realizing: 1) The more time we spend with God, the easier it is to hear His voice. 2) Just because something isn't necessarily "bad" doesn't automatically make it "good". And the big one: 3) God wants to sanctify every part of us - our thoughts, our words, our actions, our imaginations (just learned this one yesterday), our wills, everything.
I've been asking God what I'm supposed to be doing to serve Him, and slowly, I'm starting to get snippets of things. Nothing is really adding up to anything practical yet, but I'm starting to see a general direction. But I'm learning very quickly that if I'm going to really be used by God for His complete glory, I need to let him take away things that either are now, or may someday in the future be in the way. I may not completely understand why He's asking me to remove things from my life, and I may be hurt/disappointed/angry when I feel like he's not "replacing" them with anything, but if I really do want Him to use (and bless) me, I have to be willing, if not eager, to obey. Every day, He is sanctifying me. He's setting me apart and making me holy because He's got something for me to do. So while this may be a painful time right now, I know, without a doubt, that someday I'll look back and see why this was all necessary, and honestly be able to say "all for Your glory, Lord".
Today, I felt it again - that urge to get rid of something that I didn't see as "bad" or "sinful" or "harmful". I'll admit, I argued with God about it. I told Him that there was nothing wrong with what I had. I told Him that I feel like He just keeps taking away things I enjoy, but that He's not replacing them with anything. (Where did I get the idea that that's how it's supposed to work?) But I knew very clearly that this time, it really was God telling me to obey. Just to be on the safe side, though, I thought I'd just take a minute or two to read the Bible. Yeah, that was a "good" thing to do. I guess I thought if I read the Bible, I might hear something else from God that would excuse me from what I was pretty sure He was telling me to do. Why on earth do we do that? Why, when we think God is telling us something good, do we just accept it, but when He's telling us something we don't want to hear do we look for a way out? And why, oh why, do we ever think that the Bible is going to show us a way out of obedience?!?! I'm laughing at myself right now...
Well, wouldn't you know, God really does bless the "Flip & Point" methodology... "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:10) I couldn't believe what I was reading! I had just gotten done arguing to God that the thing He was telling me to get rid of wasn't anything "bad", and I had felt Him saying, "but it doesn't bring Me glory". It wasn't that this thing was necessarily producing bad fruit, but it wasn't producing good fruit either. Busted! I have to admit, it really is getting easier to obey God, the more time I spend with Him. Yes, I still doubted and argued, but this time, it was a few minutes, not a few months before I surrendered and obeyed.
So here's what I'm realizing: 1) The more time we spend with God, the easier it is to hear His voice. 2) Just because something isn't necessarily "bad" doesn't automatically make it "good". And the big one: 3) God wants to sanctify every part of us - our thoughts, our words, our actions, our imaginations (just learned this one yesterday), our wills, everything.
I've been asking God what I'm supposed to be doing to serve Him, and slowly, I'm starting to get snippets of things. Nothing is really adding up to anything practical yet, but I'm starting to see a general direction. But I'm learning very quickly that if I'm going to really be used by God for His complete glory, I need to let him take away things that either are now, or may someday in the future be in the way. I may not completely understand why He's asking me to remove things from my life, and I may be hurt/disappointed/angry when I feel like he's not "replacing" them with anything, but if I really do want Him to use (and bless) me, I have to be willing, if not eager, to obey. Every day, He is sanctifying me. He's setting me apart and making me holy because He's got something for me to do. So while this may be a painful time right now, I know, without a doubt, that someday I'll look back and see why this was all necessary, and honestly be able to say "all for Your glory, Lord".
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