When you were under the fig tree, I saw you. —John 1:48
“We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted
with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us—
it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, “If
God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion”? Yet you won’t
rise to the occasion unless you have done so on God’s training ground. If you
are not doing the task that is closest to you now, which God has engineered
into your life, when the crisis comes, instead of being fit for battle, you
will be revealed as being unfit. Crises always reveal a person’s true
character. […] Are you saying, “But I can’t be expected to live a sanctified
life in my present circumstances; I have no time for prayer or Bible study
right now; besides, my opportunity for battle hasn’t come yet, but when it
does, of course I will be ready”? No, you will not. If you have not been
worshiping in everyday occasions, when you get involved in God’s work, you will
not only be useless yourself but also a hindrance to those around you.” CHAMBERS
I just got off of the phone with a friend and partner in the
Gospel discussing this very thing. Most
Christians have a notion of what they would do “if” they heard the call of God to
do something beyond themselves. But, when they do, they respond in a different
way than they imagined. (Matthew 8:19-22) “Then a scribe came
and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to
him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord,
permit me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me,
and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”
When Jesus called them, the affairs of the world rushed in presenting
reasons why “now” is not a good time.
Can you imagine? Telling God that
now is not a good time … questioning God’s wisdom. Oh, wait, that is not something new is
it? Remember the question “Did God
really say?” (Genesis 3:1) When the Spirit speaks, you
must expect Satan to make a counter offer.
The next best thing to not being a Christian, from Satan’s perspective,
is a Christian who is disobedient to the voice of God.
My friend has been called to serve in a very difficult
place, in the U.S. He has been serving
there for a number of years with little fruit.
But, spiritual fruit is beginning to emerge. He has asked several organizations and individuals
to join him. Initially they were
interested, but, I have surmised, after they counted the personal cost, they
said “now is not a good time.” Not everyone
my friend has talked to was motivated by the Spirit, but I am certain some
were. Most of us struggle with living
the “normal-natural” life in the context of our faith. When God wants to stretch us, we are not
prepared. And so we resist the
call. Have you said “no” to God because it
was not convenient. Because it would
disrupt your financial plans, your idea of what living the “blessed” life would
be turned on its head. What you had been
planning and working for and “sacrificing” for was now at risk because God was
speaking. And so, to the one you thank
for salvation, for your life in Christ, you say “now is not a good time, call
me back later.”
(Luke 9:23) “And
He [Jesus] was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must
deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Are you ready? Really? ELGIN
No comments:
Post a Comment