Useless for the Manure Pile

Okay, so assuming you read the title of this post, you are most likely curious enough to actually read this and are probably thinking one of the following thoughts:

• Did I actually read that correctly? (Yes, yes you did)
• It's not often that I see the word "manure," especially on the Web...
• What on God's green earth is this guy going to talk about?

Needless to say, I would agree that Useless for the Manure Pile is a very strange title indeed. However, there is a small chance that you may know what I am referencing. This phrase comes out of Luke 14:34-35, which reads:

"Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (NASB)

The greater context of this passage (verses 25-35) is where Jesus is describing how we need to carry our own cross and be willing to give up anything and everything for Him in order to be his disciple. Then we get to the salt metaphor. Essentially, what Jesus is saying here is that we are either wholly His, or we are not: there appears to be no middle ground. We are either salty and thusly effective in our daily walk of discipleship, or we are tasteless salt, which is absolutely worthless. And by worthless, I mean not even worthy of a stinking pile of manure. If you are not even worthy of being chucked into a pile of excremental fertilizer, that would put you pretty low on the totem pole.

I read this passage earlier today, and it served as a wakeup call. I pray it does for you as well. If we fail to completely give ourselves to Jesus, are we giving Him anything at all? It would seem that we cannot effectively only give a part of us to Him; it has to be everything. I will be the first one to tell you that doing so is certainly not easy, but the calling to be Christ's disciple is a calling to something greater than ourselves. We owe it to ourselves to fully serve the God who died for us simply because He loved us. If what we are currently giving Him is not even fit for the manure pile, it's probably time to make a change.

Grace: No Excuses

I was reading chapter 15 in the book of First Corinthians this morning and found verses 9-10 to stick out a bit:

"For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me." (1 Cor. 15:9-10 NASB)

 This is Paul speaking, and he essentially sums up something incredibly powerful. Paul was a murderer of Christians. A murderer! However, while on the way to Damascus, Paul (known as Saul at the time) encountered the all-consuming glory of Christ and was forever changed (Acts 9). In a moment, Saul the murderer became Paul the Apostle and started proclaiming the truth of Christ like nobody's business.

Because of his blood-stained past, Paul realized that he did not deserve the new life that he was given in Christ. He knew that he was inadequate. But what Paul chose to hold onto was the grace of God. By God's grace, Paul became an amazing force for advancing the kingdom, needless to say he also became one of the most talked about figures in the Bible overall. Paul recognized that despite his dark past, the grace of God made him into a new person: a person who could shed the past and make a positive, spirit-led difference in the present and future.

The grace of God is truly an amazing and beautiful thing. Without it, we would be eternally doomed. With it, we can accept what Christ has done for us, allow Him to transform our lives, and serve others as He served others. If the grace of God could transform the murderous Saul into the Apostle Paul, who is responsible for over half of the New Testament, we have no excuses when it comes to whether or not that same grace can transform us in the present day.

Do not underestimate the grace of God. As humans, I understand that it can be rather difficult at times to think about how God could extend such grace to wretches such as us. But let's face it: if God could turn a Christian-killer into one of the most successful disciple-makers of all time, what can't God do with you? We need to embrace the grace of God and allow it to truly transform us. If we genuinely allowed God to pour out His grace and mercy on us, just think of what He could accomplish through us. The thought is simply exhilarating! Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39) and He is just waiting to extend His grace to us. Accept that grace today, live in the glory of His presence, and watch as He takes you down a road of authentic satisfaction that is devoid of regret. His grace is enough, and we owe it to ourselves to take God up on such an invaluable gift.

Possible, Not Easy

Wow, it has almost been a month since my last post. My apologies, but I have an entirely good reason for putting off this post for so long.  With the exception of this week (thus far), much of my time has been spent working on a project for my Database Applications course.

On a high level, this project, the Intelligent Water Management System project (or simply IWMS), is a three-year contracted project for World Vision through my school. The basic end goal of the project is to create a web application that receives data from water pumps in Africa and allows it to be displayed and worked with in a sensible fashion. I could definitely go into more details, but that is not my purpose for today.

My class and my major's capstone course (which I will be taking next spring) started working on the IWMS project in February and are to have a primitive version of the application working by the end of the semester this May. Two Saturdays ago until the following Tuesday, I personally put in somewhere between 10-20 hours on a database-related issue for the application. Needless to say, it was a very tiring few days. In the end, the issue was resolved and other tasks were subsequently accomplished. However, the road to the end of the problem was very discouraging.

