Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus
I write a lot on this topic, but from what I see in my own life and the lives of the Church at large, we’re simply not getting it. We are running out of time. Every moment we spend engaged in doing something other than for the Kingdom is a moment forever lost. It’s a moment that might just cost someone their eternal salvation. While we are content to watch the latest movie, surf the web, check Facebook, or feed our faces, time is ticking off the clock forever.
The New Year is upon us; are you ready to make this the year in which you will shine for Christ like never before? How will this year be different from the last? In what ways will you dedicate yourself to more fully serve God? What will you do differently to allow yourself to make the impact God created you to make on this world? These are huge questions, and if you haven’t started thinking about them until this moment, there’s a good chance that trying to answer them in the hours remaining in this year will seem more than just a little bit daunting.
I realize there may be some of you reading this blog who think it all sounds well and good, and you’d really like to commit everything to Jesus, but you’ve wasted years of your life already and are now in a situation that prohibits you from leading a life that looks like Christ. Perhaps you tell yourself that in another life you would have done great things for the Kingdom, you would have been the most committed and devoted follower of Christ this world had ever seen; in another life… Meanwhile you have what’s left of this life to decide what you will do for the sake of God and His glory.
Is Jesus enough to satisfy your every need and longing? It may seem like a silly question to those of us who are followers of Christ because we have been taught and conditioned to instinctively respond to such a question with a resounding, “Yes, of course!” But in the darkest moments of your life, at the times when you are feeling most selfish, abandoned or mistreated – is Jesus enough to fulfill your every wish and desire?
In Matthew 25:31-46, an oft-quoted Scripture here, we find a list of things commanded by Christ for us to do. It can be overwhelming to look at this list and try and determine how you can consistently do it all: feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, provide for the poor, care for the sick and visit those in prison. While I believe we must be open to doing any of these things at all times, I think it will be far more likely and ultimately more effective if you focus on those things in the list for which you are passionate.