God on the forefront.

Old Testame...zzzz...
    That's sort of how I feel. How terrible, right? But chances are anyone who's read the bible or attempted to start from beginning to end has felt the seduction of cleaning your room & folding the laundry & other tedious things you never dreamed would seduce you. Maybe it's the lofty family trees thrown in the middle of those closest-you've-felt-to-exciting moments of Old Testament readings. Maybe it's the repetition of the same stories, places, & names, all tangled through out books leaving you lost on the timeline. Maybe it's our inability to relate a lot of it to our lives.

    No matter the way, I've been feeling it. 'It' feels like you've swallowed a whole bottle of Nyquil & you're now being asked to read a whole book of history. My eyes droop, mouth practically drooling (except not really), as I read the same verses three times through, every time praying this time would hold some charm.

So I got a new Bible.
    But really this is old news, because it happened around Christmas time. This was a huge thing for me because I am not only attached to God but I am also very attached to my Bible itself, those pages holding markings & tear stains & words from different seasons of my life overlapping. But, I have read through my Bible a few times & I was at the point I wanted to read it with a different twist. I wanted another take. Different descriptive words or something. So wouldn't you know I went in the Christian Bookstore that chilly morning before work to get a Bible & the door busters table beheld a pot o' gold I'd like to refer to as Bible bliss. Really, God? I laughed. Employees glared.

    The winner was a Chronological Order Life Application Bible. Rearranging many of the stories out of their usual booking arrangement, history is shuffled loosely into one, huge timeline. & as many stories are told twice (bless those gracious old darlings), many of the stories, no matter the level of significance, are told back-to-back. Many about lineage & kings & battles. Actually. All about that. But zoning in on the kings, this is usually how it goes:

_________ was crowned king, & his ways were (pleasing, displeasing) to the Lord. [Either way] He left all the idols in the land standing & allowed the people in his land to make sacrifices to their false gods.

    Even the good kings who were loyal to God & lived for him & his kingdom allowed their lands to be filled with idols & disobedience. & every time I read this, which is quite rampant through most of the Old Testament, I cringe & wonder how in the world the kings could be so careless... it's such a halfhearted thing to do. I have never understood. Until God stepped in & spoke to me through one particular reading, in which everything suddenly fit together & made complete sense.

& though they worshipped the Lord, they continued to follow their

own gods according to the religious customs of the nations from which

they came. & this is still going on today.

(2 KINGS 17:33-34)

 

    & it is, is it not? We worship God Sunday mornings & sing praise songs in the car, tapping to the beat on the steering wheel. We love God. We have the bumper sticker, t shirt, & bookmark. We have the tattoo. But we also love many other things, too.

 

 Add him to the list.

Delude him into thinking that he still has personal rights & can

claim ownership of time & possessions instead of having died to self

& yielded them to God. Nothing works so easily as to find a period of

 time which he reasons to have at his own disposal & then taken away

 from him by an unexpected visitor. Make him think his time is his own &

 it has been stolen from him. Always encourage the sense of ownership

 as this readily creates resentment when it must be shared or given away

 or is lost. Create a tendency to use personal pronouns for what really

 belongs to God- my house, my car, my family, my time."

(C.S. LEWIS, THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS)

 

    Recently, I was reading Jerry Rankin's Spiritual Warfare, a book about his journey in the missions fields, now preparing those who are on their way overseas with a what-to-expect perspective. He wrote of a man he encountered who he had led in the prayer of salvation. The man prayed to receive Jesus, & when finished, the man rejoiced, exclaiming, "now I have a God to add to my others!"

    & this is you, says the Lord to my heart. Not always, but I tend to lean that way. I look out over the fields of my soul & I see overgrown, uncivilized areas that have become unmanaged & awfully mangy. Because I neglect the areas of my life that are experiencing forest fire status out of fear of the flames, the same way I don't open bills sometimes out of dread of those triple digit numbers. I thrive off the whole don't see it, doesn't exist theory. & so I keep my yard clean cut & prim alongside my white picket fences, the part that lies bare for everyone to see, while I stash away all the parts running haywire. I have come to use God like an app on my iPhone, in which I have him in me as a back up plan, but he is just that- a back up plan.

    Selfishness says what can I gain from my God, friends, family, or experiences, but character is how you treat people & circumstances despite them being able to do anything for you. Character is loving the poor. Character is helping the widow. Character is sheltering the homeless. Character is religiously giving your whole heart to God, to be spilt in his presence & distributed however he desires. Character is saying Jesus, I trust in you.

    Unlike this man's gods, our God refuses to be coexistent. He doesn't want a portion of us. He doesn't want to be an add on. He doesn't want our sacrificing sleeping in Sunday mornings. He wants our whole hearts. He wants our trust to be a fragrant offering.
So more on fragrance:

 

CHH CHH CHH.
   Imagine we take a trip to Macy's & I tell you I will purchase you any perfume your little self desires. Go on, you deserve it! So you pick out that Juicy Couture, $90 perfume. You spray some on my wrist, looking for my glowing approval, & boy, do you have great taste! So I take the bottle up to the counter, check out, & open the bottle. & I pour it out all over your feet.

Well that's awkward.
    Well that's history. An Alabaster jar was a hefty investment. According to tradition, families would save up money to buy the best alabaster jar they could afford as a gift for their daughter, who in turn broke it for her new groom. So to break open this treasure was more than dropping a few bucks on a classy eye shadow; this was monumental. The climax of the story. The moment with the fireworks in the background & that random photographer hiding behind the bush to capture the moment. This jar was sacred. All your families hard earned savings into this one, prized possession. A prized possession meant to be poured out at the feet of the one you love.

    So may I ask where your alabaster jar is? To whom have you poured out all you are? Where is your sacred love?

    Jesus isn't one to settle to spray a few spritz his way & be satisfied. He wants the whole bottle, poured at his feet. Your whole life, a living sacrifice. Always, every thought, every action, beginning at the foot of the cross.

    So, my dear. Breathe a second, & drop your guard. Drop those barriers you have been squeezing in those sweaty palms & breathe in a Savior who is capable. The time has come for a good spring cleaning. Allow God to do a work in your life. Allow him to do some weeding & pruning. & flourish, baby. Flourish.