For His Glory

It has taken me a long time to realize that when Rick Warren penned the words, “It’s not about you”, he meant it.  I remember reading that first line in the book, The Purpose Driven Life, and thinking to myself, “dang…you’re right…it’s not about me!”  Ironically enough, it was also the line that got me off my bed, convinced me that I should get on the bus that was leaving the next morning, and that I should use those Urbana tickets that I had purchased almost a year before.   It was also months before I picked the book up again to actually finish it.

Low and behold, years later and I sometimes find myself struggling with God, and specifically struggling with idolatry of the role I have in life.  You see, scripture is very clear that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11 is the often cited “for I know the plans I have for you…”).  I loved that truth.  I loved it even more when I became convinced that the “purpose” God had for me had something to do with missions or being a missionary.  For one, I loved to travel and there was a rather natural feeling that I got when I was overseas.  God used me to do great things for people.  And then, if I’m honest, the other reason had to do with me somehow relating this job…this role as a missionary…to being the highest degree of spirituality that one could attain.  I mean, if I was a missionary and if others knew that I was a missionary…then clearly, People would see me as the big deal that I think I am.

Maybe I’m not the only one.  Maybe for some it is being a young life leader or becoming a pastor or being one of the lay leaders in church that takes a more prominent role.  Several of us, I’m sure, struggle with idolizing the roles or jobs we have because of how awesome they will make us…especially in the eyes of those around us.  We want all eyes and applause on us.  We get highs off it, we feel better because of it, and we want more of it.  Or maybe we just think, “if only I was this missionary/pastor/leader then others would take me seriously, they would see my walk with God and they would think I was a strong and devoted Christian”.

God certainly has incredible plans for our lives.  But we are selling ourselves short if we think that those plans are all about us…if we think that a calling to missions or ministry is about us and what others will think of us as a result.  We are spitting in the face of God’s purpose here on earth if we think that the roles we play are the big deal.  Sure, we should seek God’s purpose for our lives and we should walk in obedience with him…I’m not saying that’s not important.  BUT let us not be fooled, our identity is only found in Him, not the job we have or the degrees we earn…it is in Him.  Any role or position that he may call us to, no matter how glorified by a subculture that it might be…that role and what God does with us and with the role/position that He’s called us to is all for Him.  His Glory.   All eyes and applause go to Him.

Isaiah 64:8 states:
“But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay and you are the potter.”

Think of that scripture in Isaiah 64.  What person looks at Michelangelo’s  David or Rodin’s Le Penseur (“The Thinker”) and praises or worships the marble rock that was used to form it?  NO ONE…We think of the creator/artists and praise them for their masterpieces…and in some cases marvel at what beautiful things were created out of otherwise purposeless rock.

We are that clay…that rock…and we are fools to think that in the end, people will look at the completed product of our life and praise us.  We should only hope that people would look back at us and the short time we spent on this earth and see His Fingerprints all over us and the things we touched…we should hope that our lives would draw the focus off of us and onto Him.

The implications here are major.  Several of us are operating in the place and position that we love.  Before pride kicks in and temps us to make it an ego boosting reality for ourselves, we need to always remember that all that we do and all that we are is for His Glory.  It’s not the applause of man or the admiration of those we’re leading…it’s All For Him.

For those of us wanting and waiting to be somewhere other than here, today the message is still the same.  Perhaps we are wanting that call to missions or we are wishing support raising would go a little faster (or that we could simply bypass that step), because we know in our heart of hearts that God is taking us there…well, remember that for today, He has you here.  Wherever here might be for you:  your house, being the nanny for a difficult family, sitting in a cube doing a job you rarely like for 8 hours a day.  God has called us to these places for today…For His Glory.  Glorifying Him doesn’t start when you get there…it’s also a reality for the time spent here…today.

There is purpose and power in wherever you find yourself today…allow yourself to rest and find joy in that place…and let God be glorified.  Be fully present, regardless of where he has called you to stand, sit, kneel, or work today.  Ask for guidance and an understanding of the purpose he has, especially if the place is less than easy to rest in.  Trust me…there is purpose in today…and God can use you immensely…even if you think your heart and mind would rather be somewhere else.

Another Reflection From Haiti

It’s taken me some time to figure out what I wanted to close with on this site (this post was originally posted a few weeks ago on the team blog…so it’s a bit dated).

Short term missions have a lot of value – not only for the staff and organizations that are served, but also for the individuals who are going.  Sure, that seems selfish, but it’s a reality that can not be ignored…after all, if you are truly going with a “learner’s heart”, how can you expect to not receive something about God and His Global Kingdom when you go?

I hope and sense that our efforts to serve Child Hope were valuable.  The house we provided, the things we built and organized, the care we provided with the kids – all of those efforts were to serve the staff working there for long-term and the community and kids they are caring for.

