If life is not a series of “dos and don’ts” why do we reduce it into that so often? We as Christians always justify our choosing faith because it frees us, but yet we strap ourselves into situations where we are either ready for something or not, we are either pursuing right things or wrong things. If our faith isn’t a list of “rights and wrongs” “dos and don’ts” we shouldn’t try to make sure we are prepared for what is coming next. If life were meant to be lived prepared for every situation that God sends or allows, then he would have let us study before we existed here on earth. Our lives are more than calculated risks we take each day, week, month, or year. Our lives are meant to be lived each day, one day at a time, preparing enough to get through the current day, not worrying about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own. But we still worry, we still prepare for every situation that might happen, we still try to convince ourselves that we shouldn’t try something because “we’re not ready to be in that situation.” But were we ready to live life? Were we asked before we were born if we were prepared enough to breathe? Were we asked before we were born if we were ready to try to grow, to learn to talk, and move, and make decisions? Or were we put into this life to live it, and to live it in the “Will of God”? We are called not to ready ourselves for life, but to live life where we are in it. So many times we share our faith with people and we try to convince them that “you don’t have to get ready to accept Christ, you don’t have to clean yourself up, he’ll meet you where you are”, but yet after we’re on the other side, we must always “be ready for the next step in life, we must be ready to buy a house, we must be ready to find a spouse, we must be ready to do the “next big thing” that comes depending on the stage of life we are in. But my question is, when we “prepare” for the next big thing, are we really living on faith that God is in control? Do we lose sight of living on faith in our lives these days because we have such a control complex about ourselves and our lives and the people that we come in contact with, do we feel such a need to be prepared for the next part of our life that we miss out on blessings from trusting God? Do we render God “unnecessary” for daily living and provision by “preparing ourselves” for what’s to come?
I do not think preparation in and of itself is an evil thing. If I am told by a professor in school that I am having a test in a week and do not prepare, I cannot expect to make a good grade, these situations are not what I am talking about. The Psalms tell us that we should hide the Word in our hearts so that we will not sin, but that we will have the strength and power of God’s Word to help us stand up against temptation. That kind of preparation is crucial for a real and effective walk with Christ, but what the Word does not say is wait for situations that we think are the “right situations”. I do not think that our lives should be dominated by waiting for what we’re ready for. I believe that so many of us miss out on so much by only approaching what we’re prepared to do. I am not saying that if you have to address an audience that you “fly by the seat of your pants”, but what I am saying is that if you wait for the situation that you’re ready for to happen, you’re going to spend your life waiting, and preparing, and waiting, when God wants us to live, and to react, and to live, to live together in a community with others, others that we can’t be prepared to meet, that we can’t be prepared to interact with, that we can’t be prepared to even know why they are in our lives, but we know that we strive to fulfill the “Will of God” in our lives by living for God in all things. I do not think that God’s will is a list of things that each of us has to do in our lives in a particular order, and if we miss one, then we are out of God’s will and must go back to that part and complete it, or we are wrong. I think if we are chasing, whole heartedly running, after the glorious presence of God, he will bless us in what we do, because what we do is then for His glory and honor rather than to please ourselves. It becomes less a question of is A correct or is B correct, but a matter of “is my life pleasing to God because I’m living it for Him?” When we strip away all the “fluff” from our lives, when we take it to the bare core of our being, what is there? What are we living for? I’m reminded of the song “Heart of Worship”, and I feel that we sometimes miss the deepest point of that song by equating it to the singing section of a church service. But the song says:
“I’ll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself is not what you desire. You search much deeper within, through the way things appear, you’re looking into my heart. I’m coming back to the heart of worship, because its all about you, it’s all about you, Jesus. I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it, cause it’s all about you, all about you, Jesus.”
We think that song just means when we remove the flashy music from church, and we look at the hearts of the people worshipping through song, what’s there? But the what I believe Matt Redman meant by writing these words was more than just songs, more than just a “worship service” examination, but more of a life of worship examination. Where is your heart? What are you allowing to guide your life? Are you allowing your life to be restricted only to situations that you’re prepared for? If so, break free from that prison, live the full life, the life God intended, the life of faith, the life that acts on the faith that we proclaim we have. The life that lives as though we believe it’s more than a list of “do this and don’t do this”, because we’re quick to proclaim it when we share Christ, but we’re also quick to revert back to this way of thinking after we become believers. We convince people that this is a life full of freedom, but then allow ourselves to become enslaved to preparedness. Break away from that, break into a life of faith; real, true, strong, enduring FAITH!
