Groundhog Day

[sunestauromai]

A young married man bought a toolbox filled with tools. He enthusiastically learned how to use those tools to fix things and to build projects around the house. His skills were limited, but his father had shown him how to use many of those tools, so his results were not too bad after a few tries. He found great satisfaction accomplishing the various tasks that came up, and as luck would have it, there always seemed to be enough things to be fixed or built to keep him busy.

Over time he accumulated more tools, and his inventory included more specialized tools and power equipment. These improved his results and shortened his time to do things, but the never-ending task lists of life and his familiarity and mastery of the tools eventually led to less work being done with much less enthusiasm. Instead, he organized and neatly placed those tools in a workshop in his garage. His tool collection was modest by most standards, but nonetheless he was proud of them and his workshop, and he brought family and friends out to the garage to see it. Of course, they were all impressed. Unfortunately, like unread books on a bookshelf, they sat unused most of the time.

How much like this story about my tools is the condition of our spiritual lives. When new believers, we may have one Bible, but we enthusiastically read it, pray, and spend time with the Lord. We don’t know the Bible very well, but we soak in whatever we can and share it freely with others. We don’t know how to pray like the “older” believers, but our simple prayers are filled with faith and hope, and like the first words of a toddler, they are sweet to our father’s ears and heart. The simplest task the Lord sends us on is probably scary, but we are willing to do it and he helps us.

Over the years many of us have seen our spiritual toolboxes grow as we purchased other Bibles, other biblical helps, devotionals, or sat under good teaching, and learned more and deeper spiritual truths. However, as we got older, fewer of these truths were actually implemented in our lives, and in essence, they sat on our cranial shelves like (you guessed it) unread books on a bookshelf. Oddly, like with the tools wasting away in the workshop, great pride developed in us because of our spiritual tools, not because those tools are now accomplishing anything in or through our lives, but because we have them neatly displayed for others to see and approve of. We think that, since we have the right tools, we are a practicing craftsman or are spiritually set.

So, our tools sit in the workshop, our books on the bookshelf, and spiritual truths in our pride-filled heads, like trophies displayed on a wall, but useless if we just look at them. Why don’t we use them? The problem is not the tools – they are just tools. The problem is us and our prideful and selfish hearts.

I’ve had a recurring dream haunting me for weeks that I can’t remember the specifics, however the common theme is I have a task I need to accomplish but can’t. I keep working at it, trying to get it done, but never can get finished. It’s almost like the old movie Groundhog Day, where each morning the main character woke up and it was Groundhog Day once again and he went through the same sequence of events, day after day. He was only able to break the pattern after he got the point, made a plan, worked the plan and made corrections, and it finally changed his life. It was not until who he was and how he acted was impacted permanently that he was able to move on to February 3rd. How do we break out of our established patterns in life that leave work undone and spiritual truths unimplemented? Perhaps, like GHD, it is a matter of a complete heart change.

The apostles spent three years with Jesus before his departure, but they floundered for several weeks before Jesus gave them their final instructions. He had told them why he came, had modeled for them how to live, and then proved again who he was in many ways after his resurrection (Acts 1:3). Now Jesus was giving them their purpose and plan in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Their purpose for life? They were to be filled with the Holy Spirit and would be Jesus’ witnesses. The plan? Start in Jerusalem, then expand to Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. The proof of their love for him was not in what they knew, but in what they did. And these ordinary men, filled with the purpose of Jesus, followed his plan and proved their love for him, and the message of the Gospel spread throughout the known world.

Men with no purpose in life just put in time. Men with purpose but no plan waste a lot of time going around in circles. Men who have a purpose and a plan but never prove that plan by following it end up frustrated and discouraged and accomplish little.

What is my purpose in life? What is yours? What has God called you to do and me to do at this time in our lives? Do we even know? If not, where can we find out? The same way as the apostles did – we need to get it from Jesus. We need to ask him until he tells us. Then we need to listen to all he says and do it.

We also need to have a plan to fulfill that purpose. That plan needs to be his plan, not ours. The plans of men are done using human resources and methods, but following God’s plans and using his resources is what’s needed. Again, we need to ask Jesus what the plan needs to be for us today, each day, and follow that plan. Never assume that today will be the same as yesterday. Once we have the first part of his plan we need to do it. Again, the proof is not in knowing the plan, or feeling it, it is in obeying Jesus by doing it. We prove our love for him by our obedience, not our feelings or knowledge. Love is action, as Jesus proved to us clearly.

So, let’s get started so we can move past Acts 1:8 and fulfill God’s plans and purposes in our lives and allow him to change us and the messed up world we live in. Let’s break away from Groundhog’s Day and see what God wants to do next!

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Thank you, Rick, for sharing that. That was a great illustration the Lord gave you of Groundhog Day (the movie) and of the need to have a purpose, plan and then to prove Christ by our lives and our witness for him. I also thought the illustration of the unused tools in the garage was good, as well. The key to finding our purpose, which you pointed out, and then to make a plan so that we can prove Christ through our lives and witness is that we, like the disciples, need to first of all be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Then, he can show us our purpose, the plan and then Christ can be proved by our lives. Again, thank you for sharing this, because what the Lord has shown you here is really important.

 

[sunestauromai]

Sue, thank you for your ongoing encouragement. I need to add here that not only the toolbox was mine in my story, but also the only slightly-used shelf of spiritual tools. God has blessed me with 50 years of his teaching and his examples, yet here I am again, trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do with it. We've all faced plenty of bumps along the way, but we can't just stay on the sidelines - that's where Satan wants us to be, not God. Please pray with me that God will confirm the purpose I think he is showing me today and also the plan I see unfolding. I am still very much a work-in-progress, however I am his wip, and he is still calling me to his service. How truly awesome is the God we love and serve!