Unpacking

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:18-30 (MSG)

Jesus calls and invites us….”Come. Get away with me. I want to show you something new.”
Me: “OK.” And I show up with a large trunk, a big and small suitcase, a backpack and multiple pouches of things stuck in my pockets and hanging around my neck.
Me: “I need to bring all this. I don’t go anywhere without my stuff.”
Jesus: “Are you sure you want to carry all that?”
Me: “Yes, I’ve got this. I’ve been carrying it for years.”
Jesus: “OK. Let’s walk together.”

We start our journey. As we walk together, I see glimpses of Him that I’ve never seen before. He loves people and touches them in ways that are new to me. I see Him send others that love Him to help folks. I watch literal miracles happen before my very eyes. After some time, I realize that my big trunk has become a nuisance because I am trying to keep up and it’s slowing me down.

Jesus: “You sure you need that big trunk?”
Me: “Well, let me look.” I open it up and inside I see a bunch of old hurts. I see things that happened that made me feel small or insignificant. I realized that lately I haven’t felt those things so I take them out and throw them away. I throw away some of the old hurts too but I keep some. I move them to a smaller bag. Not sure I am willing to let go of those yet.
Jesus: “Let’s walk.”

As we continue our journey, I began to help Jesus with some of the things he is doing. I put down my bags and reach out to others. On one of these side stops, when we started walking again, I accidentally left the small suitcase. After a moment of panic, I realized I didn’t really need it. We kept walking.

One of the things I noticed was that on our journey, I started picking up other things. Things like a peace I couldn’t explain and this inner happiness that seemed to be around a lot. I didn’t have anywhere to put them so I started taking stuff out of my big suitcase so I could take them along. Jesus said I didn’t need to pack them. They were always going to be part of who I was and would travel with me. I realized that I had taken quite a bit out of my large suitcase. Insecurities, anxieties, fear were laying there on the ground. I put them back in the suitcase and took it to the trash. I left it there.

Jesus: “You ready to keep walking?”
Me: “Yes.” By this time, I had a backpack and some pouches of things that I couldn’t seem to let go of. Some of them were possessions I thought I couldn’t live without. In one of the pouches I kept money. I couldn’t go anywhere without knowing I was fully prepared and had my money. In one pouch was the need to be successful….you know, the way the world defines success. These things defined who I was. I couldn’t leave them.

 As we continued our journey, we hit a bad storm. Really bad. My backpack and some of my pouches were ripped from me. I was panicked. I wasn’t sure what I would do without those things to identify who I was.

 Jesus: “Don’t worry. Just keep in step with me. Look to me for your identity.  And your money? Not needed here. I will provide all you need.”

 This part of the journey was the hardest. I was reluctant to believe that he would do what he said. And how in the world do you identify with Jesus? I wasn’t even sure of how to get my arms around that one. But as we continued to walk, I realized he was right. He provided for all my needs and in this process of letting go of my “stuff”, I found myself. I knew who I really was.

I look back and marvel at the way Jesus let me come, just as I was. He didn’t have any expectations that I was going to show up without my bags and be perfect. He knew I couldn’t. He let me walk the journey with Him, let me experience the unforced rhythms of grace. I still have some pouches stuck here and there. It seems sometimes I empty one and an old one fills back up. It’s OK. I know Jesus is walking this journey with me and will never leave me to figure it out on my own.

Bringing My A-Game

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. Colossians 3:23 (ESV)

I have a couple of “projects” on my plate. I reference them like that because some of it is work related, one of the things is something God put on my heart a long time ago and some of it is ministry related. It feels like some days…okay a lot of days….that I keep working and working at this stuff and it is stuck. Nothing happens to move it forward. Honestly, some days it feels like I am walking backwards!

One day as I was praying I said to God “If this isn’t going to work, if it’s not going to move forward and we are just going to stay stuck here, why am I even working on this?”

And into my brain flashed the Bible text “Whatsoever you do, do it with all your might.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10) That was quickly followed by “Even if you don’t think it is going to be successful.”

I had to ponder that for a minute. In our worldly perception, you don’t work on something if it doesn’t look like you are going to succeed. You keep working until you can see if it is going to be successful or not and if not, you stop. We are taught that everything has to be successful based on what we see happening.

But I think God defines success differently.

As I continued to reflect on this, I started thinking about what happens to us as we continue to put all of our might into something that may or may not work. First, we develop this incredible work ethic. It’s hard to get up every day and work at something you are unsure will pan out. We also begin to fine-tune the processes and learn to be satisfied with the work accomplished today and leave tomorrow in God’s hands. We demonstrate faithfulness in small things. We grow in perseverance, character and hope. All of this refining is happening while we are continuing to do our best when we want to give up.

