Heart Tracks - The Limp

      It's been said that there are two ways for a believer to respond to a crisis in their lives; to either figure a way out of the situation, ending it as quickly as possible, or to allow Him to lead us in the midst of it so as to bring to Him the greatest glory.
Which are you and I more prone to?  I think if we take a few moments to examine some of our usual prayer requests in such situations, we'll have our answer.
    Many years ago, a couple were searching for a home, a much needed one, and were having a very difficult time finding it.  I remember them telling me that they were going to be looking at one that afternoon.  Before leaving the husband asked me to "pray that we get it."  His main interest was not for the Lord's best for them, and the glory to give to Him for it, but that the stressful process would come to an end, that it would be over.  This carries over into so many of our own prayers and requests to Him.  We go to prayer, and ask others to pray for us.  We ask them to pray that we or a loved one be healed, a financial need met, or a high pressure situation ended.  In other words, we want Him to do something to make it better, and to do it now!  How many of us in that place seek first to know what He may be trying to show us in that place, even the place of pain?  How many of us ask Him to give us discernment to understand His moving in that place, to hear what He's saying, understand what He's doing?  How many of us, when like the Israelites, we're standing at the Red Sea with the Egyptians closing in on us, really want to know how He might be glorified in the seemingly impossible situation?  Everybody wants the sea to part, but will it be for our self-centered desires, or His glory?  We want Him to remove all the blockages to our desires being fulfilled around us, but have little interest in His removing all the inner blockages in our hearts and spirits, which is where His greatest glory will be found.
     We have the idea that a truly abundant life is one where everything goes very well for us, and we enjoy robust health, relationships, and job or ministry satisfaction.  Yet this doesn't seem to be His idea at all.  Jacob was a man who always seemed to be one step ahead of his problems.  He was shrewd, and could always come up with some way or plan to get past whatever crisis or problem he faced, but finally, at the Jabbok River, he came up against His God, and none of his maneuvering and scheming could win out with Him.  Genesis 32 us that all night he wrestled with the Father, so mightily, that in the end, his hip was put out of socket, and for the rest of his life, he walked with a limp.  He was crippled, yet the Father said that the result was that in his crippled, limping dependence upon Him, he had prevailed.  It is our total, limping, crippled dependence on Him that truly brings the victory in life, that really makes for being an overcomer.  Few of us wish to have such a limp.  We just want to get across the Jabbok River with little trouble, and as quickly as possible.  Drawing more deeply into Him, knowing and discovering Him in ever more intimate ways, limping to wholeness, doesn't really enter into our thinking.
     If we're not yet at our Jabbok River, we will be.  How will we respond?  Get to work trying to figure out an escape plan?  Bombard heaven with requests to get us out, solve our problem, end the situation, or, wrestle in prayer, refusing to let go of Him till, like Jacob, we receive the fullness of His blessing?  A blessing that leaves a limp, but also gives a life.  Which will it be?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Empty Invitation

     I wonder if Matthew 11:28 might not be the most used, preached, spoken, yet unexperienced scriptures in the Bible?  They're Jesus' words, and His invitation.  He says, "Come unto Me all you who labor and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."  We have banners in our sanctuaries that declare this, and sermons and teachings that trumpet it.  When we speak to those who do not know Him, we often use these words as part of our invitation to them to enter into and know that rest.  Yet, the question comes as to whether we who give that invitation, know and are experiencing His rest ourselves?  The book of Hebrews says that "there yet remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God."  This is a rest that lives in the very center of His peace.  It lives in the very midst of He who is Peace.  He invites all to enter into it, yet do our lives, our homes, our fellowships give any indication that we have?

     T. Austin-Sparks wrote that we have no right to invite the unsaved into His rest unless we too know it, that His rest is the "practical outworking of the belief that He is Lord," and that "His Lordship is struck at by the unrest of His people."  Can we dwell in the light of that statement for a moment?  Do we, who speak so much of His rest, really know, and experience it for ourselves?  One of the things I so often hear from people, good, lovers of Christ people, is that they are exhausted, worn out, stressed out.  I've not just heard it from them, but have heard it from the depths of my own heart and spirit as well.  It happens whenever I slip into living outside of Him, when I end up living by my own strength, my own wisdom, and my own understanding.  When this happens, I can be sure that anxiety, irritability, and a hardness of heart and spirit will begin to grow.

