Big Moves

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Howard Thurman

The Physical Move

We recently moved to Michigan so I can attend Andrew’s University. I’m currently working on my MDiv degree which is a Master’s in Divinity. Everyone jokes saying, “How can you master the divine?”. You can’t, but I don’t think we should be content with the knowledge that we have. As Paul says, “I pray that… you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.” (Philippians 1:9b).

We drove from Arizona to Michigan in about three days! It was a wild road trip. My friend and I drove a U-Haul truck across the country. At our first gas stop, I managed to get the truck stuck. People who noticed came and tried to offer their help. One guy, whose wife assured me he was an expert, got into the truck to try and maneuver it out. He got the truck further stuck and even scraped the side skirt. Noticing what he’d done he jumped out and took off!

Another adventure we had was getting pulled over by highway patrol. We had crossed a toll on the freeway that would only take exact change. The first one let us go with a warning since we didn’t have any cash on us, but as we got off on an exit, we discovered there was another toll right off of it, and they called the cops on us. We pleaded with them, “The gas station is right there. One of us can run over and get cash.” The guy refused to let us go and made us pull over to wait for highway patrol.

The Mental Move

They say one of the most emotionally significant events in your life is moving. Thinking about my life I realized that I’ve moved about ten times, not including boarding in high school and college. Maybe that’s why moving has never seemed like that big of a deal to me. It feels like I’ve been on the move my entire life. One year, at my previous job, we had this annual fall event. I was helping with a maze activity when a friend of mine and I started talking.

Asking me how things were going, I remember sharing with him how I had been feeling. As we talked, he brought up how often I have moved in my life and how maybe that has transferred over into my personal life. He told me I was a sprinter, always on the go, but maybe I need to become a marathon runner and take things slow. I did feel like a hamster on its wheel always running but never getting anywhere. I am trying to do my best, but the peace I was seeking always seemed to evade me.

I didn’t want to move from Arizona. Alicia and I considered other options, but after much prayer and advice, I felt God asking us to step out in faith and follow His leading. Believing that God only leads us to opportunities that will be best for us we chose to move out here. The change of pace has been nice. The nerd in me loves learning and reading so I appreciate this new focus in my life.

In our time here God has allowed us to meet so many amazing people and form great friendships. I’m still pursuing that peace that “transcends” human understanding (Philippians 4:7) which I feel can only ultimately come from a relationship with Jesus. The leads me to wonder if we sometimes confuse our wants and needs. Therefore, I believe it is essential that we learn to “Delight [ourselves] in the LORD…” because then “…he will give [us] the desires of [our] heart[s]” (Psalm 37:4, brackets mine). Roughly translated, “we can discover what we need when we make God everything we want.”

“We can discover what we need when we make God everything we want.”

Moving to Michigan has helped me discover more of who I am. For the past six years, I’ve been a pastor, teacher, and chaplain, but being here has removed these titles from me. It has separated me from my identity of what I had been doing and made me aware that work is what we do, but it is not who we are. Like a miner digging for gold, the closer I get to what I’m looking for, the more things I realize about myself that I didn’t know were there before.

One thing I found was that there were so many things underneath the surface of my life that were hiding me from my spiritual poverty. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3). David Asscherick’s “Friend of God” series makes the point that this verse also means those who acknowledge their spiritual poverty. In that same passage, Jesus says, “…unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (5:20). Jesus doesn’t gauge our spiritual condition by how much we do but desires that we become self-aware of who we are.

The Spiritual Move

Our ability to distract ourselves from what is going in our lives is called masking. Jesus commonly referred to the Pharisees as hypocrites in Scripture. The word hypocrite is a Greek word that was “commonly used of actors on the Greek stage” (biblehub.com). Jesus called them actors because they were acting spiritual but were not at the level of spirituality, they were showing themselves to be. When our private reality doesn’t match our public one then we are lying to ourselves.

The Pharisees were admirable in their pursuit of righteousness, but they neglected a relationship with the one who could make them righteous. Avoidance of their condition prevented them from being who they wanted to be. However, Jesus shows us how to get to the life we want by acknowledging our spiritual poverty. Then we can receive the kingdom of God and all that comes with it. Many of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day behaved the way they did because they were tired of getting stuck in captivity. The whole reason they were captives is that they kept on sinning. They were sincere in their desire for God, but that wasn’t making them more like God.

In the Jewish Shema prayer, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, God says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”. I suggest that what the Pharisees loved more was the idea of freedom and not the God who could set them free, so when they were physically free, they were still enslaved to their old way of thinking. Their behavior, because it wasn’t motivated by love, turned into pretending and began to mask the very condition that God was trying to free them from.

Masking is what happens when we don’t want to face what is going on with us and so we lose our purpose for living or we try to distract ourselves with other things, even with good virtues as the Pharisees did. When Jesus was on this earth He said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in all its fullness.” (John 10:10). To have the life we want we must be in a deep relationship with him who is the source of all life (John 14:6). God didn’t send his Son into the world to condemn us, but to expose sin and to save us from the life that sin is robbing from us.

If you’re as guilty of masking and running as I have been it’s time to make a big move. I challenge you to move towards that thing that is scaring you. Shake things up by confronting that relationship that’s been bothering you. In the words of the great band Switchfoot, “I dare you to move.” Here’s are some of my favorite lyrics from the song:

“The tension is here

Between who you are

And who you could be

Between how it is

And how it should be”

God has already been moving in your life whether you believe it or not. While he hasn’t been the cause of your discouragement, disappointments, and struggles he’s certainly been trying to get your attention through them! He wants you to make those micro choices that lead to big life changes. He wants to make a significant difference in your life. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Are you genuinely happy?
• Do you feel like you are living the life you want?
• When’s the last time you caught yourself wanting to escape your situation?

If any of these questions resonate with you then it’s time to make some big moves. God doesn’t want your behavior; He wants your heart and wants you to participate in the abundant life he has for you. He’s eagerly awaiting and daring you to move.

If you want to do something about your situation start by praying this prayer with me:

Lord,

I’m tired of going through life feeling empty. Forgive me for reaching for things that fail to fill the void I feel. Maybe you are using this perceived emptiness to lead me to truly seek you. Help me to process in a healthful way to grow closer to you. I acknowledge that my spirituality has less to do with how I’m behaving and more to do with the fact that I need to grow with you, myself, and others.

Pause: At this time ask God to recall anything that may be affecting you. Don’t jump to conclusions as to what it is, genuinely sit in silence with Him and allow Him to be Himself with you. He’s not out to get us, but to help us live life more abundantly. 

Finally, pray this to close: Lord, thank your love and please forgive me for any lies I’ve believed that have led me away from you. Begin the process of making me into who I was meant to be. I love you and I ask that you help me to be as patient with myself as you are with me. Amen.

Now, be intentional about your healing and growth. Maybe this means seeking a mentor or seeing a counselor. Read books or listen to podcasts that can help you inspire and motive you. Above all else be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading in your life. Make sure you that you are intentional in your time with God, not just going to Him for answers but seeking to truly get to know Him. God is not the means to an end but is the very thing you’re seeking. After all, He did say “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33).

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