A Can of Soda

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.-James 1:17, NIV

May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm!-Ephesians 1:3, AMP

Let’s say that God gave you a small can of Coke, which just happens to be your favorite soda.  Would you be happy that it He gave you something so special, or would you complain that you did not get a big bottle of it?  If your best friend got an ice cream float from God, would that change your perspective of your gift?

God gives us gifts on a daily basis.  Whether it is a healthy social life—friends that will always be there for you and will help you grow—or a job that allows you to pay off your accumulating bills, God knows what gifts to give you for whatever situation you are facing.  He knows exactly what to give us based on our needs!

There are people out there who struggle with being content what they have.  There are things in my life for which I am grateful, such as my relationship status, my house, and my group of friends.  However, I also wonder why God did not bless me when I asked for a summer job or healing from the digestive issues that I have.  Instead of focusing on the fact that he answered my prayer for true godly friends, I worried about how I was going to pay for college.  I would enviously look at people who had successful jobs and little bills to pay, wondering why God blessed them and not me.

I know I talk a lot about being content with where God has you right now, but it is something that we always forget, especially in an age that expects and demands instant results.  For example, you may want to get married and have a family later in life, but the world expects you to sell yourself short and find someone now.  It is even harder to wait when your friends are all getting married, and your family members are asking when you are going to find that special someone.  God has a plan for you right now, and even if it does not directly relate to what you want to do in the future, it will help you grow in ways that you would never expect. 

One of my favorite parables in the Bible is the story of the workers in the vineyard.  A landowner hired people to work on his vineyard.  He promised to give them a denarius for the work that they were going to do; the workers happily agreed.  Throughout the day, more people asked for work, and the owner of the vineyard agreed to pay them as well.  At the end of the day, all the workers lined up to receive their money.  The landowner gave the people who had only worked for part of the day a denarius.  The workers who had worked all day excitedly approached the landowner for their pay, knowing that they deserved more money than the people who had worked a short period of time.  They expected to get much more, because they had done more work.  However, the landowner gave them all a denarius.  Those who had worked all day grumbled against the landowner; they told him that he was being unfair (Matthew 20:1-11).

“I am not being unfair to you, friend,” The landowner replied. “Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.  Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:13-15, NIV).  God says this to us today.  He promises to give us what we need.  We are content because we are getting something special.  However, when someone else comes along and gets the same gift—or worse, a better gift—we begin to grumble against God.  We quickly forget that God, the creator of the universe, the giver of life, the one who has the power to do anything, loves us so much that He has a plan for us and He intends to do anything and everything He can to give us the best.

For years, I was not content with my life.  I constantly wanted a boyfriend, and I would do anything and everything I could to make my crush like me.  When I would see my friends with their boyfriends I would wish that I had someone like that.  I missed the fact that God had given me great guy friends to enjoy.  I had spent so much time trying to make them my boyfriends that I did not take the time to appreciate how much they cared for me as friends. 

I have been learning that God’s bottle of soda for me is godly men who can be my friends.  I have gotten sick of dating (or trying to date) every nice guy that ever came into my life.  Now, I am enjoying my friends and not expecting anything more or anything less from them.  We have the time of our lives watching movies, going out, and having fun.  I am learning a lot about who I am in Christ and how to interact with others through these wonderful friends.  If God decides to bless me with a boyfriend later, I would be fine with that.  It will be what God has for me.  I am excited to accept any gift that the creator of the universe, the giver of life, the lover of my soul, has to offer me.

What is your bottle of soda?  Whatever God has for you, follow it with all of your heart.  Although you want a girlfriend, God might be calling you to be a friend to a group of girls that needs to know that they are loved.  Despite the fact that you want a well-paying job, God might decide to bless you financially in other ways.  Examine the gifts that God has given you, and be content with the fact that they are gifts from the one who can understand infinity! 

Don't Look in the Mirror

“But a house made of mirrors never helped you see any clearer; it’s yourself you can’t see past.”—Tenth Avenue North, “House of Mirrors”

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.—Philippians 4:12-14, ESV

God speaks to me through the form of visions.  When God first started using this way to speak to me, I would only get visions at my school.  One weekend, I went back to my home and went to my church.  My church is a non-denominational Christian church, but it started as a Baptist church.  Although I love my church’s worship, people, and messages, I was wondering if God was going to give me a vision in a conservative church such as mine.  Right after worship, the congregation members bowed their heads in prayer.  When I closed my eyes, I saw Jesus standing next to a mirror.  I really wanted to look at the mirror, but Jesus had His back to it.  As I was looking, I heard a voice say “This is not you.  Don’t look in the mirror.”  When I looked at the reflection, I saw an enormous, disgusting hairy rat. 

