This blog is an edited
e-mail conversation that I have been having with my family. These are just some
of the thoughts I’ve had for a while, but I’m just now taking the time to write
my thoughts down. At The Awakening, there was a session on Kingdom. The premise
of this session lined up well with the chapter Dream Great Dreams in Good
to Great in God’s Eyes (excellent, highly recommended book). Basically,
we talked about how we should be dreaming so-called Kingdom dreams. We should
be asking God to give us a vision for what he wants us to do with our lives.
And we should be asking God to give us a dream that is beyond ourselves; a
dream that is beyond what we could accomplish by our own power.
I have also been reading A
Hole In Our Gospel (another highly recommended book). This book is based on
the reality that typical Christians ignore the things that Jesus taught if they
aren’t comfortable for us. I am absolutely as guilty of this as the next
Christian. The “hole” in our gospel refers to our “fire insurance”
Chrisitanity. We seem to have a hard time living out the whole gospel.
The third thing that has
been convicting is in the book of James. James 2:18-19 and 24 says:
“But someone will say, “You have faith and I
have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my
faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons
believe – and shudder! …You see that a person is justified by works and not by
faith alone.”
Believing is not enough.
Not that I think that is all that any of us is doing. The reality of the fact
that God wants us to be doing things for His Kingdom in every part of our lives
is just hitting home to me right now. The past month and a half here in Africa,
I have thought a lot about home and its comforts. I have thought about what I
want to do when I get back, but I caught myself. If you notice, I have
thought about what I want to do. This is the exact
opposite of what I need to be focused on. This is my fight against my flesh.
This is an area that I must die to myself. I must continue to say it’s
all about what God wants with my life. I just want to honestly go to Him with
open hands, ready and willing for whatever he asks.
James 1:27 says, “Religion
that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans
and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” I
believe that many Christians today (I consider myself at the forefront of this)
are too focused on the end of that verse. We are highly concerned with keeping
oneself unstained from the world to the point that I have been more concerned
with “doing the right thing” than caring for those in need around us. There is
a world of hurt that cannot be ignored.
Richard Stearns said in A
Hole in Our Gospel,
“…we are the carriers of the gospel-the good
news that was meant to change the world. Belief is not enough.
Worship is not enough. Personal morality is not enough. And
Christian community is not enough. God has always demanded more.
When we committed ourselves to following Christ, we also committed
to living our lives in such a way that a watching world would catch
a glimpse of God’s character-His love, justice, and mercy-through our
words, actions, and behavior. “We are … Christ’s ambassadors…”
That captures exactly
what I’m trying to say. We are his ambassadors, and we should be living our
lives in such a way that people look at us and see God’s character!
Another quote,
“The question for you and for me is this: will
Christ find evidence of our genuine concern for His beloved poor when He
looks at the fruit of our lives on that day? Further, what might He be calling
you to do today? What new steps of faith might you take to
demonstrate your own concern for “the least of
these”?”
That may be the most
convicting quote for me. Will He see evidence in my life? Do I have true
concern for the least of these? That’s a question that we should all be asking
ourselves. Saying that we are concerned is not enough. We are called to do, to
go, and to be the hands and feet of Christ.
I’m sorry that I’m just now posting a blog. I should have
done one earlier, but internet access and computer time has been limited this
month. We are working with Cornerstone Ministries in Budaka, Uganda. We are
working at their orphanage, and we also helped with a crusade last week. It has
been a great month so far! I will try to write a blog about what we have been
doing here soon.
