Looking Backward -- and Looking Ahead

Today marks the beginning of the second half of the year. Just another six months remain of 2013. Seems like it's a good time to take stock of where we are now. For me, the new year represented a chance to recommit my life in service to God.

So how have I done in that pursuit? Have I made the effort to walk closer with Him, or have I merely paid lip service to the idea of serving Christ more? Like, I think, many of us, I fear I have to admit there were plenty of days in which I simply wasn't deliberate about acting out my faith. Days when, given the choice between finding ways to serve or doing nothing at all, I chose the couch over the mission field.

Make no mistake: serving God is a choice we make -- and it's a choice we make daily. Eventually -- maybe sooner than we think -- we will be called to account for the gifts we've been given. Like the three servants (Matthew 25:14-30), we will be asked what we did with the Talents -- the time, resources, and skills -- we were given. Did we hide what we had in a hole? Did we make a minimum investment? Or did we take the step of faith in the God who gave us those resources, and use them to further His kingdom?

When my wife sold Mary Kay cosmetics, I remember she had a couple of inspirational pictures she would look at. Goals, more or less. Things that would help her mark success as a Mary Kay consultant. The pink Cadillac SUV was one. This is a fairly common practice among those who work to achieve a goal: find a way to visualize that goal, and keep it in front of you, as a way to inspire success.

Paul suggests similar inspiration in Philippians 3: "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (vs 14)."

Paul's words to Timothy are my Pink Cadillac.  When I don't want to go on... when I'd rather sit in front of the TV than serve my community and my God... I have in front of me the example of Paul. He had plenty of trouble -- certainly more trouble than mere apathy -- yet, he chose daily to serve his God in such a way that, when he knew his time was coming to an end, he could look back without regret. He could look on the life he lived, and know that, when it came down to it, he had spent his life in service to God and His church.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Lame Duck Christians

Today is Lame Duck Day, in honor of the signing of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which reduces the amount of time between the Presidential election and the inauguration of the incoming President. Originally, there was a four-month gap. The amendment changed it into a two-month gap, because, for the time between the election of a new President, and his or her installation, the nation is essentially leaderless. The sitting president is a "lame duck." In the final months, he is simply ineffective. This happens not only in government (and pretty much at every level), but in the work place, and other areas of life, too. At the end of high school, they call it "Senioritis."

As Christians, we know this world is not our home. That our permanent residence is with God. The temptation exists, therefore, to sit in our pews, to simply try to live pious lives, and just shut the world out. After all, it's a scary place, full of trouble and temptation. If we can just close ourselves in and avoid the sins of the world, we should be okay come Judgement.

Never mind that this approach entirely misses the point of Christianity.

Jesus tells the story of a man who gave his servants bags of gold (Matthew 25:14-30). To one, he gave five bags; to another, two; and to the last servant, one bag of gold. The servants with five and two bags of gold went out and increased their master's wealth.

²⁴ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

²⁶ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸ “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹ For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

You and I may not belong to this world, but we have work to do while we're here. We don't have the privilege to sit back, to simply shut ourselves in as pious hermits, and wait for Jesus to return. As I mentioned yesterday, He is coming back, and He expects us to prepare the way. There's a world of souls who need to know Christ. A field prepared for harvest. So what are you going to do about it?