green and blossoming

"What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming?" ~ Matt 3:11 (msg)

Last week I found out I have 26 vacation days that I have to use before July 1st, so I decided to go ahead and take some of them this past week. It's so good sometimes to just get out of the routine of life, to be still, to listen and to renew your mind.

Pastor Steven Furtick said something that resonated with me. He said, "I get burned out and exhausted in life, when the story is about me, because the priorities are out of line." It kinda convicted me because recently I have felt burned out. And when I heard that it made me realize it is because my priorities have gotten out of line, I have started to make the story more about me.

This morning I was thinking about the verse Isaiah 32:20, "How blessed you will be, sowing your seeds by every stream." And I was thinking about what it looks like to sow seed and invest your life in every season, in every phase of life. When I think about sowing seed, I think about sowing your life, giving of yourself, pouring out, serving, and investing in others where you are. I think of planting life in places and people in response to the life of Christ in us.

It's so ironic because it feels like we will be blessed when we with hold, when we keep things to ourselves, when we protect ourselves, when life is about making myself happy.

But God says, no you will be blessed by doing the opposite. When we don't sow, when we don't give, don't serve, don't pour out to others, then we will become dry and lifeless. But when we plant life, give of ourselves, sow our seeds in people's lives, when the story isn't about me, then we will be blessed.

Then I also read in The Message, "What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming?" And that is a good question to reflect on. Is my life life-giving or life-saving? Is it sowing and giving or protecting and withholding?

When I am tired and burned out I am trying to save my life and protect myself. But when I rest in the life God gives by staying connected to the root, to the vine, then I can sow, because he is constantly sowing into me. And that produces a life that is green and blossoming.

servant of the Gospel

I have been thinking about the question, "what defines me? what is my life about?" The past few mornings I've been so challenged by Ephesians 3:7-8. The phrases in bold stand out to me.

"I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

A servant of this Gospel. Paul's purpose is to be a servant, his life is about serving the cause of spreading the Gospel. The Message says it like this, "This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message." His purpose is all about Jesus and serving him by helping people understand the Gospel. He says I need God's grace and power working in me to do and be this. Is my life about being a servant of me or is it about being a servant of the Gospel?

That depends on how I see myself and how I see Christ. Here is how Paul see's himself.

I am less than the least of all God's people. He sees himself as undeserving, unworthy of the calling, he doesn't have a sense of entitlement. He understands the grace he has been given which makes him humble. If this was how we truly saw ourselves, it would change the way we react and respond to so many situations. We wouldn't get so offended or feel so entitled to our "rights". We could respond humbly, we could serve rather than trying to be served. "Less than the least" yet he was still confident of who he was and what God had called him to do.

and here is how he views Christ.

Unsearchable riches of Christ He understands the greatness of Jesus. His life is about making the name of Christ great and what all he offers us known. He has experienced the riches in knowing him, knowing his love, knowing his grace, and he wants others to experience it too. The NLT says, "the endless treasures available in Christ." We have so much in Christ that it doesn't matter if I'm less than the least cause it's all about him. We get to spend our lifetime exploring the endless treasures available in him and the blessing that comes when my life isn't about me. In Christ we can more rightly view ourselves and him.

This is what I want to define me: servant of the Gospel. This is what I want my life to be about: Jesus. I think its a life long process to get there and I am far from it. Only by God's grace and power working in me can I ever become that. And the deeper I dive into the unsearchable riches of Christ, the more I explore the endless treasures in him, the more rightly I will view myself and him. And therefore, the less I will be a servant of me and the more I will become a servant of the Gospel.

The Lord Our Righteousness

This morning I was reading Jeremiah 33 about the promise of restoration. Here are a few thoughts:

God tells his people, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." v 3.

So after he says that, he begins to tell them things that don't seem so great. For example, "I will slay in my anger and wrath, I will hide my face from this city" v. 5 because of their sin and rebellion against God. The first "great" thing he tells them is that they deserve wrath, that they are sinful, that he is angry with their sin.

Why would that be great and unsearchable? Because the next verse has no value with out it.

Verse 6: "Nevertheless..." After the anger, the conviction of sin, he says, "nevertheless" meaning, there is hope, that's not the end. After the bad news comes the good news. These next few words are so life-giving.

"Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it, I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all their sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me."

You can't value health in the same way you can having lost it. You can't value healing and cleansing with out knowing you're broken and unclean.

God is like I am so angry at you because of your sin and disobedience. BUT, NEVERTHELESS, I will give you so much grace, life, healing, cleansing of sin, and the enjoyment of peace. That is so God's character. Healing, cleansing, health, and peace are all such great things when it was lacking before.

Then God tells them that this is how they will respond to such greatness.

"Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise, and honor before all nations on the earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it." v 9

When we experience grace, that is how we respond. When we respond with our joy, our worship, our honor, that communicates the greatness of God to others.

My favorite part of the passage is this:

"The day is coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill my gracious promise... In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called, "The Lord Our Righteousness." v 15-16

Obviously he is talking about that day when Jesus comes. Jesus is The Lord Our Righteousness. He covers us once and for all in his perfection, his right-ness, everything he did right is now credited as my righteousness. What a gracious promise and we live in it! We live on the other side of "that day."

When we believe Jesus as "The Lord Our Righteousness" we will most certainly bring him renown, joy, praise and honor.