Rearrange
By Elin
Henderson
“…according to the working by which He
is able even to subdue all things to
Himself.”
Every now and again, do you get this urge to change
things up a bit and reorganize? The new “minimalistic
living” kick finally gets to you after you get sick and tired of fishing around
in a sea of spatulas, spoons, whisks and other unknown kitchen tools, and you
finally just dump out the whole drawer and reorder it.
Once inspired, you now start tackling a room at a
time: rearranging, reorganizing and purging.
When you are done, it’s like you’re living in a new home and life seems
so much easier - - until the mess builds up again!
The word “subdue” in Philippians 3:21b actually means “to rearrange in
rank and order.” [1]
It is like prioritizing and reorganizing
something that has become out of order. The context of this verse is referring
to Christ’s return. And, yes, at that time He will most certainly restore order
to His kingdom. But, what about in the meantime?
We rearrange our furniture, our wardrobes, our utensil
drawers, our medicine cabinets and our schedules. But sometimes we need to take some time to
allow God to do some internal rearranging in our hearts. Our world system is so skewed these days that
we can easily be deceived into arranging our lives according to its standards.
It’s time we call in the “Master
Rearranger” to start doing some subduing in our
hearts today. We need some “rank and
order” placed back into our thinking and living. When we allow Him to bring
order, families work in harmony. Ministry makes sense. In general, we become
effective and infective lights to the world around us.
Do you feel the need for a little rearranging in your
heart and life today? Maybe some priorities or goals that have gotten off base
or even turned upside down? It can
happen so slowly and deceptively that it isn’t until we call in the Master
Rearranger that we even realize how far we were from true order and rank.
Oh Lord, give us the boldness to invite you into the
mayhem that we call our “living space” and allow you to do some serious
subduing in our lives today!
GOING DEEPER:
1. Just
like you wouldn’t tackle rearranging your whole house in one day, rather taking
it room by room, what room do you think the Master Rearranger needs access to
in your heart today?
FURTHER READING:
Oakwood’s missionaries, Elin Henderson (a
registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as church planters with New Tribes
Mission in Mozambique, Africa. Elin is mother to sixteen-year-old Callie and
thirteen-year-old Elias.
[1]
Wiersbe, Warren, The Bible Exposition Commentary: Volume
2, Chariot Victor Publishing, Colorado Springs, CO: 1989. (page 94)
