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At the end of the day we have to trust that if God asks us to embrace obscurity — of heart and/or of position — we can also trust that “He will look after those who have been pressed into the consequences of our obedience.” We can’t know what lessons God intends to teach others; only those He’s teaching us. The good news is that we can be confident He “causes everything to Work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Rom. 8:28).

Not “might cause” or “will cause if…”

He does cause.

Now, how He does that is up to Him, and we may never be privy to His rationale. But —dare I say?— we were never promised obedience would be easy.
–Anonymous author of Embracing Obscurity

Obedience is often difficult. But God promises us that if we will choose obedience, then He will cause goodness and blessing to come into our lives. Do you trust this promise to be true? Do you trust God to be faithful to His Word? If so, are you choosing obedience at ever turn? Have you “laid your ‘Yes’ on the altar”?

We know what kind of life Christ calls us to; we often preach and talk to each other about it. But do we live it? Well, look at the churches:

• Observe the shortage of ministers and missionaries, especially men;
• the luxury goods in Christian homes;
• the fund-raising problems of Christian societies;
• the readiness of Christians in all walks of life to grumble about their salaries;
• the lack of concern for the old and lonely; and
• the lack of love for anyone outside the circle of “sound believers.”

We are unlike the Christians of New Testament times.
–J. I. Packer

How well are you living the Christian life that you know about and talk about?

For many of us, our search for a church that is “meeting my needs,” added with our mobile society, does not allow us to experience what a commitment to a local body of believers over a long period of time can really mean. “Freedom does not always mean going…. Freedom often means staying. That’s certainly true of the Christian understanding of marriage. Staying with one partner over a lifetime opens me up to the goodness of God in a way that serial monogamy doesn’t.” Church is the same. Developing deep, ongoing relationships is more beneficial to our spiritual health than just finding the immediate experience — the brief sensation of feeling like I have finally found a home, where I agree with the theology and music (at least for a time).
–David Goetz

Our American society has continued to push upon us the idea that the need of the individual is of highest priority. So we search for what will “meet” my individual needs. Unfortunately, we are often like children wanting a candy bar just before dinner. But many of our parents required that we have a long-term commitment to better meal choices, knowing it would be better for our health than the candy bar. Too many have carried this child-like mentality of not needing self-control with them from childhood into adulthood — and it bleeds into many other areas of life — Including how we might choose a church. We see so many people hopping from one experience to the next, instead of learning to stay and build lasting relationships.

God created us for intimate relationships – with Him and with others. And intimate relationships can only be built over long periods of time. May God help us to learn how to be people of commitment to Him and to one another. May He help us to have a stronger commitment to relationships with others than we have to our own experiences. God has not told us to find more ways to meet our own needs, but rather that we should consider the needs of others as more important than the needs and experiences of oneself. That idea certainly flies against the trend of society, but if we will embrace it we will find ourselves growing more healthy as we engage in self-control, commitment, and deepening relationships with one another.

I’ve posted a copy of this list where I will see it each day, because I need the reminder. Maybe you do to:
My purpose is not to praise myself;
My purpose is not to make my name great;
My purpose is not to get rich;
My purpose is not to gain authority over others for my ego’s sake;
My purpose is not to leave brothers and sisters in the dust of my ambition;
My purpose is not to make others feel small;
My purpose is not to become self-sufficient;
My purpose is not to earn a five-star rating from the masses.

If we could boil down the purpose of our time in the spotlight, we might narrow it down to three points. The purpose of my influential position is:
to make God’s name great,
to advance His kingdom on Earth, and
to serve others.
–Anonymous author of Embracing Obscurity

Have You Embraced Your Strategic Purpose in Your Influential Position?

It is obvious that the Church and State are heading in different directions, and doing so at a rapid pace. But is that something we should be terribly alarmed about?

Nowadays, as the U.S. grows increasingly secularized, it appears that church and state are heading in different directions. The more I understand Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God, the less alarm I feel over that trend. Our real challenge, the focus of our energy, should not be to Christianize the United States (always a losing battle) but rather to strive to be God’s kingdom in an increasingly hostile world.
–Philip Yancey

I think Yancey is right. It is not our role to force our Nation to become Christian. It cannot be done. It is a losing battle. Just as one cannot legislate morality, neither can you legislate faith. Neither morals nor faith can be forced upon people. An immoral person may behave due to the punishment that would come if he broke the law, but just because his behavior “looks” moral doesn’t change the fact that his heart desires to commit immoral acts. Therefore, he is still an immoral person who, for a time, seems moral. And it is the same with faith.

Therefore, instead of being alarmed at the “direction” our nation is heading, we should realize that the Bible indicates clearly that the road to destruction is wide and broad and most people will be traveling down that way. Only a few find the narrow path of salvation and life with Christ. This doesn’t mean we should stop working in the harvest. It just means that we shouldn’t be alarmed that we see sinful people doing sinful things. That is the natural course.

The unnatural course that should be a cause for alarm is when those who say they are followers of Christ start looking just like those who do not believe. When believers look just like the world… then we have gone off-course, and it is definitely time to sound the alarm.

Are you striving to imitate Christ in this increasingly hostile world? or do you look very similar to the world… so much so that others would have a hard time knowing you have faith in Jesus Christ. If so, then sound the alarm and change your direction.