It never ceases to amaze me when I look back at my life and see how I got here. Born in Florida, grew up in my grandfather’s hometown in Connecticut, wisened up in Virginia where God wrestled me into college at Liberty University. Between a Finance degree at Virginia Tech and a Bible degree at LU, I was torn! But it was at LU that God seeded in me a passion for students’ souls and a vision for how to reach them with the gospel. Needless to say, I chose to go with the option that would destine me to earn less than a day-laborer while costing me more than I first realized. It brought a mother load of criticism from the clueless, can cause me the most frustration, and yet brings me more joy than I could ever receive from any other job. And where did I end up? Serving Jesus in the town where I was born! However, “The Call”, as we love to dub it in Christianese, is not the root reason I’m here. Paul shows us the same thing in 2 Timothy 1:1. He realized something that I can shamefully forget on a daily basis. The reason any Christian leader is where he/she is in life is first and foremost because we were saved through Jesus Christ.
Do we really grasp the full, amazing, breath-taking, humbling reality of this? The root reason for any of us being able to serve Jesus where God has placed us to serve… is due to the fact that God decided to deliver us and not destroy us! If that realization doesn’t add/restore a depth and purpose to our day and fire in us a crazy passion for the souls we meet and serve… then take your Bible, close it, and smack yourself in the head with it or somethin' ‘cause you crazy! My brain definitely just flashed to this scene:
The incredible reality of the merciful salvation of God through Jesus needs to be what defines not just what we do today… but it needs to define the rest of our lives! If we can keep this truth at the forefront of our minds like Paul did, I feel certain that we would not wrestle as much with a loss of passion, we would be hungrier for more of God’s Word than ever before, and we would be driven to do stuff the world sees as stupid if that’s what it takes to press the gospel into the hearts of the lost.
So, do you grasp this? Do you realize with your heart and not just with your head that the reason you’ve been blessed to serve Jesus (the reason for that passion for lost people, that “Call”) is because God saved you?
Paul realized the root reason of his calling and it was what fired him up to press on even when he was in prison about to die! He says in 2 Timothy 1:11, “… I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”
We cannot be powerful, world-changing leaders for Jesus if we are not driven by the heart-moving reality that we are saved. That truth is what makes ministry a mission and not just a job. Paul suffered greatly for Jesus. He then told Timothy to…
“share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” – 2 Timothy 1:8-9
Are you willing to join in suffering for the gospel?
The only thing that will give us the courage and fearlessness necessary to plunge into the trenches and suffer for the cause of Christ is a deep gratitude for our salvation that resonates in our hearts every… single… day.
No comments:
Post a Comment