My wife and I are watching "Grown Ups" while down with the flu. The kids are at the in-laws, and we're trying to rest. There's a great part in the movie where Adam Sandler tries to explain what "wasted" means. He describes it as a hankerin' for ice cream. (Does that qualify as a spoiler?) All the kids then want to get "wasted". Side note...when did tim meadows go completely bald? IS that a new thing? But I digress.
Growing up, I would always get day-planners as gifts from friends. My in-laws gave me a really nice one when i graduated high school. It was leather and had my name on a little gold plaque. I've received a few from my parents and mentors over the years. People would drop these giant hints because they knew how I could be. With good intentions, I would use them for a couple of weeks and then flake out and it would end up in a drawer or back of the closet or something.
At the start of each semester while in college, I would hype myself up. "I'm going to do it this time! All A's." Then that 8:00am class would come SO early. Or there would be a Quantum Leap marathon on TV. Or I would just be late for class and so I decided not to go. I was unwise and foolish...always doubting. James 1:5-8. I was the double-minded man. I was unstable in all my ways. This foolishness led to me taking "Concepts of Wellness" 4 times...and not because I liked the class so much. I took and failed "Spiritual Formation" 3 times. That's a basic level, if-you're-a-Christian-this-is-EASY kind of class. Failed it. Three. Times. I've learned, though....the hard way...Toby Mac says you have to do that sometimes. Now here I am...Just cresting the hill of 30...wondering about the basics everyone else seems to have down. It's not a good thing that I know the theme songs to TV shows better than I know the songs i was supposed to learn while I was a music major. I have wasted so much time on myself and the return on that investment has been in the red since I started.
I have tried to do things on my own and found myself wasted by the effort. I want to love Jesus on my terms. I want to serve Jesus on my terms. I absolutely LOVE who He is and what He has done. I just want the response to be on my terms.
Do not be drunk with win, which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18
I love reading that verse in context. It's all about avoiding darkness and instruction for walking in truth. Then chapter 6 tells us how to do that. We put on Jesus. We put on the Armor of God. We stand firm in Jesus. We fight to waste ourself on Him. God tells us and proves to us that putting anything in His rightful place in our lives will fail. He is the only One who does not fail.
For By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing: it is a gift from God, not a result of works so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10
God has put this thing in me. He's calling me to do things that are scary and big and I cannot do them. These are things that require drive, determination, organization, and patience. Things that I do not possess on my own strength. There are good works that God has prepared for me to walk in.
So why do I start this post with an air of self-deprication? Why am I seemingly quick to tell people of the struggles I have with sin? Why do I avoid the Churchy "F" word like the plague? (fine)
I do these things so that when God accomplishes great things and I'm a part of it, anyone who sees it will KNOW that only God could do something with that mess of a human being. and don't think I'm putting myself down...you're a mess, too. How amazing is it that in spite of our effort and strength and ability to screw up even the most basic of things, that God would use US as His hands and feet. Let these thoughts sink in.
God is Holy (read...beyond perfection)
We are imperfect and flawed.
God is right.
We are wrong...often if not always.
God is in control.
We are not in control.
God is omnipotent (all-powerful)
We are powerless.
God uses us.
We cannot use God.
How great is our God that He would use the flawed to forge His plans? How amazing that God values the vulnerable?
As the Church, we are not the backup plan. We are not plan B. We are His plan for this world. We are God's people and His workmanship...ALL of us. There are good works that only He can do through us. There are good things that He will accomplish only through YOU and no one else. And don't be deceived, He WILL accomplish them through you.
So let us waste ourselves on the cause of Christ. Let us waste ourselves on the Cross. Let us lose our inhibitions for the sake of knowing Jesus and making Him known. Let us forget the fear of what others think and the fear of forgiving. Let us forget the fear of being forgiven. Let us boldly proclaim the sin from which Christ has set us free. Let us declare our ongoing struggles and the faith we have that God will finish His work in us. Then when God does the supernatural through us, we will not be surprised. That's what He does.
That was long and felt vaguely like rambling. I may be too sick to post coherent thoughts, but there you go. Tell your friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment