As I continue to think about what was written in my last post, Jon "Cowboy" Shupe came up with a good question. He asks, "Is actually God who chases the lions" and "Do we just need to be willing to get in the way of them?" After spending a little bit of time thinking about this here is my conclusion.
If we are people who are willing to live the life God has called us to no matter what the cost we are going to have to face lions. I love the saying that nothing good or worth while comes easy. The life God has for us is the most fulfilling, rewarding, exciting, adventurous, innovating life that we could ask for. But it may well be the hardest and most challenging lifestyle. See, when we choose to let God lead, eventually that path will lead us into situations where will meet lions face to face. And in that moment, what will we choose to do? Will we run away or will we charge? Will we drop our weapons or will we fix bayonets? If our desire is to bring God's Kingdom to earth, we must choose to stare evil in the face and eliminate it from its existance.
So who actually chases? Well I think it is ultimately up to us to decide to chase the lions. To face our fears of doubt, the unkown, failure, and persecution. To live the life God has called us to live will take hard work and much effort. But the pay off and outcome is worth all that we have.
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About Me
- Josh King
- Born: July 7, 1981
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Currently Reading:
- Now Discover You Strengths - Marcus Buckingham
- The Richest Man Who Ever Lived - Steven Scott
Recommended Reading
- The Secret Message of Jesus - Brian McLaren
- Total Money Makeover - Dave Ramsey
- In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day - Mark Batterson
- Visioneering - Andy Stanley
- Next Generation Leader - Andy Stanley
- The Unstoppable Force - Erwin McManus
- Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
- Purpose-Driven Life - Rick Warren
- If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat - John Ortberg
4 comments:
I think you have a good point, but I still wonder about it. I have been doing a lot of reading in the OT lately and one that struck me a lot is what happened in so many of the battles. If you read through 2 Samuel it really gives a filled out perspective on what God means when He says that he will go before us AND be our rearguard. I think this means we need to be like Caleb and Joshua and be willing to fight, understanding who we are in God(and also the point you are making, I think), and yet they also understood that God doesn't just give you strength, He IS our strength.
I think one of the diffences ( sometimes I think they can be very subtle and in someways very blately different) is expressed by the different views of these two statements:
"God helps those who help themselves"
and
"Trust in the Lord and the power of His strength"
I am only begining to understand what it is to Trust in the Lord, but I don't think that it just means to sit on your butt and God will do everything for you. It (once again I think, and I feel that I am only begining to understand this) is a deep down trust in God and sometimes it will mean sitting on your butt, and other times not at all. That is the wonder of the relationship in that it is a relationship and not just some easy rules to follow and figure out. Anyway this is getting long and then some but I think it is pivotal in understanding who God is
Frodo,
I think this better explains what I was trying to say. It is a bit from George Mueller an Evangelist and more from the 1800's:
Mueller summed up the principle like this: “This is one of the great secrets in connection with successful service for the Lord; to work as if everything depended upon our diligence, and yet not to rest in the least upon our exertions, but upon the blessing of the Lord.” (Narrative, vol. 2, p. 290). Or, as the Bible more carefully says it: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). Even more to the point, Paul says: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
So yes we chase, but it is God chasing in us.
I like it Shuper. That's good stuff. I agree that as a result of choosing to follow God, we will come up against some pretty trying times. It is in those times of opposition that God allows the odds to be stacked against us so that He can reveal more of His glory. And Paul says in Romans that we are rejoice in these times because our "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Gotta love it!!!
That can be hard to do. I just marvel at how the apostles would continue to rejoice in their sufferings because of what you stated. I can see at first how that can happen but I find it hard to stay focused on Christ and Him crucified through all of the struggles. Often I find myself becoming bitter, and yet it is through these times of struggle that Christ comes out shining all the brighter through us!!!
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