Looking in the Mirror, It Ain't Always Easy to See

“You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves as in the day of feasting.” James 5:5

I know what it is like to live a self-indulgent life. It is a life where you are at the center. Living self-indulgently means you give in to every whim and desire. Most of us would probably claim not to live self-indulgently. But indulgence does not always look as extreme as it sounds. Where does most of your money go? Do you spend most of your money on yourself? Do you indulge yourself in how you eat? The truth is, you could be handling your money responsibly by not overspending yet still be self-indulgent - because it’s all spent on yourself. And America’s increasing obesity rate would suggest that we are indulging ourselves “as in the day of feasting.” Self-indulegence is not easy to see in the mirror. In America, we are so used to seeing the way we live as “normal” that we may not detect what living self-indulgently means.

Longings

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Prov 13:12

Longings of the human heart run deep. It’s amazing the things men will do just to have what their heart longs for. Longings imply a lack, therefore they are accompanied by pain. The trouble with longings is figuring out what to do with them. What do we do with longings? To relieve this ache, men will do almost anything. Longings test the heart in a way nothing else can.

Some of us take matters into our own hands to fulfill our longings. Sarah wanted a child desperately. God had promised her one. “God just needs a hand,” she probably thought. After all, she couldn’t very well just wait around and expect God to drop what she wanted in her lap. God would help her only if she helped herself. She wasn’t getting any younger. She was getting older, already well past the age of being able to have a child. The women around her already had children. Perhaps she believed God would give her a child, but this whole idea that she should wait on Him to make it magically work out didn’t make sense. Life doesn’t work that way. So she decided to give God a hand and urged Abraham to sleep with Hagar so Hagar could be a surrogate mother.

Communion

“Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” Matt 20:22

As humans we tend to often become upset with God about our suffering or the suffering we see in the world. Although He did share in our suffering by becoming human and experiencing the sorrows of a human life, we want to know that He shares in our personal suffering. We question Him, wanting to know why He doesn’t care about our suffering more or share in it.

Although, upon asking God this I received an interesting reply. Why don’t you share in My suffering? God has a tendency to answer a question with a question. He did that to Job. Jesus did it with the Pharisees. What’s more, His questions tend to silence anything else you could possibly say in protest. You may come to God with the intention of questioning Him, but He throws it back onto you. If you are like the Pharisees, when this happens you will probably walk away (Matt 21:23-27). The other response of course, is taking it to heart.

You Can Only Hear a Whisper When You Listen

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jer 33:3

I believe God speaks. I dont think it’s for a select few who are super religious. I don’t know if it comes in an audible voice, at least that’s not my experience nor anyone else’s that I know of. How does God speaks? I don’t like putting God in a box, but I believe He speaks very clearly in His Word. I also believe God can speak outside His Word through people, circumstances, and impressions. I believe God will speak to each person in a specific way if that person is willing to listen.

Why does God speak? God speaks because He isnt hands-off with the world He created. I don’t believe He created the world and sat back to watch it. He speaks because as Creator of this world He longs to be known. He speaks because He cares. God is very involved. Chances are, you don’t doubt that God can speak; if you’re like me, you struggle with doubting that He will speak. But if we dont believe that He will speak then we will overlook, ignore, or explain away the times when He actually does. I’ve noticed that those who live with a profound awareness of God throughout their day are in a position where to hear from God the most.

The Mask

This entry will be different from my usual entry. I normally do not watch a lot movies. Very few movies speak to me, which may explain the lack of interest. But I do think if you look at a person’s favorite movies, you can learn something about who they are as a person. The movies that mean something to them reveal their heart. My roommate who wants to be a teacher loves the movie Freedom Writers, which is about a teacher who inspires her students to overcome racism and hold tight to the future ahead them, regardless of their background. Because indivudals are unique, movies that speak to each person differs. What speaks to you will not necessarily speak to me. Therefore your favorite movie will not be my favorite.

Silence and Solitude

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 5:16

Silence and solitude are good. Though we may often avoid and even fear them, silence and solitude are needed in our lives. The reason why we try to avoid them is because we associate them with loneliness. And when silence and solitude are combined together the sense of aloneness, or loneliness, is even more powerful. So during our long drives in the car we will continually play the radio or listen to music. At home the television is on in the background. And as we walk places, we plug in our ipod headphones and listen to the latest tunes. We don’t want to feel lonely, so we try to busy ourselves with other things to fill the time. And to avoid silence, we constantly surround ourselves with noise.

Love, Dating, and Break Ups

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.” Prov 3:5-6

I would like to address something that seems predominant among Christians, something that bothers me because it seems so wrong. I would like to address it without condemnation. I am not one of those people who likes to say its my way or no way. Sometimes matters are not black and white and I realize there are exceptions to the rule. I do not want to focus on a behavior, but on the heart behind it. So to address this issue, I think Elisabeth Elliot, wife of martyr Jim Elliot, puts it in the best terms:

“Hearts do break. The same hearts are breakable over and over again. Letters come in from couples who were engaged or very nearly engaged. One of them suddenly informs the other that they must break it off. The reason given, one which is thought to obviate all argument and dry all tears: ‘It is the will of God.’ This is in some cases an honest explanation. Perhaps one has come to a new place of surrender to the Lord and discovered that he or she has made a serious mistake. Sincere Christians make many a mistake, and surely it is better to rectify it than to proceed as though no mistake had ever occurred. The engagement must come to an end. Better now than after the wedding.
There is another possibility. The person had not sought God from the beginning. He or she entered into a relationship carelessly, with no thought of self-offering, prayer, or waiting for a word from God. It was self-willed and irresponsible.”