To be somebody in this world without Christ, you have to:
1. Look good enough so others will admire you.
2. Perform well enough so others will be impressed with your accomplishments.
3. Have enough social status so others will recognize you.
If we build our life around these values, we will lose it.
We grow weary in self-enthronement. Sin is that stubborn part of us that wants to live independent of God. Until we are broken, our life is self-centered and self-reliant. Our strength is our own.
To deny ourself is to give up our right to be the master of our life. God wants your heart for Himself. Our life is found in communion with Him.
We start by overcoming in our own life, and as we gain victory in our personal life, we lead our families to freedom, and we gain power and authority to impact the kingdom of God in our spheres of influence.
Do our lives make sense in light of eternity?
As the people of God, we have been sidetracked. Jesus said that we are to be in the world, but not of it. Instead, as the church, we have withdrawn from the world, yet adopted the social values of our society.
We are called to be different, and we are going to have to be different in order to make a difference. We have one life to spend, and there is only one cause worthy of our devotion.
This is the revolution, the cause, the good fight.
Andrew Jones described it this way:
"We need to not fall into the trap of dumbing down the challenge for all men everywhere to pick up their cross and follow Jesus into their manly quest to fulfill their destiny and finish their race with every good thing given to them to help them give away their gift to family and humankind."
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3 comments:
It's a good post. I find the first three points you listed interesting. "To be somebody in this world withOUT Christ, you have to:..." In several personal church situations, I have found that these same worldly values were inadvertently (or even blatantly) impressed upon the church members. [YAH]
I've long since returned to learning how to give my life back to Christ; to commune with Him for no other reason then wanting Him and needing Him in my life.
It's not easy to relearn... (teachin' an old dog new tricks). I have found it to be very difficult to regain the power and authority to impact those around me for Christ, because I so easily fall back into the old patterns of thinking i.e. social status, accomplishments, wanting to be admired. It'll come... one of these days God will help me get things right in my head.
Good post Grace.
I really like,
'We grow weary in self enthronement'.
how true. I'm finishing up a book by Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz)he speaks about this subject in a chapter about community.
Here's a quote from the book,
'If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus'.
Must be something the Lord is trying to get through to me?
Thanks for sharing. I needed it.
karen,
Finding those values in a church is sadly very common. In fact, in some churches they are intensified beyond what we see in the world.
I also found that resisting that pull and living alternatively is really difficult, especially within a church culture that is caught up in status and accomplishment.
Thanks Rhonda! I still need to read that book. It sounds like one that I would enjoy.
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