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Greeting Card Mentality

Who doesn’t like to receive a well chosen greeting card to help you celebrate a wonderful occasion, like a birthday or anniversary, or one that helps you get through an especially rough time in your life?

Greeting cards are meaningful among Christians when they contain a verse of Scripture that expresses hope and encouragement. We can all agree that these cards are sweet and kind expressions, and we appreciate every kind thought. 

However, could it be that we are sometimes guilty of living a “greeting card” mentality while neglecting the most important aspect of the verses we use in our greeting cards?

For example, we often use a familiar verse in Romans 8:28 as a challenge that we can do anything with Christ’s help. But we ignore the over all context of the passage that admonishes us to pray without ceasing, and to pray being led by the Holy Spirit. It’s not about us achieving a personal goal with God’s help, but about developing an attitude of prayer and following God’s will. 

I recently read a “Our Daily Bread” devotional that told the story of a man’s wife who had bought a birthday card for a friend. The card had a scripture from Deuteronomy 28:63 that read, ”The lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply”.  She was so fascinated with the beauty of that statement that she wanted to look up the scripture and read the rest of the passage.  When she read the whole verse it painted a different picture when read in its context. The whole verse read, “Just as the lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy.”

The proper context of the whole passage is not about God’s favor and blessing, but about His judgement because Israel had turned their back on Him.  Yes, God takes pleasure in blessing His people, but He also warns us that we are destined for greatness and blessing only when we are serving Him with all of our heart.

Bottom Line

To walk with the Lord means we are intentional and radical about our faith.  Being intentional is to have forethought. For me, that means I must have a time each day that I focus on my need for His daily guidance. I acknowledge that “Apart from Christ I can do nothing.”  Some would call this daily devotions, I prefer to call it my God focus time. This helps me recognize and acknowledge a daily need for Him.

Being radical is simply being fully surrendered and abandoned to the will of God.  It’s a reminder  that there is nothing more important than being right with God and walking in daily fellowship with Him.

How would you characterize your walk with God, “Greeting Card mentality” or “Intentional and Radical?” 

“As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.” (Galatians  6:14 NLT)

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God’s Purpose In Struggle

After his resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples several times. One of the encounters occurred on a beach after they had been fishing all night. The disciples were close to shore and they noticed Jesus on the beach cooking breakfast for them.

After they had finished eating Jesus asked Peter three times, ”Do you love me?” Peter responded all three times that he truly loved Jesus. Then Jesus told Peter to do three things:  (1) tend my lambs; (2) take care of my sheep; and (3) feed my sheep. (John 21)

There is plenty to learn from the three questions Jesus asked and the three things he told Peter to do. But I think the deeper and more profound words of Jesus is what he said to Peter next.

“I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go. Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God.” (John 21:18-19 NLT)

Jesus’ point to Peter is that his life from this point forward was going to be difficult. Jesus is telling Peter that there will come a time that he will be taken where he doesn’t want to go, and he will be treated like he doesn’t want to be treated, and then he will die.

This is not about “when you get old you will have to be led around and then you will die”. There is a deeper message behind this foretelling of Peter’s future.  The deeper message is Jesus telling Peter how he is going to live. 

In a way, Jesus was telling him that life is not all about Peter. His life is about a bigger story. His life is now about his mission of bringing the gospel to the nations. With that task comes a life of “being led about where you don’t want to go”.

Life is not about being the main player, but it’s about your role of being a part of the big picture. In other words, life is not about creating a plan and knowing what is going to happen every season of your life. Life is about conflict, difficult days, disappointment and failure. But God has a purpose in all of that. He wants to lead us to the point of  if you want to keep your life you must be willing to lose it.  It’s about abandonment.

God wants us to get to the point of surrendering every aspect and every season of our life to Him, so we can give our life away. That’s where radical Christianity comes in – when we let go of our life, we will find it.

That’s how a highly trained physician can leave a financially lucrative career and become a missionary doctor in the bush of a third world country. It’s how a professional school teacher can quit her secure job with a good salary and benefits and go teach at risk, inner city children in the ghetto of a major city.

The issue is not are you willing to be a missionary. The issue is are you willing to lay down your life, your dreams and your plans at Jesus’ feet and give him a blank pad, and have him write your story as he sees fit?

The Bottom Line
All good stories and movies have an unpredictable and unseen surprise ending. It’s that conflict and tension that etches the story in your mind. Our life is one big story being written by God. That means we are going to be led into situations that are uncomfortable, unpredictable, and like Peter, we may be led to places that we don’t want to go.

As a committed follower of Christ we must remember that life is about faith and trust. It’s trusting God in every situation, and even sometimes, being led down a path where we don’t want to go. 

Be encouraged because God passionately loves you and he always has a purpose for everything he allows in your life.  As your story is being written,  your struggle is part of the big picture.