Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus
We need to be more concerned with God’s will in this present moment than be worried about where He will lead us in 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 today. 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.
I recently heard Greg Boyd say how troubled he was that “so many people say they are willing to die for Christ, yet they aren’t willing to live for Him”. How easy it is for us to proclaim our loyalty to Jesus and say that we would never deny Him, even if that meant being killed. If that is true, why is it we live lives that look exactly like those around us? How can it possibly be true that we would have the resolve to die for Christ when we can’t even muster the discipline to live for Him in our daily lives?
What are we doing? How much longer are we going to play at this thing called Christianity? We prayed the prayer. We got baptized. We’re good. Is that all there is? Why did Jesus say that one day many would come to Him saying, “Lord, Lord!”, and yet He will send them away because He never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23)? Are we missing something? Surely we know and are blessed by God; how else could we be so content and living such comfortable lives? We have been lulled into a false security and our very lives hang in the balance.
I always thought there’d be more. To be perfectly honest, I assumed I would be more. I expected to have accomplished more by now. I imagined I’d be known by more people. More; it’s such a simple yet sinister word. More is insatiable; it can never be satisfied. More is a beggar, regardless of how much I already have. More is a thorn that incessantly pokes at my soul and demands that I be, well, more. Can you relate? Maybe it’s just me. Perhaps I’m the only one who is constantly uncomfortable and always seeking more. But I’ll bet that’s not the case.
The older I get, the more urgently I tend to look at life. I don’t know if it’s a matter of staring down mortality or simply a maturing, but I am struck by how much more intentional I am compelled to live each day as I go through life. When I was younger, I would fill my spare time reading science fiction or watching television. Neither of these activities are a part of my life any longer. Engaging in anything that does not in some way further the mission of Christ seems entirely futile to me. The common caveat to interject here would be for me to say that this is what works for me and isn’t something that someone has to adopt for themselves to live a more Christ-like life. That may be true, but I think it’s too easy to dismiss out of hand the possibility that we all should be taking more responsibility for how we are spending the time God has entrusted to us.