Work With God

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” ( Matthew 11:29-30 ESV)

A lot of us love the verse before this that says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  We think of rest as a break from work.  If I just work hard enough then I will get a break.  

The rest that Jesus invites us into is tied to work. The yoke is an object of work.  It is a device that connects two animals together that are pulling a plow or wagon.  The rest Jesus is offering in this verse is to work alongside him; to join him in the work that he is doing.  So often we think it is about working for God.  It is an attitude or belief that God needs me to get this stuff done. That is not the case.  God wants us to work with him. He wants us to stop doing things in our own strength.  

It makes me think of the strong man competition where they drag a giant tractor or semi with a rope. If I tried to do that I would not get very far. Let's be honest.  I would not get anywhere.  However, if I teamed up with the guy in the picture above I would get a lot further. How much of the work would I actually be doing? Noone in their right mind would look at us and think I was the one accomplishing anything. The strongman does not need me to help him. 

It is the same when we work for God. We don't get very far in our own strength. When we work with God, take on his yoke, more is accomplished. The reality is we are not doing the heavy lifting. We are aligning ourselves with God through obedience and through the faith that the Spirit provides we rest in the promise "that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28 NIV).  The sons of Korah understood this when they wrote in their song, “Stop striving and know that I am God . . ." (Psalms 46:10 NASB). 

God is the one working in us and through us.  It is not about our strength, abilities, or effort so we can not take the responsibility or credit for the results. Anything we get is a blessing from God and we just turn around an put those crowns at his feet.  

Why a Baby?

Merry Christmas! This is truly my favorite time of year. During this season, we celebrate the coming of the Kingdom of God. Now, there are multiple ways that God could have done this. He could have come as a king on a stallion. He could have brought an army of angels. He could have just done as He did in the days of Noah—wiped out everything and started again. There are probably many more ways He could have done it. However, He chose to come as a baby, in a small town, in a stable for animals.

The question is, "Why a baby?" Why as a human? If Jesus had shown up in His heavenly glory, it would have removed free will from the human race.

We see a glimpse of what that glory would have been like a few times in the Old Testament and a couple of times in the New Testament. One of those instances is when Jesus took three of His followers up a mountain and revealed His glory. Peter "ran his mouth" about building tabernacles. Then God speaks from heaven—and look at what happens to the disciples: "When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified" (Matthew 17:6). They could not say anything. They hit the ground.

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John sees Jesus in His glory, and look what happens: "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead" (Revelation 1:17).

Because Jesus came as a human baby, it gave people the choice to bow down and worship or to completely reject Him as King. Luke 2 tells of how the shepherds went to visit Jesus. There is nothing mentioned about them kneeling or bowing. Maybe it happened, or maybe it didn’t; I don’t know. But when you look at Matthew 2, you will see the Magi came to visit Jesus. When they arrived at the house, they bowed down and worshiped Him. It was not forced. That was their response to Jesus. We see it several times throughout Jesus’ life, where people came and bowed at His feet and worshiped Him by choice.

Right now, we each have a choice—free will—to acknowledge Jesus as King or not. That will not always be the case. In Philippians 2, the apostle Paul tells us:

"5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Because Jesus chose to come as a baby and walk a humble life as a servant, the choice is ours to bow or not. But one day, like Peter, John, and the Magi, everyone will bow before King Jesus when He returns in all of His heavenly glory and establishes the Kingdom of God forever. I have done extensive research by watching a lot of medieval movies, and I can tell you with great certainty: it always goes much better if you bow before the king by choice rather than by force.

So, will you choose this Christmas season to celebrate by bowing your entire life down, dying to yourself, and committing to follow King Jesus?

TGIM (Thank God It's Monday)

Thank God It's Monday (TGIM)  That is right.  I just said that.  Many people are surpised when I talk about how I like Mondays.  I thought I would take time to share why TGIM and not TGIF.

