In Too Deep, But Not Deep Enough…

Crazy title?
I thought you would say that. 

Have you ever been in something so deep that you feel like you can't catch your breath -- only to realize that the thing that has you strangled doesn't really matter? For example, have you ever been so consumed by the details of ministry or life – that you’ve missed the fullness of God in the picture?

I am so guilty of needing time, needing people, and needing attention, that I get caught up and strangled by the things of this world -- and am not focused on the God universe.  The solution is not necessarily to abandon one and embrace the other – but to let the world help me see that I am loved.

I am worthy.
I am a child a God.

The details that consume me – can also be the things that remind me that I’m chosen and handpicked for this life and this time. I am His. 

So often our worship is about us.  What can I get from this? “I wish the music, sermon, prayer, etc. would have been a little shorter, louder, not so loud…”  We are programmed to be a people all about ourselves.  A people that live in a world where it says it is ok to focus on me, because after all, who will focus on me if I don't?

I have an incredible church.  I have an incredible wife.  I have an amazing miracle child and a new baby on the way. All of these things bring me joy.  But am I only focused on me – and how these joys affect my life? Could I instead focus on these joys – and how they help me worship a God who created love and joy in the first place? If these things are gifts – how am I doing at thanking the giver?

We come to worship week after week in a posture of selfishness. We are children of God – who are ultimately doing little as active participants in the disciplines of developing our relationship with God. We are doing little to develop our active worship (relationship) with God.

Yet – we expect 100% of the glory that is to come.

We are selfish.
I AM SELFISH. 

Thankfully – I’m also still in process. I know that I am a child of God -- loved and created to love and give.
My desire is to give more of myself, and not expect something in return for my efforts. My desire is to accept the love of others without fear or worry of manipulation/constraints.

I want to live remembering that the gifts that I have been given are far greater than I deserve – and yet my God loves me enough to bless me anyway.

I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding (Ephesians 1:3-8).

Rush

For those of you who don't know - Katie & I recently changed location.We moved from a very sweet small town in south Georgia to a very hectic, traffic filled small city in Northern Virginia. Wow, what a difference. Don't get me wrong, this place is awesome.  We love our new churches and we love being closer to family.  Olive loves playing with her cousins.  Simply put, it's great. But, gone are the days of leaving my house five minutes before a meeting; now it's more like no less than 35 minutes before the meeting.

This morning, like most, I ventured out and got on the road.  Again, I am only one out of thousands traveling even further in to Northern Virginia.  As I looked around, I noticed all kinds of things: a lady putting on make-up, some man singing his favorite tunes, a couple of people getting mad because they didn't leave early enough...again, and the list could go on.  It occurred to me we are all in a rush to get to work, the gym, or whereever it is that we NEED to get to so early in the morning. In the midst of the morning madness, I realized that there is no rush hour on Sunday morning (or whenever you may go to worship).  If there is a rush hour on Sunday, it's only to get to the buffet before the other churches get out.  If the service runs past noon, we get antsy.  Why? 

This season is Lent, a journey to the cross. A journey to love.  A journey that ultimately, if we are in the right spirit, completes us as Christians.  The disciples did not rush either.  Heck, while in the garden Jesus returns to them and finds them sleeping...not once but three times.  They knew that there was a "rush" because that very night Jesus would be taken captive.

I hope during this season you will rush to church, rush to love, and rush to the cross.  What an amazing sight if on your worship morning or evening there is a rush hour -- all because folks want to worship and remember the Savior who was on the cross and redeemed us. 

Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.  Hallelujah! What a Savior!

God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains. Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us. River fountains splash joy, cooling God's city, this sacred haunt of the Most High. God lives here, the streets are safe, God at your service from crack of dawn. Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten, but Earth does anything he says. Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us. Attention, all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. "Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything." Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us.

-Psalm 46 (Message)