Wake On Up From Your Slumber

Well, I wrote this on Wednesday and tried to post it, but internet problems have prevented me from posting it till now.

This week’s post (sorry I skipped a week), is admittedly not born out of love. Or even a desire to do good. No, this week’s post is born out of annoyance.

I’m not a morning person. You can ask anyone who knows me. I stay up too late for someone whose schedule requires her to be up at 6:00 am (and I usually oversleep). This being said, morning people can really irritate me sometimes. Especially today. Have you ever gotten to work and wanted to just muddle through until you fully wake up? Just let me get my coffee, sit at my desk, and do some stuff I don’t have to think too hard about until 10:00 am. That’s all I ask, really. But some people are up and peppy and wanting to tell you EVERYTHING. ABOUT. THEIR ENTIRE LIVES.

I can’t handle that. Honestly, I want to see you through Christ’s eyes, but when you’re yakking about every minute detail of your day at 8:00 am, I want to punch you in the face. That’s not Christian love, and I should really work on that. But it made me think about something. How often do we think about all the things we’re saying? Like really, take the time to stop and think about ALL the stuff you say to other people throughout the course of the day. How much of that has substance? What percentage is positive? What percentage is negative? Psalm 19:14 says, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight…” Whatever is in your heart will wind up coming out of your mouth (Luke 6:45).

I’ve been told I’m a glass half full kind of person. I haven’t felt like it lately, but I usually do try to see the silver lining in situations. After all, I know the only One who can see the big picture, and I’m glad it’s He rather than me. But I do wonder about the things I say. Several weeks back I had someone confront me about my actions and how they might be considered as not very Christ-like. Though I felt this correction came from a place of judgment rather than love, I’m glad it happened because I started to evaluate my behavior. How much of what I do and say during the day is benefiting God’s kingdom? And how much is for my own personal gain or comfort? If the ratio is off (and I can tell you it’s off more often than I would like), then something needs to be fixed.

All too often, I treat life like I treat my mornings. Daily drudgery that I have to wade through until I can finally wake up and experience all that God has intended for me. That’s no way to live. Jesus called us to an abundant life (John 10:10 NKJV), not a mediocre life. Not a middle-of-the-road life. A vibrant and vivacious life. A life worth living.

My favorite band, NEEDTOBREATHE, released a new single this week. I don’t know how they do it, but I swear, sometimes those songs are written just for me. If there was ever a time I needed to hear these lyrics, it would be now. “All these victims stand in line for crumbs that fall from the table, just enough to get by. All the while your invitation- wake on up from your slumber, baby, open up your eyes!”

If things aren’t going the way we want, if life becomes mundane, if the ratio of abundance to drudgery is off by a landslide, then maybe it’s time to wake up from the slumber and start really living.

Victor or Victim?

I want to crawl in a hole right now. Well, I want to get into my 2010 Nissan Cube and drive into a hole somewhere. A place where both my car and I can be safe from the harsh reality of the world. I know, that sounds pathetic and pessimistic and there’s really not a lot of hope in that.

I finally got my car back yesterday after 2 weeks of playing the mooch card and bumming rides from others. Now, I’m just so paranoid that something else is going to happen to my baby that I’d rather go hide in a cave somewhere with him than drive him out on the open road. Ridiculous, right? I haven’t been the best version of myself lately. I’ve been walking around all defeated, constantly worrying about all the things on my plate (besides the accident stuff, there’s a lot of other crap going on that is just making me feel like world is out to get me).

I used to be so sunny and hopeful… well, maybe not sunny, but certainly hopeful. What happened to me? It hit me the other day that I’ve made myself into a victim. I’ve let this world that I am subject to living in steal my joy. And that’s not ok. Not only is it not ok, it’s not true. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Wait… you mean, I already have the victory? I don’t have to walk around hunched over in fear like a loser? Jesus tells us we’re going to meet with opposition, but it doesn’t have to overtake us. In John, He says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” We don’t have to do the overcoming ourselves, because Jesus already did it for us. He already won the victory over every obstacle in our lives when He rose from the grave. I don’t have to rely on my own strength for these struggles, because the power that conquered the grave lives in me.

How soon we forget… I know I can’t be the only one who lets the earthly problems invade until I lose sight of my heavenly treasures. Regardless of what man can do to me, I still have a Savior. He still rescues me. He still has a plan for my life (Jeremiah 29:11). Though my road may look dark right now, there is light at the end of the tunnel. And the best part is, I’m not in there all alone. Not only do I have my victorious Savior by my side, He’s also blessed me with brothers and sisters to lift me up in prayer and stand beside me when things get rough.

Romans 8:31-39

 ^“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I wrote this post mainly for myself, but I hope you get something out of it, too. Walk with your head held high. Be a victor not a victim.