"But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine...To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning..."
Daniel 1:8a, 17a
As I read this passage and pondered over it while eating a delicious sandwich, the following thought passed through my head--the calling to a life in Christ really IS a drastic contrast to life of this world, when lived in truth.
Yes, many of us have had this thought before, but how often has it had the power to truly change us from the inside out? How different are we really? I ask these questions of myself quite frequently these days, and praise the Lord, He keeps revealing to me many ways I still need to grow. And when my heart is turned to Him I experience joy even through these painful convictions. Even as tears flow down my cheeks my heart is full because of the love of Christ.
Just as Daniel resolved not to defile himself with "unclean" food, I want to be resolved not to defile myself with the life of this world... by filling my fleshly, earthly desires rather than letting the Lord fill me, by becoming polluted by simply trying to "fit in", by letting selfishness consume me rather than the love of Christ... I cannot merely be a voice speaking these truths but a vessel expressing them silently through my actions, which will scream loudly to those who take notice.
But this is not for my glory--no, it is for the Lord's! To truly be in step with my Savior... I must be willing to sacrifice recognition, to bite my tongue, to do His will simply because He wants me to and deserves for me to rather than because I expect something in return. Yet even though I should not expect "payment", God will reward those who are faithful!
He rewarded Daniel and His friends with wisdom, knowledge, and particularly in Daniel's case, special abilities (interpreting dreams). The Lord promises us great things if we obey and seek to live a life in Christ Jesus rather than succumbing to the temptation of a worldly life. We see snippets of this life... take tiny bites... and still turn our backs! I have experienced this myself. For one brief instance I will be focused on my Savior and madly in love with Him and He will reveal a truth to me... and even if it hurts I will praise Him! But then... though we have the knowledge through experience of how much greater this life, this calling is... we fall away the next instant, seeming to forget what God has shown us as possible.
I'm amazed at how difficult it can be to live this radical, truth-consumed life. I love it... I am sooo blessed that the Lord has made this possible at ALL... but it's not easy. God promised that it would not be. And then He gives us His shoulder to lean on and carries us through the darkest moments, fulfilling His promise of faithfulness.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Defying Human Nature
Oswald Chambers writes in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest, for May 14 (The Habit of Enjoying Adversity):
"Never live on your memories of past experiences, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you."
I am sure I was somewhat unaware of the human tendency to do this, simply because basing each new day on past experiences is such an ingrained aspect of my life. I base how I treat people on past interactions with them. I base my motivations and decisions for school on past experiences and motivations. I base my attitude each day on the events of the previous day...
How wrong this seems!
If I am truly being made new and transformed by the Word of God... if I am truly submitting to Him daily and desiring Him to work in me... then these things drastically subside in importance.
My interaction with people should be based not on my past with them (especially those with whom the past is shaky and riddled with hurt), but rather our interaction should be based on the love of Christ! I should love others as Christ loves them and me and learn to let go of my hurts, give them into the powerful hands of God (who already paid for them anyway), and not let those hurts poison my relationships with people. I must also allow the love of God to permeate me such that my fear of interacting with new people does not keep me from genuinely loving them or even meeting them to begin with.
My motivation in school and work should be an attitude of "whatever you do, do it as working for God and not men." I sometimes realize "in the moment" when the Lord is changing this attitude within my heart - yet taking the executing step is difficult. I am more prone to laziness than I would prefer to admit. Overcoming this laziness and weakness is by God's grace alone but requires effort. An ironic situation--I must be motivated enough to let God motivate me. :) I long to be motivated to be "productive" in my school work, house work, and especially in my relationship with the Lord. I find it surprising how difficult it can be at times to be motivated to study God's word or converse with Him! How backwards that seems.
Often when I have a bad day... even a seemingly endless span of bad days, such as I experiencd recently... I wake up the next day and quickly feel a heaviness in my heart which is a more than sufficient reminder of the pain I have recently experienced. I find most often that to pull myself from whatever pit I have dug myself into requires some positive event to happen... either a very significant event or just anything positive with whoever I have experienced pain with. How wrong this is! Regardless of whatever the days past have been like, I must learn to let the Lord mold my attitude each morning... it should be an attitude of thankfulness, of grace, of joy at the very breath of life He provides though I am so undeserving.
No matter how overwhelmed I am feeling with school, a relationship, with the seemingly endless convictions the Lord is putting on my heart calling for a heart change... It should be His Word alone which shapes me and my experiences. Only the purest truth, the one that supercedes by far whatever "truth" I am experiencing in this world. I am amazed that God provides, in His great mercy, the strength by His spirit to experience His joy despite what may be happening in my life--not that He makes it easy, but He makes it possible when without Him it would be utterly impossible.
"Never live on your memories of past experiences, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you."
I am sure I was somewhat unaware of the human tendency to do this, simply because basing each new day on past experiences is such an ingrained aspect of my life. I base how I treat people on past interactions with them. I base my motivations and decisions for school on past experiences and motivations. I base my attitude each day on the events of the previous day...
How wrong this seems!
If I am truly being made new and transformed by the Word of God... if I am truly submitting to Him daily and desiring Him to work in me... then these things drastically subside in importance.
My interaction with people should be based not on my past with them (especially those with whom the past is shaky and riddled with hurt), but rather our interaction should be based on the love of Christ! I should love others as Christ loves them and me and learn to let go of my hurts, give them into the powerful hands of God (who already paid for them anyway), and not let those hurts poison my relationships with people. I must also allow the love of God to permeate me such that my fear of interacting with new people does not keep me from genuinely loving them or even meeting them to begin with.
