Will We Follow? Discovering Our Purpose in these Last Days

I was listening to a sermon CD this last week where the Pastor shared one of the secrets to his walk with God:  he has developed a habit of asking those older in the faith what is one thing that the church was doing “in their day” that it isn’t doing now.  When he posed that question to someone who had worked with Smith Wigglesworth for a number of years, his answer was, “We used to talk about the second coming all the time, like it was going to be today.”  That really struck me, has been thundering in my thoughts and hear this week.  I find myself wondering how much of my life would change if I really lived in light of the fact that Jesus is coming back, that He could be here in the next heartbeat, that He will demand an account of what I’ve done with my time, if I really believed this might be my last chance to witness to my family and friends who don’t yet know Jesus … And I’ve been wondering about the work He has left for me to do on this earth before that day arrives, wondering if I’m in the right spot to step into that work, or if I’ve been ignoring Him.  And in this time of wondering, searching, and seeking God’s plan, I’ve been reading, challenging myself, stretching, striving, seeking to grow in the Lord, to become the champion of faith He designed me to be in the days that are left.  So, today, I want to share with you what God’s been dealing with me about as I’ve been engaged in devotions with Him this morning.  First, though, let me caution you.  The first book I read out of this morning was The Bait of Satan by John Bevere, and he writes on page 18, “Paul could see prophetically that these deceived men and women [of 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 4:3-4] would have a zeal for knowledge but REMAIN UNCHANGED SINCE THEY NEVER APPLY IT” (emphasis mine).  I do not want to be unchanged because I never applied the Word; I don’t want you to walk through life unchanged either.  Therefore, this blog may not be comfortable for you.  It’s not supposed to be.  I’m sharing today to challenge, to invite, to beg all of us (myself included) to apply the knowledge we have to living more sold out lives for Christ.  The salvation of so many rests on our faithfulness to be doers of the Word and not hearers only …

First up on my devotional platter this morning was a book by Bill Hybels, entitled Holy Discontent.  He writes: 

“Whether you’ve been walking around on this planet for eight years or eight decades, I urge you to reflect on the one thing in the world that wrecks you when you see it, when you hear it, and when you get close to it.  Because your one thing is the exact thing that will create enough tension and angst, carve out enough capacity for activism, and stir up enough of an internal firestorm that you’ll have no choice but to suit up and get in the game … God has a few good works for you to wrap your life around.  Opt out, friends, and miss the most important opportunity of your earthly existence to be an unstoppable force for good in this world.” – page 61, 63

He’s talking about finding your “Pop-eye” moment, the moment where you’ve stood all you can stand and you just can’t stands it no more.  As I read, the Holy Spirit went off like popcorn on the inside of me, illuminating the things I just can’t stand, the things that fill me with righteous anger and indignation and make me burn with a passion for the Gospel to be shared – but that last line burned a cold warning down in my soul.  I cannot afford to opt out of the mission God has given me on those fronts.  Building off of that, Erwin Raphael McManus writes in, Chasing Daylight,

“In your moment of truth, what will you choose?  Will you choose the wilderness or the adventure?  Have you confused the blessing of God with wealth, comfort, and security?  Have you considered that God’s greatest gift to you is that He calls you to be a pioneer, explorer, and even creator?  There are things God does for you and things that God waits for you to do.  The journey begins when you choose.  Stop wasting daylight.  Choose a life of meaningful adventure.  When you do, you will live in the epicenter of God’s activity.” – p. 26-27

These first two stirred my spirit, got me all fired up and excited and bold, wanting to conquer nations for Christ.  But when I came to the third book, Radical, by David Platt, I was humbled, and left in shaken awe before the Lord, wondering how often I’ve been guilty of such hypocrisy.  He writes:

“How often are we willing to give a check to someone else as long as we don’t have to go to the tough places in the world ourselves?  How many of us parents are praying that God will raise up our children to leave our homes and go overseas, even if that means they may never come back?  And how many of us are devoting our lives to taking the gospel to people in hostile regions around the world where Christians are not welcomed?  Certainly few of us would be so bold as to say we ‘would just as soon God annihilate all those people and send them to hell,’ but if we do not take the gospel to them, isn’t that where they will go?  Meanwhile, Jesus commands us to go.  He has created each of us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and I propose that anything less than radical devotion to this purpose is unbiblical Christianity.”

My heart is nearly quaking at that this morning, friends, wondering in quiet fear of the Lord if I have stifled God’s best plan for me for the sake of being comfortable.  Have I selfishly taken control of my own path, telling God in all ignorance and presumption where I will go and how I will serve, or have I humbled myself to go and do whatever HE wills?  Am I truly seeking the things that will bring Him the most glory, or am I seeking the things that are nice, comfortable, expected, but not too out of the ordinary?  And I find myself praying, even now, with worship music in the background and goosebumps racing up and down my arms, that my life would become like what Platt talks about on page 60: “Instead of asserting ourselves, we crucify ourselves.  Instead of imagining all the things we can accomplish, we ask God to do what only he can accomplish …” 

I find myself turning to John 9:4, in the Living Bible, which says, “All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent me, for there is little time left before the night falls and all work comes to an end.”  And suddenly, thinking about the second coming is not difficult.  I find myself thinking about it constantly, praying that God would flow through me to accomplish His will on this earth, to reach the lost while there is yet time, that I would not get in the way, but would be willingly submitted to His plan for me.  I find myself filled with an urgent desire to be about my Father’s business, for time is so short … So, friends, as I leave you to contemplate with me about what God would have us be about in these last days, what work He would have us delve into wholeheartedly, I leave you with 2 Thessalonians 1:11, in the Message Bible, which say:

“Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time – pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be, pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so it all amounts to something.”