Heart Tracks - Called

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28...."Success is doing what we're called to do and having peace there." Anthony Evans

It's amazing how much discontent, frustration, and even anger, we who call ourselves His children experience in life. We don't like what we are, what we're doing and where we're doing it. We spend large amounts of time wishing we were somewhere else, doing other things, and enjoying much more tangible results than we are right now. This can be true in our jobs, our marriages, and yes, our ministries.

Being "successful" is ingrained into our western thinking. It has always been so in the culture of the world, and that culture has deeply penetrated the culture of the church. We want our best life, best marriage and family, and best ministry now. When we don't, especially after we've expended so much energy is seeing that we do, we fall back into depression, discouragement, frustration, and a desire to escape it all. Someone said that comparison is the thief of joy. The proof of this is found in how little joy we have because we spend so much time measuring our lives and what is happening in them with others. The natural outflow of this is going to be resentment. Resentment towards those who we deem "ahead" of us, and worse, resentment towards Him who we believe could make it all different if He really wanted to. Personally, I know this is true, because I spent a large portion of my life and ministry living in that place.

There is a lot of teaching and preaching in the church about our being called. Romans 8:28 tells us we are, that we're called according to His purpose. Our flaw is in thinking we get to decide what His purpose is. We almost always think it's a quick journey "to the top." We're blind to the reality that in God's style of measurement, we rise up by first bowing down. By yielding, surrendering to His purpose. And His purpose will always lead to the cross. And His cross will always lead to a place that our flesh will despise.

Someone said that we're obsessed with having followers rather than being obsessed with the One we're to follow. This can be seen in so much of the literature that is popular in the church today. It majors on all we can have and get in Him, or how we can add on to what we already have. We adopt corporate models instead of Calvary ones. We never ask whether or not we're feeding our flesh or our spirits with all of it.

Some years back I remember talking of all of this with a brother pastor who was not only a great pastor, but a gifted one. His fellowship was small, but one that ceaselessly ministered to it's community. When speaking of "success," especially as we usually view it in the church, he told me he'd died out to that urge to have it. He would just serve and minister with all His heart, and rejoice in the honor God allowed him in doing so. He defined Anthony Evans' above definition of success. Can we?

We who are His are all called according to His purpose. Can we surrender to the reality that His purpose may differ vastly from ours? Can we have and live in peace there when it does? Can we let the culture of the Kingdom construct and define our lives and not the world's? Can we see the honor in the call, no matter where that call places us? Or, do we go on living in comparisons, and all the frustrations and resentments they bring? What's our choice? What's yours?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Much More

"Amaziah asked the man of God, 'But what should I do about the silver I paid to hire the army of Israel?' The man of God replied, 'The Lord is able to give you much more than this.' " 2 Chronicles 25:9

Not long after the death of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel split into two, with the southern part becoming the kingdom of Judah, and the northern the kingdom of Israel. The kingdom of Israel was led by its kings into darkness and rebellion against God. Amaziah had become king of Judah, and set about bringing spiritual and governmental reform to the kingdom. One of the tasks he set himself to was reorganizing the army, to which he spent a large sum in hiring soldiers from the northern kingdom. God sent a prophet to order him to not do this as the Father had set Himself against that kingdom in response to their sin and rebellion. Amaziah saw only what the personal cost of this would be to him. All the silver paid out would be lost. God wanted him to see all that he would gain by his act of obedience and sacrifice. The Father wanted him to see the "much more" that we receive in the face of sacrificial obedience to the will and call of God. Amaziah obeyed the order, but eventually, his heart was led away from his God, and to his destruction. He didn't trust or abide in the promise of the Father's "much more." Can we? Do we?

