The Way Home - Week 1 Recap

What are You Chasing? 

“They sabotaged the new life God had given them. Squandered the blessing of their new home. They wasted their lives, chasing empty things.”

I remember when I was young, the highlight of my week was time with friends. Those friendships meant everything to me. My gaze was always looking towards the weekends. We would laugh, discuss boy drama and share our most intimate secrets. One friend in particular was my best friend. We were tied at the hip. Time with her felt safe and I knew I could trust her with anything. One night I was pouring my {broken} heart out to her. In the wee hours of the night, the two of us sat on the floor. I was staring at the carpet, tears were streaming down my face. I was talking nonstop and suddenly noticed silence from my friend. I looked up to find that she was sound asleep! At the time, I couldn’t believe my eyes. How could she fall asleep in such a crisis? Now I look back and laugh. Who could blame her?!  Even though she was the best kind of friend, she wasn’t perfect.  I started to realize, people in our lives can hold great significance… but they are not designed to fill the place that only God can. We are not meant to be each other’s saviors. Jesus wants to be your Savior. 

Fast forward 20 years and now I am married with three daughters. Out of nowhere I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 33. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. After a particularly difficult doctor's appointment at MD Anderson, I sat staring at my husband. His eyes were filled with tears. I knew he felt my pain and I felt his. The heaviness of our reality was smothering. I needed something to distract me… where was the eject button? I needed to escape all the sickness around me. In hopes to feel normal again we decided to go shopping. A cute new outfit would be the best kind of pick me up, only to realize that “fix” didn’t stick. For a slight moment I felt some happiness only to realize I was still in a hospital surrounded by sick people and I was one of them. I started to understand… you will not find happiness in material things.  God didn’t design us to be filled with material things, He created us to be filled with Him. Jesus wants to be Lord of your life. 

Whether it is people, places or things, we naturally grab hold of worldly things to help soothe, comfort, bring joy and peace. Our world organizes itself in this manner. So what about you? What things do you gravitate towards? We all have them. None of these things are wrong within themselves. The problem arises when these things become THE way. When we depend on these things to bring us what God only can, they become idols. Paul Tripp best describes it as,  It's something in creation that claims the place in your heart that only God should have. When we pursue things of this world to fill us… we end up chasing empty things.

“Seek the Kingdom of God above ALL else, and live righteously, and he will give you EVERYTHING you need.”

Matthew 6:33

Some of you may wonder what is the kingdom of God and how do we seek such things? I love how Rob Reimer defines it as “The Kingdom of God is the reversal of everything that went wrong with the world when sin entered it. It is the restoration of the way things were supposed to be.” Jesus is the King of this kingdom; where He reigns and His ways break into this broken world.  His kingdom is filled with love, forgiveness, comfort, strength, peace, restoration, healing and freedom. God wants us to partner with Him, be His ambassadors. That is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. 

Looking back at this week’s lesson,  we learned how the Israelites tendency was to naturally gravitate away from God’s best. Even though God showed up again and again in their lives, they always veered down their own path... seeking empty things. They forgot what God did in their lives and they needed a quick fix. They sought idols instead of God. 

Over and over again the Isrealites turned away from God… and yet… God was still there. They would cry out in the midst of their misery and God would show up and provide a way. Was there consequences for the Israelities sin? You bet and there are consequences for our sin as well.  However, God is always there waiting for us. Waiting for us to turn towards Him, repent of our old ways so we can choose His way. 

Our life with Jesus is a journey. As we wrestle with the empty things that have filled our lives, God continues to draw us close. He beacons us to empty our hands and follow Him. He invites us to come to Him,  all who are weary and heavy laden. He promises when we come to Him, He will give us rest. He will give you what you need. But in order for that to happen… we need to stop chasing empty things. 

As Tessa so brilliantly asked… What is the “some” of your surrender you don’t trust God to handle? 

When we surrender ALL things... we realize that we are FAR from empty. We will experience the fruit that come from our gracious God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness and self control.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers- most of which are never even seen- don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but YOU know both God and how he works. 

~ Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God- provisions~

Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” Matthew 6:30-34 in the MSG translation

Chasing Jesus is life giving and life changing! Together we will learn how to become more aware of God and trust HIM as we empty our hands. Once our hands are empty, eventually will see that empty hands are surrendered hands. Before you know it, your empty hands will end up being raised hands - a true posture of a surrender heart…. a heart praising God for all of His FULLNESS. 

My God bless you and keep you, may His face turn towards you and give you peace!

See you all next week!

XO

K