One of the most annoying things about my entire life is that I share so much in common with your average giraffe.
Yes, giraffe.
The safari animal with the long neck and spots. Also known as "G-Raff" on the streets. Well, my streets at least. Not that I have ever met an urbanized giraffe just chillin outside but if I ever do that is what I would call it. I know you may or may not think about these forgotten creatures of Africa very much throughout your day but they are always on my mind.
There is something going around the Internet lately that points out how selfish we are for not even considering how hard it is for giraffes to drink coffee because their neck is so long that it gets cold by the time it reaches their stomach. When I first read this I did feel a little guilty for my selfishness in never even considering this sad reality. But then I realized that they are warm blooded animals so the coffee wouldn't really cool down that much. Plus who cares what temperature coffee is once it gets past your mouth? So I got over it. If you really want to feel bad for giraffes just Google a video of them trying to run instead. It is unfortunate, but funny nonetheless.
Besides the fact that giraffes are mammals, really tall and awkward, and have secret gangsta names the giraffe and I have one big thing in common.
There is a huge distance between our heads and our hearts.
For the giraffe it is a literal distance. I mean can you imagine how hard their heart has to work to blood pumping to their brain? I'm no biologist but I would guess that the average giraffe is not firing on all cylinders if you know what I mean. If you try and tell a joke to a giraffe just be prepared that it might be a few days before they get it.
The issue for me though is more of a psychosomatic one and I don't think I am alone. There is often such a huge gap between what I know and what I feel. There is a huge gap between what I intellectually assent to and what I emotionally grasp. There is a huge gap between what I know to do and what I actually find myself doing.
For as long as I can remember there has been in my consciousness an overwhelming desire to reach lost people with the truth of Jesus. I fully comprehend this desire as not only a biblical command but something that my entire life should reflect. I can visually conceptualize the kind of life style that is always aware of the hurting world around me and actively does something about it. I even spend the majority of my time teaching others how to live this lifestyle and developing resources to equip and inspire people with everything they need to live it out.
But then I lay my head on my pillow at night and can't remember the last person I actually lead to Jesus. Why is it that I know exactly what to do and how to do it yet have so much difficulty getting it done?
I look back on times of my life that I feel I was living exactly the kind of life that I want to live and see that in those seasons my heart and my head were working together as two pieces of a puzzle. I then struggle with why my heart isn't getting on board with what my head is telling me to do. I then rationalize that since it isn't on board then it cannot be done. As if to say it is impossible for me to tell someone about Jesus unless I am fully emotionally engaged or that I am incapable of doing something that I simply do not want to do. This of course, does not make rational sense, so my head is again confused.
It is not just in the area of evangelism that this gap exists. There are so many things that we know should be done but aren't getting done in our lives. Maybe it is giving more, serving someone else, being better with your money or losing weight. Maybe it is spending more time in the Word or less time complaining. The principle is still the same: sometimes your head has to fill in where your heart has not yet reached.
Sometimes you have to stop waiting on your inner motivation to kick in and get the job done. Sometimes you have to trust what you know to be true despite the fact that you are not "feeling it" in a particular moment. This sounds like a really hard task because that is exactly what it is. It means talking yourself into doing things that do not feel like what you want to do. It means taking a step in the direction you know you should go before the rest of you is fully on board.
It sounds really hard to do, but isn't that exactly what your heart did when you came to that point of salvation? When nothing made sense and you were not sure about why you should believe what you thought you believed was it not your heart that told you to keep going? I think that sometimes our head needs to return the favor given to us by our heart.
And ironically, the best way to shorten the gap between your head and your heart is to give your head a break. Stop over-thinking what God is asking you to do and just resolve that your are going to do it. Don't be afraid to be a little irrational and impulsive, it might be a very welcome reprieve from the cold practical intellectualism that we use to get through the day.
Use the side of your brain that is working to come to the conclusion that whatever needs to be done simply needs to be done regardless of how you feel, or don't feel, about doing it.
And don't give yourself time to talk yourself out of it. Sometimes you just have to stop where you are, in the middle of what you are doing and resolve that nothing can get in the way of what God is asking you to do. The world does not need any more giraffes. So go on now, get it done.
