Calling

Okay. I'm back.

This has been an especially busy season in our lives. Well, actually, its just been a really busy week and a half, but in my defense, it felt more like a season. Part of this is due to the fact that we had family visiting for the last five days, and as can be assumed, I got off track. But the issue that I am experiencing right now is just a flat out lack of inspiration.

Seriously. There are so many other things that I should be doing right now, like: exercising, cleaning my house, playing with my kids, cooking dinner or folding the 5 loads of laundry that is sitting on my couch. The truth is though, those things will always be around staring me down and causing my eye to twitch nervously, and so today I will choose to ignore them.

Actually, I'm not choosing to ignore them, it's just that I got myself back on track and, coincidentally, found my inspiration and as a result, I am going to focus on that for the time being.

So without further ado - and if you can get beyond the abrupt subject change - here it is.

Calling

You know the story about Samson and Delilah, right?

If not, here's the story in a nutshell:
Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah, who tricks him into telling her the secret to his strength. When he falls asleep, his hair is cut off, causing his strength to leave him, giving the Philistines the ability to capture him, gouge out his eyes and use him as entertainment.

I agree, it's a very gruesome story, and in many ways it would be easy for us to point fingers at him and say "that's what you get for sleeping with Philistine women." But the truth is, we can be just as guilty of our actions, albeit in different ways.

It might help to take a look at Samson's life early on, because from the time he was in his mothers womb, he was set apart, by God, as a Nazirite. This meant that he was not allowed to (among other things) drink wine, eat meat, or cut his hair. This was a lifelong commitment for Samson and was meant to be used as an example for the Isrealites to be set apart from the cultures that surrounded them.

The Philistines were one of those cultures. Not only were they considered to be highly sophisticated with their iron-smithing technology, olive presses and gods, but they were also ruling over Isreal at the time.

This is where Samson's calling becomes very important. As he grew up and continued to follow the Nazirite vow, God blessed him. But it wasn't long before he desired to marry a Philistine woman - going directly against his calling - and chose instead to become a part of the very culture that he was called to oppose.

As I stated before, it is so easy to look as Samson's tragic life and say that he deserved it. And the truth is, he did! But what about us? Are we living our lives according to the calling God has given us? Or are we living our lives according to the values of the world? Maybe some of us could be called 'schizophrenic' Christians, alternating between godly lives one day and worldly values the next.

I love biblical history. I love that we can glean wisdom from the very imperfect, often catastrophic characters that God uses. And I think one of the greatest lessons we can learn from Samson is that when we become a part of worldly culture, we are ineffective for the kingdom of God. But when we live our lives according to the calling God has given us, we have purpose and direction in our lives, and that is when amazing things start to happen.