Life Verse: Isaiah 55:8-9 - Beyond Anything You Can Imagine

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

As sinful, imperfect humans, we often try to take God's job away from him. We use our own methods of logic, applying what we can see now and what has happened in past experiences to determine how we think God should work. We direct our prayers simply to get one result - whatever it is that we want or need at the time. This isn't necessarily bad. God wants us to call on Him in the places of our deepest needs, interceding on behalf of those we love and pleading for aid in our own problems.

Sometimes, instead of submitting to God's will in prayer, however, we attempt to force God's hand in a situation. We try to manipulate Him or others so that we get our desired result, much in the same way that Sarah tried to give Abraham a child through her servant girl, Hagar, thus "helping" God in his promise to provide Abraham with a son. We often act on opportunities we see as good while forgetting that God knows what's best and that we need only to wait on Him.

God's way is not the easiest way. It requires patience and faith. The daily lifting of one's eyes to the heavens to see what type of deliverance God is going to provide for that day. Sometimes it's a miracle that blows our minds, but often it's just strength to take another step in the direction He is leading us. Following Him takes discipline, denying ourselves of what we want most in order to receive what he has for us, which is far better.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

It's courage to submit to His will even when we believe there is no way His plans for us could outweigh the beauty of our own dreams and our own aspirations for ourselves. We may have awesome dreams, but unless we are dreaming with the Father's heart and will in mind, we are settling for less than God intended. As the old saying goes, "God saves His best for those who leave the choice up to Him."

If we have the ability to dream good dreams, how much better dreams for us can God have? As I used to say in college all the time, God wants to knock our socks off. We just have to be patient and let Him do it.

This reminds me of a favorite poem (actually a hymn):

He leads us on by paths we did not know.
Upward He leads us, tho' our steps be slow;
Tho' oft we faint and falter on the way,
Tho' storms and darkness oft obscure the day,
Yet, when the clouds are gone,
We know He leads us on.

He leads us on thro' all the' un-quiet years;
Past all our dream-land hopes, and doubts, and fears
He guides our steps; thro' all the tangled maze
Of losses, sorrows, and o'er-clouded days
We know His will is done,
And still He leads us on.

And soon or late the rugged field of strife
Shall catch the sunlight that transfigures life;
The heart shall win the discipline of pain,
And know the struggle has not been in vain;
Its doubts and fears shall cease,
And Christ will bring it peace.

-Hiram O. Wiley 

Mark 12:30-31 - Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these.
Mark 12:30-31

These are the two greatest commandments - the things I should be dropping everything else for.

Jesus says we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The phrase is so familiar to most believers that we are in danger of just reciting it without thinking about what each area entails. We love God, of course. It's why we even bother at all. But loving in theory and loving in actuality are not the same.

God wants my heart. He doesn't want me to serve him from a motivation of guilt or a performance-based mentality. He wants me to want to serve Him. I have to check my motives carefully. Just as in any human relationship, being involved with your heart means that you care, you have feelings about what you're doing, you are enthusiastic. You can't be a passionate robot. Passion involves your emotions, not a programmed response.

God wants my soul. I had to look up exactly what is meant by soul here because the idea of "loving God with your soul" sounded very abstract to me. The soul is the very core of yourself. Who you are. Your identity. So loving with your soul involves your choices, your habits, your SELF. I would describe myself as a Christian, wife, mom, reader/writer, INFP. But somewhere in there, in fact the most crucial part, should be the fact that I love God. I need to think of myself as a God-lover before any of those other aspects.

God wants my mind. This one is the hardest one for me. My mind is all over the place, and I don't mean that as a compliment. I feel like loving God with my mind requires me to exercise self-control in a lot of my mental habits, and bring my own understanding about things into alignment with God's understanding. There are so many verses that talk about breaking down mental strongholds, thinking only on what is pure and lovely, setting one's mind on things above. I could go on and on.

God wants my strength. I usually think of myself as being pretty weak. I have emotional struggles more frequently than I would like. Sometimes my skin is too thin. But the whole point here is using my strength. Only God knows the true measure of what we are capable of. Sometimes it's strength enough just to hold on. Sometimes it's strength to grow and push through pain. The working out metaphor is used for this all the time, but it's true. You can't keep the strength you don't use. Using more than you are capable of makes you stronger. It's the tearing of muscle fibers that builds them back up. Seriously, insert the whole concept of The Biggest Loser here in a spiritual context.

I am to love my neighbor as myself. Note: this does say that I am supposed to love myself. In this passage, loving oneself is a given. A personal pet-peeve of mine is when anyone derides the concept of "self-esteem." Yes, I know it is constantly misused, but a proper, biblical understanding of it has also brought life and peace to many. 

We are broken and flawed by nature, but in Christ we are chosen, accepted, pure, righteous - with our names inscribed on God's hands. We have value because he gives us value. Loving myself doesn't mean that I love myself with my heart, soul, mind, and strength because that is reserved for God. It does mean that I agree with God about my new identity and set healthy boundaries with myself and others.

Loving others as I love myself means that I think of others and think of how to care for them spiritually, emotionally, and physically just like I do for myself. Maybe some do have to go secure their own air mask before attempting to secure the air mask of others. But reaching out and loving is good for our souls. It takes the focus off of ourselves and helps us to truly be the body of Christ.