Thinking this World Race thing is radical? I do, but I love it that way. It’s real community- raw & 24/7. It’s unpredictable and life on the edge, yet pretty normal. You can’t see what’s coming until it’s here. I just want to know where my next step is, but I’m so unsure of where to put my feet sometimes. I’m learning to trust, giving it all up in the hopes that something better is coming along. So here I am with no agenda, nothing holding me back, embracing my new role on the squad while learning more of who I am and who The Lord is calling me to be.
Check out this passage from Radical by David Platt…
“In Matthew 13 Jesus tells his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” I love this picture. Imagine walking in a field and stumbling upon a treasure that is more valuable than anything else you could work for or find in this life. It is more valuable than all you have now or will ever have in the future. You look around and notice that no one else realizes the treasure is here, so you cover it up and quickly walk away pretending you haven’t seen anything. You go into town and begin to sell off all your possessions to have enough money to buy that field. The world thinks you’re crazy. They look at you in disbelief.
You smile because you know. You know that in the end you are not really giving away anything at all. Instead you are gaining. Yes you are abandoning everything you have, but you are also gaining more than you could have in any other way. So with joy- yes with joy!- you sell it all, you abandon it all. Why? Because you have found something worth losing everything else for.
This is the picture of Jesus in the gospel. He is something-someone-worth losing everything for. And if we walk away from the Jesus of the gospel, we walk away from eternal riches. The cost of nondiscipleship is profoundly greater for us than the cost of discipleship. For when we abandon the trinkets of this world and respond to the radical invitation of Jesus, we discover the infinite treasure of knowing and experiencing him.”
I’m overwhelmed by this today. Saying yes and buying into what The Lord puts before me can be scary, and seems such a big sacrifice. But I must remember I’m never losing, I’m never actually selling anything, but I’m gaining the world. I gain immensely more by remaining in God’s presence, in following Him around the world, in leaving things behind and running full speed into what He is doing. Sure, traveling the world and leaving behind friends and family might seem like a big sacrifice, but I haven’t left them at all. I carry them with me, and I’ve only gained more friends along the way. Some are the ones traveling with me, and others are the sweet smiles that I get to cross paths with for a short month. And I will carry all these memories in my heart forever, bringing them along wherever The Lord leads me next. I’m gaining so much more of the Lord’s heart and His love. I see Him better, I hear Him clearer, I find Him in the small things and I see the world through His eyes- it didn’t take me traveling the world to get here, but it just took me buying in. Saying yes. Giving it all up so I could gain the better treasure- knowing Jesus. Really, really really knowing Him.
I don’t know what The Lord is bringing in this new season. I don’t even know what He’s asking of me tomorrow, and certainly not what is coming after the race and in my future. But I’m focusing on saying yes, on running after His voice and His will. I want to sell everything I have and get the treasure- the treasure of being exactly where God wants me, exactly where I’m needed, loved and apart of His perfect plan. And that’s where I get to be closest to Him, doing the things that only He can have me do. Being great for His sake, that’s where my real treasure lies.
Still in a season of saying yes, because there’s only better treasure to come!
