Forget Not The Present

I wrote yesterday about not getting too hung up in current events. The operative word is too. You cannot ignore this world either.

Thus Paul rightly persuades us to use this world as if not using it; and to buy goods with the same attitude as one sells them...Let this be our principle: that the use of God's gifts is not wrongly directed when it is referred to that end to which the Author himself created and destined them for us, since he created them for our good, not for our ruin.
John Calvin - Institutes of The Christian Religion: 3.10.1-2

To ignore what God has given us to work with in the world is almost as bad as ignoring God. Ignoring the world is as bad as obsessing about it. What God wants for us is focus and balance: focus on Him, balance in our doing His will in this world while we wait for Him to bring us to the next.

¹⁹"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

²⁰teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:19-20 (NASB)

You cannot fulfill the Great Commission if you ignore the world; nor can you do it if you obsess on it.

So it is all about balance with the proper focus. Look at the Holy Trinity and how there is perfect balance and focus within that divine relationship.

Taking the steps we can take. Eyes on Jesus, listening to His words, hearing and seeing the world as He did. Going back to the future but not forgetting the present. And how can we do that?

⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8 (NASB)

Balance and focus.

Show and Tell

Maybe I should call this post show and share. I have recently seen a video done by Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller on the blogs Caffeinated Thoughts and Beauty for Ashes in which he talks about not respecting those who do not proselytize. Penn Jillette is a self described atheist, but you can see the respect he has for the man who approached him and was willing to share his faith. I call it the courage of your convictions.

I know a lot of people who talk about showing Jesus to the world through their actions, of how they interact with others, showing the love of Christ. I think that is great, but often they do it and want to do no more. They do not want to talk about Jesus to the world.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 29:18-20 (NASB)

I know most times The Great Commission is shown as verses 19 & 20. I like to add verse 18 because it shows clearly by what authority this commission generates. This is something God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit is behind.

We are called to be witnesses, not silent servants. Modeling Christ in behavior is fantastic, and extremely difficult, given the high standard He set for us to follow. But that is not enough. That is the silence of one hand clapping. We need to behave in that way and share the gospel as well.

This is a big task and needs both hands. We should celebrate those who share, but we should also use our hands to do and not to just clap. I want to thank Shane and Laurie for putting this video up for me to see.