What does it mean for a person to be a follower of Christ? Does Jesus really require our everything? There is a Voice that calls out to each one of us as we go through our days, and sometimes as we lay awake at night. God requires everything of us, but we are only partially in... not all the way in.
How could we possibly be all the way in? It's too risky. There are mortages to be paid for houses in just the right neighborhood. There are cars to be driven with just the right look and purpose to meet our needs. There are retirement accounts and college funds to sock money away in. There are ways to educate our children that we must obsess over. There are corporate ladders to be climbed because there are raises to be had. There are TV shows and football games to be watched. There are luxurious vacations to be taken. There are tasks to be accomplished, and budgets to be made on spreadsheets, and efficiency to be produced. Our next shopping score is right around the bend. If we just reach that one next goal, then we'll be set.
Could we walk away from it all? Would we? What if that Voice is just a voice in our heads... a part of our imagination. After all, we've become very good at ignoring it or pushing it down into that deep part of our hearts that we dare not dwell on too often. Our thoughts cannot linger there. It seems like death to go in the opposite direction of what the world has to offer and what we can control.
What if? What if we walked away from it all? What if we went all in? Would God meet us in that place of vulnerability and ultimate risk? We can only find out if we actually do it. It is a beautiful thing to be completely sold out for Christ. To find life as God truly designed it, we must be willing to be all in. Are you in?
3 comments:
What if God calls you to a radical life of risk and obedience within the corporate setting? What if God is asking you to climb that ladder? What if God is wanting you to leverage all of that to resource the ministry of those that are called to walk away from it all?
Great questions, Kent! Contrary to what many Christians believe, work is not a cursed condition. God created work for us, so it is good. The work that I do with mentoring kids is no more valuable in God's eyes than the work that a business CEO does. From that perspective, all of us are in "full-time ministry" because we live to be sold out for Christ whether we work at a church or in the business world or any other number of areas.
When a person works hard in business and generates wealth and prosperity... that is a good thing for both that individual, their family, and society in general. What a person does with that wealth determines a lot about whether they are sold out to Christ or not. If a person hoards that money for themselves, then that is sin. If a person earned that income at the expense of the poor through shady business practices, then that is sin. Right here in Pittsburgh, I could look around at our city and find many examples of Christians in business (and who work at churches, for that matter) who hoard money and posessions for themselves or who engage in shady business practices all at expense of the poor.
So when I challenge Christians to be all in, I mean that our lifestyles (including our work) should reflect Christ's profound call to follow him. What does that mean for businessmen who are climbing the corporate ladder? The more money and influence they gain, the more they should be giving themselves away to others. Dennis Bakke wrote a great book about that called "Joy at Work." He is a great role model for Christian businessmen. He became a billionaire as the CEO of a large energy company. What did he do with all of those resources and all of that power? In his personal lifestyle, he decided to give away 99% of his income and live on 1% of his income each year. With that 99% of his income his family foundation called the Mustard Seed Foundation has done work among the poor all over the world. Thousands of lives have been impacted by his decision to give so much away. Also, his energy company intentionally engaged in business practices around the globe that worked to empower the poor instead of opress them in order to squeeze out more profits. A movie called "Power Trip" was made a few years ago about the story of that energy company engaging in business as mission.
Dennis Bakke is just one example, but the point is that we are all called to live a radical life that looks different than the values of the world because we follow Jesus Christ. We are set apart to be all in.
This is where I love to see the conversation go. It's about the challenge of obedience in whatever context God has called us to. Obedience is something that many Christians (myself included) are lacking when it comes to many of the things that God calls us to in the scriptures. Just when I think I'm doing good with one area of obedience, God reveals to me another and another.
What would this city look like if all the Christians asked this question - God, where am I being disobedient to You? Woah...that's a question of sanctification that just might start a revival!
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