I think God speaks to each of us in different and unique ways.
For me, I believe God speaks to me through my friends. Because time and time again a friend will say something to me and it will resound in my head over and over, playing on repeat like a broken record and leaving me unsettled. That is, until I open my mind and try to figure out what God is pointing out to me.
Recently I was telling a friend and her boyfriend about the World Race and they Ooo’d and Aaah’d over it’s prospects. Later, the friend told me that after I left her boyfriend said: “I wanna do that! I wanna travel all over the world and help people!” To which the friend responded:
“We can do that, we just don’t have to suffer like Mary is going to…”
That statement really struck me. I started to think, how will I suffer on the World Race? What does suffering actually look like?
Have you ever seen the hash-tag #firstworldproblems ?
Yep, it’s a thing.
People use this hash-tag to complain about trivial, everyday annoyances. For example: “I hate when you get the new IPhone and you have to buy a new car charger too. #firstworldproblems”
Or my personal favorite:
“I hate when I really have to go to the bathroom but I don’t want to get out of bed… #firstworldproblems.”
The world of social media is a sad sad place that puts on high display the self-consumed, entitled, ultra-privileged, and frankly naïve state that our society and culture have come to. I often think, “What is happening?!”
I bet you the super famous Kardashians post a lot of “first world problems”. It’s all a little disgusting.
(Checkout the video link at the bottom of the page to see some people living in the third world reading #firstworldproblems… Talk about a Game Changer)
*NEWS FLASH* – This “suffering” is how most of the world lives every single day of their lives. Recent studies show that 80% of the world’s population live in third-world poverty. What “we” may considered suffering, that is their life, people!
I’ll tell you one thing, on the World Race I will probably never go hungry. I might become frustrated by the living conditions which will most times be completely different and lesser than what I am used to. I’ll probably be pretty upset when I don’t have a bathroom. But I doubt I will ever actually suffer. I’ll be uncomfortable. Temporarily.
“To know a life of ever-increasing faith in God is to know a life of ever-increasing frustration.” (Pastor Steven Furtick: Elevation Church)
God calls us out of our comfort zones to DO.
James 2:14-17 “…faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by actions, is dead.”
My friend’s statement also got me thinking about Jesus and how He suffered. Because He did, a lot. I thought of these verses: Philippians 2:5-8 and of these: Matthew 16: 24-26. I also thought about Paul and his bold statements: 2 Corinthians 2: 9-10
But mostly I thought about Jesus’ life and how He lived it. Christ was God in the flesh. Yet He didn’t spend His life preaching behind a pulpit safe inside churches. He went and lived among the people He knew needed to hear about God’s love for them the most. He spoke in their fields and slept on their filthy fishing boats. He sat and talked with prostitutes and touched beggar’s dirty faces. He gave it all up and came down to our level to show us how to live and love.
As Christians if we truly believe Jesus is who He says he is and we love Him, we have to find out how God is calling us to do the same. It looks different for everyone. For me, right now, it is the World Race.
If I want to be more and more like Jesus, then I want to do what He did.
I want to GO without knowing where the road will take me but knowing that God is with me every step of the way. I want to SEE His creation. I want to BE with the ones He loves. I want to LIVE how they live. I want to sleep and eat where they sleep and eat…and with them. To PLAY how and where they do. To SING for them and with them. And I want God to show them and me how to live and LOVE as He lived and loves. I want to be a part of making disciples of all nations as He calls us to, while being assured that He is WITH me always. ( Matthew 28: 19)
Jesus said: “…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16: 33)
I bet this will be one of my favorite verses to reflect on during the Race.
I don’t know what troubles are to come on the World Race but I cannot wait to see all that He has to show me and to “take heart” as I take this flying leap out of my comfort zone and into the world that awaits.
“Life is largely about how you interpret the sensations you experience.”
(Pastor Steven Furtick: Elevation Church)
