Spirituality at 35,000 Feet: Our Part of Control

                                      

                                                                    (Zircon Incusso - FreeDIgitalPhotos.net)

If we conclude that a God is in control of the universe, does that then lead us to disengage from thoughtful efforts at home, at work, in our own spiritual lives? Paul does not seem to give us that out:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your faith with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.- Philippians 2:12-13

There is this strange reality that is at work here, a paradox for a paradox is resolved only in the mind of God.
We are called to work out our faith in accordance with God working in in us. I am not allowed to just throw my hands up and say, "God is in charge - what can I do?", because God's Word clearly says that we have a part in the work of transformation. To delve into how spiritual transformation occurs at the soul-level is a topic that we do not have the space to address here, but at the core we want to emphasize that God wants us to be a part of the change in our own lives, and in our world for that matter. Thus, while He is in ultimate control, He gives to us a portion of what we might call sub-control. In the same way, Christ is the supreme Shepherd and Christian pastors have often been called "under-shepherds" to Christ.

What do we therefore conclude? We are to use our control 1.) to the glory of God (Colossians 3:17), 2.) in accordance with our gifts (Romans 12:3-9), and 3.) to bless others (Galatians 6:10). Our gifts are never for self-aggrandizement - they are for the edification of others and to honor God.  So use your control in a Christo-centric way, in step with the Holy Spirit, and you will use your control in the correct way.

Let me close by noting that finding a balance between trusting God's sovereignty in the world and using the control He has given us is a challenge indeed. This side of Heaven we will rarely find and hold on to that balance. But I would emphasize that I find the most Spirit-led people, the most God-honoring people I know - if they err, they err on the side of letting God be in control over having their own control.  He is One who will never fail us, and if our interest in letting Him control is not to shirk our responsibilities, I believe He will honor that heart.

- tC

Spirituality at 35,000 feet: Childlike Faith

(Salvatore Vuono - FreeDigitialPhotos.net)

So in the last post we talked about me re-realizing in a plane that I am not in control. Where does this leave me? It leads me toward childlike with in God.

Let me begin by clarifying that term childlike. Often times pele confuse childlike and childish and they are certainly not the same thing. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul tells us that there was a time that he/we thought like a child, but now that time has passed. The author of Hebrews tell us that while his readers should be living like and spiritually eating as adults, instead they are still infants in the faith (5:11-14). These are childish things.

Childlike, on the other hand, is approaching God with a faith that, as Andy Stanley and Stuart Hall say, believes "God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do." Childlike faith is encouraged by Jesus, even more, it is commanded by Him as necessary to enter the Kingdom of God (Matthew 18:4).

When we realize that we are not in control, our response should be childlike faith that move us toward prayer and praise.

Prayer is fundamentally an assertion that I cannot handle life on my own. If I could, why would I pray? Certainly I could offer prayers of thanksgiving, but if I am the one who makes life work out so nicely, it seems I might prefer thanking myself.  Prayer is a way of asserting the very fact that we are not in control and that we are thankful for and in need of God.  C.S. Lewis states in Mere Christianity that pride is the mother, the source of all sins, and a lack of control should quickly remove pride from our lives.

Praise should also flow out of our understanding that we are not in control. I could be simplistic here and say that when we realize we are frail and fallen human beings, we can praise God that we are not the one in charge of the universe.  And while this is true, us not being in control is not worth much if our God is a vengeful or incompetent being. If God was immensely powerful but not very by bright, we would exist in grave danger. But thankfully He is not incapable. In fact all His ways are right, and nothing He does is wrong. Thus the realization that an omnipotent, omnipresent, and completely good Being is in charge of the universe should bring us to a place of thanksgiving and praise.

Lack of control does not have to mean nihilism. Lack of conrol is what led the sinner, tax collector, and prostitute to the feet of the Savior Christ.

- tC

Spirituality at 35,000 Feet: Control

                                                                              (bk Images - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

(The following entry is one of sevql reflections I had while flying to Europe this past week).

