Incredible. Two days in a row. I think they say it takes 30 days in a row to make something a habit...
How many of us would really be willing to do what Paul did "to advance the gospel"? How many of us really "speak the word without fear"? I can't even speak the word to people I work with sometimes. Security can be as much of a curse as it is a blessing. We refrain from doing things we feel God has called us to do for fear of the unknown and thus miss the blessing of drawing closer to the God who is constantly calling us. Security is also such a lie. We take such comfort in what we've built for ourselves; in our material possesions. We come to believe that the worst thing that can happen in this life is for us to "lose everything". What does "everything" mean? We usually mean all our stuff. If the sum of our existance - our "everything" - is stuff, how shallow have our lives become? Is that a life really worth living?
I often think on people who have "lost everything, some for the sake of the gospel, others not. Corrie ten Boom for example: Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor who helped Jews escape Nazi Germany - went to the camps for it. Or Jim Elliot, missionary to Ecuador who was martyred by the Indians he was trying to save. And then, of course, there's Job. Not that I desire to "lose everything" but what I do long to lose, and long for the Church to lose, is the false sense of security that we build up around our lives. We put more trust in ourselves and in our feeble abilty to provide than we do in the Maker of all things, the Sustainer of the universe. Screwtape has cunningly decieved us all.
O that we would see our lives as You do, Lord. That we would recognize that the only real security we have in all of existence comes from You. God, bring us to a place where you are our "everything". May we, like Paul, be willing to "lose everything" - even these temporal, mortal lives - for the sake of the gospel, in the hope that the lives of others might be eternally saved. Amen.
Philippians 1:12-18
The Advance of the Gospel
12I want you to know, brothers,[e] that what has happened to me has really(X) served to advance the gospel, 13so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard[f] and(Y) to all the rest that(Z) my imprisonment is for Christ. 14And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold(AA) to speak the word[g] without fear.
15(AB) Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16The latter do it out of love,(AC) knowing that I am put here for(AD) the defense of the gospel. 17The former proclaim Christ(AE) out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
How many of us would really be willing to do what Paul did "to advance the gospel"? How many of us really "speak the word without fear"? I can't even speak the word to people I work with sometimes. Security can be as much of a curse as it is a blessing. We refrain from doing things we feel God has called us to do for fear of the unknown and thus miss the blessing of drawing closer to the God who is constantly calling us. Security is also such a lie. We take such comfort in what we've built for ourselves; in our material possesions. We come to believe that the worst thing that can happen in this life is for us to "lose everything". What does "everything" mean? We usually mean all our stuff. If the sum of our existance - our "everything" - is stuff, how shallow have our lives become? Is that a life really worth living?Philippians 1:12-18
The Advance of the Gospel
12I want you to know, brothers,[e] that what has happened to me has really(X) served to advance the gospel, 13so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard[f] and(Y) to all the rest that(Z) my imprisonment is for Christ. 14And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold(AA) to speak the word[g] without fear.15(AB) Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16The latter do it out of love,(AC) knowing that I am put here for(AD) the defense of the gospel. 17The former proclaim Christ(AE) out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
I often think on people who have "lost everything, some for the sake of the gospel, others not. Corrie ten Boom for example: Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor who helped Jews escape Nazi Germany - went to the camps for it. Or Jim Elliot, missionary to Ecuador who was martyred by the Indians he was trying to save. And then, of course, there's Job. Not that I desire to "lose everything" but what I do long to lose, and long for the Church to lose, is the false sense of security that we build up around our lives. We put more trust in ourselves and in our feeble abilty to provide than we do in the Maker of all things, the Sustainer of the universe. Screwtape has cunningly decieved us all.
O that we would see our lives as You do, Lord. That we would recognize that the only real security we have in all of existence comes from You. God, bring us to a place where you are our "everything". May we, like Paul, be willing to "lose everything" - even these temporal, mortal lives - for the sake of the gospel, in the hope that the lives of others might be eternally saved. Amen.
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