Status Updates From Broken-Down House: Living P...

Every word of this resonates.

This means that I have been brought into relationship with God not only so that I could be rescued from myself, but that I may be part of God's rescue of others. My life exists for his purposes. I was given life and breath to help maximize the glory of Another This is why life is ministry.

The writer wants to depress you... temporarily. He wants you to respond, "No-there is, there must be, there has to be more to life than this!" He wants you to cry out for the one thing that can give meaning back to life, the one place to ground your worldview: God, his story, and what his purpose means for your purpose.

The whole point of the book is to demonstrate all the ways in which life is meaningless when you leave God out of the picture, as if this world were self-contained and self-created.

When you lose your sense of gratitude for your acceptance into God's Kingdom, you will lose your zeal for the work of that Kingdom. And you will live in daily pursuit and daily celebration of the purposes of some other kingdom.

This is true no matter what it is we worship: career or wealth or comfort or entertainment or reputation or rela tionships or self-protection. .. or Christ. Whatever it is, we celebrate it.

You see, life always involves worship. Our lives revolve around the thing that has captured our attention and desire We make continual offerings to it, sacrifices of time and energy and focus and resources, celebrating and holding up this thing to which we have ascribed such life-dominarine value.

Subtly, desire for these things begins to shape the way l invest my time, energy, and money. Subtly, these things become my reason for making the decisions I make. Subtly, these things become the lens through which I evaluate my life. Subtly, I begin to look to these things for my happiness and my inner sense of well-being.

Here is what usually happens. When I forget what my true and essential need really is, I will name things as needs that are not really needs and then invest my life in anxious pursuit of them. Subtly, these things begin to exercise control over the way I think about myself and my life.

Of course, pop music is popular because it so powerfully captures the reigning philosophy of the culture.

Third, God is sovereien and has placed you exactly where he intends for you to he (see Acts 17:24-281. Fourth, you have been lit by God's grace and called to radiate his character in the darkness that sur rounds where he has placed you (see Matthew 5:14-16, quoted previously).

The Call

The point of this chapter is simple but absolutely vital: yo cannot think biblically and adopt a passivity lifestyle. To begin with, the world you live in is terribly broken (see Romans 8:18-22). Second, God's agenda is the complete renewal of everything (see Revelation 21:1-S).

Waiting is not just about what I get at the end of the wait, but about who I become as I wait.

By contrast, waiting often becomes for us an exercise in reminding ourselves of what we don't have. How much bet ter, how much more fruitful, how much more jovful, to take waiting as an opportunity to recount the many, many good things in our lives that we have been given-things we could have never earned, achieved, or deserved.

What sins, weaknesses, and struggles has God revealed during the wait? Where has waiting exposed the lies and false gods that make waiting difficult? And third, you can recognize that waiting is an opportunity to know others better, as their hearts similarly revealed. This can offer you precious opportunities for effective ministry.

You can recognize that waiting is an opportunity to know God better through spend ing time in his Word, thus developing a deeper sense of his character, wisdom, power, and plan. Second, you can recognize that waiting is an opportunity to know yourself better. As you wait, and as your heart is revealed, you have the precious opportunity to become a student of your own heart.

To be called to wait is to be called to the activity of serving: looking for ways to lovingly assist and encourage others who are also being called to wait. To be called to wait is to be called to the activity of praying; confessing the struggles of my heart and seeking the grace of the God who has called me to wait. We must rethink waiting, and remind ourselves that waiting is itself a call to action.

It is very positive, purposeful, and spiritual. To be called to wait is to be called to the activity of remembering: remembering who I am and who God is. To be called to wait is to be called to the activity of worship: worshiping God for his presence, wisdom, power, love, and grace.

How to Wait Productively

Remind Yourself You Are Not Alone in the Wait.

Realize That Waiting Is Active.

Celebrate How Little Control You Have.

Celebrate God's Commitment to His Work of Grace.

Let Your Waiting Strengthen Your Faith.

Count Your Blessings.

Long for Eternity.

Waiting means surrendering your glory. Waiting means sub mitting to his glory. Waiting means understanding that you were given life and breath for the glory of another. Waiting gives you opportunity to forsake the delusion of your own glory and rest in the God of awesome glory. Only when you do that will you find what you seek, and what you were meant to have: lasting identity, meaning, purpose, and peace in Christ.

Finally, we are called to wait because everything that exists, exists not for our comfort and ease but for God's glory. The whole redemptive story is written for one purpose and one purpose alone, the glory of the King

Waiting is hard for us because we tie our hearts to other glories.

Waiting is more than being patient as situations and other people change. Waiting is about understanding that you and I desperately need to change, and that waiting is a powerful tool of personal change. God is using the grace of waiting to change us at the causal core of our personhood, the heart. Now that's a good thing!

In calling us to wait, God is rescuing us from our bond age to our own plan, our own wisdom, our own power, our own control. In calling us to wait, God is freeing us from the claustrophobic confines of our own little kingdoms of one and drawing us into a greater allegiance to his Kingdom of glory and grace.

Waiting, therefore, is not a sign that your world is out control. Rather, it is a sign that your world is under the wise and infinitely attentive control of a God of fathomless wisdom and boundless love. This means you can rest as you wait, not because you like to wait, but because you trust the One who is calling you to wait.