An opportunity from the Lord?

 

Sometimes an opportunity presents itself and I feel as if I’ve stepped into a shopping mall to choose whatever I want. This time a friend offered me a top-line sewing machine that she isn’t using. It is almost new and has enough bells and whistles to make my head spin. The issue is making a choice. My ADHD loves diversion from normal and this is it. My creative side looks at the hundreds of new possibilities and imagines how this machine would enhance the speed and beauty of making quilts for needy people. The practical side thinks of the learning curve and wants to stay simple. 

So I am praying. The verse for today is a repeat from last week. Is this His answer to this opportunity? “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

He never changes. I am to be like Him, changed to be like Him. That speaks of stability, but not necessarily standstill. The process of being transformed is not boring or always the same. That is, He might change me with a sermon, a line in a song, thoughts in a book, the words of a friend, circumstances, even a vivid dream. Jesus Christ is always at work and when I pay attention, I can see Him in every situation. Sometimes people do things that call for a Christ-like response. Sometimes my mind is challenged to think like Jesus, to choose words that He wants said, to do things that are out of my comfort zone.

In this case, it isn’t about money. I can afford the machine. It is about time. If I am going to have it, it will mean being more thoughtful about how I waste time doing things that are ‘busy work’ yet not important. I will need to pray more, and wisely use not just that machine but my time and energy. This might seem simple for some people, but for those with easily scattered minds, it means more reliance on Jesus than ever.

The Spirit pops a phrase into my mind about numbering my days. This passage is more than relevant for I am already past eighty:

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (Psalm 90:10–17)

Those last lines are saying to me that Jesus can use this opportunity to show His power to me and to my children, granting not only favor but establishing my work? I looked up the idea of being established and am amazed again by what God is saying about His favor. The word is used to express the action of being determined, firmly rooted, and spiritually and emotionally strong. It is about being well-grounded, filled with the hope of what is to come, and implored to encourage others. It also expresses a certainty or firm decision, like being determined as when Jesus “determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).

I can see that this is not about having a new machine as much as it is about having the right attitude towards moving forward with the burdens on my heart, doing what I can for others, and being open to greater challenges. The woman who offered it is also a Christian and she wants my skills shared with others (many Christians and some who are not there yet) in this complex where we live, and using this machine well could be part of that. It is an opportunity to be more like Jesus.

Another writer tells me to step outside my comfort zone by doing things I’ve never done before. Obedience-based actions will shape my character and deepen my faith as God  increasingly forges me into the image of the radical Jesus found in the pages of Scripture.

PRAY: Again Lord, You surprise me. I know now why You have put this in my path. It isn’t about using the thing but about being like You in the process. You are giving me a greater open door to “let Your work be shown to Your servants” — not my work but the work of You in me. This is a bit scary, but my heart knows what You want from me. Again, I am amazed — and blessed.

One feeling that is important…

God keeps blessing our move with things unplanned, goodness unexpected. Every day brings a new surprise. I keep thinking that faith in God and His goodness opens like a flower to release the fragrance of His love.

Today’s devotional speaks again about what God expects of me and how that is based on the  assured knowledge of my reconciliation with God. I know that God wants me to serve Him as an heir, not as a servant, yet I am His, like a slave belongs to his owner, not working for wages as the reading suggests, but as one released from bondage and staying on as a servant to my new Master. I am more than that; I am also His child and His heir. Being a Christian is multifaceted with greater definition than one comparison… just as God Himself cannot be described by one metaphor.

The devotional writer seems to think that all readers have doubts about their faith and the eventual outcome of that faith. While the reading says “the assurance of faith is the only normal condition of a child of God” and it “comes simply by believing God” rather than relying on feelings, my assurance of faith is a solid matter after fifty years of reading His Word. From what God says, I know this:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)

And I have known it from day one. As for feelings, the song says, ‘the joy of the Lord is my strength” and that joy is so distinct and different from human ‘happiness’ because it does not depend on circumstances. For that reason, joy has become the only feeling that I do rely on. In other words, if His joy is missing, then I’m not filled with His Spirit for joy is the Spirit’s fruit. When joy is missing, I  have some praying to do, including confession of all sin including doubt. Joy is one feeling that assures me that my life is on His path and I’m not doing my own thing.

This is not about the feelings warned about in the reading. The author points out that Scripture never says, “He who feels has …” and states that feelings are no guide whatsoever in our assurance of faith, adding that in all matters regarding facts it is folly to depend on feelings. We must rely on faith, on whether something is true or not.

That statement “assurance of faith” cannot be answered by feelings anyway, because faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith does not consist of a convincing feeling because it is its own assurance… a ‘knowing’ that comes from believing what God says, of realizing and agreeing that His word is true, and nothing but facts. If I doubt that, then I have sin to confess — and my feelings of joy are missing.

I cannot disregard joy. It is the only ‘state of my feelings’ that gives me a clue about what is going on in my spiritual life. God gave me Himself and His wisdom. My goal is to know Him and His will. Joy tells me that I am in the right path. Other emotions may come and go. Some of them are okay, like righteous anger, spiritual sorrow, etc., and others need to be confessed as fleshy and of no consequence at all except to indicate I’m walking in the flesh. Mere human feelings have no power to ruin my assurance, only to reveal that I’ve wandered off God’s path.

PRAY: Lord, You have brought me to a far different attitude toward feelings than ‘don’t trust them’ as I can now see how just one ‘feeling’ can inform how my walk with You is going. Joy, or the lack of joy, tells me much about what I need to do. It also gives me strength for the tasks ahead — and today that task involves a whole bunch of boxes.