So just to make this clear, I’m not really blogging on vacation! Susie and I were just catching up on some reading while the kids napped and I came across this post that describes a fictional conversation between Paul and a friend of his before his conversion. It should challenge us as men to consider the difference Jesus has made in our lives and the difference it makes to dedicate ourselves to His cause. What have you given up that would be called “normal” to serve Christ? Maybe to others, dedicating ourselves to faithfully love and cherish our wives is constraining, but to God it is obedience and it is a joy. Others think it is strange that we give part of our weekends to the gathering of believers, but when we think of an opportunity to worship God and study the Word with our church family, what could be better? I have watched godly men make career choices in light of ministry opportunities rather than raise opportunities. I have seen men lose promotions because they would rather stand for integrity. Is Jesus worth it? Absolutely! Who has God called you to reach and share the gospel with right now, in your current position, in your current neighborhood?
Paul’s friend says to him, “Your life looks like a tragic waste.” Paul then shares how the only way his life would be a tragic waste is if he did not serve his risen savior! The risk is taken care of by Christ and the reward is they joy of serving our Lord. May my life be a fraction of the “waste” that Paul’s was. I challenge you to live in a way that you can truly be called a servant and slave to our Almighty God.
Read the article “Has Jesus Been Worth It” here.
Ok, kids have woken up and it’s time to go get ice cream. (They twisted my arm!)
2 Cor. 6:3-10 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
