Life Out Of Context

I once made a comment to a friend that appeared to have taken them aback. This comment wasn't intended in any way to offend (I love this friend very much), but instead to point to a necessary and very important truth of core priority. It wasn't something that I just tossed out in passing or without my own understanding of the real potential power of its meaning in any one's life. I've personally lived to experience the fruit of it. 

Let me say first that my own efforts as a follower of Christ aren't perfect. I rise every day with new hope to be better than the day before with Jesus' help. I'm definitely a child of amazing grace, so I have no elevation above any others in the same position.

But I've discovered that this life's difficulties are often intended to bear eternally profitable fruit in the lives of God's children. They're not meant to tear down, but to build up and to refine the character of the souls of the children that our Heavenly Father cherishes and will continue to enjoy throughout the length of eternity. This in essence is something that any good earthly father seeks to accomplish in his own children, but it's something that our loving, all knowing and perfect Father God ... does perfectly. 

It's the positive aspects of this process that our brother James was focusing on when he said that the troubles that we face are a cause for joy. He could truthfully say this with conviction because his perspective of the subject was in line with that of the Father who's continually training us for eternal success - a perspective that we sometimes struggle to grasp while surrounded by worldly thinking and values ...

James 1:2-8
2 "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do."

I had indicated to my friend on an earlier occasion (using different wording), that there's often something for us to be learning when trouble comes. I went on to say that sometimes it's the Lord's intention to deal with us personally through things we encounter and that the part of the issue that we're most focused on in a moment of trouble isn't necessarily what He's focused on. He sees us as we are in total - much more clearly than we see ourselves. And His available wisdom to provide potentially meaningful opportunities for character refinement and growth are both a blessing and an act of grace. We don't necessarily see them as such or meet them with the kind of joy that our brother James is talking about, ... but we should.

There's another aspect of this passage of scripture in the book of James that touches on the the point of the aforementioned and yet to be revealed comment to my friend. It speaks toward the proper prominence, loyalty and position that we give to our Father God in every aspect of our lives. I believe that particular subject serves as the threshold toward living our lives in the predetermined, true and proper context of His plan ... and at peace in relationship with our Father God.

This person was experiencing difficulty in a relationship with another person and had been off and on for some time. Having known this person for a long while and also knowing that they appeared to be drifting spiritually, separated from fellowship and committed discipleship, I suggested well prior to the troubling comment in question that instead of focusing solely on fixing the other person and the chaos in their relationship, that they should first focus on examining themselves and their relationship with their Father and Creator and addressing any issues that came to light in an honest effort. I know for a fact from personal experience that as a child of God, if our relationship with our Heavenly Father is in limbo or chaos, it leaves our lives out of context with His plan and purpose for creating us in the first place. As a consequence, we may find that we're limiting our access to our greatest help and wisest counsel to resolve those life difficulties as well. In my experience, if that primary relationship isn't set right - first and foremost ... you're likely going to be in trouble no matter what you do. He doesn't want to lose us and will sometimes allow things to occur that will point us back in His direction if we're wandering. In addition to that, we also have an obligation to assess and correct the flaws in our own character and conduct before we attempt figurative brain surgery on someone we're in conflict with.

Matthew 7:3-4 (NLT)
3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?" 

It wasn't long before my friend began to recommit to fellowship and more actively seeking to follow Christ. I began to see a dramatic change in the heart of my friend and after a short time, things at home began to settle down for them as well. But then another relational flare up occurred. This one didn't seem to be quite as serious as the previous situation, but regarded still lingering issues and my friend came to me to voice some frustration. 

As I listened, my friend's friend was once again the overwhelming subject. My friend was deeply in love with this person (as is good!) and that love was all consuming ... and an all consuming primary obsession. Through the hours of intermittent conversation that I had engaged this friend listening to their troubles over the years, my friend's friend was always the prominent topic of conversation. And as we talked this time, I was beginning to suspect that my friend's more recent re-commitment to "walking the walk" might be more of a tool intended to achieve a result than it was about putting things in proper order and context. Once again the overwhelming obsession and topic of conversation was my friend's friend ... and then words came to me and I didn't hold them back... 

"The Lord did not create you to love your spouse more than you love Him. He created you to love Him." 

Silence...

