Thursday, January 7, 2010

I Don't Mean to Disturb You


I think that our lives being changed, transformed is but the spill over of getting to know the Father of our spirit. Thing is, it is so comfortable to settle for these changes as they can become that which charms us away from the source of it all, does that make sense?

A friend and I were sharing this morning how that in the midst of his very unsettledness there are those religious ones with the great and perfect theology that would berate him in that if he indeed had faith, a trust in the Lord, then this would not be his plight. I adamantly disagree, in fact I see where my friend is along with many of my siblings in Christ, being where they are at because of their deep trust in Him!

I loath what a form of godliness does to any of us in that a mind set can easily become like this, "see how He is changing me, I use to be such a pain in the ass relationally, I use to try and control everyone around me, I use to be, do this or that but no longer, oh wow, how impressive is that? Doesn't that just make you want to warm up to this Pharisee?

From where I have been planted, I am seeing that rather than things becoming, falling more and more into place, I am being increasingly unsettled, disturbed, and how I rejoice in this. Sort of reminds me of the line from the movie, All Dogs Go To Heaven, "If this is torture, then chain me to the wall."
It's a love hate thing with me in that the ONLY thing going for me as my wife loves to say, is JESUS, and it's this Jesus that continues to lovingly disturb me and this keeps unsettling me more and more.
If we supposedly have our lives looking like we've got our shit together, then with Christchuns it usually points to their great faith and sound theology. We only need Him as long as we still have a few unwanted warts and blemishes, but what happens after all of the spiritual botox injections have accomplished the miracle of making a silk purse out of a sows ear?? I guess we don't need him any more, rather we can begin to sell our brand Christchunanity to those poor peons that have somehow missed it.

I am glad to be among the base, poor, foolish, and weak ones of this world allowing His glory to be seen in the midst of life that continues to be unsettled.
I think its time to examine why LG, aka Life is Good don't you?

Rich

2 comments:

Randy said...

Hi Rich -

Happy New Year!

Good to be reading your blogs again - I missed them over the holiday.

I very much relate to this post. My desire is often to share with others what I'm going through - how disturbed I am and how much God is revealing my brokenness. However, doing this can be risky. Sometimes people think I'm asking for help and begin offering suggestions on how I can get through my problem. But what I'm really trying to say is how grateful I am (in spite of the pain) that He is showing me the reality of my life and how much I need Him. The day I'm not desparate is the day I don't need a Savior.

(By the way - I am starting to embrace the word "disturbed" more and more - I saw an interesting post on it regarding Christmas http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/Disturbing-Christmas-2009.aspx.)

Take care.

Randy

Rich said...

Randy,

Wow, thank you so much dear brother for what you shared and the link as well.
Re: the article you gave the link to, I love these 3 quotes..

There is something truly comforting and warming about the Christmas story, but it comes from understanding the reality, not from denying it.

Don’t get me wrong—Christmas should be a wonderful celebration. Properly understood, the message of Christmas confronts before it comforts, it disturbs before it delights.

Only those who have been profoundly disturbed to the point of deep repentance are able to receive the tidings of comfort, peace, and joy that Christmas proclaims.

I so agree Randy, in spite of the pain and no matter how badly He continues to wreck/disturb my life I am finding within this holy wholly devastation the treasures of darkness.

I have included you within my blog reader, I hope to read and hear more of your tender longings for Him who has given us our ALL!