Time will Tell the Tale
Sometimes I wonder if the champions of the faith knew they were champions in the midst of the struggles and rigors of everyday life. Did they know the eternal weight of glory they were laying up? Did they understand the outcomes and consequences of seemingly mundane or necessary decisions that they made? I think some of them might had a slight clue, but I doubt any knew the full extent of the impact their lives would have on those around them and on history as a whole.
Yet somehow I long for the same level of greatness in my life. I want to be truly excellent before God, to do amazing things with the resources He gives me knowing that He is my source in all things. Resource management has been the constant thought on my mind lately as I ponder how to be a good steward of what God has given to me, namely, my time on this earth.
I know God gives us times and seasons for reasons. Each one is develop in us character to bring us in contact with His heart and teach us how to love more fully. I want this love to be fully formed in me, yet I understand it will take a lifetime to come to full maturity. And I accept that. Each day is another opportunity to learn to love better. Sometimes, I pass these opportunities up. Don't we all? But I don't lose heart, because I know God is pleased with me regardless of my short comings. Somehow, He sees me and not my failures, even though I often have a hard time distinguishing between the two. He always sees who I am. That's what He's really getting at with all this time chiseling, bringing out who I am from the rock of my humanity in the way Michelangelo carved David out of marble. He is creating a masterpiece that He alone can fully see. The times and seasons are the tools He uses to do so.
My questioning then about what time it is and what season I have entered into does not intimidate, scare, or shock God. If He takes me from one place and puts me into another, it isn't to punish me or those I love. It is to grow me more into His image, and to chisel away yet another part of the stone that is blocking some beautiful detail of who I am from showing forth in my life. It is not to say He isn't the author or perfecter or provider, but rather to show the work of God in all things. He is just as much a part of the details of the physical plane of existence as He is the existential world of the spirit. If this were not so, Jesus would not have said that God sees each sparrow fall to the ground. God is concerned with the practical everyday matters of life too. He uses them to bring our hearts closer to His because that is the ultimate goal.
So if I pump gas, or spend all day praying, if I teach school, or build schools in foreign lands, if I a married with six children or single, God loves me the same and will use whatever circumstances I happen to find myself in to bring my heart closer to His. This is Christianity 101.
"While we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us." There is neither slave nor free. Rich nor poor. Male nor female. All are one in Christ." "I am convinced that neither death nor life neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (These are all various verses. Sorry I don't have the addresses memorized. Please look them up though. They are some of my favorites.)
The message of the gospel is peace for all men. It is not religious performance, keeping up with the Jones's, or trial free living. It is knowing that we are loved by God, and that He Himself knows our suffering because He took it upon Himself. It is the knowledge that we really are not alone, no matter how bleak or desperate the situation looks, that we can depend on another to see us through, the One who made us. It is knowing that in our most dire situation, we are loved, cared for, and assured of beauty for all these ashes we experience here on earth. Somehow, the beauty makes those hard situations worthwhile. Love makes everything worth it in the end. "This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down His life for us."
So what remains? Find out what the will of God is and do it. And sometimes, the crazy thing about the will of God is that He lets us dream with Him. We get to chose sometimes what we want and He partners with us as we partner with Him. The dreams in our hearts sometimes are whispers of our greatness being told to us by the Father of Lights. He put them there to help guide us on, to inspire us, to show us the way to go.
Don't be afraid to dream. Time will tell the tale of greatness in a jar of clay, the heart of a human soul.
Yet somehow I long for the same level of greatness in my life. I want to be truly excellent before God, to do amazing things with the resources He gives me knowing that He is my source in all things. Resource management has been the constant thought on my mind lately as I ponder how to be a good steward of what God has given to me, namely, my time on this earth.
I know God gives us times and seasons for reasons. Each one is develop in us character to bring us in contact with His heart and teach us how to love more fully. I want this love to be fully formed in me, yet I understand it will take a lifetime to come to full maturity. And I accept that. Each day is another opportunity to learn to love better. Sometimes, I pass these opportunities up. Don't we all? But I don't lose heart, because I know God is pleased with me regardless of my short comings. Somehow, He sees me and not my failures, even though I often have a hard time distinguishing between the two. He always sees who I am. That's what He's really getting at with all this time chiseling, bringing out who I am from the rock of my humanity in the way Michelangelo carved David out of marble. He is creating a masterpiece that He alone can fully see. The times and seasons are the tools He uses to do so.
My questioning then about what time it is and what season I have entered into does not intimidate, scare, or shock God. If He takes me from one place and puts me into another, it isn't to punish me or those I love. It is to grow me more into His image, and to chisel away yet another part of the stone that is blocking some beautiful detail of who I am from showing forth in my life. It is not to say He isn't the author or perfecter or provider, but rather to show the work of God in all things. He is just as much a part of the details of the physical plane of existence as He is the existential world of the spirit. If this were not so, Jesus would not have said that God sees each sparrow fall to the ground. God is concerned with the practical everyday matters of life too. He uses them to bring our hearts closer to His because that is the ultimate goal.
So if I pump gas, or spend all day praying, if I teach school, or build schools in foreign lands, if I a married with six children or single, God loves me the same and will use whatever circumstances I happen to find myself in to bring my heart closer to His. This is Christianity 101.
"While we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us." There is neither slave nor free. Rich nor poor. Male nor female. All are one in Christ." "I am convinced that neither death nor life neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (These are all various verses. Sorry I don't have the addresses memorized. Please look them up though. They are some of my favorites.)
The message of the gospel is peace for all men. It is not religious performance, keeping up with the Jones's, or trial free living. It is knowing that we are loved by God, and that He Himself knows our suffering because He took it upon Himself. It is the knowledge that we really are not alone, no matter how bleak or desperate the situation looks, that we can depend on another to see us through, the One who made us. It is knowing that in our most dire situation, we are loved, cared for, and assured of beauty for all these ashes we experience here on earth. Somehow, the beauty makes those hard situations worthwhile. Love makes everything worth it in the end. "This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down His life for us."
So what remains? Find out what the will of God is and do it. And sometimes, the crazy thing about the will of God is that He lets us dream with Him. We get to chose sometimes what we want and He partners with us as we partner with Him. The dreams in our hearts sometimes are whispers of our greatness being told to us by the Father of Lights. He put them there to help guide us on, to inspire us, to show us the way to go.
Don't be afraid to dream. Time will tell the tale of greatness in a jar of clay, the heart of a human soul.
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