The Shift

I was looking at flowers in my grandparents’ garden and saw that some were starting to die.  They're bright, red, beautiful flowers.  Many of them needed to be pruned away so that fresh ones could grow in their place.  When I looked at the semi-dead flowers in my hand I realized how beautiful they still were and I started to think about the contrast—about how it depended on your perspective what you saw when you looked at these flowers.  It seems to me that, like with flowers in a garden, the good and the bad of this life seem dangerously close to each other—at risk of colliding and tangling.  There's sweet and sour, joy and mourning, death and life everywhere you look.  This summer God's been speaking to me a lot about perspective.  Circumstances can be difficult, but the truth is the power lies in your perspective—through both the good and bad times. 

For some of us it might be a perspective of where God has us right now.  It is so easy to question if we are where we're supposed to be.  Maybe that's physically where you are living, what your occupation is, your relationship status, etc.—whatever the specifics are it is ridiculously easy to fall into the cycle of praying for a sign signifying that it's not "right" and it's time for a change.  Though we should pray and ask God to show us the direction He has for our life, this way of asking enables us to spend our days searching relentlessly for a sign that where we are in life isn't good or right.  That we aren't where we are supposed to be and that we need to leave.  I find that when I'm in this mindset it's impossible to live for the moment and the season I'm in.  That opportunities to glorify God are missed because instead of looking for what He has for me in this place I'm too busy searching for a way "out". 

What if we turned this perspective on its head and instead of praying for a sign that it's not right, we relentlessly declare to God that we will look for the lessons, for the opportunities, for the blessings, and that we will work for Him right where He has us until He clearly says otherwise—and then we actually did it? 

There is power and freedom in looking for what He has for us now instead of what He may have for us elsewhere.  I believe that if He wants us to make a change He'll tell us!  Why do we beat ourselves up looking for a "sign" from God instead of taking refuge in Him and working for Him, believing that if we are intimate with Him we won't need a "sign", because He'll tell us personally?  

After Jesus was born and the wisemen left it is recorded in Matthew 2:13-15,

"Now when they (the wisemen) had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.'  And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.  This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, 'Out of Egypt I called my son.'"

I have to believe that Mary and Joseph knew that their purpose wasn't to be in Bethlehem forever—I also have to believe they didn't spend every day searching and seeking out a time to go.  God made it very clear to them when the time had come.  He is so faithful to be our guide if we would just let Him.  So much of the time when our perspective is on the next thing or the next phase we try to run ahead of what He is teaching us in the moment. 

I think the enemy is clever and sneaky.  He even uses our own perspective of our giftedness as a tool to make us question our abilities and ultimately God's ability to use us. 

I am an "achiever" through and through.  I achieve to work hard and to work well.  This can be a gift if the heart behind it is to work for God—to achieve for Him—to please Him.  So much of the time, though, through battling my own sin nature and also the lies of the enemy, I can strive to please people instead.  Something that can be a gift and a tool for the kingdom begins to feel like a burden.  It's all about perspective.  Where are you fixing your focus?  On the founder and perfecter of our faith or the fleeting feelings of other people? 

I have multiple friends that are awesomely gifted in connecting with others emotionally and spiritually.  It is such a testament to God's faithfulness in giving good gifts to see them work with others.  I also see the enemy tempt them to bear the weight of others burdens, which can feel crippling.  Burdens that were nailed to the cross and that Jesus bore the full weight of—things that were never meant for us to feel the weight of. 

There is a time to grieve with other brother and sisters, but there is such a difference in grieving with them verses holding onto the weight of their sin that was already paid for.  How much of the time do we allow our perspective of even our own giftedness to get away from us instead of rooting our thoughts in God's truth?

This summer at camp we have been talking a lot with our campers about "identity".  What identities do we have?  Who gives us those identities?  It seems that most of the time the answer about what identities we have end up being negative identities.  Some of the time it's others that give us those identities, but a lot of the time it’s ourselves.  It's like a disease—these thoughts.  They creep into our minds and then grow, until it feels like we're in a pit.  The lies that we feed ourselves eventually start to feel a whole lot like the truth. 

