Week 2 in Review

I think tomorrow, since I have a day off, I will take the time to put in some links (Scriptural or otherwise) in the past couple entries that were done later at night.

The theme for this week, again was "You Were Planned for God's Pleasure." What a powerful statement in itself. . . God created us so that He could enjoy our fellowship and express His love!

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How is "living your whole life for God's pleasure" different from the way most people understand "worship"?
Most people think of worship as what you do at church, sometimes even specifically as what you sing at church. We think that worship is an act that we do so that we can feel closer to God. While this is not wrong by any means, it is in no way the whole picture. In fact, it is only a small part of it (and in my opinion, the easy part). Anyone can feel good about singing their favorite song to God or listening to a challenging and encouraging sermon. But what about when we go to Wal-Mart, and it's really busy, and everyone is in a rush? Or what about when we face a tough situation at our job? I don't remember exactly when Reggie, the music minister at SBC, said this, but it impacted me enough that I wrote it in the front of my student Bible (I'm big on writing things down that pique my interest, mostly because I remember that I wrote it down and not so much to go back and look at very often). "Worship is NOT about us. It is a response to God. Worship is a lifestyle. We don't worship God because life is good; we worship God because GOD is good. We worship because of the blessings of God." Coupled with the book's definition of "living for God's pleasure," worship has taken on a whole new life for me (pun definitely intended).

How is a friendship with God similar to any other friendship, and how is it different?
There is mutual delight in being the presence of one another. We have similar interests, similar emotions, and (ideally) a sense of trust with one another. However, God will never let go of us, no matter what we do. He forgives us of everything we confess, unconditionally. If we were able to do that with 100% accuracy as humans! God also plays additional roles in our lives than most friends, and in a way, plays the roles of all our friends combined: there are people we go to for advice, some for adventure, some for times of grief, some for encouragement, some for brainstorming, etc. God does ALL of that, plus so much more. Go to this website and see if you can't find some specific Biblical names of God that you hold as part of your conception of God. Sometimes we need to be reminded of everything that He does and is.

(and yeah. . . there are 625 names listed. . . have fun!)

Share something you learned from a time when God seemed distant.
I learned that He has a reason for everything (EVERYTHING) that happens. I'll point out one particular point in a series of events coming from (you guessed it) this past year. I applied for Teach for America a year ago (beginning of Feburary, in fact). I really like their perspective and mission on education, and I'm young, so even if I only stuck with a two-year committment, I knew it would provide me some great resources and opportunities to grow as an educator and a person. My application was good enough that I was pushed past the phone interview step and was invited directly to a final interview. I was so excited! And after coming out of the interview, I felt pretty good. I knew that music and arts jobs are not their focus, but still. . . up to this point in my life, I succeeded at everything I had wanted to do (got into the School of Music at WMU, took loads of classes, developed a social life, had an awesome thesis project, and at the time was taking part in an AMAZING internship). There was very little doubt that I would be spending the next couple years in either the Mississippi Delta or E. North Carolina region.
As you may already know, I did not get offered a job with them. And I was DEVASTATED. It seemed like God had set me up for failure, and with the way I was going with my life at that point, I wasn't exactly attempting to draw close to Him or let Him lead my life, and that moment just made it much worse. I felt almost as though He were making fun of me or punishing me or something, and I didn't like it.

Although I didn't learn it until much later, His plan was perfect. Because of the nature of how my parents found out about TFA, a dialouge between myself and them finally opened up. And although things are nowhere near perfect, if this hadn't happened, who even knows if we would be talking right now? I'm 1,200 miles away!

So, if you didn't catch that, what I have learned from that (and most of this summer and moving experience) is that God's plan is always perfect.

Which is easier for you- public or private worship? In which do you usually feel closer to God?
Right now, I find it easy and feel closer to God in my private worship. Sure, I'm getting involved with my church a lot more now, but while important it is only a small part of the picture. I love spending time with God, praying or reading the Bible or just talking with Him while I do things around the apartment, but when I get work, do I show my students the love of Jesus? Do I openly approach religious dialogues with God's purpose in mind? Do I go out of my way to do things for those who are in need of help? Do I read, watch, listen to, and participate in activities that don't please God, and if so, why am I doing them? These are all things that I think about and am working on.

When is it appropriate to express anger to God?
I think it's appropriate to express anger to God when we feel angry. He wants us to! Read Psalm 4. David demands that God answers him in his distress! Yes, he is still respectful, but you can almost see the anger coming out of the words. But he offers wise advice: "In your anger do not sin." Ephesians 4 has similar advice. Yes, we have every "right" to be angry with the situation. BUT the important part is how we deal with it. We are not called to act rashly with anger or to seek vengence or compensation. We need to lay our emotion on God and let Him take care of it, because once we truly give it over to Him, it goes away.

What fears surface when you think of surrendering your complete life to Christ?
I think one of the most basic human qualities we all know from childhood is the yearning to be in control. We don't want to share "our" toys, we want to eat when we feel like it, we do this or don't do that or won't, all because we want to feel that we have control over our lives. I think this is a major part of the negative edge to the freewill sword: we are able to do anything we want, so the idea of living our life for someone else is nearly foreign to our nature. I myself am a big "plan ahead and have back-up plans" person (ask me about my Christmas concert someday). So one thing that I need to not be afraid of is letting God be part of that major planning process, and keeping His interests and presence in mind as I try and do all the things that I want to do. On the one side I should take great comfort that the Creator of the universe wants to be a part of what I do with my life and job, but on the other side it's easy for me to say, "I know best, because this is my life." That's something I think we all need to be careful with.