Are You in Tune?

I have been doing a lot thinking about doing the "will of God" lately. I have heard many thoughts and opinions on the subject, but I have this gut feeling that the "will of God" isn't that hard to figure out. Rob Bell makes the point in one of the Nooma videos "Rhythm" that God is a lot like music.....and we are all playing the same song.....everyone of us.....all 6.4 billion. I mean God is the conductor right? The question, then, is not if everyone is playing the same song, but if everyone is in tune to that song. Makes me wonder, if we are in tune to that song, then simply would we not be in or doing the "will of God."

So what defines me being in tune with God's "song"?

To live in accordance to "God's will" one needs to look no further than the Gospels. Jesus' life is the perfect example of how to live a life that is in "God's will". Jesus' life has all the answers. He was always doing one of two things.....praying or serving. To be in "God's will" is to serve as Christ did. Jesus didn't only serve others believers, but in all actuality he probably served non-believers more. Are we doing that today? I keep thinking of something I heard TD Jakes say a couple of weeks ago. He was preparing a sermon on the feeding of the 5,000 and he said he felt God kept telling him to read the passage again. Each time he was telling God that he understood and each time God said read it again. As many pastor's envision themselves TD Jakes saw himself as the Jesus/Shepard role and the congregation as the 5,000. However, God showed TD Jakes that isn't true. Although Jakes is the leader role, we are not the 5,000.....we are disciples. I keep hearing the church say "feed me, feed me" when we should be saying "who can I feed". We are in world that needs Jesus and we shun them as we try to draw closer to God. Hypocrites. I am talking to me.

Well, how can we serve others....better yet, feed them? We need to know what our spiritual gift is. Don't you find it ironic that the point of the gifts is to help others and glorify God. God gives us something to give others....

When we start living a life of service, instead of "feed me" we will see others wanting to know more about the God we serve.....Think about it.....how many times did Jesus approach people to witness to them. None I am aware, they all came to him. Start in Matthew 8, there are at least three instances in that chapter alone were people approach the Son of Man and it continues all throughout the book of Matthew.

Oh well, enough of my rantings John and Kirsten, I am sure you have read enough.....but if anyone else decides to read this I have one question:

Are you in tune?

PS. We are going to be having a girl......Alyx (no middle name yet). I am soooo pumped.

God Bless

Who is Creating Who........or is it Whom?

Isn't it funny how things happen? How we pray for our will in our lives instead of God's? I was thinking the other day how so many people pray for God to give them a better job.....to help make their days less stressful....to even heal them. I am not saying it is bad to pray for these things, I am saying it is dangerous to pray this way without acknowledging the fact that God has other plans. What if there is a co-worker at the job who needs a word of encouragement from you, or what if He is putting you through a stressful situation so you will depend more on Him.....or better yet, what if He has allowed you to have a diesease so that He will be honored and glorified, could you still do that? Honor and glorify him? What if God gave you that "better" job and it cost you your family? Would you be happy God granted your request? I think God knows best and maybe we ought to pray that way.....Jesus did. Think back to the Garden, Jesus did not want to die on the cross He even prayed "take this cup from me," but he followed that up with "not my will, but thine." He knew God's plans were the best, Do you?

Another thing I have been thinking about is how we try to rationalize sin.....Think about it, have you ever heard someone say "God didn't want me in that marriage", "It's ok to sleep with him/her we are getting married anyway.", "If God didn't want us to do drugs, why did He put them on the Earth?" You can do this with almost any sin. We want God, but we want God to want the things we want. It has gotten to the point where God didn't create us in His image, We created God in our image.....Wow, think about that, what if you didn't make God what you wanted Him to be, but actually listened to His word.....wow.

Ok, the pregnancy is going great for those interested.....Next Thursday we find out what we are having.......I hope it's puppies!