Karistianity

You have a brain tumour.

You plan on having it surgically removed.

You can choose your surgeon.

Candidate #1 is the brain surgeon, a man with the highest level of education, a list of 1000 successful surgeries that he has performed, and a record of zero unsuccessful ones.

Candidate #2 is the janitor, who has never attempted surgery, is not trained, and has never performed any medical operation successfully.

Defying all logic, reason, and wisdom, you choose the janitor. I choose the janitor. We all choose the janitor, and we continue to choose the janitor, despite the number of times they fail. Why?

Because we are the janitor.

You and I, we have a long list of failures. We have a long list of flaws. We have a small amount of wisdom and a large portion of foolishness. We have limited knowledge, and cannot see past our own situations. We're impatient, brash, impulsive, reckless, ignorant, lazy, and fatally flawed.

And yet we see ourselves as more qualified than God, himself.

We grab hold of our problems, and don't allow God to come near them. We say, "Stay back, God. I'll handle this one." And time and time again, we fail to 'handle' it.

Why are we so distrustful of the One who has never failed? Why do we feel the need to put our own, incapable selves, in charge of our struggles?

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is often referred to as the "Hall of Faith." It lists characters from the Old Testament who surrendered their problems to God, and trusted that He knew what He was doing. These examples demonstrate the Truth: Problems handled by people = bigger problems. Problems handled by God = Solved.

I think the reason we so often try to take control of our problems is because we fear the unknown. We want to know what's going on. We dislike the idea of blind faith, so we follow our own volition and ideas. We ignore our commitment to Christ, in favour of a new commitment to ourselves. Spoiler Alert: It doesn't work.

Sometimes, when we give our troubles over to God, things get weird. Things take crazy turns, and we feel like control has been lost altogether. We get worried, because we think things are not going to plan.

But we're wrong.

Things aren't going according to our plan. And that is a step in a very good direction. If things go according to the plans of fallen, sinful, naive human beings, it's not a good sign.

But just look at the times in the Bible when God was given control of the situation, and things looked insane. Walk around a wall for 7 days? What even?! Sacrifice my only son on an altar? Alrighty then.... Build a boat on dry ground, when it's never even rained before? Go back to Egypt where I am wanted dead? Lord, you're loco. How about watching Jesus hang from a cross and die, the One whom God promised to be the Saviour?!

Yeah, things didn't go along with the plans of those humans. Good thing. We are narrow-minded, shallow people. It's why when we see God working in His mysterious ways, we cannot comprehend how He will ever bring it about to completion.

But then He does. He brings it all together in the most miraculous way. He is all powerful, and all good. So when He is given all the control, be prepared for some good and powerful results. The walls collapsed. Isaac was saved, and Abraham was blessed. The Israelites went free. Jesus rose from the dead.

If you are struggling, if you are afraid, and if you're trying to control your situation, I dare you to read all of Hebrews 11. Every time I read it I can almost hear God telling me, "See? Look how I proved my love in that situation? Looked what I did for them! Look how I showed my grace. Look how I showed my power. You sure you still want to handle this on your own?!" You're in for a convicting amount of evidence supporting God's capability to handle your problem. He is 100% worthy of your trust. To summarize the chapter:

Hebrews 11:32-35 ~

How much more do I need to say?

It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of 

Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets.

By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received 

what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames 

of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned into 

strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.

Women received their loved ones back from death.

Keep in mind that when you give God the reins, He will bring about His perfect results, which may not be the results that you wanted. But also keep in mind that He knows better, sees all, understands all, knows the future, and cannot make a mistake. We must learn to be content with the fulfillment of His Will, not our own.

Psalm 9:10 ~

Those who know your name will trust in you, 

for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

We all have problems. You have problems. I have problems. And this time, I'm going to try to stop choosing the janitor. I'm firing her. I'm abandoning my faith in myself, in favour of faith in the One who deserves all of my confidence. Christianity is meant to be a contract, one that is especially honoured when it's most difficult to honour it.

It is for this reason that I am declaring that I'm no longer a believer in Karistianity.

Christ, it's back to you. Take control.

Ready For Impact

So... I blinked. And here I am. Writing from my dorm room. I blinked, and my family moved away. I blinked, and our house was empty. I blinked, and senior year is now here. I blinked, and I'm on my own.

Days are going by too fast for me to notice. But in this whirlwind that life has turned into, my prayer have been short and constant throughout each and every day. Usually, I breathe them as I'm running around in a daze, or as I drift off to sleep. But for the past few weeks, my prayer has been the same few words, repeated over. And over. And over. It goes something like this: "God, make me an impact. Make me an impact. Make me an impact." "God, help me change someone. Help me make a difference. Make me an impact."

I've been whispering it so much. It's what I want more than anything. I've been noticing the same desire in the people around me, as well. In school, I hear people who are running for student council saying, "I want to change things." "I want to make things different."

I'm starting to get the idea that this is a common wish. In some way or another, we all want to do something big. I know I've prayed for the chance to make a difference in someone's life on many different occasions, and the hunger for change has often brought me to tears. Opportunities arise, and opportunities disappear. But we keep praying that we will be the difference maker. We keep hoping that we will change someone. We keep imagining that our home, school, workplace, town, and world will somehow be changed because of us.

We're completely full of it.

1 John 2:6 ~

Those who say they live in God

should live their lives as Jesus did.

The world is chock full of people whose hearts need to change. Every where you turn, you'll see people whose lives definitely need a rerouting. Everywhere you look, people need to start living in the light. Even when you look in the mirror.

That's right. This world is full of people who a.) want to change those around them, and b.) people who don't want to change themselves. Doing quick mental math, we see that this doesn't exactly work. If our world is full of people who focus on changing the people around them but aren't willing to examine their own lives... our world isn't going to even budge.

Ask God to mold your heart. Deal with your life before everyone else's.  Like the simple command in 1 John said, those of us who say we abide in Christ, should be living like Him. How did He live? In perfect love.

1 John 1:5-7 ~

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you:

God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say

we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness;

 we are no practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light,

as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each

other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, 

cleanses us from all sin.

He was and is the light of the world. It doesn't make sense for us to want to change people in the name of Christ, but live our own lives in darkness. You see, those who Christ is calling to Himself will be drawn to His light. Whether or not they have access to His light through you, well, that's your decision.

We are not the ones who change hearts. We are not the ones who change minds. We are not the ones who stir souls. We are simply the lenses that Jesus can use to shine His perfect light through. The lenses who are clean, shiny, and perfectly clear are the people who will see progress. And it's not because of what they have done, it's because of what they've allowed Christ to do in themselves.

So don't worry about impacting others. Don't focus on being the one who changes their lives. God wants to use us, but we must be clean. We must be able to clearly reflect His light. Let God impact you, first. Live like Jesus did. And keep in mind how many people He changed, just by loving. And if our heart's deepest cry is to humble ourselves and allow God to form and shape us, then I believe we'd better be bracing ourself for His impact.

My prayer is changing this night. I'm going to continue to repeat the words over and over, but with a slight variation:

"God, impact me. Impact me. Impact me."