Yesterday a few guys an I were moving a piano for a friend, when I came up with an new way to move the piano up and in through a patio door. Just then Roger says... "OK, well every great story started with a bad idea!" I nervously laughed... and then carefully pondered my next move, because if we dump this thing we might have a great story to tell... BUT only if we live to tell about it!
This got me thinking about my message for this Sunday... and how some of God's ideas may seem to be "bad ideas" to us... like suffering and dying for His enemies, seriously?
I also pondered how Jesus said in Luke 10:3...
"Go your way; behold,
I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves."
...sounds like a really BAD IDEA! Yet it brought back memories of when I was found by God and how wolf-like I was to those around me. Selfish vicious forceful and vindictive... were just a few raw traits that composed my character or lack thereof. What was God thinking sending out His "lambs" to tackle me... He was cunning as a fox!
Like lambs His messengers to me were weak and frail, no mach for my tenacity... yet exuded a gentleness and compassion that I couldn't resist nor disrespect. It was smart on God's part sending me lambs, because they were indeed more powerful than my hate... their love and trust made it easy to see they had no ulterior motives... unlike me. I soon wondered who was being "hunted" ...I longed to be strong enough to be attacked without retaliation, to be injured and yet understanding... this was by far beyond my scope of experience... it was compelling.
I think that if God had sent out anything more than a lamb to meet me, I would have been run-off without a chance... instead I desired to be different, new and renewed... I hadn't always been this bitter and tough... something changed me into this "survivor" ...and now I wanted more!! Many in the media curse "sheep" ...but they have no burdens, no deadlines and no worries... only a shepherd, that kindly leads them to enjoy life to it's fullest. I know by experience that Jesus Christ is the Great Shepherd.
"...if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Could it be that God is really trying to win the world to Himself by the meek, and that He is showing that it is not by might or power, but by His Spirit? IF God sends out His "weakest" into the battle... maybe it is because He knows something the world doesn't. The war God is really waging is mostly against our misconceptions...
and maybe that's not a bad idea after all.