Community is interesting isn't it? God calls us to be a part of the Body of Christ which includes many different kinds of people, all with unique God-given giftings. It's part of His design for us that we sharpen one another, encourage one another as well as laugh, cry and support each other through all of life's circumstances. But have you ever found yourself longing for something that those around you couldn't fulfill? That may be when you have begun to expect things from PEOPLE that only God can give...
My 30th birthday is approaching this Saturday, and as I reflect on LIFE over the past 30 years, my memories are overwhelmingly filled with the friends and family God has placed in my life...PEOPLE. I am so thankful to say that the love and support I've received from my family ever since I was young, has never wavered. In my family I was safe, cared for, and equipped for life on my own. The friends I've had throughout life have shown me the same type of support, devotion, and transparency. I have never been without someone to call on in times of trouble or hardship, and never celebrated a time of joy alone.
It was easy for me to NOT trust solely on God for my contentment and satisfaction alone. I loved Him, but realize now, how natural it was for me to go first to the PEOPLE God had placed in my life to hear ABOUT God rather than drawing directly from the SOURCE of life Himself. I replaced communion WITH the Spirit for communion with others as we talked ABOUT the Spirit.
Oswald Chambers reminded me today how our gaze should be fixed...
"In the year that king Uzzaiah died, I saw also the Lord."Isaiah 6:1...Over and over again, God has to remove our friends in order to bring Himself into their place, and that is where we faint and fail and get discouraged. Take it personally: In the year the one who stood to me for all that was God was, died--I gave up everything? I became ill? I got disheartened? or--I saw the Lord?My vision of God depends upon the state of my character. Character determines revelation. Before I can say "I saw the Lord," there must be something corresponding to the Lord in my character. Until I am born again and begin to see the Kingdom of God, I see along the line of my prejudices only; I need the surgical operation of external events and an internal purification.It must be God first, God second and God third, until the life is faced steadily with God and no one else is of any account whatsoever. "In all the world there is none but thee, my God, there is none but thee."Keep paying the price. Let God see you are willing to live up to the vision.
In moving to IL, the most difficult part of leaving was not moving to a new place, but leaving everyone I knew and loved behind. My family and friends...my community. The Lord has been so faithful in placing us in a new church with a new community of people so quickly and we again feel supported by the Lord through His church. Moving away from all we knew to be familiar and going through all we have since we arrived in IL, I have felt the Lord recalibrate the way I see community. I am no longer dependent of it...I am thankful for it. I know longer look to the PEOPLE around me for sustaining power that only the GIVER OF LIFE can bring me. Jesus says, "I am the way the truth and the LIFE!" It's taken a move across the country and incredible hardship to bring me to this place, but I have been reminded where I need to go when I am weary, and feeling lifeless....to GOD! I always knew this, but the way I sought approval and support from people around me said otherwise. The words of encouragement, the long hug, and notes of appreciation all fueled the "people-pleaser" part of me that I look back on and now know was a form of idolary. An idol is anything that comes before God in our lives....for the "people-pleaser" often times, that's people.
I think of when I give a gift to one of my kids and they end up using it for a purpose it was not intended. Like a coloring book and markers :) Just tonight, I noticed marker on Ryder's hands, arms and nose. After asking him how it got there, he sheepishly told me how he drew on his bed. He knew that was not the intended purpose of the marker, but he did it anyway! God gives us so many gifts. One of my favorite being His church...the community of those who believe in Jesus. We have an intended purpose and it's GOOD! To support and encourage one another toward good works and an increasing love of our Savior, Jesus!
I love when Jesus calls the church His BRIDE. There is so much identity we gain from that name...we are cherished by the Most High God in the way a man loves his wife! John still calls me his bride today, and with the mere mention of that name, I am reminded of how much I am loved and how much my identity is wrapped up in that name...bride :) It is a beautiful reminder to me, how deeply God values His people...His church! What I am thankful to be overwhlemingly reminded of now, is how deeply our response as a church should be toward our Bridegroom...
As a BRIDE, we are to love, support and spur one another on toward loving our GROOM all the more. That is our primary purpose as the church...to love as God loves, serve as Jesus served as He walked the earth and to spur each other on toward a deeper gaze fixed only on the One who brings life.
Father, forgive me for searching for contentment too deeply, at times, in the gift you've given us in community rather than on YOU the giver of that gift for a specific and Divine purpose. You are everything we need, Lord. Thank you for opening my eyes to something that was dividing my spirit and compromising my relationship with you...where the enemy tries to use even the gifts you've given us against us, we know that through humility and devotion to you ALONE, our hearts will find contentment. We praise you, Lord!