On a personal level, I came back from Haiti with some conviction that I had to take to the Lord.  I’m used to being the odd person out.  I usually know how people are going to respond when they start asking questions about my parents or life growing up.  I know my story is a little awkward or sad for people to hear, but I’m okay with that.  For the first time in my life, and by going to an orphanage, I found myself surrounded by kids who have stories that carry more similarities than I’m used to finding in the people I typically encounter.  I didn’t really feel like the odd person out because I knew they too experienced loss and had to grow up far too early.  In some cases I felt like I was staring into a mirror – seeing in others tendencies others have brought to my attention (that I couldn’t really see in myself).  In other cases, I felt like being there with those kids was God’s way of showing me there was something beyond the mirror into which I was staring.

let me explain…

I don’t for one instance claim to know or understand the full experience of life that these kids have, but in some ways I relate. I know what its like to be abandoned and unwanted by one parent, only to watch the other die at a young age.  I struggled to make sense of justice and love in the midst of some really bad experiences.  This is the mirror that I’m speaking of.  It is different from the lives of these kids, but perhaps more relatable and similar than any other community of people that I’ve ever met.

What I noticed and rejoiced with the Child Hope kids is that regardless of their circumstances, they loved to praise and worship God.  I saw pure joy exuding from them at times…simple excitement, thanksgiving, and praise to the Lord.  And this is where God started showing me what was beyond that mirror.  I think it is best described as “joy”.

Coming home, I was very convicted at my own lack of thankfulness toward God and was led to repentance. Beyond the circumstances that have defined our past or are shaping our current reality, there is God and through His Holy Spirit, joy is possible.  There are opportunities to be thankful and to worship God that are not circumstantial.  In Philippians 4:8 Paul exhorts us to focus on what is good and worthy of praise.  I speculate that we are more prone to look at the trials and difficulties we face than we are to the good things, especially when things aren’t necessarily “good”.  It takes effort to look beyond those harder realities into the character of God and worship Him.  God challenged me to do that during our week in Haiti using kids who exuded joy.  He left no room for the exemptions that I usually conjure up when I see joy alive in the lives of others.  I couldn’t find a single “yeah, but…” as I tried to understand what was before my eyes.  They have experienced the harder realities of life, but they had something different…something I wanted.

In a place where I expected to see pain and sorrow much more manifest I found Joy…and through that experience God is challenging me to be more thankful toward Him and through Grace, He is ultimately leading me to experience more joy.

I will never forget this opportunity, and I am so thankful to those who helped to make it possible.  Every time I share, I tell a different story and realize a different way that I saw God move.  The staff of Child Hope do a wonderful job at loving these kids and pointing them to Christ…Maison de lumiere is truly a house of light in this nation.

now stop reading and go PRAISE God for them and PRAY for the work they continue to do there 🙂

Submission and Worship

I have two random thoughts to post tonight.  I’m too tired for anything too elaborate, so enjoy what I hope to be a short post on (1) Submission and (2) Worship.

1.  SUBMISSION
I recently came across a quote by Gretchen Gaebelein Hull, a well known Christian feminist and author of the book Equal to Serve.  In a rather poignant plea she threw out this challenging idea to her fellow Christian sisters back in 1987:

“Can you drink the cup of submission?  Yes, I realize full well what many of you are thinking: ‘That’s all we’ve ever done!’  But I would ask of you: can you now drink the cup as Christ means you to drink it?  Not because you must, but because you choose to?  Would you be willing to put aside your legitimate rights, if the time to exercise them is not yet right in your particular circumstances?  Would you be willing to put your career on hold, if that is in the best interests of your family or your cultural milieu?  Will you work for change in a patient and loving manner rather than sinking into anger and bitterness?  Will you commit yourself to work in a Christ-like way, even if you are in un-Christlike situations?”

This quote really challenged me not only as a woman who hopes to be a wife, but also as a christian who is (or may be) called to submit to an authority at any God given moment.  When I first read this quote, my mind instantly went back to the concern raised by the mission agency I was preparing to work with in Japan:  They were concerned with how I might deal with pastoral authority, specifically a male pastor’s authority over me and even more specifically as a single woman working/living/churchin’ it up in the male dominated society that is Japan.  In talking to them, I thought I would be fine, but perhaps the challenge that this quote presented me is indicative of an area that I still need work in.  Internally something has been gripped by Hull’s words and I can’t seem to shake them…Can I really drink from the cups that God gives me?  Especially those that might require me to submit?  hmmm…

2.  WORSHIP
I am doing a discipleship study with a girl from my church’s youth group.  This week our study was on Worship.  Revelation 4:11 talks about God being worthy of all honor and glory and power.  I agree.  God in and of Himself is fully worthy of our worship.  

I DO NOT want to make light of or dull down the power of what Christ did on the cross, but should we just worship God because of what He did for us?  To me, that seems like a rather selfish approach to worship.  If we say God is worthy of worship because of what he did for us on the Cross, then aren’t we saying God is worthy of worship because of what it enables or allows us?  Is looking at the cross the wrong place to start when it comes to worship?  and if the cross weren’t there, would we be as inclined to worship God as much as we do?