Monday, September 16, 2013

Key Questions

There are a few key questions that are really at the core of our walk with Jesus. Now I write this knowing full well that I am no theologian – knowing that this is in no way an exhaustive list. These are questions that I have noticed come up when we’re living missionally, sometimes at big watershed moments, where things are clearly and tangibly wrong, and other times when we are physically exhausted. There often comes a time when we need to remind ourselves of the choices we have made, the promises and standards we have signed up for, and our need to commit to those ever further every day. We remind ourselves of these, not to carry on with a pile of works like a spiritual pack mule somehow trying to earn our own salvation, but because our commitments remind us of the one we have chosen to serve, our beloved Jesus, because He first loved us.

Will you love when it is hard? Will you watch something that you have invested, loved and poured into be torn apart by vultures, or literally burn and go up in smokes – but push on in love and obedience to God’s call; knowing that our agony and empathy is nothing compared to that of our Creators? Will you continue to love and care for people and places when it literally tears you up from the inside out? Will you find rest in God’s sovereignty? Will you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and lean not on your own understanding?

I remain confident with every fiber of my being, and molecule of my heart, that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God that is Jesus Christ my Lord. (Romans 8:38-39). I recognize that my sufferings are small, and they are a privilege, compared to the weight of the cross carried by my King.