Day 3079 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Romans 8:18 NIV

That every choice is a building block constructing our understanding of the very meaning of life itself seems to be an understanding entirely misunderstood by this world in which we live.

Nobody seems to realize that our choices do in fact carry the ability to alter or even eliminate things like hope, trust, or yes, even faith. We can’t fathom that the things we’ve deemed unimportant and insignificant might truly be so vastly crucial that they do in fact deserve our utmost attention, appreciation and undivided effort given unto making the most out of whatever little we can control.

Indeed, an impatient heart builds a mind disinterested in the future, eyes unable to see beyond the breaking, lungs that breathe the fire of frustration and a soul disconnected from the only reason we have hope to begin with.

As with basically all of Scripture, this is yet another lesson we've allowed to go unlearned across our attempts to convince that we've advanced beyond what's now considered antiquated wisdom. Not merely do we compare our present sufferings with any contemplation of the potential for peace, instead we incessantly hold our present sufferings up to the preferences we simply refuse to relinquish.

And as we've grown amongst a people who've accepted this victim's mentality, so too are we beginning to find we ourselves may well be losing the ability to hold tight the promise of the One who's gone before us down this road we've only just begun following.

Sadly so much of life is spent worried only about what we can see, can feel, can hear. I know they say that to live in the moment is an undervalued outlook, but living only in the moment is an outlook which ruins hope. Because let's face it, most of our moments are quite mundane, muddy, murky, often miserable. And so when we allow ourselves to remain lost in the moment, well then we'll only be able to forget that the moment will pass.

We don't see it that way anymore. We've embraced this thinking that keeps telling us that what we're going through will never go away. Perhaps we've simply lived inside these little self-carved ruts for so long thus far that we only know how to assume tomorrow a repeat of today. It's as if we've surrendered the chance at hope for the opportunity to complain. But why? Why worry so much about what we don’t want that we forget about the impossible that has already been promised?

Well, I reckon that it’s likely a different answer for everyone.

But for all of us, whatever the reason or excuse, it's one we need to learn to lose before it causes us to lose it all.

How can a mindset carry that much cost? How is it that the thoughts locked away inside ourselves could have the ability to undermine everything else we claim to looking for or looking forward to? It seems strange to our modern misunderstandings that an entirely insignificant internal decision could truly have the power to prevent potential. Our thoughts are harmless, aren't they? Our choices are supposed to be without consequence, right?

That's what happens when we agree to learn the wrong lessons from the wrong teachers.

Our human inclination is to reject everything that holds even a hint or scent of responsibility. If it even acts like or feels like it may require something from us, well then we've no interest in entertaining it. We've become a people so obsessed with freedom that we've broken free from reality.

And we're seeing the results found down that road of not having to even pretend to care.

But I don't know that we can go on pretending to not see the problems. It's like everything we do is done in half and the half we pick to focus on is the half that only has a quarter of the meaning or worth of the whole. Guess maybe we've taken that whole 'less is more' thing a little too literally. Less effort doesn't mean more accomplished. Less care doesn't mean more freedom. Less responsibility does not mean more independence.

It just means less potential.

But we don't care about potential. That word is among a list of others that also start with the letter P that we have absolutely no time for anymore. Potential. Patience. Persistence. Perseverance. Prospect. Probable. Possible. Promise. We hate all of them because they never seem to help the here and now in which we keep choosing to stay lost. Why worry about what tomorrow will hold when we're tired of holding the pains and problems of today?

And thus we find the cost of a world choosing impatience.

All of us know what impatience feels like, what it causes. We know the thoughts and the aggravations and the ferocity it instills. We've all been late to work or school or an appointment or a date or something. We've all been in a hurry to get somewhere. We've all found ourselves running out of time and therefore at risk of looking bad. And in those moments of panic and punching the peddle, what always happens?

We hit every red light, come across a detour, run out of gas, blow a tire, blow a fuse, find ourselves behind the only tractor in a hundred-mile radius that simply wasn't manufactured to go any faster than 15 miles an hour. And what do we do? How do we respond? Smile and chuckle? No, we freak. We lose our cool, lose our minds, let the ol' international road-rage one-finger salute fly high at every person that dares stand in our way of doing as we please.

And there it is again; as we please. Life has always been all about us, hasn't it? The earth may revolve around the sun, but everything revolves around us first! Right?

Wrong.

Our present circumstances are simply the result of a million different things all happening at that one moment in time. But to us and our incessant assumption that everything ought to cater to us, those circumstances are only evidence that everything is out to get us, set against us, trying to pull us down or break us apart. Our unique blend of impatience and entitlement has us acting like everything we go through is only there to make our hopes go up in smoke.

But so what if they do?

So what if our plans fall apart? So what if our lives are filled with more pain than peace? So what if we never manage to come anywhere close to the perfect picture we thought we had the authority to paint by stealing the brush from the One who stretched the canvas?

Is it not God’s plans in which we hope? And if our faith is truly confident in that hope and assured of that which we cannot see, then why do we worry so much about what we can see? If our hope is in what’s already been done then why agree to worry that something still to come will have the power to undo it all? Wouldn’t that make our Savior insufficient and our faith therefore pointless?

