A little bit of wisdom for crazy times # 2

Following up on part one of "A little bit of wisdom for crazy times" and how we can have and live in peace when the world and culture around you seems like a crazy mixed-bag of trouble and opportunity.

First, let me say it ain't easy.  As the first post talked about, you have to chose to think differently and you can't live in the past about things or in the "what if's", always ruminating over negative possibilities.

It is work.  Daily, moment by moment work at times. So if you haven't read the first one, read that first and this follow up will make a lot more sense to you.

__________

In Ephesians 5 and 6, Paul went on to talk a little more about taking advantage of the moments around you and he talked about serving other people.  The people inside of families should serve one another.  The people "at work" should serve one another.  And so, if we want to live at peace in the middle of trouble...

    3. Humbly serve other people

What does that do?  For one, it takes your focus off what you're worried about.  Even if for a short time, if you're looking for ways to serve other people, it short-circuits the negative thought train you're on that is taking you to more worry.  

Stopping to serve other people - on purpose, even if they're not worthy of your time - does something to your insides.  It literally makes your body and mind do something different for a moment and in that moment, you can step away from you and dive into something else.

IF you take advantage of doing this and you combine it with steps one and two, you can begin to develop a new habit of stopping yourself from thinking "that way" and regularly re-starting yourself in good ways of thinking that help and don't hurt.

Another big plus with this step is that you can learn to think about and see what God is doing for you all the time.  As you serve other people - remember those jerks who might not deserve it? - you can see and be reminded that God loves and serves you even when you don't deserve it. 

It opens up a HUGE door for you to see grace in action - as you serve others in grace and humility, you see that it's exactly what God does for you each and every moment of of your existence.

It's not to say you don't face problems or issues in life BUT it means that you learn to deal with problems in a proactive and productive way.  We don't serve to ignore things, but we serve to retrain ourselves to think better and differently so we're not focused only on what worries us.

    4. Let God equip you for life

One of my huge complaints with a lot of religion is that it doesn't turn people toward what God is offering but instead points people to things to avoid and things to do to serve someone's local church agenda.

Those aren't bad things, but they aren't what God talks about most in scripture. We're called to step into the blessings and good things we've already been gifted, not to "work for them" to earn them.

In Ephesians 6:10-18, 2 Corinthians 1:5-11, and 2 Peter 1:3-15, we see what God is actually doing and offering and inviting us to so that we're equipped to do what he's calling us toward.

He has already given us all we need for life with him.  Already given.  Already equipped.  Click on those scripture links and see what he's offering and gifted us with.

If you're like a lot of people a lot of that doesn't seem appealing.  And I get it, it isn't appealing IF what you're hoping God is going to do is hook you up with great circumstances in your life like no debt, good jobs, clear complexion, and so on.  That's not a promise from God, that's a churchy promise I hear from people and it's just not real.

What does he offer?  How is he equipping you and me?  Read those passages and you'll see.  For those who don't like to click on the link, it's stuff like:

• Knowing that your circumstances aren't defining your place with God
• Knowing that you're cared for, even when your life sucks from a human point of view
• Knowing that God knows what's going on and sometimes doesn't do anything about what you think he should do because of reasons you're not yet aware of
• Peace that comes from knowing the good news of what God thinks about you and has done for you in Jesus that a lot of religious people don't tell you about
• Ways to remember your forgiveness and your security with God
• And other things that often seem vague and distant, but once you learn about them, they change everything in your life - over time

It's kind of like when I was growing up and people seemed to argue about Ford versus Chevy and occasionally Dodge and THAT seemed like the most important thing when you were around some people.  Like they'd literally bring it up every time they were with someone who'd argue with them.  

After some years of getting away from those people, looking back I wonder - "What in the world?  Why was that a topic of conversation?  Why were they so intense about auto brands?  What things were they NOT discussing that the auto conversation was a stand in for?"

God's equipping us for living has that kind of effect.  Things that are important now MIGHT be important later as well, but they are placed in their appropriate spot in our life and not allowed to dominate where they should not.

__________

Usually it takes a person 2-3 years to "get" this new pattern of being.  I think it's one of the reasons that Paul, the guy who wrote Ephesians and a lot of the New Testament, went away to Arabia for three years before he did much "ministry" or sharing of Jesus with others.  

I believe, and it's just my opinion, that as steeped and strong as he was in Pharisaical Judaism and the Old Testament scriptures, he had to go away and learn from the Lord/the Spirit how to see, think, and experience life differently.

It explains why in Philippians he said that he had LEARNED to be content and had learned to be okay in any and all circumstances - having plenty or having nothing, etc - even he had to go let the Spirit seep deeply into his soul and learn a new way of being.

His new way of being in Jesus allowed him to go through some seriously tough things.  I'd like to use much harder language in saying that because I think we gloss over the terrible things that he and others went through so as to "be polite".  

Paul went to Rome eventually, as far as we know, and he didn't know it all - he didn't know for sure what they outcome would be in his appointment with the emperor.  He didn't know for sure he'd be taken care of in physical ways, at least with a degree of certainty we'd expect.  

He knew that in spite of what he was going through, that everywhere he went, he was having the opportunity to tell other people about what God was doing in the world through Jesus and THAT was the win for Paul, even up to the moment he had his life taken from him.

It's not easy, but it's worth it.  I'm not "there" yet, but I'm learning and some days are terrifying and other days I wonder what I was worried about the day before.  We fall forward and we see that God is using everything we're going through for our benefit - IF we can learn to see that way.

He wastes nothing.  He loves you more than you can know.  He is for you in ways you can't imagine yet.

You'll be fine.