But there is more. The other thing that changes is the perceptions of those around us. As the people in our world watch us continue to do our very best, they see Jesus reflected in our behaviors. As we don’t take shortcuts to make it easier, as we don’t hurt others to grow our bottom line, as we wait patiently for God to move, those things leave impressions about the God we serve. The changes in us and the perceptions of others are immeasurable.

Do I like feeling stuck? Nope. Do I wish things would break loose and move forward? Yep. But for now God is saying “It’s not time yet.” So for today, I will continue to bring my A-game to this day. I will continue to keep working at the last things God gave me to do. In the end, when it all unfolds, he will be glorified.

I Am Broken, You Are Broken, Maybe Jesus Can Help Us

14 Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. 15 “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” Mark 1:14-15 (NLT)

I am reading a book by Ann Voskamp called The Way of Abundance. In it she says “Repent. You are broken and you don’t have to pretend you are not. What a relief!”

Made me think…..

What if we all lived like we knew we were broken? What if we stopped pretending and putting on airs that we have it all together? What if we had the same attitude as Christ and humbled ourselves in every situation? How would it look if I didn’t have to hide my brokenness anymore? How freeing would it be to just be me, mess and all?

Would all of the walls we put up melt away? Would our words be less guarded and kinder? If we stopped trying to pretend we were something we were not, would we apologize more easily? Would our responses change on social media? Would we be less defensive in our reactions? How would it look if we knew, deep down in our core….heck if everyone agreed…..we are all broken? Nothing to hide here.

Repenting is when we stop doing whatever it is we are doing that keeps us from God. Usually, the root of that “whatever” is us. Maybe there is a reason that repent is one of the first instructions Jesus gave us. Repent. Turn to the Father. Take yourself off the throne and put him on it. He belongs there. You don’t.

So what if we stopped focusing on ourselves and rejected the common thought that we have to have it all together? What if we readily admit that we are broken and we stop pretending that we aren’t?

How would that change our lives, our families, our communities? How would it change our world?

Beautiful As A Biology Book

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”” ‭‭1 Samuel ‭16:7‬ (‭NLT)‬‬

Recently, I had a surgery to have a part of my body removed that was causing problems because it was not functioning properly. After the surgery, the surgeon came out and told my husband that it was a good thing we removed the part because it was in bad shape. Then he said “The rest of her insides are textbook perfect.”

I laugh at that because it seems funny to me to have my insides compared to a biology book. But it made me think. Here I was walking around with a diseased body part. It was causing me some problems but only the people closest to me knew my struggles. From the outside, I looked just fine. From the outside, no one could see that I had this chaos going on. And really, I didn’t even know how bad it was.

God told Samuel that we would do this. We look on the outward appearance of someone and decide how their life is going. We look at how they look, what they do and the responses that we see and make assumptions.

In reality, few of us advertise the things we struggle with. We want to put our best foot forward and look great! Sometimes, we know we are doing this. Sometimes, we don’t.

The Bible says we are all broken on the inside. We all sin. We all fool ourselves. That is until we compare ourselves to Jesus. When we spend some time looking at him, we realize how much we fall short. We know we need help. We know that our hearts are not as great as we pretend they are.

Now if you are OK looking great on the outside and being broken on the inside, stop reading. If you want to grow the heart that God is looking for, stop pretending. Spend some time with Jesus. Talk to him, read his Words and linger. The Holy Spirit will begin an unseen work on your heart. After a while, you will become Jesus perfect. And that is the only perfect that matters.

Let God

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:2‬ (‭NLT)‬‬

Have you ever tried to stop a bad behavior? And by bad I mean anything you are being convicted that you should not be doing. I have. Usually it goes like this.

I begin to feel a conviction (sense in my soul) that there may be something wrong with this behavior. Now, don’t get me wrong. If I am overtly sinning - like telling a lie or slandering someone, I know it’s wrong and I don’t have to wonder if I should stop that. I am talking more about a behavior that for some reason is not actually overtly sinning but God is saying “Stop”.

I begin to get the conviction and I’ll be honest, sometimes I am not pleased. It may be something that in itself is not a sin but maybe because I spend sooooo much time doing it, God is saying stop. Or maybe God knows this will lead me down a slippery path. Either way, I usually try to ‘discuss it’ with God.

I’m not sure why I do this. I know in the end I am going to admit that I trust him and I’m going to do what he says. I’m getting better.

OK. So I become convicted and I try to stop. And I try and I try and I try. Notice how many times I am trying? Obviously, I am not succeeding. It’s because I am trying on my own. I am not leaning into God for help.

