Embellished Living

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”  Martin Luther King

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23

When we beyond doubt run into the heartfelt love of Jesus Christ it should penetrate our soul to make us think and live in new ways.   I remember attending a church a few years back.  My heart and mind were focused on working with the youth.  I had great dreams and my passions exceeded what I thought was possible.  The youth were excited to start something with me but the leadership of the church stepped in and decided against what we wanted.  Their response was; “this is not our focus at the moment.” Upset I went home and cried out to God in anger and bitterness.  “What is wrong with people?!!” I said.  “God, why won’t they allow you to work amid their church communities?”  I was frustrated that the church wouldn’t step into the vision that the youth and I had.  Time passed and nothing happened.  The church split and many of the youth left. Then one day God answered me.  He said; “it isn’t the churches job to get behind your vision.  It is your job to work out the vision of the church and to serve that vision through your ministry!”  My mistake was in thinking that the church existed for me and my vision, when in fact; I exist to fulfill the cause of Christ and serve it through the vision of his church.  Somewhere along my journey I had developed the thinking that the church existed for me.

At one point of his ministry Jesus begins to talk about how a divided house cannot stand.  I believe that a divided house is one that is going in different directions.  If we are truly “one” we need to be united going in a particular direction. When your church has a united vision and is anchored on a greater cause, there is a great sense of solidity and security because everyone knows where they are heading.  I often wonder what it would look like to journey through the heart of Christ. What would it be like if God literally showed us specifically what was on his heart? Jesus himself taught us to seek first the kingdom of God.  This kingdom is not a mystical place in the heavens; it is everything in the realm of Christ.  It is living in such a way that we bring the will of heaven to earth. It is journeying through the heart of Christ living in the midst of compassion.  Because compassion is the imperative aptitude for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It's the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for us until there is peace and joy finally for others as well.

Many of us have a concept of God that needs clarification. God is not callous, for he took his heart and wore it into humanity within the person of Jesus. He did this far beyond the limits of humanity as we know it; so that he can be everything we are… and are not. God is not part loving, part graceful, part peaceful and part forgiving.  Instead he is all loving on top of all graceful on top of all peaceful.  He is not divided up so that we each get a piece.  We all get all of him, all the time.  Everything about him exceeds beyond limits, His love, His patience, His grace…, everything.

So we come to these conclusions in life, where we are lost and confused and our perception of God gets lost within our problems.  We forget about His abundance of love, His immeasurable grace, we forget about who He is and what He has done.  Deeper and deeper we get sucked into the hurricane of complex quandaries.  But if we allow His Grace to bring us to the stillness of His presence, there we will find that He is more than sufficient for us; Thus birthing faith within us. You see faith is born when in our every moment we allow our flesh and spirit to collide. I love this Psalm, and meditating on it in the midst of storms always gives birth to faith once again.  King David writes;  “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.  I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 63: 1-8

Each of us was born for something bigger than ourselves and God is using your present circumstances to make you more useful for the rest of the unfolding story. We are supposed to lead a life of excellence, backed up with character while being undergirded by faith.  We must learn to lead a life not for selfish gain but for the name of God allowing him to teach us everything we need to know so that we may live to the fullest capacity for him. I wonder how many people today realize that they are being called by God in a unique way. And if you just allow your spiritual place to be the fuel, the engine, you will enter into a relationship with Jesus that will ignite you to move towards excellence.   And if you allow Christ to intertwine himself through your living you will realize that you can change the direction of culture either locally or globally for all of us in the world because that’s the kind of aspirations that are embroidered within us.  We all have incredible, invasive excellence woven throughout us because of Jesus.  God cares about everything that we do and we should to because it reflects God.

Hidden within everything lies the grace of God.

…How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.... When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.  Psalm 104:24, 30…

…The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it, for he founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters…  psalm 24:1,2

…You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.  Nehemiah 9:6

Our universe is inundated with the grace of God, and his marauding presence is revealed throughout our world- in the power of a lion, the beauty of a waterfall, the unity within a friendship, a child’s laughter, a rainbow after a storm.  God deliberately proposed for us to discover his loving presence in the world around us. The Grace of God is a mystery hidden amongst everything, but when found it sparks a joy so soothing that even if under the most unpromising circumstances or in the midst of suffering, our comfort and hope are restored.  For the grace of our God, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit open us to the divine increase everywhere about us.

But it seems that many of us have lost our sense of wonder, shutting the door in the face of grace.  We no longer catch our breath at the sight of a sunset or get lost in the scent of a rose, as we once did.  No longer do we stare in awe at the colors of the Aurora Borealis.  We no longer shout in a cave to hear nature reply our exact words back to us.  We have befallen so engaged with ourselves that we are immune to the glory of creation.  We barely notice the moon glistening upon the water, or the dewdrops clinging to the petals of a wild flower.  The quietness within a snowstorm; the way a flame freely dances in the night.  How often do we walk across a meadow without thinking about the bounty of God’s creation missing the experience of astonishment, awe and wonder? There was a time when the powers of nature caused grown men to quiver and feel small.  It seems as though God is being edged out of His world. Examine your life.  See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way into God’s heart, because in the end all moments can be perfect, and hidden within the crevice of life itself we find grace.

