This afternoon I had to crawl into bed drained to listen to worship music and simply think about the name Jesus. There is power and refuge and perspective in that name, power to break every chain.
And He showed me that I am drained because I've been busy building an empire. I've been building my efforts into a small empire to surround me as a place of security and splendour in times of success and smooth-sailing.
But when the ground shakes so is my empire shaken and I fall into uncertainty and failure: a bad grade can shake me if I built my empire on good grades. When people don't give me the feedback I want I am shaken if my empire is built on the comfort and affirmation of others.
Instead I am to take my energy and affections and build those bricks into the Kingdom of Jesus. A Kingdom of firm foundations that will not be shaken. In doing so when I fall down I will be held up because my hope and my heart are built into something far bigger than my own efforts; something sustained by the power of Jesus and the community of believers.
How easily good things can become my downfall if I build them up around myself to prove myself safe and validated. It is only in the shaking of the ground that my empire is revealed to be a mere pile of rubble and I can again refocus my eyes on to the unshakable and worthwhile Kingdom.
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