I've been drinking out of a fire hose spiritually lately and although amazing, trying to digest it all is simply impossible! But, God always manages to make sure I keep what he needs to work in me.
But here's one of the things that's been slamming into me recently: Gideon. (read Judges 6)
In Gideon's time the Israelis weren't following God again, and as a result the Mideonites were raiding and plundering every time anyone had just a little more than enough. Eventually the Israelis decided to call out to God, and so God approaches Gideon.
"Hey mighty man of Valor"
And then we see Gideon, a man who is hiding in an over sized bucket trying to thresh his grain in secret so that the Mideonites won't take it from him.
But look at what God calls Gideon, he's not lying, he's telling Gideon what he made him to be. God both made and was calling Gideon to be this mighty man and rescue Israel. On the road to Damascus Paul was called to follow Christ, although during that incident you don't hear what God Calls Saul to be, Jesus repeats some of it to Ananaias:
"Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."
Later Paul explains a bit more:
"He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles"
If we look at Paul before his conversion, you see a man doing his very best to kill the church and the Christians. Once he knew his name (and Jesus!) everything changed. He now followed Christ, but not only that, but had a purpose, a clear calling.
But look back at Gideon he's hiding in a winepress threshing grain, and his countrymen are living in caves, everyone hiding. It's not just fear, they're doing their very best to survive. There's no food, no livestock, their houses are being torn down, in short, they're being ravaged by the Mideonites.
The Israelites were called the people of God, they were the chosen ones of God to be blessed and exemplify what happens when you follow God. Yet here they are trodden down as low as they could go. But why? If you read, it was because they had turned away from God and were following idols. They had turned to the world to lead and support them and here they had been led.
God had a name for them, the Chosen people, but didn't the world have a name for them as well? The world called them the kinda religious people, the 'down on their luck' and somewhat forgotten people. They were the ones for who nothing went well. When they got out of Egypt, they barely made it almost slaughtered beside the red sea. After getting out by the skin of their teeth they were almost starved and baked to death in the desert. Oh, and then there was that time they nearly all were bitten to death by snakes. After wandering in a desert 40 years they made it to the "land of milk and honey" only to fight, gain some land, and now it was being taken from them again. Survival.
But what did God call them? They were the people whom God called out of bondage. He had blessed them and made them a nation even while in Egypt. When Pharaoh said no, God liberated the people. When they were stuck with the army at their back, and a sea to their front, God parted the sea and wiped out the army behind them. When they traveled in the desert he provided them with food that fell from the sky. When they disobeyed and God sent the snakes, he provided a way out and saved them, foreshadowing how he would use them to save the world. They had ended up in a land of plenty after God led the small band of freed slaves to defeat even the invincible enemies like Jericho without even attacking. Abundance and Grace
When Gideon followed God's name for him, he not only became it, but lived life abundantly, blowing everyone's expectations out of the water. But when he followed the World's names for him, he cowered in a bucket and struggled to survive.
What I'm trying to get at here is that in Christ we're called to live, and live abundantly! That God has a name and purpose for us that when we listen and follow his purpose and design life no longer is meager, but amazing, deep, and exciting.
But when we listen to the world, and the name it has for us we end up trying to survive. If I listen, I should pursue a girl, struggle through my education, get a degree, get married, settle down, work an ok job, have some decent kids, eventually pay off my mortgage and loans, maybe at some point have enough money to quiet down and retire. I'll spend my entire life living bill to bill, barely having enough to pay for the kids and everything else, and just when I've got a little something that I've finally made for myself, it'll be taken away from me. My life won't be terrible, it'll be ok, probably. I'll get some enjoyment out of it, maybe if I'm lucky make a little splash, and then it'll be over. Life will always be "average" and it will always be tomorrow that I'll be caught up, next week I'll have enough to get that, a little longer until I'm ready.
Then, the day will come when I'm on my deathbed that day, and that time will never have come.
I'm slowly learning what it actually means to follow Christ, and to be honest, I'm no where close to doing well at relying on him. But when I have my life has changed in ways that are incredible. I know God is telling me right now, "hey, listen to me, I want to tell you your purpose, I want to show you your name, I want to give you life in abundance." To be honest, I think he's telling you that too. Why else do you feel that there's always something... missing to life?
I don't have the answer to what it is to listen, or what my name really is, but I do know who does. And I know that if I ask him, and actually believe in Jesus, he will give me life in abundance, and a life that satisfies. I've already experienced some of it, and I know that it's real.
God has a name that's not something average or weak, but a strong and fit name for me and you. We just need to ask him to show us the way. He made me the the fittest for a specific task, not to be a mediocre guy who's just surviving. The way of the world truly is survival of the fittest by reducing the fittest to surviving, and to be perfectly honest, I'm sick of it.
Edit:
I didn't realize I had come across so derogatory about family, I really do want a family, job, etc at some point, but I don't want a family life that's "ok" but not great, I don't want a job where I collect pay and leave, I want to make a difference! I don't want to go to church and do the motions and be a "good christian" I want to be fully reliant on Christ and letting him move in me. Basically, I don't want to live life in mediocrity when Christ has provided a way for something so much greater! It's this whole notion of listening to the world that reduces people to surviving when they could be so much more!
