Sweetly Broken? / Weapon of THANKS

How I need to be reminded that I’m not here to simply go through the motions and watch time slip away… day by day… month by month… year by year. My life… and your life… is meant to be lived with an amazing purpose – to truly be grander and better than we could ever imagine. Our lives are meant to actually be USED BY THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE! That is awesome to think about. Each and every day, I want to seek for the LORD to interrupt my life… to reach down and disturb my plans… to bring those “GOD/KAIROS” moments. Why?       

Because I want my life to be about Jesus… nothing else. I want Him to smile. I want to bring Him glory. I want to accomplish all that He has planned… for me. 

I’m learning something though. As much as I say that… as much as in my heart of hearts I truly want all that… I’m often side-tracked. Two things, I believe, are huge distractions to those of us wanting to live on God’s KAIROS TIME… to live according to HIS PURPOSE:

                 1. Concern over worldly, materialistic stuff.
                2. Pain. 

That first one, is always a struggle. Just when I think I’ve gotten pretty good at not being selfish… I find myself wrapped up in things that, ultimately, don’t matter. I think the best way to combat this is by ‘being thankful’. When I see everything as a gift from God, I can better put it in perspective, and not get so wrapped up in it. So often I hear people say, “Be thankful”. During the Thanksgiving season, I’ll read that all over the place… “Be thankful”. But does that really make sense? WHO are we supposed to be thankful to? Well… as a Christian, I’ll tell ya: we're to be thankful to GOD. 

Deut. 8:10
“When you eat and are full, you will praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.” 

The second thing that often distracts me from seeking KAIROS MOMENTS in my daily life… distracts me from living according to God’s purposes… is PAIN. Much like if you’ve ever had a strained back… how it literally affects EVERYTHING you do. So too, when there is something painful happening in your life, it can become this over-shadowing thing that seems to darken your vision for anything else… especially the plan that God has for you. 

Most of you know my story… what my family is currently going through. Many of you have been such a blessing. But what if my little solution to #1… “being thankful to God for all that I have” can keep me from becoming too materialistic and being distracted from God’s purposes – is also the solution to #2? 

I mean, of course we should thank God for the blessings He’s lavished upon us… but what if we were to also be thankful for the hardships, trials, … and the pain? 

1 Thess. 5:18
Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 14:15-20
When evening came, the disciples approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” “They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.”“But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to Him.“Bring them here to Me,” He said. Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. Everyone ate and was filled. Then they picked up 12 baskets full of leftover pieces!

 This story is in every one of the four Gospels, and in each one it specifically says that right before Jesus fed the thousands He “blessed” the food. Some translations say, “He gave thanks.” Jesus took limited resources – five loaves and two fish – blessed them, gave them out, and fed five thousand. 

Notice, however, that in-between blessing and giving, there was breaking. 

I find this to be very true in life: Oftentimes, in-between God’s blessing us… and then giving us out to nourish and feed others… He allows us to be broken. 

You might say, “I don’t have much. My talents are limited. My gifts aren’t great.” That’s okay. In the Lord’s hand, a little goes a long way if you will let Him bless you and break you. 

I think of Mary with the alabaster box, anointing Jesus and ministering to Him. The box had to be broken before ministry could flow (Mark 14:3). I think of Gideon, whose three hundred men put torches in clay pots as they surrounded the hosts of the Midianites. On a given signal they broke the clay pots, and the light flooded out. Confused by the light, the Midianites fought one another and destroyed themselves. Israel was victorious because before the battle was fought, the clay pots were broken (Judges 7:19).

 People often say, “God has been good to me and I want to be used in ministry. Why then am I going through the pits and through such difficulty?” The answer is very simple:  

Before the Lord can use a person greatly,

He often allows them to be hurt

and broken deeply. 

There’s just no other way. Pride must go. Self-sufficiency must die. Why? I think maybe its to make way for the tenderness and compassion that comes only through the breaking process.