Operation Crossroads

The safest place to be is always where God leads you, regardless of how dangerous it might seem.

In Numbers chapter 14, the people of Israel rebel against Moses. The entire encampment of exiles wants to go their own way and disregard the Lord. They want to stone Moses and find a new leader, but instead of backing down, Moses knew that he had to stand for the Lord and for what was right, even though it looked pretty grim. God had put Moses in a leadership position and Moses had to stay his ground. God delivered him from the people, and even gave him two other faithful servants who stood with him: Caleb and Joshua.

In the same way that God called Moses to stand for what was right, He calls us to find our strength and courage in Him when we come to a cross-roads in life. And there are cross-roads every day. Questions come up like "should I take the time to read the Bible this morning, or am I too tired?" "Should I intercede on that conversation at work about how people view church, or should I just not get involved and affiliate myself with something that could harm my reputation?" "Should I go somewhere that will be physically dangerous and taxing for the sake of spreading the Gospel?" These kinds of questions range in weight and change between people. I doubt I'll ever have to stand up in front of thousands of people who want to stone me and tell them that they should obey God, but I might encounter a different cross-roads where I will have to do the hard thing. So where does my courage come from, and will I be ready to do what it takes?

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. ~Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

Another thing that God calls us to do every day is to do good works. We are to look for ways to help others and the put our efforts into things that will glorify God. He has, in fact, set up these good works for us ahead of time, so He every day, He is "waiting to see" if we will do them. When we deny the chance to do a good work, we are disregarding God's command to be strong and courageous for Him.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. ~Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Life In 3D

We need to separate in our minds the prospect of being miserable and going through suffering, because they are two very different things. Suffering for Christ always has a purpose, while every other kind of temporary pain and sorrow you will come across in this life will only follow you to the grave.

"God is a good God. He created life, and He wants us to live that life to the fullest. There's nothing in the Bible that suggests God doesn't want you to enjoy anything....The way people talk about Christianity, you'd think there was a verse where Jesus says,'If you follow Me, you must be miserable forever, hate everything, and drag others down with you.' While He does call us to some difficult things, a miserable eternity is not one of them." ~Trip Lee

You can be completely joyful, happy and satisfied in knowing and following Christ, unlike popular opinion. I think that most people see Christianity as a commitment to the boring, do-good, "Mommy's Kid" lifestyle, but only because they have never experienced the kind of joy that you can find in being in a relationship with Jesus.

"[God is] not trying to block our joy and leave us in the dark. He intends to enhance our joy, to give us fullness of joy. He wants us to enjoy life as it was meant to be enjoyed." ~Trip Lee

To the unbelievers: if there is even the possibility of finding joy in knowing Jesus and being confident in your final destination, wouldn't it be worth it? Trust me when I say that the joy the world offers is not even comparable to the joy of Christ, regardless of whether or not you believe in Him. Life without God can seem good sometimes, like watching a movie on Netflix, but the life God offers is much better. God offers 3D, High Definition, Big Screen Motion Pictures!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. ~Romans 15:13 (ESV)

To the believer: following worldly passions always leads to nowhere. Look for the joy that God offers in all areas of your life, and ask Him to enhance it in every way possible, conveying it to others along the way.

"God's revelatory manifestation of Himself in creation, in providence, in Scripture, and pre-eminently in the face of His Son, Jesus Christ, is designed to evoke within the breathtaking delight and incomparable joy of which God alone is worthy. Beauty is that in God which makes Him eminently desirable and attractive and quickens in the soul a realization that it was made for a different world." ~Sam Storms

Fueling the Right Fire

"What kind of passion does our worship fuel?" ~Trip Lee

Dictionary.com defines passion as "any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling." There are two ways this can be taken. The first is to ask yourself what is it that I worship in my life? What would it truly look like to worship only God? Some of the things I personally tend to give too much credit to is my ability to do well at something and my desire to show that off to others. I worship what others think of me, so I am basically worshiping myself. Sometimes we worship feeling good, even in church. It feels good to be moved by a message or the music, but if we aren't also impacted by it, then it's not God we are actually worshiping. The second translation goes like this: where is the passion that my God-honoring worship should be producing? Why don't I always feel like doing God's work, and when I do what he says, why doesn't it always feel super powerful and emotional? Well, I don't think that our feelings are the end goal, so whether or not we immediately enjoy trials or self denial for God's sake, it is what He wants.

"All of us have goals and desires, but God isn't always in them....I'd be lying if I said following Jesus always seems appealing. Right doesn't always feel right." ~Trip Lee

Paraplegia Killed the Christian

"Many of us have been too content with a paraplegic faith instead of a strong, capable, active faith. Faith saves, but it also longs and progresses." ~Trip Lee

God calls to us each day, offering a hand as we step out in faith. But what does it mean to have faith? Faith is something we believe in and put our trust in, but it is not what allows us to answer God's calling. If we have only faith, then we are missing part of the picture, because God calls us to obey first and foremost. Then, if we act in obedience to Him, the faith part is already taken care of!

Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ~James 2:18 (NKJV)

Do you ever long to hear God's voice? Why does it take so much faith just to discern what God calls us to in life? I think that half of the answer, most of the time, is found by doing what we know we should do, not usually what we want to do inherently. And often times, God speaks louder the closer we get to what He's talking about.