My motivation in school and work should be an attitude of "whatever you do, do it as working for God and not men." I sometimes realize "in the moment" when the Lord is changing this attitude within my heart - yet taking the executing step is difficult. I am more prone to laziness than I would prefer to admit. Overcoming this laziness and weakness is by God's grace alone but requires effort. An ironic situation--I must be motivated enough to let God motivate me. :) I long to be motivated to be "productive" in my school work, house work, and especially in my relationship with the Lord. I find it surprising how difficult it can be at times to be motivated to study God's word or converse with Him! How backwards that seems.
Often when I have a bad day... even a seemingly endless span of bad days, such as I experiencd recently... I wake up the next day and quickly feel a heaviness in my heart which is a more than sufficient reminder of the pain I have recently experienced. I find most often that to pull myself from whatever pit I have dug myself into requires some positive event to happen... either a very significant event or just anything positive with whoever I have experienced pain with. How wrong this is! Regardless of whatever the days past have been like, I must learn to let the Lord mold my attitude each morning... it should be an attitude of thankfulness, of grace, of joy at the very breath of life He provides though I am so undeserving.
No matter how overwhelmed I am feeling with school, a relationship, with the seemingly endless convictions the Lord is putting on my heart calling for a heart change... It should be His Word alone which shapes me and my experiences. Only the purest truth, the one that supercedes by far whatever "truth" I am experiencing in this world. I am amazed that God provides, in His great mercy, the strength by His spirit to experience His joy despite what may be happening in my life--not that He makes it easy, but He makes it possible when without Him it would be utterly impossible.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Marks of genuine Love
I wonder... can any of us love genuinely and be aware of it? If we feel or think that we are loving genuinely, has pride set in and our love been proved ungenuine as a result? Or is it possible that God can open our eyes to our personal growth without it making us prideful?
I was thinking these thoughts earlier today as I pondered whether I truly, genuinely love people. I think I tend to love people I develop relationships with... much like I have a heart for that which is in my immediate surroundings and have a more difficult time finding genuine compassion, concern, and love for that which is far away in the world. How I pray for a global perspective and heart! But... the same thing with people. My heart feels so full when I ponder my relationships with believers and nonbelievers. But when I meet new people... I get scared. I want to hide inside of myself, afraid for some reason to get to know them. I honestly don't know why.
There are a couple of friends the Lord blessed me with this year that I would never have "chosen" on my own... they are amazing people with beautiful hearts that, for some exterior reason--be it appearance or behavior--would not have been ones I would choose to include in my life. Sad but true. Thankfully the Lord had other plans. He's opening my eyes more and more... helping me love people for who they are even before I know them well, removing my fear of developing new relationships... and he's convicting me when I look at someone and fear getting to know them.
And with those I have known much longer... with all that the Lord has been changing inside of me this year I am becoming acutely aware that any love I may have felt for some dear friends over the years has been anything but genuine. It's been outright selfish. It's difficult to admit and recall and deal with the memories of how I have wasted time.... years even... upset over petty things, ruining relationships by demanding my own way and even being unintentionally manipulative. I'm amazed at those who have stood by me as long as they have, even if those relationships are now strained to a point where I fear they may never truly heal. Yet... I sense God is changing my heart much with this awareness, and that's where I question whether I am being prideful. I thought about a particular friend this afternoon, and realized that it is truly my desire to show said friend that I love them by honoring their wishes, even when those wishes specifically disclude me. While it brought tears to my eyes... suddenly honoring those wishes and that person were more important than my own desires. Which is why I wondered, "am I beginning to understand genuine love? And does it mean I am being prideful in supposedly being able to see it?" It's just been my thought that true humility will go completely unrecognized by the humble person... someone will say something and they will think "...really? I was being humble? hmm." And then let it go without another thought, having never thought about it before.
How I long to love others genuinely, in humility and gentleness...
I was thinking these thoughts earlier today as I pondered whether I truly, genuinely love people. I think I tend to love people I develop relationships with... much like I have a heart for that which is in my immediate surroundings and have a more difficult time finding genuine compassion, concern, and love for that which is far away in the world. How I pray for a global perspective and heart! But... the same thing with people. My heart feels so full when I ponder my relationships with believers and nonbelievers. But when I meet new people... I get scared. I want to hide inside of myself, afraid for some reason to get to know them. I honestly don't know why.
There are a couple of friends the Lord blessed me with this year that I would never have "chosen" on my own... they are amazing people with beautiful hearts that, for some exterior reason--be it appearance or behavior--would not have been ones I would choose to include in my life. Sad but true. Thankfully the Lord had other plans. He's opening my eyes more and more... helping me love people for who they are even before I know them well, removing my fear of developing new relationships... and he's convicting me when I look at someone and fear getting to know them.
And with those I have known much longer... with all that the Lord has been changing inside of me this year I am becoming acutely aware that any love I may have felt for some dear friends over the years has been anything but genuine. It's been outright selfish. It's difficult to admit and recall and deal with the memories of how I have wasted time.... years even... upset over petty things, ruining relationships by demanding my own way and even being unintentionally manipulative. I'm amazed at those who have stood by me as long as they have, even if those relationships are now strained to a point where I fear they may never truly heal. Yet... I sense God is changing my heart much with this awareness, and that's where I question whether I am being prideful. I thought about a particular friend this afternoon, and realized that it is truly my desire to show said friend that I love them by honoring their wishes, even when those wishes specifically disclude me. While it brought tears to my eyes... suddenly honoring those wishes and that person were more important than my own desires. Which is why I wondered, "am I beginning to understand genuine love? And does it mean I am being prideful in supposedly being able to see it?" It's just been my thought that true humility will go completely unrecognized by the humble person... someone will say something and they will think "...really? I was being humble? hmm." And then let it go without another thought, having never thought about it before.
How I long to love others genuinely, in humility and gentleness...
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