Resting in the Midst of Chaos

Chaos. Turbulence. Sometimes it seems like the fabric of our lives is a barely controlled kind of chaos. We can try to insure ourselves out of unpredictability, but the very nature of life steals away our assurance.

The only kind of assurance(or insurance) we can really possess is a future hope in our redemption. Jesus, in Matthew 6:31-34 sheds light on this.

³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

There are not very many things in this life that are completely risk free. In reality we put up thin veneers to protect us from the truth that we aren't as invincible as we thought, but the circumstances of life seem orchestrated to show us how frail we are. The one thing that is constant, though, and that has been illustrated throughout all of history, is the security that we can have in Christ.

This is how we can rest in the midst of chaos; by resting in Christ. Over and over throughout the New Testament, when the cares of this life are brought up, the answer is always our coming redemption. That, as Paul has said, these light momentary troubles will be like nothing compared to what's coming.

So we can rest in hope. We can rest in the love of Christ.

Fascination with the Godhead

I have a water bottle with a sweet box-ish-kind-of design all over it, and the other day, while hanging out with some friends, one them grabbed it and couldn't stop staring at it. He was trying to figure out how the design made sense, or where it was repeated.

That made me wonder about our fascination, or wonder, with God... What's the nature of it? It seems to me that when we are fascinated with something, it holds our attention only as long as we don't understand it. The instant that we can hold it in our hands, or quantify it - that's when it loses it's appeal. Like a Christmas present two months later, it just sits in the closet.

Why, then, do we get bored with the only being with enough endless complexity for us to never 'figure out'? Why, when we have access to peer into the mysteries of the One that holds all things together, do we look at the things He's made as if they're complete in themselves? Like C. S. Lewis said, the problem isn't that our desires are too great, it's that they're too small. We're so easily satisfied.

The prophet Jeremiah brought two accusations against Israel; that they had left the spring of living water, and in their thirst dug wells for themselves that were leaky, dirty, and polluted.

There are too many examples of this for me to cite in my own life. After all, I can't even think of all the times I've come home from work tired and completely just wasted several hours watching tv. It's a vicious kind of entertainment that gives us a vicarious kind of participation while robbing us of the time to actually do something worthwhile, not to mention what it puts in our minds.

So what's the answer? How do we live a life fascinated by God? A life that isn't sucked into the ordinary?

Perspective on Life

^{Matthew 5:33-34
"33}But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Sanctification, the process of becoming more like Christ, seems to me a pretty sticky business. It's kind of like trying to bail water out of a boat with a fishing net. It's hard to grasp; hard to measure. It doesn't seem like I can quantify it. Every now and then I get a vague reflection from other people or from scripture, and I can see changing features in this mirror. I know that this process happens from the Word infiltrating my hardened heart and breaking into my mind; that's what Jesus said when He prayed "¹⁷Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."(John 17:17).

What I don't get is how to grasp perspective on life as a whole; how to zoom out and grab a bigger picture of the character that is developing. It seems that focus is one of the most important characteristics of any great person; devotion to a lifetime of work on a specific passion. I'm just not sure how to get to that point yet.

To anyone who wants to read along, this blog is just going to be my thoughts as I go through life; and hopefully it will lead me to encounter and fascination with Jesus, like the road to Emmaus.

Thanks.

-Kelley