Divine Nobodies
I’m currently in the middle of a book by Jim Palmer titled Divine Nobodies. Good book so far. One chapter really caught my attention this morning. The author is sitting in the library glancing through a book, and notices a father reading a book to his daughter, who happens to be wheelchair bound and hardly capable of even the slightest of movements and responses. (We later find out she has cerebral palsy). Anyways, the author was tremendously moved by their interaction, which prompted some writings that moved me this morning. So I decided to share a few of his thoughts and mine with you….
Pg. 50-”Would God still love me if I couldn’t do anything for him? What if I were useless and couldn’t do even the basic things I had learned a good Christian does? What if I couldn’t impact others in any significant way, lead someone to Christ, serve a person in need, teach others Scripture, be a leader? What if I couldn’t even go to church or have a quiet time? What if I couldn’t progress any further in my spiritual life? What if I were barely even capable of having an intelligent thought about God? What if…..”
Pg. 51-”I’m so tired of trying to get God to like me……I worked hard to stay on my game (daily quiet times, attending church, leading groups, and teaching classes) as I envisioned God in heaven perpetually asking, ‘What have you done for me lately?”
Pg. 52-”There’s nothing she can really do FOR him, but she doesn’t need to do anything; her father simply loves her.”
Pg. 52-”What if there isn’t anything I can do “for” God? What if he just wants me to lean against his face and receive his love?………Maybe this is why I’m so tired inside.”
That last line, “Maybe this is why I’m so tired inside” really grabbed my heart out of my chest and shook it violently. How much of my life, my actions, my service been directed towards proving to myself that I belong to God? What if I’m trying to prove to myself that I love God? What if God simply wants us to sit back and receive His love?
Quite honestly, I feel right now that I need to lay down the whole I’ll show you my faith by my actions thing, and simply let God love on me. How does one go about doing that? I have absolutely no idea. But one thing I do know,
THAT
SOUNDS
SO
REFRESHING
RIGHT
NOW.