It's Overrr!

Yes! Our first module, the Inside Out, is over!

The past week, I decided to bring around a small piece of paper to write down random nuggets of supposed wisdom to prevent myself from forgetting them, and that piece of paper came in handy when there were things I wanted to think more about but didn't have the time to do so at that moment.

Am I glad I brought that paper around, because it was filled up by the end of the week, and there were some really interesting things that I thought about (in my humble opinion). I typed them all out anyway, so I'll share them with you.

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In the Life You’ve Always Wanted, John Ortberg writes about how we often trade wisdom for information. How we often we rush through things without taking the time to process or reflect on them, without taking the time to let things sink in, or without taking the time to fully understand or learn. We want a little bit of everything, and that’s all we get. A little bit of everything.

That’s what I always do. Always.

I rush.

When I read the Bible and I come across something to meditate on or ponder about, I skim past it instead so I can “cover more ground” and feel “more accomplished” after having read more.

But what’s the point if everything I know, feel, and understand is merely shallow head knowledge rather than deeply-rooted convictions? Ultimately, my life is left unchanged and unmoved by God’s unfailing love, grace, mercy, and compassion.

Change #1 – Think more, do less.

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Reading through the book of Esther in one sitting, it’s obvious how God is able to use her, in her obedience, to save the Jews. All the Jews. She was afraid at first, afraid that she might be killed if she tried to plead to the king on the behalf of the Jews.

But Mordecai told her, “If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

So she went. She risked her life to save the Jews. And God used her obedience to deliver the Jews and save the life of Mordecai. Through Esther, ALL THE JEWS were saved.

And as I think about Esther’s example, it strikes me that we often think (and believe) that when we surrender our wills to God and trust in Him and the plans He has for us, we will be shortchanged and end up living miserable, tragic lives.

But contrary to that, it is only when we do just that – when we surrender our wills to live according to His – that God gives us the deepest joy and satisfaction in living out the specific purpose for which we were born into “such a time as this”.

Change #2 – Live according to God’s will. There’s a reason why I’m alive in such a time as this.

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Paul talks about Spiritual Gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, about the body of Christ having many members, etc etc.

In Chapter 13, he talks about everyone’s favourite topic – love. “Love is patient, love is kind…” You’ve heard it all before. Everybody loves chapter 13.

The final verse of chapter 12 says, “But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way…”

Love.

Isn’t that amazing? You can have amazing spiritual gifts that you use effectively for God’s glory, but if you don’t have love… all that comes to nothing.

Through love, people know that we are Jesus’ disciples.

Because of love, Jesus walked this earth. Died on the cross. Defeated death. Rose again.

Love…

Covers a multitude of sins.

Love… is such a heart-warming… concept?

I just can’t comprehend it.

But I love it.

God is love.

Change #3 – Love. Love God, and through that, love others.

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There’s nothing I can do to make God love me less. Nor is there anything I can do to make Him love me more.

Because He already loves me unconditionally. His love for me is limitless. Unfailing. Eternal. And perfect.

God loves me ttm! :)

Change #4 – Live in God’s love. Don’t attempt to earn His affections.

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I’ve always wondered why God created man. Why a totally self-sufficient God would create these minute, seemingly insignificant little creatures and place them on planet Earth, allow them to mess up His creation in every possible way, and then send His one and only Son to die for us so we can have a relationship with Him.

Why in the universe would God do that? Why would God create man?

Somehow the seemingly vague answer that He did it out of love never really satisfied me. I mean, that just doesn’t make much sense… Creating something out of love? Who does that?

We do.

Why do people choose to have children? In a marriage where not having children doesn’t mean the marriage is any less complete?

Because of love. Love for each other, and love for the child that hasn’t even arrived. Because people want to love. They want to love their child, whom they’ve brought into the world. Because they have love to give, and even if it means 9 months of morning sickness for the mother and 9 months of suffering unending PMS for the father, they’d willingly go through all that to bring a child into a world full of chaos.

If people really love their children-to-be, why would they want to bring them into a fallen world, filled with pain and suffering, knowing that their children would definitely face hurt in their lifetimes? Because they know that the love they show their children will help bring them through those dark moments in life. And also because part of them wants to leave their mark in the world, and the best way would be to love their children and touch their lives, so that they, in turn, can love their children.

All parents want their children to reflect their goodness. All parents want their children to grow up to be great people. And when that happens, others who look upon their children will say to them, “You guys are great parents. You brought up your children well.”

Isn’t that so much like God? Sometimes I wonder why God would create man. Allow us to mess up His perfect creation, and then continue allowing us to live in it. Sometimes it almost seems cruel to allow us to live in a world filled with pain and suffering, which really is a world we brought upon ourselves, no matter how much people choose to blame God or deny His love or deny His existence.

And as we wallow in our self-pity and self-righteously declare how unjust and unloving God is to allow suffering, we epic-ly fail to acknowledge our part to play in all of that. I do mean all of that. As we focus on our self-centeredness, our problems, our needs, our situations, our circumstances, we completely forget that God’s love is enough to see us through. Every single thing.

And no, that doesn’t mean that our problems mysteriously, or divinely, disappear. Nor does it even mean our problems are any smaller when we receive God’s love (which is there for us 24/7). It just means that we know that God is in control, that God is infinitely bigger and more powerful than any problem we can possibly face, and that He understands how we feel and yet loves us unconditionally.

