Noodles are my kids’ favorite food; if given the choice of any food in the world (which is why we don’t let toddlers choose their diet). Needless to say, I make a lot of macaroni and cheese – the kind from a box. I no longer read the directions on the box – I make enough that it’s beyond memorized; it’s automatic.
So one day when my daughter would not eat her macaroni and cheese, I was perplexed. She claimed it “tasted like sand” (she was not incorrect – it was pretty icky). I had used a new brand I found on sale, and this was our first box…of twelve (it was a really good sale). I tried to sneak in another box a few days later, but once again it was borderline inedible.
When we had been macaroni-less for some time, I got out another box, and something compelled me to look at the directions: they were different! Who was this company with their strange macaroni directions?! Turns out, when you follow the directions, it tastes delicious.
At this time in my life, God hasn’t called me personally to a wild, risky and costly, dangerous missionary life. He hasn’t asked me to live where I might spread His word and contract exotic diseases. He hasn’t asked me to share the gospel with people who might kill or eat me. I live here, in Michigan, in my climate controlled house with my stable, steady life. He’s asked me to glorify Him right here.
And yet living to bring Him glory will always be a risky, costly, dangerous life.
We’re so settled in to our “regular” lives – the ways that we spend our time, respond to other people, interact with the world at large, the habits and routines that get us out the door in the morning – that we don’t think too much about the directions we’re following. Are they God’s, or the world’s? Too often, most of my regular life is governed by the directions of this world – seeking comfort, financial stability, achieving and succeeding. My life is focused on what is tangibly in front of me, the temporal things in this world, instead of the future eternity I have in Christ.
After hearing Sunday’s missionary stories where God is so clearly glorified by the willingness of believers to forsake this world and live boldly for Him, we might be tempted to ask ourselves, “If I knew danger was the will of God, would I go?”
What if we replace that word danger with some other, more everyday risks that God asks us to take here, in our regular lives.
- If I knew being kind and patient with the Comcast lady was the will of God, would I do it?
- If I knew that loving my mother (or your favorite, difficult relative) the way Jesus loves me was the will of God, would I do it?
- If I knew that sharing difficult truth with my good friend was the will of God, would I do it?
- If I knew that working diligently to my full potential (at my job or in school) was the will of God, would I do it?
- If I knew that allocating my money or time less selfishly was the will of God, would I do it?
The fact is I do know that all of those things are the will of God – I read them in my Bible: be patient and kind (Galatians 5:22), love one another (John 13:34), speak edifying words (Ephesians 4:29), work as though working for God (Colossians 3:23), don’t love money (Matthew 6:19-21). Living to God’s glory - living in His will instead of in our perceived ease and safety - is risky to our security in this world, costly to our comfort, dangerous to our selfish plans. God invites us to risk the things that this world values – security, reputation, comfort, material wealth – and instead seek His kingdom first; and yet I often miss it completely. I don’t curtail my “acceptable” sins, I don’t love like I should, I don’t speak truth and love when it’s uncomfortable or might make me unpopular.
I’m so caught up in the way that this world works that I don’t take those risks or invoke those costs.
It’s like making that macaroni and cheese – I don’t follow the instructions (the Bible, God’s word), because I think I totally know what I’m doing. Yet if I’m part of God’s kingdom, I’m working from a different set of directions - my comfort and self-glorifying lifestyle are the wrong directions. God doesn’t want any sandy mac and cheese.
Am I willing to lay down my life for Him – whether that means packing it all up to go to some exotic place and spread the gospel, or whether it means living my life right here in a Christ-honoring, God-glorifying, totally not normal way?
Instead of feeling inadequate or insignificant that we aren’t totally abandoned to living for God’s glory in a far off mission field, let’s be totally abandoned to living for His glory here, in the life where He has called us!
Is God calling you to anything “risky” involves giving up your own comfort, glory and plan for His glory? [Robin Bupp is married to Caleb, and they are from many places east of the Mississippi (but are calling Michigan home for the foreseeable future). A former high school science teacher, Robin is slowly turning the two Bupp kiddos into tiny nerds while they teach her lots of things, including humility and patience.]
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