Isaiah Part Five: Getting to Know You

February 10, 2010 in Relationship | Leave a comment

Isaiah 40:6 – A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?”

A little later…

Lift your voice with a shout, lift it up and do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”

A little later…

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

Ever been at a loss for words? Or even worse, been involved in an awkward conversation? With surprisingly few meaningful thoughts to share?

At first, as I read this and took it for what God was saying, I was highly disappointed. A year has passed since I decided to seriously pursue a deeper relationship with Him, and here I was soaking in a passage about not even knowing what to say to or about Him.  Not in an “awe of Him” kind of way, but in a “I really don’t know who you are” kind of way. That’s extra tough for me, because there was a time when I lived in Chicago that I was the resident “expert” in the office about religious topics and walking with God.  And somehow, I’ve regressed.

Those who know me well will tell you it’s hard to know me well. For whatever reason, I have a difficult time really getting to know people. On a surface level, fine. But not deeply in a “doing life” kind of way that I always hear about.  And I’ll tell you, the only thing worse than having an awkward, don’t know what to say, conversation with strangers or new acquaintances is having one with someone you’ve known for a while but really don’t know. We’ve all been there, especially us guys out there. It goes something like this:

“Hey.”

“Hey”

“Catch that game.”

“Yeah, crazy, huh?”

“So, how’s work?”

“Busy, you?’

“Same ole.”

And then, bring on the awkwardness.

I just confessed to not be an expert at building deep, significant relationships but what I feel fairly certain about is that they are hard work. And you can’t go through the motions, and stay in the shallow end of the pool. Otherwise, you can sit there forever and barely get wet.

I’m still thinking about exactly what God is saying here, whether he’s talking about my walk with Him or my walk with others. Doing life together. That sort of thing. Or if it’s all the above. Either way, I’m just going to stay open and await further instructions. 

In the meantime, Isaiah had more to say about growth.

26:16 – Lord, they came to you in distress, when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.

37:27 – They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.

37:30 – This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Once more, a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.

I suppose I am in that first year, still eating what grows by itself. I need to show patience and restraint and not try to skip year two. Just be thankful for what’s being fed to me. Because don’t we all want to be year three, where we are planting, creating, making things happen? Deeply involved. Knowing who God really is and what He has for us.  Reaping and sowing.

I also plan to open myself to deeper conversations with those who I should know better by now. Bring the awkwardness on.

Isaiah Part Four: Eternal vs. Expired

February 9, 2010 in Relationship | 1 comment

I was buying milk the other day, standing in front of the shelf, shuffling through cartons, comparing expiration dates. It’s an annoying habit, but I like to find the one with the longest “shelf life” so even if I can sneak an extra day or two, I feel like I’ve won something. After all, there’s nothing more frustrating than having just enough milk for one more bowl of Cheerios only to discover that yesterday was expiration day. And I’m not about gamble with milk that’s a day over the limit. No how, no way.

As an aside, turns out expired milk won’t kill you. http://tinyurl.com/lqxl33

Milk Carton Royalty Free Stock Vector Art Illustration

Which leads me to the question at hand. Why do we spend so much time with decisions about things that will expire while giving so little thought to things that are eternal?

We get swept away by things whose impact won’t even last until tomorrow while not giving nearly enough weight to actions and decisions that can impact a lifetime if not longer.

Because the things of this world are fleeting. His kingdom is forever.

22:17 – Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, O you mighty man. He will roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country. There you will die and there your splendid chariots will remain, you disgrace to your master’s house! I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position.

26:12 – Lord you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. O Lord, our God, other lords beside you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor. They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.

31:1 – Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do lot look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord.

32:5-6 – No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected. For the fool speaks folly, his mind busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the Lord; the hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he withholds water.

Common thread in these verses? Power, pleasure, pain it’s all short-lived. It all has an expiration date. It all is fleeting.

Today was probably the worst day I’ve had at the office in quite a while. And I really let it get to me. I was so stressed out on the way home that my face was starting to twitch. It didn’t help that I was skating on sheets of ice trying to get to my front door. The trivial pursuits of this world, the things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, are the very issues we spend mountains of time contemplating and worrying about. My job is stressful only because I place too much emphasis on it, append too much importance to it. When we get bent out of shape with things happening around us in the world, decisions by those in authority or short-term success gained from people who have impure motives and questionable actions, we are placing too much emphasis on the here and now, appending too much importance to it.

