What do bungee jumping, hang gliding and being a follower of Christ have in common? They all require abandon. Release our fears, hesitations and doubts. Along with our agendas and the idea of who we are.
The Marines invite young people to be one of the few, the proud—leave behind what they know to be more than who they are.
The Marines weren’t the first to promise a hard life leading to a great reward. Jesus said to take up your cross and follow him…the way is narrow and few find it.
In early church history, persecution of Christians was the norm. Many were beaten, burned or thrown to the lions.
In more current times, Jim Elliot gave his live on the banks of a river deep in the jungle of Ecuador that the people living there might one day hear the gospel. And they did, when his wife went back and shared the good news with the very men who killed her husband.
Still today in many countries, it is illegal to be a Christian. Believers are at the least ostracized if not jailed or sentenced to death. Some even killed by their own families.
Perhaps ours is not to die a physical death, but Christ does call us to die to our self.
Mother Teresa walked the streets of Calcutta, ministered to the broken and touched the world.
Gladys Aylward embraced the Chinese people as her own, became a citizen of that country in order to share the gospel.
Mothers everywhere pray while they change diapers, wipe noses, care for sick children through the night and they raise world changers.
How do we do this? Abandon ourselves to Him. Release our ideas of what life should look like.
Ordinary activities become extravagant offerings of worship when life is lived God’s way.
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
–Jim Elliot–
