“[…] Jesus Christ’s idea […] is that we serve Him by being
the servants of others. […] He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would
be the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11). The
real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but
one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet— that is,
being willing to do those things that
seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It was
Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he
did not care what it cost. But before we
will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns— “What if God
wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like
there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.”
All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or
reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New
Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out
wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.” CHAMBERS
When you hear God’s voice, what comes to your mind. Many of us are so caught up in living life,
that we first consider how we are going to live if we are going to say “yes” to
God. We give God a conditional “yes”. “I will God so long as these things are true.” We have an idea about what our life will be
like … where we will live, where we will work, where our children will go to
school, how we will be able to save for retirement. Those things become the conditions for our
obedience. So long as they can be
protected, we will do what God asks. Are
you willing to release those things in favor of doing what God asks you to
do?
A question posed in the Focus on the Family study – The Truth
Project – asks “Do you believe that what you believe is really real?” If you really believe that God will provide
for your needs and the needs of your family, then it does not matter what He
asks you to do or where He asks you to go.
It doesn’t matter if you cannot continue to “sock away” money every year
in a 401k. It does not matter if your
children cannot go to a magnate school or a certain university, or wear certain
clothes, or have the latest iPhone. What
matters is obedience to God. You cannot
serve two masters.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you
will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve both
God and money.”
Luke 9:59-62 “He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he
replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you
go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow
you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus
replied, “No one who puts a hand to the
plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
What has God asked you to do? Maybe not sell all you have. Maybe not leave what you are doing. Maybe He has just asked you to not love the
world or the things of this world, but to love Him with everything within you. I met a man some years ago who makes it a
practice when he meets Christians not to ask “How are you doing?” but rather, “How
is it with you and the Lord?” So how is
it?
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
No comments:
Post a Comment