I tried to get this up yesterday morning, but had formatting issues...
God has this funny way of messing with me lately. I’m not quite sure if I have discerned a pattern to his funny business, but there’s no doubt that semi-regularly I am being confronted with the very text and words that I’ve given up to Him as an offering on Saturday Night.
Maybe it is God’s way of reminding me that His words need to do their work in me if I am to authentically pass them along to anyone.
Maybe it is the self-deceit that so quickly creeps in once I am done preaching; that says I’ve completed my work for the LORD.
Maybe it is the presence and power of God’s word preached into my own life that has left my heart soft and open to recognize opportunities to live into the new Jesus Way.
This morning I sat outside Starbucks. I had been there 20 minutes when a homeless man walked up and asked for money. No question, I gave it to him. God has transformed me and my grip on the possessions of this life….
BUT, then this same homeless man started asking me questions. I gave short and quick answers. I wanted to be done with him. I wanted to get back to reading and being spiritual… He walked away and the conviction of God’s Spirit was overwhelmingly palpable. I have much to learn and much to let go of still. Though I am becoming more free with “stuff,” I have yet to give my life and presence quite so generously.
This is my prayer (actually it’s Paul’s) for me and us: Father, may our love abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that we may be pure and blameless on for the day of Christ—filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
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5 comments:
Thanks for being open and honest with us. I have the same issues. I often want to give money and stay removed, as if not to get my hands dirty. I usually get this feeling that says "I have given money...what more do you want from me." My time and myself...that is what he has called us to give...but there still MINE! Gosh, I have ownsership issues.
I am not sure how to fully let go and give all i have? Everytime I see someone in need do I stop and provide? How do I do that with toddlers with me all the time? Help!
I think our daily prayers can shape our generosity... I have really grown to love the Lord's Prayer as a general structure for praying.
When we pray, "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," We are praying that the amazing characteristics and qualities of God's dwelling place would break into this world. I think our praying these words, reminds us that we are vessels through whom God explodes His kingdom onto the scene.
What if we could "pray without ceasing" (Paul) those words - "Your Kingdom come through my life, Father" and "Your will be done through my life, Father" and "May people experience your extravagant heavenly generosity here on earth today, through me!"
Perhaps praying these words while prying our hands open is a starting point... What do you think?
I just read my last comment and realize that talking about using a "general structure" when talking to God seems a bit formulaic and perhaps impersonal.
What I am suggesting by consider the Lord's Prayer as a guide for our praying is that there might be a foundational grammar inherent in prayer that we are to learn. Just as babies can communicate without all of the complexities of language, we can too. Yet, as we grow and mature as humans we develop in our abilities to communicate through language. So too, the Lord's Prayer teaches us the "grammar" and "vocabulary" of conversation with God that penetrates beyond the shallows.
This is the way I see it. If you give to the Lord and love Him, He wont punish you and ruin your life. He will smile at you and love you. If you give everything you own to the Lord He would protect you and your loved ones, not let you rot away.
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