Have you ever been walking through life minding your own business and all of sudden God shows you something that "jacks you up?" I must admit it's happened to me on a couple of occasions and I guess I should be use to it by now, but somehow I'm not. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been in that place. A place where God reveals something to me about how I think that is so contrary to how He thinks that it leaves me overwhelmed by the majesty of who He is.
It started with these words, "I am taking you out of the box and when I'm finished you will never fit in that box again, even if you try." Immediately, I begin searching my mind for things I would consider boxes, but then I went about my day of being a wife, mother, pastor, friend and PTA president. A couple of days later, I heard, "I am not calling you to bondage, but to freedom." Right after He spoke to me, the phone rang; someone in my life needed me so I put His Words aside to take the call. A few more days passed and I read a story about a woman named Anna who visits heaven. While Anna is there, she meets an angel named Crystal Clear who invites her to play. As they walk along the beach, Crystal Clear says, "Haven't you always wanted to build a sandcastle?" Anna laughs and says, "I don't think I have." Crystal Clear says, "Sure you have...you want to build a life on earth and all of earth is sand." OUCH! I like Anna gain a revelation that is crystal clear...just because something is noble or good...doesn't mean it's God.
For the last several days, I have prayerfully brought every area of my life under the microscope of the Holy Spirit. The thought of spending my life building things that God considers a waste of time is really more than I can bear. During this time, the Holy Spirit reminded me that God's greatest desire is develop the nature of Christ in each of us so that we can experience true fellowship with Him. He challenged me to stop comparing myself today with the "old me" and reminded me that Christ always has been and will always be the standard...can I say OUCH again? He asked me many questions, "Why do I pastor, parent or counsel?" Do I do what I do because it's comfortable...did I choose it or did He? He reminded me that everything I do should be out of my love for Him, not a sense of obligation or an expecation of reward...He is my Reward!
He also told me that true freedom is found in being who HE created me to be, not who I am most comfortable being. I realized that it so easy to get caught up "doing" life that you forget to choose LIFE (Jesus) and while you love Him, you aren't cultivating the relationship. It's even easier to look to Jesus for a way out of our pain and discomfort without looking to give Him our life to do with as He chooses. We want our needs met, but we don't want offer any real commitment...we want the benefits of His sacrifice without offering our own.
Just because we go to church, read our bibles and say the right things doesn't mean we aren't building on sand. Are we doing our list of righteous acts because we truly love Jesus and desire Him above all or because we're finally tired of the pain we reap when we do things our own way? What do we value most? Jesus or the benefits we get from being with him....like healing, favor, promotion? How many times has God asked us to make adjustments in our lives, but we respond by telling Him all we need to accomplish? Until our number one motivation for life is LIFE (Jesus) we will be stuck building in the sand.
Here's one of the most recent things He said, "I'm not against fun and adventure. I'm the author of fun, but the fun and satisfaction of the flesh (means doing things our way instead of knowing and following His way) always results in the death of our fellowship. There are things that I desire to show you, to show all of my children that are beyond your imagination...if you would just stop building sandcastles I could show you real adventure and real life."
I'm always amazed that an Almighty God desires to have such close fellowship with me. Even when I am building sandcastles He longs to show me things of eternal value. I must admit be jacked up by God is overwhelming, but I'm always glad He cares enough to do it!
As brothers and sisters in Christ why don't we challenge ourselves and each other to make sure that what we esteem and hold dear with what God values as well? Is there anyone else out there who through playing with sand?
If the Lord is talking to you about any of this...please share! We would love to hear from you! Love you!
