Chameleon

We’re like chameleons. The more time we spend in an environment, the more adapted we become to it. The more time we spend with someone, the more we start speaking and acting and using phrases like them. I do it often. It’s not something that I try and do; in fact I fight the power. I don’t go into a conversation thinking, “Ok, now I’m going to say 'good not great' like Yas.” I don’t see something funny and then decide to laugh like Chels. By hanging out with them, they’ve just rubbed off on me. As Selena Gomez would say, it just comes naturally. By being with them, I become like them. And I think it’s an honour to them and a sign of our close relationship that I would let myself change to be like them.

Ephesians 5:1

“Be imitators, therefore, as dearly loved children.”

How do we imitate God? Simple. We just need to be with Him to become like Him. As I draw near to Him, He’ll draw near to me and rub off on me, making me more like Christ. The time I spend with Jesus should be evident in the things I do and say, I should be becoming like Him. Being like Jesus will glorify and honour Him in the biggest way. Allow yourself to adapt to the awesomeness of Jesus.

When the world is out to get you and no where feels safe, make like a chameleon and camouflage into Jesus.

Gotta Make Your Mind Up

Luke 16:13

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

My puppy Lucy likes playing and chasing after a toy while she still has one in her mouth. But then she gets into a dilemma of which toy to carry, which to chase, and how to get them both into her mouth at the end. And it doesn’t work out. Why? Because you can’t serve two masters.

I think that’s what we try and do. We carry God in our heart, but then we go chasing after money and success and self-gain; not actually sure which one we want more. Or maybe those other things hold our heart, but we try and chase after God, try and seek Him, then find we have no room for Him in our heart. We can’t do both.

As humans we love to multitask. Even smartphones now come with dual-core processors, allowing us to do two or more things at once. But when it comes to our hearts, they need to be pure, set on only one thing (No Added Extras). Jesus says we must hate and despise one master and love and be devoted to the other. He asks us to be hot or cold, yes or no, in or out. Kicking it with Jesus, or kicking yourself? You gotta make your mind up. Which master are you going to serve?

*YOU*

Today I was reading this chapter in Zechariah, and I thought, “This is cool, it can really apply to my life.” So I read it again, and wherever it says ‘Israel’ or ‘them’ or something like that, I subbed in ‘you’, and read it to myself. It goes like this:

Zechariah 10

The LORD Will Care for you

 ¹ Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime;
   it is the LORD who sends the thunderstorms.
He gives showers of rain to you,
   and plants of the field to you.
² The idols speak deceitfully,
   diviners see visions that lie;
they tell dreams that are false,
   they give comfort in vain.
Therefore you wander like sheep
   oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

 ³ “My anger burns against the shepherds,
   and I will punish the leaders; 

  for the LORD Almighty will care 
   for you and make you like a proud horse in battle. 
⁴ From Judah will come the cornerstone, 
   from him the tent peg, 
from him the battle bow, 
   from him every ruler. 
⁵ Together you will be like warriors in battle 
   trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets. 
You will fight because the LORD is with you, 
   and you will put the enemy horsemen to shame.

 ⁶ “I will strengthen you
   and save you. 
I will restore you
   because I have compassion on you. 
You will be as though 
   I had not rejected you, 
for I am the LORD your God 
   and I will answer you. 
⁷ You will become like warriors, 
   and your heart will be glad as with wine. 
  You will see it and be joyful; 
    your heart will rejoice in the LORD. 
⁸ I will signal for you
   and gather you in. 
Surely I will redeem you; 
    you will be as numerous as before. 

⁹ Though I scatter you among the peoples, 
   yet in distant lands you will remember me. 
  You will survive, 
   and you will return. 
¹⁰ I will bring you back from Egypt 
   and gather you from Assyria. 
I will bring you to Gilead and Lebanon, 
   and there will not be room enough for you. 
¹¹ You will pass through the sea of trouble; 
   the surging sea will be subdued 
   and all the depths of the Nile will dry up. 
Assyria’s pride will be brought down 
   and Egypt’s scepter will pass away. 
¹² I will strengthen you in the LORD 
   and in his name you will walk and live securely,” 
            declares the LORD.

The Start Of Something New

http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2011/06/the-past/

Isaiah 43:18-19

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

 “Forget the former things;”

That’s a command, not a “maybe you should think about doing this.” And it doesn’t say, “Learn from them, wrestle with them, figure out a valuable lesson you can take from them.” It says “forget” them.

“…do not dwell on the past.”

God knows what we’ll be tempted to do. In this case, it’s obvious: We’re going to struggle with dwelling on the past. With making our home in the past, with defining ourselves by our past. God knows we’ll struggle with that and pleads, “Do not dwell on the past.”

“See, I am doing a new thing!”

Don’t you want to hug the Bible when it ends a sentence with an exclamation? This is not something casual or ordinary. This is a new thing! Hope is loud and bright and colourful!

“Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

In this we’re told God’s ability to spring it up and change our lives will not be dependent on our ability to perceive it. There are so many days where I don’t see or feel the new thing he is doing in my life, but that matters not. He is doing it nonetheless, regardless if I do not perceive it.

“I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

I don’t care how wild your past was. I don’t care about how wasted the wasteland of your life was. Those are the very places God loves to redeem. Those are the very places he puts a way through. Those are the very places he puts a stream.

Sometimes, my past feels big and inescapable. It looms large in my head and my heart, a tattoo that will not fade, a defining moment that cannot be forgotten. But the truth is, the past is not my home. God is doing a new thing. In me, in you, in us. The old has gone, the new has come, I am a new creation!

A Good Heart

Psalm 78:72 (The Message)

“[David’s] good heart made him a good shepherd.”

It’s all about the heart. That’s where it all starts. If your heart’s good with God, you’ll be good at whatever He’s called you to. God looks at our hearts, our motives, our deepest desires, our most hidden thoughts. We need to allow God a close look at our hearts and allow Him to make them good. We don't have to strive to have a good heart, God says that He'll do it, He's got this thing covered, we've just got to give our hearts to Him...

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Give God your heart, let Him God your heart (God Your Heart post), and your life’s journey will be great.

Scrapes & Bruises

Proverbs 16:4

“The Lord works out everything for His own ends – even the wicked for a day of disaster.”

Although nothing in life is perfect, God uses everything in life to make us perfect. He’ll even use wicked people to bring disaster that will bring us closer to Him. He doesn’t bring the bad times, but He’s not afraid of using them to change us. He’s not worried that they will spiral out of His control; He’s bigger than them. He can see the end, He can see the best path for us to walk, and He’ll do everything to get us to walk in that path. What’s a few scrapes and bruises in comparison to eternal life and perfection?

Quality Time

Jeremiah 31:3

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.”

These holidays I got quite frustrated with a friend that I so love and don’t often see and was therefore pretty desperate to hang out with, but she was unable to see me, not because she didn’t want to, but just because she had busied her whole holidays up. It wasn’t cool. But it got me thinking.

God so loves me and daily draws me to him, but I tend to busy my life so much that I run out of time to spend with my God. And God stands by, calling me, willing me to come to Him, to acknowledge Him, to speak to Him. But even though I know how worthy He is and how great He is to be with, I let everything else crowd my time to the extent that Jesus becomes something I have to fit into my day among all the other things, instead of all the other things fitting around Jesus. Imagine how that must make Him feel. He died for me, yet I can’t give quality time to Him. So not cool!