Call To Action

There have to be challenges to grow. If you're training to run a marathon you can't stick with an easy one mile a day, you have to push yourself and hurt, run really far, cramp up a lot, and slowly and steadily grow stronger and stronger. A year ago I couldn't imagine running more than two miles, till I got pushed and ran five. It hurt, it was hard, but I'm a better runner for it. 

It's like that with everything in life. If things are easy, well, they're easy. You settle into a routine of easy, never changing, never being challenged. It's no way to grow. You can't get stronger if you don't eat healthy and lift some weights. You can't get faster if you don't swim, bike, run, or whatever you do.

And that's how it is with the gospel, with living for Jesus. The book of Acts contains story after story of the new Christians suffering for Jesus. With total abandon of self, they preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, seeking to show that He is the son of God, that He did die, and most importantly, that He did rise from the dead on the third day. 

They are beaten, bruised, and broken for their beliefs, yet they never stop. 

I'm not saying it wasn't hard. I'm sure leaving their families, being flogged and thrown into prison, being uncomfortable, out of place, and probably pretty hungry and dirty a great deal of the time was less than desirable as a living style. But somehow from the words of Acts, I don't get the sense that they were unhappy. Rather, they were filled with total joy, the joy only Jesus can give. 

Throughout Acts we see Jesus' people suffering for His name, we see Christians living with such passion, their lives completely dedicated to His work, and we see the church growing by the thousands daily. Suffering producing growth, challenges producing change, living for Christ saving lives. 

Jesus promised it wouldn't be easy, He said it would be hard, but He also promises that living for Him is absolutely worth it. His love never fails, His provision and faithfulness are endless, He is worth our lives and so much more. 

I read about the new believers in Acts and I feel longing for that lifestyle. Longing to live with utter abandon, focused on Christ and nothing else, giving up friends, family, and comfort for the sake of His great name. 

Maybe that's our problem now. Maybe we've stopped really living for Jesus. We've stopped fighting for Him, seeking to share the gospel with everyone. 

We've stopped seeking God to fight our battles for us, and started trying to fight them on our own. And Jesus lets us, He lets us mess up our lives because we say that's what we want. Like in the Old Testament when the Israelites want a king, though they already had God as their perfect King. Samuel doesn't want to grant their request, he knows it isn't right, but God allows the Israelites the king they so deeply think they desire, and Saul really wasn't such a great king after all, leading the people to disaster and ruin in many ways. 

God is all we need, but so often we think we need more, and God grants us those desires often, and we (hopefully) learn from our mistakes, running back to Him. We can't fight the battles on our own, we are not strong enough to do life by ourselves. One of the hardest things to do is be weak and admit to it, but that's what we are called to do so we can rest in Him. 

So we fight our own battles, don't let God fight for us, and stop fighting for Him. And at least in the United States, we rarely go to jail or truly suffer for Jesus. Maybe we face ridicule, lose friends, but we don't lose limbs, we aren't maimed, we don't die (physically at least) for Jesus. 

And churches aren't growing the way they do in countries where people are daily challenged and face death for Christ on a constant basis. Our faith becomes something personal we explore behind closed doors. We aren't loudly proclaiming His name and His love from the rooftops, we are whispering about it with other believers. 

It's like the Fall Out Boy song, "I want to scream I love you from the top of my lungs/But I'm afraid that someone else will hear me." 

That should not and cannot be us about Jesus! We can't live such passive and inactive lives and hope to see His kingdom come. We can't sit on the sidelines and assume someone else will play the game. We are the players, this is our game, and we must get out there and score the points. 

We're on earth for a reason, and it isn't to sit idly by and grow on a personal, inside, never shared, inactive level in our relationship with God. There's a place for that, and yes, growing a beautiful and close personal relationship with Jesus is incredibly important and absolutely essential, but it cannot stop there. 

We are not here for ourselves. We are here to glorify Jesus and make Him known, to share the good news of His beauty, grace, and love. It's time to start screaming "I love you" from the top of our lungs, and pray the whole world will hear it.