The longer I stay in that life mode, the stronger these traits become within me, and as Sparks wrote, the truth and reality of His Lordship, of His life, is struck at by the very unrest that is on display in my life.  I don't have to ask if it's the same with you; we all know that it is.  When such unrest is showing forth in me, any invitation I give, in whatever form it may take, to come unto Him, is an empty one, for His rest, peace, power and life are missing in me.  They can't be seen.  Only when I, we, have truly entered into His rest, believing, trusting in the One who is Lord over all that conspires to steal rest and peace from us, can we really show forth a life that really does bear witness to His truth.
     Jesus described Himself as a Door, a Gate, that He calls us to come to, to go through.  I think for so many of us, we come to that door, but we never fully go through.  Sparks wrote that "the Door is essential, but it is what it leads to that justifies going in at all."  What it leads to is the perfect peace and wholeness that is to be found once we've gone through the door, and continue to journey further and further into the depth and wonder of who He is.  It is an ongoing discovery of the rest that remains for His people.  Until that has been our experience, until that rest is really entered into, His Lordship, which we profess to trust in, will be struck at by the one who is both His enemy and ours.  Satan, who seeks to steal our rest like he seeks to steal all that Christ brings, cannot as we abide and live in He who is perfect peace.  Where do we live and abide today, in the place of stress, exhaustion, ever growing anxiety, or in the very center of His rest?  We're at the Door.  Will we enter in and find all that is waiting for us on the other side of it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - I Am He!

     I was browsing a bookstore recently when one of the titles caught my eye; "101 Myths Of The Bible."  I just chuckled.  There is nothing new about trying to debunk the word of God.  The enemy has been hard at that task since he questioned His word to Adam and Eve in the Garden by asking, "Did God really say that?"  The onslaught has continued through the centuries right to the present day, and we can be sure it will continue until, in the fullness of time, Christ returns.  Till then, various network programs, "scholarly" books, and epic Hollywood movies will come forth, all trying in one way or another to disprove the truth of His Word, the Divinity of Christ, His resurrection from the dead, and a seemingly endless stream of points raised with the intent of trying to do away with the reality of He who is the Source of all things, the Beginning, the End, and all that is in between.  The One that the Bible says "holds all things together."  That other belief systems found in this world never seem to undergo such attacks goes unnoticed.  Darkness hates the True Light, and will go to any extent to try and extinguish it.  All glory and praise be to Him, because it will never be able to do so.

     I read in His Word today the account of Christ's betrayal and arrest.  John 18:3 begins, "Now with blazing torches and weapons they arrived at the olive grove....Stepping forward to meet them, He asked, 'Who are you looking for?'  Jesus of Nazareth they replied. 'I am He,' " was His reply to them.  At these words, they all fell backward and to the ground.  The beauty and power of this passage never ceases to send chills to my spirit.  Here, in darkness, men bearing man made means of light, come looking for He who is the Light of the World.  When they come to Him, they don't recognize him.  Such is the result of all human effort to "find" or explain the reality of the 3 in 1 God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The artificial light of our intellects cannot do that, they must instead receive His light as it shines forth upon us.  We can reject that light, even be indifferent to it, but we can never do away with it.  It's eternal, pure, and holy, and our own light will always be blind to it's presence, until we receive it, and then, our eyes are opened, and we see.
      The other great thing I see here is that though He is one against a mob of armed and dangerous men, intent on killing Him, it is He who is complete control.  He is in control when they come for Him, when they arrest Him, when they try Him, beat Him, crucify and kill Him.  He is in control through all that as the purposes of the Father are realized in His resurrection.  Today, as the darkness increases, as evil abounds, He continues to be in control.  The Father continues to work out His purposes through Him, and in and through those that are His.  A friend recently sent me an article titled "Knocking Holes In The Darkness."  Christ has ever done this, and He will go on, in and through us, to continue to do so.  When one enters into a dark room and turns on the light, the darkness is crushed to the wall.  So does the Light of the World crush the darkness that is arrayed against Him.  The enemy will not give up though he is already defeated, but all his efforts will, as they always have, fail.  The Light has come.  Has it come for you and I?  In our seeking of that light, that truth, He says to each of our hearts, "I am He."  Do we hear Him?  Have we received Him?  Or, do we continue to light our "torches" searching for what we believe is truth?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Holy Wind

      In ancient times, sailing ships were equipped with one or more banks of oars, so that when there was no wind, rowers, who were oftentimes slaves, could propel the ship across the waves.  The problem was that they could only do this in spurts, and when the exhaustion point was reached, had to stop, and they could go no further.  Wind, filling the sails of their ships, was treasured above all else.  I hear the Spirit speaking in that.

