We tend to have weird expectations on the Creator of the Universe. We act as though this great God lives only in His Word and is at our beckon call.
Doubt me? How do many Christians approach God or the Bible?
Many Christians approach the Bible and a relationship with God in a way that says we want Him to give us a devotional thought that we can take with us all day, and that’s about it.
However, that’s not what God wants. God wants a relationship that is as personal and real as the relationship you have with your spouse, your children, and your friends. He wants to be part of your conversations and part of your thoughts.
He wants us to come to Him for all things, to learn to be more like Him, and when He speaks to us, He wants our undivided attention—for that means that He has something for us. God rarely is seen, in Scripture, coming to talk to people just for conversation’s sake.
If God is the same yesterday, today and forever, we can expect Him to act the same way today.
God’s Timing
How many times have you thought something like this:
Wow, that was an amazing passage of Scripture. God, I realize that you really want me to do this, but do you really want me to do it now? Maybe after I get married and have a few kids, or after I get out of debt. You can’t mean right now.
Sound familiar?
If you’re hearing something from God, you must know that God is never early or late, He’s always on time.
Now, just because He’s on time doesn’t necessarily mean that what He has for you will begin right away. It may be years in advance.
How long did it take for David to become King? How long did it take for Paul to go on his first missionary journey? The point is that when we hear, we must obey. We must start the journey.
You see, God will be developing your character between the call and the assignment, so that your character will match the assignment.
Faithfulness
How does this work? Faithfulness. If you are faithful in little, God will give you a larger assignment.
We know many things that are God’s will for our lives. We know that we should be witnessing. We know what we should and should not say. We know where our thought lives should be. We know what we should and should not be doing.
How do we know that? Through reading His Word, through Church, through blogs like this one. In fact, I think that the world knows some of the things that Christians should do, and that’s part of the reason that they call us hypocrites!
Every time that we have an opportunity to do God’s will, when we take it we show ourselves willing and able to do a greater assignment for God.
He is Lord
What are the two words that cannot be in the life of a believer? No, Lord.
He has the right to interrupt your life. He is Lord.
Let me try to illustrate this:
- He has the right to interrupt your sports game on television.
- He has the right to interrupt your sleep.
- He has the right to interrupt your blogging.
- He has the right to interrupt your vacation.
- He has the right to interrupt your dinner.
When you accepted Him as Lord, you gave Him the right to help Himself to your life anytime He wants.
If 5 out of 10 times a Master had something for the servant to do and the servant said, “I am sorry. That is not on my schedule.” what do you suppose the Master would do?
I would think that he would either sell that slave, beat him, or never choose to use him.
How gracious God is that even when we constantly say “no” to Him, He shows us mercy—we still get assignments, just not the ones that would truly bring great glory to Him.
Don’t expect that you’ll be ready for the assignment, but when He calls adjust yourself to His call.
This is a great post! I especially like the part about interrupting, even if it is a little convicting! 🙂
Rachels last blog post..Our Indian Connection
@Rachel: Tell me about it. And think about our reaction. When God interrupts, we often gripe and complain how inconvenient it is to our schedule!