Your Life Will Forever Be Changed for Good. Do This!
Apr 08, 2020
There Are Gifts in These Times, and They Can Easily Change Your Life
In James 1:1-13, James essentially tells us three things: 1) God has a reason for our trials, 2) God gives us wisdom in our trials, and 3) God gives us comfort in our trials. Anybody who has been through our Career and Life Coaching knows that we have an expression, “The Gifts are in the Gap”. The “Gap” is the difference between what we had hoped would happen and what is happening. Another way of describing the Gap is to say the difference between God’s plan and our plan.
I coined this expression during great struggles over a seven-year period: my old company struggling financially, alcoholic mother and father with dementia moved to town for care (resulting disruption of family relationships), my first bout with cancer, mother’s death, divorce, and more…
The Rest of the Story
An Agnostic then, I did not get angry at God, but I was very upset during this “Woe is Me” period. There was definitely a “Gap” happening, but what about the “Gifts” part?
Well, during this period, I started reading more about God. Ultimately, I started challenging Him in conversation. After reading some CS Lewis and other material, my attitude changed. My statements of exasperation morphed from “Woe is Me” to “OK, God. What are you trying to teach me?”
This realization changed so much of my perspective in life, and I understood that He was showing me some gifts of wisdom and self-insight about my pride and many other sins. These gifts have had lifelong benefits, thank you Lord.
BTW, I surrendered my life to Him in April 2018 after finding out my cancer had returned. Praise God for His grace in the midst of my slow learning.
We Are in the Covid-19 Gap
What can we learn from this Gap? You probably have a better list than I do, but part of mine is as follows. I’ve confronted the fact that I spend too much time with the news. One question I need to ask is, “What am I going to do with the information I will glean?” Some is important, but I have let politicians and to a lesser degree celebrities take up too much of my waking hours. I clearly won’t do anything with this superfluous information and stopping it permanently will make time available for far more important actions.
Another lesson is a reevaluation of the values by which I live. For example, is it more important to talk about my favorite football team and what changes they could make to be better? Or instead, could I talk about Jesus and figure out what changes I could make as a member of His team to share the Good News more?
Another lesson is that I have been too comfortable. Being comfortable in His arms and being a good steward are good. Being comfortable in earthly ways is not. He wants us to be in a position to trust Him, lean on Him, need Him, and enjoy Him as we act according to His plan, not ours.
Busyness somehow has become a badge of importance. What folly that is. We need margin and quiet time to hear the Holy Spirit speak to us, have conversations with God, notice the little things about our spouse that we love, spend time with a grandchild and play with them. (My maturity level is closer to theirs, so playing with them is a natural.) Here is a question to ask yourself: Do I really have to do what I’m about to do or is there something else more important?
What About the Current Gap?
Think about your daily activities as if you only had one month to live. Yes, how you spend your time and money says a lot about your real and current values. When you have that list of activities, notice what’s missing from how you’ve been living your life and stop them. Notice what’s been added or more of some things you have been doing and begin doing more of that for the rest of your life. Also, make sure of your motives. Are you acting because of your love for Christ given his love for us on the cross? If we are just checking off a list, we will fail to glorify God and find fulfillment in our actions.
Conclusion
A tragedy that could come out of this period is that we have learned nothing or little about living according to His plan and not ours. I am reading Jeremiah right now, and the repeated points and counterpoints of historical events showing God’s grace are overwhelming. During this time, try to discover the “Gifts in the Gap” and encourage each other to joyfully change behavior so that God is glorified.
Charlie Haines
