Poured Out

A friend whose son is turning 13 asked us to write a letter to him. They are going to take the letters that the people wrote and read to him at various points on a hike. I have excluded part of the letter because it has personal things in it but if I were to give advice to anyone (that was willing to my long-windedness (my new non-word)), this is what I would say.

I have learned over the years the safest and most dangerous place to be is following the Lord. It is not something for the light-hearted. I find that television portrays Christian men as weenies. I have found that to be to the contrary. The Christian men I have watched are bolder than any man that conforms to the world. A Christian man is willing to go where God calls out of obedience. The Bible says that God desires obedience over sacrifice. A heart that obeys is a heart that loves God. Being a man of God does not necessarily mean being a pastor or a missionary but just means you are a man that uses the talents God has given you for His glory. Seek Him with all your heart. He will direct your paths.

Do not leave it up to others to feed you, for example only listening to sermons (although that is good), but you cannot live upon another person’s bread. You must dive into the Word to grow. Anytime I have found that I stop listening to Christian music (or don’t want to), stop doing devotions, or stop reading my Bible, a red flag comes up and I know that I am moving away from the Lord. Doing these things have to be intentional. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. If you are not living intentionally and being in the Word of God and surrounding yourself with those that encourage you in your walk with the Lord you will slowly find yourself slipping away. It is okay to have non-Christian friends and listen to non-Christian music. We cannot live in a cocoon, but we need to be aware of their influence in our lives. We need to continually look at our lives and see what our gods are. Make sure that God is God. We also need to make sure that those we spend the most time with and surround ourselves with are those that honor God. Solomon slowly slipped away from the Lord by making unwise decisions and slowly surrounding himself with more and more wives that were not God’s children and ended up in disaster where he had the choice to have the opposite, and have a life that honored and glorified God, yet he threw it all away. It is a lot of little sins that eventually lead to the devastating, big sins that mark your life. No one plans on setting out and saying, I am going to ruin my life. It is the little choices we make along the way in everyday life that lead to the big monumental markers, good or bad in our lives.

 Know your Bible. The days are evil and it will get worse because end times are coming and the Bible says that it will get worse. The GREAT news is: we have the truth of God’s word and the Holy Spirit as our helper. As a child growing up I learned that not all adults are mature adults. Just because they are in adult bodies, does not mean they all act like we think adults should act. As a student in college I would come to my professors with questions only for them to respond, “we don’t know” because those scientific discoveries had not been made up to that point. It was hard for me to wrap my head around that some things there were not answers to, yet. As a missionary, it has been hard to be on the field and have world missionary leaders proclaim false gospels. The way they were so sure of themselves and used Scripture to back up their arguments would have confused me had I not known Scripture well enough to explain certain things and the context of the Scriptures that they were using to twist. Test what the preachers and missionaries (anybody) say with what the Bible says. If it is not Biblical, throw it out! I don’t have the Bible memorized, far from it. I need to just dive into it and devour it. I also rely so much on my husband (Ludie) as the spiritual leader of our family to come to and ask questions. I pray that you will be that kind of leader your wife can rely upon to come to for guidance and to ask questions.

Everything is worthless in this life except for the work of God. Again, this does not just mean church work or missionary work, but meaning what God has placed on your life to do. When we leave this earth, we can take nothing with us. The only thing that is eternal is what God has done in and through you. Don’t be dulled by the lures around you. Don’t waste time by the lie that you have more time. Enjoy what God has given you. Enjoy life. But live it with a purpose. Above all else, love and love deeply. Guard your heart, for out of it is the well-spring of life.

Remember you are not God. That is why you need God. You will fail, but He is the one that will pick you up. He is the one that will dust you off. He is the one that will make your life count. He is the one that is worth the persecution the sacrifice. He is the one that will bless you in the middle of trials. He is the one that will uphold you and sustain you. He is the one that is the giver of life. He is the one that will comfort you in this fallen world and give you hope for the next to come (heaven). He is the one that will guide you. He is the one that will never leave you nor forsake you. He is the one that will wipe all your tears away. He is the one that has paid the price for the sins you committed and will commit. He is the one that is not surprised by our weakness. He is the one that is Sovereign, in control, over all, all powerful, knows the beginning and the end. He is the one that has scripted your life. He is the one that loves you, and keeps you. He is the one that is there when no one else is. He is the one that is there when you cannot feel Him and the weight of the world is pressing in on you but yet He is there. He is the One!