Breaking the Mold

My weekend plans were drastically changed when my flight to OKC was cancelled due to the “winter storm” conditions in Houston. I was headed to a conference called Deeper Still, led by Beth Moore, Kay Arthur, and Priscilla Shirer. I was so truly excited to be spending some time with some good Godly women, including my BFF and one of my Bible study gals. BUT, it turns out that God still had something else, possibly equally exciting, in store for me.

I woke up on Saturday morning, delighted to have the opportunity to leisurely sip my coffee, and decided to finish the Crazy Love book that I’ve been reading (refer back to Lukewarm People post). I only had one chapter and some author Q&A to go, and I had no idea what I was in store for. I’ll summarize by saying that the following three concepts captured my attention like a crazy person running down the street yelling “FIRE!” I had to see what the fuss was all about…

Concept #1: Be careful not to turn others’ lives into the mold for your own. – Francis Chan

As I am constantly striving to be a better Christian, and consider myself still rather young in my relationship with God, I tend to find myself looking to “older” more “experienced” Christians for an example of what I should strive for and who I should become. I always thought that’s what we were supposed to do; we find people who set a good example, who we truly respect, and who inspire us, and then we try to make ourselves more like them, at least from a spiritual perspective.

But I often struggled with this because I’m different than many of the people whom I look up to. I have a different personality, different skills, different talents, and a different way that I approach my relationship with God. What I’m learning is that it’s okay to be different. We are all different because God intends to use us in different ways. So I should have no fear!

I’ve been judging myself on things such as why I can’t comfortably share the gospel with people in conversation, or why I don’t feel convicted right now to be involved in missions, or why I am not comfortable praying in front of people. But, I think that’s okay! I’m being used in other ways, and the exciting part is that I may not know what they are, but I get to learn along the way and see that I can make a difference. We are not all meant to do the same works for God, and we are not all supposed to live the same lives. How boring would that be?

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. – 1 Corinthians 12:4-7

Action item #1: Break the mold. Be the puzzle piece that doesn’t fit. Find my own purpose and way to do God’s works through my life.

Concept #2: Sermons have become Christian entertainment. – Francis Chan

Really? Aren’t we supposed to enjoy the sermon?

Francis goes on to say, “We go to church to hear a well-developed sermon and a convicting thought”. Oh. My. Gosh. That is SO true for me! It’s almost like I think the church owes me an entertaining sermon. When in all actuality, it’s not about me at all.

When I enjoy the sermon at a church, isn’t that enough? I’ve come to realize that it is not. Those of you who know me well know that I have been struggling to find a church home. Granted, I haven’t been actively looking with every ounce of effort in me, but I’ve tried a few times, and something just hasn’t clicked. But what I haven’t ever thought of before is that I may be looking too much at the surface of a church and not getting into the bowels of the church.

I was attending a church for a while where I didn’t feel like I truly fit in with the people, and I didn’t particularly like the sermon. I didn’t leave feeling convicted about anything. But, I loved the music, and the person I was going with was deeply committed to that church because of what the church stood for and how it focused on helping those in its surrounding community. I didn’t get that at the time. Granted, I didn’t know the church well enough, but I also didn’t give it a real chance. That church may still not be for me, BUT, that was a perfect situation of where I wrote a church off because it didn’t “entertain” me. It didn’t give me what I thought I needed.

I then started going to another church, where I felt I fit in a bit more with the people, and where I was thoroughly “entertained” by the sermon. I walked out feeling so convicted and full of excitement every time I left the church! But something just didn’t click there. On the surface, it was what I needed. I felt like the good Christian going to church and leaving with a mission to do something for God and for this world. This was proof that even the best entertainment sometimes is not enough for me. I didn’t really know that church well enough either, and maybe didn’t give it a fair chance, but it was what I thought that I needed, and something was still missing for me.

This is when I sit back and realize just how lucky I am to live in this country with the religious freedom that is afforded to me. Ultimately, I could go to any church that I wanted and worship any God that I chose without anybody giving me a hard time about it. I have my God, now I just need to find my church!

Action item #2: Break the mold by finding a church and diving below its surface. Don’t value it for its entertainment factor, but determine what qualities of a church are important to me and seek those instead.

Concept #3: “I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life”. – Francis Chan

WOW! Isn’t this what I say to myself all the time? I need to search for God’s will for my life and follow it? Why should I forget about that? Who is this crazy man?

He’s not saying that we need to forget about God’s will for our lives. He’s saying that we need to not live our lives using that as a crutch. “We are scared to make mistakes, so we fret over figuring out God’s will”. We still need to make our own minds up and not wait for the ultimate plan to play itself out way into the future. We still need to live day to day, and we should be making decisions that glorify Him on a daily basis.

I am totally guilty of this. I sometimes find myself thinking, “I’ll wait to make a decision about xyz until I feel totally convicted about it, or until I’ve had time to pray about it and have my answer”. But, this concept opened my eyes to the reality that this is my own fear stopping me from making a decision for fear that I will screw up.

Well, we all know that nobody is perfect. We all have made countless mistakes in our lives and we are still alive and the blood is still pumping. And we all know that God loves us despite our many imperfections. He made us that way. And He knows that we are going to screw up, and when we’re going to do it. But screwing up is part of life. So if I sit back and wait to feel super-convicted about something, or wait for a flash of lightning to tell me what to do, I may never do anything! I think God works His will for our lives through us in different ways.

I don’t want to discount the power of prayer and careful consideration of consequences, and I’m not suggesting that we forget about those and make decisions on a whim. But I also don’t think that we are supposed to receive our plan for life in advance. I think it’s trial and error. And we just need to learn to listen better to God along the way.

Action item #3: Break free from the idea that I should wait for God’s will in my life to make daily decisions. Live my life for now, for today, and not for what I’m waiting for in the future, all the while glorifying Him, listening to Him, and continuing to learn from my mistakes.

My weekend did not go as planned. But I think realizing these three things was a pretty good backup plan on God’s part. I’ve never been one to swim with the current, so why should I do it now? Why should I be molded into what I think I should be rather than what God intends for me to be? I’m not going to. I’m breaking the mold.