When I take a little time to think about what God is working on my heart about, I don't really like it. It seems that lately God has been pushing me to a radicalism that I am neither comfortable with nor understand very well. At times I feel God is pushing me to abandon the things that I have accumulated, the culture that I enjoy, the securities that protect me, the freedoms that I treasure and the reputation that I have established and put it all on the line for the sake of His kingdom. His kingdom? The poor, the creation, the lost.
How do I feel like God is saying these things to me? It seems as if God is speaking to me (and has been for about the last three to four years) through the authors that I have been reading, through the people that I have loved, and through the church to which He has led me.
Some high lights.
- I have been reading Wendell Berry for a while. I started with his fiction. His stories of how families and communities have crumbled over the years first moved my heart. I recently have begun to read a little of his non-fiction. Here he gets even more blatant about these deteriorations. If you're interested read this article.
- John Piper's sermons and writings about not wasting your life have been very influential. His thesis is "If God has been so merciful to you, to spare you from the destruction that you deserve, what are you going to offer him, save your entire life." Is that not the only viable response to the Gospel?
- It seems like every sermon where my heart has been truly moved has been about my response to the "least of these." I have cried over the Compassion International children, I have cried over the presentation of adopted babies at church, I have been frustrated with myself when the missions team comes back from Africa.
- Conversations with friends like Ben Arendt, Jared and Meghan Friesen and many of my friends that I made at Calvin College have been the ones that still work on my heart. The conversations have been around topics like creation care, the poor, politics, vocation and every part of life.
Matthew 22:34-40
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 25: 31-46
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Michah 6:7-8 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life[c] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
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If you've gotten this far in the post thanks so much for reading. I don't know what exactly to do with any of this stuff. I don't know if God is calling me to go to South America and serve him. (If he is I am totally ready for that.) I don't know if God is just calling me to get involved in the Latino ministry at our church or if God is calling me to sell our house and move to West St. Paul. Maybe God is calling me to sell our house and move out to the country. I would love to hear any of your thoughts on these topics.
3 comments:
Wow! God is working in your heart and that's a good thing. I'm looking forward to seeing just what He's going to do with you and your family. It's a scary thing to think that God might ask something really hard of you and expect you to be obedient, but it's also wonderful to know that He loves you and wants only what is best for you and those you love. I'll be praying!
I also meant to add that the Latino ministry sounds like a great place to start. It's not coincidental that you've just taken Spanish to brush up on your language skills.
Our sermon yesterday was actually on the passage from Matthew that you quoted here. This is something that we struggle with as well. It is confusing living in a society that has so much, but is willing to give so little. Our pastor encouraged us not to feel guilty about Gods blessings in our lives, but to use them to do something good. I think that we need to start with something small and see where God leads us through it. Go on a mission trip or dive into Latino ministry. It might open some new doors for you.
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