A Life Worthy

Author: michael

  • Waiting Room

    Last week my mother-in-law went in for a CAT scan to find out if months of chemotherapy and radiation did the trick.

     

    clockI want to do this.

    I don’t want to do this.

    The parking lot is full—can we go home?

    The waiting room is full—perhaps they won’t have time for me today.

    Maybe the machine will break…maybe the lab tech will get violently ill from eating bad sushi and they’ll have to reschedule.

    I want to know.

    I don’t want to know.

    I need to know.

    When will I know?

    I sort through magazines, looking for something

    to divert

    to distract

    to entertain

    as if anything could possibly hold my attention

    except…it.

    I’m surrounded by people.

    I’m all alone.

    Other people

    not people

    other patients

    each wrapped in a cocoon

    of symptoms

    of sickness

    of hope

    of fear

    What will they find with their

    looking

    and scanning

    and probing?

    If it’s gone, do I get my life back?

    If it’s not, do I have the strength

    to fight

    again?

    Everyone sympathizes.

    No one understands.

    and I am so cold

    God, you have never seemed so close.

    Or so far away.

  • One-a-Day Friday, 1/31/14

    number 1And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!  (Philippians 2:8)

    He didn’t have to die—you know that.

    He chose to die, for reasons I still can’t fully grasp.  I mean, I understand the basic theological concept of redemption.  He who knew no sin, taking the burden of my sin upon himself, dying in my place to pay the price for that sin and restore my relationship to the Father.  He took the punishment because—and here’s where my brain locks up—he thinks I’m worth it.

    I hope he’s right.

    I can’t wrap my head around the concept, but I can wrap my heart around it.

    That’s enough.

    Still, the whole thing is just so very not the way I would have done it.

    And there you go, folks—reason #37 to be glad I am not God.

    Thank you, Lord, that you were willing to pay the price I could never pay.

    Thank you, Father, that it did not end with the cross.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 1/30/14

    number 1Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  (Philippians 2:6-7)  

    He was perfect.

    Complete.

    He knew everything

    Had everything

    Was everything

    Everything that has ever been was made with the thought of his heart and the breath of his mouth.

    But he stepped down from all that into a broken world.  A world of

    Dirt

    And pain

    And tears

    And blood

    And death

    For you

    For me.

    That is the attitude to which we are called, Beloved.  We step into that same world today.  We may know

    Dirt

    And pain

    And tears

    And blood

    And death

    For them

    For Him.

    Are you up to the challenge?

    Me neither.

    Let’s pray for each other today, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 1/29/14

    number 1Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5)

    No pressure here—just have the same attitude as the Lord of the Universe.  Tomorrow we will look at what Paul means by an attitude, “The same as that of Christ Jesus.”  For today, just consider this: God has called you—commanded you—to be like him.

    Chew on that today.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 1/28/14

    number 1Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  (Philippians 2:3)

    But they’re not.

    Better than you, that is.

    Seriously, isn’t it hard to consider others better than yourself when you know the way they live? When you hear the way they speak and see how they act?  Does God really expect you to put…them before your own needs and wants?

    Yep

  • One-a-Day Monday, 1/27/14

    number 1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  (Philippians 2:1-2)

    Does it show?

    Does your relationship with Christ have a visible effect on who you are in the world?

    Does your fellowship with other believers reflect the fellowship you have with the Holy Spirit?

    It should, you know.

    Let that be the focus of your prayers this morning, as you head out into a week filled with people who are not as easy to love as Jesus is.

    Go and love, Beloved of Christ.

  • A Real Grind

    DisposalOur garbage disposal died.

    To fully grasp my sadness, you must understand that the garbage disposal is one of my all-time favorite household appliances.  It has one, simple purpose—to eat—and it does that exceedingly well.  It does not seek to glorify itself—no, it stays out of sight under the sink, bothering no one and taking up no precious counter space.  It doesn’t need bright colors or fancy names or hand embroidered covers.  It just wants to make my life better by consuming everything in the kitchen that annoys or disgusts me. (more…)

  • One-a-Day Friday, 1/24/14

    number 1Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. (Philippians 1:27)

    What will happen to you today?

    Oh, you can probably guess a good portion of it, but you don’t really know, do you?  Laughter, tears, love, anger, pain, joy, indigestion—who knows what the next hours hold?

    Better question—How will you conduct yourself today?

    Will your laughter be at others…or with them?

    Will your tears be for yourself, or for the broken?

    Will your love be selfish or selfless?

    Will your anger be trivial or righteous?

    And what of your pain?

    And your joy?

    Perhaps we need not elaborate on the indigestion.

    Live worthy today, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 1/23/14

    number 1For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)  

    Is it?

    Is your purpose, every day, to get closer and closer to Jesus?  To bring him honor and glory with your every breath?  To know him, and then know him better?

    Do you look to the eventual end of your life as the fulfillment of all your earthly desires?  The great graduation day when you receive all that you have earned, and all that you could never earn?

    Oh, Beloved, I hope so.

    As for me, I still let the mundane cloud my view of eternity far more often than I would like.

    I’m going to make this verse my prayer today, with the hope that the power of the Holy Spirit will drive it deep into my soul and make it who I am.

    Join me?

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 1/22/14

    number 1I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  (Philippians 1:20)

    The word that strikes me in this verse is courage.  The walk of faith is not for the faint of heart.  If I want my life to exalt Christ, it will take courage.

    And I have so stinking little.

    The other night, I encountered a man who was perhaps not entirely stable.  He was sitting at a table in a coffee shop, sort of streaming consciousness to whomever might be listening.  Some of what he was saying was a denial of the deity of Christ.

    I knew I should talk to him, but for the longest time I just sat and tried to ignore him.

    While I wrote a devotion on preaching Christ.

    Why?  Hard to articulate, but it comes down to fear.

    Eventually, I went over and engaged him in gentle debate—if I hadn’t, I doubt that I would be sharing this with you.  I didn’t change his mind, but I stood.

    I take minor victories where I can get them.

    Pray for me, and I will pray for you, that we will have the courage to live a life that glorifies God.

    Be not ashamed, Beloved.