22. February 2011 by BruceSmith.

Logos, Pathos, Ethos

Aristotle suggested, long ago, that we make our way toward truth on a number of levels.  If we are to arrive, he suggests, at anything resembling actual reality, we must submit the search to the pillars of logos (having to do with the intellect), pathos (having to do with our emotional reality), and ethos (having to do with social reality).  Any true “truth” must, in fact, and in reality, and in experience, meet the demands of these tests.  

The Gospel, understood and embraced, has influence upon our intellect, our emotions, and our social reality. God’s truth addresses how we think, how we feel, and how we act. It meets the test of the mind, the soul, and experience. It transforms all of us, and all of life itself. In knowing Him we find our way to intellectual vigor, emotional stability, and joyful purpose.  

As human beings, alive at a time of unceasing chaos, activity, and information, it is critical we slow down long enough to strategically submit our mind, emotions, and will to the truth of God.  If we are unwilling to walk the path of truth, and if we are unwilling to live a life of sober reflection and deep thought, we run the risk of falling prey to the devastatingly numbing pain of the average life.  The average person, in our culture and others, merely responds to external stimuli in the moment.  If the mind is lazy or tired or distracted, so be it, no worries.  If the emotions are raw, undisciplined, and reactive, no worries, its just the way it is, tomorrow is another day.  If the social realities of life are shifting, inconsistent, and with no compass, no bother, just go with the flow, live in the moment, and experience it all.  Such a life, unfocused, lacking purpose or passion, cannot offer a human being the fullness of life of which Jesus spoke when He said, “I have come that you might have life and that to the full” (John 10:10).

The hurdle we must overcome if we are to find our way to this abundant life in Christ, is the hurdle of the mental, emotional, and social passivity.  We cannot hunger for deep and abiding knowledge of God or life in general and expect to find such without a constant commitment to learning.  Similarly, we cannot hope for inner peace or rest or relational vibrancy without a devoted maintenance of our emotions and inner world.  And, of course, we will never know the thrill of a life well lived without a purposeful and intentional pursuit of social interaction.  If we want more from life we must pursue it.  Jesus said, “Seek and you will find…”.  That active seeking has its basis in the logos, ethos, and pathos of God’s truth.  We must seek Him intellectually, emotionally, and socially.

If you want more of this quality of life, begin, today, dedicating some time to evaluating your passion for engaging your mind, your emotions, and your willful interactions with others.  Does your mental effort match God’s call to use your mind to find and follow Him?  Does your emotional maturity match that which God calls all believers to?  Does your social reality live up to the call of God, revealed in scriptures, to live as salt and light, and to make a divine difference in the world?  If not, ask God to begin to reframe the pursuit of truth for you.  Once you have a taste, you will crave more.  Once the mind is turned on to the depth of His truth, you cannot help but thirst for more.  Once you’ve seen what inner peace, stability and consistency “feels” like, you won’t settle for less.  Once you watched God transforms lives through your social interaction, you will never desire less.

The blessing of having the mind turned on for Him is manyfold, but essentially, its about having the resources of the riches of God, an understanding of His character which transforms ours, and a lens through which we can see the world and ourselves accurately.  To have the emotions in tune with the Spirit of God is of the utmost consequence.  Having a knowledge that all experiences and all of life is subject to the providence of God secures our inner world like nothing else can.  We do not escape the realities of this world, but live in quiet confidence that God is at work in every single episode.  Such an awareness gives us a state of emotional clarity we cannot find otherwise.  And finally, to sense that every word, deed, setting, act, and interaction can have a God-filled purpose offers us an unquenchable passion and joy.  There is no experience, separated from God’s design, that can match the most mundane of experiences directed by the hand of God.  And, no life remains mundane, in any sense, once ignited by the reality that God’s presence is within us, around us, about us, and for us, every step we take.  

Go find the life God has for you.  

