Are you really in love with Jesus? Would you do anything for Him, defend Him no matter the cost, even sacrifice your life for Him? I think it’s easy for us to say we love Jesus. I think we even mean it. The way we live our lives sometimes says otherwise. How often is it more convenient to put Him to the side for just a bit so we can continue on with what we want to do? When you’re in love, the object of your affection is the most important thing to you. You can’t eat or sleep because all you can do is think of that person. Your heart literally aches when you’re apart. Is this the kind of love you have for Jesus? More often than I would care to admit, I fall short of this ideal.
God’s Power in Us
Pastor Steven Furtick was describing a member of his congregation, Tonia Bendickson, when he said, “If it’s necessary and it’s never been done before, she seems to assume that’s because God intends for her to do it.” What an amazing thing to have said about you. How many of us react exactly opposite of the way Tonia does? We see a difficulty and give up before even trying to overcome it. We see a perceived impossibility and believe it instead of trusting God to do what others say cannot be done. Tonia has the proper attitude, the one all followers of Christ should have. She looks at situations through the eyes of Jesus rather than trusting in her own fallible vision.
Avoiding Pain
We all avoid pain whenever possible. If there’s a way out, or a path around, we certainly choose it. We don’t like to be uncomfortable and so we keep to our usual patterns and habits. If we’re honest, we all have at least one area of our life that we know needs to be changed. But change is hard. Change can be painful. So we avoid what we know needs to be done, and push it to the back of our mind. Meanwhile God continues to convict us about the issue and the conflict grows worse by the day. It’s been well documented that few will change until staying where they are becomes more uncomfortable than the change itself. This should not be the way for followers of Jesus.
Seeking God
When I can, I like to take a long quiet walk in the early morning. The newness of the day reminds me how majestic the whole of God’s creation truly is. In the peacefulness, my goal is to spend little time talking to God, and most of it simply taking in the breathtaking beauty of nature and listening to His voice. I generally start with a quick prayer of gratitude and then lay out what is on my mind. Then I simply walk and listen. Today I learned a lot about seeking God. It’s ironic that I learned more about seeking in just a few minutes of listening than I have in the hours I have spent busying myself attempting to seek Him.
How Much More Could You Do?
I once read a quote from A.W. Tozer that continues to both propel and haunt me. Tozer said, “Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done but by how much I could have done!” I mentioned this quote before (see “Living for the Emergency”), but wanted to dive a little deeper into it because it won’t stop gnawing at me. Each of us has been uniquely created with a combination of talents, skills, gifts, and passions. We have been designed with specific work in mind (Ephesians 2:10). We will choose to obey God and carry out the job He has given us to do, or we will reject Him and squander all He has blessed us with on our own selfish desires.