I doubt I am the only one who likes to be in control of things. People toss around the phrase "control freak" too easily I find. Any time someone expresses a need for control or anxiety over an unclear situation, that person is often labeled a control freak. But a control freak, in my estimation, is one who cannot function in life without being the constant decision maker, and whose need for a continual "hands on" approach in day-to-day happenings is often THE driving force in that person's life. Wanting control of some part or even many parts of life does not make one a control freak - it makes fallen humans.

For myself, I find flying one of those areas where I long to have control, or at least more control. While I am well aware that me flying an airbus would be a negative experience for all parties involved, flying brings out that desire to know more, to understand more, and to be in charge. I cannot see out the front of the airplane, I cannot direct the plane which way to turn. If I knew how to read a radar and weather, I still would not have the ability or freedom to direct the plane around clouds or turbulence because I am not allowed on the flight deck. On top of all of these areas where I lack control while flying, I am also unaware of when we might hit turbulence, how long that turbulence will be tossing us around, and also to what degree I should plan on being tossed around. As you can imagine from what I've expressed here, flying is not my favorite past time but it certainly does encourage my prayer life, as well as remind me that I am never fully in control of anything in my life.

While soaring through the skies exencuates my lack of control, some reflection brought me to conclude that all of life is out of my control. For you Type-A personalities who are reading this, your visceral reaction might be to scoff, but read on. I realize there is much in life we can do that is under our control, but how often do we see how little influence we have over results? I can work out at the gym and eat right, but one wrong turn by another driver and I am in the hospital and restricted for three months to a bed. I recently spoke to a young businessman who created a legal, ingenious, and very successful method of real estate investment, only to have some of his trusted consultants break the law thus ending his career and placing him in months of court proceedings. And haven't we all seen a young person with a pure heart and a fantastic work ethic sidetracked by parents who are uninvested or over-invested in a different sibling?

James says it well. In chapter 4 of his book, he reminds us that we often speak about our plans for the future with arrogance, a attotude that says "I will go here and do this; I will set up a business here and run it for a year."  James not only calls this kind of boasting and control-ownership misguided but even arrogant and evil. He informs his readers that they (and we) are merely a vapor, a mist that is here in the morning and gone with the rising of the sun. We are not, James not so subtley implies, in control.

(Ironically as I wrote out that last paragraph, we hit a patch of turbulence. While there is is no clear reason for us to be shaken about - i.e. the skies are clear - none the less we are being jostled about. But I digress...)

Paul agrees with James in speaking about his ministry. He tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 that while we all play our part in sowing and harvesting spiritual seeds and crops, God alone is in control to make these seeds grow. We should do all we can to create environments where God's Word can grow, but at the end of the day, the farmer needs to pray for rain and Providence.

We are not in control - God is.
How does one respond to this? We shall see in the following entries.

- tC

Spiriuituality at 35,000 feet: Control

                                          (Dynamite Imagery - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

I doubt I am the only one who likes to be in control of things. People toss around the phrase "control freak" too easily I find. Many times when someone expresses a need for control or anxiety over an unclear situation, that person is often labeled a control freak. But a control freak, in my estimation, is one who cannot function in life without being the constant decision maker, and whose need for a continual "hands on" approach in day-to-day happenings is often THE driving force in tht person's life. Wanting control of some part or even many parts of life does not make one a control freak - it makes fallen humans.

For myself, I find flying one of those areas where I long to have control, or at least more control. While I am well aware that me flying an airbus would be a negative experience for all parties involved, flying brings out that desire to know more, to understand more, and to be in charge more than most other areas in my life. I cannot see out the front of the airplane, I cannot direct the plane which way to turn. If I knew how to read a radar and weather, I still would not have the ability or freedom to direct the plane around clouds or turbulence because I am not allowed on the flight deck. On top of all of these areas where I lack control while flying, I am also unaware of when we might hit turbulence, how long that turbulence will be tossing us around, and also to what degree I should plan on being tossed around.

