Hey Lifespring Fam!
Check-in Time… We are thirteen days into this January Church Fast … we’ve nearly hit the two-week mark!! How’re we all doin’?
Obviously, we can’t actually talk about it like this, but I’m willing to bet there are loads of different responses out there to that one, little question. I know for me, just within my own experience, I’m having lots of different responses:
- ONLY T W O W E E K S IN?! 😩 How much longer?!
(Fun Fact: the name of that emoji is literally “Weary Face”) - Pride in the “loopholes” I’ve established to make this fast a little more manageable
- Regret and shame for needing loopholes in the first place 🙄
- Depending way more on other vices …
(shout out to Abby’s VERY relatable devo from Wednesday about Filling the Void… check it out here: https://www.life-spring.org/filling-the-void/)
However, there have also been some other surprisingly positive & helpful responses too:
- I am much more productive when Netflix is off the (time)table!
- Although it was boring and frustrating at first (it’s often because I’m trying so hard not to turn on a show) there are more moments stillness and quiet in my day
- I feel like I can breathe easier and like I am generally more calm (when I’m not cranky, of course)
Fasting brings out all sorts of difficult truths about ourselves, doesn’t it?
While those truths can seem overwhelmingly ugly or embarrassing at first glance, if we can face them with the Spirit of God, we will often begin to see quite a lot of beauty hidden away in there too.
When we face our human weakness and brokenness with God, with our Creator, we begin to understand who we are a little better… we also begin to see the creativity and love of The One who formed us and designed us and breathed life into us!
On Tuesday evening I was ridiculously happy. Giddy even! Now, this might not sound surprising to many of you. I can definitely be pretty… excitable? Bubbly and energetic… However, on a Tuesday evening after a long and busy day, when shows and movies are not allowed, those are typically not the best words to describe my general attitude.
And yet, the best way to describe how I was feeling would be the way you might feel with the initial excitement of having a crush and wanting to giggle about it with your best friends. Or the way you might feel if you’ve discovered some very good news and it’s still a secret but you feel like you just might burst with the anticipation of finally getting to share with others!
The feeling caught me by surprise so much that I literally stopped mid-task, in the middle of my living room and looked around and went, “What?! Lord! What IS this?!”
As I was still standing there with my arms spread wide in the international question-mark shrug, laughing to myself, the Lord began to speak…
The reason I was feeling like this was because I was rediscovering my First Love.
The reason I was so excited was because I knew I was going to have time to journal and write out all those thoughts and feelings and spend quality time with the Lord!
“When you try to distract yourself and numb the pain and the struggles with shows and movies, you also begin to grow numb to the joy and the peace I bring.”
Woah.
My prayer for all of us in the remaining 18 days of this month, is that we might encounter such deep revelations of joy and peace and comfort that we never return to the numbing effects of our vices.
My prayer is that we might get so hooked on the presence of God in the midst of our daily lives that we couldn’t imagine living any other way.
My prayer is that instead of dwelling on any guilt or shame or embarrassment, that we would begin to receive the forgiveness, love and mercy of Christ Jesus.
That instead of heaping more rules, restrictions or punishments on ourselves, that we would reject the temptation of legalism and lean into a life defined and dependent on the Grace of God.
Now God has us where he wants us,
with all the time in this world and the next
to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus.
Saving is all his idea, and all his work.
All we do is trust him enough to let him do it.
It’s God’s gift from start to finish!
We don’t play the major role.
If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing!No, we neither make nor save ourselves.
ephesians 2:7-10 [the message]
God does both the making and saving.
He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does,
the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.