This loss of perspective also impacts our actions. The world can make an enticing and compelling affront. In chapter 36, the field commander for the King of Assyria attempted to cast doubt within the people of Jerusalem, to mock them, to create questions about the validity of their beliefs. Every day, the world can make you question what’s really success, what’s really peace and satisfaction. We are wired for immediate gratification. We trend toward short-term rewards. Most of us can spend money much more effectively than we we can save. It’s easy to get caught up in worldly pursuits, building a kingdom on earth and not in Heaven. To lose perspective on forever in moments that are fleeting.

I encourage you to join me in taking a  minute to think about how many truly meaningless decisions you’ve agonized over in the past week and how many actions were influenced by a short-term return on your investment. I know I’m not the only one who shuffles cartons, obsessing about expiration dates.

Role Models

February 7, 2010 in Purpose, Relationship, Witness | Leave a comment

We all have people we look up to, role models if you will. This can be a good thing, and a bad thing. Modeling the healthy behaviors of others provides an example, a path for us to accomplish similar positive things. Modeling can be a risk, because of the human element. Corporate sponsors spend billions banking on, or creating, role models for today’s youth. Tiger Woods. And in some cases, they make big time mistakes that can negatively impact the images of their companies, not to mention the psyches of today’s youth. Tiger Woods.

I have two goals related to role models. First, I am going to work on how I respond to the success of others so that I can be positively inspired at all. Secondly, I am committing to doing a better job in choosing who I allow to inspire and motivate me.

The How

It’s hard for me to hear stories of great success, personally, professionally, spiritually, without at least a hint of envy. I’ve made no secret that I want clarity in the purpose God has for me, and that I want to do something that will impact his kingdom. And that my delusions of grandeur are never far from reach. As a result, I usually do one of two things when I hear or witness someone being successful. Neither is healthy or positive. One reaction is envy.  I long for a story like theirs, to have my purpose clearly expressed for me and to have successfully produced something related to it. I get down because I don’t see the same fulfilled purpose in my life. And it’s frustrating, because it’s not just everyday people stories that do this to me. It’s the “This Week on Oprah” or the “New York Times Best Seller List” or the “Hi, I’m the Best Athlete Ever to Play My Sport” stories.  It’s the “Underdog Overcoming Great Odds or the “Gained Success Far Beyond My Years” and such. Why can’t I have that? Better question for reflection: Why do I need that so badly?

The second thing I will do upon hearing about success is compare. Given the struggles I’ve already expounded upon, I need to know how I stack up. If I can’t compare, I can’t win, and if I can’t win…well, anyway. Everything shouldn’t be a competition, but sometimes for me it always is. I’ll set my sights on someone or something that becomes a benchmark.  And I will hold myself to that expectation, to surpass that benchmark.

I hereby declare that I will do everything in my power to celebrate the success of others, to learn from it, to let it grow who I am. Not to let it deflate me or discourage me by forcing me to reflect on what I think I may or may not have accomplished.

I was headed to my computer to write this, to put it down and to, as I like to say, “book it” when my wife sidetracked me with a story from the conference she just attended. One of the keynotes had a very inspiring story, and she was still moved by it some two days since hearing it. In a soundbite, he went from being abandoned in a trailer in Virginia by a drug addict mother to touring several countries and continents for Nike as the Executive Director of Play and changing the lives of kids in all corners of the world. It was an amazing story. I was standing there listening, knowing I was on my way to write this post, and challenging myself, trying to audit my honest, knee jerk reaction to his story. I struggled a bit, but I was able to appreciate it for its own merit. I admit, there was a tinge inside, of wanting to have a similar story to tell. Obviously I have not had to rise up from such long odds, but I twist that in my own mind to beat myself up and say I have even less excuse not to have accomplished something “great” already. I was humbled by how quickly God did a “price check” on what I was selling, just to help me see whether I was serious or not.

The Who

My second problem is who I’m looking to for modeling. Since I am a driven person, with yardsticks and benchmarks and all the works. I usually look toward people who have a best-selling book or a rags to riches story or some phenomenal rise to star status. This puts unbelievable pressure on me, at least on a subconscious level, to validate my worth. It also does absolutely nothing for strengthening my walk with Christ. It automatically skews my perspective so that I disregard and dismiss anything that doesn’t seem like the next big thing. Making it improbable if not impossible for God to successfully share my purpose with me.

