GROWING IN TRUST

Lord God, teach me to desire You more than anything else, to will what You command, to hope in Your promises, to trust in You and to wait on You. It is difficult for me rest in You and wait for Your timing because I get impatient with the status quo. And when this happens, I focus more on the product I want rather than the process along the way to what You want. It seems that the process of preparation always takes longer than what I have in mind. But what use would it be to travel rapidly toward what I would later discover to be a dead end? You alone know what is best for me, and Your love for me always wills it for me. You give me the opportunities and the gifts I need for the next stage in the journey, and I ask for the patience to wait for Your timing, for You to open doors and for You to endue me with Your power as I need it.

THE PROMISES OF GOD

     Truth Over Time  1 Kings 8:56-58  

Time brings perspective. Your spouse’s actions which anger you today seem un-derstandable in hindsight. The financial reversal that you thought would do you in now seems to have just been a good lesson in belt-tightening. And the rough period you went through with your teenager brought back the memories of your own headstrong years. Time is a key ingredient in the recipe of life. It adds per-spective like nothing else can.

Time certainly heals and soothes difficult experiences, but it also humbles us and makes us hungry for more when we go through good times. And let’s face it—we do go through good times. In fact, most of our times are good times. Com-pared to the experience of many, the church in the Western world is remarkably blessed. The bumps in the road that we experience are generally just the excep-tions to the rule that God can be trusted. His promises are good. We are doing the right thing by believing and depending on him. The road may be straight and narrow, but it is better to be on the road than not on the road. When we have those moments of insight that awaken a renewed sense of trust in God and his plan, we become the spiritual and emotional grandchildren of king Solomon. The day he lead Israel in the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem, he was filled with praise for God’s trustworthiness.

In a great blessing spoken over the people, Solomon says four things: God has given us rest as he promised; he has kept all of his promises he gave to Moses; may he always be with us as he was with our fathers; may our hearts always be toward him to keep the covenant he made with our fathers. Look at the references back in time that Solomon makes. On that dedication day, Israel enjoyed blessings which were promised first to Moses and the patriarchs. The perspective of time made it so obvious—God speaks the truth and can be trusted. If they saw it then, how much more clearly should we see it now?
   
God’s Promise to You: “Time only makes my truthfulness easier to see.”

RELATIONAL SPIRITUALITY—PART 9

     Loving Others Compassionately

     How Long Will it Last?

     I have attended a number of funerals in the past few years, and the differ-ence between funerals for believers and unbelievers is the difference between day and night, between heaven and earth, and between hope and despair.  The “homecoming” ceremony for a person who knew Jesus Christ is a time when our hope in Christ has a true “payoff.”  We discover that our faith is more real and powerful during these pivotal times when we are forced to acknowledge our lack of control.  For a follower of Christ, death is not the end, but the doorway to a new and greater domain.  The body is left behind, but the spirit is in the presence of the Lord until the day when it is joined to a new and glorified resurrection body.  Scripture assures us that when we are absent from the body, we will be at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-7), and it comforts us with the truth that “God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus” and that “the dead in Christ shall rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). 

     When a loved one irrevocably departs this life, there are far-reaching im-plications that extend into the three dimensions of time.

     Past

     Whenever I hear of the passing of someone I knew and loved, a flood of memories surge into my consciousness.  Images of the person’s life multiply, flashing across the screen of my mind in such a way that I can see all the years of my relationship with the person simultaneously.  In times like this, the mind seems to search for and collect all the treasures and troubles and display them in a vivid array that forces one to realize the impact of the other’s life as though for the first time.  And I discover not only how much I was shaped by that impact, but also the truth that this person took a real part of me away with him or her.  For there were certain responses and facets of my personality that only this per-son could elicit.  Those unique behaviors are inert with anyone else.

       Present

The influence of significant others creates ripple effects that continue to touch our lives long after these people are gone.  We cannot measure the reper-cussions because they keep compounding and reverberating in subtle ways through the years and generations.  The fullness of this process will not be evi-dent until the day of Christ, but it reminds us once again that each of us is called to the present process of fulfilling God’s unique purpose for us during the few years of our earthly sojourn. 
Another implication for the present is the importance of treating each rela-tionship as though it could be our last contact.  This kind of closure would pro-duce a lifestyle of few regrets, because it would mean that we do not leave be-hind any unfinished business such as speaking our love, forgiving and asking forgiveness, or expressing our gratitude for all the other person has done and meant.

     Future

The passing of one who is beloved is a reminder of our own mortality and of the brevity of our pilgrimage in the world.  Ecclesiastes 7:2 tells us that “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart.”  Funerals are memoran-dums of reality, and for a time, they open a window of vulnerability to the truth of the temporal versus the eternal.  While our defenses and diversions are down, they invite us to answer the question, “Where is my hope?  Am I hoping in the promises and rewards of the world, or am I laying hold of a hope that will never fade or disappoint?”  Scripture tells us that those who put their hope in Christ will not be disappointed (Romans 9:33).  This hope is an anchor of the soul (He-brews 6:19) and it strengthens the believer to remain steadfast during the tem-pests of life. 

THE RISKS OF FAITH

God, I ask that I would experience a growing desire for You and for the things You declare to be important. I also ask that this living desire would express itself in an ever-increasing willingness to take the risks of faith so that I would honor You by treasuring Your will for my life. I want to discipline myself for the sake of Christlikeness so that I will run the holy race with endurance and fight the good fight in Your strength. I acknowledge that this life is no game, that the stakes are eternal. I recognize that there is a cost of discipleship and that spiritual formation does not come naturally. May I be dependent on Your promises and provision so that I will honor You through the risks and price of obedience.