2 posts in one day (what?!)

Marc and I've just been talking about what we heard tonight at the Perspectives class, and though it is fairly jumbled in my head at the moment, I wanted to get a bit of it onto paper (so to speak) before the week begins to happen and life gets busy and I never post it.

Tonight was just the 2nd night of the class, so the first real lecture. Jeff Lewis, of Cal Baptist University, spoke. I don't know much about him, but I was super impacted by what he had to say. First, he talked about how God is a "missionary God"...a title which he says is actually misleading because of the filters through which we hear the word missionary. Leaving that idea behind though, he talked about how the bible can be read as a traditional piece of literature, in such that it has an introduction (Genesis 1 - 11), a body (Gen. 12 - Jude), and a conclusion (Revelation). And, like reading any piece of literature, as we seek to interpret what we read, we can do so by looking for themes, usually which appear in the intro. So as we look for themes in Gen. 1 - 11, we notice 4 distinct stories (Eden/Fall; Cain/Abel; Flood; Tower of Babel) that have a recurring cycle. This cycle begins with Man's sin, which leads to God's Judgement, which leads to a Hope of Redemption...and the cycle is repetitive. Jeff went briefly through each of these stories to find the cyclical elements, but for the sake of brevity, I'll skip to the Hope of Redemption found after the tower of Babel catastrophe. The judgement for the tower was in a confusion of languages and the scattering of peoples, forming nations. So, the hope of redemption is found in Ch. 12:1-3, in the covenant between God and Abraham. Abraham is promised several things, the last of which is that he will be blessed so that the nations will be blessed. This covenant is repeated to the patriarchs, indicating that even in the old testament, God was not just saving his people, but all the peoples of the world. In fact throughout the bible, it can be seen that God's purpose is glorifying himself, in which redeeming for himself a people from all nations is part of the plan. So God's blessing of his people, of us, is for the purpose of blessing the nations (and thereby causing worship of him to flow from all peoples)...and this is what the christian missions movement is based upon.

That said, Lewis then gave us some strategies that God used in the Old Testament, including God's glory made manifest, God's blessings related to his purpose, God's creation of beauty, and a centripetal action (or moving in of peoples to his center of Israel). All of those can also be seen in the new testament, with the exception of the centripetal action becoming centrifical (or the moving out of God's people into the nations). All of these had explanations, but I'm going to skip to the application part (also known as the mind-boggling part). Lewis said that the "default strategy" currently used by God for his redemptive plan is found in the gifts of his people. In that the gifts and talents of his people are related to all those old testament strategies, those gifts should be developed purposefully, and in mind of a global gospel that we are all mandated to spread (not an option that only some follow to the ends of the earth). Not necessarily saying that we each trot across the globe, but rather that God has gifted us in some way, and we have the obligation to work at that gift in light of the fact that God places us in a certain domain because of that gift, and that domain reaches people of different nations. Lewis says that we ought to develop a purposeful strategy for developing that gift so that we can effectively act in the domain we find ourselves in.

Which leads, finally, to what Marc and I were talking about tonight - what are our gifts? What are the things that God has placed in our hearts to do? What can we do to improve and strengthen them, so that God's glory and beauty and blessing shine through us to a world of nations that God is redeeming? For me, I have in my heart a love for science, for knowing how things work, and a love for teaching. I don't love teaching as it is right now, but there is such a strong idealistic current running through me that says "teaching could be..." I've thought a lot this year that maybe teaching isn't for me, maybe this is too hard and I should find a different job, maybe I hate it and I'm no good at it, etc. etc. etc. Excuses really, in light of the fact that I know that my heart says joy when it thinks about the potential. So if I finally admit that teaching is what I ought to be doing, what then do I do to develop this gift (because as of now, I'm not actually good at it)? All I've come up with so far is to keep working at it...starting tomorrow with the start of our new semester. Keep trying with classroom management. Start learning so that I can really know my stuff. Physics isn't a strength, but I enjoy it and it is what God has placed me to teach, so I need to learn it (which means that I have to stop being lazy and start studying). Learn how to walk the very fine line between being a legal employee in a public institution and letting the kids and my coworkers know where I stand in terms of belief in God and salvation by his saving grace. Emphasizing the beauty that I see in the world, as I interpret it through a scientific lens of order and structure and purpose. Look for opportunities to interact with the world (I could teach anywhere in fact). And, though God also has put a love for wandering in my heart, learn to be content with where He's placed me now, knowing that God has got my life under control. Sigh, that's a hard one. In fact, it's all hard. Confidence and assertiveness are not my strong points, but they're really necessary in teaching. Physics isn't a branch of science that I know and understand really well, and at this point I can fake it, but I want to actually be able to earn the respect from the kids and their parents and my colleagues, especially in light of the fact that being a believer and being a scientist aren't considered compatible. So I've got to know my stuff.

All that to say that God never said that life would be easy. He seems to repeatedly put me in hard positions, in order that I might not forget that He's the boss and I can't do it by myself. He's seen fit to bless me with a husband who is an encourager and a motivator, and wow, that is incredible. I have a cheer leader who says "get up" when I fall down, and who reminds me that God is the one picking me up anyway, and that the falling is all whittling. And it's all for the purpose of God's glory. And through it, my life might be able to be used to shine some light into darkness. Whew, it's too much to take, my mind is whirling. Maybe yours is too, if you've made it this far (sorry, this is too long, I know). So, What is your gift? What has God placed in your heart? How can you develop that, especially with the nations in mind?