IT

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. Leviticus 26:13

A few months ago, my heart led me to rearrange and add a new dynamic to my days. After extensive planning and all was in place, I began to follow through. Anticipating the adventure and fervently praying, I took the huge step of faith.

The first few days were highly successful! Everything about my life had shifted, but I was enjoying myself even though the work was hard and exhausting.

Right off the bat, I did not see IT coming…

When accomplishments bless us, a strange thing can happen. Sometimes, in the deep places of our beings, we can become a tiny bit arrogant (even for a moment) in our completed tasks, thinking we’re really something. Look at me, I’m awesome!

Anyone who crosses us, we define as “oblivious to all the time and effort we’ve put into our work.” These feelings, though subtle in nature, can go to our heads. We become blinded to the not-so-good, underlying dynamics secretly slipping into our souls.

What is the deeper IT we, at times, fail to see?

We may have remembered but not always given God the credit for our efforts (His abilities and strength in us). It somehow slipped our minds to give Him the honor and glory. Instead, we began to inwardly huff and puff at anything that alters our important plans and schedules. We forget to lean on Him for instruction and stamina.

For me, IT happened. And I was caught by surprise.

Each attempt at the unfolding of my plans, I just assumed would end the same way, success! Feeling mildly self-congratulatory and entitled, I inwardly grumbled at the first sign that my plan was taking a different turn due to the fact that people are never alike in all things. We all view our needs and wants through different lenses.

Just a few minutes after the initial shock, a sad realization came over me of what I had done. Wow! I needed to take responsibility for my part in this set back.

My original thought had simply been to bring about positive change as a gift. But the gift had become my tyrant.

I had become enslaved and, in the process, was enslaving others. My gift had become an instrument of control. I reminded myself that once a gift is offered, the receiver may love it or kindly turn it down. The respect and accepting response of their personhood is also a gift I give.

My shame was short-lived. God’s wisdom invites us to act fast. Slipping off those clothes of arrogance and manipulation, I stepped into new clothes of repentance and change, and I picked up my original plan with a better outlook. My eyes were on the Father.

Choosing to be more flexible and understanding of the differences in each of our personal, daily wants, I learned how important it is that my gifts reflect knowledge of people and their love languages, instead of fixating on my hurt feelings and instead of even fixating on myself as some awesome giver (God is the true giver).

The tasks became more fun. In general, the overall plan had been a good one, but I had to tweak a few details to adjust to personalities. Through appreciation, no appreciation or even criticism, God and I high-fived each other by the end of day with each freely given offering and also with better understanding of how to refine my gifts to better fit our many differences.

Overnight, God enabled me to walk with my head held high because He was guiding me to follow in His steps.

Back to today’s verse, God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. He set them free from slavery and chains. He “enabled them to walk with their heads held high.”

A slave cannot hold his head up like that, nor can the self-centered or broken. Yet, God has a way of calling us out of our Egyptian bondage and bringing us to a new land if only we would acknowledge Him, give Him all the glory and follow His ways.

Lord, sometimes shame and self-disappointment are good for us. They both help us to crawl out of the ditches we cause and into the light. Thank you for blessing us with your discipline and for giving us 2^nd chances to make things right. You are our God, the giver of all good gifts. Help us to remember these days of failing and keep our eyes on you. Make us to walk with our heads held high in the name of Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Purpose in Hardships

We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22

Spending time on this verse all week has been one of my favorites out of all the five years I’ve been writing. My heart has much to learn.

The early Christians went through things, perhaps, we’ll never fully comprehend. They had a need to encourage one another in their understanding of their current day persecutions and trials.

In II Cor. 11:23-27, Paul names unimaginable trials of his own; hard work, prison, severe flogging, exposure to death, forty lashes minus one, beaten with rods, pelted with stones, shipwrecked, night and a day in the open sea, constantly on the move, in danger from rivers, bandits, fellow Jews, Gentiles; in danger in the city, country and at sea; and in danger from false believers; laboring, toiling; without sleep; knowing hunger and thirst; without food; cold and naked.

Paul went through impossible hardships. He proved over and over again that God could purify, refine and use him in all and any circumstance for His purposes. His greatest longing was Christ Jesus His Lord. He was willing to die or live for Him. He was willing to be perfected in his trials for the salvation of others. His trials brought many souls to Jesus. He kept his faith through it all and remained courageous throughout his lifetime.

When Paul suffered, he could have given into self-pity and anger, and the force of God bountifully used in his hardships would have been made null and void. Instead, he gave into patient endurance, trusting God in even the smallest inconveniences. Paul prepared himself in struggles that were both emotional and physical. The narrow road he chose taught him how to face distress, pain and grief.

At the time of today’s verse, Paul and Barnabas were traveling from city to city, preaching the good news of Christ. Paul healed a man who was lame, but angry Jews who wanted nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus came and stoned him, leaving him for dead.

He was able to get up and head for another city the next day. The book of Acts says, “They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples.” And, they returned to other cities, “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.

That’s when Paul and Barnabas said to the witnesses,

“We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

Hardships and persecutions were abundantly seen and experienced in the early days of Christianity. They were telling the new Christians not to expect anything different. Such teaching would have schooled them. Such words would have impacted them deeper than just an intellectual practice of the mind, helping their hearts not to wander from the faith and to see this world as something not to put any of their confidence and trust. Everything was about bringing others into eternity with them, even their trials. They were willing to give their own lives for the sake of others.

What Paul and Barnabas were going through, they were trying to say, was making them stronger to stand in these days of trouble. What fruit of the Spirit, what faith, hope and love and what deep truths they were learning through it all. They were becoming conformed to the likeness of Christ who also suffered many things.

Perhaps the reasoning mind had a hard time interpreting the adverse situations in which they found themselves. But their spirits understood that this was a part of being in God’s Kingdom. They bowed to a Higher Lord of their souls than the world, their King Jesus.

Though there still remains in our lifetime, persecutions and hardships because of the name of Christ, the trials we are familiar with relate more to stress, grief and pain. The world we live in offers plenty of opportunities for us to let our struggles refine us into becoming greater followers of Christ and experiencing the suffering of being in His Kingdom.

For example, the difficult lesson of covering over an offense is profoundly needed in our world today to be conformed to the Lord Jesus.

Here I list a few encouragements from scripture for this valuable area of our lives:

Prov. 10:12 Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.
Prov. 17:9 Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. 
I Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
I Cor. 13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
I John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For this one example of covering over an offense, what benefits would come?

To not be so oversensitive and take everything so personally.
To become more aware of the other person and how they feel.
To realize there are differences of opinion (we can still love each other in our differences).
To understand the value of letting others have a “place at the table.”
To value another’s need to have a respected and valid voice.
To become deeply aware that other’s words may be words of truth.
To experience humility and give gentle responses.

Can you imagine the impact these benefits would have on our world if we all were to incorporate them into our everyday relationships?

Now multiply this by more examples of facing other hardships with the mind of Christ!

Lord, as we are confronted by our trials and struggles, we come to you for wisdom and strength. Teach us in our hardships. Show us the path of confoming to your likeness in this your Kingdom. Move in our lives that we may bring many souls with us to Heaven. In Jesus name, Amen.