Take the Stand

"If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."

Luke 14:26

Through the call of Jesus men become individuals.  Willy-nilly, they are compelled to decide, and that decision can only be made by themselves.  It is no choice of their own that makes them individuals:  it is Christ who makes them individuals by calling them.  Every man is called separately, and must follow alone.  But men are frightened of solitude, and they try to protect themselves from it by merging themselves in the society of their fellow-men and in their material environment.  They become suddenly aware of their responsibilities and duties, and are loath to part with them.  but all this is only a cloak to protect them from having to make a decision.  They are unwilling to stand alone before Jesus and to be compelled to decide with their eyes fixed on him alone.  Yet neither father nor mother, neither wife nor child, neither nationality nor tradition, can protect a man at the moment of his call.  It is Christ's will that he should be thus isolated and that he should fix his eyes solely upon him."

- Beginning of Chapter 5 titled "Discipleship and the Individual," page 94 of Dietrich Bonhoffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship"

How hard are the sayings of Christ!  How devastating to hear from the mouth of Christ, "You cannot be my disciple."  It is true that He will accept whosoever will respond to His call, but if we refuse to abandon our life for His sake we have not actually responded to His call.  We live in a day when some think we are disciples because we want to be.  But if I will not become Christ's disciple, I cannot become His disciple.  Christ is not to be blamed for His exacting standards.  He supplies the righteousness and we offer a willingness to trust and yield only He can enable.

Christ and the world are opposed to one another.  The world accepts you on account of your race, wealth, education, career, sexuality, family, or political and religious views.  You can be accepted by the world if you will be like the world:  think the same way, do the same things, have the same passions and hobbies.  To be accepted by Christ we must leave all these things behind, not only acknowledging our sins but counting ourselves without any merit or reason for acceptance.  Then we can be partakers of God's grace through faith.  When we fill out an application for a college or employment, we are forced to "sing our own praises" and explain why we are the best candidate for the position so a judgment can be made.  There is no paperwork to be filled out to be a Christian.  We simply forfeit our own lives for God's glory so that He might live through us.

Our love for Christ must far outweigh our love for anything of this world - even people so close to us as father, mother, wife, and child - that our love for them seems like hate compared to our degree of adoration for Jesus Christ.  I would never have said or even thought such a thing.  But Jesus said it!  And if we want to be His disciple then we must follow His pattern of love, sacrifice, and obedience to God.  Jesus did not hate his mother or brothers.  But He loved His heavenly Father with a love which outshone them all.  This is not a "feeling" kind of love, but the active agapao love which pursues God's will passionately.  God does force us to become individuals, but not individualistic.  We cannot be a disciple alone.  We must first have Christ and then remain in fellowship with like-minded Christians.  This does not believe we must agree on all things but we must believe and trust in the LORDship of one Person, Jesus Christ.  This belief will affect everything we do because it will no longer us be living but Christ through us.

Are you willing to stand alone for God and say with Job, "Though He slay me, I will trust in Him?"  This is a decision we make alone, not to make our dad or mom happy.  Praise the LORD we never need be alone for Christ has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."  Bonhoeffer's conclusion is right:  let us look to Jesus alone.  Jesus must be our all-in-all or He will be reduced to an imaginary companion no greater than ourselves.

An Encouraging Word

Hardly a day passes when I am not directly asked about my plans to minister in Australia.  "So, what's going on with Australia?" or "Have you heard anything from Australia?" and my personal favorite:  "When are you leaving?"  If I had a dollar every time I was asked a question along these lines I would be a wealthy man, and if I earned a dollar for every time I thought about my friends in Australia or prayed about it, I would be richer still!

As I press on working with my hands to put money away to pay for moving and future living expenses, I see God's grace, love, and wisdom at work.  During my time as a mechanical insulator with Local 5, I have worked at three shops.  At every shop I had time to share my faith with many people.  I have maintained contact with people from all three.  Witnessing at random is great, but there is something special when you have earned the trust of other people so they will freely share their personal beliefs and solicit your own.  Everyone I work with know I am a pastor and they know I want to serve God in Australia.  But why Australia?  When I say that God has placed the people of that country on my heart and called me to go, I receive some strange looks.

I started thinking of all the profitable conversations I have had in the last 9 plus months since starting work at Farwest.  Seeds have been sown, and hearts have been engaged.  God will bring the increase, for His Word never returns void.  While my efforts have been largely on preparing to go away, God has been gracious to allow me to impact people here in the meantime - and be personally impacted by the relationships I have been able to make.  The need for Jesus is so great it boggles the mind.  It seems like I am learning more all the time about my own faults and how precious Jesus truly is to me.

