Maybe they know God but have lost
their way and are stumbling around.
Maybe they’ve tried everything but God and are facing the bitter
consequences, wondering if they have wrecked their life beyond repair. Maybe they just need a listening ear, a word
of encouragement, a rest from the chaos of their life.
They may arrive in garish sweaters,
various states of sobriety and fashion, but what they secretly want is some
visit, some sign, some evidence, that God is really acting on this world,
visiting this world, impacting this world. We all want to see God’s power, God’s reality,
God himself break through and show us
that He exists. We hunger for splashes of heavenly glory on this earthly stage,
because God planted that hunger in our hearts.
Here’s the good news: God is just as
hungry to show Himself to you, your family and friends, and the sobering news
is, this Thanksgiving He wants to do it through you.
Living a life of “holiness” isn’t a
life defined primarily by piety—what we avoid doing, etc.—it’s a life of availability. Holiness literally means “set apart,”
which assumes we are set apart for something—in this case, to be used by God to
show His presence and glory to others.
Once we surrender our bodies in this way, we become living
and breathing centers of possibility—a force that God can use to impact the
world. This truth teaches us to see our lives as a call to represent Christ
wherever we go, whether it’s at a high school basketball game, a Thanksgiving
dinner, the dreaded Department of Motor Vehicles Office, or even standing in
line on “Black Friday.” Regardless of our location, we can live with a sense of
offering ourselves up to God so that he can encourage his children and reach
out to the lost. “Availability to God” is all about being in tune with God, ready to be used by God, and living for God on a moment-by-moment basis.
Will you make yourself available to
God when you least expect to be called upon this weekend? Instead of simply surviving the weekend, or
bracing yourself for the usual onslaught of family dysfunction or triviality,
why not see if God will break through in an extraordinarily new way? Just because we make ourselves
available to God doesn’t mean we’ll experience an unending string of miraculous
encounters and exciting celestial conversations. God moves as he wills, where
he wills, when he wills. But it is still an appropriate and necessary act of
worship to present ourselves before God, saying, “Here I am. If you want to do
something through me, I’m ready.”
This
weekend, before you get in the car, hop on a plane, or open your front door to
the rest of the family, pause for a moment and pray, “Lord, make me sensitive.
I’m offering my ears, mind, tongue, hands, and eyes. Fill them with your
presence so that I could be your servant. Let me see what’s really going on.
Let me hear what’s really being said. Let me care the way you care. And give me
a tongue that will say just what you want said.”
Maybe
something will happen; maybe nothing will.
But making yourself available is so pleasing to God, in and of itself.
Will
you do that? Will you make yourself available,
and lose the mindset of simply “surviving” the family gathering?
More
than an obligation, this is the threshold to an exciting and fulfilling life
and a wonderful holiday. It’s exactly what Paul was talking about when he
called Christianity “the only race worth running.” When every moment becomes
pregnant with divine possibility, and when each situation provides opportunity
for God to manifest himself through us, there’s nothing else like it.
This blog entry was adapted from my
book, Holy Available.
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