ARE YOU WILLING?

Have you ever read Exodus 35? It's a chapter about the gathering of materials and skilled labor for the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness. God was building a place that would be dedicated to one single purpose - the gathering of His people for worship. In this one chapter, the word willing appears at least 5 times depending on the translation you read. God asks those who are willing to bring a variety of goods "from what they have" so the tabernacle could be constructed. He also asks for laborers who are skilled and willing to do the work.

Why didn't God just command that the materials be brought and the work be done? Because genuine worship comes only from willing hearts. You can coerce behavior, but not worship or real relationship. Wasn't God taking a risk here? What if most of the goods were in the hands of unwilling people? Maybe to get what He needed, God should have forced the issue. After all, He is God, and people simply need to obey Him. If conformity, and correct behavior were God's top priorities, maybe He would exercise His power and authority in a different way. But because genuine relationship is His priority, God allows us to make choices, and seeks the willing heart. Today God is still building a place of worship - it's called The Church. And He still builds it from willing hearts.

In 20 years of full time ministry, I have found that a willing heart is the key ingredient to seeing a dynamic flow of God's power. When working with struggling marriages, a willingness to let Jesus be Lord, to consider the other person's viewpoint, to be the first to serve, or love, or forgive, is all that God needs to begin a miraculous healing process. When facing any large project, the resources that come from those who are willing, always seem to be more than enough.

Isaiah 1:19 says, "If you are willing, and obedient, you will eat the best from the land." We tend to focus on the obedience, and no doubt, God loves obedience. But it is williness that opens the door to a flood of God's favor and life (we call that grace) that enables us to be joyfully, and eagerly, obedient.

Willingness is simply the act of humbling the heart before God. It is the opposite of obstinate, stubborn, resistant. Willingness yields, says yes, lowers the defenses. What is God saying to you today? What is He asking? Are you willing?

Now, go make some great choices.

GROUNDHOG DAY

Great News! The groundhog saw his shadow! Technically, the groundhog seeing his shadow is supposed to mean six more weeks of winter. The people in Pennsylvania were saying "woe is me", but we live in Gunnison. Only six more weeks of winter means by the end of March, or mid-April at the latest, we could be riding the trails at Hartman's instead of skiing them. Sounds like good news to me.

Have you noticed that when people talk about Groundhog Day now, they always use it as a reference to something that is endless and repetitive? Obviously because that was the message of the movie Groundhog Day. But just a few years ago, that term had nothing to do with an endless cycle of sameness. That is just an example of the way language changes over time. That's why it is so important to have accurate, but modern translations of the Bible. A good translation does two things: first it understands the original meaning that the author intended to convey with the words he or she chose. Then, it brings that meaning into the language of the modern reader. Both of those elements must exist for a translation to be accurate and useful.

Postmodernism contends that the reader, rather than the author, has the right to interpret the meaning of words in any way that suits them. Applied to the Bible, that would mean that I could read the words, but decide, apart from any reference to history, or the revealed nature of God, what those words mean to me. I could even decide that some of the words are simply not relevant, because they were written in a different time period. I could also change the meaning of words to suit my personal preferences or "my personal truth" - whatever that means.

So, words are important. Understanding the roots and original meaning the Bible's text is important. And we are only looking at six more weeks of winter if that East Coast Marmot wanna-be knows what he's talking about.

Go out and make great choices!

IDENTITY AND BEHAVIOR

It seems to me that one of the biggest misunderstandings that the world has about Christians, and for that matter life in general, is that a person’s identity is defined by their behavior. In other words, if I experience certain temptations, if I have certain emotions, or I am compelled to act a certain way, then that is who I am. The world would have us believe that love means accepting others and ourselves just as we are today, and learning to be content with our nature whatever it might be. Any attempt to say that some of my thoughts or desires are sinful, and therefore not acceptable, is seen as a denial of who I really am. If I say of another that their behavior is sinful, and that God wants to work in that person’s heart to bring freedom and deliverance from that sin, my view is described as “judgmental and unloving.”

I find it interesting that this pattern of thinking is “preached” doggedly in the secular world, but not applied equally to all forms of behavior. In fact, it is applied very selectively. Where sexuality is concerned, the current trend is to encourage people who may be heterosexual, but have had some homosexual thoughts, to label themselves as homosexual or bisexual, rather than regard that thought as sinful and choose not to act on it. I know of Christian people that have at some point given in to some type of sexual perversion, whether pornography, a homosexual encounter, infidelity, or some other form of immorality. These people knew in their hearts that this activity was contrary to God’s nature and His Word, but they fell into sin. When they began to repent, they were labeled by their worldly friends as hypocrites. Their friends told them that not acting on these desires would make them untrue to “who they really were.”

I beg to differ! Here is some hypocrisy for you: The world does not encourage the person who is consumed with rage and wants to kill someone to simply accept their identity as a murderer and go for it. The world does not tell a person who is tempted to lie to simply accept themselves as a liar and tell as many lies as they want. They never tell a person that has an irrational hatred toward a person of another color, or women – “Oh, you are just a racist, or sexist.” “That’s who you are, just act on it.” Our culture wants to separate sexuality out from every other type of behavior, and say that whatever you feel is who you are – this is disingenuous.

The bottom line is that the Bible says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The central point of the Gospel is that God does accept everyone of us in our current sinful condition, but that when we accept Him, and pursue Him, He changes us at the core of our being. We begin to live new lives, because we are new people. Our identity is not defined by our behavior; in fact our identity drives our behavior. Only our Creator has the right to assign our identity. That is why it is so important for us to know that we are not just the result of a cosmic accident, we are creations of a loving God. We are not just a random collection of molecules; there was a Designer behind our design.

Knowing that God loves you enough to lay down His life for you, tells you something about your value and your true identity. When you see yourself, really see yourself, as a child of God, your behavior changes. We are not just animals driven by our compulsions. We make choices about which thoughts to act on, and which thoughts to resist every day. I say embrace God’s definition of who you are. Seek Him with all your heart, and watch your desires and behavior be transformed.

_Now–go make some great choices!