***Update: See comments for Shelley's update to the questions for Chapter 1~Please leave comments so we're all keeping in touch with each other through this Winter Blog Study.***
Hello everyone! Welcome back to the blog study. I hope you all took some time to read Chapter 1 and to complete the short study at the end of the chapter. Your assignment for this post is to click on comments and leave your answers to the questions from Chapter 1.
In Chapter 1 of On Purpose for a Purpose, we read about King Ahaseurus/Xerxes and his drive for power and fame. We narrowed his behaviors down to a basic motivation that every human being has in common: a need to feel secure and a need to feel significant. This is what God placed into every human being to draw us to Himself.
I just read about another monarch who lived a very extravagant lifestyle. Her name was Elizabeth and she ruled and reigned in Russia in the 1700's. Her quest for luxury knew no bounds! Apparently she owned over 15,000 gowns (some made of spun silver, inlaid with gems). She "needed" this many gowns because she changed her entire outfit every day, 3 times each day, and refused to ever wear the same gown twice. The parties she threw were unmatched. In fact, since she appalled the idea of anyone wearing a dress twice, she ordered her servants to stamp with dark black ink the backs of every woman's gown as she left the party so no woman could ever wear a party gown twice! She owned more castles than she could ever live in or even visit. The writer of the devotion I read describing her exuberant lifestyle also reminded the reader (me!) that although Elizabeth had all of this luxury, we don't know if she made investments into her eternal portfolio or simply into her temporary one. It was Jim Elliot who said, "He who takes care of this life only is wise for a moment but a fool for eternity."
What about you? Are you using what God has entrusted to your stewardship to make investments into God's Kingdom and your own eternal destination, or like Xerxes and Elizabeth, are your resources mainly focused on the here and now? This was a sobering reminder for me today and so I simply pass it along to you all.
I can't wait to check the blog later to see what God is showing you through your time of study. My time is short today with the Holiday week, so I'll try to post a video next week! After you complete the assignment for today, your homework for next week is to read Chapter 2 and complete the short study at the end.
Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for YOU!
Shelley
9 comments:
1.A. She was going to the well in the hottest part of the day to avoid the towns people.
B. She was using relationships with men to satisfy her thirst for relationships.
C. Jesus revealed to her that he could quinch her thirst. Because he is the living water.
D. Jesus went through Samaria to minister to the unbelievers.
2. She left her jar at the well and went into the town to tell everyone who she has met. JESUS
Still waiting for my book, hopefully on Monday!!
I found my copy in TN when I went home for Thanksgiving, so I will be starting the study this week (hopefully)... Will try and catch up soon.
The woman at the well is a woman that we can all identify with, at least to some degree. Although we might not be able to relate to her 100% in the area of multiple marriages, we can all relate to the fact that she was searching to have her needs met her way (the only way she was aware of at the time) rather than God's ways.
We have all been there-done that. We have all tried to have our needs for security and significance met through ways that leave us wanting--and have even led us into some real struggles.
Looking at the story of Elizabeth from Russia, we can see how she was doing this through the means she had available to her. With Ahauserus, we see how he was doing the same thing.
For me, this gives me a reason to pause, to ask God to search me and know me, and to show me where I may be searching to have my needs met in a way that isn't how He would have me go about doing this. Where am I missing Him in an effort to find peace?-Joy?-Love? Am I looking to other people to fill me up? Am I looking to materialistic things? Am I looking to a certain crowd to belong to? Am I drowning myself in food, shopping, fantasy, or other things? Am I looking to a husband to fill my needs and make me feel special?
Just like the woman at the well, we have an opportunity to drink from the Living Water that is always available to us--the only Source that will truly quench our thirst and satisfy us.
This also prompts me to consider what God would have me do with the "jar" I've been using to get my needs met--manipulation, guilt trips, control, anger, etc. Am I willing to lay that down and receive from God what He would have me receive and am I willing to humble myself under His authority and wait on His timing?
The Christian journey is just that--it's a journey. None of us are yet the mature people we will one day be. God is working in each of us and I pray that we will be willing to allow Him to do that work--His way and in His timing.
And, while I'm thinking about it. One of the biggest struggles we all have is in allowing others to be on their journey with the Lord without judging or criticizing them for not being where we'd like for them to be. This Holiday season, consider that truth as you see people you "have to see" because it's the holidays. Are you giving your family members the freedom to be who they are and where they are in the journey?
Let's pray for one another to be women of grace to our family members and fellow believers.
Catch you back here on Tuesday, December 2nd!
Shelley
A. She was avoiding the other women... and had gotten used to isolating. Avoiding the interaction and judgemental spirits of others.
