From Busyness to Focus

Could anyone else use a rest?!? ...and if I wasn't the preacher and someone told me to find rest by focusing on God, I'd think they had lost their mind. How do we find rest by focusing on God? The more I focus on God the more it seems I'm required to do. Adding God to my schedule doesn't add rest, it adds issues.

So, how do we find rest when we're asked to wear so many hats, compounded by the pressure we feel to put them all on? How can I focus on all that is expected of me and still find rest? Scripture tells us the answer is found in our decision to establish our non-negotiables.

Matthew 6:24

No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.

Our lives are so busy... the hats we wear... the places we go, all we're involved in, everything we want to accomplish... that in the end, we're overwhelmed. We see God as just another voice in a chorus of voices telling us how we should fill our time. Leading us to see the disciplines of faith as just another list of requirements added to a sea of activities.

Michael Zigarelli stating that, "The accelerated pace and activity level of the modern day distracts us from God and separates us from the abundant joyful, victorious life He desires for us." He describes the problem as "a vicious cycle" driven by cultural conformity. Zigarelli says busyness may be a global pandemic. He suggests that Christians break the cycle by "reordering our thinking," including "the way we think about who God is and how He wants us to live our lives."

No one can be a slave of two masters

Scripture brings us back to the lie satan is trying to sell us, about our ability to have it all. So, we're face to face with the question, is God lying to us and we can serve two masters, we can live two lives; or is satan lying to us and No one can be a slave of two masters? How is all of this rest???

Rest is only viable when we focus on one goal. (master, Lord, purpose)

Jim Wilson states that, "the Christ-follower must move from a double minded lifestyle to a singular focus," and he defines focus as "a single-minded devotion to and enduring pursuit of God."

James 4:8

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!

Do we have a singular focus, scripture is not talking about limiting life to one activity but to one goal or purpose through whatever activities we pursue?!? BUT WHY???

since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.

Do we resent God for getting in the way of our activities or

do we resent our activities for getting in the way of God?

How does mixed loyalties really affect our relationship with Christ?

Making Room for Worship

In the midst of some continual education studies with Nelson Searcy, he made a statement that froze me when he said it. "There is no room for worship on Sunday unless you empty yourself during the week."

People filled with worship, people experiencing overflowing amounts of worship, who are unwilling to empty themselves through service opportunities find themselves going to future worship celebrations not out of necessity but out of opportunity.  When you go to worship out of necessity you do not critique what you're experiencing because you just don't care what you're experiencing but who you're experiencing in that moment. Any moment acknowledging the presence of God is amazing when you're spiritually spent! Best illustrated by mission teams who sit on tree logs, outside in the heat, for hours not understanding a word that is said but you know God is in that place and it is refreshing and renewing to your faith. On the other hand, when we worship out of opportunity and we haven't spent ourselves spiritually, we walk into worship celebrations not needing the experience.  Therefore, less worried about meeting God and unfortunately available to think about music choices, sound issues, singers hitting notes, it's too cold or it's too hot, and the inevitable sermon that is too long! Spend servants make great worshippers!

Think about how you will be walking into worship this Sunday... in desperate need of more of God because of what you poured out and into others this week or satisfied and filled hoping everything's perfect! The first will bring you into the room looking for nothing but God. The second will bring you into the room looking at everything but God. Ask yourself, just as I'm going to ask myself... am I empty enough to worship today!?!

Tragedy

Friday, December 14 is another one of those days that turns our stomachs and breaks our hearts. We have questions we want to ask and we look to make sense of something that is beyond tragic.  People always want to ask and need to ask during these times, where is God? If God is all powerful where is this great God!?! It's the same question the world asked the church after 9/11, after the great hurricanes and tornadoes experienced around the world. It's the same question we ask when we get horrible news. It's the type of question where  we can get our faith stuck, where those of faith struggle with God and those with no belief in God strengthen their stance. After a tragic situation I heard David Platt make a statement that I believe is a foundational promise of scripture. A promise that might not be terribly easy to process in the emotional moments immediately following a tragedy but over time it becomes much easier to process and find God's strength.

In His sovereign design, God ordains sorrowful tragedy to set the stage for surprising triumph.

Many times when we see great tragedy we think we're experiencing the end of the story. However, we want to know, is this going to work out!?! We need to know if Romans 8:28 is true.

Romans 8:28

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

But even with that promise we don't know how certain situations are going to end, we don't see much triumph in the midst of the pain, so we are left with our faith, hoping God's got a word of mercy in those moments. Ultimately having to rest in our faith! Knowing that God has given us faith to sustain our hearts while we wait for His victory in our lives.

I found it an amazing God thing that this tragedy happened on the week of JOY in the advent calendar. We know as a nation that the innocence of Christmas has been ripped away from many this year and for one town and many families Christmas will always remind them of a tragedy! No one expects them or us to find JOY.

When we think of Christmas we love the beauty and innocence of the holiday mixed with the frustration of too many activities, not enough time to keep the house clean, not enough money to get everyone what they want to keep peace and joy in the house... But if you asked Mary what she thought about Christmas, and the birth of God's Son?

No one would have blamed her if she would have solely focused on the tragedy of her marriage falling apart! Her life seems out of control! A life that seemed idyllic by the standards of her culture is being turned upside down! "God, it seems like the more I trust you, the more my life is falling apart."

"Joy! NO WAY! ...in the middle of all that is going on there is no way I could find joy!" If that had been her heart and the words she shouted no one would have blamed her but in the midst of her world being turned upside down...

