Questions always questions

Are we governed by the tyranny of the immediate or do we realize that our decisions can have eternal consequences? For example, do we take a job that would cause us to violate our faith because we need to pay the bills? In what order should we put family, work, God? Do we neglect our family for church work? Do we neglect our family or God because of daily work? Do we focus on the things of earth instead of heavenly things? Do we need the deadwood pruned out of our lives by the Master Gardener so that we are more fruitful? Perhaps that trial we were able to avoid would have strengthened our faith for a later time or would have given us the wisdom to help strengthen another.

Do we ignore the call of God on our lives because it doesn’t fit with what we want to do, doesn’t seem possible, or involves great sacrifice? Moses most certainly did not want to lead the people out of Egypt or approach Pharaoh and yet God gave Moses what he needed to be successful in what God commissioned him to do. Jonah tried to run away from his call and look where that got him! Jim Elliot and others went to the Auca Indians as missionaries, some were killed by the Auca, and yet through their deaths many Auca came to Christ.

Do we keep our Sunday lives separate from every other aspect of our lives? One of the great things about the Reformation was that Luther realized all work was holy work not just that which was done by the priests, monks and nuns. So whatever job we do is holy work and our faith should permeate every facet of our lives. Our decisions on things we do, even the seemingly trivial, should be made through the lens of our faith. Do activities such as reading books, listening to music, watching movies, surfing the ‘Net lead us closer to God or further away? Perhaps one is an area of weakness and the others are not but are we discerning enough to know what is and isn’t lawful for us individually? Are we willing to forgo something we enjoy because it might cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble?

Are we unwilling to submit to the authority of God and His Word because we might have to go against our culture and society? Are we loving people into a Christless eternity because we don’t want to offend them? God has reasons for His rules and constraints even though we may not understand why. As an example, there is a really long list of rashes in Leviticus for which people were to present themselves to the priest. Sometimes quarantine was indicated and sometimes not. The big disease they were worried about-leprosy; highly communicable and still very deadly without treatment. In some countries leper colonies still exist. Maybe the other rashes were things like chickenpox, scarlet fever, meningitis, and measles: also potentially deadly even in 21st century America. When the priest quarantined an individual with a rash until they recovered or died, the rest of the community was protected from more than just leprosy.

Finally, how would our answers differ if we were fully committed followers of Christ, in total submission to Him?