In the book, “Servant God”, the author writes “God’s Kingdom is not defined by conquering our enemies in battlefields or courts of law but rather through our service and love for them. God’s Kingdom spreads by persuasion and truth, not force and coercion.” How often have we gotten this wrong throughout history? How often are we still getting it wrong in our everyday lives? We confuse politics with religion, and action with faith. Our job is to love and serve others, just like Jesus did. People are won for the Kingdom of God when they recognize the futility of their own efforts and their need for something outside of themselves to save them. They turn to God when they come to understand what He sacrificed on our behalf.
mission
Rewards
Each of us, regardless of our success or social standing, will stand trembling and naked before the God of the universe. We will no longer have anything we accumulated on earth. Empty and naked, we will stand before the King. All we will have are the rewards that we stored in Heaven based on the things we did for Jesus while we were alive on earth (Matthew 6:19-21). We accumulate heavenly rewards by serving God and others in His name; by sacrificing everything for the sake of building His Kingdom. Building treasure in Heaven requires us to daily put our trust in God for our provision; not in our money, possessions, or achievements. As we do the things He told us to do (see Matthew 25:31-46, James 1:27, and Ephesians 5:1-5), we will increase our treasure in Heaven.
Essential Intent
In his book, “Essentialism”, Greg McKeown coined the phrase “essential intent”. The author describes an essential intent as “one decision that settles one thousand later decisions.” That’s exactly what our decision to follow Christ should do for us. By simply saying yes to Jesus, so many other decisions are made for us. We don’t have to stress and deliberate over what to do in any given circumstance, because we know we should do whatever it is Jesus would do in the same situation. When we give our lives to Jesus, we allow Him to decide the fate of a thousand later decisions with which we will be faced. This essential intent allows us to live in freedom, unencumbered by the choices that afflict so many others who have chosen to seek life in a manner inconsistent with that for which they were created.
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.