Why Go Through This?...It Takes Some Eternal Perspective
Sometimes I wonder why I do what I do. This roller coaster of emotion known as support raising brings with it both the ultimate highs of seeing God provide and the crushing, frustrating blows of being rejected by man. It's not a place of comfort. It's an intense emotional training ground for ministry.
These last few weeks have been extremely difficult in raising support. The holiday season crams people's schedules, so meeting with potential new supporters has been tough. Our phone calling efforts have seemed fruitless with everyone's busy schedules, and it feels as is the once speeding train we were on gaining support has suddenly thrown on the brakes and is screeching to a slow crawl.
It's during these times, that I catch my mind wandering. Thinking about how comfortable an that accounting job may have been or what it would be like not to be raising support. I mean come on...why put yourself through all of this? What could possibly be worth it?
It's usually then that God grabs my heart and squeezes. It's then that I have an intense quiet time with him where I take an inventory of my heart and refocus on eternal perspective. It's then that he brings me back to passages that connect with my heart...
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." ~Philippians 3:7-8
"Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live." ~Isaiah 55:2-3
"Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said,"you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." ~John 21:15
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves." ~Luke 10:2-3
Do you know how heart wrenching it is to see a college freshman passed out in his dorm hallway because he thinks he has to party to fit in? Do you know how prevalent or deep the damaging root of lust runs among college men with pornography? Do you know what it feels like to step into a lecture hall and have the one thing you hold dear in your life taken from you when the professor says, "Leave your faith at the door. There's no place for it here."? Do you know what it feels like to be offered the Gospel as a college freshman searching for truth?
Now let me ask you this...Have you ever seen the look in a person's eyes when they come to believe in Christ? The fire and passion...the intensity. Have you ever lead or been in a men's group that deals with sin head on, keeps each other accountable, and share's life together as the whole group grows deeper with God? Have you ever seen one life changed by God so radically that it influences everyone around him? Have you ever intimately relied on God so much that if He didn't come through, everything would be lost?
My heart can only be ultimately satisfied with the path God has for me no matter how difficult or uphill it currently seems. Everything else in the world is only a counterfeit that will leave my heart parched, cracked, and desiring fulfillment. To know God deeply, to see people's lives and eternities changed...that is the adventure my heart craves deep inside. Sure support raising is tough and uncomfortable, but I'm convinced it is worth it to be able to be used by God on campus. One day in heaven I will stand with men who were impacted by God working through my life...that of itself is the perspective check my heart needs.
These last few weeks have been extremely difficult in raising support. The holiday season crams people's schedules, so meeting with potential new supporters has been tough. Our phone calling efforts have seemed fruitless with everyone's busy schedules, and it feels as is the once speeding train we were on gaining support has suddenly thrown on the brakes and is screeching to a slow crawl.
It's during these times, that I catch my mind wandering. Thinking about how comfortable an that accounting job may have been or what it would be like not to be raising support. I mean come on...why put yourself through all of this? What could possibly be worth it?
It's usually then that God grabs my heart and squeezes. It's then that I have an intense quiet time with him where I take an inventory of my heart and refocus on eternal perspective. It's then that he brings me back to passages that connect with my heart...
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." ~Philippians 3:7-8
"Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live." ~Isaiah 55:2-3
"Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said,"you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." ~John 21:15
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves." ~Luke 10:2-3
Do you know how heart wrenching it is to see a college freshman passed out in his dorm hallway because he thinks he has to party to fit in? Do you know how prevalent or deep the damaging root of lust runs among college men with pornography? Do you know what it feels like to step into a lecture hall and have the one thing you hold dear in your life taken from you when the professor says, "Leave your faith at the door. There's no place for it here."? Do you know what it feels like to be offered the Gospel as a college freshman searching for truth?
Now let me ask you this...Have you ever seen the look in a person's eyes when they come to believe in Christ? The fire and passion...the intensity. Have you ever lead or been in a men's group that deals with sin head on, keeps each other accountable, and share's life together as the whole group grows deeper with God? Have you ever seen one life changed by God so radically that it influences everyone around him? Have you ever intimately relied on God so much that if He didn't come through, everything would be lost?
My heart can only be ultimately satisfied with the path God has for me no matter how difficult or uphill it currently seems. Everything else in the world is only a counterfeit that will leave my heart parched, cracked, and desiring fulfillment. To know God deeply, to see people's lives and eternities changed...that is the adventure my heart craves deep inside. Sure support raising is tough and uncomfortable, but I'm convinced it is worth it to be able to be used by God on campus. One day in heaven I will stand with men who were impacted by God working through my life...that of itself is the perspective check my heart needs.
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