As you can imagine from what I've expressed here, flying is not my favorite past time but it certainly does encourage my prayer life, as well as remind me that I am never fully in control of anything in my life. While soaring through the skies exencuates for me a lack of control, some reflection brought me to conclude that all of life is out of my control. For you Type-A personalities who are reading this, your visceral reaction might be to scoff, but read on. I realize there is much in life we can do that is under our control, but how often do we see how little influence we have over results? I can work out at the gym and eat right, but one wrong turn by another driver and I am in the hospital and restricted for three months to a bed. I recently spoke to a young businessman who created a legal, ingenious, and very successful method of real estate investment, only to have some of his trusted consultants break the law, thus ending his career and placing him in months of court proceedings. And haven't we all seen a young person with a pure heart and a fantastic work ethic sidetracked by parents who are uninvested or over invested in a different sibling?

James says it well. In chapter 4 of his book, he reminds us that we often speak about our plans for the future with arrogance and say "I will go here and do this; I will set up a business here and run it for a year.". James not only calls this kind of boasting and control-ownership misguided but even arrogant and evil. He informs his readers that they (and we) are merely a vapor, a mist that is here in the morning and gone with the rising of the sun. We are not, James not so subtley implies, in control. (Ironically as I wrote out that last paragraph, we hit a patch of turbulence. While there is is no clear reason for us to be shaken about - i.e. the skies are clear - none the less we are being jostled about. But I digress...)

Paul agrees with James in speaking about his ministry. He tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 that while we all play our part in sowing and harvesting spiritual seeds and crops, God alone is in control to make these seeds grow. We should do all we can to create soil upon which God's Word can fall and grow, but at the end of the day, the farmer needs to pray for rain and Providence.

We are not in control - God is. How does one respond to this? We shall see in the following entries.

-tC

Spirituality at 35,000 Feet: Human Capacity as a Signpost to God

 

(Tim Beach - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

In Romans 12 Paul reminds his readers that worship is to be an all-encompassing approach to life, that all we do should be seen as occurring under the banner of Heaven.  I suppose that gives me grounds to write the next few entries as I reflect on my travels to France over the past few days and all that God taught me and reminded me of on this trip.

At the moment you read this, I am sitting in an airplane approximately 40,000 feet above the earth.  I am moving across the sky at around 400 mile per hour, and as I look around, no one is shocked.  A couple in front of me is apparently moving to the U.S. together and they are, by all accounts, very affectionate.  Next to me a young man, no more than 30, is nodding in and out of sleep - I watch as his head bobs forward, he awakens, straightens up, and then proceeds to fall asleep again.  The flight attendants are coming by with drinks and snacks - and no one seems shocked.  This could be an over-crowded cafe somewhere, but it's not - it's happening in the sky.  How did we get to this place?  How did we figure out a way to take a many ton vehicle off of the runway and into the atmosphere?  And then how did we find a way to make it comfortable enough that people could write blog entries, nap, or watch a movie.  Truly, human beings have incalculable capability.

This feat (flying) caused me to reflect on a passage from Genesis 11 when humans said, "Come let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly...let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.". But the LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them."

The capacity of humanity is unfathomable.  We have the ability to do phenomenal good, to create structures that showcase the capacity of the human mind.  And all of this from God.  When we consider our gifts, talents, and abilities, we must always recall that these are not from us.  Yes, we have the choice to fan our gifts into flame as Paul charged Timothy to do (2 Timothy 1:6), but all that we are, all that we offer to the world, all of it comes from God.  I did not give myself the ability to read and understand and hopefully effectively communicate God's Word.  My wife did not choose to be gifted at interpersonal communication.  My mentor did not choose to be a gifted shepherd.  All our gifts as humans come from God.

In Romans 1 we are reminded that the Creation was given in part to point us to the Creator, and we dishonor God when we praise or worship the created being.  As I sit here in this plane and as you read this entry, may we all be reminded that the feats of humanity point to the Great Mind from which all things were made and through which all things are kept together (Colossians 1:16-17).

(For a short video that shows the grandness of the universe and thus, the even more sublime reality of God, watch this video below).
 

- tC