We've talked some since, mostly just politely in passing and we've lightly discussed shallow topics, but that's about it so far. This friend is very dear to me and my relationship with them is one that I seriously treasure (and of course something I will continue to pursue). But I know in my heart that as a child of God, my friend has to get this right if they're to even have a hope of finding true peace in this life. The Lord's made no bones about it - He's told us that He's a jealous God and He's made it clear that His place in all of our life's priority, above anything and anyone else, is as #1 - El Numero Uno. I stand willing to be corrected as needed, but my conviction has strongly been that anything I put above Him, ... I may be risking and stand fairly and righteously to lose. This thought could be sobering for some as they consider their own priorities, but as we think about the majesty of our God and about putting things in proper perspective in our lives, I know without any doubt that putting Him first allows everything else in life to find its proper and lesser place. 

Matthew 10:37 (NLT) (Jesus speaking) 
“If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine."

When our lives are in proper context with what He's ordained in advance as a part of His plan, we begin to allow Him to bless us through our obedience. Regardless of how things in this life may appear, He's always the key to the puzzles in our lives and He's always the source to answer the questions we're confronted with. He's the omnipotent source that we are dependent on for the wisdom, help and provision that we need in any circumstance. And with our focus properly directed and invested in looking to Him first, we'll find what we need. There's no argument that supersedes His authority and there's no situation that exceeds His reach within the boundaries that He's set for Himself toward accomplishing His purposes. We may not always get what we want or get it when we think we should, but we will get what in His far superior wisdom He knows we really need, when we should have it. He is always faithful.

Matthew 6:33 (NLT) 
"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

The Lord's plan for this temporary life on earth existed before He formed the human race. It was with the intent to create man that He began to create the universe and everything in it. Secular science would attempt to teach us that we're a product of evolution - that we evolved from what somehow mysteriously existed. But the truth is that we as believers know that God created the universe and everything in it as a part of His ultimate plan to create us for His own pleasure. 

None of us were witness to the minute details of creation to truly know them and though many may engross themselves in argument and speculation, they're really not so important for us to know in order to find our proper place in the choreography of His plan - He's told us what we need to know. From there the action required is on us. It's our responsibility to accept what He's said in obedient faith and to fulfill our role according to what He's said. It's a humanly unchangeable plan that He's already set in motion. We can accept it and find our proper place in it, or conflict with it and accept the resulting consequences. It's a choice and it's ours to make.

How we choose to conform to His plan has a lot to do with determining what we experience as well as our overall progress toward our goal of being reformed into Christ's image. I think His plans and instructions have been misrepresented by some seeking their own purposes, but living according to what God intends for us really isn't complicated. It may not always be easy or the path to a life of leisure, but it's not complicated. He knows who He is, He knows what He likes and He knows that He has the authority to demand what He requires. He's provided us knowledge of what He requires if we're willing to invest to consume it. Our knowing is of course critical to our ability to navigate the path He's laid out for us and our understanding of His heart and His place over the universe makes it much easier to choose our response.

Psalm 33:4-9 (NLT)
4 "For the word of the LORD holds true, and we can trust everything he does. 5 He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the LORD fills the earth. 6 The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. 7 He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. 8 Let the whole world fear the LORD, and let everyone stand in awe of him. 9 For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command."

History has a habit of revealing how men and their governments often bring complications to their own existence, but God's government, plans and ordinances given for this life are quite simple by comparison. They're pretty clear in both their intent and spirit and they spell out both the benefits and the consequences of the possible choices we could make based on God's design. But men being imperfect as they are have on occasion attempted to confuse, dilute or misinterpret them in an effort to redirect others toward their own designs. Imperfect men will never create a perfect government, but there's no cause for worry, a perfect government does exist. If man had accepted it from the very beginning, things throughout man's history would have been so much different. But nothing about the potential of man's heart surprises God, He's known it from the start and His plan, made before he created man, has encompassed all possibilities. In the end, the government of our God will reign eternally - something we as followers of Christ look forward to longingly.

Jeremiah 17:9 NLT
 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?"

