"For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory." - 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12
Busted!
I don't even remember how I did it, but somehow I broke a decorative cologne container on my dad's bathroom counter. I do remember feeling horrible and trying (unsuccessfully) to hide it. I think I was eight.
Now, fast forward to today, literally yesterday. I, who tried to hide a broken cologne decanter from my father, accidentally busted someone who was breaking something far worse. And they were older than eight. My stumbling into this had nothing to do with my being a Father, er, I mean, pastor. I was just doing what people do nowadays. I was just checking in and saying, "Hi!" (People do that, don't they?)
And yet, there was a worse problem. The bigger problem was that they thought that they got away with it. But the only thing they got away with was deceiving themselves.
Why do people do stuff like this? And then why do we try to hide the messed up stuff we do?
It's because we turn a deaf ear to our Heavenly Father's call "to live lives worthy of God" (1 Thessalonians 2:12). We get so wrapped up in the life that the world urges us to live that we lose perspective on what truly is significant.
And yet, that's what we hunger for. We hunger for significance. And God's word, in today's Bible verses, is telling us plainly that the only way we'll find the significance for which we long is when we stop trying to hide everything that's broken in our lives, from cologne containers to relationships, and tell our Heavenly Father that we need help. And then trust Him to help us.
But praise God that, every once in a while, a significant man or woman is exposed to the world through their brokenness.
A University of Florida, star football player, Dominique Easley, a potential first-round 2014 professional football draft pick, suffered a season-ending injury in a noncontact drill at his team's practice on Tuesday.
But clearly, the once probable (but who knows now?) millionaire has his priorities straight and understands what is most significant in life. While still tasting the freshness of his broken body and broken season, the senior defensive tackle tweeted: "Gatornation thank you for all 4 yrs of sticking with me but god has something else planned for & have no worries #believe." (Check out
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/26/3651048/gators-tackle-dominique-easley.html). In essence, Easley has used this injury to parlay whatever significance football has had for him into an opportunity to testify that trusting God, no matter what happens in life, has greater significance for him.
Our country needs more men, like Dominique Easley. Easley knows how to convert the brokenness of earthly things into something greater, like a testimony to the greatest things, which include the truth that God makes the greatest men out of the brokenness that destroys lesser men.
For those who know the sports world, you fully understand the significance of what I'm about to say since I'm a University of Tennessee graduate, former Tennessee football walk-on, and current Tennessee fan. My newest hero attends the University of Florida. And his name is Dominique Easley, who's proven himself, through brokenness, to be a man of true significance.
"For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory." - 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12
Praise God!
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