Moving forward, I am striving to look not toward people who are renowned and famous and shiny, but toward those people who are broken, honest and humbly following the call of God. People who are open with who they are, who let their wear and tear show, who aren’t ashamed of where they’ve come up short and aren’t offended by where others have come up short. Of course there is overlap with the happy, shiny people. Many times a broken person will rise from it and use the very thing they’ve always struggled with as their way to make a positive difference in the world.  So I’m not saying fame, and or fortune, will strike you from my most admired list moving forward.

My oldest son has a stuffed animal (woof woof, not making a barking sound, that’s the dog’s name), who goes everywhere with him. It’s his favorite toy. It’s dirty, beat up, torn, all but broken. In fact, I think it only has half a dozen “beanies” left in it, so maybe you could technically say it is broken. It means more to him than 100 shiny versions of it. It means more than bigger, cooler, newer versions of it. Its imperfections make it perfect. Those have been broken, who have allowed God to repair them and make them whole, and then who have been unselfish enough to allow the world to bear witness on it, those people are beautiful because of their brokenness. I think we all should long for that type of healing, that type of genuine relationship with God and with others. I know I do. That being said, we should look to others who are accomplishing it as a source of inspiration and motivation.

I poked some fun at Tiger earlier. I must apologize. Depending on how he approaches his life moving forward he could be both a bad AND a good example of a role model.  Just like every other human being walking the earth.  Corporations and the general public are going to be less likely to look forgive and forget, because he’s not quite as “shiny” as he used to be. But he still has the potential to produce beauty from this brokenness.  Just like every other human being walking the earth. Ah, the power of redemption.

Isaiah Part Three: Stubborn and Blind

February 7, 2010 in Relationship | Leave a comment

Moving more slowly through Isaiah than I hoped, but still moving. So that’s a win. I stopped when I read the following verse. It just popped out to me.   

Isaiah 26:10 – Though grace be shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the Lord. O Lord, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it.

We are both stubborn and blind. Oblivious. Even in the midst of miracles, we don’t see God. This is as true today as it was in the time of Isaiah. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve overlooked or just been unconscious of what God has done for me, the simple miracles he’s performed to keep me safe, to help me succeed, to protect and shelter me, sometimes even from myself.

Your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it.

I’m not sure whether stubborn is worse than blind or if it’s the other way around. Whether it’s worse to disregard God and refuse to acknowledge the way He works, or to be totally unknowing, to be so far out of tune that you don’t even have the awareness to realize He is present.

Your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it.

Does it make you wonder what you’re missing? It says His hand is lifted HIGH. He’s being as obvious as He can be. I’m always hoping for a sign, something to confirm I’m on the right track. Remember in Bruce Almighty, where Jim Carrey’s character is begging for a sign from God, while honking his horn for the guy in front of him to go faster, a guy who is driving a truck with about a hundred various street signs hanging out of the bed?!? I sometimes think if God tattooed it on my forehead, I’d stand in front of the mirror contemplating why I can’t seem to discern what His will is for me. Oblivious.

It’s as if we’ve grown to believe that God is really invisible, that he only exists up in the air somewhere. Or we’ve drifted so far that we treat Him like our significant other when we’re getting lectured about taking out the garbage for the 100th time (this is purely hypothetical). We just look right through Him in a daze, hypnotized by whatever we can fix our eyes on in the distance. Or we’re just so wound up around our own life that it’s like in high school, when the teacher calls on you to answer a question and you have to wipe the drool from a daydream off your face before you can stumble your way into a semi-coherent and reasonable answer.

Even as we are shown grace, we do evil.

Stubborn. Disregarding what we know is right. Yes, we’ll never be perfect, and sin will come. But it feels in this passage like He’s addressing the unwillingness to do anything about the sin. It’s there to stay, and we’ve just gotten comfortable with it, like an old t-shirt that has holes and is stretched out, but it’s ours and we’ve grown to love the way it feels. It may be ugly, but it’s ours.

So, earlier I posed the question about which was worse, being stubborn or blind. I’m afraid that many times for me, it’s an irrelevant question because I’m both at the same time. I’m holding on to junk that I should let go of, and I’m praying for clarity when God is at work all around me already. If I just stopped for a moment and let my own dust settle, it would be painfully obvious what miracles are occurring, and I bet by opening my eyes to those miracles, I will see the next step as clearly as a truck full of street signs obstructing the road ahead.

Your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it.

My next assignment. Throw away some old t-shirts (both literally and figuratively). Stop looking ahead for God, and look around instead. Oh, and take out the trash (although now that I think about it, yesterday was trash day. Oops).