Here is a truth that seems to be losing its place in the teaching of the church. Following Him will require great cost to us. Following Him will involve sacrifice, loss, hardship.....a cross. Jesus told those who would follow Him to first "count the cost." Too many don't, and when His leading brings them to their own kind of "Amaziah moment," they either shrink back, or, like Amaziah, at first obey, but with a reluctant, even bitter heart. A heart that will eventually turn away from Him. They either never hear His promise of "much more," or have refused to believe it. All they can see is the cost, the loss, the "silver" that they must give up in order to fully follow Him.

Maybe the great problem here is that we tend to measure His much more in terms of what can be counted, accumulated, and measured. God's economy, the economy of the Kingdom doesn't operate in that fleshly mode. The much more of His Kingdom yield themselves in eternal riches that flow forth in the form of His joy, peace, wisdom, understanding, strength, and abundance. That is the economy of the Kingdom. It's an eternal economy and lasts while all those things we deemed so precious have long passed away.

A good brother asked me the other day if, when I was walking through my divorce and loss of ministry, I had a crisis of faith. I well remember that time of darkness, pain and loss. I wrestled with Him over many things, and in the wrestling, asked questions, sometimes angry ones. I wondered where He was, even questioned His goodness. Yet the one thing I knew was that I could not turn back, could not go back to the life that was death without Him. I would follow, I would obey, even in the midst of the loss. And in that, I, in time, discovered the "much more" of what He gives when we follow Him despite the cost. What I gained in Him through that dark valley far outweighed what was lost. I would never choose to return to such pain, but neither would I ever choose to do anything but what I did in spite of it.

Whatever costs you may be experiencing in following and obeying Him today, I, and so many others urge you to trust Him for His "much more" in the following. He won't fail or disappoint you. He is faithful.....now and into eternity. Believe for His much more.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Take A Breath

"On the seventh day, having finished His task, God rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and called it holy, because it was the day when He rested from His work of creation." Genesis 2:2-3

I recently heard pastor and writer Robert Morris speak on this passage of Scripture, and he said that the Hebrew meaning for God's resting was, "He took a breath." Think on just what that means. We often say, concerning work, a task, even a ministry, "I need a breather." In a more lighthearted view, we often say, or at least think, concerning one who seemingly talks non-stop, "Take a breath." The reason in both is that a great deal is going out. Energy, effort, self. When God spoke, breathed creation into being, He was exhaling the essence of Himself. When He rested He refreshed Himself, breathed in that same essence. If God, who is infinite, saw the need to step back, to take a breath, shouldn't we? Do we?

God lives in the atmosphere of eternity. He is that atmosphere. He calls us to live in it as well. Our problem is that we too often live our lives, our work, our efforts, our ministries, outside of the atmosphere, or, if we do, fail to replenish it when we've "exhaled" it all. Someone said that we need, constantly, a fresh inhale of the exhale of the Holy Spirit. This requires a stoppage. Sometimes for just a moment, but often, for something longer. God marked a day for rest. He called it holy. He called it the Sabbath, and He commanded us to have it as day of rest. I know that in response, many have legalized the meaning of His Sabbath rest, made it a rule, but His intention for it remains, yet so few of us realize it. So few live it out. We simply don't know how to rest, and don't show a great deal of interest in learning to.

Burnout is a major problem in our culture, especially in the culture of the church. Pastors are suffering it at an alarming rate, as are so many who work in the ministries of the church. They constantly give out, but know little or nothing of that breathing in of His Spirit, of just doing nothing but living in His "atmosphere," breathing Him in, so that they are able to breath His Life out. I know this. A large portion of my ministry life was spent in "breathing out" while neglecting to make time to breathe His Life in. I didn't know how to "take a breath." Do you?

