February 4, 2009

So, I'm getting a little behind on my blogging. Part of it is because the electricity went out on Thursday, deleting the partially finished message for Feb. 4, which also gave my computer the black screen of death. It's now at the computer hospital (a.k.a. pete's house) thanks pete ;) However, since I'm two weeks behind on the blog, this obviously is not my only excuse. But it'll due for now.
OK, let's start with the Word. A very good place to start.
Hebrews 11:1-6
Ephesians 2:8-9
Exodus 3:1-11
Luke 17:11-19
Take a minute to look up these verses. Let God's Word speak for itself. I can guarantee that when God speaks to your heart through His Word, it's much more articulate and to the point than anything I could say to you. But I'll give it a shot. ;)

Living the mission requires many things from us. Faith is probably the first and foremost. If we desire God to do anything in or through us, it requires some degree of faith that God will finish what He starts. Hebrews says "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." We have hope that when we set out the live the mission that God has placed in front of us, He doesn't just wave goodbye as we're heading out. He backs us up!

Take some time to read the rest of Hebrews 11 about ordinary people who did extraordinary things for God, not because they had superpowers, but because they allowed God to be strong for them.

Think about Moses. He was kind of big deal in the Old Testament. Actually, he's still kind of a big deal. You know, parting the Red Sea, turning staffs into snakes, the plagues, leading thousands upon thousands of people through the middle of the desert following a cloud and a pillar of fire, going up to Mount Sinai to get the 10 Commandments (twice), seeing the backside of the glory of the Lord, you get the idea. He's a big deal. Now read the passage in Exodus 3, which happens before all of the great things we remember Moses for. I love verse 11. "But Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?'" Have you ever felt like Moses did that day? I think I do just about every day when I really think about what it is that I'm doing. God, are you really sure that you want ME to do this? Don't you know who I am? I'm no good for this! Isn't there someone else who would be better for this? I really don't think you know what you're getting into here.

When you're on the verge of living the mission, of throwing yourself headlong into whatever it is that God has laid out for you to do, these are the things that go through your head. You have a choice, just like Moses. Moses could have said (and probably almost did) "No way! I'm not doing that. I definitely can't handle that kind of pressure. I'll just stick to hanging out with the sheep. Less drama." But if Moses had said that, he wouldn't be in Hebrews 11. He wouldn't be a role model of faith, and only God knows how much longer the Israelites would have been in Egypt! We have the same dilemma in front of us. Rely on God to back us up on the mission he's laid out in front of us, or give into fear and let the mission slip through our hands.

Question of the day: do you have faith? It's a pretty simple question, but one that still requires some thought. If you say that you do, great! If you say that you don't, you're a liar. Everyone has faith in something. Do you believe in gravity? Are you worried that you're going to float up into the air and hit your head on the ceiling or that the computer monitor you're staring at right now is going to hit you in the face? If you are, you need more help than this blog can offer you. But you can see where this is going. Now, more specifically, do you have faith in God? (see Ephesians 2: 8-9) If you're a Christian, you have faith that God is who He says He is, that Christ died for your sins and that you have eternal life by accepting the sacrifice of Christ. So if you say you have faith in God, that's great! But saying you have faith is like saying you have a bicep. I have a bicep. So does the governor of California. The difference between my bicep and Arnold's is that I can't lift 20 times my body weight. (To be fair, I'm not sure Arnold can either, but he's definitely stronger than me) But it takes work to develop strong muscles. It also takes work to develop strong faith. It's not just going to be strong without any help from you. It's going to require you taking steps of faith to help you realize the faithfulness of God.

Take some time to read the account of the lepers in Luke 17. They came to Jesus desperate to be healed. Jesus told them how to be clean, so they did it. They had faith and trusted that Jesus wouldn't let them down. They took steps of faith to follow through what He said. When they were healed, only one remembered to go thank Him. Why? This wasn't a faith growing experience for those 9 lepers. They were healed, but didn't take time to praise God. They failed to recognize the hand of the Lord in their circumstance.

Try to remember the last time you had to rely on God for something. Try to think of something you couldn't control. Did you trust God for it, or did you find some other way around it? If you did trust God for it, did you thank Him for what He did? Did you recognize God's hand in the situation even if it didn't turn out the way you thought or hoped?

I believe there are many different levels of faith and that wherever we are, God is calling us to trust Him a little bit more, and then more still. But let me give you an analogy. Imagine that faith was like the flying trapeze at the circus. You're on one swing and God's at the other end. OK, the fact that you're sitting on the swing is something. But let's take levels of faith here. First, you swing across with a safety net underneath. You're trusting that God can catch you, but you've got plan B in place just in case He doesn't come through. I've done this a lot in my life. I say that I'm trusting God, but I'm already thinking of ways I can solve a problem so that I don't have to TOTALLY rely on God. Second level. OK, so we've taken away the safety net, we're really going to do this. But we're not going for do or die. There's no back up plan, but we're pretty sure we could survive the fall if we had to. It would obviously hurt, but probably the only thing that it would really damage is our relationship with God. We're trusting a little bit more than before, which is good, but the only thing we're putting on the line is a little personal comfort and probably our relationship with God. Third level. Now, we're doing this for real. We're swinging on the trapeze, no safety net, over a fire pit. This, ladies and gentlemen, is do or die. There is no survival tactic. There is nothing we are counting on except the fact that God will catch us. There is no "if he doesn't" scenario. We have all the cards down and we've gone all in.

Again, I would like to emphasize that I do believe there are more levels than this, but I wanted to give you something to process. How big is your faith? Is it safety net big or fire pit big? Our goal this year is to live the mission with reckless abandon. This is describing the third scenario. This is going all out. And the mission is definitely worth it.

Challenge for the week: Take up the mission. No just something that is hard for you to do, like asking that pretty girl across the room to date you. Take on the calling God has placed on your life. Ask God to give you the vision and the opportunity and then take it on with everything that's in you.