I opened my eyes, slightly confused.  Usually I am able to discern exactly God is trying to say to me through a vision.  However, that one had me stumped.  Our pastor’s sermon was about Philippians 3:12-14, which talks about how to live forward. He told this story about a racecar driver that once ripped the rearview mirror off his car.  The driver had said “What’s behind me doesn’t matter.”  It seemed like my pastor looked right at me when he said: “You don’t have to keep looking in the mirror, because all you will see is you and your past.  Satan wants you to look in.  Throw out the rearview mirror.”  For the first time in my life, a vision lined up with what I heard in a sermon. 

This message from God came to me on October 16, 2011, almost a whole year ago.  Lately, I have been haunted by my past.  God has blessed me with some awesome friends, both at school and at home.  However, being at home has reminded me of what I went through before I became a Christian.  I have been hurt by friends, lovers, family members, and the like, and I have been so afraid that my new friends were going to hurt me in the same way that those in my past had.  I feel like a failure, I feel so weak, when someone or something reminds me of something that happened in the past.  For my entire life, I have thought of myself as a victim because I allowed my past to happen.  No one was there to help me, and so to me it seemed like it was entirely my fault that I had a stepfather that verbally abused me, and that every crush I ever had ended in pain.  I felt like I was weak because I could not say no when a guy took advantage of me physically, nearly causing me to lose my virginity.  Even though I am a Christian now, I have still recently had these feelings.  However, while singing songs such as “God is Able” by Hillsong or “A Mighty Fortress” by Christy Nockels, I stuffed the feelings of failure, weakness, and doubt down deep in my heart. 

After asking people to pray for me, I realized that I did not fully believe that my past is in the grave.  I make mistakes everyday; how could I possibly be a new creation in Christ?  How could God tell me that my past is behind me when the guy who sexually harassed me lives right down the block from me, my ex-stepfather still gets mail sent to the house, and my mother still brings up things that I did several years ago? 

Yesterday, I just sat in my room and prayed the entire day.  I asked God to help me see past the hurtful things that happened to me and the hurtful things I did to others before He had made me a new creation.  I had Tenth Avenue North’s CD, The Light Meets the Dark, playing on repeat.  Every single one of those songs spoke to my heart.  The one that really struck a chord with me was the song “House of Mirrors.”  It basically describes the vision that I had on October 16 at my church.  My tendency is to look in the mirror and see my past, my hurts, my failures, and my pain.  However, Jesus was standing there, telling me to look at Him. 

So, instead of looking at myself as the victim of my past, I decided to change my perspective.  Jesus was there with me, protecting me, looking out for me.  My stepfather hurt me by having unstable emotions and by calling me names, but he is gone now.  When I did not have hope, Jesus was there with me. Before I even knew who He was, God was guiding me and promising me that my future is set in Him.  A boy held me up against a wall and kissed me more than I would like, but he was not able to take my virginity from me.  When I was weak, Jesus was there with me.  Before I started walking in my identity as a new creation in Christ, God was protecting me and allowing me to see that even when I make stupid mistakes, He is ever faithful to come to my rescue.  Although the twenty crushes that I had throughout my life did not end in success, God was protecting me from getting hurt emotionally by people who could never love me like He does.  My view of myself as a victim quickly turned into a story of God's victory in my life.

When Paul writes to the Philippians, he makes it clear that he is not perfect. He had still struggled with sin, because he was still human. He had not yet attained the resurrected body that Jesus had died for him to have (see v. 11). However, he made a conscious decision to forget what is behind him and press on toward the promises that God had made for him through Christ (v. 13). Let me repeat: Paul was not perfect, even after he decided to dedicate his life to Christ. Although he still struggled with sin, he chose not to look at the mirror and see his own reflection. He chose to look beyond the failures that he had in the past, the legalism that he clung to when he was a Pharisee.

Are you living like your past is dead and in the grave, or are you still staring in the mirror?  Your identity in Christ is not defined by what happened to you in the past.  You may have been a guy who took advantage of women by sweet talking them, but you are not anymore.  You may have been a girl who ran away from home to escape the drama that she had at home, but you are not anymore.  You may have had thoughts of suicide, traumatic near-death experiences, eating disorders, or broken relationships, but those do not define you.    If you want to see you the way that God sees you, you should look at Christ.  Second Corinthians 5:21 says that because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are the righteousness of God.  When God sees us, He does not see our past; He sees His Son, Jesus.  Throw your mirror out; you have already been set free!

What are you doing?