Busyness is a plague upon our culture and upon the church. To what degree does the plague affect you? Where in your life, your "schedule," is there a day of Sabbath rest? Where have you made the time to catch your breath? Where and how often are you getting that fresh inhale of the exhale of His Holy Spirit? Do you know and experience the meaning and reality of His Sabbath rest? If you don't, please, lay down the busyness, the tyranny of the urgent, as one writer put it, and find your rest in Him. Lay down those things, those pressing needs that demand you give your all to, and trust Him with them as you breath in the essence of His Life. If you don't, you may go on "doing" but you will lose the wonder of "being." Being in Him, filled with His Life. We find His fullness when we rest in Him. So, take a breath.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Furnace

"I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure, just as gold and silver are refined and purified by fire. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'These are My people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God.' " Zechariah 13:9..."I now know my suffering wasn't proof of God's punishment or absence. Instead, each impossibility provided a backdrop against which I could experience a new depth of God's reality. Although I still don't understand all the whys, His love for me cannot be denied." Michelle Cushatt

There is so much talk about the love of God these days, but so little is based on reality. I think we expect Him to love us with our definition of love and not His. I think the reality of this is shown when we walk through suffering. The first thing we tend to question is His love. Certainly the world looks at it that way. How many unbelievers ask, "If God is a God of love, how could He allow that?" Those are deeper theological questions than can be spoken of here. Suffice to say that they leave out the most important element; we live in a fallen world where sin has entered the equation and in full force. Evil and the suffering that always accompanies it will not be removed until Christ's return. His love is shown not in the absence of suffering, but His presence with us in it.

Zechariah 13:9 tells of the Father's dealing with His people Israel. The impurity of their sin and disobedience filled them. God, in His love, took them through fire in order to cleanse them of the impurity. Fire burns. Pain comes. He had no delight in any of it, but in His love and desire for their ultimate good, He took them through it because He had for them a life grander and deeper than they could ever have imagined. In this dark, sin stained world, He does the same with us. Look at the lives of His people, through Old Testament and New. He led them to and through fiery furnaces, prisons, caves, and all manner of affliction. Moses, Joseph, David, the prophets, Peter, Paul, John, all of the disciples. For each awaited a jail cell, a headsmen's axe, a prison island, a cross. In His greatest act of love, He gave His Son and the offer of eternal life through the pain and suffering of His cross. A cross that led to a tomb, and then to His resurrection. This is the way of God, the way of the cross. This is love. His love looks beyond the present and into eternity.

Someone said that we need to first stop asking Him to help us and realize something more; He first wants to kill us. Kill that which is killing us, sin in all of its forms. Addictions, impulses, attitudes, behaviors. All of them gross impurities that can only be made pure in the furnace, at the altar of His cross. And all taking place out of the heart of His love. All because He is leading us beyond just the events of this passing world and into that world which will never pass away. In the furnace, we encounter Him, and when He brings us out, we can minister to others in their time in the flames.

Michelle Cushatt is a woman who has suffered physically, emotionally and spiritually. She knows well the heat of the furnace. In that furnace she has discovered not only the heat of the flames, but the depths of His love in them. May we as well. His love is perfectly shown in Christ's cross. May we not fear it, but embrace it. It's His portrait of love.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Alabaster Jar

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Luke 7:36-38

It is believed that the woman who made this act of sacrificial worship was Mary Magdalene, the former prostitute. The perfume within that jar was expensive. It would likely have been the entire sum of what she owned. It was certainly the most precious of her possessions. She had already believed upon Jesus as the Messiah, and there is no indication that she had any expectation of a return from Him. She simply gave all she had as an act of devotion and worship. And that act filled the house with the scent of the perfume. Jesus said that what she had done would be remembered forever; not just upon the earth, but throughout eternity. It makes me wonder, what acts of worship that we offer are worth His remembering.....or anyone's remembering for that matter?

Most professing believers are willing to give....usually out of their surplus. What they think they can afford, or what they think is found acceptable. Up to a tithe, and maybe a bit beyond. Rarely do we "break" our alabaster jar of what we believe precious and pour it all out to Him. Someone asked if we shrewdly calculate what we can afford to give Him without actually giving up anything of ourselves? Do we, as Oswald Chambers stated, "shuffle our feet" in the light of that question?