Bruce Smith

blog.optimuschoice.com

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

8. February 2011 by BruceSmith.

Condition Report

In the world of high-end art and rare memorabilia condition is everything.  When a broker or dealer is negotiating a sale of a world-class piece, like a Monet or Renoir, for example, one of the first documents sent to a prospective buyer is the “condition report”.  This is the document that tells a potential buyer how well kept or original a piece may be.  This report establishes reality for a work’s authenticity and market value.  

On a condition report the investigation of an expert reveals any flaws of note on a piece that would decrease its value.  A small pinhole sized blemish can detract from the value of a piece, and certainly, an obvious flaw, visible to any onlooker, can have a significant impact on a work’s value.  The condition report is so precise that the scientific make-up of paints is examined to determine authenticity of a piece and to date it.  If the chemical analysis shows the paints to be inconsistent with the paints known to exist during a given era a deal can fall apart real quick.  Likewise, the canvas is tested, the framing, brush strokes, and much more, in order to determine the veracity of a work’s claim to be the real thing.

Not too long ago, while working on a piece of some note, I reviewed a condition report for a work from a world famous artist.  The piece, presented to be from the hand of an historically significant artist, was offered at a level well above any offers that would make sense based upon the “condition report”.  When that reality comes into play, one of two things happen.  Either a broker convinces the owner to lower the price to reflect the condition and value or the owner lives with the piece forever.  In the world of stratospheric values, smart people are just not going to pay more than they should for a work that is not in perfect condition.  Reality dictates value.  While repairs can be done, the piece will never be as it was in the beginning when it came off the artist’s brush.  If a transaction is to take place, a realistic view of the condition report and the market value must be embraced.  Anything else is a non-starter.

You are probably thinking to yourself, “Interesting, but what does this have to do with my life?”  Well, more than you might realize at first glance.  As in the world of fine art, as it pertains to our souls, God’s “condition report” about us is critical to our navigating life in a meaningful fashion.  Think about it.  Have you ever met someone who had a more than realistic view of themselves, their abilities?  It can be both frustrating and funny at the same time can it not?  Its sort of like the armchair quarterback who watches an NFL quarterback throw an interception, and in amazement stands up and yells, “I threw better than that in high school!”  Yeah, right.  Or, perhaps you’ve run into the person who is always at odds with others, never wrong, and has everyone else figured out and labeled.  All the misery is someone else’s fault, always.  What’s not to like about them, right?  Right.  

Our condition, like the condition of a multi-million dollar artwork, is critical to understand.  If we see more than is there, we will, actually, never become all we could be, and others wont be buying in.  On the other hand, if we don’t see just how much God has offered us and how much He loves us, we will never rest and live from a place of comfort in who we are in Him.  Either way, our interaction with others is effected in dramatic ways.  We reduce the value of our relationships and inner world when we don’t see ourselves as God sees us.  We must, like an owner who wishes to sell his Renoir, see it for what it is and move forward accordingly.

A great biblical example of this is found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 6.  Its known as “Isaiah’s vision”.  In this account of Isaiah’s experience, we find a man, a Godly man by any standard, and certainly by today’s cultural standards, coming undone before a God revealed to Him as perfectly holy.  The scene is extraordinary.  Isaiah, somehow shown a glimpse of the otherworldly setting in the heavenly realms, watches as these remarkable beings, winged and awesome in description, shout praise to God.  So intoxicated are these beings before their Creator, that they can only worship, continually shouting, “Holy, Holy, Holy…”  In biblical literature the repetition of things in threes is a call from the writer to understand just how impacting and critical a given reality may be.  Not only is God holy, the creatures and the writer seem to be saying, but He his thrice holy.  He is perfect beyond description.  He is pure beyond anything we can comprehend.  God is not graded upon nor grading others upon a curve, a cultural call for “normal”.  God’s normal is not our normal, not even close.  