Luke 1:46-47

And Mary said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, 47 and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

How could she declare joy in the midst of these circumstances? Mary's soul was not in a state of confusion or denial... she was declaring the fact that regardless of circumstances or events... her trust in the God would bring her to a place of worship. For Mary and Joseph their joy wasn't in what God had asked them to do; their joy was in God!

Our joy isn't found in what God ask us to do; our joy is found in Him!

Their focus wasn't on the problems created by God's will but on their obedience to carry out God's will! Happiness is circumstance driven but joy is not driven by our circumstances but is driven by our trust in someone greater than our circumstances. Mary didn't fully understand what was happening to her but she was fully convenience that God was greater than her circumstances.

Mary knew the One working through her was greater than what was happening to her.  

The conflict in Mary's life eventually brought life. I don't know what triumph will come from the tragedy of last Friday and no matter what sense we make of it or what good comes from it... families will still be experiencing loss! Pain still hurts; faith is not the absence of pain but the understanding that in Christ I can know that the One working in me is greater than anything that can happen to me.

My prayers are with the families struggling with loss and with the other children trying to process the moment! May God's strength protect and overcome!!!!

Value

Most of us would love to slow our lives down. We'd love to rest a little more, reflect a little more, savor the things we enjoy a little more. Yet, for many of us it's been a long time since we intentionally slowed down our lives, slow enough to ponder unthinkable size questions! Not unthinkable that we can't think about them, but unthinkable that when we do think about them they boggle the mind. And the truth is most of us try not to think about these life-size questions, in fact, the faster we do life the less time we'll have for our minds to wrestle these questions.

Questions that will takes us to overwhelming answers, answers that are completely life altering when we study and apply the truth of them to our lives. But I'm asking you to slow down long enough to wrestle with a question and then apply the answer to your life. 

What gives my life value?

Back many years ago when I completely my master's degree, my parents gave me a very special gift. Now, you need to know that my parents weren't banking on me ever finishing college. So, when I finished my master's degree it was a fairly big deal in our family. Leading my parents to give me a hand touched autographed painting by Thomas Kinkade. I love art that I understand, but what makes this painting valuable to me is that it has the artist hand touched signature on it, and even though it's from a series, because the artist hand touched it... it's unique. He signed it!

Not a stamp, it's not a copy, I know that the artist himself touched this painting and signed it. And it's his personal touches and signature that give this painting its value.

Yet, I've always been amazed by what gives something value.

Pursues, you can have the same name on them but one of them is real and comes from the designer while the other is a knock off (one purse a Coach and the other a "fo-ach"). One was dug out of the bottom of a pile and one was unlocked from a secure area. What's the difference? the value is from the designer, one is from his shop, with his seal of approval is on it. When I purchased one of these I haggled over the price and keep working him down. The other had a set price and they told me to take it or leave it. One had little to no value but the other had significant value.

But the value of stuff is not a life altering question. When we're talking about value I need to know what gives my life value!?!

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.

I am created by the hands of God and God's signature is all over my life! I have value because I am the unique, one of a kind creation of God. How does this answer change the way you see yourself? Don't let the world tell you what your worth when your designed, your Creator has already set the price!!!

Endurance verses Influence

Personally, as a husband and dad... I know, that I'll take a greater leap of faith with my own life than I ever will with the lives of my family. There are plenty of things I've done; and may do again, that I think long and hard about before I'd let my kids do it. There are also a lot of things I'll sit through before I'd ever recommend it to someone else. I mean, if I take a chance on something and it wasted my time then I've only blown a few hours in my day, but if I recommend something and it doesn't pan out like I said or the other person hates my recommendation, well then I've got my reputation on the line, our friendship might become strained, my word carries less weight. And what I've learned through this personality issue is the difference between endurance and influence! In other words...

I'm willing to endure much more chance than I'm willing to influence others to accept.

And spiritually, many people are caught right here. When it comes to faith, when it comes to asking someone to bring their pains and burdens before the Lord... we freeze, right here in this personality issue. When someone comes to you, as a friend, co-worker, family member and begins to share with you something that is overwhelming, or something that is going to leave a wound in their life... you come to this choice. Should I use my opinions? Or will I turn to God's wisdom and allow His truth to be spoken into their life?

This conflict begins for many people inside the church with this though, "Yes, I'm a Christian and I know that when someone gets sick that you pray and that God, the great physician, will heal them... (and publicly, we shout amen and tell the church about our faith and how we know God's going to heal them... but deep inside we wonder... is He going to heal them, is He going to answer my prayer the way I prayed it or will He do something else?!?)

So when someone from the community or the workplace has a sick loved one or is going through a tough time financially, or a crisis in their home life... we are caught deciding, do I really believe what I'm supposed to say?!? I know I'm suppose to tell them that God's in control, that God will heal or restore or fix whatever they have wrong in their life... but I've watched prayers go up and on one day the situation is completely restored... and the next day I watched prayers go up and the situation fall completely apart.

This internal conflicts creates the mindset, "I believe in God and I'm willing to endure what feels like chance when it comes to prayer but I can't influence someone to endure the same random level of chance in their time of crisis."

OR maybe the situation in front of you is a friend, co-workers, or family member who is making decisions contrary to God's word and then they come looking for your support?!? They want us to agree with their choices and choose them... over any moral convictions we may have due to our faith. Bringing us to the question...

Am I willing to trust God's wisdom and accept His authority enough to share His word with the world around me?