We like to measure things in our life.  We like fairness, we like justice. (Of course often that just means “good for me.”)  The method by which we measure can be the topic of a different post, but now I just want to ask, over what time period do we balance?

Part of the process of growing up is the widening of our scales.  When we are young, and I can see it in the boys, if something is not immediate, it is not right.  I want instant satisfaction.  As we grow older we (should) mature and be able to see farther down the road.

I work for two weeks, then I get paid.  For two weeks, I am working without any reward.  I do not mind that.  I know that at the end of the two weeks, I will be well rewarded for my work.  That is a two week width in my scales.

How much wider can we make them?  Here is a simple image that came to my mind to help communicate this idea.  Of course, it does not come close to really showing it, but it should give you and idea.

Your life is a blip on the radar of time,  nothing in relationship to eternity.  I am not a physicist, but I think a lever with an infinite length could provide quite a bit of force.  However, that is not how we usually see it.  We only look at one side of the scales.  We are only concerned with now.  Maturity is the ability to widen our perspective.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Romans 8:28-29 (NKJV)

How valuable is being conformed to the image of Christ?  What amount of sacrifice is that worth?

I brought up the boy’s soccer before, but I wanted to dig a little deeper.  There is something else I see when I watch the boys playing.  I see a microcosm of the way most people live their lives. There are some who go out and try to make something happen, but most of them are just waiting for something to happen.  They are reactive rather than proactive.

We were talking about life with some people the other day and one of them said something to the effect of, “I really do not make any decisions, my life is dictated to me.”  Now if they had been a teenager or an E1 I might not think much of it, but this was a middle aged adult.

You are the captain of the ship of your life.  Admiral God has given you some orders.  You can either carry them out, or you can complain about the wind blowing this way and the current from that way.  A large percentage of the people I meet, from all parts of the world, are of the throw up the hands variety – “What could I do?”

This is not the kind of life I see being advocated in the Bible. Gird up the loins of your mind.  Be ready for every good work. Set your minds on things above. If I perish, I perish. …will not allow you… beyond what you are able. Thoroughly equipped for every good work. Walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light.  I can do all things…

Is your world driving you, or are you driving your world?

A couple of years ago I went to a leadership conference here in Kenya.  One of the speakers was a Kenyan professor.  He was great.  There was a story he told that will always stick with me.  He was talking about development in Africa and how we need to understand the problem before we offer a solution.  And to understand the problem, you have to understand the people.  However, I took something completely different away from his talk.

He told of a village in Africa where an NGO came in and found that there were a lot of health problems.  They came to the correct conclusion that most of the health issues were caused by sanitation problems.  The people used “the bush” in the mornings to take care of business.  This was contaminating the water supply, which in turn was getting people sick and creating a vicious cycle.  So they decided they would spend some money and dig pit toilets for the village.  This they accomplished in no time and had nice outhouses build over the pits.  Content with having fixed the problem they moved on.

Six months later they came back to asses how things had improved.  The first thing they found was that the pit toilets were clean, too clean in fact.  They had never been used. They did not understand, and the reason was because they had not taken the time to understand the people before they offered a solution.  That was the professor’s point.  However he went on to explain why they had not used the pit toilets.  In their culture, their standing in the community had a lot to do with the height of their “pile” in the morning.  The taller it was, the better.  A tall pile is an indication of two things.  First it is an indication that you are eating well.  You can afford to eat a lot.  Second, it is an indication of health.  When you are sick, your pile fails the slump test.

My first thought was, “Haha, let’s all laugh at these silly people.” But as I spent time contemplating it, I realized, I have a lot of piles of poo in my life.  Things that seem so important, but really are just a piece of poo.  What is the eternal value of a nice lawn (I used to be really proud of my lawn)?  You water it, it grows, you cut it, and you cannot even eat it.  How much time did I spend fixing every little thing on my house?  I even had computerized lighting.  Cool, but not of great eternal value.

I wanted to write about the significance of the tools God gives us.  I am not saying we should abandon all the things God has given us to accomplish His tasks.  But we need to realize what is really important.  So much of what we do is to impress people.  It has little real meaning outside of that.  That is why their pile of poo was so important to them and they would never put it in a pit.

What is your pile of poo?