More than Me

“I live this life but it isn’t mine. I walk this journey but it’s not my own.”

Loren Thornburg

There is a story in the works and we are just a part of it. It’s bigger than me, bigger than you. Yet, somehow I, me, my are the most common words of our daily lives. There is an illusion that things revolve around us. Sometimes I forget that there is more than me going on. It’s easy to do with all that is within us that begs for our attention: pain, confusion, struggles, frustrations, circumstances, situations, wrestling, burdens. These things demand for us to look to them and pay attention to them and we certainly need to...for a time. There is a time and place for those things to be looked at and addressed, for to ignore them completely would only add to more of those things. However let us not forget to be willing to look past them otherwise we will become consumed with them. Let us not forget there is more than me. That may be the very thing that helps us through all that has our focus.

“...You’re looking at this backwards. The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience. Can’t you see that?”

Acts 21:13 Message

Oh how we have gotten things backwards. I am so quick to forget whose I am. For I am not my own. I don’t belong to me. I didn’t make me and this life isn’t mine...it’s HIS. With that being true then we can see how Paul can say that it doesn’t matter if they arrest or murder Him so much as it matters that He does what the Father is telling Him to do. He understands his life isn’t his to do as he thinks is best but He is a child of God, belonging to Him to do what his Father thinks is best. Paul invites those with him to see it as he does. Let me extend that invitation to us, myself included. Come and see that the money in our accounts is His, the people in our lives are His, and the work that we do is His. Come and see as Jesus does. You are not your own. You’ve been bought at a price. It is not our duty but our pleasure to live our lives as not our own, but belonging to Him. The pressure’s off...you’re His...it’s His.

When the Wind Blows

“When all around is swirling and shaking you don’t have to swirl and shake with it.”

Loren Thornburg

Wind is a crazy thing and it drives me crazy. You can’t see it, you can only see the effects of it. As the winds swirl and shake through Colorado Springs I can’t help but be so thankful for the house that protects me. I can sit inside unaffected by the gusts of winds blowing things over outside. It challenges me to live a life where my house is my skin. Where I can stand in the midst of life’s gusts and blows and be still on the inside. We have all seen the gusts and blows that life can bring. As I continue to walk through those I want to live a life where I see the things blowing around, but I can stand firm while they blow and not be blown with them. It seems the only way to do that is to be grounded and rooted deep in what is true. I have to be. Otherwise, when the wind blows I’m going to get blown with it.

“The name of the LORD is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.”

Proverbs 18:10 NLT

The Lord is not shaken. He is our strong fortress. A fortress is a place on high and that is what the word safe means here in the Hebrew; to be set on high...high above all that swirls around. That is what He does when we run to Him, He lifts us up above the swirls into His arms so that we are not effected by them. Now don’t be thrown off by the “godly” or the “righteous” who run to Him, for that is you the moment you trust Him enough to run to Him. In Him we have all that we need to not only weather the storm, but be completely secure and safe. This doesn’t mean we won’t feel the blows at times, but that we won’t be blown by them. Even if you have chosen not to run to Him and find yourself blown to the ground you have never blown out of reach of running to His safety. The strength of His tower is more than enough to protect you. This is His sufficiency for you in all that is blowing around you. He is your sufficiency. When things start blowing, start running...to Him. It’s the only way to stay standing in the swirling and shaking.

Tested TRUTH

“TRUTH stands the test of time. It’s always TRUE.”

Loren Thornburg

The latest in the world of health is that fat is good. Consuming “good” fats is actually good for you when for so many years we were told to limit fats because it led to being fat. The butter, avocado, nuts, olive oil and other good fats we’ve been avoiding are now good to eat. As glad as I am for the freedom to consume these foods I find this also confusing. After hearing enough contradictions over the years I tend to stop believing all of what they are saying. It feels never ending and impossible to really know. It’s not just food, but it’s everywhere. Yet, there is one thing that has stood, is standing and will stand the test of time and that is TRUTH. We can cling to TRUTH, knowing it never changes. It will always be true when everything around us keeps changing.

“Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the end of the ages). Do not be carried about by different and varied and alien teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established and ennobled and strengthened by means of grace…”

Hebrews 13: 8-9 Amplified

Jesus Christ is the TRUTH. He never changes, but is always the same. Unlike the changing research and most knowledgeable wisdom from scientists and doctors Jesus will be the same forever. He always has been and always will be. I am so thankful we have something sure and steady when everything around us and even in us seems to be changing. We can lean into Christ with our entire life in absolute trust and confidence in Him. He is true and He is TRUTH that has stood and continues to stand the test of time. Lean in to His absolute and trustworthy TRUTH.

Reclaim

“Sometimes things of value are hidden looking like waste.”

Loren Thornburg

Recycling is all about using again that which appears to be waste. There is still use in it that we can’t always see right away. Things once claimed to be waste have been reclaimed useful. This means more than paper and plastic, but the things in our lives as well. The risk that seemed to have been a failure, the relationship that is no longer, the job search, the efforts with no apparent return...we see it all as waste. What if there is something more in the midst of seeming failures? What if you saw all you learned in the midst of it and the opportunity that came from it? Those things are priceless. They are more than usable but highly valuable. What else in your life might be able to be re-claimed as valuable?

“God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.”

Romans 3:24 Message

“My recovery is Christ,” said a well-known baseball player in the midst of his exposed falling to his addiction. Recovery means to get back or regain something lost, to make good, to regain strength, to regain a better state and to reclaim from a bad state. Without Christ we are in a bad state. Yet, as we see in Romans God reclaimed us through Jesus Christ. He came into our mess, into our waste and restored us to where he intended us to be. That restoration means we were redeemed. We were separated, only to be saved by a price. Nothing else could set us free from staying in that place and there was nothing we could do about it. Only God could and He did. Not because He had to but out of “sheer generosity” He made it right. It was a “pure gift.” Christ is in the restoration business. He did and continues to reclaim us from our mess. Look to Him for your recovery. He is our recovery.