Everyone's concept of what they deem to be precious can be different. Whatever is contained in our "alabaster jar," can we freely offer it up to Him? I have in my prayer journal this question, written long ago. I don't remember the source, but it asks, "When was the last time we did something we'd never done before, or would do for no one else, but did for Him, simply as an act of worship?"

What do you carry in your alabaster jar that is precious beyond anything else? It can be anything. Dreams, desires, wounds, betrayals, hopes, plans, relationships, goals, and most of all, ourselves. Can we break the jars we hold these in, release them to Him, and pour them out upon His feet.....in trust, and in worship? The offering of that which we have always held as most precious, to Him who has become precious beyond what words can describe.

Whatever is your "alabaster jar," do you offer it, all of it, to Him? Or, do you hold it all back, and give to Him something less valued, something more "affordable?" Are your, our, offerings of worship unforgettable to His heart, or tainted by the reality that we hold to something else believed to be more precious to us than Him?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Chain Gang

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13....."Joy is being able to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and have the peaceful assurance that Jesus walks with us." Thelma Wells

In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, as Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli Gloin approach the hall of the King of Rohan, a land slowly being overtaken by the darkness emanating from the evil realm of Mordor, Gimli remarks, "You'll find more joy in a graveyard." I wonder, when unbelievers encounter we who say we believe in the Lord of Life, are their thoughts similar? Should it happen that someone not acquainted at all with our particular fellowship entered in for our weekly worship, might they think the same? Evangelist James Robison said that too many Christians live and look like they're members of a chain gang. To what degree do we fit that description on most given days?

Jesus promised that in Him our joy would be full. The Old Testament abounds with references to the joy of the Lord. The book of Nehemiah declares that "the joy of the Lord is your strength." Joy is one of the beautiful fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is His will and desire, even command, that we live in and experience His joy. So why do so few of us have that experience?

Perhaps it's because we confuse happiness with joy. Wells says that "Happiness is natural. Joy is supernatural." Happiness is dependent on circumstances and emotions. Joy is the fruit of abiding in Christ. In my prayer journal I have written, "Do we just cope with life, or in Christ, rise above it." The joy of the Lord gives us the strength to rise above the sorrows of life. I don't say that we will not be touched by them. We will, but the sorrow, if we are truly abiding in Him, cannot touch our joy. Even in the tears, in the valley of the shadow of death, the joy of His Presence is with us, and in us. We are touched by sorrow, but we are not held by it.

There are few things more tragic, or more grieving to His Spirit, than a joyless child of the King. Such a state should be unheard of in a believer, but it is not. Too often we do look like members of a chain gang. I know because I have lived in that state myself. Whenever I have allowed circumstances, sorrows, distractions, anything, to lure me from my abiding in Him, my joy recedes, and worry, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, despair, take it's place. I've allowed myself to be made a member of the enemy's chain gang. Yet, if I will turn to Him, abide in Him, His joy and peace becomes my joy and peace, and the chains are soaked from my ankles and wrists.

Is the joy and peace of Christ yours today? Or, do you labor through life manacled to the enemy's chain gang? You have but to turn to Him, renounce the chains, be they of sin, circumstances, or the attacks of hell, and behold Him to cause them to fall at His feet and yours. And know, anew, or for the first time, that the joy of the Lord is indeed your strength.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Skull

"They came to a place called Golgotha (which means 'the place of the skull). Matthew 27:33

Many have said that the great battlefield every believer faces is that found in the mind. The battle is between whether we receive His Truth or the enemy's lies. One or the other reigns in our minds. Which one reigns in yours?

