Set Up

 

"My favorite in Scripture is Ephesians 2:10. It says: "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works prepared for us in advance." I love that tag line: "prepared for us in advance." Translation: God is setting you up."

"That tag line fills me with holy anticipation. It gives me an unshakable sense of destiny. If we simply stay in tune with what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing we will walk into situations that God has divinely orchestrated for us. I don't believe in coincidence. I believe in providence. God is in the business of making sure we're in the right place at the right time. There are divine appointments that God is already setting up for next day delivery!"            

 

by Mark Batterson http://www.markbatterson.com/uncategorized/god-is-setting-you-up/

                                                                                       

Makes me think of times in my life when I feel like I’ve been set up……

I run into someone at the grocery store, cart full, schedule even more full….. in a time crunch to get home, put food away, cook food for supper, clean up and sweep mounds of dog hair off floor …all before the girls show up for bible study…. And it seems that times like this are exactly when the “how are you doing?” greeting actually gets a for-real answer, and the “fine” gets lost in the rush along with my few spare minutes.  Set up.  I asked.  Now I am receiving the answer.  No matter how narrow my margin of time. 
 
Despite the ominous feeling that I have no option but to stand and listen to the precious minutes ticking away, I do have options in such circumstances.  I have a choice in this.  I can choose to fake-listen while silently complaining, thinking of all the things that will go undone, envisioning the horror on the faces as the ladies wade through dog hair on my floor.  I can look for pauses in the conversation to slip in a muttered excuse and be on my way, leaving the dear soul wondering why I even seemed to care in the first place. 

Many times these are the first options that come to mind and if I don’t search further, they can seem like the only options as well as the right ones.  After all, I do have to feed my family, right?  I do have to be home for bible study, right?  Yes, of course. 

But if I will turn my eyes to my Father, you know, the One who prepared good works for us in advance, the One who gives us grace so we will abound in good works - I will see that He has placed this person in my path for a purpose He wants me to accomplish.  Maybe they just need to know someone cares.  Maybe they need further counseling and I can offer it.  Maybe they need a friend to help them walk through the shadows. Maybe I need to learn to put people before my to-do list. Whatever the reason, God has set me up to grow more like His Son and equipped me to minister for Him to them. 

Set up. It’s not such a bad thing, depending how you look at it.