As I sat in a Sunday morning service recently, the musicians quit playing so all that was heard were the voices of those gathered. I smiled, basking in the sound of God’s people offering praise to our King. But suddenly I became overwhelmed with sadness. Were these really God’s people? How many of those present thought they were Christians simply because they had prayed a prayer at some point in their lives? How many would leave that place to think little more of Christ until they returned the next week? I wondered how many of those gathered were true disciples of Jesus, seeking to serve others, express His love, and obey His commands every day of their lives. How many were deceived thinking their eternity was set, when in reality the truth was far short of this?
Discipleship
Who is Jesus to You?
Who is Jesus to you? Is He an example of how to live a good life? Perhaps you consider Him to be the greatest teacher or philosopher who ever walked the earth. Most who read this blog would respond that He is their savior. Many would even dare to claim that Jesus is the Lord of their lives. Some people think that Jesus was a lunatic. Others think He is nothing more than legend, a nice story developed to encourage people to live moral lives. What others say is of no consequence. All that matters is who Jesus is to you.
On Following Jesus
Sometimes I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall. I hang out with people who profess to be followers of Jesus, only to find out they are merely Christians. As Andy Stanley pointed out in a recent message, Christ -followers in the first century did not refer to themselves as Christians; they called each other disciples. There’s a huge gap between those two words. A Christian is someone who, to some degree or another, believes in Jesus. A disciple is one who doggedly pursues and obeys Christ, one who asserts He is the Lord of their life, and actually lives like they mean it. Which word better describes you?
Jesus is Everything
Some day I’m going to figure out why we go looking for things to satisfy the longings of our heart. We have devoted our lives to serving God, the One who created us, loved us, and died for us. He has been there for us our entire lives. Yet the moment something doesn’t go our way, we react like spoiled children and immediately begin seeking comfort and enjoyment in the things of this world. We consume our time with endeavors that bring at best a fleeting distraction that brings no long term joy or fulfillment. Meanwhile our King waits patiently on the sidelines.
God’s Will Today
In a recent message about finding God’s will, Steven Furtick made what I thought was a very insightful statement. He said that, “God’s will is more about the present than the future.” We often take the long view in trying to determine what God wants us to do with our lives while neglecting what we should be doing in this moment. Being in God’s will is all about obeying Him in our daily lives. When we are living our lives in the ways He modeled for us, we are in His will. When we care for others and think less of ourselves, we are doing God’s will.