Spiritual hypoglycemia

God, are you avoiding me? Where are you when I need you?  --Psalm 10:1a, The Message Bible

....God's grace and order wins; godlessness loses.  The victim's faint pulse picks up; the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood as you put your ear to their lips.  Orphans get parents, the homeless get homes.  The reign of terror is over, the rule of the gang lords is ended.  --Psalm 10:16b-18, The Message Bible

Several years ago there was an ad campaign for Snicker's candy bars with the tag line, "You're not yourself when you're hungry."  You probably remember the commercials when an actor known to be a villain in movies was offered a Snickers, and suddenly changed into a normal person again.

It's so easy to migrate away from God's pasture.  He has provided everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), and yet we are drawn to the world.  Sin drags us down into an abyss, a bottomless pit, such that even when we reach for the Bread of Life, the Word of God, it seems stale to us.  Admit it, we've all been there.  In January we commit to read 3 or 4 chapters in the Bible every day, and we're really into the reality of what God did all those years ago.  We read about the Creation, and the Original Sin, and God casting us out of the Garden (consequences) while simultaneously covering us (provision).  Meanwhile, the rest of our time is spent in business or commerce or entertainment where we hear messages that are not of God.  Most of the time the things we do or the people we come into contact with are not necessarily antithetical to Christianity, they are just secular.  Once in awhile we may hear an outburst from someone that is anti-religion, or utterly godless, or even giving reverence to a god that is not the God of the Bible.  We stew in this melting pot for awhile, and pretty soon we find our daily Bible reading is not very exciting.  We get bogged down in the laws in Leviticus, or the names and clans in Numbers, and we get bored.

In some cases our sin nature may take over.  We may fall into old habits.  Our everyday speech, which used to be seasoned with Scripture, now becomes peppered with put-downs.  We curse others under our breath, and before long it becomes more overt.  We are less careful with other areas of our lives.  Until, that is, we wake up in despair.  How can God love a person like me?

Stop.

Take a breath.

Re-center.

Truth:  God does love you.  He gave his only son to die an agonizing death for you, then raised him up to rule and reign forever.  Truth:  Through acceptance of and identification with the son of God, we, too, can rule and reign, both in this world and the next.  Truth:  God created you to be something special, something exciting for his own glory.

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you:  Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.  Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix our attention on God.  You'll be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.  Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.  --Romans 12:1-2, The Message Bible

I had never read that passage like that before.  To me, it's not so stale, like a verse I've read a thousand times before.  You might want to read it again.  I'll wait.  Good.  Let's go on from there.

I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you.  Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God.  No, God brings it all to you.  The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.  --Romans 12:3, MSG

In my own strength, I am broken and weak.  It is only by his great grace that I am alive.  On my own, I cannot bring anything worthy to God.  Yet every morning his mercies are new (Lamentations 3:23).  It is only by him dwelling in us that we find worth.  It is only by him working through us that we accomplish anything at all.

In this way we are like the various parts of a human body.  Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around.  The body we are talking about is Christ's body of chosen people.  Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body.  But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we?  So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christs's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.  --Romans 12:4-5 MSG

Wow.  As broken as we all are, we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).  Satan loves to isolate us away by ourselves, because by ourselves we only see the brokenness.  Sin creeps in, and we compare ourselves to others.  The comparison can be tearing ourselves down (enviously comparing ourselves with others), or tearing others down (prideful comparison) to elevate ourselves above what others appear to be.  I think that's why Hebrews 10:25 encourages us not to abandon coming together for worship together--not to compare ourselves with one another (either positively or negatively), but rather to be the body of Christ.

If you preach, just preach God's message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them.  Keep a smile on your face.  --Romans 12:6-8, MSG

What better description of ministry can there be?  We are all called to minister in this way, according to the gifts we each are given.  We don't become ministers for personal gain, either.  Remember to humbly put others before yourself (Philippians 2:3).

Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it.  Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good.  Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.  --Romans 12:9-10, MSG

When you find yourself a spiritual hypoglycemic, feed yourself first.  You cannot feed others if you are starving.  We know what causes hypoglycemia:  Sure, it can be caused by diseases like hepatitis or other liver diseases, but we know that "by his stripes we are healed" Isaiah 53:5. Get you some of that, and you will feel better.  But we also know it can be caused by overwork, or over-indulging in alcohol.  The same condition found in athletes who forget to re-fuel can also be found in lazy people who drink too much.  The same Jesus is the cure for both, for he is the fountain opened, the Rock smitten (Isaiah 55:1-5).

Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled ad aflame.  Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant.  Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder.  Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.  --Romans 12:11-13, MSG

What encouragement.  What sound advice.  You are always busy doing something, so why not busy yourself studying the word and letting it spill out in expectation of the next opportunity he gives you.  Busy yourself in prayer, so that  you can help those in need.  Even if you don't have any money, you can be a blessing.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath.  Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down.  Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up.  Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.  --Romans 12:14-16, MSG

We're called to empathy.  We can't put others down and put ourselves in their shoes at the same time.  Remember, there but for the grace of God go I.  Be the face of grace to everyone.

Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone.  If you've got it in you, get along with everybody.  Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do.  "I'll do the judging," says God.  "I'll take care of it."  --Romans 12:17-19, MSG

You might be laughed at.  You might be persecuted.  Satan will not let any good deed go unpunished.  Don't worry about it.  Extend grace, and grace will be given to you; some may have a greater need for grace, and they won't be able to give you what they don't have.  Don't stress over them.  Keep throwing blessing their way.

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink.  Your generosity will surprise him with goodness.  Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.  --Romans 12:20-21, MSG

I heard a Christian psychiatrist and author this week quote from this chapter, in this translation.  I liked what she had to say.  She said a man after God's own heart may still have a problem with lust, promiscuity, or porn.  That doesn't make him less loved by God.  A woman after God's own heart may still have a problem with overeating or low self esteem.  God cannot love her less than he does right at this very moment.  If we are to help people where they are, we can draw from where we've been or even where we are.  By God's help, we can be the body of Christ to the helpless and the hurting, the isolated and intolerant.  We just need to not be stuck there ourselves.