It Would Have Been Enough!

A number of years ago, the small group that Bay and I were a part of, received an invitation to participate in a Messianic Seder Service. 

Seder is a traditional Passover meal, which includes stories, readings, a specified dinner, wines, singing and other relevant customs relating to the Exodus of Gods’ people from Egypt. 

I remember one particular aspect of the tradition involved the reading (although it is sung in Jewish circles) of the Dayenu (pronounced: "Die Ay New"), which emphasizes gratitude to the Lord for His miraculous acts and wondrous deeds toward His people. 

The word means “it would have been enough for us.” 

So, in essence, the song walks our Jewish neighbors through the 15 steps of Exodus from Egypt into the Promised Land and the giving of the Torah, step by step. With each step, we stopped to remember what God had done, how He had led, protected, provided, and above all brought deliverance to His people. 

The purpose: to develop a posture of gratitude that sees every blessing as a gift from God’s hand; AND, each gift would have been enough, BUT GOD…He gave again and again, and heaped His blessings upon them one after another. 

Bottom line, what the song declares is this:

Lord, even one of Your blessings would have been enough; but, You gave us SO MUCH MORE!

Recently, Bay and I sat through the fifth season of The Chosen series. In the midst of celebrating the Passover, Jesus and His disciples, quote the Dayenu. 

It brought back a memory of how this simple act, spoken in sincerity, turned my heart of grumbling into one of praise, because I was reminded that in every situation:

God is for us.

God is with us.

God is over us.

God is before us.

God is behind us, hemming us in.

IF SO…who / what can be against us? AND, if they are, what does it matter? 

While knowing this song is a part of a Passover tradition, it seems appropriate to introduce as a spiritual discipline for our THANKSGIVING season - 

It reinforces God’s working in our lives.

It reminds us that, indeed, our cup overflows.

It moves us out of a spirit of complaint into one of worship.

It restores our focus on what really matters. 

It focuses us on seeing God’s Presence in our midst. 

I won’t give you every line of the Dayenu, just enough that you get the idea, and you can read the rest right here: 

        If He had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against them - Dayenu (it would have been enough for us)!

If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols - Dayenu!

If He had destroyed their idols, and had not smitten their first-born - Dayenu!

If He had smitten their first-born, and not given us their wealth - Dayenu!

If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us - Dayenu!

If He had split the sea for us, and not taken us through it on dry land - Dayenu!

The formula is easy:

If He had _________________(naming what God has done on your behalf), and not _______________ (something else He has done on your behalf) - DAYENU (it would have been enough)! 

He has done all that AND MORE!

Here’s a short one (from out of my past), which I wrote to center my heart on this Thanksgiving as I remember a special Thanksgiving from 55 years ago!

If He had delivered me from all my sin, and not transformed my life - it would have been                 enough!

If He had transformed my life, and not given me a love for His Word - it would have been enough!

If He gave me a love for His Word, and not given me a new community - it would have been enough

If He had blessed me with new community, and not given me the love-of-my-life (my husband to be) - it would have been enough.

If He had given me my husband, and not given me the blessing of my children - it would                 have been enough.

And, of course the list goes on: my children, my grands, provision of finances, a wonderful home, a ministry we love, etc. etc. 

Take some time over this week as you gather to give thanks, to reflect on your list of what God has done, one blessing heaped upon another. Write your own Dayenu.

I assure you, you’ll walk away saying:

It would have been enough, O God!

Go BIGG!

Truth: We live in a celebrity culture; and, this world is fixated on it.

Little girls want to emulate the latest popular singer (think "Swifties").

Our boys look to the next-best-sports-phenomenon (Christiano Ronaldo? LeBron James? 🤷‍♀️).

We find our heroes in the lives of the wealthy, the popular, the powerful, the charming, charismatic, and the famous.

What has happened that we look to these to find our identity, some kind of personal warmth and significance, basking in the shadow of these people?

Sociologists call it BIRGing (Basking In Reflected Glory): finding value in association with someone else's success, because we have a NEED to identify ourselves with someone or something. 

We are not enough, in and of ourselves. 

We even transfer this within Christian circles: popular pastors, speakers, worship leaders (particularly those with a performance-based-style), authors, scholars, and mega-church-leaders.

While it is good to have someone to emulate, to idolize and put them on a pedestal only sets these folks up for failure, and when they fall....ours is right behind...

...and, sometimes we never recover from the disappointment.