Jesus said that from the beginning, Satan was a liar, that he is the father of lies. In his first encounter with our human ancestors, he weaved lies in with half-truths. He has been doing so down through the ages. He does so today. Those who have been ensnared by those lies are also captive to them. Many have been set free in their hearts, but remain in bondage in their minds. Some fully, others partially, but really, all of us on some point or matter. The enemy's lie is always rooted in the character of the God we say we trust in. He has seemingly endless angles from which to attack us in this. They can range from the trustworthiness of His promises, to His ability to bring them to pass, to His desire to really want to help us. We are born into this world as a fallen race. Christ the Redeemer was sent by His Father to break the curse of sin and its power, and to dispel all the lies we have believed to be true. He did this at the cross, and the key to understanding this can be found at that cross.

Jesus was crucified at Golgotha, "the place of the skull." At the top of that skull shaped hill, with His cross driven squarely into it. Think on that picture for a moment. The skull encases the brain. It is in the brain where our perception of what is true and what is a lie is found. The cross of Christ literally penetrated that skull like hill. His cross, and all that it signifies also penetrates our own "skulls" and the brain within if we will but receive the fullness of that work. In His crucifixion and resurrection Christ brought the promise of freedom and victory. Truth triumphs over every lie, even the deepest and most destructive that we have believed. The work of the cross not only captures our hearts, but our brains as well....if we'll but receive it.

It is recorded that at the cross, a soldier pierced his side with a spear, and that water and blood flowed from the wound. Someone said of this that "the water of His Word washes our mind and His blood breaks all the power of sin over our minds." For so many, His blood has covered their sin, but they have never allowed the water of His Word to wash and cleanse their minds. Someone said that we cannot take a destructive (lying) thought out of our mind. It can only be replaced by a more powerful (truthful) one. This happens when we allow our minds to be washed, cleansed, of all the lies we have received and believed. Scripture says that He speaks words of "Spirit and life." At the cross, the Truth, His Truth, penetrated the domain of the Father of lies. In His resurrection, the pathway into the fullness of His Truth was laid open to us. Isn't it time for each of us to enter into that fullness, to exchange every lie we have believed for the Truth that He has spoken? 2000 years ago, at the place of the skull, Truth broke all the power of the lie. Have you entered into that Truth in all it's fullness? Where are the lies still lurking, sending out their poison? The power of the lie, all of it was broken at the cross. His Truth now reigns. Receive it that it may now reign in you.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Sacred Wounds

"From now on, don't let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body that scars that show I belong to Jesus." Galatians 6:17...."Wounds become sacred when we give them to God." Ruth Graham

There are many certainties in life, and one of the most daunting is that we will not escape it without wounds. Oftentimes deep wounds, agonizing wounds, wounds that change the very course of our life. What that course turns out to be will be determined by what it is we do with our wounds.

I don't want to diminish the pain of anyone's wounding or loss. I certainly know the extent of my own. However, something I have observed, and fallen prey to myself, is our holding onto that pain and the wounding that accompanies it. It becomes something we don't want to let go. Someone said that we can get past that which we can't get over. That means that there is always a memory of the pain, but that we don't "live" there. It doesn't hold us captive. More, we can make a kind of idol of that wound, staying in that place emotionally, spiritually, and sometimes, even physically. I've always felt that Abraham's father, Terah, did this concerning the death of his son Haran. Terah had intended to take his family to the land of Canaan, but stopped at a village with the same name as his son, Haran. He never left. He never arrived to where it was he was supposed to go. That village became an idol to his loss. Where might we have done the same...over a lost loved one, marriage, relationship, ministry?

Paul bore on his body the scars of a life lived out in Christ. Many were his losses and wounds. He saw all of them as testimony that he belonged completely to his Lord and Savior. Beth Moore said something to the effect that if we give them to Him, Jesus will write His name upon our wounds and scars. His signature not only marks us as His, but is a testimony to His healing. As Ruth Graham says, when we surrender our wounds to Him, they become sacred. Sacred wounds. They become so because they are signed, in love, in His blood, with His name. But only when we give them freely, willingly, to Him.

