Reorientation

When someone asks you how you’re doing, what do you think about in order to answer the question? 

“Hey, how are you doing?”

You hear that, and where do you go? Do you think about your marriage, your work, your kids, your circumstances in general? Do you think about your personal victories over sin? Do you think about whether you’ve done some good things lately? Or if you’ve done more good things than bad? Do you think about how well your grass is growing? Have you been making your bed, and eating right, and exercising? You been reading your Bible and praying? Are you simply glad you’ve not destroyed your life yet?

How do you know how you’re doing?

Because we all ask the question, but what are we even talking about?

Here’s another angle on that question: Hey, do you know that God loves you?

See, that’s a question that cuts through all our circumstances and relationships and behaviors, and it gets to the heart, and our answer to that question is actually what impacts everything else. Do you know that despite whatever else is going on that God cares for you, and that in Jesus Christ, by his blood, he is determined to work all things together for your everlasting good? Do you know that he loves you?

And in answer to that question, we are typically in three places:

Orientation, disorientation, or reorientation.

Either we are oriented to God’s love! Yes, he does love me. And I am truly, mainly thankful for all of his grace to me in Christ. 

Or we are disoriented — things are blurry. I’m not seeing clearly, not thinking straight. I’m struggling.

Or we are reorienting — we’ve had a bout of disorientation. We’ve struggled. We’ve been ashamed of our words, thoughts, and deeds, but we’ve repented, we’ve surrendered ourselves before God, we’ve humbly sought his mercy in Christ, and he’s helping us to see again. To remember his truth and love.

And one thing that makes our Sunday worship so important is that every single one of us is at least called to that, to reorientation. And that’s what this moment is about — in the midst of our disorientation, in the aftermath of our sin and failures, now, God calls us to lay it down and surrender to his love. My exhortation is to do that.

Let’s pray:

Father in heaven, we recognize that every sin is counted, every thought and word and deed. We don’t pretend to think that any of our failures disappear on their own. We don’t sweep them under the rug. They are like a heavy burden on our backs — if not for the cross of Jesus Christ. Thank you that he died for us, in our place, and that he bore the punishment we deserved for our every sin. Because of his blood shed for us, we have boldness to approach your throne of grace and confess our sins to you, to lay it all down before you. Father, we ask, by your Spirit, give us that grace to confess to you now in a time of silence…

…and now, Father, having confessed our sins, we do, by your grace, surrender to you, and we want to be reoriented to your love. By the power of your Spirit, give us the strength now to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of your love in Jesus Christ. We ask this in his name, amen.