How are you? No really, HOW ARE YOU? How would you respond? If you were able to only use one word to describe how you are doing, what would that word be? Exhausted? Happy? Content? Anxious? Apathetic? When someone asks how I am doing, I often answer with the cliche, “Good! How are you?”. But in actuality I didn’t really answer the question. I didn’t give any sort of insight as to how I am really doing, and I responded so casually it made it seem like I don’t care about their answer back.
But here’s the deal, we SHOULD and often we really DO care about the answers that we receive and the ones we give. So how can we ensure that others know this and feel this? How can we move past the quick greetings into real friendships and meaningful conversations?
I think in order to be able to do that with each other, we must first be able to do that with our relationship with God. Instead of the quick or casual answers, we must move towards intentional time and honest conversations with God. To recognize that he ALWAYS cares about our answer to, “How are you doing today?”. He wants us to come to him on the mountain tops, in the valleys, and the journeys in between. He wants us to express our deepest joys, greatest sorrows, days of mundane, and moments of absolute chaos. See, when we come to him in all of our humanness, he embraces us exactly where we are at and the feelings that we are surrounded by.
I think about the story in 1 Samuel where David is anointed king by Samuel. Samuel sends word to Jesse to bring his sons before him so he can anoint the new king. Each son is brought before Samuel, and each time Samuel finds himself thinking, “Surely this must be the one”. He sees the strongest, the tallest, the most handsome, most intelligent, but all are dismissed by God. Why? Because the Lord sees the heart. “Do not look at his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” -1 Samuel 16:7
Do we go to God only when we feel like we are “most put together”? Or when we feel like we are stuck in the “biggest trials”? What about the inbetween? Are we beginning to have God centered dialogue? God doesn’t care about the condition of our home, the status of our employment, or even the areas we are serving in. God cares about our heart. He sees our heart and he longs for it. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” -Psalm 139:23-24
Psalm 139 is about recognizing the omniscience of God. He knows all, he sees all, he has orchestrated all. Don’t go to God feeling like you need to pull yourself together first, he doesn’t want that. Don’t go to God feeling like you need to stop the tears or hide the anxieties. God sees all, he loves us always. And truly, he is the only one to satisfy the longings and desires of our hearts. If we recognize that God has access to ALL of our being and therefore his words and truths permeate every aspect of our life, our answer to that question will truly be “GREAT!”.
So HOW ARE YOU today? Really, really, how are you?
I'm Good, How Are You?
How are you? No really, HOW ARE YOU? How would you respond? If you were able to only use one word to describe how you are doing, what would that word be? Exhausted? Happy? Content? Anxious? Apathetic? When someone asks how I am doing, I often answer with the cliche, “Good! How are you?”. But in actuality I didn’t really answer the question. I didn’t give any sort of insight as to how I am really doing, and I responded so casually it made it seem like I don’t care about their answer back.
But here’s the deal, we SHOULD and often we really DO care about the answers that we receive and the ones we give. So how can we ensure that others know this and feel this? How can we move past the quick greetings into real friendships and meaningful conversations?
I think in order to be able to do that with each other, we must first be able to do that with our relationship with God. Instead of the quick or casual answers, we must move towards intentional time and honest conversations with God. To recognize that he ALWAYS cares about our answer to, “How are you doing today?”. He wants us to come to him on the mountain tops, in the valleys, and the journeys in between. He wants us to express our deepest joys, greatest sorrows, days of mundane, and moments of absolute chaos. See, when we come to him in all of our humanness, he embraces us exactly where we are at and the feelings that we are surrounded by.
I think about the story in 1 Samuel where David is anointed king by Samuel. Samuel sends word to Jesse to bring his sons before him so he can anoint the new king. Each son is brought before Samuel, and each time Samuel finds himself thinking, “Surely this must be the one”. He sees the strongest, the tallest, the most handsome, most intelligent, but all are dismissed by God. Why? Because the Lord sees the heart. “Do not look at his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” -1 Samuel 16:7
Do we go to God only when we feel like we are “most put together”? Or when we feel like we are stuck in the “biggest trials”? What about the inbetween? Are we beginning to have God centered dialogue? God doesn’t care about the condition of our home, the status of our employment, or even the areas we are serving in. God cares about our heart. He sees our heart and he longs for it. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” -Psalm 139:23-24
Psalm 139 is about recognizing the omniscience of God. He knows all, he sees all, he has orchestrated all. Don’t go to God feeling like you need to pull yourself together first, he doesn’t want that. Don’t go to God feeling like you need to stop the tears or hide the anxieties. God sees all, he loves us always. And truly, he is the only one to satisfy the longings and desires of our hearts. If we recognize that God has access to ALL of our being and therefore his words and truths permeate every aspect of our life, our answer to that question will truly be “GREAT!”.
So HOW ARE YOU today? Really, really, how are you?