First, don't get the idea that I always live into this every Monday.  Also don't, for a second, think that I don't love the weekends.  Neither of those things are true.  In fact, the better I use my weekend time, the more I live into TGIM.  If I spend my weekends doing things that fill me up the more excited I am for the Monday.  

So why do I like Monday? First, to me, it represents a new beginning.  Why do we think we need to wait until January 1st each year to have a new beginning?  Every year, every week, every day can be a new beginning if we will allow it.  Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning . . ."  "Every morning" includes Monday mornings.  

Next, "TGIF" devalues what God has placed before me five of the seven days.  God gives us blessings, work, and mission every day.  If I am only living for the weekend I am essentially saying is that the daily bread God has given me the other days is not good enough.  

Finally, if I am living into TGIM it is an indicator that I am working from a place of rest and not working to earn rest.  God commanded us to rest on the first day of the week and then work.  If I try to work and then rest I will constantly be living in an energy deficit.  This ties back to what I said earlier about how I use the weekend days.  It requires an honest answer to the question, "How am I doing stewarding the resources God has given me?"  

Today I choose to say "Thank God It's Monday" 

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Supernaturally Natural

The natural world is at home in the supernatural because the supernatural is not unnatural. Let's look at a few examples to understand this idea better.

When we consider one of Jesus's miracles, the storm on the Sea of Galilee, we see this relationship in action. A fierce storm, a natural part of the region's weather patterns, threatens to capsize the disciples' boat. The only thing that seems out of the ordinary is Jesus, who is calmly asleep. The storm itself is a natural phenomenon; storms on the Sea of Galilee can be severe and sudden.

What happens when the natural interacts with the supernatural? Jesus speaks, and the storm ceases instantly. The sea becomes peaceful. The Earth and its atmosphere don't "freak out" or suffer long-term consequences. The natural world adapts to the miracle as if it were a normal, predictable event.

This contrasts sharply with what happens when the natural world interacts with something genuinely unnatural. Consider the splitting of an atom. The natural world's response isn't peaceful; it's explosive. The Earth's alarms go off, so to speak, signaling a profound disruption. The natural is not comfortable with the unnatural.

Another example is Jesus healing the woman with the blood issue. This is a supernatural event. The woman's body—the natural—responds to the supernatural as if it were the most normal thing in the world. There are no side effects, no blood clots, no blurry vision. The natural was comfortable and found peace in the presence of the supernatural.

Compare this to the list of side effects often recited in pharmaceutical drug commercials. A medication for high blood pressure, while intended to help, is often accompanied by a long list of risks and complications, sometimes making you wonder if the original ailment was so bad after all. The body's response to these unnatural chemicals often requires further medication to counteract the new problems.

So if nature is so comfortable with the supernatural, why do we humans often dismiss it, avoid it, or try to rationalize it away?

When Weeds Look Like Flowers

Have you ever had a child come up to you and say, "Look I picked you flowers" as they hand you a wilting dandelion?  It is cute and painful at the same time.  Why? Because it is a kind gesture, and you know this demonstration of love is a weed.  

I was sitting on my back patio and we have some sunflowers that are growing in the field behind us (Pictured above)  Some were planted by my wife and others are a result of feeding the birds.  Suflowers grow wild where I live and they are as common as dandelions.  People love them though.  Noone has ever traveled for hours to take pictures of a field of dandelions.  The thing that struck me as I looked at these sunflowers is they are just dandelions people like.  They are both yellow weeds and only one is sold in floral shops.  

And as I thought about this, I realized the metaphor applied to more than just plants and goes deeper than just our prefrences of yellow weeds.  We all have weeds in our lives.  Some we are okay with and others we declare as bad.  You might not be okay with your weed of laziness, but you are okay with your weed of gossip.  Often we view the weeds in our lives as sunflowers and the weeds in other people as dandelions.  

