Gone Awol

Yep, I admit it.  I’ve apparently gone awol.  Missing In Action.

Yeah – sorry about that.

It’s been a kinda busy month or so around these parts… ya know with taking 3- classes, having sick kids, Easter, family in town – twice, and me being stupid & throwing my back out (tends to make sitting nearly impossible!)

BUT – I think I’m back!  Yay!

Of course, along with the list above, there has been the spiritual aspect as well.  Personally I’ve been arguing with God (yes, again) and – as usual – He’s winning.  Don’t you just hate that?  He ALWAYS wins!  (thank goodness!)

I’ve finally determined that my personal lesson for 2010 (at least the first half) is just how much of a wimp I really am… and I mean in just about every way.  I can’t do this thing called life on my own, or in my own strength.  DUH!  I have to do this thing called life in HIS strength.

Living life in His strength just isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do because that requires you to turn over control.  Something that within our humanity we tend to find just a little bit difficult.  Sure, we say that we will lay our troubles at His feet, that He is in control… but as soon as we start to feel like we aren’t in control we try to take it all back again.

You see, it’s the leaving it there that’s the hard part.  Sure, we will turn it over to God when it starts to get hard.  When we start to feel overwhelmed.  But as soon as those feelings pass we start to justify why we really should take control again.  After all, we aren’t feeling overwhelmed anymore, so we can handle it… right?

WRONG!

Our lives are so far beyond our control, so far beyond what we can handle in our humanity that it’s nearly insane to even try.  We have a threat of losing our job – quick!  Send up a prayer.  We get bad news from the Dr. and quick!  Send up another prayer.  We have tried to put God in a little brass lamp that we can rub whenever we think we need something.  God is not a genie in a bottle.  God is not our personal “get me out of this jam quick” savior.  He is the God of the universe!

And once we get a glimpse of how great He really is, well, it should change us.

Jesus calls us to live out a life in submission to Him.  He calls us to take up our cross and follow Him – not to say a few words and expect Him to follow us around like a pet dog!  That’s the wrong kind of unconditional love.  In that scenario, well, we would be the dog.  We should be the one looking at our Master with adoring eyes and willing to do whatever He asks us to do – NOT the other way around!

Yes, Jesus Christ is our Savior.  But He is not going to save us from the trials of life.  He is going to save us from our sin.  The bible never promised that choosing to follow Jesus would be easy – in fact, it promises exactly the opposite!  To take up our cross and follow Jesus is to choose a life of persecution.  Is to choose a life of discomfort, of possible loneliness.  To choose to give up everything and follow His leading, no matter the cost.

I recently began reading the book “Radical – Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream” by David Platt, and I must say that he brings out some pretty hard truths in just the first chapter!  so far the line that got me the most was this:

And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.

As Platt brings out in his book, we have begun to change who Jesus is to us.  We don’t want to believe that He would actually call us to walk away from our job or sell something that we like to help someone else – or even to choose not to buy something we want and give that money to missions.  We don’t want to think that he might actually ask us to leave our family of birth and risk our lives to tell people about Him!  No, that’s not what Jesus would ask us to do!

Um… folks, re-read the gospels and you will see… that is exactly what He asked His disciples to do.  To walk away from their livelihoods, their families and everything they knew, and follow Him wherever He would lead to – even unto death.

Wow…

And to think, I struggle with setting aside time each day to work on the bible study that I’m leading!  Here I am, an American Christian living in a 1500 sq. ft. house with 2 cars in the driveway and junk that I really need to figure out how to get rid of.  HEre I am with plenty of food in the fridge and pantry that my family can have something to eat whenever they feel a twinge of hunger.  I have fresh, clean water piped into my warm, dry house – so much that I don’t think twice about using it to take a longer-than-normal shower occasionally, and re-wash that load of clothes that got left in the washer a bit too long.

We are so full of ourselves!

We are so comfortable!  Proclaiming that we believe in Jesus Christ doesn’t bring any stronger persecution to us than perhaps some laughter around the water cooler.  We have good jobs, and so far no one can fire us for professing to be a Christian.  Our country is slowly losing it’s Judeo-Christian morals and values, but we are too afraid to rock the boat to say anything about it.

People in Asia are being killed because they profess faith in Jesus Christ.

They are being thrown in jail.  They are being tortured.

and they are glad to suffer for the sake of Christ.

I’m preaching to me here… I can’t think of any time that I truly suffered because of my belief in Jesus Christ.  Being teased at school doesn’t quite make that cut – especially when you grew up in a fairly “Christian” part of the country.  I do find myself wondering if I would have the strength to suffer for His sake.

I know that on my own, I would fail.  On my own, I couldn’t do it.

But I’m slowly learning that I’m not called to do anything on my own.

I am called to live out the life that He places before me… and to live it by and in His strength.

After all, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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And for those interested in “Radical” – you can download and read the first chapter here.  And while supplies last you can get a free copy of the companion book “The Radical Question” by going to WaterBrookMultnomah.com/RadicalQuestion

And no, I haven’t received a free copy of the book – I followed the same steps I just told you about and downloaded the first chapter… I’m still processing what I’ve already read, and I’m only halfway through chapter one.  I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the book… and a little frightened!  I know that God is calling me to go deeper with Him… but being the comfortable American that I am, that is a scary thing.

But is it worth it?

Absolutely.