Blinded from the Mess

The last two weeks have been really busy. I'm not entirely sure why they've been quite so hectic but the days have just gotten away from me. Work was fairly normal last week but a fair next to our house that made traffic a nightmare caused a fair bit of disturbance in my routine. (Pun intended.) Then a busy social schedule for the weekend caused me to put my blog post up late last week.

Sunday night while talking to my roommate I suddenly lost my voice. I spent three days at work unable to talk- which thankfully is not a requirement of my job for the most part and gave my coworkers something to really laugh about. Then I ended up working an extra shift before going to spend some time with family who was in from out of town. (Which is why this post is going up late for the second week in a row.)

After I went out to dinner with my aunt and uncle they asked if they could see my new house. We all drove back to my place and I started showing them around. When we got upstairs I went to show my aunt my room and I realized for the first time in weeks what a mess it is! She was very sweet about it and just said it was lived in but I could see in my mind what it should look like and the sight in front of me wasn't matching up.

I have presents from my recent birthday still sitting out instead of put away, clean laundry waiting to be folded in a basket, a few discarded shirts laying on an unmade spare bed, papers on the nightstand and books lying around. It may be a magazine photo compared to the room of a teenager but it's not how I normally keep it.

That got me thinking though. How often are we so used to seeing something that we don't really see it at all anymore? For instance, our own sin. That's why we need the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin. Or maybe it's people around us who may be hurting but we've gotten to used to ignoring them because they make us uncomfortable. Or just the majesty of God's creation. So today I'm wondering what sin, or hurt or amazing wonder have I become blind to because I take it for granted and I'm asking God to open my eyes. Want to join me?

Disconnected

When I was a kid we sang this church about continuing to reach out to God, cry out to Him even when it feels like you're in complete darkness and He's nowhere to be found, you still cry out knowing that God will get you through. That's what faith is. I don't remember the exact words but I do remember the story behind the song. A guy in our church wrote it after his daughter died.

It was one of my favorite songs as a kid and even now though I've forgotten the words the message remains.

When you're walking in the darkness just keep walking forward. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep reading your Bible even though you feel like you're not learning anything, keep praying even when you feel like He's not listening and keep going to church even when you feel like there's no point.

God will bring you out of this season of darkness and when He does you'll probably see that there were things you absorbed and learned in that time of darkness that you didn't even realize.

I don't know what's brought you to a time of darkness in your spiritual life. Maybe it's circumstances or people or something medical like depression. Whatever it is I hope this encourages you today.

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

You may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now but God can. Hang in there, cling to Him, He'll see you through. This is the time that the rubber meets the road and your faith gets tested.

Outsiders

There are times that you're in church and everything just fits. You're connected to the worship, you're engaged with the sermons and the congregation is like family you want to be around. You feel God's presence, you're convicted, challenged and encouraged each week and you are serving in a ministry you really care about.

Getting discouraged because I'm not describing your church experience? Well don't, most people only have this type of experience once in a great while.

I've said this on here before and I'll say it again. Churches aren't perfect. They're made up of sinful people. Those sinful people, being imperfect themselves, cannot make a perfect church. There's always going to be problems there.

There are mountaintops in our spiritual lives where we feel connected and happy and things are going well but there's also valleys. When you're in the bottom of a valley it's easy to look around and think you're the only one there.

Last week while visiting church with a friend I met a woman who didn't get married until she was in her late thirties. She's been married for four years now but she and her husband don't have any children. She shared her heart with me and talked about how hard it can be inside the church as a single person or even as married woman without kids.

The church puts such an emphasis on marriage and families. There are series taught about making your marriage stronger. Series about raising kids in a sin-obsessed world. Entire series about how to be a good wife or husband or mother or father. Do you ever hear a series about being in your late twenties or thirties, even forties and still being single? If you're in luck then you might hear a short speech once every three years about how it's okay to be single because God still has a plan for you.

I don't want to make this sound sarcastic because it's not something I take lightly. I understand that pastors don't preach about living a single life because most people don't. That doesn't mean it's not a valid way of life but it's not the point we're talking about today.

The point is that there are always times that we feel like an outsider, even in church. Sometimes, especially in church. Maybe it's because you're single, maybe it's because you're married but don't have kids. Maybe it's because your kids have walked away from the Lord. Or maybe because your spouse has.

Whatever the reason there are always going to be times that we feel like an outsider in our own church. The best thing you can do is realize that everyone has those times but it doesn't matter if you feel like an outsider in the church or not. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior you're never an outsider, you're a child of the King.

Ministry

Here's a thought for the day.

When you serve in ministry, any kind of ministry who are you serving? Are you serving the kids in the nursery or their parents? Are you serving the congregation members you preach to or the elder board you answer to? Are you serving the people who come into your shelter or community center or the donors who help keep your doors open?

Spoiler alert guys- you're not serving any of them.

Or at least you shouldn't be.

Colossians 3:23
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord not for human masters..."

We're really good at focusing on the 'work at it with all your heart' part (shout out to the parents with teenagers who like to quote this verse when the kids don't do their chores LOL) but we forget about the fact that it's the Lord we're serving. Oh sure we say it, "I'm doing this for God" but do we mean it?

Our focus so often is on people. The people we're helping, the people who we answer to, even the people we fail or the ones who hurt us when really our focus should be on the Lord. After all if our ministry isn't ultimately serving Him then what's the point?

I don't know what your ministry is or who you're serving but today I just want to challenge you, whether things are going great or horribly, shift your focus. Remember when things are going well to give God the glory. Remember when things are going badly that He will sustain you and see you through. And remember at all times that it's His ministry and He's just placed you there for a season but He is the one you're ultimately serving.

May God bless you in your ministry today, whatever that may be.

P.S. A ministry can be a stay-at-home mom or praying for your neighbors, that's just as valid as the pastor on T.V. or the missionary overseas. See when we remember who we're serving in our ministry something amazing happens. We stop ranking what position is most important and we start remembering that God uses us all differently and that one's not better then the other because all of us are serving the one, true King and that's what really matters- not the titles or the salary or anything else. Just Who we serve.