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.
works
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.
Why Are You a Christian?
Why do you follow Jesus? Is it because you are looking to have your physical or material needs met? A large number of Christians only pray in times of need. As long as things are cruising smoothly along, they have little time for prayer and even less time to actually pursue the mission of Christ. Jesus is just something that sounded good at some point in their lives, but that was a long time ago. Now He is not much more than a convenient source of help when problems arise. Living this way is sacrificing your future for some very short lived pleasures today.
Not of This World
I don’t belong here and neither do you. You don’t have to get to know me very well before you see my distaste and discomfort with our world. More than anything I want to be in the presence of my Savior. I don’t waste much time on trivial things or small talk because I have a sense of the urgency of my time on this planet. Honestly, I’d give up my remaining days right now in order to be with Jesus. This doesn’t mean there aren’t things about this world I enjoy. I have a wife, dogs, family, and friends, and I love them all. But nothing compares to the love I have for Jesus.
We Could Feed the World
Every now and then you hear a statistic that nearly knocks you off your feet. This week my pastor mentioned in his sermon that $450 billion dollars will be spent on Christmas shopping this year. That’s mind-numbing enough, but he had one more statistic to add. We could feed the entire world for $15 billion. Quick math shows we could feed everyone who is hungry 30 times over, just on what we will spend on Christmas this year alone. We’ve gotten things upside down in the Kingdom. We love to say, “Jesus first”, but our spending habits dictate otherwise.