It is hard to reconcile the tasks of job, family, household work and all the unexpected demands of life with the spiritual disciplines of quiet reflection and ongoing effort to block out the noise of the world. When I am in those moments, soaking in the deeply refreshing wellspring of the Word, I can imagine no greater thing. At the same time, I wonder how many of us Christians make the time to do it. The clock ticks with deadlines, phone calls, bills, schedules and all too often mindless escapes from all of the above. Our crisis is that we are a people who do not know how to rest and furthermore, we wiggle, uncomfortable with it. Each of our stories are being painted with meaninglessness and all too often we resist anything more spiritually vulnerable. As our busyness increases, a higher cost is paid. It’s a daunting question to answer: what is the cost I am paying to ignore the most important matters for my soul, my family, and my closest friends? At what altar am I sacrificing?
Tonight I was able to hear Bethany Hamilton speak at a local church in OCNJ. At age 13 she was attacked by a shark when surfing in the waters near her hometown in Hawaii. There are many inspiring details to her story, but a few things hit home to me. At such a young age there was an already, deeply rooted spiritual core. Her life was not overwhelmed by this trauma because her life was hidden in One more stable. It is hard to fathom that a 13 year old could care about the spiritual world in a way that Bethany did. For all of us who influence the young, we must inspire them to look higher, to search for more meaning and to say “no” to the self-absorption that plagues our nation. Unfortunately, most of us fall into the lie that a meaningful life comes when they are older. Not so. We do a disservice by not being another voice in their lives, telling them there is more. Showing them there is more.
Two weeks prior to her accident where she lost her arm, Bethany and her mother began to pray together that God’s will would manifest itself more clearly in her life. As an avid surfer she was challenged by the raging waves, learning to conquer their power with her board. Yet at the end of the day, she knew this would not be enough. At 13 she knew she wanted more than the pleasure of surfing. Looking back, she is now well aware of the fact that this was the Lord’s means of opening up more influence to the world. Like a stone tossed in a lake, the ripple effect moves further and further out. What do we want for our kids? Safety? Security? Ease? Fun? Happiness? Financially stable life? Moral behavior? When reading the Sermon on the Mount, our eyes are realigned to the truths of the Kingdom. God’s Kingdom stands in direct opposition to the Kingdom of this world. One is temporary and a chasing of the wind, one is peace-giving and eternal. One is our natural bent and one is altogether impossible unless we have been given a new nature.
Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest says it well on today’s date, June 15. Here is the entry. I could read this every day; oh how we need this truth wallpapered on our minds.
Also . . . add to your faith . . . —2 Peter 1:5
In the matter of drudgery. Peter said in this passage that we have become “partakers of the divine nature” and that we should now be “giving all diligence,” concentrating on forming godly habits (2 Peter 1:4-5). We are to “add” to our lives all that character means. No one is born either naturally or supernaturally with character; it must be developed. Nor are we born with habits— we have to form godly habits on the basis of the new life God has placed within us. We are not meant to be seen as God’s perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace. Drudgery is the test of genuine character. The greatest hindrance in our spiritual life is that we will only look for big things to do. Yet, “Jesus . . . took a towel and . . . began to wash the disciples’ feet . . .” (John 13:3-5).
We all have those times when there are no flashes of light and no apparent thrill to life, where we experience nothing but the daily routine with its common everyday tasks. The routine of life is actually God’s way of saving us between our times of great inspiration which come from Him. Don’t always expect God to give you His thrilling moments, but learn to live in those common times of the drudgery of life by the power of God.
It is difficult for us to do the “adding” that Peter mentioned here. We say we do not expect God to take us to heaven on flowery beds of ease, and yet we act as if we do! I must realize that my obedience even in the smallest detail of life has all of the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I will do my duty, not for duty’s sake but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience all of the magnificent grace of God is mine through the glorious atonement by the Cross of Christ.
Our walk of faith is established upon the ordinary days upon more ordinary days. Our habits and intentional investment into spiritual things are imperative. His grace comes this way.
I wonder if any of us would say this level of faith, this altering of our values, is worth losing an arm over? Bethany would say, “yes.” And for that matter, so would Joni Eareckson Tada. If you don’t know her story....look it up. She’s another hero in the truest sense of the word.
