I come to
the end of what I called the Unexpected Disciplines, but I am sure God is not
done surprising you as he weaves himself into your life and you into his Kingdom purposes. I choose these because I think the surprise
can sometimes cause us to miss the chance to move towards God and His Kingdom –
and I wanted to call attention to the possibilities when he surprises you with
discipline. Take the joy in it!
God
continues to call us through all of life’s events, some more or less
comfortable. This is grace, the
unexpected gift God uses to move us and change us. We may like to compartmentalize and control
the movement of God, but grace insists on spilling over into ordinary
days. Let each defining moment drive you
to prayer to seek out God as he would have you know him and to be changed as he
would have you be.
Discipline
helps us see what we need and need from him and if our images of God are rooted
in grace and truth, we can develop the eyes to see what he is doing in these
moments. I am grateful that I don’t have
to be dead to see heaven and heaven-at-work in me. The gospel/Good News is at work now, in
unexpected places and ways. So, I can
more readily look for the good in other messy disciplines: forgiveness, repentance, marriage, parenting,
aging, consequences, time, traffic and more.
These may deserve another classification, but I am thankful for God in
each.
“God will
have his way with us and he will be severe at times. The journey though at times is difficult,
it is glorious.” The Beautiful Fight by Gary Thomas
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