Are you all in?

 

Let me be real with you. These past few weeks have been a struggle. They have been hard physically, with a heavy work load of hard physical labour, and they have been a struggle emotionally and mentally.

Anyone brave enough to put your hand up to say you can relate?

Praise God I have cultivated the habit of rising early to spend time alone in God’s Word each morning. This was not always the case. But I am so thankful that God has helped me develop this habit and stick to it, no matter how tired I am.

What a blessing it is to spend my first waking moments soaking in his Word and talking to him, learning from him and meditating on the precious Word of God we so often take for granted.

I’m not saying this to boast. In fact, it has taken me many years to come to this place and oh how I wish I had been more disciplined earlier.

I truly believe with all of my heart, that if I don’t spend time in God’s Word each day, I start the day out empty. I am setting myself up for attitude problems and frustrations galore.

Now, please don’t get me wrong, just because I spend time in the Word each morning, doesn’t mean that I have great days, full of happiness and joy, free from worries and cares. Quite the opposite actually. I often have days full of frustration and constant attitude adjusting, tears, fears and disappointment. The Bible is clear on the fact that not every day will go according to plan and there will be troubles.

John 16:33 KJV - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation (affliction; trouble; anguish; distress): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

But just filling my heart and head with God’s Word in the morning gives me something to meditate on throughout the day. And reading good, wholesome, Biblical books and articles and devotionals just adds to thoughts to ponder as I go about my business.

Last week was a roller coaster of a week. It was full on from the get-go. From a super busy and hard work load, working in the full sun each day in extreme heat, to stressful situations that left me anxious, a couple of emotional meltdowns and then a tummy bug to top it all off.

Now, I know full well that God likes to use difficult circumstances to draw us closer to him, but I also know that I don’t always respond like I should.

I’m not always the quickest learner and sometimes God has to pick up a bigger stick and knock me clean between the eyes to get my attention.

I’ll be honest with you. I needed an attitude adjustment.

There have been things going on in my life that I have been finding difficult. Decisions made that I struggle to come to terms with. A season of life that I was not prepared for and is frankly, unwanted.

I have found it difficult to be content.

Although I write in my gratitude journal every day and always have things to thank God for, and consistently write them down, I have found that I have a spirit of discontent in other matters.

I confess, I haven’t quite gotten to Paul’s stage when he says:

Philippians 4:11 KJV - Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

I am learning, but I haven’t learnt. Not yet. It’s a work in progress.

As I read through a book in my quiet time the other morning, I came across a quote by missionary martyr Jim Elliot that hit me pretty hard.

“Wherever you are, be all there”.

Simple. But thought provoking.

I was instantly convicted. I began to realise some hard truths.

God had not chosen to change the script of my life to what I expected and wanted.

God hadn’t closed the door to this season of my life, in fact, he had swung it wide open.

Then why was I so unwilling to step in? Why was I so discontent?

God has given us a beautiful promise in his Word:

1 Corinthians 2:9 KJV – But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

We can not even begin to fathom what God has in store for us if we love him and faithfully obey him. We can’t even imagine the blessings he has for us.

And yet we fret and worry and fear and go about with a bad attitude, wishing away our days, hoping for more roses and less thorns.

I realised, after reading those 6 little words, that I needed to change my thinking and ‘be all there!’

Why was it I didn’t want to submit to this next season of my life? Was it fear? Or selfishness? Or frustration that my dreams and passions couldn’t be fully lived out if I stepped into the script God had written into my life?

Here I was, fighting for happiness in my situation, longing for it to change to fulfil my desires, and not understanding that I needed to fight for God to be glorified through it and in it and by my response to him.

I needed to be content with where he had me and be all in.

If anyone was all in, it was Jim Elliot and the other missionaries that were martyred along with him.

He put everything he had into trying to reach the lost and in so doing, lost his life.

He definitely lived up to what he was quoted saying. “Wherever you are, be all there”.

How is it that many of the heroes of the faith that we admire were able to be content in the most trying circumstances? How did they come to the place that they put their heart and soul into their endeavours and were ‘all there’? How were they able to fully trust God and be content with his will and way?

I think that they could say along with Jeremiah the prophet:

Jeremiah 31:3 KJV - The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

They understood that God loved them with an unconditional, everlasting, abounding, extravagant love and that he would have their best interests at heart. They could trust God to guide their present and their future.

And God was drawing them and leading them in lovingkindness, goodness and faithfulness.

God was to be trusted. And if the way looked dark or the shadows loomed overhead, they were content to lie comfortably in his will. Asleep while the storm raged on. Calmed in the chaos.

And it shouldn’t be any different for me.

As much as we look up to these faithful men and women, we are one and the same. We are all human. We are all saved by the same God. We all have failings, and we all have struggles.

But, we can all learn to put every effort into glorifying God whether it be in a job that seems mundane, or a task that seems overwhelming.

1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV - Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

That ‘whatsoever’ covers a LOT of things.

Ultimately, God’s glory is what we should strive for. We need to raise his name high. We need the world to see a God that is great and holy and loving and just.

We shouldn’t be fighting for happiness, we should be fighting for God’s glory to shine so brightly that those around us are blinded by it’s light and long to know why.

1 Peter 3:15 KJV - But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Maybe, like me, you need an attitude adjustment. Maybe you need to change your thinking. Maybe God has put you in a place you don’t want to be. Maybe you’re stuck in a job you don’t enjoy. Maybe you are struggling with discontentment.

Maybe, like me, you need to learn to ‘bloom where you’re planted’. And go all in!

A lot of times, the circumstances of life threaten to choke us and bring us to our knees, and it seems there is no way that we can 'bloom'. We are struggling just to be able to hold onto life and keep going.

But God expects more from us than just holding on and keeping afloat. He expects us to bloom. And not just in the 'green' times. He wants us to bloom during the hardships. Radiate His love to all around. Show the lost world the love of Christ.

When there is ugliness all around and the rains don't come, the leaves are dry, and the grass is dead, God is still there, sending His showers of blessing down on our lives, sending the sunshine of His Word to tease the little buds into opening into full bloom. A full bloom that shouts to all who see it, God is great! God is good! God is bigger than all your problems!

I can choose to dry up and blend into the ugliness that surrounds me, or I can choose to bloom. To be that testimony of God's love. I can be that light in the darkness that shows the way to Christ. God is the light that lives in me, and if I am walking in His perfect will, obeying His commands, radiating Christ's love, I can be a light in the darkness.

Wherever it is God has you, there will be other Christians that are trying to bloom where they're planted. Find those like-minded Christians, fellowship with them, work with them towards a common goal. That of seeing the lost come to Christ.

I think that if we are each, individually, blooming for Christ, then together, we can create a lovely bouquet that reaches out, sharing our fragrance with the lost. Our blooms might be different colours, shapes and sizes, but we are one in Christ and the work we can do together for Christ can be a witness to all around us.

I want people to look at my life and want what I have. I don't want to blend in and become camouflage. I want to stand out in full bloom, my colours shouting to the world that there is hope.

Be all God wants you to be. Work hard wherever you are. Choose to rise above your circumstances, like a sunflower reaching for the sunlight. Find whatever it is God wants you to do and do it with all your heart. Do it for the Lord. Give Him all the glory.

 

Wherever you are, Be all there!