I used to want precise answers to all the questions, and I used to think I could actually obtain precise answers to all the questions. But I’m learning that the straight and narrow sometimes isn’t, and that God might in fact be OK with that.
Sometimes, in our efforts to make so many things absolute and perfectly perfunctory, we skid sideways off the bigger, realer, absolutes.
What does God want me to do ten years from now? I have no idea. I have a slight idea of what God wants me to do a year from now, but even that’s pretty hypothetical.
And I don’t think I’m alone in this. Sure, we act like we know this road, but I think we’re all just trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our lives.
I tested this theory with a group of about four hundred expats. I had everyone over thirty stand up and I said, “Think back to when you were eighteen years old, finishing up high school, maybe preparing for some travel or a gap year. Now, let me ask you a question, ‘Are you where you thought you’d be, doing the thing you thought you’d be doing? If so, please sit down.’”
Two people sat down.
The rest of us had no idea we’d be here doing the things we’re doing.
But walking in the dark can be scary, especially when everyone looks like they know exactly where they’re going and what they’re doing. We’re walking in the dark pretending we see. And so is everyone else.
If you find yourself in the dark today, not sure of what to do or where to go, I’d like to give you three pinpoints of light. Three true stars by which to navigate the night.
On whatever continent you find yourself, across whichever sea, whatever generation you claim, and whatever country claims you, may these three reminders illuminate your today.
1. Adore Him
Maybe you started off adoring Him, but it wore off. Maybe you started off really valuing Him and loving him with everything. But maybe that was a long time ago. Maybe you started trading.
In the historical Psalm 106:20, the Psalmist writes of God’s people, “They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull.” It’s one of the saddest verses in the whole of Scripture. They traded God for a statue. Of a bull.
And sometimes, we do too.
We must stop the trade. We must begin to see the bull for what it is.
But rather than pointing out the bull’s obvious cheapness, let’s point out our God’s obvious and immense value.
He is amazing. Pause and ponder this…
The smartest surgeons use their hands to fix bodies.
God uses his hands to make bodies.
The most brilliant psychologists understand the brain.
God wires it, connecting neurons and synapses,
washing it all in neurotransmitters.
Skilled poets use words to create feelings.
God uses words to create constellations.
Master artists paint with a thousand colors,
but have you ever seen the sun on fire,
sinking into the ocean?
This is our God. Adore him. Never ever exchange him for a cow.
2. Love People
We follow a guy who loved people really well. When he was popular and when he was persecuted, he saw what people needed and he cared. And he still does.
Jesus wasn’t afraid to violate all sorts of cultural norms and/or rules to love people. He did not always act like a normal, proper, culturally appropriate, religious Jew. Often, he offended the religious people to love the hurting people.
Some of you have traveled half-way around the world to love people, but you’re finding it really hard to love the people you live with. You want to change the world? Start by loving the folks closest to you.
If you love the people of your host country more than you love the people you live with, you’re a hypocrite. If you love the people you’re serving more than you love the people you left, you’re a hypocrite.
If you traveled abroad to love on cute little nationals, but you can’t stand your family or the messy toddlers (or teenagers) in church, you’re a hypocrite.
Yes, love all the people in the world. Start with the person in front of you.
A Prelude to Love
To love someone with your heart, you have to be OK spending some time down in there, and frankly, many people aren’t. The heart is where we store our pain, and if there’s a lot of pain buried in there, it’s going to be scary. It’s going to hurt. But, if you really want to love people, you’re going to need to get down into your heart and see what’s there.
If it’s pain, so be it. Take that pain to Jesus and let him heal you in the deep places. Because the more whole and healed your heart is, the more you’ll be able to go down in there and really love people.
[If you’re looking for a safe place to start this journey, check out Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and/or Finding Spiritual White Space.]
3. Walk Boldly
Here’s what’s so cool about following Jesus and being an adopted kid of God: If you are a child of the King, YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE KING! You are loved and adored by the highest. So walk boldly.
If you put a tennis ball 100 meters away from you (about one football field, for our American readers), the ball would be covering up about 3,000 galaxies. And since scientists believe the universe is pretty uniform, if you put that tennis ball 100 meters away from you in any direction (including underneath you), behind it would be another 3,000 galaxies. For reference, nearly all the stars you see in the night sky are in one galaxy, the Milky Way.
And assuming all those galaxies have roughly the same number of stars as the Milky Way, then behind that tennis ball, 100 meters away from you, there are 600,000,000,000,000 stars. (That’s six hundred trillion.)
One tennis ball covers up that much stuff, and the One who spoke it into existence knows you. And loves you. So walk boldly.
But boldness without humbleness is just jerkiness.
Boldness by itself can be really annoying. In Cambodia, some folks drive boldly in their big cars.* They’re not afraid, because they have power and they know it. In America, we say “Lights on for safety.” In Cambodia, they say “Lights on ‘cause we’re more important and you need to get out of my way NOW!”
Boldness must sleep with Humbleness to give birth to Christlikeness. And if you can figure out how to walk boldly and humbly, you will change the world.
Be bold because you know who God is.
Be humble because God knows who you are.
Walk boldly because you know Jesus.
Walk humbly because Jesus knows you.
Conclusion
I don’t like the dark. I never have. I like to know exactly where I’m going, when I’m going to get there, and how many McDonald’s there are along the way. But life doesn’t seem to work like that. So, when I find myself unsure and blind, I remember these three flashes of truth.
I might not know where I’ll be a year or ten from now, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got enough light for now. I can navigate the night when I remember these three burning callings:
- Adore Him
- Love People
- Walk Boldly
There’s not much to this, really, but when you’re walking in the dark, a little light goes a long ways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Questions for Pondering:
Have you traded God for a bull? Why?
Do you love “the lost” more than your spouse? Child? Friend?
Is God asking you to walk boldly? Or humbly? Or both?
Which one is hardest for you? Adoring God, Loving people, or Walking Boldly? Why?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*You know how I deal with all the “bold” drivers in Cambodia? I sing to them…