For several months now I’ve been running. And I’m exhausted.
I originally wrote that i was running from myself. Running from my story. Running from what makes me, me. Running from what makes my heart leap like a gazelle.
But that’s not what it is. It’s way deeper.
Because what I’m realizing is that I’ve been running from God. No, not running in the traditional angsty I-don’t-believe-in-a deity-anymore sort of running—the kind of running that trades one God for a whole host of other gods.
The apostle Paul wrote in a letter to Christians in Ephesus that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.”
That’s what I’m running from. I’m running from God’s handiwork. In fact, I’ve been subverting it for some time.
On my desk I have the inside little wrapper of a fortune cookie to remind me in a round about way what Paul speaks above. “Our life is in the creation of our mind,” it reads.
Now perhaps a Christian shouldn’t have such a thing sitting on his desk—perhaps a pastor shouldn’t have such a thing sitting on his desk. But I do. And I think we should do what this gem from the Orient says.
Because if I am God’s handiwork and He has created me to do good works—works that he has prepared for me to do from the dawn of this grand, green and blue earth. If that’s true, then could I create and conceive of a life in my minds-eye that is different or contrary to the life God Himself has already conceived?
OK, I absolutely have the capacity to create my own sort of life. The sort of life that results from running from God toward gods. So you got me there. But here’s the deal:
When we are following God’s will, when we are delighting in Him and walking in His ways, I think it will be darn near impossible to escape the sort of life that God has conceived for us to live and do. To somehow miss out on what it is that God wants us to do for His glory and for the common good.
King David penned this very idea in a poem where he urges us to “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Delight in the Lord. Let the Lord be enough. Obey and serve and live for the Lord. And…
what?
He will give you that one thing that is burning and bursting in your heart. He will open wide the door of opportunity to do with your life what you have created in your mind.
Why?
Because you are His handiwork! Because those very things that are burning and bursting in your heart, that one good thing you’ve created in your mind for your life to pivot around—He has already prepared for you to do it for His glory and for the common good.
Over the weekend I hit a minor personal milestone: I celebrated my 8 year blogging anniversary.
Granted, not as monumental as my wedding (4 years this September) or birth (33 years last month). But still…I’ve managed to write over half a million words, I’ve written mildly interesting content that I’m proud of, and I’ve kept at it—for the most part.
It’s this last part, though, that needs to change. I have not been a consistent writer and content creator in this space because, frankly, I’ve been running from this part of me.
Add to that a healthy dose of sloth and I’d say I have been denying and subverting the handiwork work of God for sometime.
But what I’m learning is that I am God’s handiwork. And I can take confidence in that.
A friend who recently passed away used to tell me to be driven by your confidence in Christ. Not yourself or your abilities or creds. In Christ. And part of what I’m learning it means to be driven is recognizing God’s handiwork in me.
And now I’m (mostly…) ready to say it, ready to humbly accept what God has already accepted of me:
I am a writer. I am a creator. And I am recommitting my life to delighting in the Lord in order to receive and do what He has already prepared in advance for me to do.
What about you? Who are you? How are you God’s handiwork? What good works has God prepared in advance for you—you!—to do?
For the past few months in my church we’ve been exploring this simple, powerful, humbling, get-up-and-get-to-it truth: Because Jesus lives we’ve got hope and we’ve got work to do.
Because Jesus lives I have hope and I’ve got work to do, which means that things are going to change around here—there’s gonna be lots more honest, helpful content about faith, life, and everything in between. Because I have hope in Christ I am deciding to change. Deciding to embrace the mystery that Paul announces: I am God’s handiwork.
So are you. Now get to it.
Who’s with me?
PS—In case you missed it, this is my “Let’s Relaunch This Blog!” post. I’ve spent considerable time reimagining the purpose of this space and giving it a new identity and home. I already have lots of content in the cue waiting to drip out for the next several weeks, with lots more on the way.
And I hope you’ll stick around for the journey.
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