A Reflection on Living for Jesus
by LewisI’ve spent much of the day today reading about and thinking about three men who lived out their belief in Jesus and in a Father who is “able to do abundantly more than we can ask or think.” Perhaps I’m more sensitive to that topic because of the last two sermons I’ve delivered at the Palo Alto Church of Christ, or perhaps God is just trying to tell me something.
Whatever the reason, I share this with you partly as a warning. I cannot read about these people and how they lived their lives without some influence on my own life, and that undoubtedly means that I will try to influence you in those same ways. If you are comfortable being a part-time Christian or if you think that the church can somehow be separatist and still be the church, be afraid, be very afraid!
Of course I’ve already tried, and will continue to try, to convince you that your life has to be different if you are a follower of Jesus. Different than the world, I mean, and for some of us different than it is. More trusting of God. More extremist against injustice. More patient with each other. More urgent for the lost. More desirous of a deep and real relationship with the creator of the universe, including us.
Just who are these departed saints who have invaded my sunny afternoon and challenged me from the grave? Larry Norman (take a look at the PACC blog to see the entry I just posted about him), Martin Luther King, Jr., and Francis Schaeffer. It may be that you have only heard of King among those three, but what they all had in common while they walked on this earth was a willingness to be counter-cultural for Jesus. All of them gained some measure of prominence in their lives, using the gifts God had given them in ways that honored God, but not a single one of them sought fame and fortune — they sought to please their Father. One did it with protests, one did it with a school in Switzerland, and one did it with rock and roll music.
May we do the same — with whatever God puts in our hands!
Under the mercy,
Lewis
March 17th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
[...] ETC: Everyday Thoughts Collected wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptA Reflection on Living for Jesus March 17th, 2008 by Lewis I’ve spent much of the day today reading about and thinking about three men who lived out their belief in Jesus and in a Father who is “able to do abundantly more than we can ask or think.” Perhaps I’m more sensitive to that topic because of the last two sermons I’ve delivered at the Palo Alto Church of Christ, or perhaps God is just trying to tell me something. Whatever the reason, I share this with you partly as a warning. I cannot [...]