B. She was using relationships with men to fill that emptiness.
C. Jesus told her He could and would fill that thirst.
D. I don't know for sure, but I think He may have gone simply for her. Even if she was the only one He went for. The Shepherd goes after the sheep who don't know how they ended up where they are, and are lost...
2. She left her water jar at the well... with Jesus.
A. My jar must be pretty big and heavy right now. My security feels lost, and I isolate and cling to routine and my husband for a sense of normalcy. Too much chaos has left me feeling very unsecure. I struggle with knowing in my head God is in control, and yet everything I see and feel says the opposite. My significance and importance is also shaken. I can't seem to be able to just feel normal. (Normal is a setting on the washing machine, who said that?) We were serving in ministry, we had begun a family, and everything has been stripped away- physically as well as emotionally. And I feel spiritually as well. Maybe God is starting from scratch, or maybe He's building on a bigger base.
B. I am trying to trust Him, but what does that look like when the rubber meets the road? He has provided greatly for us. My security is begging to grow. We finally have a place that is our own again. We haven't had that in nearly a year and half. We are together in one place, except Sarah. But He's taking care of her too. I have had to trust our daughter fully and completely to God's will for her life. God has given Jim a good job to allow him to provide financially for us as we recover from everything last year. My significance is honestly still wavering. I feel like everything is ripped away, and nothing is important anymore. Nothing is significant. I don't feel I am contributing, but God has me, us, in a season of healing... I still want to serve the Lord, honor Him. But feel I can't. I'd like to trust Him with all my "needs" - with my jar - but I don't know the truth of what all that really means.
1.a. She felt emptiness, she wanted to avoid others
b. she used intimentcy to satisfy her thirst.
c. He told her He was the living water.
d. He went to witness to the Samartians.
2. She left her "jar" troubles with Jesus and went to testify to the other town people.
A. I have several things that are going one in my life right now and I'm trying to trust in God and turn the troubles over to him but it is very hard.
I just got my book tonight. Here goes:
1.A. She wanted to avoid other people, therefore, avoiding criticism.
B. She was using men to satisy her thirst for relationship.
c. Living water would quench her thirst completely.
D. Jesus did not live by the law of the land, therefore, this did not intimidate or even phase him.
2. She left her jar because she believed and knew she would not have to fill it with anything else ever again. She had the spring of water welling up to eternal life.
A. This is a difficult one, I want to say that I don't try to fill the jar with anything but I know I do. It can change daily for me, from acceptance for a job well done at work, to my parents being proud of me, feeling like I am not quite the Godly example in my home that I should be and finding excuses for that, really, I mean really accepting that God forgives me for everything and that he really wants me to have a blessed marraige, regardless of how it began.
B. I am ready to trust God with these needs and insecurities, but for me it's easier said than done. My journey continues, but it is such an awesome one.
1.a. To avoid other women
b. She used men to satisfy her thirst for relationships
c. Salvation was the only thing that could satisfy her thirst completely
d. Jesus went to Samaria to bring salvation to the Samaritans
2. She left her jar at the well to bring people to meet Jesus
a. It took me a while to realize that relationships were not the answer to security. Only God can bring true security. I'm not sure what my jar might be.
b. I am trying to trust God to meet my needs but I've had a LOT of disappointments over the past 2 years trying to conceive a baby. It is very hard to imagine that Gods plan for my life would not include a baby. Only he knows his plan for my life.
Better late than never... :)
1a - She was ashamed and did not want to have to face the other women.
b - she was using her unhealthy relationships with men, but they just left her even more empty
c - Himself - He alone could fill her emptiness and satisfy her longing to be loved.
d - The route through Samaria was shorter, and Jesus had no reason to avoid the Samaritans and go the long way to His destination. However, I believe Jesus knew the woman would be coming to the well that day. He had to go through Samaria so that He could be there when she came to draw water. Jesus sat down at the well and waited for her. I can imagine His excitement as He waited for her to come to Him. He was about to change her life! I love that He loved her just as she was - with all her junk. That's how He is with each one of us. He loves us even with all the sin in our lives. There is no need to be perfect in order to go to Jesus. He wants us just as we are - in the midst of our brokenness.
2. She left it behind - with Jesus
a - I think it's easy to allow other people to fill my need for significance. Anytime I have gone to others rather than Jesus to fill me up, I have always ended up empty. I have found that He is the only ONE who can truly meet all of my needs. I want to allow God to fill me up so much with Himself that I never have to rely on others to do what only God can do for me. That lets other people off the hook and allows me to have healthier relationships as well.
b - absolutely! But I need His help - it's not easy!
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