It Is Enough---Breaking the Bonds of the More Trap

 

"No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
    and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

 

 

  

 Looking out of the window away from our lives, casting our vision outside instead of inside makes us feel that the life we have is not enough. We look out and our heart jumps over the life placed in front of us onto some imaginary life we think we should be living. This perfection we have embedded into our hearts and minds, is it attainable? Is it from God or have we given ourselves this task? Visions of some life that will make us happy or wishfully more fulfilled.

Always striving for something more. A better car, a better house, more money, more vacations. Yet we miss the life placed in front of us. We skip over those meant to be the apple of our eyes and hearts. The people in front of us were not given to us from our striving, from our promotions, from our bonus money. They are gifts from God for us to love and minister to. Yet we so often say without anything spoken, "you are not enough." And God hears this from us too "God, you are not enough."

We are so busy looking to our next dreamed up life and crossing the mundane off our to do lists we can't stop to be filled by the God of the universe. The very God who breathed life into us. We don't even stop to hear His voice and be filled by Him. To dwell in God's presence and be filled overflowing with grace, God wants this from us. 

"You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” Psalm 27:8

Here is something counter cultural---God requires that we spend TIME with Him! Seeking God's face does not happen in the thirty to sixty seconds we feel we can so generously give God every day. It takes blocking out intentional time and saying no to some things, even seemingly good things. Seeking God and His word and hiding His word deep in the corners of our heart takes time. It might mean we can't watch a tv show we "need" to watch or spend our time on some other thing we feel is pressing.

Soak in the life you have now. The people you have to love now. Can you see the gifts God has given? Stop long enough to see them. What if our looking outside dreams, turn to looking inside dreams? Can we possibly stop to see the dreams already fulfilled and come true? If we look back and realize we were so busy looking out to our self fulfilling dreams, we missed what was already in front of us, the God dreams---what a sad tale that will be. Do we want to honestly miss the life God has for us because we're too busy dreaming up the one we have for ourselves?

 To love those God placed in the sphere of my world well, is enough. To live a simpler life, uncomplicated by the webs the world wants to entangle me in, God tells me this is enough. To spend time with God alone each day listening to His voice, to purposely live a different pace of life than those around me, is what God requires of me. I don't have to pile more, more, more on my plate. I don't have to think that my simpler life of living for others isn't enough and I better do something else to feel more fulfilled. It won't fulfill me more, it will just add busyness and chaos and trick me into thinking now it's enough. Now I am doing what the world requires of me---so that I justify to them doing what Christ requires.

"Oh, you're just a stay at home mom?" "Yes,  I reply, but I do this and this and this other thing too." How many times have I answered like this, when God tells me it is enough. Trying to justify walking with God to those of this world who don't understand. I don't need to justify myself when behind closed doors that the world can't see beyond my family is loved well and I strive to love them better every day.

And so I am removing the "this and this and this" other things off of my plate, to do more of what Christ requires of me. It is enough, and my dreams are pointing inward to God instead of out to the world.

God is so simple and direct with us. Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. Let's focus on doing these well where God places us, it is enough. May it wash over us and seep into our hearts.

"God gives us time. And who has time for God? It makes no sense. " - Author Ann Voskamp from her book "One Thousand Gifts"

"Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10

"Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord! Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way." Psalm 25:5-9

"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday." Psalm 37:5-6