living a life worthy of the calling

March 15, 2011

... we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling...(2 Thessalonians 1:11)

I've been reading "A Call to Spiritual Reformation" by DA Carson for discipleship. The chapter I just read was very much similar to what Pastor Brian preached on on Sunday. I've been thinking a lot about what it means to 'live a life worthy of the calling.' A few quotes that stuck out to me while reading the chapter:

"God has graciously called us; now we must live up to that calling. That cannot mean less than that we should become increasingly holy, self-denying, loving, full of integrity, steeped in the knowledge of God and his Word, delighted to trust and obey our heavenly Father."

"Thus Paul has returned...to his conviction that Christian life can be lived faithfully only if it is lived in light of the end."

"Steeped in the knowledge of God and his Word." I like that phrase, and I very much agree with it. As I've grown over the last few years, and as I've delved deeper into the Bible, I've begun to realize how crucial and important it is to have a wholistic, complete, and very thorough understanding and love of the Bible. Last Friday's YAM, we went over how important it is for Christians to know the Bible. But for some reason, I feel like we all know we should read the Bible, and we do, but not quite the way we should. We read our chapter or two a day for devotionals, and head off to start our days without it impacting us very much. I often wonder, how many people who call themselves Christians read the Bible daily? Or have read the Bible through at least once, from Genesis to Revelation? I would be willing to bet that it'd be a shockingly low percentage. Some people when approached with the idea of reading the Bible through are shocked and would probably never want to venture upon so great an ordeal, or they don't find it important or necessary. However, give them the 7 Harry Potter books, and they'll stay up to the wee hours of the morning reading them all through. So in everything, I've realized yet another human inclination: it is never about how difficult or boring a task is (or any other excuse), it is always about how much of a desire there is. Doing the dishes for someone you're trying to impress vs doing the dishes for a boss who annoys you to no end will stir very different levels of desire within you to do the dishes.

I am just beginning to realize how not only crucial daily Bible readings are, but reading through the entire Bible is. The entire Bible is God's word to us, how can we just pick and choose our favorite parts to read over and over again, never getting the full intended message that God wants to give us? It's like sending a letter to someone and when you ask if they read the whole letter, they respond with "Oh, but it's so long." "But the parts I read were so encouraging, those parts were enough for me." It's just not quite right. We don't read our important emails, our love letters, or even books (not textbooks) in disconnected parts, picking out just the chapters or paragraphs that make sense and that we like. It just doesn't make sense.

Lately, with the whole Rob Bell ordeal going through Christian circles, I've realized how when it comes to talking about theology and what Jesus said, or what God had said or intended, there really is no other source but the Bible. It's impossible to even begin a discussion on whether or not Rob Bell or any other pastor for that matter is Biblically sound in their arguments if the people you're having a discussion with don't actually know what is said in the Bible, other than what their small group leaders or pastors have fed them with at small group or once a week sermons on Sunday. What's more, one cannot even think about trying to figure out if a pastor is biblical or not in his arguments by just merely reading what he writes without a foundational understanding and knowledge of the ultimate authority that all other arguments are to be compared to: the Bible. We often jump to read controversial books and use our own logic and wisdom to figure out if it's biblical or not, without jumping to read where we are to get our authority,wisdom, and beliefs from: the Bible. As Christians, we are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. With that in mind, why do we not also love His word with our very being and want to be steeped in it?

Pastor Brian's sermon on Sunday had much to do with living our lives in light of the end and of eternity. The end, meaning the end of the world. Eternity, meaning, having eternal value. I've changed my blog title to 'living in the light of eternity' because that is where I am in my growth right now. I'm learning to live with eternity in mind, and not constantly be caught up with just the here and now, and all these plans I want to make for my life. In light of eternity, what will ultimately matter? My relationship with God and His kingdom. Living in light of the end and eternity is applied most practically in how I spend my time. Like I said in a few blog posts ago, we are surrounded by way too many distractions: internet, random blogs, articles, video games, computer games, movies, TV shows, online shopping, etc. In light of eternity, all that time we spent doing those things instead of praying and reading our Bibles faithfully was uselessly spent. Now, don't get me wrong, I think that taking a break to watch a movie, to play a game, to surf Facebook is not a sin. But what is ridiculous and worth considering and changing is the amount of time we've devoted to these things. We could watch 5 hours of TV a day and not complain, but when asked to read the Bible and pray for 30 minutes, we'll groan inwardly. There's something wrong with that picture considering the fact that we're living not just for the here and now, but for eternity, for a life worthy of God's calling and God's purposes, and not ours. I've heard of guys playing 4-5 hours of computer games and not seeing anything wrong with it, and I can't help but wonder if we've all just become unsensitized to how controlled we are by these distractions.

Of course, sometimes people choose to give up certain activities for Lent. But just for lent. It's amazing how reluctant people are to give up a couple hours of TV, a couple hours of gaming, a couple hours of online shopping to devote to God. But the thing is, when we think about giving these things up in the future for our future families and responsibilities we seem to think it'll be a piece of cake. But I've realized something. If I am not willing to sacrifice a few hours of doing these leisure activities to spend with God, my Savior, and the ultimate lover of my soul, can I really sacrifice those hours to spend with a future family filled with people who will be very much human and flawed? If I cannot sacrifice for the God of the universe who sacrificed His one and only Son for me, what makes me think I'll be able to sacrifice in the future for a family that will inevitably get infuriating and frustrating? I don't believe I'll be able to. And so in light of that, I've been thinking much about what it means to live life in the light of eternity, what it means to sacrifice not for the sake of sacrificing, but sacrificing for the sake of something better, for something of eternal worth and value, and that will forever satisfy. I'm learning to give my all to God, to love and serve Him with my whole heart and being, because if I cannot do that, I will not be able to serve the people around me and my future family. I'm learning to live each day with the sole purpose of glorifying God in every tiny mundane little task I do, from walking to class, to the doing of dishes, because I want to learn to live a life worthy of the gracious and great calling God has for me. A life lived in the light of eternity.