I have come to an interesting stage in my life. I turned 61 last September and I have often reminisced and thought about my life and the different stages that I, and really almost everyone, goes through. It seems to me that there are a series of life stages that we all tend to go through, more or less. Of course, this is “generally” speaking and I do realize that there are many who do not follow these stages exactly, but please bear with me.
Of course, everyone is “born” and we have the baby, toddler stages. Then we have our preschool, elementary, middle and high school years, all of which are our primary developmental stages. Then we transition into discovering who we are as a person in those years of teenage invincibility, hormones and pushing boundaries. Truly miraculous that any of us survive! Then after high school graduation, we head off to college and/or are on the quest of trying to find our mate, the one we want to spend the rest of our
lives with. And along those same time lines we are discovering our passions and our careers, diving into love, life and adulthood. Then if we do find our soulmate, we get married, find a home and start having children. And because all of our friends are on the same page, we go to LOTS of weddings and baby showers for our friends and house warming parties (again, this is very "general" and I understand that many, like me, do not go through or experience all of these stages. But hang in there, I do have a point to this, lol!). Then, moving
along in life, you have the seasons of your own children growing up, dealing with teenagers, sports activities, them having issues with love, drugs, sex, pregnancies... or whatever life is handing out to them. Then maybe our marriages start falling apart, and we become disillusioned with our spouse, our life, our careers, and even God. And then maybe we start coping with these difficulties in life with all manner of substances; food, alcohol, sex, drugs, work, working out, shopping, kids and even church and ministry can be something we turn to to medicate our pain and disappointment. Then comes the season of divorce, retirement, parents’ illnesses and death, our own physical
decline and illnesses. Now we are attending retirement parties, funerals for our friends, parents and family members, and maybe even our own spouse or children. And then finally, we come to our own ending, when we die.
we find ourselves wondering "WHY?" What on earth is the point of all of this? Over and over again, the cycle continues, year after year, decade after decade. We are born, live life and then we die… generation after generation. Can I just insert here a “WTF mate”?? What is the point of all of this??
Is God Enough?
I decided to get into another Bible study at the beginning of this year, 2022, so I did a little search and found a book by an author I really like, Cynthia Heald, called "Becoming a Woman Whose God is Enough". That title smacked me right in the face!! And my heart said "YES!" That is truly what I want! I want to become a woman whose GOD IS ENOUGH! So, I did a little more searching and found that this study also had video teaching to go along with it. I was so excited that I decided to watch the first video before I even purchased the book. As I was watching the video, I was reminded yet again of God's heart for ME. Sometimes I get so caught up in my own life cycles and chores that I forget this incredibly impactful truth! God is all about ME and He is passionate about His relationship with ME!
New Testament. The Old basically showed the Israelites that, no matter how hard they tried, they could not keep or fulfill the law, and the New Testament showed God's solution for that, sending Jesus to be the final sacrificial Lamb, fulfilling the law completely and paying the price for all of our sins, once and for all, so that our relationship to God can be restored. He accomplished for us what WE couldn't possibly do for ourselves. Ever. (Yes, this is super simplified!! But says what I need at this point for this blog)
Testament"?! Starting off with such joy and anticipation of what life could bring to us, thinking that “we” could actually accomplish our own happiness, but then walking away with such disappointment in ourselves, our spouse, our children, of life in general and even in our god (small “g” because we tend make everything or everyone else a “god”, looking to those things to give us what only God can). Maybe this life's journey is all about discovering the Truth for ourselves, once we’ve tried everything else, and nothing seems to work, we start to see what is really of value and what is meaningless. Discovering what is important and what is NOT important in life! This makes me think of the book of Ecclesiastes by Solomon.
"Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Ecclesiastes 1:2-3
If anyone could have found happiness in the "things" of life it would have been Solomon! He had ALL the money/wealth, things, women, power and even wisdom given to him by God, but he walked away with a greater understanding of how everything but God was meaningless! He spends the whole book of Ecclesiastes documenting all that he did and had in life and this was his conclusion: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Ecc 12:13 Basically, there is NOTHING in life more important than God and our relationship to HIM. If we look to anything else to fulfill us, we will walk away empty, disappointed, disillusioned and unfulfilled. (Side note: I find it amusing that, even though Solomon wrote all of this out for us thousands of years ago, we still have to discover it for ourselves, DOH! lol!)
So, can we find happiness in life? Absolutely! I certainly don’t want to paint such a miserable and depressing picture that we don’t want to go on living anymore! But I have come believe, at this point in my journey, that we MUST NOT get things out of order. God first and then life has meaning and flavor. If we try to put our life, wants and desires first, it will end up flat and unfulfilling. One of my life verses is “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33. Again, the key is to Seek HIM FIRST!
