Day 2 - My issues, needs and wants – your problem
Scripture focus: May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it! 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 The Message
If my parents, teachers, mentors, friends and God himself ever convened an invitational intervention and explained to me the inevitability of a leaky life (leaky life – when our internal issues leak into our outside world), I'd like to think that I'd have the humility to believe them. Maybe it wouldn't even require all that much humility. What if I could somehow justify a leaky life as "just the way I am?" Maybe my leaky life really isn't my problem, but yours! That's a theory I can sink my teeth into. I could make all my issues, needs and wants your problem. Or perhaps I could find someone to blame for all this unquenched yearning that I feel. Hey, maybe I am messy internally – but if it is all someone else's fault, doesn't it make it someone else's job to repair? I like that idea. In fact, I have enjoyed sitting here fantasizing about all the expectations I could lower, dreams I could ditch, and potential I could pass up if this theory turned out to be true.
However, there's a fly in the ointment, and this keeps me from writing a bestselling self-help book about why all our problems truly are someone else's fault. I can't find any scripture to back this idea up. This is a problem for me, because I happen to believe scripture is a pretty crucial source of vital, truthful information.
In numerous sources, scripture promises us a holy, whole, mature, abundant life. And nowhere can I find exception clauses. It doesn't promise the holy life only to those sturdy enough to endure the rigors of the spiritually disciplined life. It doesn't promise wholeness only to those who are mostly not broken to begin with. It doesn't say only the physically attractive, mainly functional and mostly productive individuals of the world can count on all this blessing.
1 Thessalonians points out one huge factor that we might want to consider. It is God himself who makes all this holy healing happen. He puts us together – spirit, soul, and body. He makes us fit. He's completely dependable. So if you, like me, are wavering in your commitment to the transformed life because making changes seems practically impossible – be of good cheer. Although this may be impossible for us, nothing is impossible for Him.
One more thing. You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. (Matthew 5:8 The Message) When our inside world gets straightened out, the result is that we can see God in the outside world. There is no mention of how this process results in people, places and things joining forces to create a convenient life for each of us. It says instead: we will be able to recognize God's presence in our "ordinary, sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life." Awareness and appreciation of God's presence transforms how we think, feel and perceive our very leaky lives. This transformation of the heart then begins to do the same thing our messy insides have always done – it will leak out into our outside world. That's awesome. More on the crucial connectedness of the spirit, soul and body in tomorrow's devotional.
Recommended reading: Exodus 4 -6
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