One of the things God often uses to teach me is books. I love to read. I love plots and characters. But sometimes I read a topical book. These books often help me grow the most. Here is an excerpt that I have been thinking about recently.
From Radical
We have seen the cost of following Jesus. Give up
everything you have. Sell your possessions, and give to the poor. Go to places
of great need and great danger, where you may lose your life. Give your life
for the sake of Christ among the nations. The cost of picking up a cross and
following Jesus is steep. It cost you everything you have. But in the end, the
reward is sweet. You gain more that you ever had.
In the words of Jesus, “No one who has left home or
brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the
gospel will fail to receive a hundred time as much in this present age… and in
the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30) When you do the math on this, this
really is no sacrifice. In the introduction to Jim Elliot’s biography, his
wife, Elisabeth, wrote a summary of is life and death that seems most
appropriate at this point. She said:
Jim’s
aim was to know God. His course, obedience—the only course that could lead to
the fulfillment of his aim. His end was what some would call an extraordinary
death, although in facing death he had quietly pointed out that many have died
because obedience to God.
He
and the other men whom he died with were hailed as heroes, “martyrs.” I do not
approve. Nor would they have approved.
Is
the distinction between living for Christ and dying for Him, after all, so
great? Is not the second the logical conclusion of the first? Furthermore, to
live for God is to die, “daily,” As the apostle Paul put it. It is to lose
everything that we may gain Christ. It is in thus laying down our lives that we
find them.
As
Elisabeth Elliot points out, not even dying a martyr’s death is classified as
extraordinary obedience when you are following a Savior who died on a cross.
Suddenly a martyr’s death seems like normal obedience.
So what happens when radical obedience to Christ becomes
the new normal? Are you willing to see? You have a choice. You can cling to
short-term treasures that you cannot keep, or you can live for long-term
treasures that you cannot lose: people coming to Christ; men, women, and
children living because they now have food; unreached tribes receiving the
gospel. And the all-consuming satisfaction of knowing and experiencing Christ
as the treasures above all others.
You and I have an average of about seventy or eighty
years on this earth. During these years we are bombarded with the temporary.
Make money. Get stuff. Be comfortable. Live well. Have fun. In the middle of it
all, we get blinded to the eternal. But it’s there. You and I stand on the
porch of eternity. Both of us will soon stand before God to give an account for
out stewardship of the time, resources, the gifts, and ultimately the gospel he
has entrusted to us. When that day comes, I am convinced we will not wish we
had given more of ourselves to living the American dream. We will not wish that
we had made more money, acquired more stuff, lived more comfortable, taken more
vacations, watched more television, pursued greater retirement, or been more
successful in the eyes of the world. Instead we will wish we had given more or
ourselves to living for the day when every nation, tribe, people, and language
will bow around the throne and sing praises of the Savior who delights in
radical obedience and the God who deserves eternal worship.
Are you ready to live for this dream? Let’s not wave any
longer.
Pg. 215-217
