Pretty Box

"I've been holding on so tight,

Look at these knuckles they've gone white, 

From fighting for who I want to be,

I'm just trying to find security, 

But you say let it go, you say let it go,

You say life is waiting for the ones who lose control,

You say you will be everything I need, 

You say if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul, 

You say let it go" -- Tenth Avenue North

I am not sure about you, but I struggle with control. Control makes things predictable...makes everything fit into nice neat little boxes. Whip out the pretty damask wrapping paper and a shiny white ribbon. Don't forget the hand lettered tags (because you are awesome like that)...

Good little children box...check
Savings for retirement, college, vacations box...check
Well maintained car box...check
Perfect marriage box...check
Clean house box...check
Home-schooled children box...check
Adequate church attendance and participation box...check
Daily Bible reading box...check

These are a nice little grouping of boxes. And they look so pretty for others to see. They will see a well ordered life... picture perfect example of what a Christian should be, right?  I mean this is what control is about, right?....making sure our lives look perfect to those around us. We will win the world for Christ through our appealing lifestyle.

But what if God asks you to let it go.  Open the boxes!  Because the life He chose for us isn't lived in a perfectly trimmed out box. Maybe it will be messy...maybe it will be hard...maybe it will involve sacrifice.

"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel's will save it." --Mark 8:35

I am slowly beginning to understand the enormity of loss we have when we control our outcome; when we control what, when, where, and how things are going to happen for us and the ones we love. We seem to get this idea that God is only going to ask us to do things that are within our means.  If something takes a little more than we are comfortable with, then it couldn't possibly be God's will for us. He wouldn't ask us to give more, do more, love more, hurt more.

"He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he can not lose." --Jim Elliot

God has a beautiful story for us...and it is just right outside of our well-ordered life.  It is a story of loosing ourselves and letting go of our grip on others.  Reaching outside of our comfortable, pretty-box world and seeing the world for what it truly is. He never meant for us to sit back and enjoy comfort, safety, and security.

"If we wait until we're sure we'll do a thing purely and perfectly, we'll never accomplish the will of God on earth" -- Elisabeth Elliot

I know that at some point in your life God has or will ask you to do something beyond your control.  He is going to ask you to give more than you can give, to lose more than you want to lose,  to go where you don't want to go. He will want us to forsake that comfy, cozy feeling we have when we have everything figured out. And when He does, what will our knuckles look like?




 

Being Irrational

Rationalize - to make something irrational appear rational or reasonable; to justify; to provide a explanation of

Do you do this?  I know I do. I live pretty remote: we attend a church an hour away from our home; we shop and hour away from home; most friends and family live a good distance away from us. Suffice it to say, I spend a lot of time running around in my own head. (It's very tiring....so I nap a lot)   I told my husband the other day that since my mother passed away (yes, she called almost every day to talk about whatever), I have noticed that I have a lot of whole conversations in my head.  I even argue with myself.  I will spend an entire drive to pick up my kids from school, arguing over something that is bothering me. I will state my case and then think of all the reasons why or why not I should feel the way I do about said subject.  

And I have noticed during times I sit and mull over things with myself that I do a major amount of rationalizing.  I want what I am doing to make sense. I don't want to make a false move,  So I sit and work over in my head whether this or that is the right thing to do. 

 As a Christian this can be good in a way...you know, in a "think before you act or speak" sort of way. But I have also noticed this can be harmful too. Because no matter how much I reason in my head...I am still human and the flesh is very good at winning the "does this even sound rational" arguments.  Not everything in the Christian life is supposed to be reasonable....not everything is supposed to be justified. Christ calls us to do pretty irrational things (humanly speaking).  I am sure Jim Eliot could have rationalized his way out of going to a cannibalistic tribe...or Corrie Ten Boom from hiding Jews...or Pastor Saeed Abedini from preaching in Iran. 

Lets just say you are throwing something around in your head...your rationalizing...it could be anything really...  

I can guarantee that you have said one of these:

People are going to question my motives. 

My friends are going to disagree with me. What if I lose my friends because of this?

This is going to really chip into my savings. It doesn't make sense to not have a financial safety net.

What about my children?  How will this effect their future?

I can't do this.  I am really not qualified. --there are people out there who would be way better than me at this.

I'm just not comfortable stepping out on a limb like this.

I am not a leader.

I can't just leave a good job.

But my family and friends are here.

There are many more...trust me I have tried them all on for size. But I can tell you this... a rational life is not what Christ intended for His children. Paul certainly seemed to have had this figured out.  He knew that a rational life was not a Christian life...it was the opposite really. He was not writing just from his own personal opinion either...His words were Christ's words.  His words often sound a bit irrational...

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed every day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison, as we look not on things which are seen but t things which are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" 2 Cor. 4:16-18

"But he said to me,"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness," Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content in weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor. 12:9-10

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." Gal 2: 20

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ....do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only on his own interests, but also on the interests of others." Phil. 1: 27-2:4

 

Don't trade a rational life for an eternal one.