It is said that the only wounds and scars that will be seen in heaven will be Christ's, the mark of both His crucifixion and resurrection. And by the power of His wounds, all trace of our wounds will be gone. Yet on this side of eternity, we still bear them. How will we bear them? As captives or conquerors? Do we live in them, make idols of them? Or do we surrender them to Him and see them made sacred? Sacred wounds. Is that what ours are?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Two Voices

"I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God." I Corinthians 1:18.....'The enemies tactics are limitless, but his intention is plain; Get the Christian off track. He wants us to mistrust Jesus and start making decisions based on fear and anxiety." Christ Tiegreen

In my prayer journal, I've written down a question that cannot be avoided by any professing believer; "Who's louder; The Truth of the cross, or the lies of the enemy?" I believe this is a question that needs to be answered definitively by a once for all choice, but also daily as that choice will be tested by the incessant attacks of the kingdom of darkness and death.

The Word says that "All the promises of God are 'Yes and Amen.' " Satan's ploy will always be to "get us off track," to, as Tiegreen says, "get us to mistrust Jesus." When this happens, we do base our choices, decisions and direction on emotions and feelings. He will apply such pressure as to make what we're feeling to be more real than what He is saying. It's a simple but effective plan, and it is working in the lives of so many who confess a faith in Him, but give witness to deep seated unbelief in Him. Today, any day, is that plan working in you and me?

It's been said that Satan shouts in the darkness while God whispers. Ears that are not attuned to the heart of the Father will never hear the whisper. Only the shouts will register, and the actions and choices that follow will be rooted in the lies within the shouting. The shouting will tell us that we have to do something, that we must act now, before it's too late. The shouts will speak every kind of lie, and all of them based in the ultimate lie that Christ cannot be trusted, that His words aren't true, at least in the particular situation we face. We only hear the shouting because we've never learned to discern His voice, His whisper, in the secret place of intimacy with Him, with His heart.

Tiegreen writes this, "If we let circumstances constrain us, Satan will manipulate them indefinitely, stringing us along our whole lives in uncertain, fear induced steps...Do not negotiate with the terrorist when he threatens." The terrorist of our souls will threaten us all the day long. The giant Goliath stood before the Israelites shouting threats day after day while they cowered in their tents. David, a young shepherd armed with only a sling, shouting at the giant, who'd been speaking in the voice of the devil, "You come to me armed with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel." The army of Israel had forgotten that. The giant's shouting was louder than their God's truth. It was not so for David, who not only knew that "secret place," he lived there. He slew the giant and he won the victory. So shall we if reject the shouts and lies of the darkness, and embrace the Truth of the Lifegiver, the Truthgiver. Two voices come before you today. That of the author of lies, and the voice of the Author of Truth and Life. Which do you hear? Which do you live by?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Plate

"The churches of Macedonia...first gave their own selves to the Lord." 2 Corinthians 8:1,5....."Modern Macedonians give money, but the early Macedonians first gave God the Macedonians." Vance Havner

The above Scripture and quote make me think of two stories that greatly impacted me. The first was told by Sheila Walsh about a young man in the Scottish village she grew up in. He was known as "Wee Jimmy." Wee Jimmy was known throughout the village as a thief and troublemaker. One night he slipped into a church with the intent to rob it of the night's offering. As he waited on the back row, the Word being preached pierced his heart, and at the end of the service, responded to the invitation and gave his heart to Christ. He then faithfully began attending all worship services. A few weeks later, as the offering plate came to him, he asked the usher to place it on the floor beside his seat. The older gentleman softly told him that it was fine if he had nothing to give, but Wee Jimmy persisted, and finally, the usher placed the plate right beside his seat. Jimmy then stood up, and placed his feet in the plate. This was his witness to all that he was offering to God, not part of his money, goods, or himself. He would be the offering. He was the offering. Like the Macedonians, Wee Jimmy gave God the offering of himself; all of himself.

