My resignation from what, exactly?
Oh you know… just my resignation from my old life.
I've been giving much thought to the idea of "wasting" my life on love; truly, it is a profound concept and I have a hard time "getting it". Jesus made sure people knew that following him wasn't a joy-ride… in addition to telling a man to "let the dead bury their own dead" (Matthew 8:22), Jesus also mentioned that he, the Son of Man, had no home (Matthew 8:20), to follow him meant choosing him over our own families, that we would have to lose our lives (both from Matthew 10:34-39), and that without taking care of orphans and widows and keeping ourselves pure, our religion is defiled (James 1:29).
I'll be honest: sometimes I am afraid to take the Bible literally. I've scolded people before by saying, "You can't only believe half of the Bible… it's all or nothing." I still believe that's true, but I also realize that I myself have acted as though parts of the Bible aren't important as other parts. I need to change in this area. I want to live wholly dependent on the Lord; I want to live like he is truly all I need; I want to live with an urgency for the Kingdom.
You see, if I truly believe 100% of the Bible, much will change in my life. This is what I mean by "consider this my resignation": I need to die to, resign from, the part of my that's afraid to take God at His Word.
Do I really believe that people will go to hell if they don't declare Jesus as their Savior? According to the Bible, he is "the way, the truth, and the life; no one gets to the Father accept through [him]" (John 14:6). Do I strive to control my tongue? My religion is worthless if I don't (James 1:26). Do I live by the "Golden Rule" (to do unto others)? That's in the Bible, you know! Matthew 7:12, to be exact.
And when I talk about "doing unto others", well… a lot more goes into that than one may initially think. I don't mean to "do unto others" by occasionally helping someone when it's convienient. I mean "doing unto others" by doing something about the 5,760 children that become orphans every day, the 1.2 billion people that strive for survival on less than $1 a day, the 27+ million that are sexual slaves today, or the 672,000 homeless men, women, and children who sleep on American streets nightly. "Doing unto others" takes on a whole new meaning when I consider that ignoring these people is ignoring the God that saved me.
I am still waiting for God to guide me into exactly what he would have me do next, and that's okay, but I am coming to the realization that I was created for a purpose, and if I don't take action, something will be left undone and someone will not hear the Good News. I don't know what this will mean for my life; Jesus gave us a glimpse into what the cost may be, and it is high. All I know at this point is that Jesus and his Word is becoming more important to me than other things, and that's all I need to know. If I "seek first the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33), everything else will fall into place.
