The Glocal Church

As you can tell, it’s been about about two months since my last post. Juggling life, ministry, and my post-graduate studies have been tough, as I continually discover, and try to capture, the often elusive and essential virtue of balance!

However, even more so, I have discovered the spiritual discipline of ”brokenness.” Dying to myself (or being broken by Christ) and to my selfish and sinful nature…The following words have been my spiritual and life journey over the past couple of months…Nevertheless, I still proclaim “God is so good,” and “Christ is always more than enough,” even when I’ve been broken by Him.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:1 that we are to “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” For me, that is the hardest part of living a faithful and obedient Christian life.

As Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Denying our complete selves, cross bearing, and offering ourselves as a living sacrifice are extremely tough disciplines of the Christian life. Even so, I find that it’s easy for me to offer my body, my life, as a living sacrifice, which should be holy and pleasing to God. However, at the first sign of true sacrifice, pain, agony, suffering, and real-life struggles, because of my life offering to Christ, I quickly recognize I’m the first one to crawl or leap off the altar, and flee to the comfort of complacency.

Most of the time I’m not willing to remain on the altar as a sacrifice, because it’s on that alter that God crushes me from all selfishness, self ambition, pride, greed, and on, and on…and that hurts! He crushes me for my own sake, so I can, in-turn, be humbly used by Him for His Kingdom and His church. I have discovered (the painful way) that it takes extreme courage, patience, and most of all, obedience, to place your life in the hand of the one who’s crushing you. Isaiah 53:10 states that it was God’s will to crush Jesus. Why? Because that’s what it took for Jesus to pay the price and bear the burden of our sin and shame, in order to reconcile us to God. In-turn, through that reconciliation, God provides us true life. The true life I mention is not a “health & wealth” or ”name & Claim it” life, like many so-called “men of God” preach. No! Jesus said we will suffer for His sake. If you have any questions or doubts about that fact, Just read Peter’s Epistles.

God’s will is to crush us, so we can be set free from the bondage of sin that weights us down. At that point we become renewed and refreshed, then we can truly serve Him faithfully and with legitimate obedience.

My prayer to Christ, however, is that He would break my legs, so I will not, at the first sign of angst, crawl, or flee from the alter, but remain on the altar as a living sacrifice, which is holy and pleasing to Him.

Are we really and truly willing to surrender our everything to God? Will we allow Christ to break our legs so we can remain obedient to Him and His Word?

Tough Questions often require courageous responses!