Let Them Do Their Job!

It's frustrating when someone won't do what they are supposed to do.  If you're like me, you'd probably want to get the job done so you'd do it yourself.  Sometimes that's fine, but most of the time it isn't.

Doing someone else's job distracts you from yours, wears you out and prevents the other person from ever mastering their job.  This applies to the office, the family and any other relationship.

The Bible describes the church as a body with many parts, each having a specific design and function.  If the elbow doesn't work, and you're an eye, who will do the seeing while you're trying to bend the arm?

If you want them to get it together, remind them of their responsibilities and give them the support and opportunity to function in their capacity.  If someone has fallen short in the past, give them a chance to do better.  We often don't perform because of lack of confidence, lack of encouragement or a lot of guilt. Let them know, "You can do this" - and let them know you believe it.

In our desire to do and be better, we need to help others do the same.

Stop Pushing the Stone

"Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
- Mark 16:2-4

There are some dead things in our Lives that need to be resurrected, but we are worried about moving the stone from the tomb where we buried them.  It could be a dream, a relationship, a talent, or our faith that has died, and we want God to move on our behalf and bring it back to Life.  But instead of believing in God's Power and leaving it in His hands, we worry, or try to move the stone in our own strength.

It is not our place to move the stone.  Stop wearing yourself out and let God do the heavy lifting in your Life (His yoke is easy and His burden is light).  If He has work for you to do, He will remove every obstacle in the way.  Don't let your own doubt or fear be one of those obstacles.  It is often us blocking our own blessings, blinded by doubt.  God can do anything if you let Him.

Stop pushing on that stone.  Step back, believe, and watch God move it.

Don't Get Bored with the Blessing

We read this verse in Bible Study last night:

"We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”  - Numbers 11: 5-6

Imagine that.  They have "lost their appetite" for something that comes directly from God - something He provided them with every day to sustain them.  They had no food.  God gave them food, and they got bored with it.  Often God blesses us with so much and yet we get bored with what He gives.  God never gives us seconds.  He gives of His best always and it's a slap in His face when we reject his blessing by complaining.  That boredom came from ungratefulness.  Had they been more appreciative, that manna would have tasted a lot better.

God doesn't give us what we want, He gives what we need.  They didn't need leeks and cucumbers.  They didn't need meat.  They needed manna.  We want God to give us variety and excitement when what we really need is to exercise faith and obedience.  And gratitude!

The Israelites had been saved from slavery, and God was making food (manna) available to them every day.  Food they didn't have to buy or season or cook or refrigerate, but they wanted what they had before.  They actually wanted what they had when they were enslaved.  Seriously - how is that better?  How can you miss the things of the Life God saved you from?

Would you rather be a slave eating delicious food or free and getting your daily food straight from heaven?  So what if it's the same thing every day! It's a matter of perspective: What do you value more? Getting the niceties of Life (at whatever cost) or staying close to God and getting the good things he has for you daily?

Make it a point in your daily Life to give thanks to God for His blessings.  Make it a point to identify those blessings.  Sometimes we want to say a general,  "Thank you, Lord" and leave it at that, but I bet if you took the time and counted your blessings (literally - I dare you to count them), you wouldn't complain as much or take them for granted.

Never get bored with God's blessing, because He never gets bored with blessing you.

Let God be the Goal

Some people say "name it and claim it"and "write it down; make it happen".  While there's nothing wrong with having goals and dreams, God says He knows the thoughts and plans He has for me (Jeremiah 29).  I have to decide what I will pursue - my dreams or His will for my Life.  I have a Divine Purpose, and no achievement is greater to me than walking in that Purpose.  I can be a "success" and completely miss the mark spiritually. So what does it profit me to gain the whole world and lose my soul?

We're supposed to be getting money, and houses, cars and land.  We're supposed to be making progress, right?  But at what cost? To me, true success is being the best "me" that God ceated me to be.  If I do that, I make the right choices. I meet the right people.  I'm in the right places at the right times. So I don't have to worry if He's leading me.  I don't miss out on anything because my fulfillment isn't in the things I get but in The One who provides them.

Let God be your highest goal.

Feed Your Spirit

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart".  "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things will be added unto you."  A lot of us have heard these Bible verses. But let's be honest - what do we do?  We delight ourselves in the desires of our hearts and when we are not fulfilled we ask why God doesn't bless us.  We seek other things and when we can't find them we ask where God is.

Life is not about physical things.  We are spiritual beings in a physical body, so if our spirits aren't properly fed our bodies never feel satisfied.  That's why you can be rich in money and poor in spirit, unhappy, broken and sad.  That's why you can work, work, work and feel like it isn't enough.  If you're working at something to feed your desire for recognition, respect, love, money, etc., you won't ever have enough.

Feed your spirit instead.  That's where satisfaction lies.  When your spirit is fed, at peace and content, the rest falls into place.  You're more productive, you make better decisions, you relate better to others, you're just happier! This doesn't mean that you let everything else fall to the side.  Instead, it shifts your focus from yourself.  Your actions are more intentional towards pleasing your Creator and not yourself. The awesome thing is that when we get it right, no matter what the circumstance is, a calm spirit trumps chaos, and we can experience joy on good and bad days.

Feed your spirit. 

Facing Pain

I had a toothache this past Saturday night.  The kind of toothache that kept me up most of the night trying everything I could to make the pain stop - peroxide rinse, orajel, distraction, pounding the walls (like that could help) until it got so bad I had to take some strong medicine. So strong it knocked me out and I missed Church Sunday morning. 

Although the medicine made the pain go away temporarily, my filling is still broken, and until I fix it (which I will, as much as I hate the dentist) I will have to deal with pain.

When we are hurting we have to get to the root of the problem.  Distraction won't work.  Pacifying yourself won't work.  Lashing out won't work.  Sooner or later you will have to face it and fix it.  It takes courage to admit that we are in pain.  We often try hard to bear it.  We say we're strong and we show it on the outside, but on the inside it's tearing us apart.  That's no way to live. 

Pain is okay.  Pain is how we know there is something wrong.  Whether it's physical, mental, spiritual or emotional, make sure you take the necessary steps to take care of yourself and get help to fix what is hurting you.  Life isn't supposed to hurt. 

Face it and fix it.

Grow Up

These days, when I tell my 5-year old no, I get a lot of pouting and resistance.  Today, I was told I was "unfair" because I wouldn't let her have her way. 

We aren't much different when it comes to our obedience to God.  We know what we *should* do, but we try to get our own way anyway.  And we cry that Life isn't fair when we are challenged to be obedient or patient with God's way and timing (or when things don't turn out the way we thought they would).  We want what we want and we want it now.    
    
The fact is, we can't have our way all the time.  If we believe that God knows what is best for us, we have to trust that His way and His timing are best, regardless of what we think we want and when we think we want it.  A lot of the time, what we want is the last thing we need.

The Bible says that as children, we thought as children, but as adults, we put away childish things.  It's time to act like grown-ups, and that means dealing with not getting our way with grace and maturity. We need boundaries as much as we need freedom. Sometimes we need to be told "no" now, so we can get the best "yes" later.