I often have found myself being asked for the definitions of certain words which individuals are unsure about or unfamiliar with, whether its because I'm a student of speech pathology and audiology or mere coincidence, they always seem to think I'll have the answer. Fortunately, I'm not an inanimate dictionary that sits on a desk collecting dust waiting for someone to crack me open. Therefore, I often find myself without a definition to provide them with.
Earlier this week I was looking through scripture for verses that applied to trust, the major recurring theme I felt the Lord was working into me at Malibu club, Canada. Due to how often I'm asked to define what I'm talking about, I thought it would be important to search the Word for some definitions. After struggling for sometime to find a scripture that I felt needed to be shared to explain my new understanding of Trust, I went to my bible's index and searched Trust. What I saw when I got to the page where Trust was in the index, I began to laugh, not because what I saw was funny but because of how ridiculous the Lord is when he's teaching us something. I recently heard a friend say, “You know, I think Jesus was really funny, not in a way of bringing people down with humor but in a matter of fact way.” As I stared at this page of the index where the definition of trust said Trust: see Faith, I felt the Lord telling me in his matter of fact way, “You see Jacob, this is what I have been showing you all this time. Forget about defining it, go out and live it and you will find it defines you. I define you because I created you and all these things you seek the answers for are of me. Therefore, seek me and I will provide you with the definitions and answers you seek. Your task is to define it with your life, not your understanding. ”
Here is an analogy that describes what I feel the Lord has taught me this last month about going out and sharing what he has graced me with. First of all, we can sit here and define words like trust, faith, grace, and righteousnous to the ends of the earth. However, if we don't get up and seek there application, than they are simply fluffed up understandings of a practice we never indulge in. I feel this would be equivalent to a carpenter knowing the name of every tool in his shop and even where its kept, but when someone comes in and asks him to build a chair, he has no way of making the chair. This is because there is one tool the carpenter is quite unfamiliar with, his hands. He knows what every tool is and what it does, he even knows who made each tool, but he has never had them in his hands fulfilling their true purpose. Therefore he is overcome with the fear of failure. Let's not be the carpenter who sits around all day thinking about building things, but never does because he sees every shortfall or lion in his path .
Psalm 26:13:
The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!”
Rather we should be out in the, “Shed,” building. We must start with the small but fundamental pieces first. I know we all dream of making that entire dining set or collection of kitchen cabinets right off the bat. However, the Lord says we must start out with small responsibility first, than if he sees we have done good with that he will move us up from our chair to a table and before we know it we will find ourselves sitting at the dining room, that we've always dreamed of, in his Kingdom where he has adorned the walls with our collection of kitchen cabinets that he was there for the sanding of every surface. He is the Lord of banquets and I know he wants to be throwing his banquet for us on a fine table he has used us to build. Therefore, we must invest our lives in Christ, not by simply coming to an understanding with him, but by going out to the fields of harvest and standing with him.
Special thanks to everyone in Malibu who helped me experience many of the fruits of our Lord in action at all times.
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