“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:19-24
“This conscious, incessant submission to God has proven extremely difficult, and I have surrendered for the past few days. And today and yesterday I saw evidences of the result. In an effort to be witty I have said biting things which have hurt the feelings of others, and have been short and impatient. I tremble, for I have told at least one of these men of this experiment, and he will think this is the result. It is very dangerous to tell people, and yet, I must tell and I must start over now and succeed. This philosophy that one can begin all over instantly at any moment, is proving of great help.
If this record of a soul struggle to find God is to be complete it must not omit the story of difficulty and failure. I have not succeeded very well so far. This week, for example, has not been one of the finest in my life, though it has been above the average. I have to make a greater effort next week. I have undertaken something which, at my age at least, is hard, harder than I had anticipated. But I resolve not to give up the effort. Yet strain does not seem to do good. At this moment I feel something “let go” inside, and lo, God is here! It is a heart melting “here-ness,” a lovely whispering of father to child, and the reason I did not have it before, was because I failed to let go. And back of that failure there was something else. A crowd of people arrived who, when they are in a crowd, wish to talk or think nothing of religion. I fear I have not wanted some of them to think me religious for fear I might cease to be interesting.
Fellowship with God is something one dare not cover, for it smothers to death. It is like a tender infant or a delicate little plant, for a long nurturing is the price of having it, while it vanishes in a second of time, the very moment indeed, one’s eye ceases to be “single.” One cannot worship God and Mammon for the reason that God slips out and is gone as soon as we try to seat some other unworthy affection beside Him. The other idol stays and God vanishes. Not because God is “a jealous God” but because sincerity and insincerity are contradictions and cannot both exist at the same time in the same place.”
Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Incessant submission to God has proven extremely difficult.”
I am awake at 3:00am local time in Warsaw experiencing a bit of jet lag. It happens with travel. Rather than toss in bed, I determined wake up, read, and sit with the Lord. It has been a sweet time.
And I chose this post because it reflects the ups and downs of the human reality of following Jesus. Laubach alerts us that some weeks are better than others. That’s the truth!
Some weeks we feel in sync with God. Other weeks, if we examine our lives with honesty, we fail miserably to reflect the love or the generosity of God. Is that you today?
If so, this statement is for you: “But I resolve not to give up the effort.” Begin all over again today, right now, this minute. Forget your successes and failures and move on relying on God’s grace.
I praise God for an awesome meeting from about 11am to 3pm yesterday with the head of an influential network of European pastors and a few of his close colleagues. Today I speak to about 38 of them.
I pray to be in sync with God when I do, to begin again today. And then for my many speaking engagements and strategic visits across Ukraine to go well. Afresh God is reminding me just to focus on Him.
The best part about fellowship with God is the sincerity of it. He never turns us away when we fix ourselves to Him rather than Mammon which can represent anything else, any time. Let me give an example in real-time.
My iPad, which I use to teach, has quit working on this trip. It won’t recharge. I could allow that to derail me. He reminded me that I need nothing but Him. He will help me deliver His truth and love without the iPad.
I don’t know if Laubach’s vulnerability or my own helps you but I know this: “strain does not seem to do good.” If you feel strain, let it God. Draw near to God today and He will draw near to you.
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