     Today, in the church, both in the individuals and corporate fellowships that comprise the body of Christ, I think we have countless rowers, but so little wind.  We may well be busier in the church than ever.  Going out, witnessing to a lost culture of the need for Christ, building programs, crafting strategies, writing books, having conferences, all with the purpose, the good purpose, of bringing Christ to the world.  Yet, in the midst of that busyness, we are exhausted.  Pastor's are leaving the ministry in droves, burnt out, used up.  Congregations are comprised of people who hear the Words of His truth, but rely on the remedies of the world for depression, addiction, anger, and emotional, physical, and spiritual lameness.  We look for rest in the same places it does, vacations, 3 day weekends, or escapes into entertainment, sex, and sports.  We, who claim to follow the One who is the Great Physician, the Healer, have medicine cabinets filled with as many drugs as our unchurched neighbor.  His Word tells us that the Government of all things rests upon His shoulders, but we look to secular government to care for us, becoming as dependent on it as those who are without Him.  I am not saying that any of these things in themselves are bad or evil, or that they cannot be used by a believer, only that they have come to take the place of Him who is above all things, including these things.  Because of it, we float listlessly, without the wind of the Holy Spirit.
     In John 3, Jesus is talking with the religious leader Nicodemus about what it means to be "born again."  He tells him, "Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven.  So don't be surprised by My statement that you must be born again.  Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit."  There lies so much of our problem.  We want to be able to explain naturally what is supernatural.  But Jesus said that human effort can only bring about human answers and results.  There are books out that say they can tell us how to bring revival to our churches.  Yet Jesus said that we cannot know, or control, where the Spirit comes from, or where it is going, so we will never be able to have a "how to" manual for creating revival.
   Have we, you and I, been at the oars long enough?  Are we exhausted enough?  Are we weary enough of human activity that is bringing us nowhere?  Can we instead, in brokenness, at His cross, seek His face, His Heart, and His Spirit, until it comes, filling our long dormant sails, and carrying us we know not where, but we know it will be His best, and we really are, in every way, born anew, born again.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Dead Eyes

      Acts 7 describes the death of Stephen at the hands of the religious leaders of Jerusalem.  The entire chapter is taken up with the his powerful testimony of Christ as laid out before his listeners, a testimony that enraged them, and brought about his death by stoning.  Chapter 8 begins with what seems an afterthought; "Saul was one of the official witnesses of the killing of Stephen."  Saul, who after his encounter with the risen Christ on the Damascus Road, was to become the apostle Paul, the apostle of the heart as he is called by many.  Yet, there he was, an official witness, meaning he gave full approval to the murder.  Yet, something in the manner of Stephen's death had to have deeply impacted him.  Stephen, as I like to think of it, "died alive," in that they were able to kill his body, but they couldn't kill him, or the life of Christ within Him.  Paul beheld this, and though he was to redouble his efforts to stamp out the followers of Christ, he couldn't get away from what he'd witnessed, a witness of a whole other sort than what the enemy intended.  On the Damascus Road, the witness would bear life for Paul, just as such a witness can well come to bear life for you, as it most certainly did for me.

     I remember so clearly the first time I was confronted with such a witness.  I had been away from the small college I attended in northwest Pennsylvania for more than a year.  When I returned, I came across a young girl I had spent much time with, partying, getting high, or "wasted" as we called it.  Yet, before she even spoke, I knew something was different.  I saw it in her eyes.  Before, her eyes were like mine still were, dead eyes.  Yet, that was no more.  I saw in her eyes a life I couldn't account for, but knew was real.  It made an impression I couldn't get away from, and though I know she spoke to me about what had happened in her coming to know Christ, I really don't remember anything she said, but I can still see, as I continued to see, the overflowing life showing forth in those eyes.  It would be five more long years of spiritual captivity before I had encountered Him on my own Damascus Road, but the journey began by looking into those eyes, by my seeing, though I didn't understand it at the time, Christ in her eyes.

