(excerpt from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
My (Melanie) Opi (German grandfather) always delighted in the fun tradition of an Easter egg hunt for all ages. For him, Easter was the second most festive holiday of the year. It was celebrated like a mini-Christmas. “Eggs” were hidden for all in attendance. The designated “Easter Bunny” would hide the treasures throughout the yard. Of course chocolates and other treats could be discovered, but gifts were also strategically located. Some were addressed to a specific recipient; others were fair game to all. If you found an egg with a name other than your own on it, you would quietly leave it in its place for the designated owner.
When no more loot could be found, eager hunters would sit to evaluate their bounty. The Easter Bunny would invariably oversee and notice that some prizes had not been claimed. Others would comment, “I saw an egg for you still sitting somewhere.” Enthusiastically, the hunter would begin his search again. If the prize still remained undiscovered, an offer of assistance was made.
The assistance was most often orchestrated by my Opi, who was a choir director. The hunter was instructed to begin heading in one direction or another. The singing from the “choir” would become louder or softer depending on whether the hunter was getting closer or farther from the destination. All were elated when the trophy was acquired.
This story illustrates the idea that God does not hide His will from us because He does not want us to know His plans. He desires for us to be active participants in relating to Him. “It is God’s privilege to conceal things / and the king’s privilege to discover them” (Prov. 25:2 NLT). There is great reward in pursuing a goal and attaining what the giver intended for us to have. We must simply look in the right place.
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." (James 1:5–8 NIV)
Friday, April 22, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Christ Is Relevant to Eating Disorders
relevant: having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand; affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion. (Webster's dictionary)
Shirley was empowered in her job working as a human resource officer for a prominent company. Her husband was a local celebrity. She enjoyed all the food she wanted. Life was good. Until her husband left her for another woman, and she lost her job as a result of medical complications that were exacerbated by her obesity. This is how she tells her story.
I used to live my life waiting to find a way to beat the system. (God was the system.) I didn’t ask for much. I just wanted to be able to sin and get away with it. But sin has a way of eating at your heart with a silence so deadly you sometimes don’t even know it’s happening until you are almost consumed.
That was me. After hundreds of attempts to lose weight and control my life, I thought I would get my weight problem under control and come to feel better about myself and then everything would be peachy-keen.
God had other plans. He planned to rescue me from Egypt. That all sounded well and good, but I had no idea that between the good old hometown of Egypt and the wonderful Promised Land that I longed for, was a scorching hot, almost unbearable desert.
I remained there for a long, long time with nothing in sight but more desert. God took that opportunity to hold a mirror before me so I could come to see the depth of my sinfulness for the very first time. You see, I thought it was just a weight problem, and maybe I just needed some self-esteem. But God began to reveal to my heart that my problem was that I was living in complete deception and had been my whole life.
I guess we all spend some time on the edge. I’ve sort of lived my life there. I kept thinking that I could always change later. But God brought me to the end of myself and I was completely sickened by what I saw. It was the first time in my life that I could not find anything in that mirror but a reflection of filthy rags. What a horrifying moment that was for my self-centered heart. And what a liberating moment it was as God accepted me right where I was, asking nothing but that I put my complete trust in Him.
Somewhere along the line I started to long for Jesus more than I was afraid of losing control of the food. He had proven Himself faithful, and I began to trust this God that I used to fear with all my heart. At the point I finally gave it up and left it at the foot of the cross, I couldn’t find any words to say except, “God, save me from me.” I hold on to the hope found in Christ Jesus alone. May God continue to save me from myself.
Food occupied the God-place of Shirley's heart. But she found Jesus relevant when she chose an intimate relationship with Christ that satisfied the hunger of her soul. Trusting the love of God began to right all that was wrong and to heal all that was wounded as God, in His grace, moved her from perpetual starvation to finding fulfillment in His fullness.
Shirley was empowered in her job working as a human resource officer for a prominent company. Her husband was a local celebrity. She enjoyed all the food she wanted. Life was good. Until her husband left her for another woman, and she lost her job as a result of medical complications that were exacerbated by her obesity. This is how she tells her story.