*****

This became the direction my thoughts scurried last Sunday in church as Bay preached on the life (and death) of Stephen (his story is a good read in Acts 6 & 7). 

Actually, Bay shared that same message in four services, so I had plenty of time to ponder the life of this early church martyr and try to put him in this context. 

BIRGing would have appalled, horrified and disgusted Stephen.

Stephen had died to his own fleshly desires; and, walked by faith and not by sight. 

He had buried his past, when he gave his life completely over to Jesus...

...and, was raised to live a new life under the daily power and influence of the Holy Spirit. 

In his "resurrected life," Stephen stopped living for the applause of man; and, lived for the Way of Jesus. 

He didn't worry about what others thought of him.

He wasn't ruffled by politics or a need for power or control. 

He stopped (if he ever even tried) attempting to fix the world around him, and focused on the Gospel (and serving it to those around him in good and practical ways).

Stephen stopped pointing fingers to place blame; he never tried to defend himself; not once did he express anger or frustration over his mistreatment.

When the others gnashed their teeth at him in anger; Stephen was calm and confident - ready to die yet another death for the cause of the Gospel.

You see, Stephen died way before he died. 

He knew his life was not his own, it had been bought with a price, and he was a new creation. 

That's why, when his accusers "fixed their gaze on him," they saw his face "like the face of an angel." 

My conclusion on Sunday? 

Forget culture.

Toss BIRGing into the firepit.

Instead, 

GO BIGG....

Bask in God's glory: immersing ourselves into His presence, power, and majesty; finding our confidence, identity, eternal hope, value, and purpose for living through His plan for us and all mankind...

What's that plan? Stephen grasped it...and Paul...and John...and Peter...and a Hall-of-Faith-host-of-others (see Hebrews 11):

God's plan has always been that His people incarnate the Gospel willingly, boldly, and faithfully.

My mind may have chased a lot of rabbits, down many a different trail, but eventually here's where the trail ended.

Just like these folks of faith from years past, we embody the Gospel when we:

...die with Christ, bury our old life of sin and shame, and allow Jesus, through His Spirit, to live through us...having been raised to walk in newness of life!

When this is our daily declaration, others watch as the Gospel takes on flesh in us. 

Seriously there's no need for the false narrative of celebrity culture, no need for BIRGing... just, BIGGing: immersing ourselves in God's joy-filled presence, and taking on His amazing plan for all mankind - THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST...

It's the Gospel of Jesus that changes the world. 

For Other's Sake

Have you ever been driving down a familiar stretch of road, only to see the sun shine a little differently on scenery that you think you know like the back of your hand, and all of a sudden it just looks new, fresh, divergent? 

That was this verse this morning... a very familiar "stretch of Scriptural road" that I'd driven down many times before.

Somehow the sun shimmered on it in a slightly different way, and the landscape shifted for me. 

It's a pithy statement; one of the Apostle Paul's more memorable quotes.

I hear it used in sermons quite frequently.

I've spoken it often in conversations and messages myself; and, I've re-written it in posts, letters, cards to friends (well, at least the first half of the verse).

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). 

I sat with it just a little while this morning taking in the view...

Here's how I've always read this verse through Paul's pen:

If I continue to live, great! My life belongs to Jesus and He will be my focus. If I die, great - far, far better, in fact! I get to go be with the lover of my soul, the love of my life, my One and Only (in whose Presence is fulness of joy).

Look at the rest of the paragraph Paul is writing to the Philippians:

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet, which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account...for your progress and joy in the faith; so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus (verses 21-25, emphasis mine).

Paul's want-to longs for heaven; but, Paul's why-for (his purpose) is to see the church grow deeper in faith, fully experiencing gospel-living. 

This apostle had adopted a Jesus-mindset (see Philippians 2:5-7); an attitude that served others out of a heart of love. 

Living had to do with loving; and, loving had to do with "laboring" on behalf of those he loved. 

Not, laboring as in the result of an end-of-the-day salary or pat on the back for all he marked off his to-do-list; but, laboring to bear fruit on behalf of the gospel. 

Laboring to see the faith of his fledgling church deepen, put down roots, sprout, and grow in measurable ways.

Paul didn't want to see his heart's desire fulfilled (go on to heaven to be with Jesus), leaving his children-in-the-faith with an incomplete, immature, under-developed faith.

So, if Paul lives, he gets to see more of Jesus formed in them...but if he dies, he gets to see more of Jesus for himself...

What a win-win!

