Purposing

Galatians 1:10 (NLT) “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”

Quick hit today.  Paul makes a pretty bold statement that – when I really let it sink in – has affected me in a much greater way.

“If I were worried about pleasing people – I wouldn’t be serving Christ!”

This tells me that “the approval of man” and “serving Christ” are mutually exclusive.  There is no cross over, gray area, or bleeding between the two. So I struggle with why then, in serving Christ, I (we) sometimes get the approval of man.  As I asked the Lord about it, He showed me that its because He loves people so much and often times those things I do in serving him, bless other people.  The important delineation is the motive behind what I do.  Why am I doing “ABC”; is it out of devotion and service to Christ – regardless of the accolades (or condemnation) I could receive from other people? Or is it in order to gain some accolade under the guise of “serving Christ”; to fill and satisfy my own selfish pride? It is something that cannot be seen or judged from the outside.  Motives rarely can.  It’s a total matter of the heart – as are most things concerning us and the Lord.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NLT) 9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? 10 But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards,according to what their actions deserve

It is also has become obvious that “serving Christ” or “man’s approval” not “an event” or exercise.  Serving Christ or receiving men’s approval is a mindset, a lifestyle, an attitude of the heart, mind, will, and emotion.  It is what I purpose myself to do.  It encompasses my whole being, not just one part of me.  This is why salvation isn’t just a feeling, or a just a decision.  Salvation is complete surrender of everything I am to the lordship and control of Jesus Christ – my mind, my will, my emotions, my desires, my rights, and the list goes on in perpetuity – each item prefaced with the word “my”.

Psalm 139:23-24 (NKJV)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.

Running After Papa…

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Hagar – God opened her eyes

Gen 21:16-21

Hagar cried out (perhaps to the Lord, but it is not stated in the text) and wept.  But v17 says that God heard the voice of the lad.  The scripture never records what Ishmael said or prayed.

v17 – the angel of God – is this just “an” angel?

v19 – “Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.”  OK this is the interesting part to me.  This is 1 of 2 things.

One:  There was a well of water present, but God hid it from Hagar and kept her from being able to see it…

“God opened her eyes…” all the cross references (Gen 3:7, Num 22:31, 2 Kin 6:17, Luke 24:31) all refer to an understanding or to a spiritual eye-opening.  Adam and Eve knew they were naked; Balaam saw the Angel of the Lord; Elisha’s servant saw the spiritual army; the people realized it was the resurrected Christ.

How many times am I so focused on the physical situation around me or that I am in that I do not see the spiritual help/aide/comfort/resolution right in front of me?  Hagar had been wandering with her son, and I’m sure they were searching for water (because v15 said the water in the skin was used up).  The longer they looked, the more thirsty they became, the harder (I imagine) they looked, until they were exhausted and gave up.

What a great application!  God moves in us and for us when we get beyond our own strength and abilities.  When we get to the end of me.  Building 429 has a great song out right now called “At the End of Me” that are very appropriate to this passage.  (Building429 “At the end of me” lyrics)

I was the one to call the shots
Dream-eyed dreams, heart and soul
Answered only to myself
Never giving up control
Until the one day that brought me to my knees
And I would never be the same

Chorus:
Once upon a time the story goes
I laid it all down and let it go
To lose it all
To lose it all
Took a step of faith and said goodbye
And everything I had I left behind
To find true life
When all I longed for I found finally
At the end of me

And now the gone is wasted days
The selfish soul, the emptiness
Love had dimly been replaced
That old life is laid to rest
And now the new me is stronger day by day
I will never be the same

Chorus

Bridge:
And like an answer to a prayer
Jesus you were there
Calling me to live to die to give to gain
And I’ll never be the same

Chorus

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnxwCE3bCQk]

OR Two:  There was no well of water there at all and God miraculously created one.

The second application could be around the miracle provision of God when we are in need and when we recognize that we are in need.  Too often, we don’t even realize how needy we are.

Additionally:

What is the significance of Ishmael taking a wife from Egypt – where Hagar came from – and  not from the land of his father?

Symbolism:

angel of the Lord – who is it?

well of water / Holy Spirit

dehydration / spiritually dry

weeping & near-death / brokenness

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