When did we decide to worry more about whatever we're going through than about fearing the One who could make it so much worse in an instant?

That's something that's becoming a really big problem really fast. We're more afraid of what might happen than we are of the God who ordains it all. We're more frustrated at what we have to go through than we are angry with ourselves for settling upon this idea that leaves no room for God, for humility, for patience, for surrender. Our lives have been lived with no concern for anything other than ourselves and what we feel is best for us.

And as we exist lost in that delusion, we find ourselves entirely unable to be still. We can't stay calm. We can't wait patiently for the clouds to part and the sun to come back out. We want the rain to have never dared darken our skies. But with every choice to focus on our anger over the moment not being what we want it to be, we forget to fear God above everything else.

That's the definition of sin: The choice to miss God in the moment. To focus on what we want rather than surrendering our will to His. To live as if He's there to make our lives perfect, according only to what we think is good. And the longer we go down that road the darkness it brings only dampens our understanding that no, this is not all about us. While we appreciate things like comfort and success and our plans working out perfectly, those things have little if any meaning in the grand scheme of forever.

Why do we have such little concern about forever? Is what happens today at 6:37 pm really a deal so big that it's worth forgetting about what we've been given? Are the plans you've made for tomorrow of greater meaning or worth than the plans He's made which lead us out of this place? Are we truly willing to take our eyes off of Jesus just so we can look a little longer at the unfortunate situation in which we might find ourselves right now?

Friends, I understand that being shortsighted is pretty much the only setting worldly eyes have left through which to see. But while that may work in some way for someone somewhere, how I've no idea, for any and all who truly consider themselves Christians, we need to stop limiting ourselves to only what we see or feel at any given moment. There's simply more going on than what we can see or feel or hear or even understand.

Always.

For us to forget that, ignore that, reject that is to slap away the very faith we claim we have. What is faith if it's not placed in the unseen? "Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." So if all we're worried about is what we can see and how uncertain it seems, then friends, we ain't walking by faith. We're living by sight, and faith simply won't get in the way of that choice.

You see, fact is that we cannot walk by faith and live by sight. Just can't. Now other people might tell you otherwise. There are plenty of other voices sharing a message aimed at the here and now, the wants and wishes, the preferences and plans and the expectation of God to just drop everything else He's doing to make sure our lives are only what we want them to be. That's not how this works. He doesn't work for us, okay? He isn't on our payroll, but we are on His bad side.

Forget that have we?

We're not exactly the little orange dudes that keep Wonka's factory running smoothly. We're not the ones who God's leaning on to make sure all of this creation is held together and working properly. In fact, we're only the ones who've done all we could to undermine all He's trying to get us to understand. We're the ones who keep trying to make Him change His mind and see things our way.

We're the ones who've lived a life in utter opposition to His will. So then who are we to demand He cater to us and our preferences?

Not how this works.

Look, we'll always want something different as this life is unfolding in a way that does indeed bring about a lot of discomfort and uncertainty. But when we stop to think about it, why are we uncomfortable? Why are we so uncertain? Why are we constantly unhappy if not because we've let go of the One who saves us so we can take hold of the circumstances that are trying to convince us that He can't do what He's already done?

We are in every way our own worst enemies because we just can't grasp the simplicity of letting go. Does it suck to hurt or feel sick? Yeah! Does it make us angry when we lose something or break something or miss our chance to go to that concert? Sure. Does anyone enjoy getting a flat or having the drive-thru make your lunch wrong? No. But does it matter? Does any of it matter?

When our last breath is gone and our hearts just pumped out the last of their alloted beats and our eyes finally close on this world, do we really care if we'd have complained just a little bit more? Sadly it seems like this world's becoming a place filled with hearts who want their final words to be something filled with anger and disdain and disappointment. But why? What's the point?

The point is that I'm afraid we're missing the point. It doesn't matter how perfect your life is, how miserable your life is. Doesn't matter how much stuff you have or how much you die wishing you had. What matters is understanding that we alone choose where we focus, and that that choice determines not only our outlook on this life but also the place we spend the rest of eternity.

If we live focused only on what we're going through, then I'm afraid we'll never see the One who's going through it with us. I'm afraid we'll never understand what He went through for us. If we despise suffering so much that we can't allow even the thought of it to enter our minds as we think it will ruin our lives, then how can we ever accept the story of the Gospel?

Jesus didn't lose sight of the purpose just because it brought pain. Because He understands that just because this life will bring pain, never once does it mean that God's promise has changed. If we’ve forgotten that then we really are of all people most to be pitied.

Suffering is a part of this road called life, and we're all going to face our share of hard days and trying times. But while we can't control the suffering we endure, we can control what it does to us, what it takes from us. Please don't let any one moment steal your trust in the One who isn't limited to that one instant.

God is bigger than what we go through and His promises are better than what we think is perfect. How dare we doubt that just because one thing doesn’t go exactly how we want it go? Truth be told, if we’re truly that selfish then we deserve no part of His sacrifice.

But if we can pull back from that pitiful place and keep our eyes fixed on the One we’re following, then we will find ourselves enjoying His promise. Just can’t keep getting lost in the preferences we pick up along the way.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold