Friday, February 15, 2008

God sized dreams

Are we underestimating what can be accomplished through us in this life? Are we playing it safe and taking the same path that many others have taken? Are we expecting different results yet we continually take the same actions?
I am in the midst of reading "Go Big" By Bill Easum. It is a thought provoking read in some senses because we have abilities and power given by God for us to make a difference. The reality of it is many times we don't have the guts or courage to do it.
What should be normal Christian behaivor? If we just safely go to church or serve in a church without creating waves or pushing people to follow God fully is this obedience? Is what people like Jim Elliot and Nate Saint are those extraordinary followers of Christ or were they just people who were willing to obey God?
I love when the question is asked does God still preform miracles? One side of this question may be how often do we even do anything that even puts God in a position to perform a miracle. I am not suggesting testing God but yet at the same time if the Bible is full of stories of "normal" Christians then most of us myself included way below the "normal" mark.
We have not because we ask not. Can this Bible verse be interpreted in the context of vision and does God want us to ask for more vision and to be greater influencers in the world?
Does God bless us when we do ask? I don't know if this is true 100% of the time. I have an interesting story that happened to me while on the plane back from Florida last week. I arrived at the airport in Orlando at 1:30 in the afternoon. My flight was suppose to leave at 4 and I was to be in South Bend at 12 pm. It was going to be a long day but because of weather it became crazy. My plane was delayed but I was able to get assigned to an earlier flight. I ended up flying out of Orlando at 4:30 while in the air over Muncie Indiana we recieved word that we couldn't land at O'Hare after circling Indiana for 3 hours we finally had to land in Indianapolis to refuel. We were not allowed to get off the plane and had to sit on the tarmac until we recieved word we could land. I was joking with some of the guys around me that we should call and order a pizza. It would be pretty entertaining for a pizza guy to try and come through security. I mentioned my idea to a steward and he stopped and asked me if I was hungry? I was and he told me he had something for me. In a minute he brought me this huge salad with blackened chicken on it. I have no idea where it came from but I do know that there were many people around me not happy. This guy passed by my seat and said how come you got first class service? I asked for pizza and ended up with a salad. Are we not accomplishing as much for God as we could because we do not ask?
I preached this week on Nehemiah and the concept was that incrementally we can make a difference and a change. Sometimes it happens slow but it is through these small steps we can make change happen. The subject came for a thought of act like an ant. An Ant builds an anthill through hundreds of ants carrying one piece of sand at a time to build an anthill.
A verse occured to me in the study that I thought a lot about. It is in Matt 17: The verse says if we have the faith of a mustard seed we can move a mountain. I had always thought of this passage meaning change would happen instantanous, and the mountain would just disappear. But what if this change that happens piece of sand by piece of sand. What if this change happens because God gives us a shovel and the mountain moves one shovel full at a time?
Maybe the reason we don't dream God sized dreams is because the change that happens too slowly for us.
The story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and the others illustrate this, we have no idea the impact our lives are going to have long after we are gone. When we are willing to go forward God is going to give us some kind of assignment that may change the course of history. The problem may be that God doesn't have enough volunteers.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great post Ben. Hope all is well with you. Hey just wanted to let you know that you've officially arrived and have been added to my blogroll :).