Today's TFTD is not my original work! Thank you to Eddie Hilburn for this article which was published in REV., Sept/Oct. '06 issue.
Selling Maps?
I was driving around in an unfamiliar city looking for a local coffee shop where I was going to meet a friend. I was lost! Being a 21st century man, I stopped to askd for directions at a convenience store. I explained my predicament to the man behind the counter and asked if he could help, but he told me he had no idea where I was trying to go. He loaned me a phonebook to look up the address and sold me a map while I mumbled in despair. A customer spoke up, "I overheard that conversation and I can help you. I know exactly where that coffee shop is. I'm going right by there. Come with me." I thanked him and followed him out of the store. My kind guide told me that we would go through a few traffic lights, make a couple of turns, then I'd easily spot the shop. I got into my car and stayed attached to the bumper of my new best friend's car until the coffee shop appeared.
Later I reflected on my experience with two people who had helped me find my way and I wondered about the ways that I help others. Am I just selling maps to places I've never been, or am I accompanying people on a transformational journey?
I intend to lead people to follow Jesus. I tell them that it is possible to find a life full of grace, and to want God more and more. In this life, we leave behind sinful and destructive behaviors- not just because we should, but because that is the natural result of being with God. That's what I tell people. But do I tell people this because it is just the right thing to say, or because that is my personal experience? I have no illusions that I am or ever will be a model of perfection. That's not even the issue. The issue is my own personal transformation. I am telling people they can be transformed more and more into Christ-likeness, but how deeply am I committed to the process? - Eddie Hilburn, Pastor - First Baptist Church, Kilgore, TX
_____________________________________
Christianity is not a process to be sold, nor is this life captured in formulas like 3 Easy Steps to Christlikeness. It's a life journey. Jesus never intended for you and me to work it out alone, nor is the best way to become all that God wants you and me to be discovered in solitary study. It is a communal thing! It is one friend walking with another friend, not merely telling, but showing. Every Christian should be in relationships where someone is leading him and in which he is leading another. When Jesus invited some men to become His disciples, He said - "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" (Mark 1:17, NLT) He wasn't inviting them into an exclusive club. He was showing them how to live, so they, in turn, could show others. Paul says it like this - "And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s." (1 Corinthians 11:1, NLT)
That kind of involvement requires an authenticity of character, that is only found in truly knowing Christ, not in religious practices confined to a few hours each week. If we are not really forgiven and going through spiritual transformation, we cannot speak genuinely about change. If we have hidden sins that we have not carried to the Cross, we will never, ever be transparent to others, which is a foundational requirement for a shared journey of close friends in faith!
Many of us are simply selling maps instead of taking trips together. Are you following someone in a pilgrimage to Heaven, inviting others along the way to join the journey- or are you just talking about place that others have described to you?
O may all who come behind us
Selling Maps?
I was driving around in an unfamiliar city looking for a local coffee shop where I was going to meet a friend. I was lost! Being a 21st century man, I stopped to askd for directions at a convenience store. I explained my predicament to the man behind the counter and asked if he could help, but he told me he had no idea where I was trying to go. He loaned me a phonebook to look up the address and sold me a map while I mumbled in despair. A customer spoke up, "I overheard that conversation and I can help you. I know exactly where that coffee shop is. I'm going right by there. Come with me." I thanked him and followed him out of the store. My kind guide told me that we would go through a few traffic lights, make a couple of turns, then I'd easily spot the shop. I got into my car and stayed attached to the bumper of my new best friend's car until the coffee shop appeared.
Later I reflected on my experience with two people who had helped me find my way and I wondered about the ways that I help others. Am I just selling maps to places I've never been, or am I accompanying people on a transformational journey?
I intend to lead people to follow Jesus. I tell them that it is possible to find a life full of grace, and to want God more and more. In this life, we leave behind sinful and destructive behaviors- not just because we should, but because that is the natural result of being with God. That's what I tell people. But do I tell people this because it is just the right thing to say, or because that is my personal experience? I have no illusions that I am or ever will be a model of perfection. That's not even the issue. The issue is my own personal transformation. I am telling people they can be transformed more and more into Christ-likeness, but how deeply am I committed to the process? - Eddie Hilburn, Pastor - First Baptist Church, Kilgore, TX
_____________________________________
Christianity is not a process to be sold, nor is this life captured in formulas like 3 Easy Steps to Christlikeness. It's a life journey. Jesus never intended for you and me to work it out alone, nor is the best way to become all that God wants you and me to be discovered in solitary study. It is a communal thing! It is one friend walking with another friend, not merely telling, but showing. Every Christian should be in relationships where someone is leading him and in which he is leading another. When Jesus invited some men to become His disciples, He said - "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" (Mark 1:17, NLT) He wasn't inviting them into an exclusive club. He was showing them how to live, so they, in turn, could show others. Paul says it like this - "And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s." (1 Corinthians 11:1, NLT)
That kind of involvement requires an authenticity of character, that is only found in truly knowing Christ, not in religious practices confined to a few hours each week. If we are not really forgiven and going through spiritual transformation, we cannot speak genuinely about change. If we have hidden sins that we have not carried to the Cross, we will never, ever be transparent to others, which is a foundational requirement for a shared journey of close friends in faith!
Many of us are simply selling maps instead of taking trips together. Are you following someone in a pilgrimage to Heaven, inviting others along the way to join the journey- or are you just talking about place that others have described to you?
O may all who come behind us
Find us faithful,
May the fire of our devotion
Light their way.
May the footprints that we leave,
Lead them to believe,
And the lives we live
Inspire them to obey.
O may all who come behind us
Find us faithful.
We're pilgrims on the journey
Of the narrow road,
And those who've gone before us
Line the way.
Cheering on the faithful,
Encouraging the weary,
Their lives a stirring testament
To God's sustaining grace.
Surrounded by so great
A cloud of witnesses,
Let us run the race
Not only for the prize,
But as those who've gone before us.
Let us leave to those behind us,
The heritage of faithfulness
Passed on thru godly lives.
O may all who come behind us
Find us faithful.
© 1987 Jonathan Mark Music ARR UBP of Gaither Copyright Management / Birdwing Music (a div. of EMI Christian Music Publishing) CCLI License No. 810055
No comments:
Post a Comment