Talking with clients, friends, and merely reading the news has led me to conclude that the lockdown from COVID is continuing to affect people in a myriad of ways. It looks like it will continue for quite some time.
For some, those effects are good, honestly. They are getting time with family and kids they would have never gotten before. A break from the constant rush that is our schedule is now their regular. Happiness and togetherness have become a daily occurrence for them and their families.
For others, it has been detrimental to everything in their lives. So many friends are hurting from being isolated, losing jobs and income, unable to visit loved ones in jails that are locked down or nursing homes protecting residents. Being cut off from their communities, churches, and support systems. Fear and desperation are their daily companion.
When I was 18, I met an accordion-playing missionary named “Cha-Cha” Bob. He was full of Polka, strange stories, and one life-altering yet straightforward phrase that will forever be a part of my life. When bad things happen, you should lift three fingers up into the air and Praise The Lord! I’ve repeated that phrase thousands of times during my life. Joy became my default setting when I realized that I should “Praise The Lord” even in the worst of times! Those three words completely changed how I saw bad situations or events. They no longer felt like a curse, they were a gift.
“When bad things happen, you should lift three fingers up into the air and Praise The Lord!” – Cha Cha Bob
Ephesians 2 might be my overall favorite full chapter in Scripture. It is the Gospel in one (no need to flip through the whole Romans road) easy to see place. It takes you from lost to Christ, from a deep need for salvation to the source, from life before grace to living in it, from useless to divine purpose. It is a one-stop-shop for armor and weapons as we deal with everyday life. A place where Ambassadors can find every tool they need to keep doing His work.
I spoke with someone who lost their job. In our conversation, he used the phrase, “this comes at a special time that will allow us.” This is a phrase I thought about over and over when all my recent kairos (a season of time) began. It consistently brought me back to Ephesians. Verse 10 specifically:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
We live, and we go through things to bring God glory. We don’t go thru good stuff because we are Christian. It’s never been a job for people wanting an easy life. Often those with a comfortable life aren’t actually following God. We go through things that are excellent and totally horrible things because, in every circumstance of our life, God has arranged things to bring Glory to Him.
Get fired? You are the workmanship of God, and He will find glory in it. Get thrown in jail? You are the workmanship of God, and He will find glory in it.
Our faith and God’s Glory have very little concern about our particular situation.
Our faith and God’s glory have very little concern about our particular situation. Good, bad, or indifferent our situation doesn’t change how faith actually works or how God’s glory works. It only gives us new opportunities to interact with our faith and to bring God glory in different ways.
Your circumstance is God giving you opportunities to interact with your faith and to interact with Him. When you get to the point, you see and feel that… everything about how you deal with this starts to change. It may not be easier. It may still suck. It will, however, gain a purpose. When the things we are doing have a purpose, we can get through them. There is a purpose. God’s glory and the growth of your trust and reliance on Him.
We are His workmanship, ambassadors for the One True God to this fallen world, and He will use us where we are most needed for His Glory to be seen. Even when it hurts for the moment.
That’s my thought tonight for you. Oddly, or not so oddly, these thoughts are all part of the book I’m working on detailing my journeys since becoming an ambassador for Christ. There is more in my mind for you, and it’s coming. A good bit of it is the stuff that I have been putting off writing or thinking too deeply about.
I’ve spent my fair share of time under a blanket… or in a cave called Adullam. I’ll type more about that time eventually. Below you can find a link to my Amazon Author Page. Feel free to follow it and keep up with future adventures. As always, you can also find them here at Agragape, along with other insanity from a story filled mind.
For now, understand that everything happens for God’s Glory in God’s timing.
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Thanks for another great post.
Thanks