Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Choking to death
I received a letter from a friend, a young man with a wife and two small children, telling me he is being careful not to spend too much of his time fixing
and changing small things around his new house.
I could identify with that.
Having just sold 2 houses and moved in to a new one, I know a lot about these things. Since moving in our ‘new’
home, we have been occupied with making it ‘ours’ (new paint,
carpets, blinds, landscaping), in addition to the regular things that occupy our attention. Yesterday was a day of extreme occupation, and distraction, for me—with many unexpected activities, as well as those that were planned (several frustrating calls to IRS, DMV and Social Security).
How did I handle it? Well, in baseball jargon, I
choked (a choker underperforms under pressure). Jesus said, “the worries of this life… and the desires for other things…
choke the Word, making it unfruitful” (Mar 4:19). Note that is not things, but
our “desire for things” (in my case, for order and routine). Not to
worry. I'm praying that today when these things pop up, like a fly ball, instead of choking, I will draw upon the strength of His Word, and 'catch' them before I choke; and rather I might choke them to death! (Gal. 5:24)
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I love the translation of 1 Peter 4:7 that you shared yesterday. In Spanish it reads juts a little bit different. It was enlightening to me that I am instrutcted to be sober FOR THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER. That's amazing and beautiful at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI hope this can help. I don't know if you have a close relative which is a small child maybe under 7. Suppose this little child would have to do all that you had to do yesterday. Would it be possible? Probably not. That's the way we need to approach our daily lives, recognizing we are completely powerless to do the simplest thing without His enablement. Having the attitude of heart of a beggar as a way of life, begging God for His help -grace, divine enablement, favor- in everything we do is the way we are supposed to live. NEVER thinking we can do it ourselves, never approaching the situation without taking Him into account. God wants to be involved in everything, He is a jealous God, and many times He makes us realize that we have not taking Him into account as we should by allowing frustration to take place. Isn't He merciful?
He wants to be counted in :)!
Yes, that's my greatest test of faith, proving that Christ is my life (Col. 3:3) and I have "learned contentment"--that He is enough and I need nothing else. thanks far sharing.
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