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I Bet You Can Hardly Contain Yourself
I realize that title has a hint of sarcasm in it, but let's face it, sarcasm is the language of love! In all seriousness there are times in our lives when we are really REALLY excited about something? This something is so exciting that it takes over our lives. We see the upcoming months and events as just markers for how much closer we are getting to this thing. What's the last thing you got really excited over? How did it affect your daily life? How did it affect your thought processes?
I am in a season where I am VERY excited about something. In 86 days I get married!!! Get excited! As Kayla and I's (is that even grammatically correct) wedding draws nearer I start looking at events and holidays as mere markers for how much closer I am to being married to Kayla Schannep. It rocks my world but frustrates me all at the same time (I want it to come now!). Maybe your last exciting thing was Christmas. Maybe it was when you got to see a friend who you haven't seen in a long time. Maybe your last exciting thing was the first day of school (although you're probably lying if you said that). These things, events, and people we get excited about are revolutionary. What was a normal, average time of year in years past has a kick to it now (or it did). When we have something we're excited about, things have changed, our lives have been changed!
Are things that are better to get excited about? What makes them better?
This last Sunday we talked about Jesus being king over every area of our lives, and at the end I asked if there was an area or areas you know Jesus is not king over. I want you to think about that area for a moment.
What does Jesus want to happen in that area? How would your life change if you gave it over to
Jesus' rule?
Now, these questions are good, but they don't help us figure out how we give these areas over to Jesus. Let's walk through that for just a moment. I just read this Psalm this morning and it has been really speaking to me all day:
For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
Psalms 69:9
What does that have to do w/ Jesus being king in our lives? It's this: whatever we are excited about, whatever it is we are aiming at and seeking after will rule our lives. Why? Because we are worshipping this thing. Our worship in this life is our act of allegiance. It is our offering our thoughts, time, and actions. What am I proposing then? I am proposing a reckless excitement for Jesus. The problem is, a lot of us have problems getting excited about Jesus. After you read that reckless excitement for Jesus part you began to immediately lose interest in this blog. However, that is our problem. We scream at sports games, we yell at the TV when the American Idol we voted for didn't win, or when "The Situation" does...his..."Situation" thing (sorry I don't watch Jersey Shore). We get so into these things, yet, I would dare to say many of us have never or rarely get this passionate about the one who saved us from everything and continues to save us. So, how do we get excited about Jesus? We look at what He has done according to the Truth in His Word.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
These two verses are very familiar, maybe even boring to some of us, and if they are shame on us. Because in these two verses lies two of the most audacious, scandalous, and life changing truths we will ever encounter. In essence, these verses are saying that Jesus looked at us and loved us so much that He chose to give up being God to become human and die. Not only that, he came knowing we would not want anything to do with him while he was on earth or ever. He came to sacrifice himself for a people who didn't like him, let alone love him. We are rebellious, ugly beings, and Jesus came in perfection so that we could experience a relationship with Him, so that He could grant us His perfection, even though we were already walking away from him. When I write these things I get excited. I begin to realize (even though it is an imperfect realization) how great God is. Can you really read these verses and not want to let Jesus reign as King in your life? Doesn't he deserve that place?
Now, I am not saying that being excited about Jesus will always work. There will be harder times in our lives or even just mundane times where it feels like God is absent our out to get us. There are also times when life has got us in a rut. What do we do then? We look at these verses (and all the other ones which speak to the same thing) and remind ourselves how good Jesus is. We foundation our lives in what Jesus has said he has done and will do, and we put our trust in that. I think you'll be surprised how content you become and how you begin to desire for Jesus to be a bigger and bigger part of your life. So guys and gals, let's get excited!
Running on Empty
It was the winter of 2005, and I was making the cursed drive from Abilene, TX (if you've never heard of it then you're in the same boat as 95% of America) to Tucson, AZ. Just a side note, you have never experienced complete loneliness until you drive through West Texas. It is shear nothingness for hours! Anyways, I was in between some random small town in Texas and another random small town in Texas and I noticed I was getting low on gas. Another side note: if you have ever driven for a long distance you know the most stressful thing you can experience while driving is seeing that red needle crawling ever so close to that awful giant "E". Back to driving through Texas: as I looked at my gas meeter I began to sweat quite a bit more than I was. I became very stressed because I didn't know if I had enough fuel to make it to the next gas station. Has there ever been a point where you did not think you had it in you to push through some horrible circumstances or event? How did you make it through?
Many of us are in this place now. We're running around in between a broken family, broken relationships, tough times at school, sports not going well, loneliness, stress, anxiety, or all of the above. The question looms over us: how am I going to make it through all of this? Read with me the verse below:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:1
The question that looms over us when we see a verse like this is: how? How do we run the race well? How do we hold on till the end? How do we stay perseverant? The writer answers this:
looking to Jesus...
Hebrews 12:2
Paul was at a similar point in his life. In 2 Corinthians 12 he talks about this "thorn" in his flesh which would not leave him alone. He says he pleaded with God three different times to make it go away, but God wouldn't. Why? Paul helps us understand:
But he (Jesus) said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 12:9
The question is not: will we go through these hard times? The question is: how will we handle these difficult times? And, who will we look to for help? Ourselves? Our friends? Our parents?
Who do you look to when times are tough? Who do you talk to? Who do you rely on?
When we talked about emptying ourselves a couple of weeks ago I mentioned the purpose of why we must do this: so God can fill us up with His life and His love. However, it is also because we will not make it without his help. Some of us see our lives, and if we had to guess how much "fuel" we have in our tank to make it through life we would think we were pretty close to that glorious "F"; however, I would wager we have tricked ourselves. All of us, even those of you who think you have it all together, are a phone call away from being brought to your knees and feeling like the "Fuel Low" light has been on for hours. God calls us to empty ourselves because he has what we need not only to do earth changing things, but also to just make it by. Running on "E" is stressful, living without an active relationship with God is deadly. May we all empty ourselves and let God fill us up.
Read John 4:7-15, and let's pray together that God would fill us up with this water.