I Just Want to Say, "Thank You!"

I just want to say, “Thank you,” to everyone who reads and/or who responds to what the Lord has me post on the internet each day. He called me to write down what he is teaching me each day from his word and to post these writings on the internet, and then later he added on songs, poems, books, video talks and memes which also share the truths of what the Scriptures teach, just in different forms, because we all connect in different ways.

Yet, I would write and speak and sing what the Lord has me share each day even if no one responded, because I know that this is God’s calling on my life, and this is the task to which he has assigned me within the universal body of Christ, for the glory and praise of God, according to the will of God and to his purpose for my life. And I will continue in the work to which he has called me even if I face much opposition and I get no encouragement along the way. Why? Because this is what God has called me to do.

Mary’s Calling

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’

“And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’

“And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:26-38 ESV)

Mary’s calling of God was to be the one to give birth to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. But this was no ordinary calling, and it was definitely not one without risk to herself. For she was a virgin who was espoused to a man named Joseph, and now she would be pregnant of the Holy Spirit, which would be very difficult to explain to anyone, and people would assume that she did the unthinkable, and it could mean her death or at least that Joseph now would divorce her. But she accepted the call of God knowing all that.

Now Mary did not doubt what the angel of God had said to her, but she did have a very practical question for him which was, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” She just wanted to know how she would become pregnant, for she had not been with a man. That’s reasonable. And so the angel then explained to her how this was all going to take place, and Mary accepted what the angel said to her, and she believed God. She said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Amen!!

And so she did give birth to Jesus Christ, and Joseph received her as his bride, and then their marriage was consummated. And she raised the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God who is God, and who was with God in the beginning, and who is our creator God, the giver of life, but not just physical life, but eternal life to all who trust in him to be Lord and Savior of their lives. And this kind of trust in Jesus involves us denying self, dying daily to sin, and following our Lord in obedience to his commands (see Luke 9:23-26).

God’s Callings on Our Lives

But now I want to relate this to our lives. For if we are followers of Jesus Christ, we are all called of God to be his disciples, to deny self, to die daily to sin, and to follow him in obedience to his commands. But we are also gifted of the Spirit with Spiritual gifts, and we are each assigned tasks by God, our specific roles (body parts) within the body of Christ, which we are to do in the power of God, in cooperation with his will and purpose for our lives. And we should all respond to God’s callings on our individual lives as Mary did.

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

In other words, if it is God who has called us to his service, and all true believers in Christ have been called of God to a very specific task, then our answer needs to be the same as Mary’s. We need to be willing to step out in faith and believe God for the impossible and trust him even if what he has called us to do may not make sense to most people. For it is not the people whom we are to please with our lives. We are to live to please the Lord, and we must be willing to lay it all down to follow him wherever he sends us.

For he promises us that if we follow him with our lives in obedience, not only to his commands, but to his specific callings he has on our individual lives, that we are going to be hated, persecuted, rejected, falsely accused of wrongdoing, misunderstood, and cast off as unwanted, which I am most certain that Mary definitely faced. But our service is to be according to the will of God, not according to human will and desire. And we are to live as those who are pleasing to God, although we may be displeasing to humans.

For if you are someone who is speaking the truth of the gospel these days, in the way in which Jesus and his NT apostles taught it (in context), then you will be treated as they were treated. Especially since we now live in an era where the truth of the gospel is largely being altered (adulterated) to make it more attractive and acceptable to human flesh, if we are speaking the truth that Jesus taught, we are not going to be well liked. We will not have many friends or followers, and we will have few encouragers.

So, when God calls us to his service, we can either choose to reject his calling or we can humbly receive it in surrender to his will and purpose. We can be more concerned about what people will think about us, or we can be more concerned about pleasing the Lord and sharing the truth which will save human lives. Just think about this: What if Mary chose to reject the call of God on her life out of fear of what other humans would think about her, or how they might treat her? We have to be more like Mary, don’t we??

So, if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, i.e. one who is born of God and is promised salvation from sin and eternal life with God, then God has an assignment that he wants you to do. Will you be willing to say “Yes!” to the Lord, even if it means that people (including other “Christians” and pastors of “churches”) will hate, misjudge, persecute, exclude, gossip about, ignore, reject, and cast you aside as unnecessary and as unwanted? For God requires a “Yes” response from us if we are to be his true followers.

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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