Careful Obedience

"Lord, I knew you to be a hard man" (Matthew 25:24)

What's the difference between Desire and Devotion? Does it have a link and is it co-related?

Webster dictionary defines Devotion as commitment to some purposes or feelings of ardent love. Desire is define as the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state.

We can stay desiring something but without a devotion to pursue and stay on. And we can be devoted to something without desiring it any more. How do I bring a balancing between the two?

In all relationships, one cannot live without the other. What's more is my relationship with my Creator. There's a call to increase more day by day in desiring Him and devoting myself to Him.

As I read Matthew 25:14-10 again about the three servants who were entrusted with large sum of money by the master. The reply of the third servant was one that not only protrayed his irresponsibility and pushing blame, but he truly does not know his master. He was a careful man, but it was his carefulness that displeased his master. He probably has the desires to invest. Sadly his carefullness had preceded his desires.

Carefulness does not usually carry a tone of negativism. In fact, we were instructed to take careful steps and consideration since we were young. How could this carefulness be so displeasing to the master? The third servant sees his master as a hard man where the other had not seen it that way. The other two servants knew their master, but not the third one. He does not know his master. He does not trust his master's heart. Neither does he knows his master's heart.

The issue isn't the capital gains. It is not what we think of God. The third servant buried his master's desires. he buried his own desire. Self-interest is in his heart. Self has became his own master. His obedience is not so much out of love as it is out of carefulness. The third servant's act looks legimate and godly to have his own desire killed. But not in this case, it is godlessness. God is not in his equation. His actions speaks the message clear.

He has blind devotion but no longer any burning desire. His thirst to thirst for more had ceased. In his belief, his master was a hard man. Nothing reveals more clearly as what he does with his desire.

What do I do with my desire? Do I know my Master as in Knowing Him? What's does He desires? Does my action reflected what I believed and truly desired? If my heart is not is His heart of desires, my devotion would be just a series of empty devotions.

I Fear

I fear adventure. I so feared it because I am caught in those highs and lows, fast and rapid that I can easily lost knowing why I am in the adventure. I fear adventure because I enjoyed it too much for it's plain enjoyment and missed the listening points along the way. I feared adventure because I am naturally good at it and I have myself to praise. I fear adventure because I find myself yearning for adventure alone. I fear it because I can gained the adventure but lost my spirit.

These weeks have been tight, tensed, fast going and tough for me. There are transitions I need to take at home front. Meetings and deadlines to respect. Preaching and teaching to prepare. Listening ear to lend. Relationships to build and deepen. Teams and ministries to lead.

I embrace all these too well that I am fearful of leaving too little time to process. I am afraid of achieving the objectives and arrived on time and on the right spot, but find having little to give thanks. I can be right but sincerely right about the wrong things I am embarking. And I am afraid of being afraid.

I recognised there's only one adventure I need to embark. Intentionally - The adventure of searching my heart. Slotting this only adventure into all adventures.

The tide is fast. The waves are rapid. The currents are strong. The winds are beating. My boat is still and serene.

The adventure of searching my heart in Him. I feared it but I loved it most.

DAY 12: The Art of Ending (Part 2)

In 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elijah recruits his replacement. Verse 21 says Elisa "took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them." He "burned his ploughing equipment" and "set out to follow Elijah and became hsi attendant." One thing is for sure: Elisha wasn't going back to farming! He slaughtered his oxen and burned his ploughing equipment. Elisha burned a bridge - going back to his old way of life was not an option. Like the old song says, "I have decided to follow Jess, no turning back, no turning back."

Acts 19 records another instance of "pryo-discipleship." It says "A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty-thousand drachmas." This ritual brought closure to a chapter of their lives in dramatic fashion.

Sometimes we need to take extreme measures to avoid temptation. That's what these disciples did in Acts 19. They built a bonfire and burned the source of temptation.

I remembered one time several years back when a new believer confessed some sin issues to me and then invited me over to his house and together, we filled three garbage bags with CDs and videos and magazines. Not all of them were sinful in and of themselves, but they were a source of temptation. Part of moving on is not allowing ourselves the abililty to go back.

In the word of aviation, the point of no return is the critical point in the flight where remaining fuel is insufficient for a return to the departure point. Sometimes we need to burn a plough or burn a book or burn a bridge so we can move on.

(Adapted from Senior Pastot Guna Raman devotion "Managing Transitions in a Downturn")

DAY 11: The Art of Ending (Part 1)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, "Great is the art of belonging, but greater is the art of ending." Transitions are all about ending one chapter in our lives, whether we like it or not, and beginning a new chapter. How do we bring closure? How do we exit a season in life? How do we move on?

How do you move on when your spouse hands you divorce papers or a boss hands you a retrenchment letter? How do you move on when your kids grow up and find their own lives? How do you move on when a loved one dies? I don't think there are any easy answers to those questions, but what I do know is that it is a process. Whenever we experience loss - whether it's a relationship or a job or a dream - we go through a grieving process. That's normal and healthy. God has created us with tear ducts. Ecclesiastes 3 says there is 'a time to weep.'

I've always been intrigued by Joshua 5:9. It says, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." This is forty years after their exodus out of Egypt. It was a process. It took one night to get Israel out of Egypt. It took forty years to get Egypt out of Israel.

I have often heard of guys who resigned their job and went to work for a competitor, but they didn't burn any bridges. Then later that company recruits them back several years later. How you exit a situation - whether you're ending a dating relationship, quitting a job, or leaving a church - speaks volumes about you. Sometimes you need to leave an open door.

1 Corinthians 7:10 says, "A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else br reconciled." In other words, in some circumstances, we need to leave the door open for reconciliation. In other circumstances, we are free to close the door. 1 Corinthians 7:15 says, "If the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances."

Sometimes we need to leave an open door. Sometimes we need to burn bridges. There are two great examples in Scripture - one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament.

(adapted from Senior Pastor Guna Raman devotion "Managing Transitions in a Downturn")

DAY 10: Be Still (Part 2)

Psalm 37 says, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him." Psalm 46 says, "Be still and know that I am God." Zechariah 2:13 says, "Be still before the Lord, all mankind."

It's one thing to read Exodus 14:14 from the comfortable confines of your computer seveal thousand years after the fact, but put yourself in their shoes. The Egyptian army is breathing down your neck. You see the giant dust cliud from their chariots. You hear their war cry. What's the toughest thing to do in a situation like that? The toughest thing is to "be still." But that's exactly what the Lord tells them to do. It was a trust test. Are the Israelites going to take matters into their own hands and fight for themselves? Or are they going to be still and let God fight for them?

Let me bring it a little closer to home because most of us will never experience the Egyptian army breathing down our necks. But we might have a boss who breaths down our neck. And most marriages experience a few dust clouds and war cries. What do we do when we're stuck, we're being attacked on one side and it seems like there is no way out because we've got a Red Sea on the other side?

I think there is a time for negiotiating and planning and analyzing. There is a place spreadsheets and strategic plans. But there is also a time to "be still" and "let God fight for you."

Romans 12:19 says, "Leave room for God." The immediate context is retribution. When someone attacks you, don't try to even the score. That doesn't mean we don't set the record straight if we're able to do it. That doesn't mean we don't defend ourselves if we can. It just means we don't seek revenge. We leave room for God. We watch Him fight for us.

I've learned that there are times when you need to stop trying to figure everything out, stop trying to negotiate, stop trying to pull strings, stop trying to take matters in our own hands, stop trying to do things in our own strength and leave room for God.

Over the past several days, I have prayed for a dear friend who was trying to buyout a local company. He spent months analyzing and negiotating. It was a long and arduous ordeal and then he hit a wall. It seemed like a dead deal. In fact, I remember literally burying it in prayer. We prayed, "Lord, it's in your hands. You're in the resurrection business. If you want to raise this thing from the dead, you can do it." That's exactly what happened this week. I got the log awaited call from him finally. The deal was resurrected. Sometimes we need to bury things. We need to let go. My friend could have continued to negotiate and analyze and strategize, but I don't think it would have done any good. But when we "leave room for God", God fights for us!

Are you fighting too hard in managing the transitional changes in your life? Are you spending hours scrutinizing, analyzing, strategizing and planning? Would you turn to the Lord and choose to be still so that God can fight for you? He s the better Fighter, right?

(Adapted from Senior Pastor Guna Raman devotion, "Managing Transitions in a Downturn")

DAY 9: Be Still (Part 1)

Exodus 14 records one of the most significant transitions in history - Israel's exodus out of Egypt. The Israelites are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They are camped at Pi Hairoth with the Red Sea on one side and an attacking Egyptian army on the other side. Exodus 14:10 says the Israelites were 'terrified' and said, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Did we say to you in Egypt. "Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert."

The Israelites assume the worst, but that's what you tend to do after being enslaved for 430 years! You develop a defeatist attitude. You feel hopeless and helpless. But hear what Moses says to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still." Then the Lord said to Moses in verse 15, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on."

A boss puts a letter on your desk. Your spouse sends divorce papers in the mail. You walk the line and get your degree. you fill out a change of address form. Those things symbolize transition - the end of one life chapter and the beginning of another. Some are welcome changes. Others are unwelcome changes. But in each instance, the question is: How do you move on?

Exodus 14:14 says, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." In his book, Anam Cara, John O'Donohue's tells a story about an African explorer. He hired some native Africians to help carry his equipment through the jungle and they didn't stop for three days. At the end of the third day, these hired hands stopped and absolutely refused to move on. The explorer asked why and one of the Africians natives said, "We have moved too quickly to reach here; now we need to wait to give our souls a chance to catch up with us." Most of us could say the same thing. We 've moved too quickly to get where we're at and we need to give our souls a chance to catch up.

(Adapted from Senior Pastor Guna Raman's devotion "Managing Transitions in a Downturn")

DAY 8: The When/Then Syndrome (Part 2)

You could be stressed out today because you're "here" when you want to be "there." You are in the "present" when you want to be in the "future." You don't like your current job. You want to be out of the company. You don't like the season you are in your life; you want something else for your life. Maybe "here" is being in a job that is below your capabilities and the prospects are few. I don't doubt that some of you have that dream and that in some cases, that dream will be fulfilled. But if you don't learn to love life then. Here's the danger we face: we focus so much on tomorrow that we never live today. Someone once said this, "It is uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living."

I think some of us have "the grass is greener on the other side" mentality. But we need to learn to live in the moment God has given us. And that's tough during times of transitions because we usually aren't where we want to be. We need to realise deeply that the present moment is all we'll ever have. Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen on the Now."

In Exodus 3:5 God says to Moses, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." We've heard the story so many times that the most obvious lesson is overlooked. Here it is: the 'holy ground' wasb't the Promised Land. The 'holy ground' was right where Moses was standing!

Don't be so focused on the Promised Land that you never take off your sandals and recognize that God wants you to experience Him in the "here and now". Even if you're in the middle of a transition and the ground is shifting underneath you, you're standing on holy ground.

The day you embrace today and live in it, no matter how badly you feel about it; no matter how much you think it is not where you want to be; that day you have risen above the tides of change. You have stood on your holy ground.

(adapted from Senior Pastor Guna Raman's devotion on "Managing Transitions in A Downturn")

DAY 7: The When/Then Syndrome (Part 1)

Stress is casued by being here, but 'wanting to be there', being in the present but wanting to be in the future. Too many of us fall into the when/then trap. We'll be happy when some arbitrary "this or that" happens. But that's not true. When/Then happiness is a mirage.

When I first started pastoring. I dreamed of a church that was impacting hundreds of people. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with that dream if it's god-given. But I think sometimes it's an ego thing. In every occupation there are comparison points. In pastoral circles the size of the church is sometimes equated with the value of pastor. The bigger the church the better you feel. The smaller the church the more insugnificant you feel.

My first year we averaged 25 people. And I remember coming to a point where I had to make a conscious decision. It was a defining moment for me. I realised that I could be unhappy until the church reached some "arbitrary" number at some "indefinite" time in the future. Or I could love pastoring a church of 25 people now. And I decided that I was going to enjoy pastoring a church of 25 and 50 and 100 and 250 and 400. And I'll continue enjoying every stage because I refuse to live in the future. I choose to live now and enjoy every today God gives me.

(Adapted from Senior Pastor Guna Raman devotional 'Managing Transitions in a Downturn)

DAY 6: Living One Day At A Time (Part 2)

Before we look at how to live in day-tight compartments, let me tell you the end goal. I think God wants us to be fully-present. William James said that most of us are 'half-awake.' C.S Lewis said that most of us are 'half-hearted'. In other words, most of us are 'half-alive'. Let me add one more to the mix. I think most of us are 'half-present'.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and you get the feeling that they're listening but they aren't really listening? Or you're with them but it doesn't really feel like they are there? I think we know intuitively that you can be someplace physically, but be a million miles away mentally or emotionally. You aren't fully present.

I think most of us have been through a worship experience where we were 100% present - totally engaged mentally and emotionally and spiritually. But we've also sung words while thinking about something that happened last week or something that is going to happen next week. One study has shown that after you sing a song thirty times, you no longer think about the words. And we end up 'going through the motions.'

Luke 10 talks about Martha, who was getting ready for a dinner party with Jesus and it says, she was 'distracted' by all the preparations. And Jesus says to Martha., "You are worried and upset about many things."

I think most of us are hald-present because we're 'distracted' or 'worried' or 'upset' about something that has happened or might happen, instead of living one day at a time. As Jesus observed in Matthew 6:34, "Each day has enough trouble of its own." We need to take it one day at a time!

This is particularly important in a transition because we tend to be thinking about a hundred things, pulled in different directions, worried over a myraid of things that we are no longer living in the present. We are zoned out. Consequently, we stop hearing God who is always 'present'. And our family feels the distance. Worst still, if we don't find friends to unload and process and pray with us about what we are going through, we become even more isolated. We drift away.

That is why it is so important in a transition that we are rightly connected with God and with the right godly people. It helps us to be fully present to manage the change in those transitions.

(adapted from Senior Pastor Guna Raman devotional, "Managing Transition in a Downturn"