Discovering what love is one day at a time
I was talking to my son the other day, and he was remembering having a pin in his finger to repair his tendon while it was healing…He was talking about the difficulties he had because of that wound, and how grateful he was that it wasn’t his thumb. He talked about how he had to use his other hand to assist him in things he normally could use just one hand for, and how stubborn he was in terms of doing some things, and refusing to do some other things because he did not want to ask for help… It just got me thinking about our bodies, and specifically the body of Christ. I was thinking how individually, we can be so full of pride that we refuse to do what it takes for our own healing of our hearts, minds and relationships. Simply put, we can have prejudices in our hearts. We can have adverse opinions formed without just grounds, without sufficient knowledge. We can believe certain things, and have prejudices about other members of the body of Christ and refuse to take a sound word from someone…Are we too prejudiced to get well? These thoughts brought me to Namaan the leper in the book of 2 Kings. Namaan went to meet Elisha with all his horses and his chariot and all his silver and gold and clothing. Elisha sent out a messenger to him with instructions on how to be made well. Namaan was not at all thrilled about the events as they unfolded and because of his pride almost missed his opportunity for healing. Namaan came with expectations of what it should look like. When things did not happen like he expected he became furious… We all have a place in the body of Christ. What happens when we truly set down our ideas and just ask the Lord Jesus…what should this look like….what would you have of me? What are you trying to teach me? What do I need to lay aside to follow you? What am I not seeing? Retrospectively, we can look at times in our lives and see how God used very difficult and painful situations to move us and grow us. It’s in the middle of our situations when it’s painful, not fun and definitely not the way we would have chosen to learn the lesson that we have the opportunity to become critical, or full of gratitude. God‘s purpose is not trying to make us look all perfect on the outside. His death and resurrection on the cross was for a greater purpose. He made a way for us to be in communion with the Father, He washed us clean he took our sin away, and in an abiding relationship with Him He continues the process of changing us from the inside out. He uses the whole body to do this. He even uses broken, not healthy, and even people who are not even following Him to help change our hearts. So if we ask, He will answer. But we need to be willing to hear through someone who may not have all their ducks in a row, or may be completely put together, their way of worship may be completely foreign to you, they may or may not go to church, or even have the same doctrine. If God can speak through a donkey… do we want to be the ones that did not listen? It is not always going to be the way we want…and really we should not expect that…at some point we have to get over ourselves, and let God be God. Father we cast down our own opinions and self-worship, and surrender, we repent for our stubborn and obstinate hearts. Thank you Lord that even if we don’t get it, we do know that we can trust you fully with every aspect of our lives and we choose to do so.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI have been married to my wonderful husband for 29 years. We have two young men ages 25 and 20.. This blog is somewhat of a journal and attempt for me to remind myself of my purpose and invite others to join me in keeping an eternal perspective as we move through each day. Archives
May 2023
|