The rules for this life were perfectly conceived and set into motion before we began this journey and they remain as unchanged and unchangeable as the God who made them and declared them into existence. Since then, our response to them and the choices we've made, have dictated to a large degree how many times we've crashed into them and suffered the consequences of our noncompliance with what God has mandated from the very beginning. There are likely some who are oblivious to the true causes of their struggles and others still who are seemingly immune to the effects of their misguided travels. But in the end no one will be left to wonder and no reward left without presentation when this chapter of life comes to its appointed close and the eternal next is revealed.

Romans 11:33 NLT
"Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!"

Some see God's declarations and rule as confining to their personal liberties and struggle for independence when in fact, the reverse is true. In truth they serve to confine only evil and it's accompanying harm to us and they set the conditions for developing a personal relationship with our creator which allows us the potential to tap into the wonder and power that created the universe. Anytime mankind has departed from God's given rules, the effects have been decaying and far too often devastating ... and yet some people and indeed nations, still miserably fail to observe and learn from the history of mankind's departures. I sometimes struggle to understand the fight of so many to argue against the rule and precepts of our God. It's a war against what is truly peaceful, pleasant and just and though I understand satan's role in all of this, I sometimes still struggle to understand the minds of men to accept any part in it.

Life may seem so complicated at times, but in a general sense, it's really quite simple. It's not a mystery. The road of this life was paved before us by the one who created it and we can choose to follow it as it's laid out, tracing it's path with diligent intention, or we can encounter the continual chafing of the guard rails and the bouncing off of them at the curves - it's completely our God given choice. There are some admittedly, who travel completely outside the guard rails and seem to get away with it...

Luke 16:8 (NLT)
 “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light."

... but down that figurative road there's a tunnel coming up through a massive immovable mountain of rock. It's called the day of judgment and at the moment of impact, they'll quickly and regrettably discover that the entirety of their journey was horribly in vain.

Revelation 4:11 (KJ)
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

What's so often promoted as our only chance to seek pleasure and our own mortal satisfaction before we die short circuits the truth of what we were created for. It's a lie. What and who we are along with the reality of eternity as God, the author of each has determined them to be is in conflict with a one life to live mentality and the concept that the one with the biggest pile of perishable human made junk in the end wins. This in large part is the work of our enemy on the battlefield of our lives - launched quietly, deceptively and often in seemingly innocent, yet corrosive ways to corrupt and entrap what God loves so dearly.

Romans 12:2 (NLT)
"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

We're called to be set apart as the bride of Christ from the corruption of this world. By answering that call as we endeavor to follow Christ through this momentary life, we'll find ourselves more narrowly accepted by the corrupted world around us as it continues to consume itself on its decaying path. But keeping in context with our God will find us truly satisfied, truly loved and at peace even as we follow Him here through the chaos of a corrupted world ... and in the end, ultimately victorious. The reward we'll realize soon at Christ's return is far beyond anything this world has to offer and the rest of the world only has a little time left to recognize its' contextual error before receiving the reality of its horrific reward.

Isaiah 43:7 (NLT)
"Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them."

In spite of any thoughts to the contrary, our God owns everything that He's made - that includes the earth and everything in it - even us. His grace and generosity to share with us what belongs solely to Him in His omnipotence, including each other, speaks volumes against the spirit demonstrated largely in the thinking, values and will of mankind's current society. 

When the day comes and the reality of our lives meets with God's truth, could there be anything more dangerous than a life out of context? We've got to be sure of our footing on our journey and to make sure that our understanding of this life is in agreement with it's context as given by the God who not only gave us this life, but gave His own in Christ in order to give us another chance to get it right. Our success in anything in this life and beyond is determined in part by our submission to accept our God's plans and His order as He's given it ... living within it and honoring His purpose for it.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NLT)


4 “Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Early on, what should constantly be of the greatest importance - the most talked about topic and priority of daily conversation was revealed. We have the opportunity of freedom from the ultimate final penalty of disobedience to the law through Christ, but the Lord's plans, intentions, priorities and position haven't changed.

Much of mankind is consuming himself with himself as revealed in the media every moment of every day - creating the potential for a monstrous distraction from what was given by God as mankind's priority. This is making it evermore important for our focus to become sharp, refined and steadfast.  

Mark 12:30 (NLT)
 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

... this is the key to beginning to living life in context - the way He intended and ordained it to be. Establishing this as the very core of our existence and motivation in life sets our feet on the path that begins to lead to everything else falling into place. 

Things to consider ...