Selfishness is a gangrene, eating at the very vitals. Sin is a cancer, poisoning the blood. Peace is the rhythm of our wills with Jesus’ love-will.
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
~1 John 4:10.
The Gospel calls us to abandon any semblance of balance in our own lives. We not only “can’t take it with us,” but, truly, we can’t have it now. Life in Him is an all-out, heroic, daring, adventurous affair! Let’s remember one thing though: The G_d to whom we are abandoning our lives is absolutely coherent. He does all things well. There is a rhythm to the way He operates in, through, and for His children.
So, if we find our lives in true chaos, let’s be careful before we default to the idea that G_d may be somehow missing something. Could it be that we are trying so hard to live some human ideal of a “good christian life” and attempting to control the outcomes of our circumstances, rather than yielding fully to His Presence in our lives? Oh surely, absolute surrender takes us to the “bleeding edge” of life, but it is a life of beautiful precision – each moment ordained by His Love and Power and Wisdom.
So, a problem emerges when life is not matching up to how it should be inside of us. We are trying to give everything to Him, but we are not sure how to get there. Morton Kelsey frames the problem well:
Again, how do we live this unbalanced, all-out, bleeding-edge life of precision in Him? The answers may not seem intuitive… yet. But, do you want Him to show you how?
Try these three exercises:
1. Remember the Cross! Was His death for us a chaotic affair? Or was this the ultimate example of the all-out, unbalanced, heroic, daring, bleeding-edge, precisely on purpose Life? This video gives insight into the Rhythms of His Wonderful Grace.
2. The Four “S’s:”: Chuck Swindoll (among many others) have touched upon four important “S’s” to help get us into G_d’s Rhythm for our lives. And, oh by the way, we are talking about big-giant-heaping portions of the following!
- Silence: Turn off the TV, cellphone, iPod, and laptop. Just go somewhere on purpose and be quiet.
- Solitude: Yeah, physically alone. But, oh beloved, you will find HE is there!
- Simplicity: Try it. Unwind the complexity. Less stuff, less fast food, less events, just LESS.
- Surrender: There is no room for both “self” and a fully surrendered relationship with G_d. It just does not work. And, quite frankly, if we get honest – we know it.
3. Remember the flow! It’s not us moving towards G_d! It has always been about Him moving towards us.
~1 John 4:10.
Oh beloved, it is a beautiful rhythm. Just dance! Dance with Him tonight.
