My Situation: How to thrive in your imperfect place. Part 2

            Job change is bringing many new people into my life. New people that have similar desires and callings. As I get to know them and they get to know me, we summarize how we have arrived at our current jobs. Sharing my path to working at Blooming Christian school has caused me to reflect upon that path and evaluate my current situation. Add 1 Samuel 2 and I begin to ask myself a question. Is my current situation a result of honoring God and is this what He had in mind when He called me into pastoral ministry? The easy answer is yes because they both include the teaching the Bible. However, these kinds of question are never easily answered.

            We all have a path that has led us to where we current sit in life. Maybe you can ask the same question I am asking. Is your current situation what He has in mind? One way to answer this is to ask another question. That question is, is your situation a result of honoring God?

            How about our Christian community? Is Yucaipa Valley Church of the Nazarene what God intended many decades ago? Honestly, there are probably some things that are exactly what God had in mind and other things that are not. This leads us to the main point of this message. Honoring God shapes our situation. Take a moment to read 1 Samuel 2 before continuing.

            In 1 Samuel chapter two we read of two situations. The first is Elkanah and Hannah’s. Hannah now “exults in the Lord” because He has given her a son and removed her form the scorn of others. They were now living in the blessing of God. Because of this Elkanah and Hannah had left their son Samuel in the service of the Lord and were experiencing the blessing of a growing family. Finally, Elkanah and Hannah had a son who was growing in the Lord and the respect of others.

            The second situation is that of the Eli the high priest. Though he had a respected and important position, all was not well. His sons, who were to inherit his position as priest, lived in selfish rebellion. He was being questioned by God as to why he had honored his sons above Him by joining in their sin. These actions caused his situation to become less of what God had in mind. In fact, Eli was living with God’s changed mind.  

            Based upon what we learn in this chapter of Scripture, the challenge becomes to honor God in your current situation through biblical confidence. Please note that confidence is not pride nor is it self-confidence. In his book A Portrait of Christ-Honoring Confidence, B. Hambrick defines biblical confidence. Its three components begin with faith in the fact that God uses you. This breeds the second component which is courage to act out your gifts and abilities Finally biblical confidence includes contentment with how God forms your situation. Further Hanbrick states “A lack of confidence either calls into question God’s ability to enable you to do those good works He has prepared for you to do, or your desire to do them. Therefore, it is theologically and morally wrong for a believer to lack confidence. Confidence is rooted in our understanding that we are sinners redeemed and enabled by God’s sufficient grace to contribute to His kingdom”

            Closing this post leads me to consider how this applies to us as a gathering of Christians. Teck Hui suggests that churches are to honor God by applying our faith to their communities as a corporate social responsibility. In other words, our faith in Christ should have a place in civic matters. This is very difficult to do in today’s religious and political climate, yet we need to get creative a make this happen.