We Shall Not Be Shaken

 A special thanks to Kaitlin Atmore of Mission Amare for writing this post. Thanks Kait

When I read missionary biographies, I often get discouraged because of the faith they had to follow God anywhere – Amy Carmichael to India , Hudson Taylor to China, Jim Elliot to Ecuador and many others.  To them, following and trusting God seemed to be like breathing.  You just do it.   No questions asked.  If you didn’t do it, you’d die.  For many Christians today though, following God is what you do when you “feel called”.   We send out missionaries who claim they’re God’s “called”.  We support them because they’re “called”. But we forget some things, namely, that all Christians are called to spread the Gospel, not just some, (Mark 16:14-20), and we lose sight of the One who called us.

Why was it so easy for the aforementioned missionaries to follow God so seemingly effortlessly?  How did the men and women featured in Hebrews 11 – The Chapter of Faith – get there?   By seeking and obeying the Lord, that’s how.  If you read the stories of Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua and others, you will find why they had such great lives of faith.   It was because they sought the Lord in everything.  When they didn’t seek him, they fell and fell hard.  The Old Testament is full of stories of victories attained only by the Hand of God.   Without Him, there was only failure.

In Psalm 16:8-10, David says,

 “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.   Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”  

In contrast, read what Jeremiah 17:5, 6 says,

“Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.  He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.  He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.”             

When we trust and seek the Lord, we will not be shaken and our whole being shall rejoice and be glad.   When we trust man and this world, we’re compared to a shrub in the desert – dry and lifeless.  Now I ask you, which sounds more appealing?  Trusting the Lord or man?   Trusting the Lord, of course!  If we all were to trust God as much as we unconsciously trust man (i.e. sit in man-made chairs, etc) think just how much we could accomplish for His glory!  

 When we put all our faith in God there leaves no room for self-glorification too!  

Trials are sent along our way so that our faith may increase.  We have hardships so as to learn to depend on the Lord in all things.   However, it is not by trials alone that our faith increases.  When we seek the Lord in small, daily things our faith begins to grow slowly and surely.   It can be difficult to set the Lord before us always.  It’s hard to wait on Him, because we want things to be done in our time and in our way.   But the Lord’s way is best.  Let us live a life that shows this to be true.  We can because, like the Psalmist said in Psalm 16:8, the Lord is at our right hands and we shall not be shaken!   

Living for Christ (2)

What is the meaning of life? What is our purpose on this earth? These are questions that the world wants answered. They are also questions that I have been pondering lately. In my head I know the simple answer: Christ! But…it’s not enough to just know that fact. We have to understand what it means. We have to understand how to apply it to our lives in our striving to glorify Christ.

For the past month or so I’ve been meditating on this truth that Christ is the meaning to our lives. My whole life I’ve been constantly trying to accomplish my will on this earth. My whole mindset was, “Now how can I further myself in life by doing what I enjoy?” I applied this to everything from watching a movie to what I wanted to do after university. My self-centredness was (and still is) a sinful thing and I have realized that by thinking about my life from a Christian perspective and asking myself, “What am I doing?”

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:21

This verse serves as a great rebuke to me. Life on this earth isn’t about me. It isn’t about how I can further myself. Life is about Christ! It is about how I can serve him and strive to further his Kingdom and not my own! After what Christ has done for us how can we be so selfish as to not give a damn about the Kingdom of God, but rather strive to make our own kingdom. Life is not about us.

The purpose of our lives is to glorify Christ! I cannot say it enough. Surely this should affect the way we live! Christ’s will is what we should be trying to accomplish not our own.

We have been given one life to live on this earth and only one. Think about that…We are given only one chance to glorify Christ on earth. Why do we not use this chance wisely?! We are headed for an eternity of rest in heaven as Christians. How can we not use this one special oppurtunity to glorify Christ and spread the good news?! There is no need to further ourselves. History will forget us in the end. What matters is that we use our lives to the glory of Christ! Look again at Philippians 1:21. Everything in that passage is about Christ. Our lives are about Christ. Our deaths are about Christ. The only way then to live is for Christ. This should be our desire! This should be our joy! So let’s start doing it!

So then how do we do this? In my mind I’ve categorized into three main ways how we can live lives that glorify Christ.

1. By obedience to God’s commands.
2. By submitting to God’s will for our lives.
3. By enjoying the life God has given us.

1. If our lives are Christ-centred then we will love to obey him! How can we not love to obey Christ?! Our sin will very often get in our way, but Christ has conquered our sin so let’s act like it!

2. As I have already said many times it is not our will that must be accomplished, it is Christ’s. This has quite a few implications. First of all we hold on to things too tightly in this world. It’s about time we loosened our grip. What if it was Christ’s will that tomorrow your house should burn down and all your valued possessions along with it? Would you gladly submit to it as Christ’s will for your life? Or would you cry over your possessions and be angry about it? Personnaly my prayer is that I would have the same spirit that Job had and fall down on my knees in worship of Christ if something like that happened to me! (Job 1:20-22) This is what we should do if we are truely living for Christ and not ourselves.

3. Life is a gift from God. It is made to be enjoyed. God did not create us to be miserable, but to enjoy his awesome creation, worship and thank him for it. After thinking about all of these things I hope you will all have a greater appreciation for life and realize that it is truly a tremendous joy to live!

I hope all of you will meditate on these great truths as I have. They have been of tremendous help to me and I thank God for it. So step back for a moment and look at your life. Are you really living for Christ or are you just sitting around like a piece of rubbish wasting your life?