Have you ever played with a microscope. You know how you have to turn the coarse adjustment knob until the thing under the lens gets somewhat visible, and then there's the fine adjustment knob to bring things into crystal clarity? Yeah. Sometimes life is like that.
Left to its own devices, over long enough time without being touched or tweaked... just out of sheer neglect, I think microscopes will go out of focus. You don't have to do anything, it just happens. In fact, it's the NOT doing anything that makes it happen.
I look back on my past few posts, not so much with shame or guilt, but with sadness and regret because those are days that I won't ever get back. Ever again. They are gone. They no longer exist, they are written on the winds of time. I won't say they were wasted, because they delivered me to this point.
This is a point of Coarse adjustment for me. The reason I was frustrated, angry, disillusioned, grouchy... I had sin in my life. There was a time when I would have wanted to soft sell it or make it more palatable or whatever, but not today. Today, in a moment of clarity, I realize all that the stupid, selfish, ridiculous sins in my life have cost me.
They have cost me opportunity. Business people understand opportunity costs. I don't think Christians do enough.
I spent the last 3 days at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. Say what you will about Willow Creek and the machine and the campus and the seeker sensitive and the church lite and the whatever it is that you may choose to say... my life is in clearer focus now than it was 3 days ago.
The fine adjustments are coming. I know it. I feel it. I believe it. I'm waiting for it. But here's the things, very rough, that I walked away with.
1. He knows me. Don't skip past this, because I did and it is important. Jesus is more than your savior, He's more than your leader, He's more than a cosmic guide. He knows you. Intimitely.
2. People are all that matter. That's it. Not my program, job, spiritual gift, anything else if it doesn't point to, edify, and make people better.
3. People are best when they know God.
That's all. Even as I read it, it doesn't seem earth shattering. Except that the implications for what I do with my minutes hinges on how well I center my life around those truths and others like them.
If I give my life to building His Kingdom, then my minutes and my life will mean something. If I give it to anything else. It is a wasted moment that I will never get back.
The Kingdom of God is within me.
The Kingdom of God within me finds its best, most beautiful, most glorious, most God honoring manifestation when it is given completely, totally, sacrificially, and wholly to those who don't know Him.
I am wrecked for the way that I've ordered my life around the other things.
God forgive me for my wasted moments. Give me the grace to stand above the sin that has held me down. Give me your eyes for the people who don't know you yet. Let me live in the constant and complete awareness that where I am... you are there. And you know me.
About Me
- Jason Powers
- As the self-proclaimed and happy-to-meet-you Small Group zealot at River City Community Church, my hope is that this page will make you laugh, learn, grow, smile, and most of all cherish the role you’ve been given to play in the Family. I believe Small Group leadership is the most strategic role in the local Church.
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8 comments:
powerfully true. I'm kind of having my own palate-cleansing here in California... realizing that some of the bad tastes are coming from me.
I'd love to hear about it. Matt, I think God is doing something. That's a huge "duh" statement, but I really feel it. I want to hear what God's talking to you about. I'm going to pray for you especially. When do you get back? Feel the love.
You know...I'm glad you wrote all of that for many reasons but also because...I mean there's stuff going on with me(of course) and when I sin...that's not the way I think of it. I think of it like I'm doing something wrong-but never like I'm losing something. It gives everything a different perspective.
Great post, I am glad you enjoyed it. My senior pastor comes back today from the same Summit, and said he has a lot of things he wants to do, which translates he wants me to do it. I hope you remember the feeling you have and work on YOU first, but I am sure you will.
Also, I am going up to the small group confrence in Chicago in Sept. God bless.
Jason-
here's a the tidbit that is dominating my mind and thoughts as of late:
translating Christ and Christianity.
The biggest issue I observe in myself, most churches, and permeating into many areas of Christian faith in relation to those outside (and even inside if the truth be told) the church is translation.
We say things and articulate faith and sing songs that don't necessarily make since. The have become devoid of meaning. HOw would someone from outside tthe church understand and follow what is going on in most "Christianese" conversations? Try and examine the things you say, hear, type, and do for a day. If it is church stuff, you will some terminology thrown in that, when we're honest, we have no idea what it means.
Hi, I'm taking you up on your invitation to visit your blog.
My family and I went to see World Trade Center last night. I wasn't going to but they all wanted to go so I caved in. While watching it, I was very moved and I cried. I came out of the movie, feeling what I had, those first few days after it happened. I was filled with the same question, "Why?" There is no answer to that. Or, the closest I can come up with is that the devil truly does walk the earth.
This morning, thinking back to that day, I remembered something, or rather, I was reminded of a revelation I had. Several days, after the towers came down, I turned off the tv. I couldn't stand to watch any longer. I turned off my phones, closed my drapes and I sat there, quietly, listening. Then it came to me.
God does not speak to us, as you and I speak. He comes to us, during those times, when we truly open our minds and we open our hearts and we let Him in. The only way, I could put into words, how I felt, after I felt Him come to me, was a warm, secure hug. The knowledge of knowing, no matter what happens, it will be alright.
I've had some think this was a 'safeguard' to an hysterical moment. I'm sorry that they feel that way. I know what I felt. It was wonderful. While I grieved for the loss of lives, the people that lost loved ones, the blow that our country took from some truly evil men, I knew, in my heart that God loves me and all his children.
While I struggle with forgiving those that have trespassed against us as I am having a difficult time thinking of them as people. I confuse them with the devil's agents. I do not make the mistake of lumping all people of a different religion in the same category.
God is love. God is wonderful. He loves us all, flawed as we are. But, if we come to Him, he forgives us. As a parent, I understand this. He loves us because we are his children.
I'm sorry if this may not be coinciding with your post, but, I had to share. Thank you
Hey El, I'm glad to see you here. Check back often. Not everything I say means anything to anyone, but it's always good to hear what others think. I like your post and the feelings you're talking about, that sense of God giving us hugs. I love that imagery, and I believe it. I also like how you said that you don't lump all people from different religions into different categories. It's a good thing (and a very hard thing) to see beyond labels and into peoples hearts and lives. When we see them like that, we see them as God sees them. His creations who He created to know Him. I'm glad to have you around. I hope to hear more. Have a great day!
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