This is a lie. You know it and I know it. You don’t believe this and at the end of the day neither do I.
Here is what I mean:
Everyone wants to be Paul but no one wants to go to prison, run from snakes, or wreck your ship and end up with Wilson.
Everyone wants to preach a sermon and save 3,000 people. No one wants to get crucified upside down.
Everyone wants to have the steadfastness of Job but not the reason to showcase his steadfastness.
Everyone wants to live like Jesus. No one wants to die like Him.
I feel like I was sold a bill of goods that no smart person would take when fully explained. (1 Corinthians 1:18) “You have this hole in your heart that only God can fill, would you like to have it filled?” OF COURSE! This is half of it.
What would make more sense would be to say “You have this hole in your heart that only God can fill, once God fills this hole in your heart, you will begin to see that He alone is the reason you were created, to glorify and enjoy him forever *and He will ruin you to make sure this happens.”
God will slowly turn your heart into His heart. He will begin to show you people as He sees them and your heart will break. You will begin to recognize more and more the gravity of your sin and how much you suck and the need for a savior. Then you will rejoice in Jesus’ cross because He has given you His righteousness and has taken your sin. And you will be burdened to tell people about this.
NOTE TO SELF
When you ask Him to ruin you so that He might be made much of, He will. That’s why smart people like me stop praying for this. I mean who likes to be uncomfortable right? Last time I asked Him, He wrecked every part of my life that was normal. I was deeply wounded and so were others, but I experienced Jesus' grace in so many new ways and saw others experience Him for the first time. And what happens when this happens? “God, what are you doing?!” I wonder how many times God has looked at me and said “You gave me the go ahead dummy!”
Every once and a while God will place burdens on my heart and I will really mean them and give Him the go ahead to do whatever He wants in me so that He will be made much of. This is why the Bible guys were the Bible guys. They prayed prayers like this and meant it, all of the time. I can either comfortably experience Jesus a little bit, or let Him ruin me so that I can experience Him alot. Now that its documented I will hopefully remember when things start sucking so that I will think “Oh yeah, this is a super great time for me to point to You right now isn’t it?” (What if no one responds to this?) (Next Post)
Sanctification. Engage.
I love you Cory, this is the stuff that will shape you. Never forget that all He wants is you to truly love Him and this leads to obedience. Faithfulness will bring about that wreckage you speak of and few will ever experience it. He has chosen you, what will your response be? :) Hebrews 12
ReplyDeleteI love this. So much. Everyone wants to live like Jesus but no one wants to die like him. So slick, write more often you bum.
ReplyDeleteCorey. You're nice. You're funny. You look like a pinecone.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like this! I can't remember what it was from, but I read something about all the implications of praying "Thy will be done"...saying it and meaning it are truly two different things!