Get ready to change the world!

This morning as I turned on the news I was reminded of the utter turmoil in the world. Violent acts of hatred were being reported and it made my heart ache. Unfortunately that anger and hatred is not only a news story, it can be closer to home. I turned off the news to speak with an individual who told me of repeated abuse in their home. That conversation was quickly followed by another disturbing and heartbreaking call, and while on the phone with that individual a text came in from a colleague sharing how difficult things had become in their context. This was all before 11 am!

Awful things all around us…how do we show grace, love and compassion when everywhere we turn we see or experience the exact opposite?

Mahatma Gandhi is credited in saying, “be the change you want to see”. The reality is, Gandhi never actually said that, though I don’t think he would disagree. What Gandhi actually said was much more profound:

“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.” – Mahatma Gandhi

I love that: “As we change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.” But we know changing ourselves is hard, particularly with the distractions the world throws our way.  How can we change ourselves, much less the world?

In Acts 1:8, Jesus promises to give us, as he promised his disciples, the power to do it. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”  When we ask Jesus into our lives, we receive His power and His mission.

Jesus believes we can be part of changing the world. I believe it, do you? We must believe it.  As we show grace, love and compassion to those who don’t show it or even deserve it, things will change.  The world can change.

As we are faithful to Jesus, God will change our world — one step and one person at a time.  Empowered by the Holy Spirit, God will use each of us. Be ready to change the world!

As the deer

A few weeks ago, Jo-Anne, one of our faithful and talented elders at Amberlea, blessed the congregation with a message straight from her heart. She was amazing. To support her message she requested that the band play the song “As the deer” taken from Psalm 42.

If you were a church person in the late 80’s, you would know this Psalm because it was put to music and sung all the time, particularly around campfires and youth meetings!

As the band played the song on Sunday, the Psalm came flooding back.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.

I remember singing this Psalm when I was in my early twenties and thinking then how I understood the desire for God the Psalmist speaks off.  “My soul” he says, “pants for you.” However now, many, many years later with the benefit of experience and life, this verse means so much more.

A deer pants for a few reasons. Perhaps the obvious is thirst. I understand thirsting for God. Thirsting for the peace and comfort that comes with a closeness to God.

But perhaps a more striking reason is that a deer pants when it is being chased by a predator. As soon as a deer escapes and knows it is safe, it will immediately look for water to replenish its depleted inner stores. But, if a deer runs for too long from an enemy and cannot get to water, the panting from lack of water will cause the deer to collapse and die.

The Psalmist, David, wasn’t being poetic when he wrote “as the deer pants for water”. He was an experienced hunter and outdoorsman. He was being very real in his cry to the Lord.

“As the deer pants for water“, meant that David was becoming exhausted, worn out and depleted from being pursued by the enemy and he had reached the point inside of himself that he wanted to lay down and just give up and die.  Not to sound overly dramatic but there have been seasons in my life where that has felt true for me, as well. Something I didn’t truly appreciate in my early twenties.

Have you ever felt that way?

David wrote a very deliberate cry to the Lord: As the deer pants for water, Lord!!! So my soul pants after YOU!!! He is saying, Lord, my soul thirsts for You, the Living God!

Not only in the good times, but in his most desperate hours, David turned to the Lord. He longed for the Lord. He sought the Lord. He worshipped the Lord.

As the deer pants for the water, does your soul pant after God?

As we enter the season of Lent, the time of reflection and prayer before Good Friday and Easter, I pray your heart and mind will lean into God, in fact, pant after God. As you do, may you be filled with awe and wonder of all God has done for you!

Let me

So, for the most part, I am a planner.  I like to work ahead and have time to tweak and be creative in work, in play and in life.  It’s generally good to be “organized” and to plan, but what the last few years have taught me is that I can plan all I want, but some things are just out of my control!

As I was reading scripture the other day, this struck a chord. Proverbs 16:3:

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans. 

I have read this verse countless times but this time was different. On this day, I came to the sudden realization that I have been reading this verse wrong all these years.  I have actually been reading it backwards. I have been reading it as, ‘Commit your plans to the Lord and He will establish whatever you do.’

What I’ve done is planned and then presented it to the Lord, and said, “Lord will you bless this?” Or “Lord, will you make this happen?”  But Proverbs doesn’t say that, it says: Commit to the Lord whatever you do and HE will establish your plans!

And here is the other thing that struck me. There are times when we might read this verse and think, ‘I don’t have anything that can even turn into a plan.’

I want to remind us of something…Do you remember the story of Moses? Do you remember when God said to Moses at the burning bush, “What do you have in your hand?”?

In Exodus 4, Moses was acutely aware of his own weaknesses, and he expressed to the Lord his fear in God’s call to him to lead Israel out of bondage.

So God simply asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?” (Exodus 4:2).

God shifted Moses’ attention away from his anxiety about the future and suggested he notice what was right in front of him—a shepherd’s rod. And God used that ordinary staff to perform extraordinary miracles.

So, today, hear the Lord saying to you:

“What do you have in your hand? Commit that to Me and let Me establish your plans.”