Have you ever attempted to explain what you are doing to people and when it comes out of your mouth it sounds small? Less than small? When you list the things you are currently “doing”, what you say kinda trails off and you know it’s not the sum total of what’s really going on, but there’s no way to explain it…?
As humans we put such stock on what we do, what we achieve, accomplishments we list behind our names, things we think our friends and parents can boast about, “stuff” we can be proud of.
In about six months’ time, I will turn 40. None of the things I assumed would happen for me when I was small have happened in my lifetime so far. I don’t have any pieces of paper, no letters behind my name, no husband and kids to run around with, my work situation has changed dramatically- it’s not always easy to explain “Blogging for Jesus”!!
It can be a conundrum listening to myself try to explain my life sometimes and remember the small parts of the person I am currently describing is not the sum total of who I am.
…the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:10 (NIV)
This is one of the reasons it is so important to know who Jesus has called us to BE.
Being secure in our relationship with Him, to be grounded and built up in our faith, to be hidden completely in Christ, to understand our position as Sons of God (ladies too!) to know who He calls us, what He calls us, the task He has really called us to…
This knowledge, deeply grounded within us is what keeps us stable in the face of the difference between the worlds measures of success and Gods measures of success.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith… Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)
There are jobs He has called us to do- things which God sees as important which we aren’t always able to articulate to the world at large…
We may be called to be a living intercessor, our life tied up with a particular cause or event in politics, justice, social welfare, human welfare, family or church breakthroughs.
We may be balancing the importance of being the stabilising, God breathing influence in a family alongside other tasks. Living the example which your children will carry into their families, which will perpetuate people knowing Him intimately and living their lives with Christ far into the generations to come.
God may wake us in the middle of the night to intercede for things on the other side of the world which nobody else will know about until the news reaches the western world in 1 or 2 days time.
We may follow the prompts of Holy Spirit to be at a particular place at a particular time to have a conversation with a random stranger or help someone do something, or pray with someone…
We may be called to the marketplace, to be skilled in a particular field, carrying Jesus into our day, being Christ on the ground where we work bringing innovation, peace, justice, freedom, healing- the mind boggles really!
There are so many different things like this, unique to each person because our relationship with Father is unique.
If I’m busy looking for things which make me feel better about doing what the world might perceive as ‘nothing in particular’, I might miss or confuse the important tasks God has for me to do. If I’m busy doing things which sound important when I speak them out, but He hasn’t asked me to do, I won’t be available for Jesus when He needs me to be present.
…the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. John 5:19 (NIV)
Jesus didn’t do anything God the Father didn’t put His finger on- so to speak. He went where God had set out for Him to go. One time, He deliberately didn’t go to Jerusalem with His family to the Feast of Tabernacles, then a couple of days later He went in secret… This would have looked like a complete contradiction to His brothers and the rest of the family but Jesus wasn’t going to do anything out of step with His relationship with God. John 7 (NIV)
When the Apostle Paul headed up to Asia, he was able to go everywhere except into the province itself. Holy Spirit said “Yes” until He said “No” and they headed off in another direction. Acts 16 (NIV)
Being in intimate relationship with Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean He’s going to pack us up and wander us around the country, not knowing where we’re going to sleep until we get there- although He does call some of us to live those kinds of lifestyles- and there is an element of it in our daily life as we trust Him for our sanity!
It does mean we get to experience the intimate leading of God in our everyday lives. It means all of Heavens resources are available for all of our waking and sleeping moments.
It means all the things we do in our every-day are vehicles for the Presence of Holy Spirit, and if we choose to, we can allow Him access to all those things we may have seen as ordinary, normal, boring, unworthy and watch as our partnership with All Of God changes it completely.
My unexpected, unanticipated, un-daydeamed life, without Jesus would be an isolated nightmare. With Jesus, it is no less real in all those same aspects, but it is also more.
More powerful, more settled, more purpose-filled.
This is big picture stuff, if we remember to look at our lives from the perspective of eternity, what looks small in the moment, is having far reaching consequences beyond our lifetime.
Remember your ‘more’ things. Our whole is so much more than the sum of our parts.
God Bless You Very Much
Anita
P.S. How did you go last week? I'd love to hear!!