    Some years later I encountered another lady, one who professed to follow Him, yet, in her words, her actions, and yes, her eyes, I didn't see what I had seen before.  Her eyes, her spirit, seemed to be as lifeless as mine.  She spoke to me of Christ as well, but her words didn't seem to be accompanied by any real life.  I don't say that in judgement, it's just what I remember.  It's very sobering to think what kind of memory might my words and life leave upon those I encounter in my day to day interactions.  When I come across those who can only see things through dead eyes, do mine look the same to them as theirs do to me?  Do yours?
    In John 4, in the story of the woman at the well, after her encounter with Christ, the woman ran into the town and exclaimed to all, "Come meet a Man who told me everything I ever did!"  They came.  Do you think it might have been because they, like Paul did in Stephen, like I did with my college friend, saw in her eyes, life, and not the death that once reigned there, and still did in them?  They came and heard and saw Him for themselves, but not merely because of what she said, but I believe, because of what they saw in her, in her eyes.  Dead eyes no more, but eyes of light and life.  May I, we, walk, talk, and live with such eyes.  May those who encounter us, encounter Christ in us.  Today, what will they see.......in our eyes?

Blessings,
Pastor O
    

Heart Tracks - Die Living!

 When those times come, as they do to all of us, when I'm tempted to give in to discouragement and despair, and yes, self-pity, the Lord brings to mind the life of the apostle Paul.  What must have it been like for him, a man whose heart was bursting with new and fresh insight from the Holy Spirit, who was hearing His voice more deeply than ever before, yet, all the while confined to a cramped prison cell, chained to his guard?  How did he live in the midst of those extremely trying circumstances?  How did he live with the knowledge, as he most certainly did, that he would not leave that cell, that his destination was not further and fulfilling ministry, but death?  How did he live?  The answer to that is found by simply reading those "prison letters," of his, and one sees that as, what he called, "the time of his departure" came near, Paul lived fully and richly, in Him.  Christine Caine said that it was her hearts desire to "Die living, and not to live waiting to die."  When Paul's time of departure, of his death came, he died living.  For those of us who give in to the seduction of discouragement, of despair, frustration, self-pity, we will only be living as we wait to die, and that will not be living at all.   

     One of the great lines in the movie The Shawshank Redemption is the one spoken by Morgan Freeman's character, that a person needed to either "get busy livin', or get busy dyin'"  Which speaks to you and I today?  Are we "busy" with the business of dying, or living?  Though we may be physically alive, does spiritual death grip us, keeping us from the fullness of His life?  Discouragement, despair, fear, self-absorption, these are the markings of death.  Hope, joyful expectation, peace, these are the fruits of His life at work in us. These fruits cannot be quenched by anything, not even a dank, dark, prison cell, where the executioner is literally around the corner.  Even in such a place, we may be "busy about His life."  Paul's life in the midst of such a place was of such quality and power, that the entire Roman garrison knew of him and the life he was living.  What is known about the quality of our life today to those who surround us?  Are we living and breathing life, or death?  

     Paul wrote Philippians 3:13-14 on the brink of his "departure."  "I focus all my energies on this one thing; forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.  I strain to reach forward to the end of the race, and receive the prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us up to heaven."  The upward call; Paul's life was a portrait in responding to that call, right until the very end.  When it came time for him to leave this realm, this life, I know that he left it "straining, reaching forward."  May it be so of me, of you.  May we die living, busy about His life, always moving upward in response to that call, knowing that no cell, no cave, no affliction, not all of hell unleashed itself, can keep us from it.  This is His life.  May we fully live it.  May we never cease straining forward to have it, till the time of our own departure comes.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Ruined Appetites

    When I was growing up, a common warning from my mother as we neared suppertime, and she saw me or my siblings snacking was to stop, so that we didn't "ruin our appetites."  It was a fair warning, because we tended to want to gorge on things that held little nutritional value, and leave us with little or no desire for the dishes she would prepare and most certainly did.  I see a great parallel to this in our spiritual lives today.  We seem to be gorging ourselves on the junk food of this world, filling our lives and souls with "food" that has no eternal value, yet leaves us with no appetite or desire for those things that do.  I once read of a case study of severely overweight people who were literally starving to death because their system was not receiving the basic nutrition it was designed by Him to have.  How overweight are we today with the "food" that does not last, while starving to death for that which does?
     Isaiah 44:3 reads, "For I will give you abundant water to quench your thirst and to moisten your parched fields."  As I once saw it put, before one can be filled with the water of His life, he must first realize how dry and thirsty he truly is.  The "soda pop" of this world which we've been guzzling, masks our true thirst, leaving us craving more of a drink that doesn't quench our thirst, but enhances it.  The Lord said that He would "pour water on him who is thirsty," but life most often seems to find us congregating at the local soda pop machine instead of the living stream of His water.  This is true of an individual, a household, a ministry, and a church.  Do we know how truly parched we are, and if so, are we running to our favorite soda pop dispenser, or to Him who is the Source of all Living Water?
    Decades ago, pioneer singer Keith Green, in his wonderful song, "Asleep In The Light," asked this question of the church; "How can you be so dead when you've been so well fed?"  Could it be ruined appetites?  We may faithfully attend to our daily devotions, our weekly home groups and worship gatherings.  His Word may be shared, placed before us, but it's not received, taken in, made a part of us.  It can't be, because like my siblings and I, we've already filled up on all the junk food that's all around us.  The prepared dinner, no matter how sumptuous, goes uneaten.  We've been to His table, but we've partaken of nothing.  Asleep in the light, starving to death in the midst of plenty.  What will this day, week, life, hold for you and I?  Another visit to the pop machine and candy bar dispenser, or to feast at His table, to drink deeply of His water?  Both options are before us.  Where will we be found?


