Jesus never said being a follower of His would be easy, comfortable, or safe. It takes courage to follow Him. I know there is a type of following the Lord that includes regular church attendance, giving a few dollars in the offerings, and living as a good moral upstanding citizen. This kind of life does not require much courage. People who live like this blend in with the rest of the people and very little courage is required. It takes courage to rise above mediocre living and half hearted following Christ.
On the other hand take the life of Paul. His life bleeds daring, boldness, and courage. He faced down enemies of the gospel and never backed down or giving in to their demands for his silence. He lived a life of sacrifice, boldness, intellectual prowess, and of course courage. It did not matter what his enemies did, they could not distract Paul from staying on mission. They beat him, stoned him, flogged him, imprisoned him, and opposed him. How did Paul respond to all of this? He continued to courageously follow Jesus. Paul summed up his attitude in Act 20:24. “But I don’t consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”
One of the reasons Paul had courage to follow the Lord was Paul was not in love with his own life. He did not consider things like personal security. In fact, everywhere Paul went put his life at personal risk. At times he had to be pulled from riots by his companions. Paul was a man to run toward the battles and not away from them. That take guts. It takes bravery to keep preaching a message that offends but a message you believe to the core of your being. It takes raw boldness to preach this message when you see the stones in the hands of the people and feel those same stone crushing the bones in your body as they are being hurled at you.[Acts 14:19] It takes even more courage to go back to the same community that stoned you and left you outside the city for dead and preach the message to their hard hearts and spiritually deaf ears again. [Acts 14:21] Paul did that and in order to live like that you cannot care about your life. You have to be willing to lose your life to follow Christ that courageously. Most of us are far too in love with our lives for that.
We are addicted to comfort not courage in the church today. As I write this it is 6:41 a.m. I have been prayerfully contemplating the courage it takes to really be a follower of Christ. I wonder if I have the guts to really lay it on the line and follow Jesus no matter where He leads and no matter what it costs. Courageously following Christ sounds easy from the air conditioned comfort of this chair seated at my computer after a restful night of sleep in my comfortable bed. Everywhere I look around me I see things that are meant to combat my following Christ with courage and imprison me in the comforts of this world. I think it was pastor and theologian John Piper who once said that anything that makes us more at home in this world is a dangerous thing.
I am surrounded by comforts. Television, relationships, music, my bed, rocker recliners, air conditioning to give refuge from the triple digit Texas summer heat, abundance of food, entertainment, and my personal and work computers. It is easy to write about following Christ courageously from my safe, predictable, and comfortable little world but what about when He calls to leave comfort zones for the risk of the unknown. What do I do then? What do I do when His call on my life upsets everything safe, predictable, and comfortable? Do I hunker down and cling to the familiar resisting courage and God’s call or do I submit and summon the courage to follow Christ no matter what? This is a decision we all must face.
I am inspired to summon the courage countless other followers of Christ found when they obeyed the Lord. I am referring to people like John Wesley who often had rocks thrown at him while he preached outdoors. People like David Brainerd who despite a constant battle with tuberculosis courageously followed Christ into the wilderness of the North Eastern Colonies to take the gospel to the Native Americans in the 1700’s. Like Paul he did not count his life as dear to himself and braved the winters in his tent, forged raging rivers, and fought depression to fulfill his mission and losing his life spiritually over and over again and his life physically to the diseased that ravaged his body by the time he was twenty nine. William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson, John Patton, David Livingstone, and Amy Carmichael all found the courage to follow Christ into hostile situations and yet their lives inspire others to do the same. They put it all on the line for Jesus and really LIVED! Far too many of us merely exist. They lived with mission and purpose for a cause greater than themselves.
Before I get too carried away, God does not call every person to pack up to become a missionary in a hostile country. On the other hand, God does call all of us to be ready at a moment’s notice to follow Him courageously in the world we live in.
Last week I was test driving a car in Arlington with a young salesman seated in the passenger seat. As we buckled our seat belts I introduced myself and found out his name was Jason. I light heartedly commented to Jason that this might be the last ride of his life. I knew I had a captive audience. What do you think I did? I couldn’t really tell you much about the vehicle I drove that day but I can tell you Jason is not saved and one of the reasons why is that he has too many friends who are hypocrites. He doesn’t get it. He cannot grasp how some people can say they have met Christ, been saved, transformed and yet live the same kind of lifestyle he does. What if Jason could have met and befriend Paul, or Brainerd or Wesley?
I can tell you about a man named Jim whom I met in another community yesterday working at a convenience store as the manager. Jim does not go to church and told me that nobody has invited him to church. I invited him to attend the church of some friends of mine. It takes small amounts of courage to engage people all around us in spiritual conversations. Few do and pews in the church and dry baptisteries reflect this.
I am not saying that it will be easy but I am telling you by God’s help I intend to be a Christian who will courageously follow Christ no matter what! I am a soldier in the Lord’s army and my one response everyday to life is to find my marching orders and to courageously obey them. It will not be easy. There will be many along the way who will not understand. I hope through following with courage that God is glorified in my life and that others are inspired to follow suit as I have been inspired by the life of Paul. Will you follow the Lord courageously?
