Chapter 7: "Your Best Life.....Later"
>> Tuesday, May 4, 2010
What is your response to Chan's chapter on "Your best life....Later"? On page 115 he writes, "Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." Have you ever felt this way before....that if people think that you are different, that is a good thing. Do you tend to "play it safe" or are you a risk taker?
What did James 5:17 speak to you? "Elijah was a man just like us". (on page 116) Chan writes, "When you pray, your prayers are heard by the same God who answered Moses' prayer for water in the desert, the God who gave Abraham and his barren wife a son, and the God who made the slave Joseph second in power only to Pharaoh." Is this something that you are conscious of often? Do you look at the Bible as a book of only the extraordinary or as examples?
How has Father shown you his provision in the past when you have stepped out in faith? Share with others some of the amazing ways that He has come through for you and strengthened you when you have taken risks for Him.
What is your response to Chan's writings about being called out of our comfort zone? What else did this chapter show you?
4 comments:
This chapter reminded me a lot about what Pastor John at FOC used to say all of the time..."You've gotta be weird!" God has often brought that back to my attention at times when He has called me to do something that others might see as a little strange. God doesn't call me to fit in with the crowd, He calls for me to obey and follow His leading, no matter how it might appear to others. He calls me to stand out so that those who don't know Him will take notice and hopefully come to know and love Him. I would have to say that I still have tendencies to want to play it safe, but through my growing faith am becoming more of a risk taker. I think that sometimes I don't notice the risks that are out there as often as I should because I get so caught up in life. Risks don't scare me quite like they used to because He has shown me that He will always come through for me. It may not be in the way that I expect, but I can always see His hand in the circumstances and His loving provision in the outcome.
I love James 5:17 because it takes away any right to excuses that we might have. In my mind, the people who were used for great and wonderful things and are given as examples in the Bible had much more of a defense in asking God, "How can you use me?" than we do. We have them as examples, they were some of the first examples. We can look at their lives and see that God used a murderer to lead His people to freedom. He used Paul, who persecuted countless believers, to do a 180 and cover more territory than any other person I know if in the Bible to bring countless others to Christ. I have no right to refuse risk when I am called to it.
Another part of this chapter that stood out to me was Chan's question on page 118, "How would my life change if I actually thought of each person I came into contact with as Christ....." I think that He has been challenging me with this thought for quite some time. I often still fail, maybe not with my actions, but with my thoughts...and what is in my heart is what counts. I may become quick to frustration, but if that were Christ, you had better believe that I would have all of the patience in the world. Often times he will remind me of this ahead of times and it changes my entire outlook on situations. He loves every other person on this planet as much as He loves me--believer or nonbeliever.
Another section that stood out to me is Jesus calling his disciples to follow him and "take nothing". We are stagnate when we are comfortable...we aren't growing or living in faith. "God wants us to trust Him with abandon." "Life is comfortable when you separate yourself from people who are different from you."
OK, so I typed too much in my last comment and ran out of available characters. I still wanted to share my example of how God has come through for our family when we took a big risk for Him.
I think one of the bigger times when our family had to step out in faith was when we left the Navy and moved back to my hometown. We knew that God was calling us to do so, but were scared to leave the financial security and medical benefits that we knew in the service. My husband was leaving a career that he loved and that paid him well to start a whole new career in a field that he thought that he would enjoy, but had never worked in before and would be taking a huge pay cut.
Then we found out that we were expecting baby number 3 and he would be due a month after we were scheduled to lose all of those great tricare benefits. We could have looked at that as a chance to back out. He could have stayed in the service, even though we knew that God was calling us here. Instead, I heard God saying, "It won't be easy, but not only will I see you through all of these transitions, I will do it with another mouth to feed and with Kasey staying home with the baby instead of going back to work part-time". Through the new baby, He gave me peace and confirmation that He was going to pull us through, and that we would be stronger and closer to Him on the other side.
God came through for us every step of the way. Zach's orders were extended a month past my due date, so that the medical expenses were covered. We were given a house to stay in at no charge until we were able to get going again, an extra car to drive after we sold one of ours, a job filled with other believers for Zach and we found a great new church home.
God quickly showed us His purpose in moving us here, as well. We were drawn to a chuch that did not have life groups at the time. We were heartbroken because we wanted to be involved in life groups, but knew God was calling us to this church. Upon meeting with the pastor and his family, he shared with us that God had been telling him to start life groups, but they weren't sure how to go about it. Within 4 months the first life group met in our home. God came through in very, very big ways. We would have missed so much if we had chickened out and gone the "safe route".
I actually underlined the phrase on pg 115 when I read through this. It really jumped out at me and made me stop and think about how others see me. Do I make sense to them? I'm sure to many people I don't and I'm sure to others I look like just them. I've noticed that there are certain places I feel safe to be a risk taker. (Okay, that doesn't really make sense because it's not really a risk if I feel safe) Anyway, I've notices when I'm in a new place around new people I tend to play it safe. I become a very introverted person and I don't even really speak. However, when I know the people I'm around, I tend to take more risks like talking about my faith or saying things like "I've been praying about....and this happened." I wish I took more risks because I generally get a good respone when I do.
I really feel like I'm rambling today, sorry! The passage in James is a great reminder that the men and women of the bible were people just like me. They were not extraordinary in any way except in their faith. I can have faith like that too. What hinders me from that? I guess it's from playing it safe a little too much!
Something that stood out to me was on page 120. Chan said "most of us are so busy that the thought of adding one more thing to our weekly schedule is stressful. Instead of adding in another thing to our lives,perhaps God wants us to give Him all our time and let Him direct it as He sees fit." I wonder how much better my time would be spent and how much more productive I'd be if I did this?
God is so faithful in showing his provision to us. We never have gone without anything we needed and he always provides at just the right time. An example for me would be when we moved from Enid, OK to Corpus Christi, TX. We were trying to sell our house in Enid while buying a house in Corpus. We were wondering how we would pay 2 mortgages but the month we had to start paying on our new house, God sold our old house and we never paid 2 mortgages. He is always right on time!
I think as my faith continues to grow I am becoming more of a risk taker, but there are times that I still 'play it safe'. Let me just say though, if there is anything he has been teaching me, it is that obedience requires taking risks and taking risks requires being totally outside of my comfort zone (I suppose it's not much of a risk if it's not outside my comfort zone). And it also seems that with every small risk I take...he provides me an opportunity to take an even bigger risk. And when I take risks...maybe it strengthens others' faith, maybe it doesn't. But I can say with complete certainty that it strengthens my own faith!
It is sometimes hard to remember that the bible is full of stories about ordinary people. The sheer fact that they are in the Bible gives them the aura of fame, doesn't it? But it is so humbling to look at the stories and remember that the "famous" men and women of the bible are simply ordinary people who had faith in an extraordinary God. The same extraordinary God that we serve today.
I love the timing of this chapter. Yesterday I stepped further outside my comfort zone than I ever have, in complete obedience...and then I read this chapter last night. He gave me strength to do something that was really hard for me. And taking that step of obedience greatly strengthened my faith and freed me.
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