It happens so easily.
“I am on the World Race so I will do the things I don’t want to do. I will sacrifice what I want for the good of those around me. I will go to ministry today, even though all I want to do is sleep.”
Or maybe it’s this one.
“Four more months, I can do this.”
Or better yet…
“It’s only eleven months, I can endure. I can give God my year.”
I know you’re probably reading that, wondering what my point is.
It’s not glaringly obvious but it’s there.
Let’s try this on for size…
“I am in love with Jesus, so I will do the things I don’t want to do. I will sacrifice what I want for the good of those around me.”
“A lifetime. I will give God my lifetime.”
Ah, that’s more like it. Option A is temporary and based on my strength. Option B is eternal and totally forces me to rely on my Father.
One thing God has made abundantly clear to me in the last seven months: the finish line is not when I return to America. In fact over and over and over, the words swirling in my mind are “this is just the beginning.”
It sounds almost pedantic, but for me, it’s the difference between doing things in my own power, or walking in His power.
The first four months of my race I was a team leader. In month five, when I was no longer a team leader, I found myself much slower to step up and volunteer, at times less patient, less gracious. I thought, “well I am not TL anymore so I don’t have to do those things.”
But was I really doing them because
I was team leader? Or was I doing them because I am called to love and live like Jesus? Because I have prayed and begged God to make me look like Jesus and now I’m following in His mighty footsteps?
Giving, serving and loving are possible and even enjoyable when I am living my life from a place of overflow.
Am I really enduring because I can make it until December? Or am I enduring because I know my finish line is standing face to face with the maker of heaven and earth hearing Him say “well done good and faithful servant?”
It’s easy to persevere when you know the date and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. When I think of the real finish line, the one He has marked out for me, I don’t know the date, or the time, but I do have the promise of heaven and Him. So I endure. So I will endure. Not only will I endure, I will enjoy the ride. It’s a glorious world. So as Paul said, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…”
It’s so easy to become puffed up about what we are doing. I heard it time and time again as I prepared for launch:
“I could never do what you’re doing. You’re so brave. So radical. I wish I could do that.”
Radical. It’s that word. I don’t really like it.
I always want to ask, “no way, have you read the bible lately?”
If I compare myself to a lot of people around me in America, yes, maybe my actions seem a little radical.
But in all that I’ve read in the Good Book, it tells me that Jesus Christ is my example. So when I stop comparing my life to those around me, to the world, and I start comparing my life to His, to His word—yikes. The only radical I can find is the radical need to do more. More.
When I look at Him that’s all I can see. That’s all I want.
I’m not really brave. I’m not really radical. I am just obedient. I’ve read His word and I couldn’t sit on my hands anymore, doing church each Sunday. The instructions are very clear. So when I felt the tugging on my heart to go, I knew it was God. What we are deeming as radical should actually be the norm for us as followers of Jesus.
I am even going to be so bold as to say, the World Race ain’t a big deal.
Yes, you read that right. It isn’t. Don’t get me wrong. I have learned a lot through this journey and it’s a year I know I will cherish for as long as I live. But each day that i seek God through His word, each day that I walk hand in hand with Him, I realize, that this is exactly how I should have been living all along. This life should be normal. This is how I should live every day.
It’s easy at this point in this race, to sit around and dream of all the things I want to do when I get home. And I would be in good company if I let myself go there all the time.
An hour long hot shower. A bubble bath. A huge meal with all my favorite things. Air conditioning. A bed. My closet full of clothes. A weekend at the spa.
It’s so easy to miss the forest for the trees.
If my first wish when I get home is indulging, feasting and nesting in my comfort then I think I’ve missed the point.
I’m not saying that what we are doing doesn’t matter or that we don’t need to rest and I’m not saying all those things are bad. I probably will take an hour long hot shower because it will take that long for me to be clean. But I won’t be taking that shower or eating that burger or getting that massage because I think my works have earned the reward.
So instead I just want us to ask ourselves, where is the heart? What is my heart posture? In doing the right thing because I am TL? Or indulging because I deserve it after all my hard work? Or pushing myself in ministry for the sake of the World Race?
Those trees though. They cloud my vision of the forest.
The seasons. The day to day. The roles. The callings. They cloud my view of Jesus. And sometimes I unintentionally start to believe that all those trees are the point of my walk in the woods and not the forest itself.
But I’m so grateful for God’s mercy. Thank you God for constantly reminding me of Jesus. Jesus. He is the bright and shining light at the end of the tunnel.
