Escape the "Spin" Cycle

Consider the two passages below:

And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. (Matthew 21:44)

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest: Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

Sometimes as Christians we neglect ourselves.  We neglect to stir up our gifts, neglect to read the word, neglect to pray, neglect to hear the voice of God, neglect to befriend one another and fellowship with each other.  We neglect the whole notion and the whole point of Christianity-literally, to be like Christ.  We neglect our churches, our leaders, our families.  We neglect to let the mind of Christ be in us.  We neglect our calling.  We neglect our savior.

What do I mean?  We get so caught up and swept up in the spin cycle of life; the day to day routines, the same old same old.  We stop seeing people and start seeing task fulfillment.  We stop seeing souls and start feeling the tug of the rigors of getting older, being overworked and getting little rest.  We trade friendship for acquaintance and trust for convenience.  We gloss over meaningful events because we don't have time to deal with anything of worth.  We know that our families, our friends, those souls, those relationships, our churches, our leaders, our gifts, our ministry and our God are waiting on us to slow down and give them some attention.  We know and we keep promising ourselves that we will give all of those things the attention that they need.  Then a few days go by, a few months, a couple of years.  Our spin cycle is full throttle now and every thing's a blur.  Our children are grown, the faces in our churches have all changed, our friends have moved on and we find ourselves moving ever faster, but accomplishing less and less.

What has happened?  I believe that God wants us to recognize that we may be caught up in a spin cycle.  The spin cycle is the very last cycle for a washing machine.  The clothes initially went in dirty; a cleansing agent was added and the clothes were agitated.  The clothes were rinsed and then sent into the spin cycle so that they could be taken out, dried and reused.  However, some of us are uncomfortably comfortable in the spin cycle.  See the spin cycle keeps you busy and distracted and every now and then some water will sprinkle in to remind you that you are still in the washing machine.  As long as we remain in the washing machine we are moving, but we are not useful.  So then we begin to substitute being busy for being a blessing.

These two passages of scripture were given to me in an effort to help me out of my spin cycle.  See for a long time--a very long time, I have been a victim of my own stinking thinking; meaning I have not been seeing myself as God sees me.  I've been devaluing myself, my worth, my talent, my position, my place, my voice and my anointing.  I've been silencing my own voice and quenching the fire in my own life and staying stuck in a spin cycle of mistrust, doubt, superficial relationships and discouragement.  None of this because I'm a bad person.  I just stopped seeing myself through the eyes of God.  I've been viewing my situation and my life through eyes of tragedies, disappointments, missed opportunities and miscommunication.

If you have had moments like this too or if you feel caught up in a spin cycle, there is an answer and His name is I AM!  Matthew 21:44 notes that whoever falls on the rock will be broken, but whoever allows the rock to fall on him shall be crushed and ground to powder.  With every new day that God grants us we can come to ourselves--like the prodigal son.  When we come to ourselves, we can stop the spin cycle and we can ask God to make us over again.  The way that He makes us over is by allowing us to fall on Him.  Certainly He is formidable and when we fall on Him our will and our way are going to break.  Fortunately for us He is an expert at mending brokenness; so much so that when He mends us we are made whole and new.

Matthew 11:28-30 addresses the stuff that we carry around that keeps us in a spin cycle.  Some of us are not only in a spin cycle, but we have an unbalanced load.  Have you every heard a washing machine with an unbalanced load?  The machine can sometimes rock violently.  God is beckoning for us to lay aside the sin and the weight and the burdens that keep us pinned down and unable to move.  As long as we carry burdens of stinking thinking, past hurts and current mistrust we are limited.

If you were present at Urban Empowerment Wednesday evening you had the awesome opportunity to hear Dr. Phillips admonish us to Break the Limits off.  Something that she shared struck me--no convicted me.  She said that sometimes we have baggage and we mistake our baggage for luggage.  Bishop Woods shared that if you have luggage it's because you are going somewhere.  Dr. Phillips expressed that baggage is not for traveling because it is filled with things from your past.  Baggage represents those issues and problems that keep you tethered.  She demonstrated how so many Christians are serving and faithful yet they are burdened with baggage and that baggage is messy and stinky.  It not only affects us, but it affects how we treat others.  It limits our ability to fully love. 

There is only one answer.  The answer is not for Bishop to get some body else straight.  The answer is not for me to tell someone off.  The answer is not for me to stop talking to people and stop attending church.  The answer is what it always has been-give it to God.

I know this blog is long, but I feel a tug to talk about this.  When you've been hurt deeply, when you've suffered at the hands of a family member, spouse, friend or trusted person, you carry that hurt around.  You might pack it up in your baggage and not see it for a very long time, but as soon as God is calling for you to go to another level in your life you unpack that hurt and re-experience it again and as a result wind up distracted and unable to move to your rightful and more effective place of ministry.  There are three words that are so easy to say yet so hard to do; Let it go.  God is loving enough to handle whatever you got.  The blood of Jesus can take it.  His stripes can heal you from it.  Now, according to Dr. Phillips, you can't just turn lose of your baggage.  No.  That's not enough because as previously stated you will go back to it eventually.  You've got to ask God to break it and to break you from it.

Examine your life today.  Are you as effective as you could be?  Are you caught up in a spin cycle or a holding pattern that's keeping you from being useful?  If so apply the Word of God.  Fall on Him, cast your cares on Him, leave your burdens with Him.  Escape the Spin.