Oct 14 - Question 1

Out of the wilderness …

and into the Promised Land …

That’s our current goal at Spirit of Joy.

We’re tired of being tired. We’re frustrated with being lost. Like the Israelites, we thought that by being nice Christians we’d escape the shackles of Egypt, but we still don’t know how to get out of the desert! Here’s this week’s question: Are you ready for some freedom?!

Yesterday the first words of my sermon started with four questions. They are diagnostic. Like in the practice of good medicine, we’ve got to know the problem before we can start the healing.

Here’s what I’d like you to do with the next several day’s questions: Email me back your answer. It doesn’t have to be long … just honest. I will of course keep confidence. (But if it’s real sensitive, don’t send it across cyberspace! Just come and talk to me.)

Here’s the first of four diagnostic questions (and I’ll give you my answer in a moment …)

What do you complain about most?

(Hint: If you don’t know the answer to this, ask someone you live with. They know!)

RIGHT

NOW,

WRITE

ME

YOUR

ANSWER

…

BEFORE

I

SHOW

YOU

MY

ANSWER.

JUST

BELOW

IS

MY

ANSWER.

BUT

I

WANT

YOU

TO

THINK

ABOUT

YOUR

LIFE

ACTIVELY …

BEFORE

FOCUSING

ON

MINE

PASSIVELY!!!

SO

WHAT

DO

YOU

COMPLAIN

ABOUT

MOST?

I didn’t have to even think to know my answer to this question.

Whenever I come home from work, Mary Louise says, “How was your day?” Nine days out of ten, I complain, “I didn’t get enough done.” “I didn’t get accomplished what I wanted today.”

That’s honest. But do you see my problem?

When I’m focusing on what I accomplish, I’m relying on myself. “It is my job to accomplish things in the kingdom.” And while it’s good to work hard at any job (especially one in the church), this reveals a major flaw in my practical theology.

I may SAY that “God is powerful.” Indeed, I may truly BELIEVE it in my heart. But at a deep down practical level, day-after-day-after-day-after-day my actions reveal that I believe accomplishments in God’s kingdom are up to me.

I believe like a theist. I live like an atheist.

That’s a harsh self-examination. But that’s what I need.

I know God. I love God. I want his blessings. But it’s not until I’m honest with myself that I can see why I’m sometimes wandering in exhausted circles like the Israelites in the desert.

To make it to the Promised Land, I have to see the hole in my faith and practice. And most days, I trust in my effort … not God’s power and provision.

What do your complaints reveal about you?! Can you share it with me? And can you trust that this is the beginning of the victory?!

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who wants to shake

the desert sand out of my shoes

… Promised Land, here I come!