I used to live my life waiting to find a way to beat the system. (God was the system.) I didn’t ask for much. I just wanted to be able to sin and get away with it. But sin has a way of eating at your heart with a silence so deadly you sometimes don’t even know it’s happening until you are almost consumed.
That was me. After hundreds of attempts to lose weight and control my life, I thought I would get my weight problem under control and come to feel better about myself and then everything would be peachy-keen.
God had other plans. He planned to rescue me from Egypt. That all sounded well and good, but I had no idea that between the good old hometown of Egypt and the wonderful Promised Land that I longed for, was a scorching hot, almost unbearable desert.
I remained there for a long, long time with nothing in sight but more desert. God took that opportunity to hold a mirror before me so I could come to see the depth of my sinfulness for the very first time. You see, I thought it was just a weight problem, and maybe I just needed some self-esteem. But God began to reveal to my heart that my problem was that I was living in complete deception and had been my whole life.
I guess we all spend some time on the edge. I’ve sort of lived my life there. I kept thinking that I could always change later. But God brought me to the end of myself and I was completely sickened by what I saw. It was the first time in my life that I could not find anything in that mirror but a reflection of filthy rags. What a horrifying moment that was for my self-centered heart. And what a liberating moment it was as God accepted me right where I was, asking nothing but that I put my complete trust in Him.
Somewhere along the line I started to long for Jesus more than I was afraid of losing control of the food. He had proven Himself faithful, and I began to trust this God that I used to fear with all my heart. At the point I finally gave it up and left it at the foot of the cross, I couldn’t find any words to say except, “God, save me from me.” I hold on to the hope found in Christ Jesus alone. May God continue to save me from myself.
Food occupied the God-place of Shirley's heart. But she found Jesus relevant when she chose an intimate relationship with Christ that satisfied the hunger of her soul. Trusting the love of God began to right all that was wrong and to heal all that was wounded as God, in His grace, moved her from perpetual starvation to finding fulfillment in His fullness.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Christ Is Relevant
(excerpt from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
We took over a year to process Desperate Dependency with our small group of forty singles. Together we waded through deep waters of much hurt and pain as we struggled to find Christ relevant to daily living and a myriad of crises. As we looked through the magnifying glass of each other’s lives, we continuously asked, How is God relevant to this area of life? How will God receive glory from this issue? How will He be central instead of me being central?
The constant struggle is to die to our desires so that we might glorify God instead. Joel acknowledged the constant dilemma: “I’ve got life and all my issues, and I magnify that.” But the ultimate happiness in our lives is for God to get glory through our lives.
Do we trust God to redeem us from the evil that has touched our lives? Kauri noted that desperate dependency is not just about lying on the floor helpless in the fetal position, saying, “I can’t do this.” But going past that, saying, “No matter how difficult this is I want God to be glorified through my life.” “Yay, God!” God can be glorified no matter what! If one is born blind, God can be glorified (John 9:1–3). Even if we have chosen sin, God can still be glorified in our lives. We must be motivated to see how Christ is relevant to every situation. “Okay, Jesus, how are You going to make a difference here?”
We also challenged each other to not forget Christ is relevant in the joys and successes. If we do not see Christ as relevant in the good times, we will become prideful and self-sufficient and move back toward independence. Dependency is the only option for authentic Christian living.
No one in our small group, including Kirk and me, would say we have successfully arrived at the destination of desperate dependency and finding Christ relevant to every area of life. But we have grown in our awareness of His working in our lives to bring us to godliness, and we are striving to allow Christ’s redemptive process to function in our lives instead of self’s redemptive process.
"I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
"Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me." (Phil. 1:20–26 NLT)
“So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do” (2 Thess. 1:11 NLT).
We took over a year to process Desperate Dependency with our small group of forty singles. Together we waded through deep waters of much hurt and pain as we struggled to find Christ relevant to daily living and a myriad of crises. As we looked through the magnifying glass of each other’s lives, we continuously asked, How is God relevant to this area of life? How will God receive glory from this issue? How will He be central instead of me being central?
The constant struggle is to die to our desires so that we might glorify God instead. Joel acknowledged the constant dilemma: “I’ve got life and all my issues, and I magnify that.” But the ultimate happiness in our lives is for God to get glory through our lives.