I have not always held such a positive view concerning obstacles/opportunities.  Though I recognized God's hand at work, I had a tendency to focus on what I'll call "obstacles" rather than seeing those same things as "opportunities."  Is the hand of God shortened so He cannot save?  He helps us to redeem the time and work while it is day, for night is coming when no one can work.  The longing of my soul is that every place I go I would bring the fragrance of Christ that will linger on in saved souls long after I am living in Australia.  I want to say with Christ in John 9:5:  "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  Only God could make the words we say affect the lives of others for eternity.  Every day is an opportunity to let our lights shine!  Whatever you do and wherever you are, do all for the glory of God!

Questions and Answers

From time to time people have questions concerning particular posts.  Instead of trying to answer the questions by commenting back and forth in the comments section, feel free to send me an e-mail address in your comment.  I will not publicly post your comments or my response.  Though far from the ideal of speaking, e-mail seems to be much more profitable than discussion threads which are easily derailed!  Again, thanks for reading!

Borrowers

Have you ever read a great book which impacted your life?  After speaking excitedly with friends or family, you offer the book on loan to someone who seems very interested.  Months pass.  We've probably been on both sides of this equation many times and so we know what happens.  After a ridiculous amount of time has elapsed the book is returned - unread.  This is as annoying as disappointing, because the book would have been likely loaned to others who might have actually read the book during that time and been greatly blessed.

I'm sure many excuses or reasons could be given why the book was never read, but it is undeniable that the book was not as great a priority or as important to the borrower as the loaner.  I suppose if the borrower really wanted to read the book he would buy it, check it out from the library, or buy an e-book himself.  When people invest nothing and are loaned a book rather than purchasing it sometimes they lack motivation to follow through.  Sadly, we can even buy books ourselves and never get around to reading them!  It is likely the borrower was interested to read the book because of the excitement of their friend.  Man, I want to read something exciting.  I want to hear something new.  I desire to be affected by anything to the degree as this person I admire and respect has been inspired.  Yet the book just sits there gathering dust, a testimony to our lack of motivation, forgetfulness, and procrastination.  A procrastinator is better than said borrower because though it may take awhile, he will complete the task!

While pondering this phenomenon, I couldn't help thinking about how this "borrower" mentality is prevalent in the lives of many Christians today, even my own at times.  All have been born into sin on this earth.  In His great love God has granted us a new life through repentance and faith in Jesus.  Perhaps we were won to Christ by a person filled with enthusiasm for God and we thought to ourselves, I want that excitement.  I would love to have purpose for my life and to be free from sin.  I want to go to heaven too!  True to His Word, God gives us a life which we are stewards of on earth, a life of righteousness, purity, victory, and power.  We are not our own because we have been bought with a price.  But instead of focusing on bringing God glory with our lives, we neglect our walk with God.  The life on earth we are borrowing from God - the life according to His will and plan - is undisturbed in a drawer while the life we live every day is pretty much the same as when we weren't born again.

There is nothing more exciting than living a life for God.  It will also be the hardest thing you have ever done.  We have forfeited our lives for the life God intends for us.  If we never wanted to really read a book we shouldn't have borrowed it, and if we don't want to follow Jesus we should have never claimed to be a Christian!  I am asking myself today, what do I have to show for the new life Jesus has given me through His own sacrifice?  Is my "Christianity" reserved for Sundays when I'm around people who can be playing at it too?  Our life on earth is a generous loan from God.  I want to make sure when my Savior settles accounts with me I am not one of those borrowers who sheepishly returns his life covered in dirt like the servant who buried his talent in the ground.  If I think I will receive any blessing for such ill use of such an unfathomably great gift I would be mistaken!

If I am disappointed when someone returns a book unread after six months, what devastation must God endure when we let our new life paid with the blood of His own Son be neglected with other pursuits.  I thank God for His grace and the fact that He knows our frame.  We are dust moistened with blood, earthen vessels God has graciously allowed His light to shine into.  Thank God for His patience, generosity, faithfulness, and love.  Just like we don't "unfriend" someone who been a lousy borrower, God will never disown His children for their faults because Christ has cleansed them from all sin.  Let's be sure to thank Him by pressing on in a deeper walk with Jesus.  May we use all God's gracious gifts with zeal and a sense of purpose.  Teach me to number my days, O God, that I might apply my heart unto wisdom.