Touché God

Touché comes from a French word meaning to touch, as in fencing when someone hits another player with his or her sword. It is also an expression to acknowledge a good point. If you know me, you are probably laughing right now, and if you don't know me, I should inform you that I use the word touché often. And by often, I mean numerous times a day. Basically if touché can be used in even the slightest sense, I will probably use it.

I think since I use touché so much, it was inevitable that I would start using it in my relationship with God. Little did I know how much truth would come

out from the phrase "touché God" for me. Being the broken, imperfect self that I am, my relationship with God is not perfect. So often I'm wrong, and of course He's right, hence "touché God."

We know that if we lay our cares on the Lord, He will take care of us. It says so in Matthew:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Yet over and over again I try to fix my problems on my own, put my own yoke on my shoulders, attempt to do things in my own strength. Inevitably I can't do it. I give it up to God. He takes care of me, like He always does.

Touché God.

I try and plan my life out the way I think it should be done. Even if there's nothing inherently wrong with my plans, something isn't right. I give it up to God. He straightens them out. They end up being better than I could imagine.

Touché God.

I ask God to transform me, and that I want to give my whole self to Him. He starts doing work, ripping my old self out, imparting a new self in me, revealing new truths about Himself, teaching me new things. I try and avoid it. I don't want to think about the darkness in the depths of my heart. I don't want the light to shine in those places. I don't want to learn these things that will cause me to transform my life. God doesn't just say "ok, I'll stop pushing." No, He just puts what He's trying to teach you everywhere you look. Sermons, books, situations, blogs, twitter quotes, all pointing back to one aspect of God...the one He's trying to show you.

Touché God.

Why do I say touché God all the time? I am broken. I'm made perfect in Christ, but that perfection is not fulfilled until we are with God in heaven. I think Jesus said it best (He always does):

"The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Matthew 26:41

There are a myriad of reasons that we constantly forget to rely solely on God, all stemming from sin. I think two of the biggest ones, at least in my life, are pride and doubt.

Pride gets the best of me whenever things are "going well" in my life. I quickly go from thanking God to thinking "yeah Nick, way to go! Keep up all the good work!" I so easily forget that my life is for God's glory, not Nick's glory.

Side note: why is it that we are so quick to rely on God when times are tough but so quick praise ourselves when things are going well? Hmmm. Perchance it's pride.

Doubt is another big one. Over and over again I doubt that giving it all up to God will work out for the best. They always do.

Touché God.

We are broken doubters. Look at this example from the bible. This is Matthew 28, right before Jesus ascends into heaven:

"then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mount where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted."

Ok. These guys just spent the last 3 years with Jesus, heard him say He was going to die and come back to life. They SEE him numerous times post-resurrection, talk to Him, and even touch his wounds, yet still doubt. Makes me feel like my situation is hopeless. Thank the Lord, we have a good, perfect, gracious God who loves us so much that He meets us right where we are, no matter how big of doubters we are. Remember; those guys who doubted? Yeah, those are the same guys who founded the church, so I think God can do pretty great work in our lives too.

Whenever I'm in intimacy with Christ and life is good, I ask myself why I would ever not want to be in this place of intimacy and awesomeness with Christ? Yet days, weeks, or months later, I'm sitting there, down in the dumps with seemingly no idea how to get out. Hmm, maybe I should give it all up to God and focus on Him. Naw, I doubt that will work. (Do I have memory loss or what?) I hesitatingly turn to God, and lo and behold! He took care of me.

A few weeks ago, I wasn't spending much time with God, and whaddaya know, I was feeling pretty down in the dumps. Slowly, skeptically, I started giving myself to God to see what He would do. Know what happened? You guessed it. I'm sitting here today stoked on life, where I am with God, and what He's doing in the lives around me.

Touché God.