Watching

Like a river with a two way current, the people flowed towards their destination.  They stopped only to swirl in eddies at the gates; some restless, some weary, all waiting.

Tucked back in a corner, few saw her as they hurried by, too distracted to feel her gaze on them.  Those whose eyes did find hers were caught off guard for a second before moving on.  Their subconscious registered something familiar, something comforting.  As they continued to their destination, they had a little more hope, a little more peace. Their souls told them that all would be well.

As she watched them, she saw more than bodies being jostled around.  She saw the mantles of weariness they wore.  Their burdens and struggles were displayed more clearly than they would care to admit.  She saw both the masks that were meant to conceal and the capes draped over their spirits that haunted them.  Their core was exposed and they would be unsettled if they knew the depth to which she saw.

If they would talk to her though, they would know that they were safe.  They would know that help was on the way.  They would know she didn't carry to knowledge alone but that she took it to the feet of One higher than herself.

However, they didn't talk to her.  They barely saw her as they hurried by, too distracted to notice her gaze. They missed the hope behind her eyes.  Their cape of weariness covered all peace and comfort they so desperately wanted.

Her gaze continued to penetrate, deeper than an ocean, but the shallow river continued on, unaffected.

For Today

God spoke something very clearly to me earlier:

“YOU WERE CREATED FOR TODAY!”

The simplicity of the statement belies the impact it had on me.  It was a breath of fresh air I didn’t know I needed.  God, being good, knew I needed to hear that.  Today, I have purpose.  Today, I have direction.  Today, I have motivation.  God has something for me to do! 

Other ways to put it are:

“You were created to see the people you see today!”
“You were created to have the conversations you have today!”
“You were created to create what you create today!”
“You were created on purpose, for today!”
“I had you picked out for today!”
“You are making a difference in this moment!”
“I had this very thing planned for you!”
Etc.

You may have heard the common Biblical counter part to this concept:

“Who knows but that you were appointed to a royal position for such a time as this?” -Esther 4:14

For such a time as this…for me, this phrase has almost become cliché in it’s use in the Christian circle.  I’ve heard it time and time again as people try to pump up discouraged brothers and sisters.  It is a great truth that God promises us, but I had stopped applying that truth for myself.  I think that’s why God had to tell me the same thing in different words.  “You were created for today.” 

Do you know what happened after He told me that?  I was excited for the day!  I had drive.  I had focus.  I had energy.  I wanted to work.  I wanted to talk to people.  I was expectant, waiting for God to show up. 

I got to thinking, what about yesterday?  God said, “You were created for yesterday too.  Your words had impact.”

That’s when I realized: I’m created for now, right here, as you read.  I didn’t miss anything.  God didn’t mess up the year I was supposed to be born.  I’m not in the wrong place.  I’m here and I’m now for a VERY specific reason.  God has had today planned for me since before I was born!  He spelled it all out, then designed me in the way He needed to so I could walk it out and live it.  He chose me to make a difference in specific people’s lives, today.

Do you know what that means?   That it‘s true for everyday!  At some point, everyday in my life has been today, which means that I’ve been created to live out every day I’ve been born.  Simple, no doubt, but I think maybe it’s something you needed to hear today too.  So hear it again, and read it as if God is telling you because He is!:

“YOU WERE CREATED FOR TODAY!”

Now, go out and get excited about what God has planned for you today!

The REAL You

Daily reading from Ransomed Hearts ministry.  He says in a different way what I shared God was showing me in my last post.  Check out both!

You are not your sin; sin is no longer the truest thing about the man who has come into union with Jesus. Your heart is good. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you" (Ezek. 36:26). The Big Lie in the church today is that you are nothing more than "a sinner saved by grace." You are a lot more than that. You are a new creation in Christ. The New Testament calls you a saint, a holy one, a son of God. In the core of your being you are a good man. Yes, there is a war within us, but it is a civil war. The battle is not between us and God; no, there is a traitor within us who wars against our true heart fighting alongside the Spirit of God in us:

A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death . . . Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells . . . if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus . . . When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. (Rom. 8:2, 9-11 The Message)

The real you is on the side of God against the false self. Knowing this makes all the difference in the world. The man who wants to live valiantly will lose heart quickly if he believes that his heart is nothing but sin. Why fight?

(Wild at Heart, 144-45)

Wish List

“If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?”

It’s an interesting thought I’ve recently seen a new side of, this wish list idea of what we would make new about ourselves.  First, I have to back track so you know where I’m coming from.

