You CAN be a GREAT Christian

Several years ago, someone gave me a book by Jim Collins, with the title - Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't    “Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”   Jim, I’d like to add from my position, that many people are not great Christians because they are content to be good Christians. 

Are you one of them? 
Are you content to live a moral life, to show up for church, and to be a good citizen- calling that ‘being Christian?’ 

Or do you want to know God’s will, take up His challenge, and live in the fullness of the Spirit?

Great Christians are the product of time and patience, effort and engagement, faith and vision. But, we Americans aren't much for process, are we? Phil Cooke wrote : "We've created a generation of Christians who look for a magic bullet. That's why people travel thousands of miles, from conference to conference, just to 'get a word,' find 'fresh oil,' get 'the glory,' or 'catch the blessing.' ... After WW2, we experienced a time of real miracles in this country. We had amazing prefab houses, miracle drugs, fast food, and space-age appliances - instant satisfaction was everywhere. It changed everything. ... 50 years later we are still addicted to the feeling." (Charisma) We like solutions, self-help, and results.  There are plenty of preachers who offer miracle seeds, prayer clothes, holy oil, vials of water from Jerusalem, or the secret of success in their latest book. No discipline is involved, just a credit card to place the order.

God’s counsel is much different. The Word teaches us to "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; ... those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. " (Psalm 37:7, 9 NKJV) That work, "patiently," in the Hebrew text of the Psalms is a word includes the idea of a woman in labor, enduring pain while she anticipates the birth of her baby!   Good Christians won’t allow themselves that kind of pain. They sidestep it.  Great Christians allow the Spirit to grow inside of them, enduring the difficulty of living against the culture all the while anticipating the glorious new life produced by the Spirit.  Pain is just part of the process.  

Do you think that I am the kind of person who seeks pain for its own sake? Think again. I hate pain and tears and conflict. But, the call of Christ on my life is to faithfulness, not happiness!   There is joy in knowing Christ Jesus, but it is not the ‘ha, ha’ laughter of a TV show or produced by the jokes of a comedian.  It is a deep joy, the kind experienced by a mother who has just delivered her child, an artist who has worked to complete a work, a farmer who looks out over a field now ready to harvest after months of work and waiting. There is plenty of joy in my life. But, the process of growth, the season when the Father is chiseling His likeness into my character, often involves sorrow and/or pain.

You can be a GREAT Christian, but you must "Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish  in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training," (Hebrews 12:2-7, The Message)

There's a goal - to be like Jesus!
There's a home - in the Eternal Presence of God.
There's a reward - the commendation of the Lord of Life!

Keep those things in mind, all the time, then dig in for the long haul. Commit yourself to making a real Kingdom difference, not just to carving out a spot of greater ease or comfort for yourself. It will be worth it all - when we see Jesus!
_________________________

Jesus, what can I give,
What can I bring

to so faithful a friend,
To so loving a King?

Savior, what can be said,
What can be sung

as a praise of Your name
For the things You have done?

Oh, my words could not tell,
Not even in part,
Of the debt of love
that is owed by this thankful heart.

I will offer up my life in spirit and truth,
Pouring out the oil of love as my worship to You.
In surrender I must give my ev'ry part;
Lord, receive the sacrifice of a broken heart.

You deserve my every breath
for You've paid the great cost.
Giving up Your life to death,
Even death on a cross.
You took all my shame away,
There defeated my sin,
Opened up the gates of heaven,

And have beckoned me in.

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