We don't automatically go to God with everything or react to life the way Jesus would simply because we are Christians, saved and transformed by the blood of Jesus. Right? I mean, that's the goal. But the initial act of being saved doesn't suddenly cause us to become as close to humanly and spiritually perfect as we can possibly be on this earth. We have to TRAIN ourselves, consciously and with perseverance. Whaaaaat, you mean God doesn't do all the work? Well yeah, Jesus died on the cross to save us once and for all. And He helps us a ton on the way thereafter. But we have to do our part.
The above excerpt, which I read a few days ago from my favorite devotional ever, (My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers) struck a chord with me particularly because I was born with a vivid, busy imagination. This is such an amazing reminder to me to continue giving glory to God for each and every thing I see.. to TRAIN myself so that my initial reaction is to go to God. I literally find myself stopping in my tracks on a daily basis to admire His creation... the sky, a flower, an amusing conversation or person, a Starbucks.... you name it. What would happen if I consciously praised God for all of these things, more and more often until it happened naturally all the time? Well, I'd certainly be better trained to go to God when things go south - the second I get angry or am presented with something difficult. This same lesson was confirmed to me again at church this weekend, where pastor Steve talked about training ourselves so that our initial reaction to everything is prayer. When Paul says "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:17), he doesn't mean to be on your knees, with your hands folded and eyes closed, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CLEARLY being on our knees before is a good thing and something we should do, but literally impossible to do all day long. You've gotta pee and eat, for real. He means - have a constant dialogue with God in your heart and mind. Talk to God, bring all things to God.
I love Chambers' "old time" language. He was around in Scotland during the early 1900's, after all. "Then put a stiletto in the place where you have gone to sleep." A stiletto is a type of dagger (I know this because I am a nerd. Don't judge. Nerds are people too. Cool people. Cool, nerdy people.). So, he's basically saying, WAKE UP. GET UP. LIFT YOUR EYES TO HEAVEN. Don't let yourself become complacent and possibly even miserable if you can't hear God speaking. Remember what God has done in the past. Remember how you have seen Him work in your life and/or those around you. More importantly, remember that you serve the Almighty God and that you BELONG to Him. Remember that He can do anything. Ask Him to prove it to you.
Okay, back to the subject. Someone was supposed to smack me if I started getting preachy. Geesh. Bottom line? I want my reflexive instinct to things on the full spectrum of wonderful and ridiculously difficult to be to GO TO GOD, immediately. Will I ever be perfect? Not on this earth. Faaaar from it. Pathetically far from it. You get the point. I wanted to share this because it was exciting to me to hear of an applicable way to train my instincts away from self, stress, and anger. God is good - I'm thankful on a daily basis that He knows our hearts and has mercy on us! I don't know about you, but I could use a healthy dose of "inexpressibly bright hope", more often than I'd like to admit!
Hope ya'll are having a good week so far! I'm LOVING the sunshine today!
