Called to go

Acts 1:8
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

I have a friend leaving today for Ecuador. And she's a work friend. That's how we know each other. Except that we've spent some time together in Bible study at work, studying Purpose Driven Life. The first time we went through it, I so clearly heard the call to go on mission that I couldn't ignore it. And that's saying something. I can ignore lots of things I don't want to hear. My call led to Peru. At that time, she was in a totally different place. She wasn't ready to go. Since then, we've been through other Bible studies together, the Purpose Driven Life at least one more time, and her life has changed. And she's going to Ecuador. I'm praying for her safety and that she's going to meet God there the way I met Him in Peru. Her life will never be the same.

And here's how my life's changed...I think I'm envious. I want to go too. I want to experience that closeness and power again. God really can work miracles in hearts that are open.

Joy in the Gospel

I did the right thing and went to my Bible study last night. This is what happens to me. I get overwhelmed in life and I start to drop out of church. Right now, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed between work and my personal stuff so I start the inner whine about how tired I am and I just want to go home and I'd rather do something else with my precious spare time. I hope I'm not alone. Yesterday my friends at work gave me a gift certificate to a local yarn store. And I really wanted to go ahead and take care of that. What can I say? Money burns a hole in my pocket. And I had to have a verse memorized for that study. I've been working on memorizing something else. Excuses, excuses.

So this is what I did.
1. I left work on time.
2. I went home and found a nice, short verse to memorize. Psalm 71:14: "But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more." And apparently I memorized it well enough to carry over to today.
3. I went to the Bible study. And I'm really happy I went. It was such a good reminder...joy in the gospel.

Why don't we have Paul's joy? He was in chains and facing serious things and he said, "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." The "to die is gain" part is easy for me to understand. The first part is the challenge. I think that spreading the gospel has been given to Christians as a duty, an obligation. It's hard to take joy in an obligation. And the message that we have to give is such a reason for joy. How can giving someone else hope not be a reason to feel joy? I think this is just one more thing that we lose track of in life. And that's how we lose the joy that God wants us to have in this Christian life.

It's just a good thing that gift card wasn't to Barnes & Noble. It would have all been over for Bible study last night. I heart books. I'd have gotten some joy from running wild in a book store. No doubt about that. Of course, if I can just remember what I learned last night, I can have that joy every day.

The Rest of the Gift

Romans 5:8
8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 10:9-10
9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Romans 8:38-39
38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 12:1-2 Living Sacrifices
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

It's really difficult for some people to believe how easy it is to reach God. Jesus died to make it that easy. He died for each sinner and all I have to do is confess him as Lord. And then nothing can separate me from him. Nothing can make me lose the gift. We're really the ones who mess this up because we're not good enough or because something bad happens so we convince ourselves that a loving God is impossible. Or on the flip side, that a loving God couldn't possibly intend to someday follow through with his promise of judgement. I think today I'll thank God for giving me a simple faith. On the simple confession "Jesus is Lord", I have no doubts. And the rest of it is important, but I don't have to figure it all out now. I may stumble over intellectual questions or the pain of disappointment. Nothing is going to separate me from the love of God.

Gift of God

Romans 6:23
23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Aren't unexpected gifts the best? The ones given "just because"...just because I love you, just because I saw this and thought of you, just because. The gift of God is a total "just because I love you" kind of gift. There's absolutely nothing you can do to deserve it. Why? Because all have sinned and fallen short and the wages of sin is death. That's it. We're all eliminated from earning eternal life. But Jesus was our gift. Of course, that doesn't mean we all have to accept the gift. I think I'm one of those people who has trouble with getting gifts that I don't feel like I've earned. Or maybe "earned" should be "deserve" in that sentence. This is one gift I accept, whether I deserve it or not. And I'm 100% sure that it will never be taken away from me. What a great gift, right?

Glory of God

Romans 3:23 (New International Version)
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

So in a couple of the conversations I've had lately, either about my testimony or about joy, the idea that some people have better sin than others comes up. The idea that I can pat myself on the back that at least I never did anything that bad. My problem is that my testimony seems less influential because I don't have a dramatic conversion story. And both ideas are just wrong. One is pride and the other is some other weird thing that keeps me from accomplishing God's purpose, and that's just another sin, There is no sin scale, right? All have sinned and fall short. And God's grace is for all of us. And will all be forced to make the decision to accept it. Or not.

I'm not who I was

I was thinking about Paul's story and this song together. And really, it's every Christian's story, no matter how dramatic your conversion is. I had to give my testimony in Sunday School this weekend. I don't really have any drama...good family of good people. I wasn't raised in church, but I was nearly as "good" before as I am now. Which is to say, not as good as I could be. Anyway, what's different in my life? Nothing more and nothing less than I can live it with hope, security, and joy. I have a purpose. Oh, and God has called me to do things that I would never have thought of on my own. So that's a pretty big change, right? My outsides don't appear that different but, man, on the inside...God's working.

Don't quit

Most of what I know about Jeremiah, the book, is the verse that shows up all over the place, Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." And that's not a bad thing to know, a good promise. Yesterday, we looked at the earlier Jeremiah, at the man, the prophet who struggled for 20 years with the message that God sent. People hated him. He struggled to do God's will, answered the call, and people really hated him for it. And Jeremiah got really angry at God. Who could really blame him? He's suffering, he's obedient, and it looks like nothing is changing. I'd be angry and bitter and depressed, too. And disappointed in God. It's a tough place to be. I've been there.

Jeremiah 20:18 says
18 Why did I ever come out of the womb
to see trouble and sorrow
and to end my days in shame?

But there was hope for Jeremiah. This wasn't the end. Now we know that his life was going to change, radically change. Things were going to get better. He'd see results. But he had to hold on. The 2 key points of the sermon were:
1. Even when God is silent, He is still working. Even Jesus felt the absence of God. But God was still working in the world. Saving the world.
2. Don't stop talking to God. Jeremiah ranted at God, but he didn't give up on God. He continued to claim God's promises. I've been here. Angry and disillusioned but totally hopeless without something to hold on and believe in. And I know that God has promised me that He's going to bring about something good from all the stuff in my life because I belong to Him.

We talked also in my joy Bible study about how it's so easy to sit in judgement of other people who seem to lead a charmed life, no difficulties at all. There really aren't many of them out there, but there are some. And I can sit back and think to myself how much stronger I am than they are until I run up against someone else who's carried more and better than I have. What right do I have to be angry and disillusioned when I've had such an easy life? Thank goodness God doesn't quit on us either. And he loves me even when I rant...or worse, whine.