God have pity upon us. For in our piety we have defined what is sacred and what is too common or mundane or even too dirty to be of value to the Kingdom. In declaring the work of professional ministers as superior to the laity, we have crippled our souls and left the body of Christ feeling undone and unfulfilled. Was it not said that whatever we do in word or action, we should do it in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to God?
Our perception is not reality.
I have an elderly friend who spends her days conversing with local merchants, letting them know of God’s provision for her. She is a grandmother figure to countless individual’s imparting the wisdom of a life long-lived. She gives generously of everything she owns and yet feels that her life contributes little to the Kingdom. She fears she will have wasted her life never truly serving the Lord because she has lacked the ability and gifting to do what we would call formal ministry. I pray that she will soon realize that if Jesus were living her life, it would not look much different.
We oppress ourselves.
In our desire to serve and be who we were intended to be, we keep trying to shove a square peg through a round hole. Because we value perseverance, we keep trying to do what doesn’t make sense even in the knowledge of our failure. After all, it is the only peg we have, and better a square peg than no peg at all, right? But, why not exercise some ingenuity and shave off the edges?
Our communities of faith need to realize the freedom we have in serving Jesus Christ by truly embodying the good news in our working world. The message to deliver belongs to us all, and it is a message in which we strive to come into greater understanding. It is our responsibility to encourage and value lives lived so that we all may feel God’s pleasure.
My life will be saved by the suicide of my selfish desires. You say that in laying down my life, losing control of it for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of the Gospel, I will live. The road is long and hard and narrow. You bid us to count the cost and declare that there are few who will walk this road, and so, I know it is a privilege of your grace to travel this path. “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” The human struggle is so ironic. We want to have our cake and eat it too. And more than that, we eat it often choosing to remain blind to the fact that we are growing obese. We somehow disregard the connection between sugar and tooth decay. And as our health wanes, we return to the poison over and over again declaring it to be our cure. Jesus is right. When what I want is contrary to what God would have for me, I become enslaved and trapped. I am separated from my creator and from my purpose. Ultimately, I die. Jesus testifies that the corollary is true. When I value him so much that he is my desire and greatest satisfaction, when I value him so much that I let go of my selfish deception and follow him, death ceases and life begins. That life is full and free. I become that good soil in which the seed sprouts and takes root and produces a crop that feeds others. It is a great thing to consider that the life of Christ is manifested in me when I yield to him. God put on flesh and dwelt among us in Jesus, and he desires to put on our flesh and for his life to emanate through ours, his passion producing intimacy which produces passion in us. And so, I will cease striving against him and will ask for a repentant heart. I will stop seeking vain validation of my thoughts, my actions, myself. I will confess that I do not know what is good, and I will follow Jesus because his is hope and truth, and in him, the dead are raised to life again.
My heart desires to be attached to something and to love it wholly. I want that something to be Jesus Christ. I want everything about me to be pleasing to him so that he may be honored in my body. Jesus made a profound statement when he said that life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. The purpose of our existence and the goal of our lives are not to merely provide for our own physical needs. The life that God desires for is much deeper.
Last fall, I came to the ironic conclusion that although through and American view-point, my earnings are very meager, through a world wide view-point, I am a very wealthy woman, and God uses my financial contributions to change the world. It only costs me $25 to provide another human being with a lifetime supply of clean drinking water. Everyday, I set aside a dollar through which God provides a small boy in Haiti with food, clothing, medical care, a Christian education, and stored financial resources that are being used to restore his family’s livestock and kitchen equipment that were destroyed by hurricane Dennis. For three dollars a day the family and entire ministry of a native missionary in Southeast Asia can be supported. When I give to 1027, I not only have the privilege to support those who invest in my life daily, but I also help support missionaries here and abroad and am a part of the process of providing countless opportunities for others to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My contribution feeds people world wide and those in my community. God has appointed me to give so that human suffering can be eased through disaster relief, life redevelopment programs, and emergency shelters.
In my small gift, God produces more than I can imagine in the growth of his Kingdom. God changes the world, and I am a part of it. God loves it when people give cheerfully because they honor him with their hearts and actions. They are a reflection of him, and the act of their giving is a confession of the Gospel of Christ.
What we have is not and never will be our own. All exists for the purposes and intentions of Jesus Christ and those are that the world might be saved. Fullness of life is found in self-sacrifice. The Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. When you and I find it, we sell all that we have to buy the field. We sell all, not a portion, and we part with our earthly treasure with great joy because the heavenly treasure, the Kingdom, is of greater worth, is of greater stability, is of greater satisfaction.
A life of true worship seems to be a mystery in that I have searched diligently within but have yet to find it.
It is my desire: to truly worship God. To have every moment of my life testify of His existence, to have my life echo His in claiming that He was, He is, and He is to come.
What would I look like if the love of God controlled me? What would I look like if the Gospel defined my existence and I depended only upon Christ to full my great need?
In that state, I would long to be with Him, long to hear from Him, long to speak with Him.
I would live recklessly, not holding back so that I may keep myself safe but abandoning my own interests for the interests of my God.
I would become nameless and faceless because I would no longer desire the recognition of man but would only desire the recognition of Christ, who will never forget my name or face.
When finding fault in others, I would suddenly remember my own wretchedness that called for the death of the Son of God.
My heart would understand the fullness of life that is given when I cease to live in a world of self-fulfillment, a world where joy is only imaginary.
I would begin to love the church like I never have before because I would love God like I never have before.
I would walk as He walked, caring for the poor, the sick in spirit, the social outcast, lending myself as an instrument of healing because I too was once in need of being healed.
And so, I will depart from the shallow worship that really isn't, which only occurs out of convenience and is a mockery of such a great God.
My worship shall no longer be limited by a time and place but will resonate in my very being, and my soul shall be so struck with awe and wonder that I cannot help but worship in Spirit and Truth.