I was reading in the Bible (2Kings 22, 23 and 2 Chronicles 34, 35) about how King Josiah heard the Law of Moses and immediately started sweeping all the spiritual weeds out of the nation.  All the evil practices that had taken root among the people were destroyed; the temples, the idols, the priests, and anything else that did not line up with God's word.  The problem was Josiah did not deal with the sunflower in his own life.  He left a weed of pride in his heart and it cost him his life.  

Jesus tells us of some of the other weeds to watch out for.  He warns about the cares of this world, the decietfulness of riches, and those opposed to the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13).  Just like dandelions and sunflowers, once you have one weed they spread to all areas of your life.  If you want to grow in your walk with Jesus you have to let Holy Spirit apply the Round Up of Truth in your life and destroy those weeds at the root.  

"What 'sunflowers' might you have in your own life that you need to address?"

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Don't Believe Everything You See

Several years ago I was watching TV with my wife.  I said "We really need to get a new TV."  I had brought this up several times and so she said "Tell me; why do you think we need a new TV?"  That is fair because I do like a good upgrade.  This was not the case this time.  My response was "Something is wrong with this TV.  The picture is getting  so blurry.  Like the words on the screen right now, look at how blurry they are."  I envisioned that conversation leading me to Best Buy.  Instead, it led me to the eye doctor.  

Being able to see is sometimes the worst thing for our vision.  What we see can lead us to limit what we view as possible.   I saw blurry words on a screen and the solution that I envisioned was a new TV.  If I would have bought a new TV the words on the screen would still had been blurry.  

In the Bible the Israelites had made it to the promised land (See Numbers 13-14)  Moses sent twelve spies into the land to see what they were facing.  Ten of the spies saw giants and they envisioned defeat.  Joshua and Caleb saw things differently than the other spies.  They saw an opportunity for God to show up and evisioned a life of living in the blessing of God.  

David saw things differently than the rest of the army of Israel (See I Samuel 17).  King Saul and the rest of the army saw a giant with a perfect fighting record.  They envisioned defeat.  David saw a loud mouth fool that was defying the one true God.  David envisioned God giving victory over the enemy.  

What are you facing now that is hard to see to the other side?  Where in your life do you need to put on some "God colored glasses" so you can envision victory and blessing?  Don't allow yourself to be so fixated on what you see that you miss what is possible.  

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Attack or Feeling

Have you ever been so overwhemed by fear it feels like an elephant is on your chest, you can't breathe, your sweating when it is not hot, and you are not having a heart attack?  I have. Why do we say "I am having an anxiety attack" or "I am having a panic attack?  We don't say we are having a happiness attack or we were attacked by anger.  It would appear that fear is the only emotion that attacks people.  We choose to be happy, angery, frustrated and joyful.  We feel sadness, hope, and excitement.  However, the way we view fear is that it is something that happens to us.  

It has been said that "Emotions are like waves.  We don't get to choose which ones come, but we can choose which ones we surf."  If we want to continue with the surfing analogy, then fear is the shark that lurks beneath the surface of the water waiting to attack us.  That really does not make sense.  Fear, whatever its form, be it panic, anxiety or terror is still an emotion.  Like all the other emotions, if fear is not something that happens to us but something that happens in us then what does that tells us?  Craig Groeschel said it this way, "Show me the very places I fear the most because that shows me where I trust God the least."  

The fields of faith are seeded with our fears.  The way to grow faith is to learn to trust God in the midst of the fear.  The greater the fear the greater the harvest of faith.   God does not tell us to stand guard because fear is going to attack us.   God tells us over and over again to "Fear not.  Do not be afraid."  He doesn't say thiss because life is not scary, hard, or difficult and there is nothing to be afraid of.  He says "Do not be afraid because I am with you."  

If you are struggling with overwhelming emotions, of any kind, know that you are not alone.  God wants you to know He is with you.  There are also people that want to help as well.  Call or text 988, tell your doctor, or reach out to a professional so you can not get swept away by the waves.