Blessings,
Pastor O  

Heart Tracks - Community Center or Church?

  Pentecost Sunday, the commemoration and celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, is upon us.  The question that gnaws at my heart and spirit is, how real is that outpouring to me, to the fellowship I serve?  How real is it to you and yours?  I recently read an article as to why a true awakening in the church has not happened.  Now, I know many a pastor and layperson who is praying for just that, yet it tarries.  Do we dare to allow Him to reveal to us as to why that might be so?

     The writer of the article had a number of points, but the one that leaped out at me was his observation that we in the church have become very pragmatic and naturalistic in our spiritual views.  In our needs, spiritual, physical, emotional, material, we seek the same sources of help as those we would call "unbelieving."  We tend to seek first natural, not supernatural provisions.  How many of us, when sick, do not first seek the presence of Him in our church fellowships, but run to a Doctor or emergency room?  We will go to earthly counselors for answers, pharmacies for drugs, and friends, families or banks for loans, all before we will go to Him.  More, when we do come together, it seems to be with little real expectation that we will really meet with Him.  We will sing about Him, hear about Him, but how many of us will really encounter Him?  How much real worship really goes on in what we call "worship services?"  We live so distracted in our day to day lives, that we come together distracted, "worship" while distracted, and most often, leave distracted.  More, we plan our "worship" to such a degree that we leave little, if any room for the Holy Spirit to intervene even if our hearts may be open to Him.  How many pastors or worship leaders will react kindly to having their song list or power point presentations interrupted by a spontaneous move of the Spirit?  How many of us would view such a thing as being "out of order?"
     I've a friend who has lovingly observed that he sees the church today as bearing much more resemblance to a "Christian Community Center" than to the New Testament church.  People gather, relate to one another, share experiences, have good fellowship, none of which are bad, but it rarely seems to be more than that.  In the Old Testament Temple in Jerusalem, such was what took place in the outer court, where the emphasis was on the people, but the outer court was the entranceway to reaching the Holy Place, where God was.  Too often, we who are the church, never get past the outer court, never enter into the Holy Place and encounter Him.  Watchman Nee wrote, "You cannot know God from a distance.  In the outer court, quite rightly, you approach people; in the Holy Place, you approach the Lord."
    In our seeming obsession to be "relevant" to the unchurched, it seems we are almost embarrassed by a Holy Spirit who will not behave Himself.  If someone were to rise up this week and speak something prophetically in the Spirit, how open would we be?  If one or many were to be overcome with the sheer joy of the Holy Spirit, and shouted out that joy, even danced before the Lord, how receptive would we be?  If the Holy Spirit so powerfully came upon us this week so that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING stopped, and all we could do was be prostrate before Him, how welcoming would we be to that?  If the Lord were to be this week, not a general, unobtrusive presence, but a manifest one, where He literally took over His church, and it is His church, would we run to Him, or flee from Him?  I know what a community center would do, and so do you.  I also know, and I think you do as well, what the true church would do.  The question is, which one are we?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Small Stuff

     It's likely that you've heard the saying, "Don't sweat the small stuff."  It makes sense from a common sense viewpoint, but the walk of Christ is not grounded in common sense, but in dependency upon Him and the leading and empowering of His Spirit.  Andy Andrews, commenting on this  said, "Life will be decided by what goes on in the small brush strokes, yielding either a masterpiece or a mess."  I have found that it is not the big crisis that puts the most pressure on my life, but the constant dealing with the small, seemingly inconsequential details of life that wear at my mind and spirit.  Those "thorns" that don't render us incapacitated, but remain as ever present, irritating pricks upon our lives, robbing us of rest and peace.  Life's brushstrokes, and how we respond or react to them will define whether our lives are a masterpiece or a mess.

