FOCUSED ON THE ONE TASK

Life is tough enough as it is. It’s even tougher when we’re headed in the wrong direction.

One of the incredible abilities of Jesus was to stay on target. His life never got off track. He had no money, no computers, no jets, no administrative assistants or staff, yet Jesus did what many of us fail to do. He kept His life on course.

As Jesus looked across the horizon of His future, He could see many targets. Many flags were flapping in the wind, each of which He could have pursued. He could have been a political revolutionary. He could have been a national leader. But in the end He chose to be a Savior and save souls.

Anyone near Christ for any length of time heard it from Jesus Himself. “The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.” (Luke 19:10)  “The Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many people.” (Mark 10:45)

The heart of Christ was relentlessly focused on one task. The day He left the carpentry shop of Nazareth He had one ultimate aim -- the cross of Calvary. He was so focused that His final words were, “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

How could Jesus say He was finished? There were still the hungry to feed, the sick to heal, the untaught to instruct, and the unloved to love. How could He say He was finished? Simple. He had completed His designated task. His commission was fulfilled. The painter could set aside his brush, the sculptor lay down his chisel, the writer put down his pen. The job was done.

Wouldn’t you love to be able to say the same? Wouldn’t you love to look back on your life and know you had done what you were called to do?   

-- Max Lucado in “Just Like Jesus”

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FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS

"And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"  (Esther 4:14 NIV)

This past weekend my wife and I attended the retirement celebration for a former colleague and friend at the church I served for 25 years. In very specific ways, she told of her calling in regard to the many roles she has served there for the last eight years. I mentioned that God had called her “for such a time as this… and this… and this… and this.”

In moments of uncertainty, when fear or doubt whispers louder than faith, the biblical story of Esther reminds us that divine purpose often hides within ordinary circumstances. Her courage wasn’t born from confidence in herself -- it was rooted in the possibility that God had placed her exactly where she needed to be. “For such a time as this” isn’t just a phrase -- it’s a call to awaken to the sacred opportunities tucked inside our daily lives. Whether we stand in palaces or pews, boardrooms or kitchens, sports arenas or schools God invites us to respond with boldness, trusting that our presence, our voice, and our obedience may be the very answer to someone’s prayer.

My colleague’s presence, her voice and her obedience were the answer to many people’s prayers, mine included. Thanks for responding to your call, Lina. 

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson, SOUND BITES Ministry™ 

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DIVINE INTERRUPTIONS

Have you ever been interrupted by a phone call, an e-mail, or a knock on the door from someone wanting your immediate attention? They didn’t check your calendar first to see if you were available. They just barged into your life. A SOUND BITES subscriber once shared with me a quote that resonated with me: “The most important moments rarely come at a convenient time.”

The Bible is full of stories about people who were rudely interrupted by God. We read them and long to have the kind of adventure they experienced. Yet when God interrupts us, are we willing to respond on a moment's notice?  Divine interruptions are often the pivot points of transformation in Scripture. Here are several compelling examples where God steps in and reroutes someone’s life, often in dramatic fashion.

God interrupts Abraham’s settled life with a call to leave everything familiar and journey to an unknown land (Genesis 12). This moment launches the covenantal story of faith. While tending sheep, Moses is interrupted by a bush that burns but isn’t consumed (Exodus 3). God calls him to confront Pharaoh and lead Israel out of Egypt -- a radical shift from shepherd to liberator. As a boy, Samuel hears God calling in the night (1 Samuel 3). It’s an interruption that marks the beginning of his prophetic ministry. Mary’s quiet life is interrupted by a divine messenger announcing she will bear the Son of God (Luke 1). Her “yes” changes history. The Samaritan Woman comes for water and leaves with living water (John 4). Jesus interrupts her routine and reveals her deepest need -- and her purpose. Jesus appears post-resurrection to Thomas in a locked room, interrupting doubt with presence and peace (John 20). Thomas moves from skepticism to worship. Jesus interrupts Peter’s workday with a miraculous catch and a call to become a “fisher of men” (Luke 5). Saul, a persecutor of Christians, is blinded by a heavenly light and hears Jesus speak (Acts 9). This interruption transforms him into Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.

Divine interruptions often come when we least expect them -- during ordinary tasks, moments of rebellion, or seasons of despair. But they’re never random. They’re invitations to deeper purpose, greater trust, and holy transformation. For me, it was a phone call on a Friday night in March of 1985, from the former pastor of my church who was now living 500 miles away. As I look back on it, it was God calling me into ministry in the midst of an ordinary life -- a divine interruption. 

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson, SOUND BITES Ministry™ 

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EMBODYING GOD'S LOVE

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  (John 13:34-35 NIV)

The earliest generations of Christians were known as a community that practiced sacrificial love. In a letter to the emperor Hadrian, a Christian named Aristides described the community this way:

"They love one another, and from widows they do not turn away their esteem; and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother; for they do not call them brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the Spirit and in God." (Translated by D. M. Kay, www.earlychristianwritings.com)

At its best, the church continues to do these things today. Thousands of churches feed the poor, welcome strangers, and help those suffering from natural disasters.

