So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.
Colossians 1:9-10Colossians 1:9-10
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
The Person and Work of Christ 9 We have not stopped praying for you since the first day we heard about you. In fact, we always pray that God will show you everything he wants you to do and that you may have all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. 10 Then you will live a life that honors the Lord, and you will always please him by doing good deeds. You will come to know God even better.
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When we think about the call of Christ, we often focus on the cost first, and never move beyond that. We think of what we might be called to sacrifice. We imagine the extremes, and allow ourselves to get caught up in worries about what we might have to give up, what we might have to endure. Rather than loosening up our lives to be used by Christ, we hunker down and cling even more closely to the familiar. No matter how much or little we have – or even whether we are happy with who we are and the way we live our lives – when our tunnel-vision takes over, the call to discipleship is an imposing monument. All too often, we choose what we know over what is unknown.
The truly unfortunate thing here is that when we settle for life-as-we-know-it, we often realize we are missing the boat. The guilt we feel could be truth hitting us in the gut, telling us we have settled for less than God, less than the truth. But we build up defensive walls against this guilt. We offer excuses to assure ourselves that we are doing the right thing. We have children to take care of. We have aging parents. We have retirement to save for. We have debt. We are uncomfortable in new situations. We don’t have the right skills or training. We have never done that before, whatever that is. People might accuse us of being arrogant or “religious” if we stepped out into the unknown. And what if we messed up?
What would be different if instead of focusing on the cost (often imagined) first, we focused on what God could do, what God wants to do? What if we focused on what he was capable and willing to do, and only then looked at the the cost to make it reality?
Let’s start simple: God is not limited by our resources. He can provide what is needed for our families and for our community. He wants to! He is kind and loving. He knows that we have needs, having created us with those needs. But those needs were never meant to be an excuse for avoiding him. If we started from the premise that God will meet our needs as we follow him – wherever he leads – I think we would find more satisfaction and more joy.
God wants us to reach our friends, family and community, and is uniquely gifting us to do just that. We can see lives changed, marriages healed. We can see people respond to God. God will move in our midst! And while God never guarantees to “show up” according to our time-frame or expectations, we have every reason to have confidence that God is with us. We will not find true satisfaction unless we embrace God’s call for our lives!
He isn’t calling everyone to Africa. He isn’t calling everyone to be a pastor or teacher or to get a seminary degree. But we should question ourselves if we are comfortable with an “ordinary Christian” life. God wants us to experience him abundantly! And living in a Christian rut of endless book studies and worship services was never the point. These are not bad things – but they are just means to and end: a closer relationship with God; as Paul wrote, “to know God better and better”.
God’s call is not a guarantee of happiness or ease. But are we really all that “happy” seeking our own comfort? Is the world offering anything that is a fair trade for fulfilling our purpose and receiving the commendation of the God who created us? Think about how the time you spend serving someone in need could end in God receiving glory and even a soul in new and rich relationship with its God. What cost would keep you from vision like that?
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