Transformed Changes and changing

Recent ponderings…a merger of a two principles:

1. The Golden Rule (proactive) – do unto others as you would have them do to you
2. As you think you become…(proactive, +/or cause & effect)

As I have been studying the enneagram of late, I have been arriving at a few conclusions. If I am heading in the direction of disintegration…I need to turn around and head the other way! Simple enough.

If I fear abandonment, what is the opposite direction? Become loyal to others.
If I fear ridicule, what is the opposite direction? Respect others.
If I fear judgment, what is the opposite direction? Extend grace.
If I feel unloved / unwanted…be loving & helpful.

Crazy…

Luke 6: ^43-45“You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds. (MSG)

How easy it is to come to believe that our lives are at the mercy of those in relationship around us…and how wrong. Thanks be to God’s grace…we are not left alone in our change, but we must acknowledge (confess) our sin, and turn from our ways (repent)…then rest as He transforms. (Isaiah 30:15 / Phil 2:13)

Posted under Transformation

I have written under this title before, but I found my thoughts returning to this simple concept as I walked the trail across the lake from our house on Saturday afternoon.

Change and challenge are givens in life. There are times when we may choose to initiate change or undertake a new challenge, but there are also times when either one will rudely force their way into our lives. Sometimes we see the next step clearly, other times our eyes are blinded by obstruction. Emotions can be self-imposed obstruction. Like fog or darkness, they can keep us from seeing clearly. The path may actually be free of obstruction, but we can end up inhibited or  even paralyzed, experiencing little forward progress.

Conversely, if the fog lifts and sun shines brightly, we can pick our way through the complexity of many obstructions, and even find ourselves enjoying the journey.

Posted under Transformation

Transformation is partly about deliverance, partly about trust, and ultimately about entering into rest. It is a journey, and the story of the people of Israel leaving Egypt for the promised land is a great example of this journey.

DELIVERANCE

As God leads the people out of Egypt, they are delivered from bondage. It is easy to see the bondage of the Israelites as they were actual physical slaves to the Egyptians. What is more difficult is to see how we are slaves to sin (Romans 6), and how desperately we all are in need of deliverance. We have long understood that Christ came to set us free, but we barely understand our bondage. The Israelites often wanted to go back to Egypt as the journeyed through the wilderness, implying that they forgot the hopelessness of their former condition. So to we.

I fear that we have become anesthetized to the reality of our human our condition, that we have been deluded into feeling that we are actually well, implying the Jesus may have sacrificed himself needlessly.

TRUST

As the Israelites enter the wilderness they are challenged to trust God. He constantly reveals Himself to them, in fire and cloud, parting the sea, the provision of manna, water from rocks, victories…on and on it goes. Still they do not trust Him, for sadly, they have not come to know Him. (You cannot trust a God you do not know – who trusts anyone they do not know?!) This lack of knowing Him is a fatal error. The whole generation is prohibited from entering the promised land; from entering their rest. At one point, God brings them right to the threshold, the could enter the promised land, and sadly they turn away in disbelief. (Numbers 14)

Like the Israelites, we have received out deliverance, yet we wander in the wilderness, refusing to trust God with our jobs, families, friendships, finances, or our hearts.

REST

Finally the Israelites enter their rest: the promised land. We could see this as our “Heaven”…but another interpretation would be the peaceful rest of complete trust in and surrender to God.

We must come to know Him so well that trust becomes an automatic response. As this is accomplished in us, peace flows freely into our hearts and minds as we understand more of (though never the full magnitude) the capacity, competency, and HEART of our sovereign Creator.

Trust is not the mission, knowing God is. Challenge and trust are just points along our journey; our Transformation.

Posted under Transformation