This day has been weird.
Like you know those days where you can’t place your finger on what mood you’re in, or what you want to do, or need to get done? One of those. Where you feel extremely productive, and at the same time like a complete failure. Where you are so proud of yourself for how far you’ve come and how much it took you to get there, but so down and out because you have no idea where to go next.
I’ve been harping on a close friend these past few weeks about learning to trust our Savior in hard times. His sense of humor never fails to amaze me. Ha. Good one, God.
We as humans like to say we completely trust God’s plan for our lives. We also like to tell people what to do and not take our own advice… aaand that’s where I am. The Lord knows full well I can talk and give advice for hours and not take my own medicine. Hence said humor. Now where’s my teaspoon?
This past Sunday was Orphan Sunday at church… which, hello, my fav. All I know is I shouldn’t have worn mascara. The talk about adoption, orphans, and people in need didn’t last very long before the main sermon, and quite frankly that frustrated me. I wanted to hear more, I wanted more people to hear. And not until very recently… like 5 minutes ago, maybe 4, did I make the connection. Sometimes the Lord let’s you figure it out on your own… and I happen to be one of His slower cases.
For the next 45 minutes we studied Luke 9:23, which says this, “Then He (being Jesus) said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.'” In another version of the Bible “follow Me” translates to “come after Me” – which so beautifully translates to romantic pursuit. We always forget that the Lord wants to be our forever Love. We search for so much love in other places, but it doesn’t get us anywhere. Pastor Brad said, ” A Romantic Love compels us to break barriers to get to the ones we love.” I love that. He said that breaking barriers is permission to get carried away. Have you ever met anyone so in love with something or someone that they seem a little bit crazy? My obsession with my dog, for example. That’s what that means.
Maybe you don’t see the connection yet… and maybe it will be different for everyone. I was too busy being upset that we didn’t talk more about the poor, to notice that all along- we did. Well, we talked about loving the Lord with such intensity that it might compel you to do whatever you need to do to be His follower. In my case, take care of those who have less than me.
Following Jesus isn’t as scary as people think it is. To some people it’s a no-brainer. And to others it seems like a lifelong a struggle to believe. The awesome thing is, there is no risk of rejection in Christ. Maybe breaking barriers means doing the things we’ve been too afraid to do, but know will lead us to the gift God has waiting. When we’ve been captivated by the love of the Lord, nothing can stop us from doing what we need to do, ya know? I hope you’ve gotten to know how cool that feels.
I don’t always have to know what I am going to do next, I just need to know who I’m going to do it for. It’s okay not to know. That’s part of that whole trust thing my Father is so hilariously teaching me.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite verses, which also happens to fit perfectly.
It’s from James, which is also my favorite book. Yay, so practical! (Wait, me, practical?)
James 1:27 “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
Don’t stop pursuing Him, no matter what it takes. Cause I mean, He has never stopped pursuing us…
We do crazy things when we’re in Love.