In a world that is not just tempted by all that is not holy, but rather, runs after, promotes, and craves that which is revolting to God, we should hear the call of this passage.  Isaiah, again, a man of God himself, is utterly undone by this sight of an “otherly” holy and perfect being.  So far from the reality of his own heart, is the purity of God, that he fears for his life.  He cries out in terror, “I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips!”  Isaiah, on the upper end of the moral ladder by any assessment, denies the report of others about himself, and see his heart for what it is.  In doing so, he has only one response.  He cries out for mercy, knowing he deserves far less.  He, according to the condition report about him, deserves ruin.  His friends, no doubt, had been telling him for some time to just “loosen up”, and “have some fun”, or “take it easy”.  They have suggested, “Hey Isie, nobody is perfect man.”  When he turned down the invites to the hip parties, the dancing girls, and the spiritually confused ceremonies of his contemporaries, he was snubbed and called a prude.  Always the bore, perhaps, not wanting to drift near the allure of cultural tide, Isaiah, always bent toward God rather than into sea of temptation.  Yet, he saw his own heart, in light of God’s measure of purity and holiness, as corrupt.  He was no rules following bummer man.  He lived his life from a desire to know God more and pursue the best.  His avoidance of the activities of his contemporaries was lived from a place of rest and desire for more.  Yet, in light of who God was and who God calls people to be, something was amiss.  He knew it.  

Isaiah, as he reflected on his failures, his pain, his loss, his stumbling, began to put the pieces together.  It was not everyone else.  It was not the situation.  It was not that he had no other options.  He was not a passive victim.  He was not pure of intention, motive, and conduct.  It was him.  His shortcomings, his personalities disorders, his placing himself in the wrong places at the wrong times, his walking just shy of the line of biblically approved behavior, … it was him.  His mouth, his fists, his desires, his laziness, his neglect of preparation, his bitterness, his value system, his temper, his lust, his, his, his… It was him. 

Now here comes the kicker.  God did not disagree!  This guy, the good guy.  The one who shared the city pulpits on Sundays.  He was the one who everyone else wanted to be were it not for the call to separate themselves from so much in their lives that they craved.  This is the guy, undone before God, that Jehovah affirms in his assessment of his spiritual condition.  The condition report of Yaweh, the One God, Jehovah, the God of Grace and Truth, was indeed, “Isaiah, you fall way short of my standard”.  In actuality, there could not have been a better message for Isaiah to hear.  This is the message that spoke truth to his heart and mind and soul, and which enabled him to move forward in light of reality and toward what God had for him in the future.  God will not, in fact, allow us to move into the fullness of our future until and unless we own our past and present.  In truth we are set free.  

Now look at the payoff.  As Isaiah, prostrate before a perfect God who expects no less, throws himself upon the mercy of God, God reaches toward him and touches his heart, mind, and soul, sets him free, and THEN sends him on to his mission to reach an entire nation.  Without Isaiah having come to this place and this truthful embrace about the condition of his heart he never could have moved forward in the mission of God for him or his nation.  It is the humble acceptance of our brokenness and need which liberates our hearts to accept God’s report about us, and to cry out for God, for He alone is our healing and fix.  Here in lies the key to the greatest transaction we can ever be a part of.  The world may run like hell toward intoxicating fun and the adrenaline rush of pleasure, but those who do so will never find fulfillment because they have not acknowledged life as it really is, nor have they seen their heart, let alone their God, as it or He really is.  The response to our condition report is the benchmark for where our future will go.  A realistic and wholehearted embrace of such an appraisal can make all the difference in our lives.  In truth our past is healed, our present focused, and our future directed.

