“As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” (John 15:19)
Missionaries used to scare the dickens out o’ me (and, sometimes, they still do!). But, hey, what is a missionary, after all; isn’t he or she jus’ someone in whom God the Holy Spirit has brought about the apprehension that God owns all of that person – yeah, that God owns the whole works? Like Paul tells the Corinthians, “You are not your own.” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
Dude, can you say, “God owns me, the whole works?” Let me tell you, it’s the absolute highest point of spiritual maturity to be able to say that! Yeah, the reality of who I truly am is contained in that idea – especially as it lives itself out in the day-by-day existence of my routine, mundane, and sometimes insane life. What about it, man; have you given up your personhood to the Lord Jesus Christ “through a deliberate, sovereign decision?”
“But,” you ask, “How can that be?” Well, God the Holy Spirit is the awesome Worker of that in your heart – He. . .
“. . .interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase.” (Oswald Chambers)
Grab aholt’o’ that thought, dude! We can be “one with my Lord!” Ya’ see, Jesus never has been about doin’ somethin’ for us so as to make us able to do His biddin’. No way; rather, He does His marvelous work for us, an’ then waits for the power of the Holy Spirit to enlighten the heart and mind so that we can see Jesus for Who He really is – we are made willin’ in the day of that power!!! Check out Acts 1:8 (as well as Matthew 28:19 and Luke 24:49):
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and [then] you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
What else can answer the call of Luke 14:26?!?!?! Check this out:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple.”
Hey, people are good when they treat their relationships with utmost respect and dignity. It is right to honor those with whom we are kin – to those, who by blood or marriage, are closest to us, we are to give a loyalty of love. Nevertheless, if a person raises any of these relations (or any other) over and above his allegiance to Christ, then that person cannot be a disciple of Jesus!
For the disciple has the word “MINE!!!” written upon him! His life is so interwoven with Christ’s that it will seem as if the two are inseparable – and, indeed, they are!!! Nothing can compete with the fidelity owed to Christ by the disciple – not even the superiority of his relations: father, mother, wife, children, brother, or sister. And, even more, no disciple will have his own life’s desires or preferences obstruct, in any way, his desire and preference for Christ. As Jesus Himself says, such a one “cannot be my disciple.“
You see, Jesus makes the disciple His very own! He is the Lord’s possession, and the Lord is responsible for him. As ol’ Gerhard Kittel once described this disciple: he (the disciple) has a personal relationship with the Teacher, he is under the total and complete authority of the Teacher, he bears the fruit of the Teacher, and he is prepared to suffer both as and for the Teacher.
Cool!!!
So, are you a true disciple of Christ – are you that missionary I was so afraid of years ago?!?!?! Hey, it’s not the doing for Christ that matters; rather it’s the delight that Christ has in you as His disciple. As Chambers said:
“The missionary’s secret is truly being able to say, “I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me.”
And, then to close:
“Be entirely His!”
Copyright @ 2009 CrossWind Ministry