Do we trust God to redeem us from the evil that has touched our lives? Kauri noted that desperate dependency is not just about lying on the floor helpless in the fetal position, saying, “I can’t do this.” But going past that, saying, “No matter how difficult this is I want God to be glorified through my life.” “Yay, God!” God can be glorified no matter what! If one is born blind, God can be glorified (John 9:1–3). Even if we have chosen sin, God can still be glorified in our lives. We must be motivated to see how Christ is relevant to every situation. “Okay, Jesus, how are You going to make a difference here?”
We also challenged each other to not forget Christ is relevant in the joys and successes. If we do not see Christ as relevant in the good times, we will become prideful and self-sufficient and move back toward independence. Dependency is the only option for authentic Christian living.
No one in our small group, including Kirk and me, would say we have successfully arrived at the destination of desperate dependency and finding Christ relevant to every area of life. But we have grown in our awareness of His working in our lives to bring us to godliness, and we are striving to allow Christ’s redemptive process to function in our lives instead of self’s redemptive process.
"I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
"Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me." (Phil. 1:20–26 NLT)
“So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do” (2 Thess. 1:11 NLT).
Monday, April 4, 2011
A Job for Job
(excerpt from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
God assigned Job the job of demonstrating desperate dependency amid plenty and loss. Our lives are driven by the desire to be successful, and many viewed the life of Job as being a grand success with his ten children, leadership positions, and vast possessions. But when Job was stripped of the people, positions, and possessions, his friends and neighbors would have been hard pressed to label him as a success while he sat on the ash heap mourning his unspeakable losses. However, God does not define success in the same manner we perceive it. “The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7 NLT). God’s definition of success is submitting faithfully to His plan for the purpose of glorifying God. In the books of Kings and Chronicles, each king is evaluated on the basis of his commitment to God. Either “he did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight,” or “he did what was evil in the LORD’s sight.” Job’s success stemmed from his commitment and willingness to unreservedly submit to the Lord.
As we are introduced to Job, he is characterized as a man who exhibited a relevant relationship with God. Submitting faithfully to God, he lived consumed by his connection to God. Every facet of his existence and the concerns of his heart evidenced a dependency on Elohim and an authentic desire to please Him. The community recognized Job as a man who was blameless, full of integrity, and one who feared God and stayed away from evil.
God was intricately involved in Job’s life because Job invited God into his life. Although we may not readily embrace this truth, when we invite Christ into our lives it is for better or for worse. The invitation for God to become part of our lives grants Him permission to transform our sinfulness into godliness through whatever means He deems necessary. God’s divine enabling shaped Job’s identity, molding a lifestyle that had a profound influence upon his society and moved people to take note of God.
The moral character of God held Job constant even though his mortal condition was completely in chaos. Overwhelmed by his limitations, he could only find comfort in total self-abandonment through trust. Delimited by his dependency, Job had no other choice but to interpret the nature of his anguish through the moral attributes of a holy, righteous, just, and good God who is full of truth. All of Job’s philosophical ponderings, including his frustration and confusion, were delineated by his dependence on God, making him more desperate than ever. In Job’s agony his dilemma was to understand life’s new normal consistently with the truth about God.
More than just an experience with suffering, God was perfecting Job’s relationship with Him. In the kiln of trials we must yield as God conforms us into the image of His Son. It is in the dark places that the metal of a relationship is hammered into the form God desires it to be. Crisis ignited the flame, which provided the necessary heat to forge Job into deeper desperate dependency on God. Suffering draped the backdrop and created the context and the impetus through which purification could occur. God views our limitations not in terms of how much we can withstand, but in terms of what will it take to bring His children closer to Him and produce simultaneously His likeness within us.
After a fresh encounter with God and His sovereignty, Job could see with new eyes the awesomeness of God. God is relevant to every area of life because He alone “causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Rom. 8:28 NLT). Instead of striving to understand why, we should endeavor to know who God is. As we grow in our knowledge of Him we can move more easily past the barriers that obstruct a trusting relationship.
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 NLT).
Perhaps we are pawns on the chessboard of the Master, but we can choose to be participants and be confident that He has placed us as part of His strategic plan. Our sovereign God designates each person’s position—some to be kings, some to be queens, others to be bishops, knights, and pawns. But we are all mere servants of our great God and stewards of the ministry of Jesus Christ. In God’s government, even kings are pawns. He sets them up and takes them down to accomplish His purposes. God can do whatever He wants and, yes, we are supposed to be okay with that.