Yet the church is composed of human beings who are sinners. We are all too familiar with the many ways we fall short of truly embodying God's love. Nevertheless, loving and acting on that love remain the church's purpose and calling from God. 

-- Scott J. Jones in “The Wesleyan Way: A Faith That Matters”

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RESPONDING TO GOD’S CALL

“For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time -- to show us His grace through Christ Jesus.”  (1 Timothy 1:9 NLT)

Years ago a colleague in Ontario recounted an interesting experience with a fax.  Members of his church who were living in Australia sent him a fax.  He read it, and then noticed the date of the fax transmission. It was dated and sent the day after he received it -- because of Australia's time zone.  He dubbed the letter his "fax from the future".

God is calling to you from the future and into the future with increasing persuasiveness.  God is sending you "future messages" about what it means to be a child of God, to be a disciple of Jesus, to live a holy life.

None of us can manage, control or manipulate the future.  However, God calls you and then guides you toward the call.  God is always ahead of you, inviting you toward a richer life in Christ. 

-- from the church bulletin of Christ Church United, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada 

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I NEED TO WORSHIP

“When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’”  (Matthew 14:32-33)

I need to worship because without it I can forget that I have a Big God beside me and live in fear. I need to worship because without it I can forget His calling and begin to live in a spirit of self-preoccupation. I need to worship because without it I lose a sense of wonder and gratitude and plod through life with blinders on. I need to worship because my natural tendency is toward self-reliance and stubborn independence. 

-- John Ortberg in “If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat”

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THAT ALL-TIME RELIGION

“Calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, Jesus said to them, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”  (Mark 8:34)

I am not here to please the dominant culture or to serve any all-show, no-go bureaucracies. I live to please my Lord and Savior. My spiritual taste buds have graduated from fizz and froth to Fire and Ice. Sometimes I’m called to sharpen the cutting edge, and sometimes to blunt the cutting edge. Don’t give me that old-time religion. Don’t give me that new-time religion. Give me that all-time religion that’s as hard as rock and soft as snow.

I’ve stopped trying to make life work, and started trying to make life sing. I’m finished with the secondhand sensations; third-rate dreams; low-risk, high-rise trades; and goose-stepping crusades. I no longer live by and for anything but everything God-breathed, Christ-centered, and Spirit-driven. 

-- Leonard Sweet, excerpted from his “Magna Carta of Trust” published in his book “A Cup of Coffee at the Soul Cafe”

A CALLING FOR ALL OF US

Jesus said, “Follow Me.” (Luke 5:27b)

This calling is for every child of God. It’s not just for the Jeremiahs, the Moses, the Abrahams, the Davids, the Matthews, Marks, Lukes, and Johns. It’s not just for the Augustines, the Luthers, the Wesleys, the Billy Sundays, or the Billy Grahams. It’s not just for pastors, missionaries, Christian stars, and personalities. It’s for all those people. It’s for little me and little you.

There’s only one bright morning star, and that’s Jesus. Those two words that Christ said, “Follow Me,” changed the world, as millions since have risen up to follow the call. What is this calling I’m talking about? It is this. It’s Luke, chapter 5. It’s Jesus saying to Peter, “Peter, will you follow Me?” And then in John 21, “Peter, will you love Me?” And again “Peter, will you die for Me?”

Will you honor Me? Will you live for Me? Will you die for Me? That’s the call. And every single believer is called to this: to this fellowship, to this maturity, to this discipleship. It’s for every child of God, and that means me and that means you. 

--  Adapted from “Side by Side: A Handbook for Disciple-Making for a New Century,” Steve & Lois Rabey, General Editors

#5135

THE FIRE WITHIN - Part 1

“When they saw who [Jesus] was, He disappeared. They said to each other. ‘It felt like a fire burning in us when Jesus talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us.” (Luke 24:31-32 NCV)

Don’t you love that verse? They knew they had been with Jesus because of the fire within them. God reveals His will by setting a torch in your soul. He gave Jeremiah a fire for hard hearts. He gave Nehemiah a fire for a forgotten city. He set Abraham on fire for a land he’d never seen. He set Isaiah on fir with a vision he couldn’t resist. Forty years of fruitless preaching didn’t extinguish the fire of Noah. Forty years of wilderness wandering didn’t douse the passion of Moses. Jericho couldn’t slow Joshua, and Goliath didn’t deter David. There was a fire within them.

And isn’t there one in you? Want to know God’s will for your life? Then answer this question: What ignites your heart? Forgotten orphans? Untouched nations? The inner city? The outer limits? Heed the fire within!

Do you have a passion to sing? Then sing! Are you stirred to manage? Then manage! Do you ache for the ill? Then treat them! Do you hurt for the lost? The reach them! 

-- Max Lucado in “The Great House of God”

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THE CALLING OF GOD

“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our LORD Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the LORD Jesus Christ.”  (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 NIV)

What is the calling of God? In every life, calling may manifest itself in a different way, but the result will be the same. God's calling does not allow us to separate the sacred from the secular. We have one life to live for Him in every aspect of existence. The calling of God challenges us to bring Him into our most mundane activities, breathing life into our smallest tasks, and giving power to our greatest challenges.

-- Stephen Arterburn in “The Power Book”


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