Life, unmeasured {An Advent Invitation}

At one point in ministry, I remember a trusted leader standing up in a staff meeting and reminding us, “We get what we measure.”

Ok. Fair enough. I know this is a well-known maxim in business, and touted by many successful authors and leaders. But is it true in the context of the Kingdom?

A godly pastor I know used to run (lots!). He loved to run. And I remember him saying that he always timed himself running up a particular hill. That way he would “get what he measured” (a faster time!) and this motivated him to run faster. Again, fair enough.

But over the years, I’ve felt uneasy about this constant quantifying. Not throwing stones here, the problem is me. I’m constantly quantifying. And I live in a world that’s constantly quantifying. And to some measure, this is unavoidable. We have to measure ingredients for cookies. We have to calculate the cost of a particular purchase. We have to evaluate the benefit of various options. We must measure (judge), this is how God created us.

But could it be this measuring stuff can go haywire? 

I’ll tell you what: I’m so tired of measuring. I am writing a chapter right now about being Poured Out and there is nothing measured about being poured out. You just pour. You just go.

When that beautiful woman busted open her alabaster flask and poured it out at Jesus’ feet, she didn’t measure it first.

She just poured out her life.

And she didn’t give a rip if the people around her “liked” what she was doing (they didn’t). Jesus did and that’s what mattered.

Amen? While the folks around her with mentally calculating the cost of her offering, she was just offering it.

I don’t want to be the one, arms folded, who goes through life measuring and calculating, without offering.

In the last few weeks the Lord has put his finger on a sore spot of my heart, and revealed to me that the root of it is just this:  plain old measuring.

Slicing and dicing and weighing and measuring, tracking and calculating and keeping score. The next thing you know we’ve hacked up our life and killed the whole darn thing. 

Anybody else?

I laid all this out before Him, as honestly as I could, and told Him I wanted to turn from all this, this ruthless measuring business. You know what I heard in my heart?

This is how I want you to celebrate My birthday.

And I know there a lot of beautiful ways to celebrate the coming of our King, at Christmas … but this will mine:

Live life, unmeasured.

This Christmas, I am taking a break from the ways that I am personally prone to measure. It’s a small thing, but it’s my birthday gift to God, recognizing in a real, tangible way, that what He says about me is enough, that His coming to earth was enough, that His sacrifice on the cross was enough.

His grace, His, love, His gospel is immeasurable.

I don’t need to measure anything else.

This advent, I invite you fellow recovering-measurers, if you’d care to join me, from now until Christmas: Let’s live life, unmeasured, as a little gift to our God. 

{In what ways has measuring hacked up your life? Where might you find greater freedom by living life, unmeasured? Praying our hearts are freely pour out to Him, in unmeasured love. Thanks for reading.}