When we find ourselves in this pit of a distorted perspective of who we are, I think many times our fall back plan is to tell ourselves "I have to stop thinking this way.  Shut these thoughts off.  God help me to stop thinking about this."  Ultimately this is our goal—to stop the lies, but when we pray like this or think like this, what thoughts are we always going back to?  The false identities.

What if we were to shift our perspective and focus on God's truth instead?  What if when I started to fall back into the pit instead of telling myself to just stop thinking that way I said, "God, I am intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  And I'm going to say it until I believe it—because it is the truth.  You tell me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, so I am.  I'm going to declare it until I believe it." 

We can't carry the weight of false identities/lies and the weight of His glory/His truth at the same time.  The question is which perspective are you going to pick up and carry? 

"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?  For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.  Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.'" Matthew 16:24-28

I think that we have to realize what was nailed to Jesus' cross and what He overcame for us.  As I started to mention before, we (as His children) are not meant to carry the weight of the things He already bore—the sins that have been done to us and, after being forgiven, our own sins.  Jesus already bore them.  They are gone and we are wiped clean! 

What we have been called to carry is the weight of our own cross, daily.  We are daily supposed to die to self and live for Christ.  Again it’s a perspective shift.  Don't hold onto the guilt and shame of your past!  Don't hold onto it and bear it and beat yourself up over it.  Thank Jesus that He bore it for you and then pick up your cross to live for Him each and every day!  

Pick up your cross of denying yourself so that you can live for Christ.  Pick up your cross of rejection for His name sake, because He was first rejected.  Pick up your cross of self-sacrifice to serve others.  Let's all acknowledge that the weight of our daily cross can feel heavy.  Why on earth do we make it heavier by piling on sin and lies that were already nailed to the cross that Jesus took for us?  It's all about perspective.  Where is our perspective?

These thoughts and this blog feel heavy and almost a little "sharp" to me, but I think there are some things that we have to own up to as the body of Christ.  One of those things is the role we play in our own perspective. 

I think some of the time we fall into the trap of using God's amazing grace and mercy as an excuse to not contribute our own efforts.  The truth is that there is no way for you to work to get to heaven.  There is nothing you can do or say or create to deserve salvation or love from God.  He just loves you anyway.  He sent His Son to save you anyway.  Having said this, I do believe that God wants us to try.  To obey.  To work.  To pursuit Him back.

I think that honestly this looks a lot like us simply letting Him love us.  We need to shut our mouths long enough to listen to His truth.  When we listen to His truth we start to believe it and when we start to believe it our perspective starts to shift.  Listening is an action, one that I think we as the body need to start taking a little more seriously.  Galations 5:16-18 tells us:

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for those are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

If you are led.  If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Are you allowing the Spirit to lead you?  Your perspective included? 

We are also told in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, "Do not quench the Spirit."  Did you know that you can quench the Spirit?  We (myself included) have choices.  Important choices that we need to take responsibility for.

When you are in the pit don't make the choice to stay there—because, friends, we do have a choice.  Listen to God.  Let Him love you and pour His truth over you.  If you just let Him pursuit you and start to believe what He says about you, your perspective, your actions, as well as your reactions will start to fall more and more in line with Him.  

One of those truths that we need to hold onto is this:

"For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.  I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.  For the Lord my God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor.  No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.  O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!"  Psalm 84:10-12

No good thing does He withhold.  Do we believe it?  Is our perspective in a place to hold onto and trust in God's truth—or is it not?  

This summer God has been challenging me a lot about my own perspective.  I don't think I'm the only one He wants to talk to about it.  I love to see the way that He works lessons through His body together.  We are unified in Him!  Let's help each other to recognize the role that we play in our perspective. 

I just think about those red, red flowers and the potential they hold to be seen as beautiful—or as withering.  How am I choosing to look at the different circumstances that pop up in my life?  Do I see the beauty or do I just see the struggle?

It really is all about perspective.