Am I the only loser who sometimes will spend five minutes or more crafting one single tweet? As if you were mentally constipated and just needed to get something significant out? It’s like you know you have something important to say, but you just can’t find the words. Well December 22nd I was having a similar case of mental blockage. Until it hit me…
Lord, if we’d only be burdened for things that burden you; if we’d only LIVE like your word was TRUE, oh what wondrous things could you do?
— Dustin W. Stout (@DustinWStout) December 22, 2010
I was sitting and reflecting. Reflecting on God’s word. Reflecting on the state of our society. I just felt burdened. I felt burdened for the people out there who don’t know the word of God. I felt even more burdened for the people out there who DO “know the word of God” but live as if it isn’t true.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 says,
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God– having a form of godliness but denying its power.
I see teenagers, and even adults, running around pursuing pleasure, money, self-interest, being slanderous, proud, abusive and just flat out unholy. They partake in things that God has clearly said not to partake in. Yet they would claim to know God.
I know this not only from what I see, but from what I myself am guilty of! I went around pursuing what made me happy, and what I decided was right and wrong. I lived for myself and for the things that the world says to live for. Here’s what I found out– I had a form of godliness but I was denying it’s power.
In Jeremiah 29:11 God reveals,
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Furthermore, Ephesians 2:10 tells us,
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
And on top of all that, remember all the amazing, astounding, downright befuddling awesomeness that Jesus did when he was on the earth? (In case you don’t, he did things like make blind men see, paralyzed people walk, dead people come back to life, etc.) Jesus says, in John 14:12,
“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
When Jesus went to heaven and sent down the Holy Spirit, he gave us the same power that allowed Jesus and his disciples to perform the greatest of miracles.
So I’m sitting there, at my computer trying to put into words the burden that God had put on my heart. And with this burden that I felt, I remembered my friend Chris Nicely’s famous saying, “What if we lived like the word of God were true?” It was this thought process that lead me to this short poem.
Lord, if we’d only be burdened for the things that burden you,
If we’d only live like your word is true;
Oh, what wondrous things could you do?
What wondrous things could God do in your life if you just surrendered YOUR way for HIS way? How could your family change if you lived out the word of God? How could your marriage change if you loved your spouse the way Jesus loved the church? How would your business, team, organization, church, school or even your neighborhood change if you lived like the word of God was true?
What if we lived like that were true? What if instead of pursuing things that don’t matter, we pursued the things of God? What if we were burdened for the poor, the widows, the sick, the dying and the lost just as Jesus was? What wondrous and amazing things could God do if you fully surrendered it all?
Have you ever decided to surrender to God and let him work something “wondrous” out of it? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Well said love!…. When we get out of the way and allow God to work that’s when the adventure takes place!
You’re the most beautiful woman in the world. I love you!
I’ve had the same problem. I try to post a verse from scritpure or a quote from every service that I feel compelled to post each week. But more these days I have wanted to put those things in my own words and sometimes I spend time making sure what I say is lining up with what I have learned and that I am not saying what “I” understand in a manner that someone else may take the wrong way.
I also have tried to shift my ways of posting from posting about the things I am against or find offensive to posing questions to my friends on Facebook about what they think about the things I see that I feel do not line up with the things of God. I still fall back to the old ways now and then, but I am a work in progress…lol. I am enjoying you blogs Dustin. Thank you.
We are all a work in progress. Glad you’re enjoying the site! Thank YOU David!
I totally agree. The Word of God says, “If my people which are called by name will humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways…” But that’t just the thing, he called for “HIS” people to turn, not the sinner, not the backslider, but HIS people. We really need to find our footing again in this nation and have the Church rise back up to it’s rightful post upon the watchtower. Wonderful post!
Thanks Michael!