Are you willing to live for the glory of God? Many will equate this question with achieving excellence. Yes, they proclaim, I will be successful for His glory. However, God’s definition of success is submitting faithfully to God’s plan for the purpose of glorifying Him. God created and designed you so He could be in a relationship with you. Everything that happens is for the purpose of leading you into a deeper relationship with Him. Are you ready for that kind of adventure?
God assigned Job the job of demonstrating desperate dependency amid plenty and loss. Our lives are driven by the desire to be successful, and many viewed the life of Job as being a grand success with his ten children, leadership positions, and vast possessions. But when Job was stripped of the people, positions, and possessions, his friends and neighbors would have been hard pressed to label him as a success while he sat on the ash heap mourning his unspeakable losses. However, God does not define success in the same manner we perceive it. “The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7 NLT). God’s definition of success is submitting faithfully to His plan for the purpose of glorifying God. In the books of Kings and Chronicles, each king is evaluated on the basis of his commitment to God. Either “he did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight,” or “he did what was evil in the LORD’s sight.” Job’s success stemmed from his commitment and willingness to unreservedly submit to the Lord.
As we are introduced to Job, he is characterized as a man who exhibited a relevant relationship with God. Submitting faithfully to God, he lived consumed by his connection to God. Every facet of his existence and the concerns of his heart evidenced a dependency on Elohim and an authentic desire to please Him. The community recognized Job as a man who was blameless, full of integrity, and one who feared God and stayed away from evil.
God was intricately involved in Job’s life because Job invited God into his life. Although we may not readily embrace this truth, when we invite Christ into our lives it is for better or for worse. The invitation for God to become part of our lives grants Him permission to transform our sinfulness into godliness through whatever means He deems necessary. God’s divine enabling shaped Job’s identity, molding a lifestyle that had a profound influence upon his society and moved people to take note of God.
The moral character of God held Job constant even though his mortal condition was completely in chaos. Overwhelmed by his limitations, he could only find comfort in total self-abandonment through trust. Delimited by his dependency, Job had no other choice but to interpret the nature of his anguish through the moral attributes of a holy, righteous, just, and good God who is full of truth. All of Job’s philosophical ponderings, including his frustration and confusion, were delineated by his dependence on God, making him more desperate than ever. In Job’s agony his dilemma was to understand life’s new normal consistently with the truth about God.
More than just an experience with suffering, God was perfecting Job’s relationship with Him. In the kiln of trials we must yield as God conforms us into the image of His Son. It is in the dark places that the metal of a relationship is hammered into the form God desires it to be. Crisis ignited the flame, which provided the necessary heat to forge Job into deeper desperate dependency on God. Suffering draped the backdrop and created the context and the impetus through which purification could occur. God views our limitations not in terms of how much we can withstand, but in terms of what will it take to bring His children closer to Him and produce simultaneously His likeness within us.
After a fresh encounter with God and His sovereignty, Job could see with new eyes the awesomeness of God. God is relevant to every area of life because He alone “causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Rom. 8:28 NLT). Instead of striving to understand why, we should endeavor to know who God is. As we grow in our knowledge of Him we can move more easily past the barriers that obstruct a trusting relationship.
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 NLT).
Perhaps we are pawns on the chessboard of the Master, but we can choose to be participants and be confident that He has placed us as part of His strategic plan. Our sovereign God designates each person’s position—some to be kings, some to be queens, others to be bishops, knights, and pawns. But we are all mere servants of our great God and stewards of the ministry of Jesus Christ. In God’s government, even kings are pawns. He sets them up and takes them down to accomplish His purposes. God can do whatever He wants and, yes, we are supposed to be okay with that.
Are you willing to live for the glory of God? Many will equate this question with achieving excellence. Yes, they proclaim, I will be successful for His glory. However, God’s definition of success is submitting faithfully to God’s plan for the purpose of glorifying Him. God created and designed you so He could be in a relationship with you. Everything that happens is for the purpose of leading you into a deeper relationship with Him. Are you ready for that kind of adventure?
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