Dealing with the Devil

February 5, 2010 in Sin | Leave a comment

In my reading recently, it has occurred to me that I need to be more proactive about combatting sin and the evil spirits that serve it up.  I’ve been thinking a lot about how to be more effective in staying on course and thought I’d share a three-step approach that I’m putting into practice.  This is how I suggest dealing with the devil.

1. Know Your Enemy.  Satan has simple goals. As John Milton writes from Lucifer’s point of view in Paradise Lost, “But ever to do ill our sole delight: as being the contrary to his high will whom we resist. If then his providence out of our evil seek to bring forth good, our labour must be to pervert that end, and out of good still to find means of evil.”

To even talk about Satan nowadays is like discussing UFOs and poltergeist. Or maybe voodoo. Societal norms have made it uncomfortable for us, like we’re off our rocker for believing that evil spirits are on the loose and active in our world. But if we believe in Heaven, and God, and all that is good, we absolutely have to believe what the Bible says about Hell and the Devil. They are real. And since they are real, and they are active, we need a game plan to combat them.

It is very important to understand what your adversary is after and how he does business. In sports, teams will study film of their upcoming opponents in order to learn as much about the way they approach the game as possible. Their tendencies, their preferences, their tricks.  If you know the team you are playing loves to blitz on defense, or run the ball on first down or use a lot of reverses and fakes, you can show up prepared for what they do best and potentially take it away from them. At the very least, they won’t catch you off guard.

Satan is a very creative and evolving enemy, but he does have some common tactics and tendencies. Consider these passages:

Acts 13:10 – You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is  right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never
stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?

2 Corinthians 11:3 and 11:14 – But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ…And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

2 Corinthians 12:7 – To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of  Satan, to torment me.

Ephesians 2:2 – in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world  and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work  in those who are disobedient.

In short, Satan deceives. He tempts. He disguises. He distorts. He preys on weakness. He enters through disobedience and spreads like a virus.

2. Know Yourself. What are your weaknesses? What are your struggles? What doors have you left open and unguarded? I deal with a combination of low self esteem and unrealistic expectations.  The result is that I feel like I never measure up. I always come up short, no matter what. Obviously, this affects me at work, at home, with God, with other people. It is unhealthy. It causes me to perform for validation and approval. It causes me to push myself too far and too often. It causes me to stumble. When I first signed up for this journey I’m on, I immediately began brainstorming about what grand adventure I would conquer, what mountain I would climb. I’ve discussed this previously. This is the door that I leave open for Satan. It’s a wide open door that you could drive a truck through, but I’m working hard to close it as fast as I can. Be self aware and be honest with yourself. Believe me, it’s not all that much fun. But it is effective.

3. Know What to Do. Armed with knowledge and insight, you will be much more prepared to defend your turf when the enemy arrives. Having a specific plan of action is helpful as well. The Bible provides proven strategies to help good prevail over evil.

Ephesians 6:11 – Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

James 4:7 – Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 5:8 – Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Ephesians 4:27 – and do not give the devil a foothold.

The game plan is simple but worth repeating: Suit up in the grace and the glory of God. Submit to God. Be self-controlled and alert. And don’t give the devil anything to grab hold of.

Fragile Machine

February 4, 2010 in Obedience | Leave a comment

Excerpts from a song I wrote quite a while ago.  Somehow seems fitting for this journey. Frustrating how easily my wiring can get crossed, how quickly I can short circuit and self destruct, how quickly I can veer of the path and lose momentum. 

A Fragile machine

Is a human being

Delicate balance

Intricate design

Movement of my soul

Like a gear grinding endlessly

Pressure on my lungs

Harder to pull the air I breathe

Bound by time

I’m a fragile machine

Men pretend there is no sin

No danger where the darkness lies

They stumble into the strange places

Daring not to open eyes

They march as though they know the way

Suck the life out of each day

And turn their heads away from skies

Daring not to open eyes

Daring not to open eyes

The instructions say handle with care

Warning labels everywhere

Yet we crash into our fellow man

Creating static as only we can

We are not programmed for this

To disassemble innocence

To deconstruct our empty lives

Because we have not opened eyes

Because we have not opened eyes

A Fragile machine

Is a human being

Delicate balance

Intricate design

Movement of my soul

Like a gear grinding endlessly

Pressure on my lungs

Harder to pull the air I breathe

Bound by time

I’m a fragile machine

Isaiah Part Two: Obedience vs. Discipline

January 31, 2010 in Obedience | Leave a comment

Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you’ll live… at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin’ to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM! — Mel Gibson as William Wallace in Braveheart