     Watchman Nee tells the story of a particular thorn in his flesh that he cried out incessantly for the Father to remove, but His answer, as it was to Paul, was "no."  Like Paul, he was to rely upon His grace in the midst of the pain of the thorn.  Nee did not at first find this comforting, but he said he began to picture in his mind a riverboat navigating a river and encountering a boulder that stood five feet above the waterline, and blocked further progress.  He began to see the correlation between the boulder and his thorn.  He'd been asking for the removal of his own "boulder," but to Him came the thought/question, "Would it be better to have the five foot boulder out of the way, or to let Him raise the level of the water five feet?"  He saw then the real power of God's grace in the midst of boulders both great and small.  He realized that Christianity was "not a matter of removing boulders but of having deeper water."  Thorns lose their power against us when we abide in the deep of God.
     We may boldly proclaim "Don't sweat the small stuff," but it will be the small stuff that relentlessly chips away at our spiritual and emotional well being, entering our thoughts on a non-stop basis, stealing peace, joy, and strength.  The "boulders" that keep appearing in the path of our lives irritate, frustrate, and weaken us.  Yet, if instead of raging against them, or demanding that they be removed by Him, we will instead allow Him to show us once more that in our weakness we are made strong by His grace. (2 Corinthians 12:10)  The boulders and thorns are not removed, but our life in Him is deepened so that we may glide over them, move on in spite of them, because His grace really is sufficient in all things, even the most seemingly insignificant.
     There are a lot of brushstrokes going on in my and your life today.  What are they producing, masterpiece, or mess?  Jesus said that in this world we'd have tribulation, and oftentimes, that tribulation comes in the form of frustration, irritation, and aggravation over seemingly unimportant things, yet things that are undermining our spiritual well being and walk with Him.  Will we rage against them, become angry that He doesn't remove them, or, by abiding in Him, find that He is more than able to so deepen us in Himself as to render them powerless in our lives.  What's the "small stuff" doing to you and I today?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Why This Waste?

     There is a great deal of speaking and writing in the church today on entering into the destiny we were created for by God.  Most of it seems to center on that destiny being one of excitement, adventure, fulfillment, and more.  To me, it seems that the appeal of it all is based more on our flesh than our spirit.  We're drawn to the idea of greatness, especially if that greatness results in being noticed, applauded, and esteemed.  Recently I heard a middle aged woman speak of a ministry she felt the Lord had clearly called her to, one that was filled with heavy challenges, hardships, and heartaches.  She said she found herself speaking to the Father of the "destiny" He'd created her for, asking Him simply, "Is this it?"  I can identify, can you?

      In a devotional recently, I read the words of a woman who, along with her husband, had been placed in an extremely difficult mission post in East Asia, a place that had a government system totally opposed to the sharing of the gospel.  Every effort seemed to end in failure, every path seemed a dead end.  She cried out to the Lord over it, asking Him why He was allowing them to waste their lives in a place that was yielding no fruit?  In response, the Holy Spirit brought the scripture from 26:8-10 to her heart, where the act of worship by the woman who anointed Jesus by breaking a bottle of expensive perfume upon Him, is told.  The disciples responded,"Why this waste?  This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor?  But Jesus, aware of this said to them, 'Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for Me.' "  Her heart melted, as she realized that what she, and we, would consider a waste, Jesus considered a "noble thing," indeed, an act of worship.  It's always a matter of perspective, and most often, we end up seeing only the perspective of the flesh.  Nothing given to Him, regardless of the visible result, is ever a waste.  Have you and I been thinking it is?
     What is it, work, marriage, parenting, ministry, that you have "given" to Him, yet you feel is being wasted, where you're being wasted?  Do we see it as an exercise in futility, or as an act of worship?  Those who observed the act, believed it a waste of time, yet Jesus said that the woman would be remembered throughout eternity.  Are we seeing our "destiny" as being something that fulfills us, or that exalts Him?  Do we feel "wasted" where we are right now, or do we offer up ourselves, where we are, as an offering of worship to Him.  Are we living lives, carrying out ministry that He calls "noble," and that will be remembered throughout eternity, or, do we despise where we're at right now, and so miss the opportunity to offer up worship in that place, not realizing that this is what true waste really is?  Is our perspective one of waste, or worship?

Blessings,
Pastor O