April 15, 2009

• Vocations: Restless Hearts

  …Continued from last post…

  “You are where you are, doing what you are doing, connected to whom you are connected, under given authorities, not because you have put yourself there in order to find fulfillment, but because God has put you there for His purposes.”
  

  Psalm 138:8 says, the LORD will fulfill his purpose for me… God has a plan for my life and for my vocation.

  1 Corinthians 7:17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him…

  Pay careful attention to the wording of 1 Cor 7:17 — lead the life that the Lord has assigned him – not lead the life that we think we have chosen.

  We need to keep reminding ourselves that God has chosen our path and our response is to glorify Him in it.
  

  We also need to see the value in the mundane tasks in our callings (otherwise our hearts become restless). Take my calling as a wife for instance. Ephesians 5:22 says Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. As I take care of the seemingly meaningless tasks associated with being my husband’s wife (laundry, shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc), I am fulfilling the first and greatest commandment (Matt 22:37-38), loving and bringing glory to God, and fulfilling the second one like it (Matt 22:39), loving and serving my neighbor as well as providing a picture of Christ and the church.
  

  But so often we find our hearts restless, wanting to find some fulfillment outside of the mundane tasks we do – whether that involves being a student and doing homework, being a mother and cleaning the counter for the 400^th time in a day, being an employee and listening to your boss drone on or doing tasks you’d rather not do, etc.   Christa put it this way, “Our hearts naturally seek after adventure, lust for the “happily ever after”, and scorn the seemingly meaningless tasks which often comprise our day.”

  Knowing that – that this is what my heart will naturally do, I need to be skeptical of my restless heart — we all need to ask — what are we seeking after and why?
  

  So how do we quiet that restless heart?  We must resist the impulses of our heart and learn to think through what we are feeling biblically by fighting the good fight (1 Timothy 6:11-12) with contentment and perseverance!

  These following paragraphs are just some of my personal notes after studying this, not necessarily what Christa shared.
  

  Contentment grows out of having God’s perspective on life.  (back to the little quote the Christa wanted us to memorize from my last post and the top of this post).  Contentment grows out of humility and trust in God and devotion to Christ and eternal values. Philippians 4:12-13 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

  A heart of thankfulness is the key to contentment – because – as soon as you are thankful (taken from “Thankfulness – Even When It Hurts” by Susan Lutz)

  ·        You enter the presence of God

  ·        You start to see your life differently, through God’s eyes

  ·        You defeat Satan’s efforts to control your interpretation of reality

  ·        You begin to link your life to God’s promises

  ·        You start to see not only your situation but yourself – your own heart – through God’s eyes

  ·        Your human relationships get healthier because they are shaped by faith.

  God is in control, as Jeremiah 29:11-13 states, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

  And the definition of perseverance: to continue to do something in spite of difficulty; refusing to give up; persist.  We need set our minds to just keeping on doing the right thing.  Galations 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

  We need to apply this biblical thinking to all situations. We need to be asking ourselves: How does understanding the doctrine of vocation give significance to the boring, small, routine tasks associated with one of my vocations?

  … to be continued …

  • 11:57 am
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