Be Original
When I travel, I always take Oswald Chambers with me. He’s
been dead for nearly 100 years but his most popular book, My Utmost for His
Highest, a 365-day devotional is timeless. It’s not the Bible, but I do put it
on the same shelf. (*wink) I correspond my daily reading (while travelling) with
the correct calendar date, and it never seems to fail but the words usually confirm
a lesson the Lord is already teaching me. Last weekend, when I was in San Francisco,
Oswald spoke to me again. He said,
“Never make a principle
out of your experience; let God be as original with other people as he is with
you.”
I’m different from you, and you are different from me. It’s
a no-brainer, right? Wrong. It’s the hardest thing to understand (and keep
understanding) that we are different than each other. As Danny Silk teaches: most
often what we like or understand about someone is the part of ourselves we see
in other people. We view and judge others by our values, gifts, experiences and
personal expression. I’ve done it to others, and lately I’ve been experiencing
the other side by others’ expectation and judgement of me.
For example, I don’t like to pray. Yep, I said it. Don’t
judge me. I’m an intercessor and I don’t like to pray. I’ve just admitted I don’t
like to do the one thing the [global] church deems important. Not only is it
important, many people in the church probably agree it is the most important discipline in the
Christian faith. Specifically, there are several people around me who are
particularly gifted in prayer and can easily pray for hours at a time, praying and
travailing for the same thing. Because I don’t like it, if I view myself
through their eyes, I feel I don’t measure up. In my defense, I do pray but usually
I prefer to be alone and it’s done in worship – either as I actively flag and
dance or even in my work, as I sew and make flags.
What I don’t like is to pray for other people in the [usual]
way we’ve been taught to do it. You know the drill: you’re at a Bible study,
and the evening is coming to a close and everyone begins to rattle off their
prayer requests; someone has terminal cancer, or their house is in foreclosure,
or their child is strung out on drugs and is working as a prostitute – you know
the stuff. Then just when the prayer requests are complete and it’s time to
pray, someone looks at the clock and says, “We’ve got to run but we’ll pray for
you during the week.” Nothing is resolved and all this crap has been left on
the table so we pick it back up and leave feeling deflated. After a meeting
like that convinced I’m a bad Christian because I dislike prayer or prayer meetings.
This past week, someone asked me if I could come over and
pray for her because she is going through a period of anxiety and depression
and my first reaction was, “NO!” Truthfully,
my first reaction has H-E-double hockey sticks in front of the No. Of course, I
can’t say that because then I look like a first-rate jerk, who is probably
going to h-e-double hockey sticks so I wonder how can I get out of it without
looking like a jerk.
I want to want to make time to pray because I know it’s
important (nothing happens without prayer) and instead of getting out of it,
the Lord gave me a win-win strategy; I could combine worship with prayer.
Worship focuses on the goodness and greatness of God, and our problems are no
longer insurmountable in the face of such an amazing and great God. It’s easy
to declare victory in every problem. I can worship my big God, pray for the
small problem and finish feeling hopeful.
The point I’m trying to make is a reminder to myself, “Be
original.” Allow others to be original and don’t only celebrate the way other
people are the same as me.
We
have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift
is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;
if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is
giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to
show mercy, do it cheerfully. ~Romans 12:6-8
On the prayer thing, I've had similar frustrations with people's lengthy and specific requests. Sometimes I just want to pray - "Your will be done" and let the details up to God. Comfort and ease (and even health?) are not always in our best interests.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
DeleteI like to agree with others in prayer that the victory is accomplished, but I don't believe ill health is ever (never, ever, ever) God's will. He can only give good gifts, and Jesus' blood already paid for healing.