I won’t be able to write for quite a while as Susan and I are to leave for Africa Sunday. We cherish your prayers as we take a group from school to work with missionaries serving children in Namibia. Some think you deserve accolades for going on mission trips… I’m not so sure. Those who offer their lives for the cause of Christ receive God’s encouragement no matter where they are. Our relationship with Him is what is most important.
Jesus gave blunt warnings for those who said they represented God, but lacked humility… and a relationship with the Father: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice the son of hell as you are.” Matthew 23:13-15
How does one avoid such rebukes? Jesus first says, “You’ve got to come to Me.” We would rather go on an adventure… or do something heroic. But Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” It takes humility to come to Jesus.
He does not hesitate to ask piercing questions to those who say they are serious. “Are you finished with sin? You know what is right and wrong… are you determined to quit the things that are wrong? I’ll give you grace, but you must make a decision to turn from sin. Unless you repent, you can’t follow Me.”
“Lord, I don’t want to sin. I know my sin put you on the Cross. I know you have saved me. I want to be in your will.”
“Okay, if you want to be complete, put the thing most dear to your heart on the altar and give up control. Offer Me your body, your reputation, your possessions, everything you treasure and everything you are. Whatever I tell you to do, obey. Trust Me completely and follow in My footsteps.”
In the end, those who say ‘yes’ to Jesus’ most challenging words never regret it.
“Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your act of spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2