Who are you today?  How did you get here?  What is true about you?  Where might your future go?  Tune out the clamoring feedback and advice of any who do not have God’s view on this.  Sit quietly, in light of all your experiences, before an amazing, holy, pure, and loving God, and ask Him to talk with you about yourself.  Hear Him.  Accept His report.  Hear it knowing its one presented in truth and in love.  Know He is for you, with you, and desires to lead you.  He has truth for you.  He can set you free.  He may call you to let go of some chains you have clung to for too long.  He can take you to your mission.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

soulstormsite.com

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

8. February 2011 by BruceSmith.

Condition Report

In the world of high-end art and rare memorabilia condition is everything.  When a broker or dealer is negotiating a sale of a world-class piece, like a Monet or Renoir, for example, one of the first documents sent to a prospective buyer is the “condition report”.  This is the document that tells a potential buyer how well kept or original a piece may be.  This report establishes reality for a work’s authenticity and market value.  

On a condition report the investigation of an expert reveals any flaws of note on a piece that would decrease its value.  A small pinhole sized blemish can detract from the value of a piece, and certainly, an obvious flaw, visible to any onlooker, can have a significant impact on a work’s value.  The condition report is so precise that the scientific make-up of paints is examined to determine authenticity of a piece and to date it.  If the chemical analysis shows the paints to be inconsistent with the paints known to exist during a given era a deal can fall apart real quick.  Likewise, the canvas is tested, the framing, brush strokes, and much more, in order to determine the veracity of a work’s claim to be the real thing.

Not too long ago, while working on a piece of some note, I reviewed a condition report for a work from a world famous artist.  The piece, presented to be from the hand of an historically significant artist, was offered at a level well above any offers that would make sense based upon the “condition report”.  When that reality comes into play, one of two things happen.  Either a broker convinces the owner to lower the price to reflect the condition and value or the owner lives with the piece forever.  In the world of stratospheric values, smart people are just not going to pay more than they should for a work that is not in perfect condition.  Reality dictates value.  While repairs can be done, the piece will never be as it was in the beginning when it came off the artist’s brush.  If a transaction is to take place, a realistic view of the condition report and the market value must be embraced.  Anything else is a non-starter.

You are probably thinking to yourself, “Interesting, but what does this have to do with my life?”  Well, more than you might realize at first glance.  As in the world of fine art, as it pertains to our souls, God’s “condition report” about us is critical to our navigating life in a meaningful fashion.  Think about it.  Have you ever met someone who had a more than realistic view of themselves, their abilities?  It can be both frustrating and funny at the same time can it not?  Its sort of like the armchair quarterback who watches an NFL quarterback throw an interception, and in amazement stands up and yells, “I threw better than that in high school!”  Yeah, right.  Or, perhaps you’ve run into the person who is always at odds with others, never wrong, and has everyone else figured out and labeled.  All the misery is someone else’s fault, always.  What’s not to like about them, right?  Right.  

Our condition, like the condition of a multi-million dollar artwork, is critical to understand.  If we see more than is there, we will, actually, never become all we could be, and others wont be buying in.  On the other hand, if we don’t see just how much God has offered us and how much He loves us, we will never rest and live from a place of comfort in who we are in Him.  Either way, our interaction with others is effected in dramatic ways.  We reduce the value of our relationships and inner world when we don’t see ourselves as God sees us.  We must, like an owner who wishes to sell his Renoir, see it for what it is and move forward accordingly.

A great biblical example of this is found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 6.  Its known as “Isaiah’s vision”.  In this account of Isaiah’s experience, we find a man, a Godly man by any standard, and certainly by today’s cultural standards, coming undone before a God revealed to Him as perfectly holy.  The scene is extraordinary.  Isaiah, somehow shown a glimpse of the otherworldly setting in the heavenly realms, watches as these remarkable beings, winged and awesome in description, shout praise to God.  So intoxicated are these beings before their Creator, that they can only worship, continually shouting, “Holy, Holy, Holy…”  In biblical literature the repetition of things in threes is a call from the writer to understand just how impacting and critical a given reality may be.  Not only is God holy, the creatures and the writer seem to be saying, but He his thrice holy.  He is perfect beyond description.  He is pure beyond anything we can comprehend.  God is not graded upon nor grading others upon a curve, a cultural call for “normal”.  God’s normal is not our normal, not even close.  

