I spent 16 years in the U.S. military and my husband is still active duty Air Force. I have come to have so much respect for the men and women who put their lives on the line, suffer greatly and sometimes willingly make the ultimate sacrifice for America, for freedom, for the cause their country is fighting for. Despite all this danger, the US military always makes its recruiting numbers. Why not the Church?
Where is this same willingness in the American church to sacrifice for God, for the eternal freedom of billions, for God's glory? "Where are believers who will make a deliberate calculation to accept sacrifice and suffering for the sake of following Christ? We'll never enter the enemy camp and storm the gates of Hell until we realize again that a soldier does not live on feelings. Casualties, discomfort and injury are part of the program for victory. Real Christians accept suffering as a normal part of following Christ." K. P. Yohannan
That is a major problem in the church in the western world...we do not believe that we should suffer as Christians and if we are suffering, then something is wrong. Why do bad things happen to good people is our constant question. Yet Jesus never apologized for calling His disciples to a life of self-denial and often times, suffering. Just reading Luke 9:57-62 we see Jesus promising homelessness, broken relationships and separation and loneliness. Yet, there is joy unspeakable as well...it just isn't going to come from what the world says is the means for joy and happiness.
I know that it's a constant, daily battle to choose to become a servant rather than to be served. It happens to me time and again. Life is comfortable and one day turns into the next as I pursue time for me, time with my family, enjoyable experiences, a peaceful household, a neat, uncluttered and pretty home, quilt blocks and cups of coffee, an athletic, thinner body, friendships with others. None of these are bad in themselves, but put all together, along with time spent reading emails and Facebook, and the days quickly pass without me really seeking God's will for the decisions I make, without deliberating living for Him, without dreaming big dreams and focusing, learning about and praying for the lost, the persecuted, the orphans, the enslaved, the widows. It know this is true because this has been my life for the past few years.
"Unless we choose the way of the cross, we will always find ourselves automatically falling into that pattern of extravagance and waste that has become the norm of this culture." K. P. Yohannan
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