To live for Christ is really to live for the sake of someone else's spiritual development...

The shift this passage took for me this morning, isn't so much about just living for Jesus (as important as that is), but living for those around me to see more of Jesus in me, so that more of Jesus, then, lives in (and through) them for others to see. 

So, it seems to me that what Paul is really saying, in context, is that his beloved church at Philippi doesn't need to believe more of the gospel, they need to become the gospel...

So what? 

I'm living, as I well know, on a short leash. We all are. 

With what's left of my days, I want to be purposeful in how I spend my hours. 

I contemplate the best ways to do so: What that looks like. What my end goal should be. 

David started this specific thinking with this verse:

Then, Paul settled it for me today.

It's getting the gospel in me, allowing it to take root, so Jesus' lives through me for the sake of the gospel in others...one generation to the next. 

Like Paul, I really don't want to leave this earth (even as wonderful as heaven is and how much I long to meet Jesus face-to-face) until I am privileged to see those coming behind me walking in truth.

➡️ Perception ➡️ Gratitude ➡️ Joy ➡️

Welcome, November...not just because I love a good Thanksgiving dinner, and time with family, but because throughout the month, I am truly focused on seeing the goodness of God in the land of the living. 

I spoke with someone just the other day who mentioned she simply struggled to find God's goodness in the midst of her life's circumstances. 

Often times, that problem is solved when we recognize our eye/I problem and get help...

Hence, this little allegory:

Perception.

Gratitude.

Joy.

Triplets born hinged at the hip.

Conjoined, so that each one depends on the other for living her life’s purpose. 

Perception, the first born. entered the world full of possibilities and the potential for positivity.

However, it was clear from the beginning that she had an eye problem. 

It was difficult to diagnose exactly what was wrong.

Sometimes she saw things clearly.

At other times her vision was clouded and confused. 

Much of the time, it seemed her vision problem was simply myopic. 

When Perception seemed “off,” Gratitude was greatly affected.

You see, Gratitude, the second child, was born completely blind, yet given a lovely voice. 

Depending on what Perception could see, the expression of Gratitude’s voice was decided. 

She whole-heartedly listened to Perception to lead her into the world through the sharing of her eyes.

So, sometimes, Gratitude's song came out sounding more of a funeral dirge than a joyful, wedding song.

But, after years of research, Doctors diagnosed new lenses through which Perception could view the world. 

These lenses had the ability to see the world through eyes of clarity.

New spectacles that saw the world through the eyes of the Lord God...with the same vision of beauty for everything around her.

When Perception wore her new "perspectacles," the world around her came ALIVE with blessings in abundance; even the desert places glistened with loveliness; and the darkest of times held a warm glow of light that positively changed everything.

As she whispered her new vision into the ear of her sister Gratitude, Perception painted a glorious picture of all that was good and grand, sparkling and stunning. 

These new lenses so changed Perception, that even when the sun wasn’t shining brightly, she saw a silver lining, and with great care passed this on to Gratitude. 

This is how Gratitude began singing songs of a less somber quality, and gave the world about her inspiring hymns of praise for the glorious works of the Lord, and melodious, catchy songs of celebration.

Often, at random moments, as Gratitude pondered what Perception shared with her, she would belt out a happy rhythm based on these abundant pleasures…songs of Adoration and Thankfulness.

Joy, by simple deduction, entered the world last, following the other girls, and, like the other girls, she, relied on them for the heart problem with which she was born. 

Her heart condition left her prone to depression, grumbling, criticism, hopelessness, shame and a lack of peace. 

But, when Perception's vision changed, and Gratitude sang her joyful songs about the mercies of the Lord, His wondrous works, and His faithfulness to all generations, Joy’s heart was strengthened. 

As her heart became stronger, she overflowed with peace, hope, enthusiasm: JOY like a river… 

The great gift Joy offered, as she touched the lives of those she came in contact, was the ability to heal other wounded hearts about her. 

Imagine. A change in perception, brought about a transformation of gratefulness, which soothed and cared for many a damaged soul!

Of course, the girls often reciprocated their gifts to one another...and, they lived their lives seeking to always serve one another. 

**********

So, during this Thanksgiving month, may your Perception be clear-visioned, your Gratitude be immersed in the goodness of the Lord as He shows up in the world around you, and your Joy overflow with healing hope for others. 

“The grateful heart is like a magnet sweeping over the day, collecting reasons for gratitude.” 

Max Lucado