Monday, January 11, 2010

Glorifying Through the Confusion

Last Monday, January 4, on Chris Fabry Live!, I joined Chris Fabry to talk about my New Year Resolution. It wasn't a resolution so much as an intentional change in the way I think about my possessions. In light of the recent robberies my husband and I have had (our apartment on December 14 and our luggage out of a van on December 21), I'm trying to view my possessions differently. I actually pre-recorded the piece on December 31 because I was taking a graduate school class last week. Click here to listen: http://asxarchive.moodyradio.org/ChrisFabryLive/2010-01-04_Chris_Fabry_Live.asx

Switch to yesterday afternoon. My sister was driving my Daewoo (my first car) and it died in the middle of the Eisenhower Expressway on her way downtown. We had it towed to the mechanic who diagnosed it as a timing belt that went out. Chances are, the cylinders are messed up, too. If the cylinders are messed up, we'll likely have to junk the car because it'd be cheaper to junk it than to fix it.

Today when I was listening to last Monday's program and heard what I said about letting go of my possessions and treating them differently, I connected yesterday with the robberies. My car is another possession that I will likely lose in the near future. I don't know what will happen with my car. I don't know what outcome there will be from the robberies or the insurance. I don't have the answers to a lot of things right now. But ultimately, none of it is about me. It is about me in the sense that I are experiencing the feelings and struggles on this earth, but even those aren’t about me. I'm not trying to pull the cliché “it’s not about me” thing, but the only reason I’m on the earth in the first place is to glorify God. The hopes and dreams I had for the Daewoo or the stolen Christmas presents or my life in general aren’t guaranteed…and I can either dwell on “what should have been” or what I wanted, or I can glorify God through the confusion. I guess that’s where I am at the moment…glorifying Him in the confusion.
tm

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Moving Mountains

I'm reading through the Bible in a year (or trying to) and I recently read the story of the so-called tower of Babel in Genesis 11. On January 4, 2010, Burj Khalifa officially opened in Dubai and simultaneously broke several world records. It is the tallest structure in the world, has the fastest elevator in the world, has the world's highest mosque, and the world's highest swimming pool. It is truly a demonstration of the great creativity, ingenuity, and ability of mankind. It stands at an impressive 2,717 ft., over half a mile tall. In the list of man-made structures, it tops the list, but in a list of God-made and man-made structures, it wouldn't even be in the top 2,500. God has made mountains that stretch across continents and go miles into the sky. The breath-taking Mt. Everest is over ten times taller than Burj Khalifa. God has given man a creative mind, and the ability to carry out the designs it comes up with, but our creations pale in comparison with God's. The human mind itself is God's creation, and is the only thing in creation made with the capability of knowing God Himself. The human mind can come up with some remarkable ideas, but God designed it for relationship with Him. The people in Babel were capable of doing what they set their minds to, but God had a different plan for them. God desires unity, but a unity that has its foundation in Him, not in man. Jesus said that with faith we can move mountains. That faith is not in our ability to move mountains, but in the One who made the mountains.
nwm

Monday, January 4, 2010

Taking Things that Don't Belong to You

The great theologian Matthew Henry was once robbed and thanked God for three things: (1.) that he had never been robbed before, (2.) that the robber did not take his life, and (3.) that it was not he doing the robbing.
My wife and I were robbed twice within one week's time. A burglar broke into our apartment and took electronics, jewelery, and Christmas presents for our families. Then, exactly a week later, our luggage was stolen from the back of a rented van while we were visiting family. Two of the bags were filled with Christmas presents for our nephews and niece.
After the second robbery, I could not thank God that I had never been robbed before, for I had indeed been robbed before. But I could thank God that my wife and I and my brother and his family were all alive. And I could certainly thank God that it was not I who was doing the robbing.
When you tell someone the story of being robbed you get a number of responses, and many the same. Anger is a common response. The listener says how angry he would be if it had happened to him, and is surprised how well we're taking it. Another response is empathy, and the listener shares a story of burglary from his or her own life. Many people joke and laugh (as we did) at the idea of being robbed twice within a week's time in two completely different cities. And, of course, there are many variations of the it-could-have-been-worse response. The very first response I got, however, was, "God must be trying to tell you something."
What was God trying to tell us? "Don't hold on so tightly to your possessions." "You don't need Christmas presents to celebrate Christmas." "I am all you need." Those are all possibilities, and those were all truths that were further ingrained in my own soul, but I do not think that events in our lives happen so that the next day we are a different person. That can happen, but often the answers come much clearer down the path.
Why did we get robbed? Why don't we get robbed every day? What do I have that I have stolen? Why am I not a robber? Why did I have so much stuff to be taken in the first place? Question upon question can be asked, and even more answers can be given.
I thanked God that we were robbed. I saw the good in it right away. I was not angry, nor did I question God's goodness. I do not wish vengeance upon the thieves who robbed us. I am reminded that in my thievery God has forgiven me. As Christ had two thieves on either side of Him at His crucifixion, so will He have two kinds of thieves at the Judgment: ones who are forgiven and will be with Him in paradise, and ones who reject Him and will spend eternity apart from Him. I thank God, as Matthew Henry did, that it was not I who was doing the robbing, but I thank Him even more, that He has forgiven me of the robbing I have done.
nwm