I may spur a contentious theological debate with this statement, but I believe a Sunday afternoon nap is biblically mandated. (Exodus 20:8-11)
Okay, I may stretching the hermaneutics with that a little, but it’s a proven fact that naps are good for you and human beings do have an actual need to rest every seven days. These are true facts “discovered” by people who apparently have jobs figuring out that the things God told us thousands of years ago are actually true.
Anyway, as I reclined in my easy chair this past Sunday, I flicked on the TV and discovered that the Vikings were losing to the Packers by a score of something like 21 to 7. I noted that there was about 2:37 left in the third quarter, which made it very easy to decided to shut the TV off and commence with a nap devoid of any concern whatsoever for what I assumed would be the usual outcome of a contest between these two perennial rivals.
I awoke to find that there was only thirty seconds left in the game and the score was tied.
“Well, huh. That’s unusual,” I thought to myself.
If you saw that game, you know the outcome resulted in a tie after ten minutes of overtime chiefly because the Viking’s kicker Daniel Carlson missed a fairly easy field goal that would have won the game.
It was his third miss of the day and the very last image I saw of Carlson was a close-up of his whole face filling my television screen as he very obviously shouted an unprintable expletive.
At about 3:30 on Monday, the Vikings management announced that Carlson “doesn’t have a future with the team.”
He was placed on waivers and the Vikings hired a different kicker.
Just like that.
Now, I’m not a “football guy.” I even stink at that game we played in high school where you fold up a triangle of paper and try to flick it with your finger through your buddy’s finger goal posts across the table.
I am in no way qualified to pass judgement on Daniel Carlson, nor would I want to be.
And I thank our dear God that He does not place us on waivers after three mistakes in a row. If that were the case, I would have been kicked out of Christianity before I got out of middle school.
Kinship Christian Radio Announcer Beth Crosby recently told how Walt Disney was fired as a newspaper editor because he had no imagination and had no good ideas, Elvis Presley was fired on his first night of singing because the club owner thought he had no talent and should go back to driving trucks, and Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting while he was alive.
And in the midst of all this, there’s a Bible verse that keeps popping up in my life. Even when I’m not looking for it, something will happen to remind me of it. It keeps coming to mind, over and over again. And today, a friend posted this exact verse on Facebook right in front of me:
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
And yes, I used that very same verse in a blog I wrote three weeks ago.
I still find that verse astounding. Why did God create us to do good works? Does He need us to do things for Him? Obviously, the omnipotent God of the universe could accomplish whatever He wants without this particular Dan Jones doing those things. There’s more than one Dan Jones in this world. So, why me? Does He take some kind of joy in watching me do these things?
I do believe God enjoys and delights in each of us as we do these things. The first part of the verse is often translated that we are God’s “masterpiece.” Surely, a masterpiece is meant to shared and enjoyed.
Or, did God give me a bunch of good things to do because He knew that even though I would need a nap every Sunday afternoon for the health of my mind and body, He also knew that it was just as essential that my soul would experience the incredible joy of growing closer to Him by doing the glorious things He has given me to do as a gift?
Could it be that I was not designed from the very beginning of the universe to sit in my easy chair and watch television all day every day?
And, could it be that as each of us do what He designed us to do, His blessings and His love and His truth and His mercy and His glory are multiplied and grow as we bless others?
That’s the reason the verse is so astounding. Because in it, I get a sense of the plans God had from the moment He spoke everything and everyone into being –and it stretches from the nothingness of the moment before the beginning of time out into amazing fullness of eternity.
And the plan includes every one of us –including what looks like failure in that very small moment but is dwarfed and revealed as all part of the plan in the eternal weight of glory that is the LORD our God.
None of us are failures in God’s eyes. None of us are rejected by God after one mistake or three in one day, or a million mistakes in a lifetime. All of us are dearly loved, treasured, and so valuable that He would and did die for us –just as He planned from the moment He said, “Let there be light.”
Which brings me back once again to the incredible freedom and confidence and joy we have in knowing God knows exactly what He is doing in us and with us and through us, even if we don’t know right in this very moment what marvelous thing He will call us to do in the next year or month or day or hour.
And this is why there is such joy in saying, “Okay, God.”
HALLELUJAH!
Today’s Praise
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16 (NIV)