'The Motions' by Matthew West

I have been hearing a song named 'The Motions' by an artist named Matthew West. For some reason I have only been able to catch parts of the song. Today I was able to hear the song in it's entirety. Wow! What challenging lyrics. The chorus of the song says

I don't want to go through the motions

I don't want to go one more day

Without your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't want to spend my whole life asking

What if I had given everything

Instead of going through the motions?

I guess those words are particularly challenging to me right now because I feel like God is breaking me out of a spiritual lethargy that had overtaken me. I admit that I had become comfortable and I sense that God is doing what is necessary to bring me back to a place of brokenness, willingness and usefulness.

The process of praying, dreaming, questioning and wondering we are experiencing is causing me to see the struggle between my human instincts (fear) and my spiritual understanding (faith). It is as if God is challenging me in the area of faith so that I can gradually learn to live in that realm on a daily basis as a variety of opportunities and decisions come along.

A great man of God said to D. L. Moody many years ago, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.”

http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1990/issue25/2510.html

Missed opportunity at Dunkin' Donuts

I was with a friend of mine late this morning having a cup of coffee and solving the problems of the world when someone interrupted our conversation. I had just said to my friend "if I did not have a job right now, I'd go tomorrow and get one". A young gentleman near our table turned to me with little bit of fire in his eyes and said, "what did you just say?"

I looked at him and said "Are you talking to me? Because I was talking to him" (nodding at my friend).

He responded with a bit of edge in his voice, "I thought it was admirable that you could go get a job right now because I have been laid off for a while."

I quickly thought of several different ways this conversation could proceed and I could not think of any good options. I did not want to get into an 'edgy' conversation so I said again "I was talking to my friend here". The exchange lasted a few more seconds and then we mutually ignored each other for the next half hour.

On my way home a little while later I was replaying the whole scene and I realized that because of my fear and defensiveness I had missed an opportunity to share God's love with a hurting person. I realized that my human thought process tends to value self-preservation and pride. I wondered if I would ever be in the place where I would have responded to that young man from a heart of love.

I replayed the scene again and this time my response to him was "you were laid off, I'm sorry to hear that - where were you working?" And then from there he was able to share about his situation and I was able to be a positive, caring person at this low point in his life.

Dear Father, please forgive me for being so interested in me. Open my eyes to how you are working in the lives of others. Help me never to be motivated by fear or pride. Please help my heart to be ready for these kind of situations. I am so sorry I was not ready this time. Amen

Fear -- FAITH -- Foolishness

Since Joan and I seriously began to consider leaving Community Wesleyan Church we have encountered a lot of fearful thoughts -

• "Where is God leading us?",
• "What will the people be like?",
• "Will they accept us?",
• "Are we in God's will or coming up with our own agenda?",
• "How will CWC do without us?",
• "How will God provide for our needs (and some of our wants)?".

One day I was kind of spinning some of these fearful questions and God led me to a new insight.


As humans we tend to either live in fear or in foolishness. Fear means that we play it safe because we are unsure of the best course of action, or we have been burnt before and we do not want a repeat. Foolishness means that we are throwing reason and caution to the wind and we are going to do what we 'feel' or what we 'want'. Foolish actions come from denying the realities around us - the value of relationships, human and divine laws, social mores, the effect of addictions, etc.


It hit me that these two ideas are on polar opposites on the spectrum of decisions we make. We all know people who lean very heavily one way or the other. We cannot understand how they could be so limited by their fears or how someone could make such foolish choices. So what is the balance between these two opposites? I believe it is Faith. Faith means that we are trusting God to lead us to what is best. God's leading might take us through fearful times, or places that seem like foolishness to us or others, but if we faithfully follow God's leading we will eventually see what God was trying to accomplish in our lives or in the lives of those we affect.

As we read the stories of men and women of faith in the Bible it is obvious that they went through times of fear - Moses before Pharoah, Elijah and Jezebel; and sometimes God's leading seemed like foolishness - Moses wandering in the desert for forty years, Noah building an ark on dry land. We cannot let either of these issues derail us from what God is leading us to be.

FOOLISHNESS - 1 Corinthians 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

FEAR - 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

FAITH - Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

So, the Swansons are trying very hard to live in faith at this point in our lives. We have the natural fears that accompany change and we do not want to do anything foolish, but we do understand that God might need to lead us through some tough places to arrive at God's place for us.

In Christian Love,

James