In a world that is not just tempted by all that is not holy, but rather, runs after, promotes, and craves that which is revolting to God, we should hear the call of this passage.  Isaiah, again, a man of God himself, is utterly undone by this sight of an “otherly” holy and perfect being.  So far from the reality of his own heart, is the purity of God, that he fears for his life.  He cries out in terror, “I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips!”  Isaiah, on the upper end of the moral ladder by any assessment, denies the report of others about himself, and see his heart for what it is.  In doing so, he has only one response.  He cries out for mercy, knowing he deserves far less.  He, according to the condition report about him, deserves ruin.  His friends, no doubt, had been telling him for some time to just “loosen up”, and “have some fun”, or “take it easy”.  They have suggested, “Hey Isie, nobody is perfect man.”  When he turned down the invites to the hip parties, the dancing girls, and the spiritually confused ceremonies of his contemporaries, he was snubbed and called a prude.  Always the bore, perhaps, not wanting to drift near the allure of cultural tide, Isaiah, always bent toward God rather than into sea of temptation.  Yet, he saw his own heart, in light of God’s measure of purity and holiness, as corrupt.  He was no rules following bummer man.  He lived his life from a desire to know God more and pursue the best.  His avoidance of the activities of his contemporaries was lived from a place of rest and desire for more.  Yet, in light of who God was and who God calls people to be, something was amiss.  He knew it.  

Isaiah, as he reflected on his failures, his pain, his loss, his stumbling, began to put the pieces together.  It was not everyone else.  It was not the situation.  It was not that he had no other options.  He was not a passive victim.  He was not pure of intention, motive, and conduct.  It was him.  His shortcomings, his personalities disorders, his placing himself in the wrong places at the wrong times, his walking just shy of the line of biblically approved behavior, … it was him.  His mouth, his fists, his desires, his laziness, his neglect of preparation, his bitterness, his value system, his temper, his lust, his, his, his… It was him. 

Now here comes the kicker.  God did not disagree!  This guy, the good guy.  The one who shared the city pulpits on Sundays.  He was the one who everyone else wanted to be were it not for the call to separate themselves from so much in their lives that they craved.  This is the guy, undone before God, that Jehovah affirms in his assessment of his spiritual condition.  The condition report of Yaweh, the One God, Jehovah, the God of Grace and Truth, was indeed, “Isaiah, you fall way short of my standard”.  In actuality, there could not have been a better message for Isaiah to hear.  This is the message that spoke truth to his heart and mind and soul, and which enabled him to move forward in light of reality and toward what God had for him in the future.  God will not, in fact, allow us to move into the fullness of our future until and unless we own our past and present.  In truth we are set free.  

Now look at the payoff.  As Isaiah, prostrate before a perfect God who expects no less, throws himself upon the mercy of God, God reaches toward him and touches his heart, mind, and soul, sets him free, and THEN sends him on to his mission to reach an entire nation.  Without Isaiah having come to this place and this truthful embrace about the condition of his heart he never could have moved forward in the mission of God for him or his nation.  It is the humble acceptance of our brokenness and need which liberates our hearts to accept God’s report about us, and to cry out for God, for He alone is our healing and fix.  Here in lies the key to the greatest transaction we can ever be a part of.  The world may run like hell toward intoxicating fun and the adrenaline rush of pleasure, but those who do so will never find fulfillment because they have not acknowledged life as it really is, nor have they seen their heart, let alone their God, as it or He really is.  The response to our condition report is the benchmark for where our future will go.  A realistic and wholehearted embrace of such an appraisal can make all the difference in our lives.  In truth our past is healed, our present focused, and our future directed.

