Do You Know Who You Are?

There is no one quite so disoriented and frustrated as the man or woman who has gone part-way with Christ...the Savior is neither Lord nor rival but somewhere in-between.  The commands in Exodus are acknowledged but the ones of Matthew 6 are for another day and time.  Faith is some sort of murky variable rather than a clear and certain way to face each decision of the day today.   Charity is an institution rather than a lifestyle and contentment is more like shrapnel from an exploded hope.  The whining of the Israelites when they stood at the edge of the Promised Land the first time is such a distant thunder for us but are we certain the lightening does not strike at our feet too?  Are we ready to abandon ourselves to the wild God who told the rich young ruler to get rid of His fortune and follow along the path of disciples?  Will we hold tightly to what we have or pursue the vision our Lord has set before us of holy abandonment to God wherever that may take us?  Is there within us a leaning forward as Christ calls to us to come or do we lurch back at the tug upon the bit.  Many are called but few are chosen!  Are you chosen or do you do most of the choosing?  Something deep within us calls to go into the raging waters of the Galilean Sea but do we hesitate within the boat?   Have you decided to put your plans into God's hand and let Him reshuffle the deck and then show you how you are to make your next move?  Are you confused by your uncertainty to follow Christ or do you have a clear determination to let Him be fully Lord and thereby bring your rebellious disposition into alignment with His plumb line?  Are you a "true Israelite in whom there is nothing false ?"

 "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

John 1:48 NIV

Abandonment...Really?

Lost in our age is a boundless abandonment to much of anything.  We have grown so accustomed to instant messaging and continual entertainment that we grow weary when any vision or mission crosses our perseverance threshold.  Profit margins are now measured by level of effort and degree of boredom.   If anything requires too much of us or does not make us happy, we give up on it.  A holy life is superficially regarded as unattainable, unreasonable.  Given the volume of meta-messages bombarding our conscious thinking, we cannot make heads or tails of what is important to us.  It all is a blur of instantaneous provocations and titillations.  Is it any wonder that some just jump ship; the drowned life a welcome relief to the bombarded one?  Contemptuous humanists mock the Christian who waits upon the Lord because she seems so mediocre, so juvenile.  The contemplation of the scriptures extended past intellectual stimulation is absurdly dissolute for the mind absent of any real hunger for God.  Depravity is now flipped around on its head; faith and purity are the new perversion.  The corrupted soul is the one waiting upon the Lord . The  cost of waiting upon Christ seems monstrous.   To walk in the Spirit is not a moment of exalted rapture but rather a day in and day out communion with the Lord who does speak and certainly leads.  We read the scriptures not to get something out of them but to be given up to them.  We pray, not to attain but to be with God in His very presence.  We sing songs of praise not to be entertained but to live within the mercy and joy of the Living God.  Who has really abandoned himself to Christ?  Who has become accustomed to the voice of God and fallen in love with the One who speaks?  Who has made his life holy in the wash of the Living Word?  Who has gained the treasure of being consecrated and filled with the joy of true Christian living?  Who has been given The Gift and loved the hand that held it?  Are you too callous to be aware of what great love awaits you if you would just  wait for God a moment longer?  Do you have the patience needed to stay where you are so that Jesus Christ might meet you?  Does it seem the greatest good to be with Jesus and give yourself over to Him?  Would it make you happy to gain just one more bit of God in you?  Have you discovered the sweet perfume of holy abandonment?

 Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!"   Luke 18:28 NIV