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Turning the heart to the Lord and
praising Him. There’s a lot going on
this week, but the message is fairly clear. A pioneering spirit, harboring one
that is, takes a lot of trust in both the self and of course the Lord to see
you through it. We have Ruth and Paul sharing their beautiful heart’s wisdom of
faith in things unseen and roads untraveled.
The roads untraveled, that could be pretty much every single day, from
the sun’s rise to its setting. When the sun sets, do we think of it as an end
or a New beginning? When the Son rises in hearts daily, what He sets within us
is peace and a sense of resolve. That sort of comes under the glass half empty
or the glass half full category of thinking of each and every day. We will have a lot of things that chain up
our faith to try to keep us in a mode of being discouraged. Both Ruth and Paul didn’t let hardships or
suffering circumstances get in their way they were both determined.
Being determined as a fool for
Christ and His beautiful Gospel is something, I can gravitate my heart muscle
into engaging in just because I know or continue to grow to know what He needs
me to do in the daily ministry of life! Ruth was determined to stay with her
mother-in-law and did what she needed to do. This would be the hard work that
is, both spiritually and actually to provide for Naomi and Orpah. Today we would call it harboring a sense of “going
that extra mile.” Stretching the self in a myriad of ways that is truly about
delighting with a child-like faith: learning, doing, preaching and teaching
something new each and every day you’re alive basically. Our mindset is what limits us; our heart’s
voice however has to wage war against can and can’t, do or don’t, would or won’t
and most importantly between why and because.
The Apostle Paul says it best for the disciple out in the
trenches and his protégé Timothy: “9…
But the word of God is not chained. 10Therefore I
endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the
salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11The saying
is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12if
we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; 13if
we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” Ruth says something similar several centuries
earlier to Naomi and Orpah: “16…Do not press me to leave you or to
turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will
lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17Where
you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me,
and more as well, if even death parts me from you!”
If we fused both Paul and Ruth’s determination together…
what kind of discipleship could we muster for our Lord? That would be a “shoot the moon” faith, that’s
what! One of my favorite verses of strength
from the Old and the New Testament are Psalm 69:32— “Let the oppressed see it
and by glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive!” From the New Testament, it comes from Paul’s
letter to the Philippians chapter 4: “12I
know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any
and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going
hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13I can do all things
through Him who strengthens me.” Most of
us just have verse 13 resonate loudly in our hearts at times when we’re wanting
or needing to be optimists about our daily bill of fare. Verse 12 however resonates two important
things just around the number itself, one being the number of the original
Apostles and also the number pertaining to the twelve tribes of Israel. Both were pioneering bands of ordinary people
who wound up doing, being and becoming amazing things just because of How God
effected their very lives with Grace, love and most importantly hope!
For the most part the
Old Testament lesson from Ruth shows us the very beginning of commitment from a
pioneering woman to “role with the olive branches” as I like to say over rolling
with the punches. Lots to do, wavering
circumstances or better said kind of being “between a rock and a hard place.” All
women concerned had to yield a harvest from the journey, the road they had to
travel. It was physical earth but
spiritual mileage needing to be built up and tapped into. The lives of the martyrs of the church over
the centuries built what would become a faith that is 2,000 something plus
years old. A faith built literally and
spiritually by blood, sweat and tears! Like the farmer, the Lord has tended to
the harvest of disciples whatever caliber or gifts they may possess.
Like the farmer, God
plants what He has created and knows in many senses the ways we will tend to
grow. Our momentum may be willfulness,
but our turning hearts to God’s rays of wisdom has us aspire beyond ourselves
for something more. Something more according
to the Gospel is going against the grain of the world and building up the Kingdom
of God not the “unholy trinity of I, Me and Mine.” I heard that last part of the statement from
an early mentor I had in the ministry who basically encouraged me into getting
involved with everything to see where my strengths are. He told me, as well,
that if I really wanted some good training that you wouldn’t get in a standard
internship, that I should work for the customer service center at a Kohls or a Target. He’s been involved in a variety of things
these days that I know have stretched him beyond himself spiritually both in a
positive and in a negative way… BUT just from catching up with him on occasion,
he is still spiritually growing in his ministry and in his gifts used for a
greater purpose and another unknown road either into a valley or climbing
another mountain.
We all want to strive
beyond the valley with its muck and mire…
Perseverance is what God enhances us to develop which becomes a faith
that can and will move mountains. I love and frankly cherish the thought of moving
mountains with a group of people seeking what the Lord needs them to face. It is a profound truth that the Word of God
is unchained and in fact links us to be freely responsible citizens, ambassadors
to delivering the weary in the world, the Good News, Thanks be to God! We
deliver the Good News by living it. What
may be profoundly ordinary to some, can and perhaps may be extraordinary to
God. Our lives are a tapestry of many
elements. Some of these elements as seen
in another Gospel, Jesus would like us to consider removing obstacles that
hamper our faithfulness. What hampers
our faithfulness is sin, doubt and pessimism.
Truth be known, pessimism runs in my family definitely at times, “to a
fault…” but welcome to being human.
So much to do too
little time, there’s one imprisonment right there. A number of years back I knew a fellow artist
who not only painted about time but was bound to their lists upon lists and
spinning their wheels. Many saw this
person as a typical “Gen X’er BoHo” listening with their Bosch headphones on
while blasting Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody as perhaps the unsung anthem to
someone who was in the trenches a little too long and couldn’t see that the
glass is possibly half full and not half empty.
That fellow artist was the Old me.
I’m still a struggling butterfly working my way out of its chrysalis shell
but at least I made it past caterpillar!
Did you ever see a caterpillar crawl?
They’re pretty darn slow just as bad as my laptop on certain days where I
would like to imagine sets of tires running it over! On a more serious note, discipleship, faith
in the Lord is a gift of motivation from God.
God has a straight
path for us actually to travel but we’re the ones that make things a lot harder
when we’re constantly battling between faith and doubt and spinning our wheels
to doing and becoming. The world out there is going to be resistant. The world out there is going to be filled to
the brim with people who perhaps take pleasure in being an obstacle to your
progress… but it is truly hope that
carries us through all things that can and often temporarily imprison us. It is hope that creates the fruit of
gratitude which can and does heal the self from its spiritual infirmities. We have to take that leap of faith pioneering
onto an unknown road with human nature being our greatest “demon.” For if we
can imagine a world of peace… what kind
of prosperity should we be truly shooting for?
It’s not necessarily “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die…” It is about flourishing as a child of
God. We are children of Grace and
promise and tomorrow is not just another day.
It is a brand New day where the Son rises within our hearts and we are
called to embrace, praise and thank God for every single moment. Paul and Ruth did this, exampled this by pioneering
their faith.
Let us pray,
Loving and Gracious
Lord Jesus,
We do need to thank
you for every single day
We do need to strive
to battle our negativity,
We need to muster that
ounce of hope we have within us
And grow it to move mountains,
travel valleys
And wade through the occasional
tears of our struggles
In order to be the many
limbs of Your church
Active in this world
for a greater purpose—LOVE.
Help us to be committed
to our faith and pioneer our struggles
So that with the Holy
Spirit’s help, we can be planted, grow and flourish
Into the life, destiny
that You have planned for each and everyone of us.
AMEN
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