Who are you today?  How did you get here?  What is true about you?  Where might your future go?  Tune out the clamoring feedback and advice of any who do not have God’s view on this.  Sit quietly, in light of all your experiences, before an amazing, holy, pure, and loving God, and ask Him to talk with you about yourself.  Hear Him.  Accept His report.  Hear it knowing its one presented in truth and in love.  Know He is for you, with you, and desires to lead you.  He has truth for you.  He can set you free.  He may call you to let go of some chains you have clung to for too long.  He can take you to your mission.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

soulstormsite.com

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

3. February 2011 by BruceSmith.

Condition, Condition, Condition…

Condition, condition, condition.  In the world of valuable collectible assets, condition is what sends values into the stratosphere.  Condition is what separates a $100.00 baseball card from a $10,000.00 baseball card.  Condition is what determines a rare coin is worth $5,000,000.00 rather than $2,000,000.00.  Sometimes the slightest bit of difference in condition can have huge consequences for worth.  If its world-class violins you are after, condition is what will drive bidders into a fever-pitch at a NYC auctions.  And if you are attempting to acquire a Picasso or Rembrandt, condition will add or detract millions from the price tag.

Some time ago, while working on a rare coin evaluation for an elderly woman who had, as a child, won a tiny gold piece as a reward for her essay writing in a contest in grade school, one of my associates was pleased to discover that this coin, perfectly kept in the proverbial sock drawer, literally in this case, was actually worth more than $50,000.00 dollars.  Had the coin not been kept safe from the elements, had it been carelessly handled, had it been circulated over the years, the coin would have had minimal value.  But alas, the coin, pristine and glimmering, brought the woman great value and tremendous joy.  It was, and is, all about the condition.  She had cared for it, and it paid off.  She did not take it places it should not have been.  She did not parade it around to everyone to be seen and handled.  She guarded it for the future.

I have been, recently, really amped about guitars.  I’ve always loved instruments, especially rare ones, but now that I am attempting to play, the desire to see, handle, and enjoy collectible instruments is at a new level.  In the world of rare or fine guitars, prices can surpass the $50,000.00 mark.  Really rare and historically significant pieces can be much higher than that.  What separates an instrument’s  value from another of the same year and same maker, is, of course, condition.  Behind the condition, also, is the power of the story, the history of a given piece, which also adds value.  But two instruments, same maker, same type, similar story, will vary radically in value based upon the preservation and level of care.  Mint condition, original condition, …those are words every collector longs to hear and see.

I believe this reality is true on a much grander scale as well, as it pertains to the condition of our hearts as people.  As is true for rare things, those people of rare character, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and relational maturity, are too few and far between.  When you run into them you just know how much that interaction is worth.  You want more of it.  You desire to take it in.  What we fail to realize, however, is the work, care, and preservation of their heart, mind, soul, and spirit that enabled them to become who they are.  Rare and extremely valuable assets in the collectible world don’t just make their way there, rather, painstaking security measures are employed all along the way to make sure the integrity of the piece remains intact.  This is a life lesson for us.

If we are to be or become the people God desires us to become, it will only happen as we evaluate our current condition with honesty, and as we hunger to protect that which God longs to birth in us.  Unlike the woman in the coin story above, who sought out a professional opinion on her little gold piece, too many of us refuse to consult those who can help us make our way forward and enable us to become all we were meant to be.  Like a coin owner, or art owner, who disregards the care needed to maintain an asset’s worth, we handle our hearts in tragic and destructive ways. 

I often run into people who ask me to tell them how much their collectible is worth.  I always tell them that in order for a value to be determined with accuracy, the piece must be “graded” (inspected by a professional for condition and authenticity).  It never ceases to amaze me how so many will blurt out, “Oooh, its in perfect condition…never seen one better…I know it must be worth a lot”.  The problem is, that is rarely true!  Because they have no schooling, background, or history of evaluating such assets, they have no clue what they have, its true condition according to the standards of the industry, what they are looking at, or what its worth.  They are just convinced, since it belongs to them, it must be valuable.  

