The second of three posts on the Inverted Kingdom...
Memory Verse
Then Peter spoke up, "We have left everything to follow you!" "Truly I tell you," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields - along with persecutions - and in the age to come eternal life." Mark 10:28-30 (NIV)
Reflection
Have you ever left everything to do something? I'm not sure I have, but I do know many people who have.
Some of them are immigrants to this country. They left everything in their former country to come to America. For virtually all of them it was a huge risk - they left everything they knew to come to a strange place where they didn't know the culture, perhaps even the language, and they very much missed home. Yet, despite the tremendous struggle, for most of them there was ultimate reward for their families - if not in the first generation, at least by the second.
The same is true of many of the microentrepreneurs served by our microfinance partners. They may not have much materially at risk, but they give up what they do have - their reputations, their hard work, and more - to take the tremendous risk of borrowing money so that they can forge a brighter future for their families and communities. For most of them, the reward makes it all worth it.
Many of us live our lives trying to accumulate as much as we can, establishing a secure future, and keeping our dependence on God to a bare minimum and accessed only when necessary. Yet, in Jesus' kingdom, He calls us to leave and give up everything. He knew that we would not only be tempted to replace our dependence on Him with dependence on very unreliable "things", but we would be prone to miss out on all the rewards of having a close, intimate relationship with Him. Those rewards include His provision of everything we need, far beyond what we could ever think or imagine. And, like the immigrant or microentrepreneur, those rewards extend to our children and our children's children when we show them how to live depending on God.
I can relate to that. Years ago I left a good-paying job in Corporate America to pursue what I knew God had called me to do. Eight years later, I got my first pay check in that new full-time role. God not only provided everyday during those eight years, but at times in very lavish ways. Just one example - God moved in the heart of one person to make it possible for my family to be able to take a week-long vacation in Hawaii. I never thought that would be possible when I said goodbye to the well-paying job, but a sister in Christ made it possible as she responded to God leading her to be extremely generous to us.
In this Inverted Kingdom, we are called to leave everything. What we gain is so much more than we ever left behind.
Some of them are immigrants to this country. They left everything in their former country to come to America. For virtually all of them it was a huge risk - they left everything they knew to come to a strange place where they didn't know the culture, perhaps even the language, and they very much missed home. Yet, despite the tremendous struggle, for most of them there was ultimate reward for their families - if not in the first generation, at least by the second.
The same is true of many of the microentrepreneurs served by our microfinance partners. They may not have much materially at risk, but they give up what they do have - their reputations, their hard work, and more - to take the tremendous risk of borrowing money so that they can forge a brighter future for their families and communities. For most of them, the reward makes it all worth it.
Many of us live our lives trying to accumulate as much as we can, establishing a secure future, and keeping our dependence on God to a bare minimum and accessed only when necessary. Yet, in Jesus' kingdom, He calls us to leave and give up everything. He knew that we would not only be tempted to replace our dependence on Him with dependence on very unreliable "things", but we would be prone to miss out on all the rewards of having a close, intimate relationship with Him. Those rewards include His provision of everything we need, far beyond what we could ever think or imagine. And, like the immigrant or microentrepreneur, those rewards extend to our children and our children's children when we show them how to live depending on God.
I can relate to that. Years ago I left a good-paying job in Corporate America to pursue what I knew God had called me to do. Eight years later, I got my first pay check in that new full-time role. God not only provided everyday during those eight years, but at times in very lavish ways. Just one example - God moved in the heart of one person to make it possible for my family to be able to take a week-long vacation in Hawaii. I never thought that would be possible when I said goodbye to the well-paying job, but a sister in Christ made it possible as she responded to God leading her to be extremely generous to us.
In this Inverted Kingdom, we are called to leave everything. What we gain is so much more than we ever left behind.
Questions to Consider
1. Have you left everything to follow Jesus?
2. What have you already gained as a result of leaving things behind and following Jesus?
Action Steps for the Week
1. Identify at least one item or area in your life that you have not yet left behind to follow Jesus and give that up this week.
2. Start writing in your journal the many different ways you are being blessed as you learn new ways to leave things and follow Jesus.
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