I’m often not good at making myself read non-fiction books, but I never regret when I do.  I find that the best benefit I get from them is not always the information I read but the thoughts they provoke.  And such is the case when I picked up Blue Like Jazz (Donald Miller).  I just started and can’t even say yet if I would recommend it but there is a particular thought he introduced that began to spiral in my mind.

Miller writes:

“Everyone wants to be fancy and new.  Nobody wants to be himself.  I mean, maybe people want to be themselves, but they want to be different, with different clothes or shorter hair or less fat. It’s a fact.  If there was a guy who just liked being himself and didn’t want to be anybody else, that guy would be the most different guy in the world and everyone would want to be him.”

I immediately thought of a question that we often ask customers in Mary Kay, “If there were one thing you could improve about your skin, what would it be?”

Sure, it’s a selling technique but the truth is we don’t have to prompt people to come up with something.  People already have a wish list and, when we ask, they just pick one thing from this pre-created list.

And when I asked the question at the beginning, did your mind start scrolling through your own wish list?  Or maybe you have several.  Maybe you wondered if I was talking about a change physically, or a personality change, or a character trait, or something different entirely.  Because if you are like me then chances are you have a separate wish list for each different area. 

Miller goes on:

“The whole idea of everybody wanting to be somebody new was an important insight in terms of liking God…

“God said he would make me new.  I can’t pretend for a second that I didn’t want to be made new, that I didn’t want to start again.  I did.”

From there on, my mind just went crazy and that’s when I realized I needed to write, cause I needed to resolve this random tangent.

So, we want to change.  We want to be made new.  Christ wants to (and can) make us new. 

“He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.” –Titus 3:5

“And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’” – Revelation 21:5

There are 2 trails this can lead down: the perspective of unsaved people and the perspective of Christians

Briefly on the unsaved, consider if we started sharing the gospel with the understanding of this view point.  I know it would change the way I approach people.  I have what they want!

Now, I’m going to continue on assuming you are a Christian and understand the fact that you already are new in Christ.  We know we can’t continue to be who we used to be.

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24

What does this have to do with our wish list?  Well, I think we might just get a new one of those too.  God’s wish list for us doesn’t real match the one we have for ourselves.  Have you ever considered there might be traits you want to change that God actually had a reason for putting in you?

I debated this idea initial when it first came into my head.  I thought, “But we do have a fallen sin nature.  There are aspects of us that need redeemed.”  True, but who we are at our core is EXACTLY who God created us to be.  Let me repeat that, who we are at our core is EXACTLY who God created us to be.  When we want to change that, we’re going against the ultimate design plan of God himself.

Before you think I’m saying we’re perfect (we’re not) and that we don’t have to change anything (see Eph 4:22 above), listen to this.

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” – Eph 1:4

“Before the creation of the world…” there was no sin.  It was only after creation that sin entered the world.

I’m no theologian but what I’m thinking is that God’s original design for us was holy and blameless and that at our core, we are designed that way.  My belief is that the enemy can not create, so anything that is in us was designed good.  Sin then came and corrupted that.

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” – Rom 5:12

Although there may be holes in my logic, here is the conclusion I’ve come too:

When Christ makes us new, he does not change who we are.  Instead, he takes away the sin that has corrupted who we are. 

So look at your wish list. 

Do you want to change the sin in your life?  Or do you want to change who God has created you to be?

Listen to your heart!

John Eldredge brings a great word once again about our heart.  It touches on a reality deep down we want to believe, but many times are too afraid to believe.  Go ahead, believe it…your heart is good!

“When we set out to hear God's voice, we do not listen as though it will come from somewhere above us or in the room around us. It comes to us from within, from the heart, the dwelling place of God. Now, most of us haven't been trained in this, and it's going to take a little practice "tuning in" to all that's going on in there. And there's a lot going on in there, by the way. Many things are trying to play upon the beautiful instrument of the heart. Advertisers are constantly trying to pull on your heartstrings. So is your boss. The devil is a master at manipulating the heart. So are many people-though they would never admit that is what they are doing. How will you know what is compelling you? "Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul?" asked Augustine, a man who was the first to write out the story of listening to his heart. "Man is a great depth, O Lord . . . but the hairs of his head are easier by far to count than . . . the movements of his heart."

This can be distressing at times. All sorts of awful things can seem to issue from your heart-anger, lust, fear, petty jealousies. If you think it's you, a reflection of what's really going on in your heart, it will disable you. It could stop your journey dead in its tracks. What you've encountered is either the voice of your flesh or an attempt of the Enemy to distress you by throwing all sorts of thoughts your way and blaming you for it. You must proceed on this assumption: your heart is good.”

From Daily Readings (Waking the Dead, 105-6)

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