(Read Matthew 6)
My day started with a text message from my family’s attorney, an email to contact my accountant, an out-of-the-blue email from a longtime client, and a few other mini-fires. I usually try to squeeze in my run between my devotional time and my first work task, but today it wasn’t until midday. Not complaining, I’m just saying. A third of the way into my run, advice from a friend I recently spoke with was injected into my head, “Let go and let God.” Here’s a little bit of our conversation.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:9-10
In Chapter 12, Job responds to his friends and their bad theology. They thought good and bad things happened because of their own doings. Job tells us that every creature on earth is from Him and sustained by Him, not so influenced by checklists and failures. “The breath of mankind,” as distinguished from our bodies, is supported by God, doesn’t return to dust, and never dies. God lifts and continuously holds us up. He has better things in store for us, His children.
“Well, I am a bus kid,” (P) began. “I was in elementary school, and I had a friend down the street whose mom worked full time and was a single parent. And she started getting picked up by a school bus and taken to a church. This allowed my friend’s mom to work on Sundays, and my friend could go to church. One day, she just invited me. Because my parents didn’t go to church and still don’t go to church, this was a new experience for me. Looking back, I see it was quite a sacrifice on the church’s part.”
(P) is a friendly, engaging, and amusingly funny woman who often reminds me of my wife. They’re so similar in so many ways. Her faith is transparent and authentic. She shared details about the nondenominational church she grew up in. “They had a choir and programs, we camped, and we had Sunday night service. That’s how my sister and I started going to church. It would have never been on my radar because that wasn’t how we were raised,” she said without accusation.
She described the departure years when she got a driver’s license, discovered boys, and priority changes. “Even when I went to college, church and worship weren’t at the top of my list. I had the foundation from childhood but wasn’t attending church regularly until much later. It wasn’t until my husband and I had our first child that we were drawn back. We got married kind of late. I was 30, and we had a son when I was 32. It wasn’t our lifestyle before children. I’d say we were the check-the-box kind of couple.”
“That’s where most of us come from,” — I added.
Enter God’s help through trials.
“When I had my son, I suffered extreme postpartum issues and OCD. My husband was gone because of an internship, and I was alone without a car. To make matters worse, we lived in a place that wasn’t super stay-at-home friendly. We didn’t know many people. It was a really big problem. After some counseling, I saw that God was calling me.”
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:6
What strikes me about this passage is that Philippians writer Paul said, “He,” not “you,” who began a good work in you. God has a better plan than any plan we conjure up for our lives. (P) was concluding that she shouldn’t hesitate to commit her unsettled future to a loving and perfect God.
“You just need to get to church! Get to church,” she continued. “I realized we had a big problem. I said to my husband, ‘Look, I don’t think we can survive marriage and parenthood without God in our lives.’ We went to a nearby church with a powerful pastor who really helped my husband and me. Having children is always hard for a marriage, but to be honest, they changed my life. Getting back into church gave me the understanding that I don’t have the answers and that I have no control over this little kid. I realized that I’m just borrowing him, and I’ll do the best that I can.”
“God’s going to do the rest.”
Bringing worship back into their lives through the conduit of their son created a life transformation for them. She talked about how her Christian roots provided ground for their growth. “I don’t think I would have had that on my radar if I hadn’t been going to church early on,” she said. “It wouldn’t have been a consideration because that’s not how my family coped with trials and tribulations. My parents still don’t attend church, but my sister and my childhood friend from down the street do. So church is helping the three of us, for sure.” Once God’s good work begins in our life, He doesn’t stop until He’s finished.
“One of the praises is my sister. My sister is dealing with an older husband diagnosed with dementia, and her job is in trouble. My mom recently talked to me about how amazed she was by my sister’s I’ve got this attitude. My sister knows it’s the journey that God gave her, and she will learn things along the way. That’s the first time my mom, in her 80’s, has ever really mentioned God in a helpful way.”
Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
Matthew 13:3-6
I didn’t tell (P) in our chat, but the seed on the rocky ground represents people like me at times. Initially, I might respond enthusiastically, but sometimes God’s word doesn’t stick. In the past, when challenges would strike, I didn’t always stay on the path. Believers need deep roots to allow us to renew and refresh our faith. The fascinating part of this parable Jesus told is that the soil is the same in his examples. It’s our hearts that create the distractions. It also shows us that God, the sower, is generous. No matter how many people reject Him, He sows anyway.
(P) revealed, “I’m always drawn to Christ’s love for the worst. My path is not a conventional path, and my path is not without a lot of regret and ungodly things. When I went back to the church, it was so clear that He loves the broken. He always picks the ones who have the rocky path. He gave me a lot of comfort and forgiveness for what I did while I was away from Him. Coming back to the church was something I had to reckon with. With those decisions and those mistakes, I had doubts about whether I could come back. Being the perfectionist of what I’ve already messed up, I had thoughts that I couldn’t go back in. That has always stuck with me. So, I can help people who didn’t take the conventional path or never had it available to them.”
“So how do we grow as believers?” I asked.
“I feel like God is saying, let’s do some outreach. Let’s help those who live across the street. What do I need to do before I get out there and do the messy stuff, do the uncomfortable stuff? I felt like I’ve rested on my laurels in the past few years, just giving my money and letting other people do the messy work.”
I shared with (P) a time when I sat beside a homeless guy on a bench in front of our local pharmacy. We talked about things, and it didn’t matter what we talked about. We just talked. It was just two men talking, treating each other as humans without labels. After a while, I got up to go. I offered him a few dollars, and he said, “No thanks, I don’t need your money.” I think it was the Holy Spirit in me that he needed. I felt awkward, and a little embarrassed, thinking money would smooth over the hardships that shaped this guy’s life.
“I get it,” (P) replied. “And I’m scared to death of outreach because I like my comfort zone. When you get into the messy stuff, you realize that what you thought you knew is not what you know. We’re living from a perspective of gifts and easiness. I mean, I’ve had it pretty cush. I’ve never been hungry. But I forget that some people don’t know where their next meal is coming from, or a kid doesn’t know where they will sleep that night. How do we even know what that’s like?”
“It’s always more comfortable to settle than to push your comfort zone,” I added.
“I think I would have settled. I think I’d still be with the guy I went to high school with, living in his parents’ basement, if MY plan was THE plan. Thank God that He gave me a different plan of experiencing what it’s like to be married to a loving and growing person, living overseas, and all the places we’ve been. My life is so different from what I would have settled for. I see Jesus in every part of my life. It’s funny because even though my kids are out of the house, God’s saying, ‘Have I not shown you over and over again that there’s so much more to do?’”
“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”
Matthew 6:9–13
“The Lord’s Prayer is the first thing I think of when I think of Scripture,” (P) told me. “It used to be a check-the-box and make me feel like a good parent task, just letting my kids know some Bible verses. We broke it down in a Bible study in the most impactful way! Word for word and phrase by phrase, it is the perfect prayer when you’re praying for something. It’s everything, it’s all you need, and it’s all you need to say! And I try to think of that every day as far as: how am I going to ask for things, how am I going to be thankful for things, how am I going to trust more fully in God? The Lord’s Prayer covers it all for me. Like in any situation, I can always find a part in there that I need to do or I need to be. It’s in there. “
“My theme is let go, let God, and show up. I think that just as long as I show up, amazing things happen.”
Key Application:
- Read Matthew 6. Do you see the parts in this passage directed toward God’s glory and the parts focused on our needs? Jesus taught us this prayer as a model prayer to deal with both. He doesn’t need us to accomplish His will or to cooperate. He invites us to participate shamelessly and persistently in our prayers so that our hearts seek His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
- Pray this prayer each morning and evening before bed. May it bookend each day this week. See God’s kingdom come and touch your life.
Where else in your life can you live out the teachings of Christ? Look for next week’s Devotion.