Guessing you have seen Braveheart, where Mel Gibson’s character, William Wallace, fights for his country’s freedom from English rule around the end of the 13th century. As with any good Hollywood flick, the underdog beats great odds and overcomes an insurmountable challenge. Although vastly outnumbered, Wallace and his clan crush the English. How? My theory: Wallace was fighting in obedience, passion and conviction to a cause, while the enemy he faced was following orders and executing someone else’s prescription and priority.  Obedience vs. discipline. Heart vs. head. Passion vs. precision.

Growing up I was taught there were certain things you needed to commit to and be disciplined about if you are going to develop a close relationship with God. Pray regularly. Read your bible daily. Attend church at least once a week. Things like that. All well and good, but in the end, it creates a “to do” list if you heart isn’t in it. I’ve been reading my Bible lately, more consistently than I ever remember doing so. The reason is that I am actively pursuing what insight God has waiting for me. I’m passionate about a greater understanding. I have tried to start reading my Bible daily 100 times before and never made it past a week. This time it is different, because my approach is different. It isn’t about discipline. It’s about obedience.  Discipline becomes necessary if that is your starting point, but if you are obedient, then discipline is a natural progression. Discipline starts with the mind. Obedience from the heart. Discipline produces routine. Obedience produces passion.

I realized a while back that God wasn’t as interested in my talent and how I might use it as he was in my heart. Same goes for my head. Too often, we mistake “following orders” for being obedient. When we do that, we’re basically handing our head over to God. That’s not exactly what he wants from us.  How many times throughout history does God reprimand those who follow the letter of the law but miss out on the spirit of it? Who appear to be religious titans, but are far away from a true relationship with God.

It’s the difference in approaching a prospect you want to do business with, versus a friend with whom you want to connect more deeply. To make the sale, there is a list of things you need to accomplish, a process you can follow, to increase your chances of completing the transaction. You plan out a schedule of phone calls and emails, with a specific end point in mind, a specific exchange. You don’t act that way when you are trying to strengthen a relationship with a friend. There is no set process, no task list. You start by listening more acutely to the other person, by responding to their needs, by meeting them where they are. You don’t schedule three follow-up calls and an email campaign in your calendar (well, most of us don’t anyway. birthday reminders and such are okay, but a full-blown campaign is a little creepy). You aren’t angling for a specific exchange. Your end point is being driven by the heart, not the mind.

I’m sure there is something to be said of discipline, or committing to something you know is right even when you don’t want to do it deep down. But in my experience, without a genuine urge to get closer to God, you aren’t even going to get in the right zip code. No matter how much discipline you have.

As you know, I’m working my way through Isaiah. More to come on that from chapters 16-30. But I wanted to share this post first. Mostly because 10 minutes after I had scribbled down some notes on the topic of obedience vs. discipline, I read the following passages. Wasn’t looking for them. Just so happened these chapters were next up in my reading. Another way that God confirmed my head, and my heart, are headed toward the right place.

28:10 – For it is: do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there. God will speak to his people to who he said, “this is the resting place, let the weary rest. This is the place of repose.” But they would not listen. So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.

and then…

29:8 – as when a hungry man dreams his is eating, but he awakens, and his hunger remains; as when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but he awakens faint, with his thirst unquenched.

With that, I would encourage you to scrap your routine, to just stop right now whatever you are doing. And start over. Start with simply being open and obedient and seeing where God points you.  And then, introduce discipline to the equation. God isn’t a bank account, where you just work and work and save and save until one day you have enough to withdraw exactly what you need. This is a relationship, not a transaction.

Going through the motions doesn’t create much momentum. God speaks through the heart, not the head. So, throw on some war paint and a kilt (if you have one), get a crazy look in your eyes and charge toward what God has for you. Don’t follow someone else’s prescription.  God has a specific plan for you, and for me. And it’s much more powerful than any routine.

 

30 Day Check In

January 31, 2010 in General | Leave a comment

One month has passed, and so far I’m not doing so bad. I’ve fed the lake 22 out of the first 30 days of the year (see my earlier post FEED THE LAKE for background). Most of that work has been done within this blog, but I’ve also made some progress on a few other projects as well. It feels good to be writing regularly again and to be writing with purpose. I’ve had to fight the urge to check the readership stats on the blog too often because I know how I am. I’ll get discouraged if there isn’t consistent traffic, even though I’ve shared it with less than 30 people. Even though it really should have nothing to do with whether anyone ever checks in to read it.  Old habits are hard to break.

