“I fear that many people seek to hear God solely as a device for obtaining their own safety, comfort, and sense of being righteous... My extreme preoccupation with knowing God’s will for me may only indicate, contrary to what is often thought, that I am overconcerned with myself, not a Christlike interest in the well-being of others or in the glory of God.”
I started my journey with this site by trying to find what matters, the purpose of my life, both individually and communally. Almost five years have flown by since that point and in many ways, I seem to have more questions than I did. However, as with the name of this website, I think that it has a lot to do with becoming smaller and letting God fill in the gaps in our lives. It is about trust, which I struggle with greatly.
The more that I learn, the more that I believe it boils down to us growing in His likeness (John 3:30). The changes that we desire to see in our lives may not come to fruition in the timing that we desire, but our character will change. Our willingness to spend time with God correlates with our growth in character just as training for some other activity does. I would liken it to learning an instrument or a sport. It takes time. There are days when you do not feel like doing it. This is the case with all habits.
I recently started running rather consistently and have recognized this tension in my life. Yesterday I ran about 2 miles but it was a struggle. I hated every step. My legs hurt. My mind was not right. There did not seem to be any benefit. However, this morning I ran 5 miles and it flew by quickly, even if I did not. Growing in our faith is very similar. There are days where we strive to seek out God and it feels like nothing comes and there are other moments where His presence can completely change the context of our lives.
SO WHY DOES THE LATTER NOT HAPPEN MORE OFTEN? HOW CAN WE RECOGNIZE GOD IN THE SMALL MOMENTS OF OUR LIVES? I THINK THERE ARE A COUPLE OF PRACTICES THAT ARE EASY TO APPLY THAT OPEN UP A WEALTH OF UNDERSTANDING.
Gratitude
Gratitude must become a daily ritual in our lives. Gratitude helps to inform the attitude of the heart. It opens the door to finding the little things that impact us every day and seeing the incremental growth that occurs over time. Gratitude allows us to notice God’s movement in our lives both longterm and at a daily incremental pace. Gratitude shifts our perspective away from the doubts that we may have about ourselves and our circumstances then enable growth to take place. It strengthens our faith and our ability to trust as we look back to see the successes and failures, which becomes areas of improvement.
Prayer
Prayer is hard. I am not going to shy away from that. It is something that I have had to do in my life, due to my growing up as a pastor’s kid and being in Christian education since fifth grade. It is also something that I do not necessarily believe can or should be mastered. I think that is the problem with the way we view prayer. Prayer is a conversation. It is a way of spending time with God. Prayer allows us to become friends with God, to put it very simply. It is not something we should check off of a list just like friendships in our day-to-day lives. It connects to the source, the One who can shape our character.
Working in Tandem
These aspects of our lives play off of one another. I know that I have written about them in earlier posts, but I believe that they have the power to transform our lives. It can be hard to be thankful when our situation is not going our way and when life has a more positive disposition, it can be easy to put God on the back burner. Keeping an attitude of thanksgiving forces us to return that to Him. This yields more time in conversation with Him and has an impact on our overall character. I believe this. However, it is important to remember that our growth is not just for ourselves, but to bring glory to God and to expand His reach in the lives of those around us. He must increase. I must decrease.
Results
A lot of the time we want to see results quickly. A couple of months ago, I did not think I would be able to run 5 miles, but today I did that. I have run close 5 days a week for the last 2 months. I have put in some work and it has paid off. Most of the time we gauge the success of our relationship with God on some emotional encounter with Him, a feeling of fulfillment or the tingling feeling that runs through your body when the air conditioning kicks back on. However, though these times can represent an amazing experience, I think that these are not always the best measurements for success.
Our feelings are not always reliable. For those of us who overanalyze every situation, I would challenge you to seek out your feelings in your encounters with God. We should not shove them to the side just because they are not always reliable, but remember that they are God-given and should be celebrated as such. Also, those who are more feelings centered, take some time to recognize that God is there whether we feel Him or not. That tingly feeling or emotional rush is not always going to occur and does not have to for us to live a full and joyous life.
Growth comes at God’s pace. If it was up to me I would be too selfish with that control. I would want it for the wrong reasons. He must increase and I must decrease. I am thankful for that today.