Jesus Paid it all...All to Him I Owe

 I'm in Chapter 8 now of "Radical"

The Title is:

Living When Dying is Gain

It is funny to me how often times the things that you read or conversations that you have outside of your daily scripture reading end up relating to one another.

I have mentioned before that I am doing the One Year Bible reading Plan. I am in Mark for the new Testament portion. A couple of days ago I read Mark 8:35,

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the Gospel will save it". I was reading in the book of Leviticus this morning and it presented the same question to me. "Yes, I call myself living for Christ and maybe even can tolerate a little suffering for it, but when push comes to shove and am I willing to give my life as Christ gave His for me??? We, as Americans, do not know what it really is to Suffer or be persecuted for Christ and for our beliefs as Christians. If you were to ask me "Would you willingly give up your life for Christ as He gave His for you?" I would probably say,"Yes, absolutely! I love the Lord with all my heart and I love Him so much that he is worth dying, suffering, or being persecuted for".

As I was reading Chapter 8 Platt begins to tell a story of a medical team that went to Africa to do a clinic. This hits close to home because I am a nurse and I went on  my first medical mission trip last year. I absolutely loved it and plan to do more. Anyway, He continues to talk about how HIV is rampant in Africa and most of the people that live there are infected with this disease. Well, a few days into the trip, a few hours apart, two of the team members were accidentally stuck with a dirty needle. I think I literally gasped out loud as I read this. That needle stick lasted maybe a few seconds, but it had the potential to change these peoples lives forever because now, they could very well have HIV also.

I put myself in that situation. I began to imagine how I would respond to something like that. If I am just very honest I think I would have freaked out a little. ok...possibly even a lot. That is a scary situation. I have been stuck at the hospital before and had to get blood drawn to make sure I had not contracted anything from the patient. Even knowing that they most likely did not have anything, it still made me uneasy until I knew the final test results.

As I continued to read Platt tells us that these two team members response was, "We're glad it happened to us and no one else. And if these clinics were used by God to lead someone to Christ, then it was all worth it"

At this point I just put my book down and began to sob. As much as I want to say that if something like that happened to me, I would respond in the same way...I just don't know that I would. Maybe eventually...but most likely not after I was initially stuck with an HIV infected needle.

So, it is my prayer that the Lord will help me to be that Bold that if something like that were to happen to me, then I would find God's glory in that situation. That I will find God's glory in ALL situations for that matter...whether they are big or small. That I would not be selfish but give away my life so that others may also Have life.

God did not promise the Christian walk would be easy. He did not promise that there wouldn't be trials and that we wouldn't have to endure things that we do not understand. In fact, He says just the opposite...

"In fact everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ will be persecuted"

2 Timothy 3:12

I conclude by quoting a portion of Chap 8

"The reason we know that we will be betrayed, hated, and persecuted is because Jesus himself was betrayed, hated, and persecuted. The more our lives are conformed to his, the more we will receive what he received in this world. To everyone wanting a safe, untroubled, comfortable life free from danger, stay away from Jesus. The danger in our lives will always increase in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ. Maybe this is why we sit back and settle for a casual relationship with Christ and routine religion in the church. It is safe there, and the world likes us there. The world likes us when we are pursuing everything they are pursuing, even if we do put a christian label on it. As long as Christianity looks like the American Dream, we will have few problems in this world. But if we identify with Christ, we will lose much in this world."

We must remember that Our rewards are in Heaven. Our reward is eternal life. Our reward is spending the rest of our life worshipping the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We can't lose sight and get discouraged when things in life do not go the way we thought they would when we are serving our Savior here on earth. We have to cling to His promises and walk in the Truth.

It is my prayer that I do not live a life that is "safe" or "comfortable" but that I live a life that is "radical" for Jesus. I don't feel like I'm there. But thankful to know the one whot can get me to that place:0)

Hope everyone enjoys church tonight!

I am looking forward to being in God's presence at Prayer and Worship at Desperation Church tonight:0)