The Offer of a Life

Puzzles. I like them. I like being challenged by them. Now, I don't so much mean the cardboard kind, fitting little pieces together to replicate some picture on the front of a box. Not only can I not remember, but I'm not even sure that there was a last time that I stood staring at some shelf in a store wondering which puzzle to purchase. One already can see, afterall, what the end result will be, so, why buy it?

Then again, if I really think about it, maybe those kinds of puzzles are what I am referring to afterall. . . only more of a God-kind where the end picture remains in a bit of a fog, and is thus far more appealing--and challenging--to me. Maybe what God does from time to time is hand me spiritual pieces of a much bigger puzzle--little glimpses of what He is in the midst of doing in my life. And by asking me to fit them together somehow, He is involving me in the process of Him developing, well, me. He, having created me with a penchant for having to 'figure things out,' is giving me the opportunity to do just that.

But doesn't He do that for all of us? Isn't that what He means when He invites us, not as servants, but as friends, into the very work that He is doing? As Jesus says in John 15:15, 'I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.'

Thus, when we go to Him, asking very simply, 'What are you doing, Lord? He whispers to our deepest hearts, ''Here, let me show you, my dear . . .'

I've been asking this very question a lot, lately. Thus the reason for this article. 'What are you doing, Lord?' The pieces He's been handing me are, to say the least, not small . . . but the end picture is as of yet so very elusive . . . maybe if I write, describing the pieces, I will see just a wee bit more . . .

Take Sunday. I was asked to give the offering speech at church at the very last minute . . . but when the request came, well, I already knew what to say as God had been reminding me beforehand . . . of the offer of a life. Romans 12 tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices . . . allowing our minds to be transformed . . and thus will we be able to discern God's will for our lives. Our bodies include our hearts. And we are to give them. In fact, there is nothing more powerful on earth than when we willingly stretch ourselves out in total surrender, as on an operating table, before the feet of Jesus. Just as Aslan willingly laid himself on the stone (even forced, it was his choice) in Chronicles or Narnia, as Jesus opened Himself up on the cross . . . we are to do the same, withholding nothing, even when it hurts to the point of dying . . . to self, to the world, to all. How much we are willing to give is how much God will ask of us . . . (He wants all of us, but are we willing to give it? . . . )

. . . and thus how much life will come from it. Why? Because our offering brings life. And the more complete the sacrifice, the more complete the life that will result . . . In Christ, death always transforms into resurrection. Thus, when we give ourselves in totality to Christ . . . well, we become livers of the Gospel and not just proclaimers. We don't just communicate the good news, we become the good news. 'For they overcame the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony (Rev. 12:11)' . . . thus the power of our sacrifice . . .

And at the same time the beauty of it. . . which I guess brings more light and sense to the challenges I have been facing through John and Stasi Eldredge's book, Captivating. I have read it before. But somehow I have found myself fighting it this time around. Or maybe to be more accurate, fighting God through it. 'The scariest thing for women is to offer our beauty into situations where we don't know if it will make any difference. Or worse, That we will be rejected.' That beauty, is in essence, letting our hearts very simply 'show up.' To offer them. To open up our chests and allow its very beat to be seen. Experienced. Even allowed, in a sense . . . allowing what's inside to come out. When we overcome our fear, refuse to withhold, and choose to make our offering, that is, our living sacrifice, an aroma pleasing to God--we send out an invitation to others to come and know Him, too.

But why can it sometimes be so hard, so painful, . . . such an opportunity for fear? I think the answer, for me, comes from the third piece in this current puzzle of mine. I had a dream a week and a half ago . . . In it, I was driving to meet with a group of friends, Had just come to the top of a hill, when suddenly I found myself lying on the ground, somehow confused. Looking around, I saw my car and it appeared to be totalled. I realized then that I had just been in an accident (even though I had no memory of it). I was bleeding, injured. I then looked in the other direction and saw a house standing right before me . . . I knew it was the house of a friend of mine who is known for praying with others for inner healing. This friend invited me inside and began, of all things, to tend my wounds by teaching me how to make homemade peanut butter . . .

Huh? Well, for those of you who know me well, peanut butter has become, for me, a tried and true comfort food. When asked if I want something from the States, it typically ends up being peanut butter . . . and God knows that, so He used it to communicate something very important to me. 'At some point, along the way, you were injured, and now I'm going to bring you healing, and comfort, and restoration. So you can make your offering more complete . . . so you can see what I will do with it . . . and thus, you see, you will not always remain injured and you will no longer need to fear. Instead, I will heal you and show you how I did it . . . '

Or, in other words, . . . 'I am going to transform your mind . . .'

Ahhhaaaa. now I am beginning to see . . . offer yourselves as a living sacrifce . . . and in so doing, God transforms our minds, so that . . .

. . . His promise . . . we will know, or learn (New Living Translation), God's will for our lives, which is good, pleasing, and perfect . . . the picture is developing. Somehow the cost of my offering transforms into the blessing of His Will made known in my life, His purposes made real in my life, and His plans--which are good and motivated entirely out of love-- coming to pass . . . the pieces are connecting . . . and the picture I am beginning to see . . . is Him.

So what are you doing, Lord? He responds . . . 'I am showing you me . . .'