One of the most annoying things about my entire life is that I share so much in common with your average giraffe.
Yes, giraffe.
The safari animal with the long neck and spots. Also known as "G-Raff" on the streets. Well, my streets at least. Not that I have ever met an urbanized giraffe just chillin outside but if I ever do that is what I would call it. I know you may or may not think about these forgotten creatures of Africa very much throughout your day but they are always on my mind.
There is something going around the Internet lately that points out how selfish we are for not even considering how hard it is for giraffes to drink coffee because their neck is so long that it gets cold by the time it reaches their stomach. When I first read this I did feel a little guilty for my selfishness in never even considering this sad reality. But then I realized that they are warm blooded animals so the coffee wouldn't really cool down that much. Plus who cares what temperature coffee is once it gets past your mouth? So I got over it. If you really want to feel bad for giraffes just Google a video of them trying to run instead. It is unfortunate, but funny nonetheless.
Besides the fact that giraffes are mammals, really tall and awkward, and have secret gangsta names the giraffe and I have one big thing in common.
There is a huge distance between our heads and our hearts.
For the giraffe it is a literal distance. I mean can you imagine how hard their heart has to work to blood pumping to their brain? I'm no biologist but I would guess that the average giraffe is not firing on all cylinders if you know what I mean. If you try and tell a joke to a giraffe just be prepared that it might be a few days before they get it.
The issue for me though is more of a psychosomatic one and I don't think I am alone. There is often such a huge gap between what I know and what I feel. There is a huge gap between what I intellectually assent to and what I emotionally grasp. There is a huge gap between what I know to do and what I actually find myself doing.
For as long as I can remember there has been in my consciousness an overwhelming desire to reach lost people with the truth of Jesus. I fully comprehend this desire as not only a biblical command but something that my entire life should reflect. I can visually conceptualize the kind of life style that is always aware of the hurting world around me and actively does something about it. I even spend the majority of my time teaching others how to live this lifestyle and developing resources to equip and inspire people with everything they need to live it out.
But then I lay my head on my pillow at night and can't remember the last person I actually lead to Jesus. Why is it that I know exactly what to do and how to do it yet have so much difficulty getting it done?
I look back on times of my life that I feel I was living exactly the kind of life that I want to live and see that in those seasons my heart and my head were working together as two pieces of a puzzle. I then struggle with why my heart isn't getting on board with what my head is telling me to do. I then rationalize that since it isn't on board then it cannot be done. As if to say it is impossible for me to tell someone about Jesus unless I am fully emotionally engaged or that I am incapable of doing something that I simply do not want to do. This of course, does not make rational sense, so my head is again confused.
It is not just in the area of evangelism that this gap exists. There are so many things that we know should be done but aren't getting done in our lives. Maybe it is giving more, serving someone else, being better with your money or losing weight. Maybe it is spending more time in the Word or less time complaining. The principle is still the same: sometimes your head has to fill in where your heart has not yet reached.
Sometimes you have to stop waiting on your inner motivation to kick in and get the job done. Sometimes you have to trust what you know to be true despite the fact that you are not "feeling it" in a particular moment. This sounds like a really hard task because that is exactly what it is. It means talking yourself into doing things that do not feel like what you want to do. It means taking a step in the direction you know you should go before the rest of you is fully on board.
It sounds really hard to do, but isn't that exactly what your heart did when you came to that point of salvation? When nothing made sense and you were not sure about why you should believe what you thought you believed was it not your heart that told you to keep going? I think that sometimes our head needs to return the favor given to us by our heart.
And ironically, the best way to shorten the gap between your head and your heart is to give your head a break. Stop over-thinking what God is asking you to do and just resolve that your are going to do it. Don't be afraid to be a little irrational and impulsive, it might be a very welcome reprieve from the cold practical intellectualism that we use to get through the day.
Use the side of your brain that is working to come to the conclusion that whatever needs to be done simply needs to be done regardless of how you feel, or don't feel, about doing it.
And don't give yourself time to talk yourself out of it. Sometimes you just have to stop where you are, in the middle of what you are doing and resolve that nothing can get in the way of what God is asking you to do. The world does not need any more giraffes. So go on now, get it done.
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