"What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God." ~Eleanor Powell

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.-Ephesians 5:15&16, ESV

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”-James 4:13-15, ESV

My friends and I have this inside joke that started from a funny, you-just-had-to-be-there situation (as most inside jokes do).  We always get a chuckle from the group when one person asks the question "What are you doing?"  Whenever someone asks that question, typically someone else would respond--intentionally or unintentionally--with a completely strange and unexpected remark.  Even though we typically say it as a joke to each other, I want to challenge you with this question: "What are YOU doing?"

I used to get so frustrated when I would hear people telling me "You only have one life to live. Make the most of it."  Once I got out of high school, every song I heard screamed: "You're wasting your life! Stop being idle and live for God!"  I used to get anxious and tense as I struggled to figure out what God wanted me to do with my life.  Waiting was not an option.  I wanted a boyfriend so I could think about marriage and raising a family.  I wanted money so I could easily pay for college and start saving for a house.  I wanted clarification of what I should do as a career so I could pick the right major in college.  Any day I did not have plans, I would sit and cry.  "That's one more minute that I'll never get back," I would sulk, knowing that time is a gift from God and I was not using it properly.  Or so I thought.

Lately I have learned to slow down a bit.  This summer has definitely taught me that using time does not mean constantly doing chores, activities, and plans.  It could also mean resting, meditating, and spending time reading God's Word.  The Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments; that means that He used to require the Israelites to rest.  Rest and relaxation are also gifts from God; although you are not producing tangible results by sitting down and meditating, you are making time for God by listening to what He has to say to you. 
So what does this mean, then?  What do we do with verses like Ephesians 5:15&16, which says to use your time wisely and make the most of every opportunity?  Looking at the whole of Ephesians 5, Paul is not talking about working like the Energizer Bunny for God.  He is talking about staying pure and living a life that does not reflect a sinful nature.  He does not want us going out and imitating the unwise; he wants us to be imitators of God (5:1). 

I believe that the simplest way to make the most of every opportunity is to be content with where God has placed you already.  We are always looking for more opportunities to serve Him.  Those of us in college say, "Once I graduate, I'm going to get married" or "I can't wait until I graduate so I can take what I learn to the real world."  Those of us who do not have a clue what we are doing with our lives say, "God, give me an opportunity to serve you" or "I'm just wasting my life sitting here on my chair."  Personally, I am studying to be a missionary, and I keep telling myself "When I go on a missions trip, I'll do this" or "I can't wait to graduate so I can finally be a missionary."  But God is calling me to be a missionary right now.  And God is calling you to something right now.

We always have these plans for our future.  I personally have had a laundry list of things that I am going to do at certain times in my life.  When I was five, I wanted to be a writer.  As I got older, I made an exact plan of what I was going to do: I was going to go to Brown University in Rhode Island and get a major in English and a minor in Creative Writing, with Journalism on the side.  I was going to work as an editor of a newspaper company and write books.  I was going to find my husband in college and get married right after I graduated.  Then we would spend two years traveling the world, and then we would come back to America and settle down.  Several years later, I am studying to be a missionary English teacher at a small private school in New York, I have not found my husband yet, and I am starting to travel the world while in college!  God has changed my life around so much, and yet I still want to plan my future as if I know exactly what is going to happen.

As it says in James 4:14, no one knows what is going to happen to us in the future.  The only thing we are truly sure of is the present.  What is your current situation?  Are you fresh out of college, looking for a job?  Are you in college, wondering if you made the right decision to switch your major?  Did you just graduate high school, and you feel like your life is going in a million different directions?  Rejoice in whatever state you are in RIGHT NOW.  You may be wishing you had a boyfriend but maybe this is God's time for you to grow independent.  You may want to know your career path but God wants to show you your identity in Christ.  Our current situation gives us hope for the future, but we cannot act like the future is the only thing that matters.

I read a story somewhere a while ago.  I am sorry that I cannot give credit to whoever wrote it, because it doesn't pop up right away on Google.  This is not my own story, but it is a convicting one.  The story says that a man asked God what He thinks about humanity.  God replied that they are always wishing for something but never being satisfied with what they already have.  Kids spend their childhood wishing they were older, and when they grow up, they wish they could go back to being children.  People wish their whole lives away, without realizing that what they ask for is usually right in front of them.

My challenge to you is to appreciate what you have right now.  Thank God for what you have; do not ask Him for what you hope to have in the future.  Here are some verses of things you have already; I encourage you to look them up on your own.  When God's timing is right, He will begin to reveal to you your future.  Until then, be content with what you have today.

Ephesians 2:6
Ephesians 1:5
Romans 8:15
2 Timothy 1:7
2 Peter 1:3-4
Ephesians 6:10-18
Romans 6:4
Romans 5:1-2