Friday, January 29, 2010

How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place, Oh Lord Almighty

Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere
Than thousands elsewhere...
"Better is One Day"
Matt Redman (I think? I hope!)



I really used to hate that song.

You're probably thinking it's a bit odd that I would choose to begin a blog with it then, right?

That would be true if I still hated it. But over the past few weeks, God has done some amazing things in my life, not the least of which is revealing to me the true meaning behind some of the lyrics I've been faithfully zoning out and singing along to in worship. It's so funny the way He can make things come alive when you allow the Holy Spirit to direct you in wisdom!

Anyway, can I tell you why I hated it?

It was mostly because I didn't believe it. I would sing those words - "Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere" - and think, "But I want a thousand more days here. I was blessed with a good life and I want to live it to the fullest!" And it's true - I have a wonderful husband and a brand new, beautiful little girl. I want to be here for them and for me. I surely want to go to Heaven and live forever with my Father, but I still have some things on my to-do list here!

No doubt some of you feel the same. A lot of you probably also feel a little twinge of fear, like I used to, when you read John 12:25: "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

But I have good news for us.

When we sing "Better is One Day," are we saying we don't want those thousand days with which God has blessed us? When we praise God for the blessings of this life, the things we love here on earth, are we condemning ourselves to "losing" our lives?

No, we are not!

When we sing out from our mouths, "Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere," we are simply singing the truth! We are stating a fact. Nowhere in that song do I hear the words, "This life you gave us was wretched and we don't want it," or "Please take us now so we don't have to deal with it anymore." At least, I hope not. If you truly feel that way, I would urge you to take your life's problems to God in prayer and ask Him for a full healing.

What we are truly saying is, "Lord, we are so blessed here on earth, but we know it's going to be that much better when we're with You in Your kingdom. Thank you that it doesn't end here!"

Me? I'm just thanking God that this song is no longer a discouragement to me. In fact, it's become more than a praise for God in my heart; it has become a huge encouragement to me. Even when I do not feel blessed, and when I am suffering through trials, this song reminds me to count it all joy, because I know that in the end, God wins. I am going to be with him forever in Heaven, and there is nothing in the world that can be so bad as to outweigh the blessing of that amazing truth. Hallelujah! 

So enjoy your thousands upon thousands of days - but just remember that every joy you experience here will only be multiplied when you are face to face with Your Heavenly Father.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Something of Eternal Value

I created this blogger account a few weeks ago in the spirit of New Year's resolutions. This year, I have made quite a few of them - something I don't usually do. I don't even really like to think of them as New Year's resolutions to be quite frank, as that whole idea seems kind of flippant and trivial to me (no offense to those of you who swear by them). But it just so happens that I'm going through a sort of spiritual awakening that started right around December 31st, and so all the changes that I wanted to make in my life began at the same time, the beginning of this new decade. I wanted to use this blog as a kind of accountability partner for myself - a place where I can track my journey and maybe make some friends who are experiencing similar steps.


Unfortunately, the day that I created the blog was a rather depressing day for me, and I started off on the wrong foot. I created exactly three entries before this one, and all of them were more of an outlet for my self-pity than anything else. But moments ago, I received a word from God by means of my bathroom reader (yes, God speaks to me in there) that this blog needs to be more than that. Despite the age that we live in, where we vainly update our facebook statuses and twitter accounts because we are sure we are so important that everyone must want to know what we are doing right now, and despite the seeming contradiction of the fact that I even have a blog that assumes others want to know what I think, I want to use this as some sort of ministry tool.


Because what I read today in my "Truth for Today" devotional by John MacArthur, the book that resides faithfully on top of my toilet tank just in case I feel like picking up some light reading in the restroom, really hit home with me. Today's installment was an anecdote based on Romans 1:11 - "I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established." It was about a Sunday school teacher who was convicted that she wasn't adequately preparing her lessons for her students, and that she needed to stop attending football games on Saturdays until she had "something of eternal value" prepared to share with them the next day.


You see, I am considering making (even more) changes in my life - I am considering committing myself to my church in a role that demands that I adequately prepare my soul each morning to serve God. As of right now, I am a new mother to a three-month-old, working part-time out of my home while caring for said baby, and trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to maintain some sort of order in my home. I can barely handle what I do have going on in my life right now, so how, you ask, can I possibly consider taking on ministry? 


Because something that I am succeeding at right now, by the grace of God, is soul care. I am able to read, pray, journal, and study God's word almost every day now because I have decided to make time for it, and the overwhelming abundance I am reaping from sowing that word into my life is unbelievable! It is only because I have finally recognized that it is my relationship with Him that has eternal value - that nothing else is as important as that, that everything else can wait - that I am able to do it. And I praise God for that. 


So this is kind of an experiment. Can I handle adding one more thing? Can I make more time, commit to something else that just might bless someone?


Hopefully this blog will be a manifestation of the grace I'm reaping right now. Hopefully this will be the "runneth over" portion of my cup - the blessings that are too big for one person alone and just must be shared with someone else. I pray that it will be an encouragement both to myself and to any others who might come across it. I pray that it would have "eternal value."