The second story is one I heard of taking place in a worship service in a poor Chinese village. It was customary during the worship to pass around a large sack, into which the villagers would place whatever they could, chickens, farm goods, and so on. When it came to one woman, she had absolutely nothing countable to give; so she gave to Him all that she could. She stepped into the sack, and by doing so gave witness, just as Wee Jimmy had, just as had the early Macedonians, that she gave to Him herself....all of herself.

How do we fit into these stories? Do we find it easy to write a check, make a pledge, to give a portion, while holding back the rest? Do we ever, as the "plate" comes to us, step into it? When the "sack" comes before us, do we pull it over ourselves? Just how far, how deep, does our offering to Him really go?

In Jesus Christ, the Father gave us His all. What do we offer in return? In Jesus Christ, the Father gave to us according to His riches, which are infinite. Why do we tend to always give to Him out of our own. I remember an older pastor once telling this young pastor to not fear asking too much of my people, "They'll never give too much." Cynical? Perhaps, but the Wee Jimmy's and the Chinese villager are too rarely found in our churches. We'll give up to a tithe, sometimes even more. Rarely will we give all of ourselves, our time, resources, talents, lives, to Him. His plate and sack will come before us today; what will we put into it....a portion.....or all that we are? We may avoid them today, but they'll come again tomorrow, and the next day after, and beyond. What will we put into them?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The First Question

"I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me." Acts 20:23-24...."What would you do if the Holy Spirit told you your future would be full of prisons and hardships?" Chris Tiegreen...."The first question we must answer is, have we determined beforehand, that no matter what He requires or asks, our answer is 'Yes?' " Francis Chan

The questions that Tiegreen and Chan ask pierce our hearts with an inescapable reality. They cut to the core of our being. They ask us if even should He reveal to us that following Him would involve sacrifice beyond anything we thought possible, even the loss of everything, would we still follow Him? Even if the following meant severe hardship, prison, even death? In short, if in the call, He placed the cross, His cross, and the death it calls us to before us, would we still come? Would we still follow?

These questions clash with the usual picture given of what it is to "come to Christ." We like to emphasize all the great things that go with entering into the saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We're told that He has a "wonderful plan for our lives." Good things, abundance, provision, relief, all these lie ahead of us. We just need to enter in and the desires of our heart will be ours. Prisons, hardships, a cross, these are not usually mentioned as being part of the package.

To Peter, Paul, and others in the Bible, Jesus clearly told them much of what lie in their future. Death and hardship would be the cost of following Him. He told them that to follow Him wholly would mean they would share in His suffering. He was clear on that with them. He is clear on that with us. He's told us it would be so. So why are we so shocked when hardship and suffering do come upon us? Didn't He tell us it would be so? He did. It's just that we who are to be His voice, are His voice, have chosen to leave most, if not all of that part of His invitation out. Prisons, hardships, suffering, and a cross do not have mass appeal, and we want to appeal to the masses. The cross has always offended, and though we may fully display it in our churches, we rarely do so in our message and witness. So we are ill-prepared for what it is to truly follow Christ. When they come, too often, we go....as far from them as we can get.

To Paul and Peter and others, Jesus gave some details on what lie before them. For most though, He doesn't. He just tells us that to follow Him fully will require the losing of our lives, sometimes literally, but always spiritually. He tells us that there will be suffering, and if we have not settled that first question as to whether we will go with Him anyway, we can be sure that when suffering comes, we won't continue on with Him. In John 6, we're told that most of His followers turned away from Him when He made this very demand. He asked the remaining disciples if they too would leave Him? Peter spoke for all; "Lord, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life."

How do we answer Chan's first question? It cannot be taken lightly or avoided, and it is asked of each of us. Have you already settled on the answer, or, as Oswald Chambers puts it, "Do you shuffle your feet?" The old hymn goes, "Though none go with You, still I will follow." If everyone, simply everyone turns back, will you, will we, still follow?

Blessings,
Pastor O