Follow Me June 5, 2007

I'm meditating on an idea that was birthed in two events: hearing Josh McDowell at Beltway talk about our youth, and hearing John MacArthur on Focus on the Family. We need something in our lives, a purpose, a truth. We need something to fight for, something to live for, and something worth dying for.

We, as a nation, need to get our focus on God. Josh talked about how this generation believes in functional truth, and John talked about what it looks like when God abandons a nation from Romans. (Check out the Focus site for the steps: Sexual Revolution, Homo-sexual Revolution, Depraved Mind.) It felt like a call to action, but I didn't know what to do. I prayed, and so far I'm at these three steps: fight, live, die.

I want to fight for righteousness, calling sin evil and righteousness good. I want to be a voice for God in my home and in the marketplace, without compromise. I want to live to love God and to love others, even my adversaries. I want to love radically and claim the abundant life jesus promises. I want to die to myself, and die in repentance on behalf of our nation. I think of Daniel praying on behalf of his people. Do I love my neighbors that much?

Like I said, it's a thought in progress, but it's on my mind this morning as I prepare to go to work. I don't particularly want to go to work (who does @ 6AM?), I'd rather be sleeping next to my wonderful bride. But, since I am going to work, I want to do so with these thoughts in mind: Jesus refused to take matters into his own hands when tempted, he refused to compromise and he stood for righteousness in God's name (Matt. 4). He proclaimed righteousness, loved radically, lived fully, and died to interceed for his nation and the world. Then, in the very same chapter, he says "Follow me."

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