Transformed Changes and changing

For those of you who follow this blog regularly, I apologize for my recent disappearance. The last few weeks have been packed (more than usual)…and for a guy who talks much of the difference between busy-ness and effectiveness…well, let’s just say that I am being forced to calibrate.

There is no way that I can meet all the expectations I have of myself, much less those around me. There simply is no end to them.

I recently heard someone say that if we can come to the place of releasing others from our expectations, acknowledging their imperfection, it gives us grace to do the same for ourselves. If our expectations of others continues to be high and unforgiving, I believe we subconsciously hold ourselves to the same standard.

Why are we so afraid to rest?

Is it that we want to be seen as productive? Successful? Chosen? Faithful? Obedient…or possibly as a “martyr” for the faith?

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

Mark 6:31
Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Rest for the Weary

²⁵At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

²⁷“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I wonder if we don’t really just have an over-inflated sense of self-importance…there’s more to say here…so stick around. Next week we’ll be talking about “healthy indifference”

Posted under Transformation

I was in a class to study the book of Jonah recently.

The story unfolds that God calls Jonah to speak to the city of Nineveh. Jonah runs away, God pursues, seemingly gets him back on the right track, and then Nineveh repents, changes and is spared.

One would think that the story is all about saving Nineveh…yet there is more. The men on the ship (Jonah 1:16) also come to worship God, and the story does not end with the salvation of Nineveh…it continues on to deal with the heart of Jonah.

Jonah is offended with God for sparing Nineveh (Jonah 4:1)…God has shown mercy, Jonah wants…what? I first thought “justice”.

Mich 6:8 “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” God desires justice, mercy and humility. So why the “battle” with Jonah if Jonah wants justice?

BUT did Jonah want “justice”…or vengeance? Jonah’s people had a long history with Nineveh…and Jonah appears to be unforgiving in regards to this history. Vengeance is a characteristic of arrogance. Arrogance is in opposition to humility.

If so…what is the book of Jonah really about: the salvation of Nineveh, or the transformation of Jonah’s heart?

How does God deal with Jonah in regards to his heart condition?

The book of Jonah is just four chapters long, yet packed full of evidence as to how far God will go to transform a heart…

Posted under Transformation