I love today’s verse because it gives us the solution. But let God…..when we lean into God, focus on him, we begin to be changed from the inside out. Suddenly, God has changed the way I think. What was once appealing is no longer so. Where once I would try to rationalize, I now let it go. And in this process I find freedom.

Too often we think we have to clean ourselves up to come to God but the Bible says this is not so. God says come to me, let’s get to know each other and I will get you where you need to be. Our role? To do the things we can do to get to know Jesus. Spend a little time. Ask questions. Seek. (Kind of like you’d do if you wanted to get to know a person.)

God’s job is all the rest. And he will do it. He promises.

Hand Me A Rock

From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, Psalm 61:2 (NLT)

Have you ever seen the commercial for Snickers where the main character is hangry (hungry and angry)? They act out, not being themselves until eventually someone hands them a Snickers to eat and it returns them to normal.

That’s how I felt recently in a church meeting. We were talking about a God Project and all the implications. When you read “God Project” feel free to insert the words unknown, bigger than we are, full of surprises, etc. Because let’s face it, when God puts you on mission anything can happen and it will always be bigger than you.

I remember sitting in the meeting feeling scared. I wasn’t scared because I was terrified; I was scared because it was overwhelming. Overwhelming because I sensed things were about to change; overwhelming because this was going to get bigger than we were. When I feel overwhelmed, I tend to get very detail oriented and logistical. I focus on details that may or may not be important but usually are not important at that particular moment. And that is exactly where I went.

Later, as I was driving God revealed this to me. The funny thing is I’m pretty sure I’ve done this all my adult life but I never knew what triggered it. Suddenly, I do. There was a little relief in that aha moment but the real question became “God, how do I overcome this?” You see, being detail oriented and thinking logistical can be a good thing as long as it is contributing toward the mission. But when I am doing it to make myself feel safe and secure, that’s going to be counter-productive.

Here are my take aways from this experience.

1. God is active in our lives to grow us to be the kids he wants us to be.

2. My security can never be the main goal. It has to be about God’s plan.

3. When God reveals something to me, I need to ask him for help to change the behavior (because let’s face it….if I’ve been doing it all this time I’m not likely to change it by myself.)

4. Instead of reaching for a Snickers, I need to reach for The Rock. And there I will find my safety.

A Minute In It - Which Skin Are You In?

A minute in God’s Word will change your life. Take a moment to read the text below and answer the questions at the bottom of the post.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins.  New wine must be stored in new wineskins.  But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.” Luke 5:37-39 (NLT)

Old wineskins = the religion and traditions practiced by the populace at large
New wineskins = Jesus revelation of God and how God wanted them to practice their faith

What are some “old wineskins” in your life that might prevent you from worshiping God as he says you should?
Where did they come from?
Why do you hold on to them?
What are some things you hold on to that prevent you from sharing Jesus?
What are some things you could add to your life that would allow you to fully realize the gospel?
Are you, like the people in the story, content to drink the old wine and not look for Jesus’ new wine?

Touch Me Again

When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?” The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.” Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. Mark 8:22-25 (NLT)

Can you see me now? Sounds more like something we would say as we try to fix something, right? It doesn’t sound like something Jesus would say. We are so used to Jesus performing a miracle one time. One and done. There isn’t ever a question about whether he got it right the first time.

That’s why this story made me pause. And of course, then it made me ponder. Why? Why did he spit in the man’s eyes and then touch them and ask “Can you see anything?” I know Jesus could have healed the man immediately so to me, that’s not the question. The question is why didn’t he? We also know that Jesus always did things for the people’s benefit and God’s glory.

So what was it in this man that made Jesus heal him in stages? One of the interesting things in this passage is that other people brought him to Jesus and begged him to heal him. In other stories, the person who needed healing is crying out to Jesus for healing. Could the man have given up? Was his faith gone? Maybe he’d never heard of Jesus and didn’t know the possibilities?

When the friends brought him to Jesus, Jesus took over. He led him out of the town and had a one-on-one with him. He involved him in the process and engaged him in his healing. There could be so many reasons that Jesus interacted with this man the way he did and until we get to heaven we won’t know what they are. But, we do know a couple of things.

We are often like this blind man. Maybe we’ve given up. Maybe we are so discouraged we don’t have it in us to seek what is best for us. Maybe we just need a one-on-one.

I know Jesus has touched me and grown me in stages. I long for him to just change me into what he wants me to be. I really would like him to just make me new but because this has happened over time and in a relationship with him, it is so much more valuable to me.

When we encounter him, we are not healed all at once. It takes multiple encounters. And maybe, just maybe when we get a glimpse of the “trees”, we know there is something better and we keep looking for more.

Lord Jesus, please touch me again!