That Saturday night/Sunday morning and Sunday night/Monday morning (each night/early morning ending at about 1:30am) felt like absolute wastes of time and that I was getting nowhere. In retrospect, the 5-6 hours spent across those two days did result in a little bit of progress, but it was not until I decided to get help the following Monday afternoon from my professor that things turned around for the better. After visiting my professor, we worked out a solution in about 20 minutes that I was trying to accomplish for the previous 5-6 hours. While this was indeed a huge relief, I was a little disappointed in the seemingly unnecessary extra amount of time I put into this task.

Later that week, a great friend of mine (who was my freshman roommate, is my current RA, and will be one of my future apartment-mates next year) was talking about how he is seeing God move in regards to his duties as the Student Body Chaplain next year. He said something that gave me a fresh perspective on life: "Faith makes life possible, not easy." While my situation was not directly a faith-based battle, I earnestly believe that the entirety of it all demonstrates faith in the Christian life rather well. I struggled for a relatively long time on a particular issue, but it was not until I surrendered to the reception of help that I ultimately achieved victory. The end goal that I was trying to accomplish was indeed possible, but it was definitely not easy. However, it seemed impossible until I reached for something beyond my own strength and abilities.

In our daily life, we will face many difficult situations. As believers and followers of Christ, we have the opportunity to put our faith in a God who never fails, who will never leave us or forsake us, and who is always looking out for us. In the midst of our difficulties, we need to remember to have faith in Him who makes our life possible. Faith will not necessarily make our circumstances easier, but we can rest in God's omnipotence and omniscience and know that He will make our lives possible and that He will lead us through it all.

God cares about every detail of our lives (Luke 12:7); no matter what kind of a situation you face, bring it to God and have faith that He will lead you through the mess. He is faithful and true, and He will never let you down. Time spans may differ, but God will ultimately guide you to the end, every single time.

In Times of Hardship

Let's face it: this life is not a cakewalk. Some days are easier than others, of course, but there are always the inevitably tougher periods of time that have the potential to drain all traces of life out of you. Sometimes we are faced with extremely busy schedules where it seems as if we will never finish the never-ending task list on time. Other times we find ourselves in the midst of drastic life changes that have seemingly spawned from nowhere. Then there are the times when we experience tragedy and heartbreak and struggle miserably to try to put the pieces back together. The last of these three things can be especially difficult if they happen to come to mind in later years around the time of the original incident; experiencing even a little bit of the original sorrow is never enjoyable.

Through experiencing all of these things myself at one time or another, or by experiencing them with someone else, I have learned two very important lessons. The first is that no matter what happens, God will never forsake us and is always ready to receive us in a loving embrace to take away the pain, the fear, the worry... Christ dying for us proved the ultimate, unconditional love He has for us, and He desires for us to lean on Him and to take His yoke upon us. Christ offers us rest, comfort, peace, and everlasting love in all situations we experience. By placing our full trust in the Savior of the world, we can know that everything will turn out okay, even if current circumstances seem to suggest otherwise.

The second lesson I learned is that in addition to trusting in God, it is highly beneficial to have friends and family that you can turn to at any time for help and encouragement, no matter the experience. Suffering hardship alone is possibly the most difficult way to live through that tough time. Having a fellow human being that you can turn to can be a huge source of comfort. Being a shoulder to cry on or simply being a voice to talk things out can go a long way. Even answering your phone just for the sake of answering it so that the person on the other end can feel some kind of comfort in their distress through the mere sound of your voice can be more than enough in that moment. We were created to live relationally: we need to have each other's backs no matter what the situation. One simple expression of love, compassion, and care at a particular moment during a rough experience can make all the difference in a person's life.

There are many times in this life when we will feel weak and weighed down by the burdens that we face. It is important to remember, however, that Christ has you covered at all times. I really like the way the bridge of Elevation Worship's Give Me Faith puts it:

I may be weak, but Your Spirit's strong in me
My flesh may fail, but my God You never will

No matter what we are facing, we can always count on God to pull us through. It is also incredibly helpful to have trustworthy friends who are willing to encourage you, suffer along aside of you, and pick you up when you fall. The power of love can go a long way. Do not choose to suffer alone: rest in the love of Christ and be thankful for the friends and family in your life who will not abandon you when you need their company the most.