Church Hopping: Good Exercise?

January 29, 2010 in Faith | Leave a comment

 Having two small children at home slowly but surely disrupted our regular attendance at church. One Sunday we’d be running late, the next week one of the boys would be sick, then another Sunday we’d be out of town. And then, we ran out of good excuses and eventually stopped making excuses all together. We just weren’t going. We acknowledged the problem and fixed it (happy to report that we’ve made it to church 3 of the last 4 weeks). Now the issue is where to call home. We have entered church hopping mode, trying to find the perfect fit for where we are right now as a family. We’ve had good experiences everywhere we’ve visited, and might still head back to the church we regularly attended before the drought. But for today, we are indeed church hoppers.

In the past, hopping would have felt like an impediment to my spiritual growth, but in my new journey, I think it has actually had a positive impact. In the past, I’ve looked to my church as being the center of my religious walk, the place where I can plug in, the place where I can get recharged every week, the place that will help guide me and direct me.  I think this approach is partly to blame for all those people who have stopped going to church because of a bad experience. After all, the church is made up of people and people are flawed, and so if you are aiming all your expectations in that direction, you are guaranteed to come up short. (see my post Isaiah Part One)

My new attitude about church is that it is a supplement to my walk, not the center of my walk. It is a vitamin, not the meal. It is part of the plan, not the plan itself. As I’ve church hopped, it has forced me to connect more closely with God to set my course. I think that has been a powerful scenario. It also has helped me reset my view about the church truly being the collective of God’s followers, not just a brick building or a specific congregation. It’s really easy to confine ourselves with the four walls when truly we should be living in community with all those around us. WE are the church after all. So there’s my silver lining. Church hopping can be good exercise.

Isaiah Part One – Misplacing Faith

January 28, 2010 in Faith | Leave a comment

I’ve been reading Isaiah as promised in my most recent post, and I’m just finishing chapter 17. Below are a few key verses and what they said to me. This would be a great time to remind you that I am not especially qualified to dispense theological advice or to decipher scripture. I can only share what insights are entering my mind as I encounter the text. So far, the theme bubbling up for me is one of misplaced faith.

6:5 – “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

To truly enjoy a relationship with God, we first must fully realize the gravity of sin. I have been a Christian almost all my life, saved at an early age. It’s been quite a while since I paused and really, truly pondered the significance of my sin and the price that was paid for it.  Which is probably part of the reason that my faith is not as strong as I’d like it to be. And probably why many of us have trouble genuinely trusting God.

8:12 – Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear or dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear…

When we get caught up in worldly fears and worries, we aren’t able to work toward God’s plan. We hold too tightly to possessions and ways of life, to status quo, and we are frozen by what might happen to the house of cards we’ve erected for ourselves if we were to breathe too deeply. We get obsessed with our earthly kingdom and lose sight of our heavenly one.

2:22 – Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils, of what account is he?

3:12 Oh my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn  you from the path.

8:19 – Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?

Three different passages, one message for me. Why put faith and expectations in man, when I should trust in God? I too often lean on other people (family especially), to fill my needs. I am much more likely to put faith in my wife, or a close friend, to come through for me. I’m asking too much of them, and not enough of God.

9:9-11 – All the people will know it, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say with pride and arrogance of heart, “The bricks  have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”

When we overly depend on people to fill the role of God, and we experience disappointment, our natural reaction is to dramatically turn the other direction and build walls to protect ourselves. We fortify our defenses. We allow transgressions from others impact our relationship with God. We develop hard hearts. We let the hurt affect us in negative ways. We reinforce the deep belief that faith will only bring pain, which creates additional barriers for truly giving our trust to God.

10:15 – Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it?

As a combination of misplacing our faith, of getting consumed by earthly fears, of responding by defending ourselves, we reach a place where it is us taking matters into our own hands. We haven’t trusted God. People have let us down. So, it’s up to us to take charge. We place our faith in ourselves. And so at best, we self-impose an enormous burden, and at worst, we grow to believe that we are in control, and that we are the ones delivering the goods. Not giving God the trust and faith he deserves typically ends up with us not giving Him the credit he deserves either.

Areas of Interest

Past Stops on the Journey

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