If we take that approach with our hearts we run the same risks that silly unschooled, overly-optimistic collectors run, …severe detachment from reality, disappointment, and confusion.  We must be willing to submit our hearts, minds, emotions, relationships, to the One who evaluates them most accurately, and to others He has gifted to speak into our lives.  If we shun a realistic appraisal of the condition of our own lives we are doomed to more of the same.  We will go through life assuming more of ourselves than we should, and we will make it our goal to let everyone know just how great a condition our lives are in.  Again, the real problem here is, we are like the emperor with no clothes.  The more we attempt to convince ourselves and others of a falsehood, the more ridiculous we look.  That is frustrating for everyone in the end.

So, how do we cultivate and maintain a life of value?  How do we manage the condition of our own hearts?  Its begins with asking God to put us under the microscope of His matchless love and good intentions for us.  As David said to the Lord, “Search my heart, oh God, and see if there be any evil way in me”.  Too few of us are willing to make that our heart’s cry.  Because of our damage from the past, because we long to be seen as valuable by others, because we have a distorted picture of how dark our hearts can really be, we would rather just not look at the bad stuff.  “Let’s just keep it happy and light” is the phrase for many, and the approach of far too many churches in our day.

David, like John Donne who penned the poem, “Batter My Heart”, a poem beseeching God to go to any length to sever the sin from his heart, knew the only way to freedom in this life was to see himself as he really was and to allow God to do the work needed.  God tells us, and hopefully other wise people around us, who we are and what is actually true about our condition, not because He wants to be a killjoy, rather, He knows its the way to freedom and life.  A collectibles investment broker cannot help a client who refuses to acknowledge what is really true about this assets and their worth.  We must deal with things as they are if we hope to get free from those things which bring death into our lives.  An accurate view of the condition of our heart is the first step to becoming God’s masterpiece.  If we are to become one of those rarified people who always lend value to those they come into contact with, if we are to be looked upon as a person of unique gifting, grace, and character, we must be caring for the condition of our souls.  Further, we must hunger to be in the condition that God desires us to be.  We cannot settle for the “No sweat, I’m ok, you’re ok” attitude of our culture.  We are not ok.  And ok is not what God had in mind anyway.  He desires that we are living in the fullness of His perfection in us.  It is not His desire that we just accept our fallenness as part of the human story.  We must see it, allow Him to heal it, and walk toward more of what He has for us.  

Like a multi-million dollar violin from the hand of Stradivarius, we can carry the history, beauty, tone, and intoxicating song of the Master Artisan.  As we keep the condition of our hearts intact, God is glorified, others long to see more of Him, and lives are impacted.  Like a Strad in the hands of YoYo Ma, as our tuning is clear, our sound robust, and the concert hall full, we have the ability to play a part in something wondrous, beautiful, life-changing.  As took place in the early Church, as captured in the book of Acts, onlookers will watch, take note, and stand in awe of God at work in His people, and He will draw people to Himself daily.  What is important to remember, and as you will find as you read the New Testament, this “well conditioned” people of God were not just going around telling each other how lovely they were.  That would be unloving in the truest sense.  They told each other the truth, in love, and they marched together toward what God was calling them to.  

If you are struggling today relationally, spiritually, emotionally, or otherwise, ask God to speak to you about your condition.  Admit, with David and John Donne, what is true about you.  Ask Him what kind of conservation effort needs to begin in earnest.  Ask Him to give you the desire to hear from others, and to give others loving wisdom so they can walk with you as you embark on a bigger more fulfilling journey.  Like a guitar player who needs the help of a fine luthier when his instrument is not working as it should, we too, sometimes, on an on-going basis actually, need the care, repair, touch, and re-finishing of the Master’s hand.  

May God remake us, restore us, refinish us, refine us, and reignite our desire for all of Him.   May we hunger for completeness, for, He desires our wholeness.  We have worth and value because of what He has done for us, and in us.  May we treasure His intentions for us fully.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

soulstormsite.com

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »