I don't want to do it. I don't want to go there.
Sounds like something a three-year old says, doesn't it.
You know, I find myself saying it more often than I realize....I've just said it and brushed it off because- as an adult- the things I don't want to do, I don't have to do, I'm not required to do, it's my choice, after all....right?
I want to be clear in this thought process that I'm not talking about the big things or the new seasons that you feel inadequate for and simultaneously called to do...I actually have a weird propensity to immediately dive into those things. Yes, I realize that is a gift..but I also have learned that immediate obedience to big hard things I don't want to do usually lead to better things I didn't even have a concept for, but I digress into another post that isn't this one...
I'm not even talking about daily routines and chores, I also actually enjoy those- again, see above.
I'm getting at going to the places and doing the things I get invited to do or signed up to by my husband when I'd rather sit on my porch and watch birds.....those things.
I know "those things" are other people's jams and gifts. Those things include, but are not limited to:
-concerts (exception: Bethel Worship , Mumford and Garth Brooks- yep.)
-bar atmospheres
-pretty much every loud environment
-new people interaction places (all awkward group gatherings where no one has anything in common and the only conversations are around weather, origin and the three safe stories everyone has approved of sharing beforehand......nope.)
-corporate events (I have dubbed this subset of social events as the necessary events one must go to because of their assumed obligation to an organization or affiliation....I really, really can't stand these.)
-ANYTHING unplanned- I am spontaneous as all get-out in the spirit and as God directs me, but tell me I have dinner plans the morning of and I will lose it....
OK. I'm being real. I'm human too.
The point is. I don't want to go there often. I have things on my calendar right now that I "don't want to go there". I'm totally aware that my present self-talk and attitude is not preparing me for any type of enjoyment (and, yes, I'm making progress- hence, why I'm sharing this right now)....
So, this morning, I go to proceed with my Galations study and post only to be met by my eleven year-old daughter's request of studying the Bible together. Of course I accepted her invitation, however, she was not interested in my interest of Galations and, rather, wanted to go through Jonah with me because we are studying the book in church and she had questions she wanted to go over.
Sure....I'll just read Galations and post later----until we read through Jonah.
Do you know who reaalllyyyyy didn't want to go there, Jonah.
Most of us regardless of upbringing have some idea about Jonah and the Whale- namely, a guy got swallowed by a whale and lived in it's belly for 3 days....I encourage you to read the story HERE
The story of Jonah is a deep and profound one and I am not going to go into ANY of those concepts---we're here because Jonah didn't want to go there.
God asked Jonah to go to a city of people that Jonah did not like- the Assyrians were idolatrous, proud and violent and were in opposition to Israel....these were not Jonah's people, they weren't his vibe and definitely not anyone he cared to chat with. God wanted Jonah to go there to tell the people that God wasn't pleased with how they were leading life- ultimately, so that they would have the opportunity to change their ways and come back to God...Jonah later admits to God that when he took off in the opposite direction (the FURTHEST he could get from Ninevah- Tarshish) it was because he couldn't bear God's compassion and desire to be gracious to THESE people. Jonah would've preferred Ninevah be destroyed....
Ok, that seems like a bit of a dramatic position to take......and yet,
How many places are we asked to go to or involve interacting with people that have completely different lifestyles, viewpoints, dare-I-say politics or religions- that God may very well be directing us into BECAUSE He wants to reach these folks through us and we just keep stalling- not wanting to go there- and, sometimes, waiting for those very people's lives to be destroyed because of their choices so we can then be validated in being correct in ours.....
You guys, this is convicting.
Christians that solely hang with Christians and support only Christians and hang in only Christian hang-outs and do Christian things aren't going anywhere because they aren't GROWING anywhere.
Now, don't twist my words, if you need clarification ASK- I'm saying being in the world not OF the world as Jesus was actually requires going to ALL the places we don't want to go--because God loves those places and the people that occupy them.
The concerts, bars, friends that don't have the same beliefs- may not have ANY grid for what you know and who you know---those are the places God invites us to, NOT to change people, but to demonstrate, simply by being present, the reality of a different reality.
God later asks Jonah if his anger is validated, twice. Once, in relation to his anger and desire for justice (in his eyes) towards Ninevah and the other, over a plant that God springs up and takes down to demonstrate Jonah's deeper motivation behind his emotional response. I'm not going to share all my thoughts about this, but you can go read Jonah 4 for yourself.
You see, my emotional response to the places I don't want go to has more to do with my awareness of my relationship with a personal God that is with me wherever I go. I don't like being in many of these situations with a holy God and the spiritual friction is quite palatable for me. Yet, those feelings and those situations weren't foreign to Jesus....and He went to ALLL those places (and still is).
I'm learning what it is to see every place and circumstance and social outing as an invitation to bring- Me. Not to go evangelize or prophesy or share the Gospel Billy Graham style, not even to outwardly shun or disengage from the atmospheres and socializing---I'm learning God is with me and inviting ME to go to these places not with an endgame, but to be ME- and that- is a walking billboard of his grace and mercy and glory and abundance with or without saying anything.
We can all take the high stakes out of all the situations and circumstances that we have deemed "inappropriate" for Christians IF God is leading you into them. Hear me again- I'm not telling people struggling with anything to go directly into those spaces, that's unwise....I'm saying, for those of us that are being led to places we don't want to go for various reasons as we've touched on in this, that maybe checking ourselves for the reasons we don't want to go versus the opportunities available if we do- opportunities to connect, to be kind, to honor by showing up, to honor our spouses for doing something they enjoy, etc - maybe our "Ninevahs" become God's next invitation to grace and love and mercy and compassion.
I know I am looking at my calendar a little differently after this morning with an eleven year-old determined to study Jonah....
Lyns
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can possibly ask for or imagine according to the power at work within us"
Ephesians 3:20
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