too early

I just cracked an egg into the trash can. so I’m standing there with the shell in my hand wondering what I did wrong. oh, ok I see now... round two: egg in the bowl. shell in the trash.

personal interest or God's priority?

Doing lots of good things, or as someone has said, “keepin’ busy for Jesus” individually may be a case of “good but not good enough.” Our Evangelical perspective has become so individualized that we may only think of individual good works. Doing good little things wherever convenient may sometimes be merely a way to justify and make credible in our own eyes our minimal personal salvation. Starting with our own talents and interests is common but it is the way of the world – it is getting things backwards. Don’t be upset – this is going upstream – but how can one’s subjective personal interests accurately predict God’s priorities?

We must start with His concerns, whatever our gifts, wants, and abilities. How can the four-year college major we once chose without reflecting on God’s priorities be assumed to define the direction of the next 50 years? We must “give our utmost for His highest.” Our obedience is certainly flawed if we focused only on what the world approves. Our obligation is to seek the expansion of the knowledge of the glory of God and His Kingdom, and the would logically require us to each prayerfully seek God about doing the hardest thing we are able to do in the most crucial task we can find. First John 3:8 says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that he might destroy the works of the Devil.” To follow Jesus is to go to war. This side of the Millennium that’s what the Christian life is. In a war what needs to be done comes first. And a true sense of accomplishment is not that you did what you wanted to do, or what you thought you were best at, but what you felt convinced was the most crucial, most important. Doing good things is the biblical way to portray God’s character and glory only if we are willing to act without inserting personal conditions.

-From Ralph D. Winter’s “Three Mission Eras: And the Loss and Recovery of Kingdom Mission, 1800-2000”

They started asking me in kindergarten what I was going to do when I grew up. The answer is the same today: I don’t know. And then begins the process of that person figuring it out for me. Well…what are you good at? What do you like to do? Or here’s a good one, what do you see in the world that makes you angry? After reading Winter’s long article that was super historical and hard to follow at times, the above conclusion blew my mind. I need to always be aware of the culture I come from and how it has impacted my attitudes, beliefs, morals, behaviors, reasoning, the way I make choices, asses risk, give value and practically everything else. My society is completely individualistic, but my God is all about community. It isn’t about me! Yes, God will use me in accord to how he has blessed me and he has put things in my life that will specifically prepare me for how he will use me, but who am I to decide what that is? Do I know more than him? I’ve heard “that’s not my gifting” used as an excuse far too often. I’m going to start listening intently to my own heart to see if I’m using it to get out of things. When making decisions about my future I need to give thought not to what I want to do, but to the priorities of God and his mission in this world.

You can’t put conditions on love
I would help my mother-in-law financially, but look who she gives her money to
I would support my missionary friend, but she hasn’t returned my calls
I would invite mom to the strand, but she gave her extra orchestra ticket to April
If it’s us who show the world what our God is like, we have to imitate our father’s unconditional love

man, that was a long day. I deserve some taco bell after all that.
wow. “deserve” is such an ugly word.
take every thought captive.