Those were the last words my mom said to me as I said "goodbye" to her on Skype before leaving for expedition. With her words of wisdom, she was making an effort to convey to me the importance of never getting comfortable in my surroundings. Aka- remember that you live among lions, walk among deadly snakes and need to put your bug spray on in order to not get bit by malaria/dengue fever carrying mosquitoes. And while I did take her words to heart, a deeper meaning rang so clearly within my spirit.
"Remember where you are."
Remember that you are on the other side of the world for a reason..
Remember that you are privileged to obey the call...
Remember that you are a trail blazer and it isn't just a job...
Remember that you are living THE dream...
... not your own but HIS.
WHERE ARE WE? When God called to Adam in the Garden after he sinned, he asked, "Where are you?". I don't think that the Creator Himself had in fact misplaced Adam and Eve, but I think that we all need a "where are you" moment. The point was- Adam couldn't stay hiding in the bushes forever. We can live in our hiding places, our waiting rooms and places of comfort for so long that we forget to be "all that Christ saved us for".Two days before leaving America this year, I felt the Lord challenge me by saying, "Live the life that Jesus died to give you". What was the life that Jesus saw us living that drove Him to stay on that cross? An average life? A perfect life? I think it had nothing to do with a life void of problems but a life of faith and destiny, lived in dependency on Him. What would our lives look like if we lived them to our full potential in Him? What was the potential He died to give us?
I heard someone once say, "We take communion to remember which side of the cross we live on". These are sobering words. We all from time to time forget "where we are" (which side of the cross we are living on) and instead, wait on God to remove the things that ensnare us, wait on Him to provide the resources to do His will- wait, wait, wait. Sometimes this self-imposed season of waiting lasts only a few days... sometimes weeks... and alas, some of us having been waiting for years. Unfortunately, we have set up camp in the waiting room. We've learned to exist on and even enjoy the vending machine junk food, the magazines and the same news reports playing over and over again on the little tv in the corner of the room. Years go by, only to discover the sickening truth- we have given up everything to live in the mundane. May our epitaph never read, "He/she wanted, hoped and dreamed of doing God's will". Let us be all that Christ saved us for TODAY. Let us live the life that Jesus died to give us.
Where are you, Adam? (Gen. 3:9)
What are you doing here, Elijah? (1 Kings 19:13)
He doesn't leave us there, but He stands at the door and knocks-
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If ANYONE hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me." Revelation 3:20
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing." - John 15:5
Because He loves us too much to leave us in the bushes and in our waiting rooms, He pursues us until we remember that we are sons and daughters in His Kingdom.
"Remember where YOU are."
Let us be all that Christ saved us for... today.
Throw out the bag of Funyons, put down the magazine and let us set fire to the waiting room.
"The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is FULLY and WHOLLY consecrated to Him. I will try my utmost to be that man."- D.L. Moody
