Good morning…
“WOW, congrats!!!” she reached out after yesterday’s blog post about our oldest son’s engagement. Her email continued: “Driving into the factory this morning, I listened to Family Life Today and learned of a “new to me” book from 2015 – Seated with Christ: Living Freely in a Culture of Comparison by Heather Holleman. I really needed to hear the radio interview with the author in order to express my joy for you and your growing family.”
“My adult children have chosen alternate paths – children out of wedlock, no church life, no real belief system,” she explained. “I’ve mourned the loss of never being the mother of the bride or groom, no christening parties, etc. The grief is much softer these days, but I had to learn to love through these disappointments. I know that God has a plan and a reason, I just don’t know what it is.”
“TODAY I am really happy for you and your sweet family,” she genuinely shared our joy. “The happiness is true, without comparison. God is working on this within me, and once again, God is speaking in stereo. Your devotion was exactly what I needed today to hear God’s quiet voice whisper to me, ‘It’s OK. You can have joy and be happy for others, without comparing.’ My prayers this Lenten season are being answered as I walk with God.”
I emailed her back, grateful for her willingness to address a common human tendency, the kill-joy of comparison. Comparison is one of the five-C’s of the false self, which many of us learned about from our spiritual mentor Betty Skinner. When we find ourselves Comparing, Competing, Complaining, Controlling, or Criticizing ourselves or others, we are not living out of our true, God-given self. When we deepen down to access the life of Christ living in us, who we are designed to be blossoms before our eyes.
Now up in the middle of the night, I remember that our oldest daughter loves the book mentioned above, Seated with Christ. Drawn back to its pages, I invite you to sit beside me as we ponder these empowering words.
******
Excerpt from Seated with Christ: Living Freely in a Culture of Comparison by Heather Holleman
I was 37 years old when I discovered a vital truth about Jesus.
A lightning bolt of realization hit me on a summer day in late July as I wondered over the phrase in Ephesians 2:6 that “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” As a writing instructor who specializes in vivid and precise verbs, I focused in on that verb I’d read a thousand times but never considered before:
Seated.
What did it mean that I was already seated at the Greatest Table with the Greatest King? Why was Paul able to write this when he was seated – not at any kind of royal table – but in a prison? How would a person seated with Christ live?
I knew that I wasn’t living like someone who had a seat at the table. I lived like I was fighting for a seat at the table. Everything about my life – even my ministry activities – was more about trying to prove I was special or important. I wanted to sit with the high achievers, the prestigious, and the influential. I fought to belong in other ways too; I longed to sit with the beautiful, the wealthy, and the famous.
But when I finally saw myself seated with Christ at the table, I knew that I had already arrived. Everything I longed for – that belonging, recognition, and security – was already happening to me because I was with Jesus. Most importantly, I could take my eyes off of myself and just rest in my seat, worshipping Jesus and living out the “good works which God prepared in advance” for me to do as promised in Ephesians 2:10.
As I thought more about how seated people live, I considered how we adore Jesus, access all the riches of the Kingdom, and abide deeply to bear the fruit He ordains for our lives. Those new spiritual verbs – adore, access, and abide – began to shape a whole new way of living. I also recognized that at this table, I could experience the belonging and community I wanted so desperately.
We have a seat at this table together. Here, we belong, and from this position of security, self-forgetfulness, and equality with one another, we can enjoy Jesus and our God-ordained lives. We have the fullness of Christ at this table. We have His power, His provision, and His purposes changing us from insecure, lonely, and rejected people to those belonging at the Greatest Table with the Greatest King.
Finally, I began to live free from comparison. I found a quote from the Hayden Planetarium museum guide that simply states, “All seats provide equal viewing of the universe.”
When the children race into the planetarium to find the best seat, the guide must remind them that all seats are equal; there are no best seats. No matter where they sit, they won’t miss any part of the show. When I read that quote, I laughed with joy because I began to truly enjoy my seat in the heavenly realms and my particular life circumstances.
No matter what’s happening to me, I know that all seats provide equal access to the fullness of Christ at all times. I have everything I need right here. My life and yours are exactly as they should be. We can stop wishing for a different life because in this seat, we enjoy Jesus and the life He ordains for us.
Living this seated life has changed everything about me. Won’t you take your seat with me?
******
During this Lenten season, what might it mean for us to live from a seated position? We can stop wishing for a different life. We can stop trying to prove we are important. We can stop fighting for a seat at the popular table. We have already been raised up with Christ to sit down in our heavenly seat, savoring a sense of true belonging and community.
As we access the life of Christ living in us, are are freed from the kill-joy of comparison, and the fruits of God’s Spirit ripen in our lives. Genuine joy, for ourselves and others, is a byproduct of living from a seated position with Christ. We are created to enjoy the power, the provision, and the purposes ordained for our unique lives by the One who provides equal access to the fullness of Christ, for everyone, at all times.
…Sue…
