13:34 “I give you a new commandment – to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 13:35 Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another.”
(NET)
I like to run. And when I need to get away and think, I’ll go for long runs. There is a 5 mile loop I try to run once or twice a week, if I have the time. Just the other day, I went a total of 9 miles, walking some of the way of course.
But, no, running is not what I got on here to write about. It’s the pattern I’ve noticed on days that I run distances– I can’t stop eating. It’s actually rather annoying. I’ll eat and eat and eat and still feel like I need to eat some more. But as with other physical experiences God used this to bring to mind a corresponding spiritual lesson. Our life as a “chosen people, a royal priesthood,” (1 Peter 2:9) is meant to be completely spent on Him who is our Lord and Savior. When we spend our lives on Him we will crave the nourishment that His Word provides; we can’t help but do so because we’ve completely emptied ourselves in His work. So just as I completely exhaust myself on long runs and so crave the food that my body can turn into energy, I need to crave the Word. If I intend to live the entirety of each day serving the Lord (which I do), then I need to be feasting on the Scriptures that I might have the “energy,” the “nutrients,” to keep me alive and able to press on.
The Apostle Paul calls this life a “race” and a “fight” (2 Timothy 4:7). Be battle ready and able to run. Feast on the Word today and everyday. Crave the Word like newborn babies do milk. (1 Peter 2:2) It’s what will keep you going forward and upward in life.
20:1 God spoke all these words:
20:2 “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, 20:6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
20:7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.
20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. 20:9 For six days you may labor and do all your work, 20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 20:11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you.
20:13 “You shall not murder.
20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.
20:15 “You shall not steal.
20:16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
(NET)
A couple days ago the Lord taught me something really cool. As a part of the GFA home team we are on a rotation to clean bathrooms. (Glamorous right?) So, today as I was cleaning the bathroom and checking things off of the list, I was praying through some struggles. The end my prayer was just “I want to be more and more like Jesus. I want to be more and more like Him.” So I was almost finished with my job and was polishing the wooden door, when Keith, one of the core staff members at GFA stopped to say thank you. He thanked me for doing the job all the way and making sure that everything got done right. I’m thinking, “Everything done right? If only you knew.”
He said that what I was doing indirectly made him look good since he is in charge of building and grounds upkeep. When K.P. looks at things he would say “Wow, Keith’s doing a good job.”
“What? Excuse me, I’m the one doing this work. Why should he get the credit?”
It made me think, what if we all did things just to give our Father the credit? He’s the boss. If we did things just so that he’d get the praise, life would be so much better. It wouldn’t be a competition to do more because no one would know that you did it in the first place. It’d just be something that God did.
So, what if we did things all the way all the time? Not just on the outside where people can see it, like this door; but sweeping next to the garbage can and dusting the corners? What if we made sure Christ got the credit for that too?
What is there in your life that you are doing half way? Is it trying to make money – or is it your Bible study? Which one is it that Christ is getting credit for? What would you change if you knew everything you were doing in life went into His account and not yours? If everything you did showed up on Jesus’ background check, would you want to hire him?
So that’s what Christ taught me as I was cleaning the bathroom – that I need to be doing things for Him because everything I do is going on His account.
I was thinking about my year as a student this week. I think the lesson that was etched all over my year was to own up to who I am and then see it in light of who Christ is. I am really good at dodging the truth, trying to hide my flaws, shifting the blame. I’m so totally flawed, and I know it, but I don’t want anyone to think so.
Through my year as a student God used almost everything I experienced (my house leader, my roommates, my job) to show me that (1) I need to be completely honest before Him about who I am, that means all my sin and shortcomings. (2) when I’m honest before Him, when I repent and take responsibility for my sin and failures, He goes about changing me and making me like Him in ways I never thought possible. And (3), my fellowship with those around me is so much richer and deeper as a result.
There’s complete honesty and humility at the foot of the cross. Jesus redeems our messyness. He is so good.
Have you ever had one of those days that started off really bad?
Today that is exactly what happened.
At 4:30 am I arose to get ready for work , 5:00 I attempted to leave for work . Key word “attempted” but once out of the drive thru I couldn’t move the van. You see while in the drive way the brake light came on-which always happen in our now disintegrating vehicle when one pushes on the pedal. But it being so early (my excuse of choice) I thought -oh the emergency brake is on. So I proceeded to lift it up. Now this is when the van wouldn’t move.
I then ran in to my mom who was still very sleepy asking for her help. She came out and explained to me that the brake goes down when driving not up.
Finally I arrived to my place of employment to find abosolutely no one there. I was supposed to be there at 5:30am for inventory. I was early and thought ok call mom…. After figuring some things out I waited till about six when a manager will arrive to open the store.
She came and I asked “Isn’t today the inventory day?”
She looked at me and said with regret “No that was Monday”
My heart sunk. We then proceeded to go inside and check the schedule. I had written down the wrong day and felt terrible. She was so gracious to reassure me that we all make mistakes and that it was ok.
I called my mom again (thank you Jesus for Mom’s!) we talked and then she said she would see me soon.
I made it to the second stop light before I started crying. This is not a good idea when your core of vision is being completely clouded.
I kept arguing with myself that I better stop crying b/c I needed to stay alive, but then thinking all I wanted to do was cry .
After a while I stopped crying and sat at a stop light wishing I could turn back time when I say the car in front of me . It had a bumper sticker that read “Look to Jesus”.
You see I was worried about my own reputation and the consequences of my actions instead of letting Jesus have it all. In spite of myself, Jesus would take care of me.
I’ll end with this 🙂 I have been memorizing Phil 4.
V4-7 says
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be afraid about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving ,present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
So when all seems like a mess turned upside down. Keep all focus on Jesus and Rejoice!
Instead of importing other people’s spiritual success stories, I would find it more natural for us all to search for the ways that God has ordained for each one of us to put into practice in our own time and place what we feel He has revealed to us. Hummm….
Some of this is a crutch: hiding fear. We may leap but it wont be out of faith. The core followers of Christ have found that following Him is not about having sufficient academic and statistical proof before they act…rather, it is about having the faithful and obedient desire to follow God’s Word and do what He said, no matter what, when, where, or who has gone before.
13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 13:2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 13:3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.
13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. 13:5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 13:6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
13:8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 13:10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 13:12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
(NET)
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