Is what you are living for, Jesus worth dying for ~ Leonard Cohen
I have been struggling recently. I committed to becoming a career missionary, of moving to Indonesia for the foreseeable future. It doesn't take long after making a commitment like that for the doubts to start. I could stay here in the US and live a "normal" life. That desire is so strong sometimes.
It is amazing to me though how the Lord meets me even in these doubts. I recently picked up and reread the book Seizing Your Divine Moment by Erwin Raphael McManus. I also recently read for the first time the book Radical by David Platt. Both reminded me that Jesus has given us as Christians a radical call - one that is difficult and not safe. Both said almost the same thing about how we tend to think that the being in the center of God's will is the safest place to be, when instead it should be the opposite. God didn't call us to an easy life but one of adventure and one of danger. McManus reminded me that each moment in every day could be a divine moment. Sometimes it is so easy to get so busy that we miss those moments God puts in our lives. Platt also reminded me of the needs in the world - those that are unreached and unengaged and those that are dying every day because of the need for clean water, food, and healthcare. Platt speaks passionately about how the church in American has stood by for far too long and not used our blessings to reach and bless the world. I would strongly recommend you pick up these books!
So what is it that motivates me? What is it that gets me out of bed each day? As a nurse who spends her days (ok actually nights since I work the night shift) taking care of others it is easy for me to feel drained. So I recently read the book Called to Care: A Christian Theology of Nursing for my devotional time. The section I keep coming back to talks about the motivation for providing nursing care. It says, “We love because He first loved us. (I John 4:19). The contrast between gratitude and duty results primarily in a difference in attitude and approach. When you care out of a sense of gratitude for what God has done for me, you can view the patient as a person of great value, worthy of my respect, interest and attention. When you care out of a sense of duty, the patient becomes an object. You do what you have to do and get out.”
Then my pastor said something recently in his sermon from II Cor 5:14 that dovetailed perfectly with what I had been reading. He said (paraphrasing here), “ Living the life Christ calls us to requires more than a sense of obligation or duty. It requires a love that compels us and without this love that compels us, we lose the joy.”
Through these doubts the Lord has met me and encouraged me. The call has been renewed. My motivation has been restored. I would challenge you to spend some time looking at what the Lord might be calling you to do. To ask yourself the questions David Platt asks on page 18 of his book. Do you really believe Jesus is worth abandoning everything for? Do you really believe that Jesus is so good, so satisfying, and so rewarding that you will leave all you have and all you own and all you are in order to find your fullness in Him? The book also issues a challenge. Five steps and one year devoted to a Radical Experiment. I am doing it next year. Will you?
I challenge you in this season of thanksgiving as you reflect and give thanks for the blessings in your life to think about how God might be asking you to use those blessings to reach the lost of this world and bless them. This video might just challenge you to take a fresh look at your life. I know it did for me. (For those reading this in your RSS feeder or email you may have to click on the "read more" link to the blog to see the video).
