Month: July 2012

“Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah.” Psalm 39:5

This morning, I woke up like any other day. Had my coffee and granola, read my bible and scribbled prayers frantically in my journal to the Lord. Brushed my teeth and put my make up on. Talked with my roommate and then headed off to work, surprisingly on time.

I turned on 102.7 to listen to Ryan Seacrest in the morning. The first thing he says is “devastating news for Colorado.”

My heart sank.

I thought it could have been something political or something to do with the wild fires that have been hovering over the state. I somehow knew this was not the case.

I listen on and hear of the horrible news of a lone-gunman killing 13 movie-goers and injuring many, many others while watching the midnight premier of the newest Batman movie.

I then heard my phone go off. My roommate texts me and says “There was a massive shooting in colorado.” We shared a couple of shocked text messages back and forth while I was sitting in traffic.

I have gone to countless midnight premiers. Always thinking about how excited I was about seeing the movie. Never in my life would I anticipate losing my life while going to one. It could have been anyone.

One of my favorite books in the Bible is Ecclesiastes – some have mocked me for this since it talks about death, the ending of seasons, and finality – but there is something that is comforting about the passage at the end of chapter 3 when the writer writes, “God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (verse 11). All life on earth has an ending. We will all breathe our last breath. Yet, it is not finished here.

God has set eternity in the hearts of man, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

In moments of disaster and remembrances of the fragility of life, we have a God who remains faithful through it all. Caring and comforting and wanting all to call upon his name.

As God always does, he provides the right verses at just the right time…comforting us with his word. Last week, I read through the first part of Philippians 1. Verse 6 brings me so much confidence in the Lord today:

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6 ESV).”

 We have confidence in Christ that his good work will be completed – not just in the believers in Philippi, but for all believers and his entire creation. We can have confidence even when disasters like the one that happened early this morning occur that God’s good work will be completed. We can trust that though people constantly fail and hurt other human beings (like I am so guilty of doing day in and day out – maybe not murder, but nonetheless with hate and selfish actions) that he is still faithful.

God’s good news doesn’t end because of one man’s insanity. His control doesn’t end because bad things occur and the world feels like chaos is winning out. He is faithful and in his time he will make all things beautiful.

We cannot fathom what God is doing from beginning of time, to the end of time.

So, I have been recently studying Philippians 1 and the Lord is teaching me SO much through His word.

Today, as I was reading, I was thinking about all the things that are going on in my life right now. Transitioning from Riverside to Orange County, entering the job world and leaving 17ish years of schooling behind, living at school to living in an apartment with a roommate with rental payments, bills, etc. I also go to thinking about how I view people. Recently, I have been struggling with my own timeline. The thoughts constantly run through my head as to why I am single in this season in life, why my timeline isn’t how I pictured it to be out of college, why I decided to leave a place where I knew so many people to Orange county where I am having to meet new people, get connected to a new church, etc. etc. etc. All that to say, contentment has been a HUGE struggle in my life in the last couple of months since graduation.

Anyways…back to Philippians…I was reading this morning and going over the question “what can I learn from the example of others?” and I came across these verses (1:7-8): “It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Many times because I am so focused on the next move in my life, I forget to view people as children of God and with the affection of Christ. I view them as pawns in the chess game of my life. I view people as a means to get me somewhere else, rather than how I can love and serve them like Christ does. Paul David Tripp recently posted a quote on facebook that I felt was very accurate to how I have viewed relationships in the past; he said, 

“Maybe you’re attracted to that person, not because you love them, but because you love yourself and you love what they’ll do for you.”

I have been mulling over what it means to yearn for people with the affection of Christ since I started this study. I don’t know if my answer is theologically correct or if I am adding my own interpretation into it, but I do know that to yearn for someone with the affection of Christ does not include selfish motives in how to advance my own self. Usually, it means that I will give up and sacrifice my own well-being/self in order to uplift them and bring them closer to Christ. 

What do you believe Paul is trying to say in this passage? How can you learn from Paul’s example of yearning after the Philippians with the affection of Christ?

To Be Continued… 🙂 

sidenote: I do love my job, my new apartment, singleness, my new church, etc…but, it has been a struggle not to get discouraged in the slow progress of moving into a new area and meeting new people…