The Application

Does anybody remember that song “Ironic?” I used to pretend I knew all the words (and that I could sing) as were driving on the bus to junior high basketball games. Anyhow, I have a new lyric for it: Isn’t it ironic when you write this ridiculously long blog on the importance of perspective, attitude, and keeping your center on Christ, only to shut your computer down, and immediately struggle with that very thing..and lose?? I won’t go into all of the details, in part because they don’t involve just me, and in part because they would quickly show how selfish and shallow I am.
Anyway, suffice it to say that I wrote out the things on my heart a few nights ago, thought that I had maybe been able to provide some words of encouragement, and even felt like I was ready to tackle whatever mud and mire Satan could throw at me. I’m just thankful I can’t hear him laugh out loud…
Why do we do that? Why is it we can think such good thoughts about something, be so ready to do it, to fight for it, to make it happen…only to find ourselves struggling with it a few seconds later? In just a few days since writing about the junk Satan tries to drag us through, I have found myself in that same junk more than I care to admit. Lord, it is with pained hearts we come to You and confess that loving Your Word and Your ways, desiring You, wanting You more than life is so hard. We want it, we know we should want it, and yet everything within us fights against it. God forgive us. You alone are worthy, Lord. Let us fight to believe it, Father. Let us fight to live it, to breathe it, to consume it as sustenance…God You are so much more than anything else. Nothing compares, so incline our heart to Your word and Your ways, open our hearts and our eyes that we may realize what You desire of us, unite our hearts so that every thought, every breath, everything is of the single-mind of knowing, loving, and obeying You, satisfy us with only You so that we will not be pulled down into the pits Satan lays for us. Do all these things in us that Your name may be made know, that You may be praised. Oh Lord, You’re worthy

So…again I have to ask….why the struggle?? Why did I think I had it all figured out, only to find that it was way harder than I realized? I think part of that is because….that’s life. In the words of Coby Colley, we’re a jacked up people. Our hearts don’t naturally want to do those things that we know are life (even Paul dealt with that battle!). And so we don’t want to choose to love Christ more than anything, to put Him in our eyes above all else. And yet, that is the beauty of choice. It’s intentional. It’s action. It’s a decision I make and have to carry out. It’s not something that is forced upon me….I must recognize that my beloved Jesus is worth more than my very life and choose to hang everything I am upon Him. I think that’s why the Lord cries out through Samuel: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22), choosing Him means we recognize His glory, His worth, and we desire it above all else.
The other beautiful thing about choice (or maybe I should say, the difficult thing about choice) is that it is a daily battle. Every morning, I must renew my love for my Father…every morning I must renew my discipline and my diligence for Him, every morning I must awake and remind myself that my hope and expectation are in Him, because there is no other place to lay them…there is nothing else I want other than to love Him, know Him, and follow Him. Part of the reason I think we struggle with carrying things out is that a lot of times we fail to think about application. I’m a first grade teacher, and let’s face it…first graders are smart, but there’s still a lot they don’t know. One of the things I try to do with my kids is to help them visualize things…especially when I’m trying to help them learn a certain behavior or procedure. Over and over we talk about what it should look like to walk in a straight line in the hall, what it sounds like to talk quietly in the cafeteria, how it feels to do our job at the Gathering area, what it means to do your job on your worksheet. Over and over, we drill application. That way, when it comes time to execute what I’m teaching them, they have a picture in their mind to follow.
We have to do the same thing as believers. We must think about the application of our faith. We have to realize that choosing Christ is going to be a daily choice…a daily battle. So, I’m going to pretend that I’m in first grade again. What is it going to like today for me to follow Christ…to hold onto Him as my Treasure and not let go? What needs to happen for me to do that? Lots of things: I need to be diligent to spend time with Him, to be in His Word, to talk with Him, to meditate upon His ways and what He has shown me and apply it to my life. In Psalm 119:121, David says, “I have done what is just and right…” how could he say that with such confidence? Every single day, he gorged himself on the word of the Lord, he thought about it, chewed on it, devoured it until it burned in his heart and mind. And then, he followed it. Another thing I have to do is slow my life down. I find myself so stinkin’ quick to react, to respond. Far too often, I do so, and then cause pain, to others and myself. Instead, Lord, help me to stop, to think about how I should act according to Your ways. Doing so allows me to pursue You as my Treasure and my life. I also need to remember that this truly is a process, that I need to allow the Lord to continue His work in me, day in and day out. Doing so will help me remember to take it one day at a time, moment by moment, battle by battle.
I don’t know if that helps or not. My prayer is that each day will lead me (and you, my dear fellow traveler), into a closer walk with my Lord, that every single part of the process will be seen as my journey towards Him, my Treasure and my life.
Be blessed…