I Will Be Undignified

In the town where I grew up, there was an empty lot with a huge flat rock in it. Now, nothing would have been particularly intriguing about that rock except that it was very large, and on top of it was a tree.

As a child, my mind was baffled by this phenomenon. I couldn't imagine how a tree could manage to grow on top of a rock! Of course, as I got older I began to learn more and realized that because of how the roots had grown, it was totally possible and happened all over the world. But to this day I will look at that tree lovingly. It's a piece of wonder.

Nature is beautifully organized... yet undignified. It isn't always perfect and uniform. At the same time, it is always wonderful. That's part of the grandeur of God's creation. Everything is beautiful, but nothing is the same. Each tree and flower is its own special creation, with small differences and large ones. And nature does not conform easily to what humans want it to do.

Throughout the Bible, it is said that the very earth itself praises God. In Luke 19:40 (NIV) we are told this by Jesus Himself, "'I tell you,' he replied, 'if they kept quiet, the stones would cry out.'" This takes place when Jesus is entering Jerusalem just days before the crucifixion. Now, I think we'd all agree that rocks crying out would be pretty disturbing. It isn't what we'd say they ought to do. But if the Creator says, they would, even though we humans would call it strange.

Way earlier in the Bible, when the Ark of the Covenant was being returned to Jerusalem, King David was dancing in the streets and actually embarrassed his wife, Michal. She called him out, but David replied with some interesting words: "I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes..." You see, David was not dancing just because he wanted to in 2nd Samuel, chapter 6. He was dancing to praise God, and all that truly mattered to him in that moment was to give glory to his Creator.

We are meant to honor God. Sometimes, that's hard. Not because we are unable physically, but because we place barriers on ourselves mentally. We think, 'Oh, if I raise my hands in worship my parents are going to think I'm not OK', or 'I can't just go over there and tell that woman her shirt looks nice, she'll think I'm crazy'. And they might.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've learned something. We are meant to be undignified before the Lord. The things he asks us to do don't always make sense. Sometimes, it might be right out of our comfort zone. As a wise woman I heard last weekend said, "All God does is make us uncomfortable." Why is that? Because the only way were going to trust is when we commit wholly. When we're out of our comfort zones, doing thing we never dreamed of doing for God, we lean on the One who brought us to that place even more. He doesn't make us uncomfortable because He doesn't love us. He does it because he cares so much He wants to draw us in even deeper into our relationship with him.

Living for God means living uncomfortably. If your looking for a Master who lets you stay cooped up in your home, never having to speak or act for your faith, then you've come to the wrong religion. Too often we believe, like little Hobbits all cozy in our comfortable homes, that life as a Christian is a minimum workload existence. We've gotten lazy, brothers and sisters. Why? Because we are comfortable. We have forgotten that living for God means living as travelers passing through this world. Traveling is not comfortable! We have forgotten that what the world believes about us does not matter in the house of almighty God. We must be undignified. We must let go of pride, of expectation and live only concerned with what God wants... even if that means stepping outside our cozy Hobbit holes and into a much wider, and uncomfortable existence.

Photo by Andres Iga

I hope you have taken something valuable from this week's post. I have learned so much about this recently, and I hope to inspire others with what I have learned. Please share this with your friends! Feel free to drop a comment , and as always, Ad Lucem.

-L.E. Levens