"What this world needs is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance -- Blending in so well that people can't see the difference, and it's the difference that sets the world free..." Casting Crowns -- What This World Needs
What if we actually did that? What if we actually took God seriously and started living our lives as if we were truly filled with the Holy Spirit? After all, it's what we are called to do. I envy the manager at Grease Monkey here in Glen Allen, who didn't have any issues whatsoever this morning talking from the counter to everyone sitting in the waiting area about the Hispanic ministry and Bible study he and his family host in his home, as if that was a normal topic of conversation in the workplace and presumably under the assumption that we knew God and understood what he was talking about. He obviously didn't care if anyone thought he was a nut case. He was completely at ease.
I tend to be very choosy about the moments that I mention God throughout my workday and to whom. I tend to assume that playing the odds, you probably don't know God, and therefore you won't understand what I am talking about and will see me as someone to be avoided in the future.
Why?? Because that's how I was before I knew God. Because I didn't want to have anything to do with Christians, I now make the false assumption that because people don't know God, they don't want to and prefer to be left alone to wander aimlessly through life.
What if I stopped caring about what people think and started caring about people? I love the life I have been given by God, as undeserving as I am. The least I can do is to share with the rest of the class!
So much to learn.... so little time. God recently revealed to me my life's verse (if there is such a thing). Philippians 3:12 -- "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me."
What I'd Rather Be Doing
About Me
- Dennis Norwood
- Glen Allen, VA, United States
- Madly in love with my wife Monica, love my kids to a ridiculous degree, love my church, have a sarcastic sense of humor that people sometimes get and sometimes don't, have a huge desire to live my life in a way that pleases God, have a huge inability to live up to that desire but God seems to use and bless me anyway and for that I am extremely grateful, am very competitive but not to a degree that makes me unfun to compete against, love what I do for a living, love where I live, and am thoroughly enjoying the hectic, unpredictable, and fulfilling life I've been given.
5 comments:
Think about sharing the lessons you are learning in a book or maybe some other type of media.
That is an awesome verse!
I'm encouraged that you wrote this.
I have the same trouble. Now, I don't know if you struggle with intimidation, or if you are just afraid to scare people away...however, I was really encouraged the other night at church. The passage was focused on the guy whom God used to head-up & direct one of the largest (possibly THE largest) mass exoduses in all history...and face the wrath & persecution of the powerful Pharaoah--who hated God. You can see Moses' fear throughout the story...he felt so inadequate & intimidated.
But what drove him to look past his fears? Heb 11:24-26 "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;"..--> (here it is)--> "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward."
A lot of us esteem the treasures in Egypt (or the esteem of men) as being greater than the riches of the reproach of Christ. I'm glad the manager at the Grease Monkey esteems the reproach of Christ as great riches. I'm ashamed of myself when I think of how many riches I hoard, for fear of a 3-second scowl.
To anonymous,
Thanks for the advice, but at the rate I actually learn these lessons, if I were to produce a book you could expect a tentative publication date of 2029.
Case in point: "Now I find myself reading my own blog to remind myself..." (from your latest entry) If reading your own blog encourages you, could it not also encourage others?
Post a Comment