Amazing.

And then I wonder how in the world we, as insignificant, sinful, self-centered, foolish human beings can ever, ever possibly come close to reflecting God’s love and glory. Which really is His purpose for creating us in the first place – to reflect His glory.

I guess it’s a choice, isn’t it? We can either continue living the way we are – sinful, self-centered, foolish, and every possible negative adjective, or we can make the seemingly painful, sacrificial, and heart-wrenching, but ultimately totally fulfilling, satisfying, and peace-bringing decision to live for God, fulfil His purpose, and reflect His glory.

And no, we can’t do it on our own. We can make that decision, and we have to be the ones to make the decision and go all out for it, but it is God who works in us and through us, when we allow Him to, to reflect His glory.

Maybe you disagree with me, but… that realization (which has ended up much longer than it was initially) has helped me understand a little bit more of why God would ever create us.

Change #5 – Choose, every single day, to let God work in and through me.

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We were paired up and asked to talk about Heaven for 1 minute each.

Try it.

Say everything you know about Heaven in 1 minute.

As I started thinking about what I could say, I suspected that 1 minute was wayyyy too long.

And I was right. I could only say 3 things about Heaven.

Colin made a remark to the group, “Isn’t it strange how much we struggle to talk about eternity for just 60 seconds?”

It is strange. We were doing a session on the second coming of Jesus, on eternity, on heaven and hell. Colin sent us out right at the start to think about eternity and what that meant.

So as I sat down and really thought about eternity for the first time ever, it dawned on me that there is absolutely no concept of time in eternity. You can’t compare eternity to a certain length of time. There is no end in eternity. It just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and you get the point.

I wondered if it would be boring in Heaven. You know, being in Heaven forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. And ever. And. Ever. What could we possibly do to keep us un-bored for eternity?! (This is why I could say only 3 things about Heaven, how ignorant I am…)

And then I thought about hell. And I became afraid. People who say, “I’d rather go to hell where the party is!” have absolutely no idea what the hell they’re talking about. I cannot begin to imagine how horrible an eternity in hell would be like. I thought of a few people I loved, and tears began to well up in my eyes.

I prayed.

Change #6 – Pray for those who don't know Jesus.

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Most of us trainees are not local. We’re not from South Africa. And that greatly affects the way we spend our money. When we shop, we think about whether or not we’re able to bring the things we buy home, and if we can’t, then they’re probably not worth us investing our money in. If we can’t bring them home, we probably wouldn’t buy them. We’re just passing through South Africa.

I’m not local in this world. I’m just passing through. If I really view my home as Heaven, then that should greatly change the way I live my life on earth. The way I spend my money, the amount of energy I invest in people, the things I spend time doing and thinking about. The only things that are really worth investing in while I’m alive are things I can bring home. Things that will last for eternity. Things of true, eternal value. Which is really not a lot of things.

Wow. There really are 1048203957 distractions in this world that take my eyes off the truly important things in life. Like people. And God.

Change #7 – Live in view of eternity.

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But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:33

Why do we constantly worry about God’s provision? About whether we’ll have enough to eat, enough to drink, enough to wear… What’s most important, most crucial, is for us to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness. To seek God. To desire to love Him, honour Him, please Him, live for Him, be used by Him.

He’ll take care of everything else.

Amazing.

Change #8 – Seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness.

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During devotions one morning, I sat down and read through Genesis 37-47 – The Life of Joseph.

He was 17 when he had the 2 dreams about being bowed down to by his brothers and father. 17. People thought he was being arrogant and proud, and if we were there, we’d probably have thought the same thing. Hello, who is this 17-year-old kid saying we’ll all bow down to him? Who does he think he is?

Because of those 2 dreams, Joseph was

1. Thrown into the pit by his brothers

2. Sold to Midianite traders for 20 shekels of silver by his brothers

3. Sold by the Midianite traders to Potiphar in Egypt

4. Framed by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison despite being honourable

5. Forgotten in prison by everyone, including the cupbearer whose dream he’d interpreted

Over a period of 13 years. 13 long, hard years of trials and discouragement. After receiving dreams of being bowed down to. How much faith it must’ve taken to have kept Joseph going, to have kept him trusting in God. I wonder if he ever doubted that God would let those dreams come to pass. I wonder if he was ever angry with God – it is because of those dreams that he lost his family and practically everything he’d had.

But the Bible says that during those 13 years, “The Lord was with him”. Wow. There’s absolutely no mention of Joseph being angry or disappointed at God or in his circumstances. He must’ve remained faithful, because God granted him success (in the midst of his really bad circumstances).

And after those 13 years, when Joseph was 30, he finally rose to power and saved his nation, and many others, from death during those 7 years of famine.

But still… 13 years. 13 years of hardship. 13 years that seemed pointless. 13 years that didn’t appear to be leading Joseph anywhere near to greatness. 13 years that God used to shape Joseph, to mould him, transform him and prepare him so he could be used for the greatness God had prepared for him.

13 years… that’s more than half of my current lifetime.

Change #9 – When it seems like things are going nowhere, or God is not fulfilling His plan, call on Him and hope in Him. Wait on Him, and know that He is transforming and preparing me for greatness.