On the other hand take the life of Paul. His life bleeds daring, boldness, and courage. He faced down enemies of the gospel and never backed down or giving in to their demands for his silence. He lived a life of sacrifice, boldness, intellectual prowess, and of course courage. It did not matter what his enemies did, they could not distract Paul from staying on mission. They beat him, stoned him, flogged him, imprisoned him, and opposed him. How did Paul respond to all of this? He continued to courageously follow Jesus. Paul summed up his attitude in Act 20:24. “But I don’t consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”
One of the reasons Paul had courage to follow the Lord was Paul was not in love with his own life. He did not consider things like personal security. In fact, everywhere Paul went put his life at personal risk. At times he had to be pulled from riots by his companions. Paul was a man to run toward the battles and not away from them. That take guts. It takes bravery to keep preaching a message that offends but a message you believe to the core of your being. It takes raw boldness to preach this message when you see the stones in the hands of the people and feel those same stone crushing the bones in your body as they are being hurled at you.[Acts 14:19] It takes even more courage to go back to the same community that stoned you and left you outside the city for dead and preach the message to their hard hearts and spiritually deaf ears again. [Acts 14:21] Paul did that and in order to live like that you cannot care about your life. You have to be willing to lose your life to follow Christ that courageously. Most of us are far too in love with our lives for that.
We are addicted to comfort not courage in the church today. As I write this it is 6:41 a.m. I have been prayerfully contemplating the courage it takes to really be a follower of Christ. I wonder if I have the guts to really lay it on the line and follow Jesus no matter where He leads and no matter what it costs. Courageously following Christ sounds easy from the air conditioned comfort of this chair seated at my computer after a restful night of sleep in my comfortable bed. Everywhere I look around me I see things that are meant to combat my following Christ with courage and imprison me in the comforts of this world. I think it was pastor and theologian John Piper who once said that anything that makes us more at home in this world is a dangerous thing.
I am surrounded by comforts. Television, relationships, music, my bed, rocker recliners, air conditioning to give refuge from the triple digit Texas summer heat, abundance of food, entertainment, and my personal and work computers. It is easy to write about following Christ courageously from my safe, predictable, and comfortable little world but what about when He calls to leave comfort zones for the risk of the unknown. What do I do then? What do I do when His call on my life upsets everything safe, predictable, and comfortable? Do I hunker down and cling to the familiar resisting courage and God’s call or do I submit and summon the courage to follow Christ no matter what? This is a decision we all must face.
I am inspired to summon the courage countless other followers of Christ found when they obeyed the Lord. I am referring to people like John Wesley who often had rocks thrown at him while he preached outdoors. People like David Brainerd who despite a constant battle with tuberculosis courageously followed Christ into the wilderness of the North Eastern Colonies to take the gospel to the Native Americans in the 1700’s. Like Paul he did not count his life as dear to himself and braved the winters in his tent, forged raging rivers, and fought depression to fulfill his mission and losing his life spiritually over and over again and his life physically to the diseased that ravaged his body by the time he was twenty nine. William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson, John Patton, David Livingstone, and Amy Carmichael all found the courage to follow Christ into hostile situations and yet their lives inspire others to do the same. They put it all on the line for Jesus and really LIVED! Far too many of us merely exist. They lived with mission and purpose for a cause greater than themselves.
Before I get too carried away, God does not call every person to pack up to become a missionary in a hostile country. On the other hand, God does call all of us to be ready at a moment’s notice to follow Him courageously in the world we live in.
Last week I was test driving a car in Arlington with a young salesman seated in the passenger seat. As we buckled our seat belts I introduced myself and found out his name was Jason. I light heartedly commented to Jason that this might be the last ride of his life. I knew I had a captive audience. What do you think I did? I couldn’t really tell you much about the vehicle I drove that day but I can tell you Jason is not saved and one of the reasons why is that he has too many friends who are hypocrites. He doesn’t get it. He cannot grasp how some people can say they have met Christ, been saved, transformed and yet live the same kind of lifestyle he does. What if Jason could have met and befriend Paul, or Brainerd or Wesley?
I can tell you about a man named Jim whom I met in another community yesterday working at a convenience store as the manager. Jim does not go to church and told me that nobody has invited him to church. I invited him to attend the church of some friends of mine. It takes small amounts of courage to engage people all around us in spiritual conversations. Few do and pews in the church and dry baptisteries reflect this.
I am not saying that it will be easy but I am telling you by God’s help I intend to be a Christian who will courageously follow Christ no matter what! I am a soldier in the Lord’s army and my one response everyday to life is to find my marching orders and to courageously obey them. It will not be easy. There will be many along the way who will not understand. I hope through following with courage that God is glorified in my life and that others are inspired to follow suit as I have been inspired by the life of Paul. Will you follow the Lord courageously?
No comments:
Post a Comment