Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.
The implication here is that when we ignore the needs of others we are in fact ignoring God. This passage was doubly illustrated in my life recently.
The first encounter came when I was complaining to God (gasp!) about some of the difficulties I was having with some of the members of our church. I did one of those rhetorical prayers. You know; the type you don’t really want God to answer. I furrowed my brow and said, “See, God, this is why I didn’t want to be a pastor.” No quicker had the words left my mouth then I felt in my heart, “And it’s exactly why I wanted you to be a pastor.” Recognizing that we had a dialog going I wanted to talk out what was boiling in my soul. I started in with the reasoning, “Inadequacy spurs depression, disillusionment, disgust…” I wanted to continue with my clever alliterations but was cut short by this word, “…dependence.” There it was. In my weakness he is strong. It’s ok to feel inadequate just as long as I am not forgetting nor ignoring his complete adequacy.
The second incident of a call to personal action based on my trust in his enabling was that same night. Is two AM considered night or morning? My sleep was interrupted by the squawking of my toddler in the other room. Again relying on my futile cleverness I thought that maybe there was a way that this could be easily managed without me having to get out of bed. God hears our prayers, right? Well this one was not rhetorical, but it was lazy. “God, please give him peace.” I waited, hoping against all hope for the crying to subside. Over the increasing din in the adjacent room I sensed an answer to my prayer that my child might be given the gift of fairy-dust peace, “I gave him you.” The cuddling that ensued was greatly appreciated by my son who fell quickly back to sleep.
I thank God that he is teaching me how to not ignore him by not ignoring the needs of those who he has graciously allowed to be placed in my life.
In what areas of your life have you been nixing the ignorance?
11 comments:
Ugh! Great, now he has my attention! The areas for me are my kids and probably my unsaved parents.
Carin.
Great transparency. And yeah, you're right on. Dealing with people is the hardest thing about showing Him in the earth - and also the most rewarding. And laziness all too often steals the challenges and opportunities He puts in front of us.
For me - my huge challenge right now (and always) is relating correctly to my husband and keeping the house clean. Cleaning is ... Everest to me. And my husband is just a straight up mystery. :) But not ignoring the little that I do know? Yeah, that's a challenge.
This was so good Angie- and so timely for me... thank you for sharing vulnerably from your heart... it's a poignant word for me today.
PS... I can't figure out how to turn on the feed for comments on my blog- but when Alece is here starting Sunday... I bet she can help ;)
This is SO good, Angie. Thanks for sharing your heart and being real. Wow...really good thoughts.
Carin - family is such a tender spot isn't it? I pray that you are able to see them through God's eyes. Blessings!
Annie - I hear you on the monstrosity that is called cleaning... Everest is a good way to describe it - especially in my house where we have a whole mountain range of various peaks: the laundry, the dishes, the toys, the dust balls. God bless you in your trek. :-)
Amy - wow, I am humbled that you would be so blessed by this essay. I am glad that you let me know, too. I am praying for good rest for you.
Danielle - you are a good friend to me. :-)
thanks for your brutal honesty here...
"i gave him YOU"---i think that's probably something that God's whispering to me about people in my life that i've been known to "complain" about...
Alece - Thanks for you comment. That line is so amazing. I mean when you think about it God could have easily just indicated something like, "Get up and take care of your baby." Instead this phrase has so much more truth to it. It reminds my of when Peter said, "If it is you Lord, bid me come." And Jesus in all his sovereignty did not say, "Ok, when you step out of the boat its going to be a little shaky so hold on until you get your footing, then..." Rather he gave an instruction that is still applicable in our lives today, "Come." I was challenged to look at other areas of my life (not just parenting) when I sat down to meditate on this phrase: I gave him you.
Hope you are well!
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