There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-- A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NASB) Hymn: "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" Martin Luther, translated by Frederick H. Hedge As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have been in the core team of four church plants, three of which did not yield a church in the end. After the door closed on Crossroads, the specific plant mentioned in the above link, I was eager to get back to work. I kept an eye out for opportunities, I was applying for new positions, I was growing antsy. God, however, had a period of rest planned for me, and I failed to appreciate it fully while it was happening.
When we talk about there being a time for everything, as the author of Ecclesiastes notes, we often think of all the active somethings we can be doing. We read it as though there is a time to act in one way, and a time to act in another way, and a time to act in yet another way, with no spaces between. But as we come near the end of the harvest season in the northern hemisphere, let's consider that there is also a time to rest, and a time to wait, and a time to prepare. Nothing in nature produces fruit all the time. There is always a period of gathering resources, storing energy, making preparation. The trees here are beginning to lose their leaves to go into a season of waiting, resting, and gathering what little energy they can to return to vibrant life in the Spring. God knows that we need rest. He built a Sabbath into the created order and surrounded us with examples of plants and animals taking rest for a season before returning to their tasks. And sometimes, when we are being stubborn, He will withhold opportunities and refuse to open doors long enough that we get the rest we need, or learn to wait on His timing, or make the preparations He knows we need for the next step. As a person with a mind toward church planting, it can be very difficult to spend time not working. Our culture, which emphasizes efficiency and constantly moving toward shifting goals, makes it even harder. But we all need to learn to recognize the season in which God has us, and enjoy it for what it is, and give glory to God for the periods where He restores and renews us in quiet rest as much as those where He uses the work of our hands.
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For the choir director; with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. God be gracious to us and bless us, [And] cause His face to shine upon us-- Selah. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him. Psalm 67 (NASB) Hymn: "Children of the Heavenly Father" Carolina Sandell Berg, translated by Ernest W. Olson The gospel we proclaim is sometimes too shallow.
It is true that Christ died to make atonement for our sins, to set us right before God, to redeem us from our fallen state and make us new. It is true that this salvation makes us a family, part of the family of God Himself, united to Him and each other in a deeply powerful way that I do not believe can ever be broken if it is truly established. And these are big concepts, so big we can get lost in thinking of them as the point. In thinking about the details of salvation and atonement theories and propitiation and all of these very large and important ideas that we do need to wrestle with, but it can be easy to forget that none of that was the point. God didn't save us just for us. He didn't go through the whole process of creating us and revealing Himself to us and eventually saving us through great effort and pain just so that we can be with Him. That is more than enough for us, far more good than we could ever deserve. But it pales in comparison to what God deserves. The core of all of this is the glory of God--the revelation of the glory of God, the act of us glorifying God, and the invitation for us to enjoy being in the presence of the glory of God. The core of the gospel is God's glory, which is served by our salvation. Let us never forget that none of this, not our salvation, not our ministry, not even our lives here or in the world to come, are ultimately for us. We receive a great gift in it all, and we will enjoy Him forever, and it is the best thing that we could ever know or have. But the root, the point, the objective of all of it is His glory. We must always be submitting to that greater purpose. |
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation
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