February 2019 – Context<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have you ever been in a situation that was undesirable,\nboring, frustrating, or difficult? Yeah, I thought so. Me too. It\u2019s part of\nlife \u2013 comes with the territory. But, there\u2019s a way to hack those experiences. How\nyou perceive the situation from the outside will determine your level of\nsatisfaction, or dissatisfaction, while muscling through the task. Your ability\nto choose whether or not to do the task may not exist; it is something that you\njust have to do. But the context under which\nyou operate is a choice that you can make<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A friend of mine was applying for a grant for his\norganization. This was the first time he had done so, and while filling out the\napplication he was complaining to himself about the whole process. The grantor\nwanted to know everything about the project and in such detail. What a painful\nexperience. During subsequent\napplications for grants, he realized that the people asking for this detailed\ninformation were actually giving money away\u2026 and that they needed to make sure\nthe applicant was worthy of receiving the money. This money was going to be used by my friend\nto fund a project that would make the world a better place. Filling out the application was a small,\nnecessary task that would hopefully enable him to accomplish his goal. He realized\nthe context that he was working under<\/strong> \u2013 the \u201cWhy\u201d \u2013 and now he fills out\ngrant applications with much less dread and frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider this scripture with respect to context\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you are led by the Spirit,\nyou are not under the Law. <\/em>(Galatians 5:18)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe that Paul is telling us to view our physical,\ndaily walk here on earth in the context of being Spirit led \u2013 continually. If\nwe are living our lives from the context of God\u2019s Holy Spirit, we won\u2019t be concerned\nand fretting about obeying the law. \nLiving in that context, our actions would be completely in sync with\nGod\u2019s will. The Spirit will not lead one\nto transgress the law<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But we know that the Law is good,\nif one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless\nand rebellious<\/strong>, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane,\nfor those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and\nhomosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is\ncontrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed\nGod, with which I have been entrusted. <\/em>(1 Timothy 1:8-11)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nremember a couple of years ago or so, when I was 26\u2026 God tapped me on the\nshoulder and showed me enough of His Truth so that I believed. At the time, I was fully immersed in and\nenjoying as much as I could, whatever the world had to offer. I was not living\na healthy lifestyle. Even though God had\nshown me some pretty amazing things, I\nwas still trying to make the decision to follow Him<\/strong>, or not. As you might\nimagine, my battle was founded in the contexts that I chose to view the\ndecision from. I initially viewed the decision from the context of \u201call of the\nfun that I would need to give up.\u201d Something in my being cringed at and fought\nagainst this idea. I refused to change\nmy lifestyle such that all fun would come to an end. Where would the quality of life come from? My life would surely be boring<\/strong>. Thankfully,\nI considered something I had observed in others and applied that context to my\nsituation. The observation (that\nliterally saved me\u2026) was that many other people I knew of had made the\ncommitment to follow God, and they were happy! \nThey did not consider their lives to be deathly boring. I knew that they were living joyful,\nsatisfied lives, and if I made that commitment, I should also be able to. (And\nit turned out to be true!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of my spiritual mentors has a saying that pricks this\nconcept of adopting a beneficial context in life. He says in certain situations, \u201cI don\u2019t HAVE to, I GET to<\/strong>\u2026\u201d In other words, count it all joy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider\nit all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the\ntesting of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect\nresult, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing<\/strong>. (James 1:2-4)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The admonition here \u2013 for all of us \u2013 is to change the\ncontext of our operations to align with that of our Father\u2019s. Consider the context in the scripture below\u2026\nThe mom-to-be is faced with the inevitability of very real and excruciating\npain. This is never something that anyone would look forward to with\npleasurable, joyous anticipation. But, in spite of the real pain, there is real\nanticipation, there is real joy. Context\ncan change everything<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Truly,\ntruly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice;\nyou will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. “Whenever a woman\nis in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth\nto the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child\nhas been born into the world. “Therefore you too have grief now; but I\nwill see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you<\/strong>. “In that day you will\nnot question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the\nFather for anything in My name, He will give it to you. “Until now you\nhave asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy\nmay be made full. (John 16:20-24)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When you change your context so that you trust in God and He\nbecomes your salvation, the promise of joy can be fulfilled:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore\nyou will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many scriptural examples of people changing their\ncontext toward God\u2019s will. Paul\u2019s conversion away from persecuting believers,\nJonah eventually making it to Nineveh, Job realizing God\u2019s sovereignty\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine the context that Paul was operating under when he\nwas singing in prison. We should always\ncarry such a context of joy and praise<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nabout midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God,\nand the prisoners were listening to them; (Acts 16:25)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider the answer you give to folks when they ask, \u201cSo,\nwhat do you do?\u201d Your answer tells them the context under which you\noperate. Typically for me, my answer is my\njob \u2013 and, of course, that is the expected answer and the essence of the\nquestion. But, is that what defines you?<\/strong> Is that the best description of what\nyou do? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Set\nyour mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Colossians\n3:2) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace to you and glory to God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n -Nate<\/p>\n\n\n\n www.paraklesis.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 2019 – Context Have you ever been in a situation that was undesirable, boring, frustrating, or difficult? Yeah, I thought so. Me too. It\u2019s part of life \u2013 comes with the territory. But, there\u2019s a way to hack those experiences. How you perceive the situation from the outside will determine your level of satisfaction, … Continue reading “Context”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}