The sun was setting on a perfect day and we had the pleasure of celebrating with amazing friends and family! We were especially honored that both of our parents could be here to see the dream become a reality!
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What are you setting your eyes on?
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:2 NASB
As a newbie church planter, I have been blown away at the shear number of marriages in our community that are at a tipping point or worse… already past the point of what seems like no return.
To counter that… As a ministry veteran, I have dealt with families in crisis. I have seen teens at their breaking point, not seeing a way out. I have spent sleepless nights comforting grieving mothers and fathers through loss and tragedy. I have counseled young adults in and out of relationships and through big life decisions.
However, none of those experiences prepared me for the all out onslaught on marriage that I am experiencing first hand. Which lead me to ask the question in my prayer time… “What are we setting our eyes on?”
Let’s be honest our lives, marriages, jobs, relationships are hard and at best complex. There are very few times in life when it all goes perfect. There is always more that could be done… another check to be made on our unending “To Do Lists”. However, the questions remains, what are we setting our eyes on?
Culture tells us to quit, when it’s too hard or doesn’t feel good anymore. Popular opinion is that we shouldn’t have to work hard for anything. I don’t understand how we’ve given in to this way of thinking so easily. “Easy come, easy go”, might be an admirable quality when it comes to stuff, but not our relationships. Things that are worth having, are worth working hard for.
We have to set our eyes on things above… not on earthly things. When people let you down, pray for them, don’t write them off. If we keep our fixed on Jesus… we won’t get bogged down with the minutia of life. It’s only when we take our eyes off Jesus and start focusing on our problems that we’ll sink.
God does that stuff!
A couple of days ago, my daughter taught me another great spiritual lesson, when she announced… “God does that Stuff!” We were sitting around the kitchen counter, she was drawing and I was making a list of my daily chores. She turned and looked at a toy of hers lying on the ground and asked if I had put any batteries in it for her. I told her that I had not had a chance yet.
Her response caught me off guard… she said “I guess God did it”. “Why do you think that” I said. “Well He knows how much I like to play with it, and it wasn’t working, so I guess He fixed it… He does that stuff.”
My mature, logical mind wanted to respond with… “No, the batteries built a slight charge overnight, because you turned off the toy”; but my heart said “No, don’t diminish her faith!” My heart won out, and then began convicting me.
Why don’t we believe that “God does that stuff”? Why do we always try to rationalize and explain away the good things in our lives? When bad things happen, we are quick to blame God, or at the very least we feel like he forsook us in the moment. We rarely give Him thanks in the midst of trials, yet He tells us in His word that “He is working all things for our good”.
“ALL Things”. I don’t know about you but I don’t like “ALL Things”. I can’t even say that I like most things :). Nevertheless, God uses the ins and outs of our everyday to teach us how to be more like Him. He allows us to endure trials to help stretch us and deepen our resolve. It is in these seasons of testing that God prepares our hearts to be instruments of His Grace to others. Without the tests, we wouldn’t have a place to stand, from which we can help people up. In other words… If you’ve never had a problem, you can never really understand what others are going through. You wouldn’t have a basis for encouragement or hope for the hurting, if you had not endured a dark night.
If we really believed that “God does this stuff”… then we would live differently. I believe God is involved in the intricate details of our lives. That doesn’t mean we should use spirituality as an excuse for being indecisive or non-productive, ie. always waiting on God to move. In fact, I think God is most honored when we trust Him enough to pray about our decisions but then act on them even when we are unsure of the outcomes. I’ll say it again… If we really believe that “God does this stuff”, we’ll live differently.
So what about you… Are you truly trusting and believing that God is working all things for your good, and that as His child it’s His greatest desire to bless you and give you good things? Are you thanking Him and praising Him for the trials as well as the triumphs? Are you giving God credit for the little things in your life or are you like me… guilty of taking them for-granted?
As I look around my life, I really excited to be able to say “God does this stuff!” It’s not about me or my abilities, it’s about Him and His goodness. Simply put it’s all about Grace!
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