I like what Oswald said in his January 18th devotional:
Maybe we will find fulfillment in serving
and loving God and others first instead of ourselves?? The world looks to serve
themselves but Jesus always taught, and was our primary example, that to be the
greatest of all, you must be the servant of all! “Sitting down, Jesus
called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the
very last, and the servant of all."
Mark 9:35 But… that doesn’t sell very well, does it, lol! We all want to be
served, to be first, to be right, to have the biggest, the best and… well, I
think you get the picture. But, how is that working out for us?
Here are a couple more really good Oswald
statements:
January 20th:
“Jealously guard your relationship with God. Jesus prayed "that
they may be one just as We are one" --- with nothing in between
(Joh_17:22). Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don't pretend
to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other than
God Himself? If you are depending on something else as your source of
freshness and strength, you will not realize when His power is gone.”
Wow!! Have we missed completely that God
is no longer in our lives because we are depending on everything else to meet
our needs?? That is something to think about!
And another favorite Oswaldism is, “Are you looking for
God’s blessings, or for GOD who has the blessings?” Another amazing mind tweak!! Am I looking for
His blessing or for HIM!!??
Is God Enough??
In my journey to know God I have come to
understand that God is SO much simpler than we think He is. I can pretty
confidently boil it down to the “heart” of the matter, which is simply, where
is my heart? Where is your heart? Do we have a heart for God like David? “After removing Saul, he
made David their king. He testified concerning him: 'I have found David son
of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” Acts 13:22. Or do we “say” we want to know
God but really only want Him to give us His blessings… to “give us the desires
of our hearts”? “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your
heart” Psalm 37:4. If we look closely at that scripture,
isn’t it actually saying, if we “delight ourselves in the Lord” then wouldn’t HE
be the desire of our heart?? If so, then God would be SO thrilled to give me
the desires of my heart, which would be MORE OF HIM!! But God knows my heart
better than I do!! He KNOWS when I am just giving him “lip service” and when I
am sincere. I often say to people that I believe God will answer the prayers of
our hearts rather than the prayers of our lips!
There are a lot of “good things” out
there but ultimately, He is the BEST. Another favorite Oswaldism goes something
like this; “The enemy of our faith is not sin, but the good that’s not the best”! It is all those silly shiny “good” things
that distract us from what is “best” which is being with Him. You know, all
those things we “do” for God that are, sincerely good things to do, but instead
of drawing us closer to God, they distract us from our relationship with Him.
Mary and Martha are good examples; Mary sat at the feet of Jesus while Martha
was completely stressed out trying to prepare a meal and serve Jesus, and she
was sincerely trying to do a good thing, right?! But Jesus said that Mary had
chosen what was best and He wouldn’t take it away from her! “Martha, Martha, the Lord
answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing
is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from
her." Luke 10:41-42 It has taken me a very
long time but God is transforming me from a Martha to a Mary. I have been a “doer”
for so long that it felt wrong to just SIT there and spend time at the feet of my
Lord. But now I am enjoying the benefits of sitting at His feet and feeling
such FREEDOM from stress that I am craving HIM more and experiencing more peace
and less guilt about just sitting, lol! This is of course more metaphorical
than actual; the expression is being acted out more in my heart than in the
physical.
The End Game
Jesus teaches parables in the gospels about
finding a priceless pearl and treasures in a field and selling everything to
get it… What if that treasure was God himself!?
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.
When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all
he had and bought that field.” Matthew
13:44
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for
fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold
everything he had and bought it.” Matthew
13:45-46
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:34
I honestly believe He wants
to be our treasure, something of such value to us that we sell all that we have,
and forsake all that this world has to offer, to get it!!! Do you see Him as
that valuable to you?
I mentioned earlier one of my life
verses, these are the other four:
“Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the
first and greatest commandment.” Matthew
22:37-38
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear
fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless
you remain in me.” John 15:4
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our
faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your
own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your
paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
January 27th Oswald:
"I say to you, do not worry about your life…" Our Lord says to
be careful only about one thing --- our relationship to Him. But our common-sense
shouts loudly and says, "That is absurd, I must consider how I am going to
live, and I must consider what I am going to eat and drink." Jesus says
you must not. Beware of allowing yourself to think that He says this while
not understanding your circumstances. Jesus Christ knows our circumstances
better than we do, and He says we must not think about these things to the
point where they become the primary concern of our life. Whenever there are
competing concerns in your life, be sure you always put your relationship to
God first…”
The End Game? I believe it is to KNOW God and
fall in LOVE with Him more and more each day. To be as passionate about our
relationship with him as He is with us. For Him to be our treasure that we sell
everything we have to buy. And then I truly believe that God WILL be enough!
“… I found the one my heart loves. I held him and
would not let him go…” Song of Songs 3:4