What if we lived in this world in such a way to where in everything, we found God?  What if we were created to live where the love of God, the grace of God is supposed to be manifested through all His creation?  I believe that intertwined in the midst of every created thing lays the grace and providence of our God.  So often we saunter amid the beauty and fullness of nature astray in ourselves, missing the panorama of life.  Nature’s splendor is lost, and the opportunity to be enveloped in silent wonder before the God of creation passes.  We fall short of seeing the brilliancy of our world drenched with grace.

The grandeur of a life lived in grace is so enticing that it transcends the exquisiteness of all created things.  Living by the gospel of grace leads us into a divine setting- a God filled, Christ saturated creation, and a world enthused with the opulence of God.  When in our wilderness we search to find the hidden grace of God, along with this ever surpassing fountain of grace we will find ourselves well when in sickness, singing for joy when we are dying of pain, running when our legs are broken, for when grace is found hope appears.   

 How wondrous is the grace of God?  For Him to look upon creation and speak into it your name giving you life. There was a time when you were not, but you are now because creation wouldn't be complete without you. I suppose that to live life to the fullest we must lose ourselves in the midst of God’s grace.

As we come to the end of Romans chapter 11, Paul overwhelmed and in awe of God, all of a sudden stops in wonder to praise God.  Before verse 33 in Romans 11 the word doxology appears which means a glory moment.  And then in verse 36 we read; “For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

We can never get to the substructure of the good merciful works God… His love and His grace which portrays all of creation are unfathomable.  To abound in life we must learn not only to live by Grace but to see the Grace of God within everything.

The Seasons of Life

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season.”  Psalm 1:3

As we find ourselves in the midst of autumn where the colors of life bring both a frigid cold and embracing warmth, so are the seasons of life in which we journey through.  Starring into the deeps of autumn we see it strenuously fighting to hold on, not ready to release its grip, for the chills of winter approach…  Winter is but a breath away.  So are the seasons within our lives.  In the heart of summer the abundances of life hide the bareness of us, but when the days of winter crouch near they begin to reveal the core of our being.  The abounding Fullness often distracts from our foundations.  But it is in the stillness of winter, when our soul, our hearts our very being are no longer covered by the leaves of life, it is then that our true strength is unveiled. 

During the months of winter, as we look around we see the austerity of life.  The cold and bitter epoch engulfs life as it tries to hide its inmost secrets.  But even though this era exposes the core of our existence, life itself is not barren.  We still are.  Life does not lay still-though in winter she retracts herself.  But in doing so, she is preparing for the future.  And so similar it is with us.  Seasonally, we too are stripped to the core from all of the visible gifts.  Our talents are hidden; our abilities are underestimated.  When our successes fade and current efforts falter, we can surely mistake our unfruitfulness for failure… our flourishing abundance may make us feel more productive, but perhaps barrenness has the unfathomable power to strengthen our souls.  In spiritual winters, our fullness is exposed so that we can focus on our character instead of being distracted by our gifts.  When we closely gaze upon ourselves, we are left with nothing to stare at except our foundation.  Through all these lonely difficult moments our spirit, if allowed by us, will begin to grow.  Like a tree planted by living water, we will stand and grow tall because we remain in HIM.  With gratitude we simply abide in the seasons of life.  The truth is; the fathers’ exertion within us will never fail to proceed- though in winter he may seem to be retracted.  But by doing so, he endows us with love, purifies our faith, weaves within us courage, strengthens our character, conserves our energy, AND THEN, HE PREPARES US FOR THE FUTURE!!  These chilly days of winter hide and protect us so that the tempting seductive days of summer will not ruin us.  During this lonesome winter we should strive for a peaceful pace because we measure ourselves not by where we are going but by whom we are following and how closely we walk together.  I am sure that God finds joy in every season of our lives, but it would not surprise me if we learn that He especially enjoys our winter years.  They are less cluttered with the fancies of life which more than likely distract us from his face.

The decisions we make in difficult places today are to a great extent the product of decisions we made in the unseen places of our yesterdays. In the midst of our winter epoch we must see that though we are bare to the human eye, we are still fully clothed in the sight of His Majesty. It is when we live in the sole space where God is our ‘everything;’ it is when we swim in the presence of God being drenched with him, it is then that we can live in the darkest of era’s, firmly planted ready to endure all the bitters of winter.

In the darkest of hours when our hearts begin to drown in the midst of our winter, when the core of our very being becomes torn apart we may find ourselves hopeless, barely gripping on to life.  But in these moments if we approach the throne of grace we will surely find an ever consuming grace that will carefully begin to intertwine itself through our being pouring within us hope for life once again.  Though we do not understand the mysteries of God one thing will forever stand; his generous endowment of grace that He gladly splurges upon each of us.  Hebrews 4:16 says; “Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

So as the seasons of life begin to form its dwelling around us, we must ready ourselves for what will come because today’s decisions foreshadow tomorrow’s challenges and reflect yesterday’s choices. Life doesn’t just happen; it’s something where we together with God make happen.  When we choose a life with Him, we no longer walk through the seasons of our lives alone, but we walk alongside God Almighty which brings an over-joyous comfort upon me.