Order of operations

Weeks, months and (eventually) years passed as we waited for the moment. You know the one I’m talking about. It’s that moment you realize your hopes and desires have been fulfilled and you are now expecting a bundle of joy. Countless doctors visits, medicines, embarrassing procedures and….nothing. “Wait, God! You promised me a family.” Nothing. It wasn’t until seven years later that God blessed us with our first child via private adoption. I remember those 7 years of mental pain, agony, the embarrassment I felt every time one of our family members or friends became pregnant while our arms remained empty. My wife and I were modern day Hannah’s from the Bible crying out to God for our greatest desires. This past week I was reminiscing how far God has brought our family. In that moment I was struck with a thought that left me questioning my life and motives in regards to our ministry work. I felt a prompting from the Holy Spirit and was forced to ask myself when have I ever desired God or the things of God as much as I desired a child during those years? When has my desire of salvation for those who are lost as strong as my desire for a family so many years ago?  I felt ashamed in that moment as I admitted the answer. I love God—I genuinely do. I love Him so much I’ve given my life for kingdom purposes and have become a minister. But I haven’t always been as committed to the cause of Christ as I should have been. There have been times my fleshly desires have taken center stage in my life. Rather than focus on God and trusting He would take care of me, I would sit for hours crying about what I wanted. Rather than thank God for what I had already been blessed with, I could be found complaining about what I didn’t have.

As Christians, we like to tout the word of God as a remedy for what ails us. It’s a genuine source of encouragement and gives us strength to get through the hard times. While this is a good habit, we’ve also formed some rather bad habits. Many tend to manipulate the Bible to sound the way we want it to. NEWS FLASH: God’s word stands on its own! I have blatantly heard others proudly proclaim, “God said He’d give me the desires of my heart.” Actually the word of God says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” [Ps 37:4] Furthermore, it also says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” [Matt 6:33] In school math class we were taught the order of operations. When you are presented with a math problem that requires multiple operations to solve a particular problem (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.) there is a specific order of operations you have to use to get the correct answer. It’s the same with God. Rather than focus on our fleshly desires, we’re instructed to delight ourselves in the Lord. Rather than concentrate on what we don’t have, we’re instructed to seek first the kingdom of God. How’s your order of operations?

Closing remarks and encouragement: We have a tendency to put the cart before the horse sometimes. We focus on our problems/frustrations rather than focus on the one who has the ability to fix them. Our flesh encourages us to do things one way while the spirit encourages us to do another. Be assured, if your order of operations isn’t done in the correct order, your answer/outcome will be wrong every time. You don’t have to be a math genius to get the answer right.  Just follow the order.

Have a blessed week, my friends!

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