Unsettled? Ask The Spirit

The difference between Jr. Novice and Sr. Novice hockey is amazingly vast.  In Jr. the kids all congregate like bees to honey around the puck.  Together they follow it all ten of them, falling down and taking others with them.  In Sr. they are learning positions, learning where best to be to help their team, and they learn their role rather than just chasing the puck.  It is far more fun for a dad to watch, and I can tell that my man Caleb is gaining a better understanding of the game as a result.

Recently I have been giving a lot of thought to this unsettled concept.  The idea that maybe we have settled too soon in our Christian walk, and as a result have missed out on what God has called us to.  Another example of this could easily be Moses.  In Exodus 2 we see that Moses after running away from Pharaoh for killing an Egyptian, settles in the land of his father in law.  It says he became content in the land.  So much so, that when God shows up in a burning bush to call Moses to the heart pounding, exhilarating mission to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land, Moses argues and doesn’t want to leave.

He was willing to trade a revolutionary leading, sea splitting, mountain top rumbling, law proclaiming, GLORY OF GOD observing life for one that smelled of sheep.  He would have spent the rest of his life bored.  Waiting for vacation, longing for retirement, and wondering what could have been.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a life wasted wondering what could have been.  I want to be a follower of Jesus that responds to the call to take up your cross and follow Him, with, “Maybe, when I feel like it.”  I don’t want to say I am a follower of Jesus, but go away sad because He says, sell everything you have and give it to the poor.  I want to follow Jesus into the life He has risen for me to have.

Now the question that this raises for me is, how do I know if I am the one called to

That raises the question though, how do I know if God is asking me to sell my house and give it all away, or just think more strategically about how to give sacrificially to the poor?  Sometimes calls from the pulpit, put out one need and everyone feels like Jr. Novice players chasing a puck.  We feel like we all have to do the same thing.  How do we know what it is we are called to do?

One of the most encouraging parts of Moses’ story is that the LORD directs him.  Moses though reluctant at times still heard the voice of God.  God told him where to spend his life and how, all Moses had to do was follow in faith.

Thanks to Jesus, and the work He completed, we know what position to play, we don’t all have to just flock to whatever need the preacher proclaims.  God is speaking, the Holy Spirit has descended and is willing to tell us how to spend our lives.  We need to learn to ask.

You see Jesus promised He wouldn’t leave His followers alone.  He went to send the Holy Spirit, to comfort, to teach and to bring to remembrance all that He taught.  The same Spirit that is in Jesus is in those of us who are true disciples of Jesus Christ (John 14:15-31).  The same God that spoke to Moses resides in the believer in the Holy Spirit.

God has a plan for you, He has a will for your life, and He has sent the guide, the comforter, not just to direct and bring comfort, but to be the direction and the comfort within us.

You can be sure God will speak, just be sure to check with Scripture to make sure it is the Holy Spirit and not something else.

Are you unsettled in your Christian life, but not sure what that looks like?  Ask the Spirit of God to direct you and He will.

Unsettled – Stuck In Haran

Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
(Genesis 11:31-32 ESV)

Recently if there was a word to describe how I feel about my own Christian walk, and the discipleship stage of the people I lead, the word would be unsettled.  I have been this way for a while.  I have had a sense like there is more to this Christian life than showing up at Church for Sunday morning services, singing, preaching, offering collecting, hand shaking and heading home for lunch and then giving my week to meetings.  Is this what Jesus meant when He said, “I have come that you would have life?”  I don’t think so.

As I was reading through the Bible again, I was struck by a man I had never before given much thought to, Terah.  Terah is Abraham’s dad.  Abraham get’s lots of attention and is one of the most influential men of all time.  Three major religions trace their roots to him Christians, Muslims and Jews.  Terah however is like a side note to the story.  Just a guy who fathered an important guy.

What strikes me about Terah though is this, I wonder if God had more for him, but he settled too soon. “they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.” They were under Terah’s leadership on route to the promised land, but when they got to Haran they got stuck.  The next you see of Terah is he lives 205 years and then he died.

He settled in Haran, and he died.  I am sure that Haran was a great place.  Terah likely made a good living, probably had a good life.  He raised a family, ran a business and set the kids up for the future.  He was content, happy with the way things were, he was in all ways settled.  Unfortunately he settled too soon.  The land of promise was before him and he stopped short of what could have been and he died there never knowing how full a life he could have had.  He settled in Haran, and he died.

It made me wonder how many of us are stuck in Haran.

How many of us are settled in our lives, settled with our jobs, our houses, our vacations, and because we have all of these things that bring us a measure of comfort, we stop the journey to the promise land, we stop seeking what God would have us seek?

What if God calls us to so much more?  How many of us have said, “I will serve you LORD, just on my terms.  Don’t move me, don’t disrupt me, don’t ask me to give up anything.  Just ask me to do the odd comfortable thing here when I have time, and then because I did such a great service sprinkle my life with all kinds of blessing.”

Here we find ourselves in a dilemma, because on one hand we say, “There has to be more to this Christian life than this.” and on the other hand we say, “But don’t move me or change my life.”

I think God is calling us to be unsettled.  I don’t think His mission or His gospel or His life demanded anything less than a total abandonment to our lives for the sake of following Him into real life.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  (Matthew 16:24-25 ESV)

Jesus tells us that is we want to find true life, we have to lay down the trappings of this life for the one He gives.  This means we must take a look at our lives, our stuff, our money, our opportunities and start asking unsettling questions.  It means we have to start talking to God and asking the Holy Spirit to give us direction so we can follow Jesus into life.

We have to ask questions like – How would God have me use my money? Do I really need this house? Do I need this vehicle? Am I supposed to be doing something different with my vacation time? How am I involved in sports, is it robbing me from what Jesus has a real life?  Have I made any sacrifices on behalf of the poor?  Does God want me to stay here, and would I be willing to go if He asked me?  These are just a few to get you started.

We must ask these questions if we don’t want to be stuck in Haran.  We must ask these questions if we want to live the life Jesus said we could live.  Jesus said that He came to bring us life, and He also knew we would have to give up our inferior life in order to have it.  Jesus is supreme, Jesus is the satisfaction you are looking for, Jesus is of such value, He is worth trading everything in for.

We will be always stuck in Haran if we don’t see Jesus for who He is.  If we don’t truly believe that He is enough, if we don’t truly pursue Him to His fullest and see Him as the one where all satisfaction is found, where all life is found.

Are you dissatisfied with the Christian life you are leading?  Maybe it’s time to leave Haran.