Growth Purpose

Willing to Wonder

Traditionally, I’m not a fan of surprises. Perhaps this is because I learned early on in life that a lot of life was unexpected anyway, we didn’t need to go planning additional things to startle us. Or perhaps it’s because it’s my nature to plan things, and surprises, by definition, go contrary to that. Regardless of the reason, if there’s a chance I can find how what’s going to happen, I’ll take it, exchanging the thrill of the unexpected for the comfort of the known.

All this held true, until I met my husband. As I’ve written about previously, I’m married to a great guy… a great guy who is unbelievably creative and loves to surprise me.  And with my husband I can always trust that if he plans the surprise, it will be something I like. With him, surprises are a reason to get excited, rather than nervous. Surprises are an unexpected way to experience his love, rather than an unpleasant detour in life.

I’m learning that the same is true with my relationship with God.  I must be willing to sacrifice my comfort, so I can be amazed at how He works. I must be willing to give up the comfort of the known for the thrill of the unexpected. I must be willing to marvel at His majesty in exchange for the assurance of the common.

In the Bible, we see this principle illustrated frequently. One of my favorite examples of this is the young boy who gave up his food and Christ used it to feed a monstrous crowd (John 6:1-15). The boy didn’t know what Christ would do with his gift, but he gave up, and was willing to stand in wonderment as he saw Christ used it to bless others. He  trusted that however God would surprise them, it would be an expression of His love. Having that kind of faith – to give up what you have without being sure how or even if God will use it, is something every Christian should be striving after.

May we all be willing to give what we have back to God and be willing to stand in wonder as He uses it to further His kingdom.

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Growth

End-Result Prayers

If you were to take one of my classes, we would spend a lot of time talking about objectives. Objectives (as hopefully my students can tell you) are anything at which you want to aim effort. They are what you want to achieve and they let you know whether you’re being successful or not. We spend a lot of time talking about the desired end result at the beginning of the process, because this is what will drive our business.

As important as the end results are, sometimes I realize that I don’t take the same approach in my relationship with God. For instance, several weeks ago I was running behind schedule on my way to school and was worried that I wouldn’t get a parking spot on the main campus. As I took my request to God, I prayed that He would help me get to school faster. While this certainly wasn’t a bad prayer, it wasn’t an accurate one. My heart’s desire was a parking spot. I hadn’t asked that because I thought that the only way to get it was for me to get to school earlier. In other words, I thought I would let God do part of the work, and I could figure out the rest.

Now this is a rather innocuous example, but I’m afraid the symptom is rampant in many Christians’ prayers. We pray for one thing, not believing that God can or will give us what we really desire to ask for. We pray that God will help us along the way, but not that God will bring us to where we should be.

May we have increasingly have an end-result attitude in our prayer life believing that just like a Dad desires good things for his kids, so God desires to lavish good things on us (Matthew 7:11). May we not fool ourselves into thinking that we need only His assistance, and not His constant and purposeful intervention into even the most routine aspects of life. And, regardless of what our temporal goals may be, may our true desired end result always be that which most glorifies Him.

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