They were "Verizon" men! Their folders were emblazoned with the company's logo. Their dark suits were conservative, their white shirts starched, their ties knotted perfectly. When they spoke, it was with a practiced courtesy. The two young men in the church office were company representatives who set aside their individualism, their personal preferences - to do the work of their employer. They were commissioned to check our phone records and to talk with us to determine if there were any ways that Verizon could improve the way our communications needs were being met. And all this, they did for a salary!
I am a "Jesus" man! I represent Him to my world- hopefully with even more dedication than those two Verizon guys who visited our offices a couple of weeks ago. He has called me to set aside my convenience, my comfort, to give my life for His cause. Many Believers do not understand the Christian life in that way, at all. The message is inverted in this culture so that many come to Christ Jesus with the idea that He will make their lives easier. Many of our complaints before God are related to that upside down concept. We demand that God serve us, coddle us, and take away the things in our lives that we find inconvenient; growing angry when He asks us to give up our money, our time, or our preferences to serve Him. Have we forgotten the Word's instruction?
Jesus "came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage." (Matthew 20:28, The Message)
"Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—... Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever." (Philippians 2:4-9, The Message)
Such commitment is costly, no question about it. It requires that everything - family, reputation, money, freedom of expression - be put on the line for God. And, truthfully, few Believers are ready to do that! A couple of weeks ago, I was part of a commissioning service for missionaries who were being sent out by the Assemblies of God to represent the Lord and to take His Good News to the far corners of the earth. There were dozens of young couples, many with small children, preparing themselves to serve in foreign countries, often under adverse conditions, far from family and friends. For nearly the entire service, I was choking on a huge lump in my throat and wiping away tears in my eyes. My prayers that evening was for them and for me, that I would be willing to lay down my life for Him, without complaint! How quickly I pray for blessings. How easily the words that ask for greater amounts of goods come to my lips. "Lord, bless me," is a prayer that needs no practice. I do not so quickly pray, "Lord, use me! Send me anywhere, ask anything. My answer will be a ready yes, for my delight and desire is to serve You."
We must never forget that this present world is not our home. We can try to settle in, to build our mansion and our fortune, but all too quickly it will pass away - or we will! We are God's own, "Jesus' people." To the extent that we understand that and abandon ourselves to His cause, we are promised a rich reward. Believer, consider carefully His call to service and embrace it, knowing that in faithful obedience, in selfless surrender, there is a different kind of delight -a joy that surpasses the joys of self-expression and self-fulfillment.
Here is a word from the Word to meditate on today.
"Peter said to him, "We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?" Jesus replied, "I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then." (Matthew 19:27-30, NLT)
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