This week, at a Bible Study hosted in my home, we began discussing what the Word “radical” means in our society, especially in regards to our Christian faith. We wrestled and rebelled against the idea that giving more than 10% is radical, the idea that more than half an hour of Bible reading per day is radical, that praying in tongues (at all) is radical. We found ourselves looking to the Jesus of our Bibles and simply being dissatisfied with the “little” lives we lead for Christ in this country, wanting more. Whatever happened to the Christian’s ability to see unlimited possibilities in Christ? Whatever happened to our ability to see boldness, adventure, and other great things in our future in Him? What has limited us?
Thus sensitized to this subject, as I was studying in Mark this week, I began to find my answer. In Mark 7:8-9, in the Message, Jesus explains what limits our vision of God’s ability in our lives. He says, “‘They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy, ditching God’s command and taking up the latest fads.’ He went on, ‘Well, good for you. You get rid of God’s command so you won’t be inconvenienced.’ Then he said, ‘You show great skill in avoiding the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings …” How guilty are we of that? Of rushing around, too busy to be inconvenienced about the Lord’s work? Perhaps God lays it on our heart to call someone – but we’re too busy. Perhaps He calls us to try something new – but it would mean leaving our comfort zone. Perhaps He’s leading us to quit our job for something that will allow us more ministry – but it would require leaving everything we know and receiving far less pay … Do we do it? Or is it easier to avoid that subject? God is not calling us to live simple, safe lives of traditional ease! Tradition has little to do with following God! Yet, tradition can easily limit our vision of the life God has called us too. Convenience can bind us and enslave us to mediocrity. Following fads will distract us from the purpose which God created us for.
Jesus further addressed this issue of distracted focus, and blurred spiritual vision in Mark 8. In Mark 8:33, after Jesus has fed the five thousand, healed a blind man, and been correctly identified by Peter as the Son of God, He has to rebuke Peter for thinking too small. See, when Jesus explained His mission on earth (I believe with great excitement and passion for what He had been given to do to reconcile human beings with their Father in Heaven), Peter tried to talk Him out of it – was allowing his thinking to be limited to the human realm. And Jesus responds, “Get away from me, Satan! You don’t care about the same things God does. You care only about things that people think are important (ERV – emphasis mine).” In the Contemporary English translation, it says, “You are thinking like everyone else and not like God.” How often do we fall into the same trap? The plan of God seems so radical, so big, that we can’t fathom it. So what do we do? We talk each other out of it; we cut up the vision so it’s in more manageable pieces and attempt to digest it that way … ignoring the far grander plan that is lost when we do that. How pathetic! We’ve seen God do amazing things! We’ve experienced His mighty power resurrecting us from the death of sin into the glorious life of His Son! So how can we claim back the vision of God’s plan that is rightfully ours? That will spur us onto passionate service and regret-free lives of adventure for the King?
To be honest, I think that question comes back to 1 Samuel 16:7, which in the Fenton translation says, “A man looks with his eyes, but the Everliving looks with His heart.” We need to be cultivating our understanding of God’s heart, about what He cares about. We need to be stirring up in ourselves the same passions God has. God tells us over and over again in the Word what His passions are, what He longs to see us doing (check out Isaiah 58:6-11, for one example, Micah 6:8 for another). We need to see with His heart for the people around us. He says He’s waiting to come back to the earth because He doesn’t want anyone to perish – that’s His heart! And it should be our heart too.
What does it look like when we get this? When our vision changes to His vision for us? In a book I’m reading by Tommy Newberry right now, called The 4:8 Principle, he addresses this issue, and provides a more detailed explanation of what it means to see with eyes of faith. He says, on page 74, “With spiritual eyes, we are able to see beyond the obvious surface appearance to the deeper spiritual realities. All great leaders, spouses, parents, and coaches exercise these eyes of faith. They see potential and truth even though concepts may be temporarily obscured in a veil of negativity. They acknowledge that the sun exists when only clouds are visible. They recognize great strength even in the midst of great struggles. They discern opportunities when other see only gridlock. Appearances, after all, can be quite deceiving. Spiritual eyes detect and draw out excellence in others.” That, my friends, is how we are to see the world around us. That is the potential we have to change our world, simply by aligning our vision with God’s, by cutting free from tradition and the quest for what is most convenient, and pursuing His calling more passionately.
As we contemplate this together, I pray that you’d also spend time meditating on Mark 8:34, in the ERV, which I think is the key to all of this. It says, “Then Jesus called the crowd and his followers to Him. He said, ‘Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you for following me.” Will you do that with me? Will you seek to break free from the things that constrain our vision and pursue God’s will more purposefully? Will you challenge yourself to quit thinking about yourself and what you want? I’m going to try … I’m going to spend more time in that verse … and slowly open my eyes to more of what God has in store … And I pray you’ll do the same.
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