“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
LAMENTATIONS 3-5
14The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped their music.
15Joy is gone from our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17Because of this our hearts are faint,
because of these things our eyes grow dim(5:14-17)
HEBREWS 8
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”c
JOURNAL
We are created to know God. Yet we live in a world where truly knowing God is in competition with so many distractions. I have been reading recently from John Wooden's book on leadership. It is truly amazing how little he focused on outcomes and instead focused on the process and the actions that can lead to outcomes. It seems we have become a people that values outcomes over process. Probably because process is hard...shortcuts to a perceived outcome seems easier. I want outcomes and I don't really value the process. I believe I know how things should work and how life should be, not only for me but for everyone else as well.
Yet the brilliance of the Bible is that it tells me the opposite. It tells me that my wisdom, thoughts and projections are way off. I am weak, fallible and but a vapor that is here today and gone tomorrow. How can I possibly know what's right for myself much less others. I can't...that's why I must always trust God. Wringing my hands in worry over what may happen tomorrow, next week, next year etc. is a clear indictment of my own sin and my distrust of God's sovereignty. God permitted some pretty awful humans to reek havoc on the world for most of it's existence. No matter who our President ends up being...it will never usurp God and his love for each and every one of us. In fact as a believer I am supposed to be different. I am supposed to face suffering and persecution with joy in my heart not hate. I am supposed to love and pray for my enemies, not bash, belittle, and demean...and that's where I really fail to surrender to God. I don't want to pray for my enemies, I don't want to love them, I want them to lose and see them suffer.
Yet Father you still come after me and love me in spite of my failings. This love and redemption is the answer to everything I am searching for in my life. It is greater than all the wealth of the world. It is greater than any honor or earthly relationship. This is why we are called to surrender our lives...because God knows that until I surrender I do not have room for him. For God does not desire part of my heart, he desires it all.
31“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
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