Gratitude and Willingness

Today in Church out preacher  preached on Romans 12:9-21.  The passage begins with "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good."  It goes on to list a number of things that a mature Christian should do in the way they live their life. In the message, our preacher focused on verse 16, which says: "Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."  The phrase "be willing to associate with people of low position" is also translated "be willing to do menial work," which is what our preacher focused on this morning.

Sincere love means being willing to do anything for someone.  If someone tells us that they would be willing to do literally anything for us, of course we should be very thankful, we would show great gratitude towards them.  While people are selfish and sinful and probably at some point would fall short of literally doing ANYTHING for us, Jesus came to earth and did exactly that.  He suffered and died in order to save us from our sins.  Nobody else in the history of the world has shown the love that Jesus showed us, giving not just "anything," but EVERYTHING for us.  John 15:13 says: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

If God loves us THAT much, and sacrificed THAT much, then clearly our gratitude should be displayed in our everyday life.  We should live each an every second of our life as an act of gratitude towards our Lord.  One point that our preacher made was that gratitude leads to willingness.  If we show gratitude for what God has done for us, then we will not be proud and we will "be willing to do menial work" (Romans 12:16).  If God calls us to do something, we should do it. Sometimes the things that God calls us to are not things that bring us glory, or wealth, or fame.  The things God asks us to do aren't always easy, in fact often they are not easy.  Think of missionaries who leave their families, friends and the comforts of home behind to go out and spread God's word around the world, often in places where living conditions are not exactly comfortable.  But it's not about us.  This life is about giving God the glory and living to serve Him.  To show our gratitude, we must respond to God's call with an emphatic "YES!"

It's one of the things I pray every day, that I would hear God's call and have the courage to follow, wherever it may lead.

Playing the background, wisdom from Lecrae

Last night I took my sister Kassi to a Lecrae concert for her birthday.  For those who don’t know Lecrae, look him up. He’s a Christian rapper and he’s legitimately good.  Not only can the man rap, the man can preach, and he often does them at the same time.  A number of artists performed leading up to Lecrae.  They were all pretty good and each had a good message to share about the impact Christ has had on their lives and the power of Christ’s love, grace and forgiveness.  However, it was Lecrae who brought the house down with his beats and rhythms, and it was Lecrae who truly brought the message home. 

All of Lecrae’s songs have a clear gospel message.  He and a group of rappers signed with his record label are know as the 1-1-6 Clique, named for Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”  Throughout his performance Lecrae paused a number of times in between songs to reflect on the message of a particular song or to re-focus the night on giving God the glory. 
One song that particularly spoke to me was called “Background.” (If I set it up right, it’s playing on this page.  If not, here’s the you-tube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHnZRZiCYHE)  The chorus says:

I could play the background
I could play the background
Cause I know sometimes I get in the way
So won’t you take the lead, lead, lead?
So won’t you take the lead, lead, lead?
And I could play the background, background
And you could take the lead.

The message of the song is that we need to stop trying to live in the spotlight and we need to let God run the show.  Rather than trying to be in control and receive the credit for ourselves, we need to remember to step back, let God lead and walk in the steps he has laid out for us. 

There’s a line in the song that says “I end up confessing that I’m not that impressive, matter of fact I’m who I are, a trail of stardust leading to the superstar.”  That’s what we are, a trail of dust, leading to the superstar (God).  We are made in His image, we reflect His glory.  We are not here to serve ourselves or other men, rather we are here to serve our Lord Jesus Christ.  I know I love to receive credit for the good things that I do, but in that I’m missing the point of living for Christ.  To truly lay down my life and live for God I need to gratefully accept the background role to the greatest lead of all time, Jesus Christ.

I’m not here to accomplish my goals and get praised for my accomplishments.  I’m here to follow God’s call on my life and bring glory to His name through my each and every step. When we let God take the lead, He does amazing things in our lives and blesses us beyond measure.  However, letting God take the lead and in turn playing the background, does not mean sitting back and just watching God work.  God has purpose for us, and that means being proactive Christians.  Rather than sitting around waiting for God to act, we should act in a Christ-like manner, knowing full well that God is present in all things and will use all things for His purpose.

I pray that God would help me (and all of us) to see the areas in my life where I need to stop trying to play the lead role and let Him take the lead.   I pray that I would not sit idly by an wait for God to work, but that I actively follow God’s path, letting Him give me my cues and serving Him for His glory at all times.