Several years ago, a friend and I took a trip to Dallas for a church conference. We never quite figured out the "Texas Way" of marking (or not marking) highway exits, ate too much Mexican food (if too much is even possible), took in a Stars vs. RedWings game, worshiped at the Potter's House and had a great time. The conference itself was just ok, but had memorable moments about it. My favorite was the session when Bill Hybels spoke. Faithful readers will recognize the name from last week's Five for Friday the Podcast Version. I listen weekly and the experience of hearing him in Dallas is why.
At the end of his session, the conference host joined him on stage for an impromptu Q&A. One question in particular stood out: If you could describe your life in a song, what song would you be and why? Hybels looked down taken a bit off-guard but eventually looked up at the crowd and said, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction?" The place erupted in laughter, and Hybels was quick to explain that he never has a sense that he's done enough or that the global church has exhausted their resources for the sake of the Gospel. When others are ok with their efforts to tell the world about Jesus, Hybels stated he is never satisfied. "Can't we do more? When a kid in Africa dies from a disease that would have been prevented by a fifty cent mosquito net, can't we do better?" The unreached world is ever before him and it keeps him discontent.
In his answer, Hybels identified one of the moorings that guard against spiritual drift. While many believers and Christian leaders tend to be content to insulate their lives from the unbelieving outside world, those who refuse to drift from the calling to win the lost seem to rarely lose their moral compass. Too much is at stake when you are constantly aware of a watching, unbelieving world. Believers in Jesus have been entrusted with the Kingdom of God - not to merely manage it, but to expand it. And this is where it would seem David lost his footing in our story of him and Bathsheba.
2 Samuel 11
In his answer, Hybels identified one of the moorings that guard against spiritual drift. While many believers and Christian leaders tend to be content to insulate their lives from the unbelieving outside world, those who refuse to drift from the calling to win the lost seem to rarely lose their moral compass. Too much is at stake when you are constantly aware of a watching, unbelieving world. Believers in Jesus have been entrusted with the Kingdom of God - not to merely manage it, but to expand it. And this is where it would seem David lost his footing in our story of him and Bathsheba.
2 Samuel 11
At a time when kings went off to war, David stayed home.
I've always heard it taught that he wasn't where he ought to be, or this
sin with Bathsheba wouldn't have happened; but truthfully, if his heart had
been where it ought to be, he would have been where he ought to be. These were the glory days of Israel. The Kingdom was in great shape. The Spirit of God "rushed" on David and made everything he did successful. He had God's favor, God's calling and God's Kingdom forces with him... and he stayed home. Had he
grown content with the "enough" he already attained for the Kingdom? Was he content to just tell the troops on the ground what to do without being involved himself? It seems he'd lost his sense of mission - a warring man who didn't go to war, a king who had all the kingdom he could handle.
Who can fault him really when we often do the same? Christianity is so comfy in our hemisphere that we call graffiti persecution. We tend to insulate ourselves from the unbelieving world rather than find strategic places in it to be kingdom people. Or we get so busy managing a church building that we forget to be light in dark places, hope in hopeless places, healers in broken places. We really are ALL of those things... but we drift. We forget we have God's favor, God's calling and God's Kingdom forces with us.
I'm not sure the exact preventative measure to keep us from drifting, but a couple of things come to mind. Stay close to the Father's heart - the lost are prominently positioned there. His Son's primary mission was to seek and save those who were lost, and He did so at great expense. Secondly, simply pray to be what my old-school-roots would call "soul conscious" - aware of the eternal state of those you encounter. You don't need a sermon. Just be ready to tell your story. God loves answering the prayer asking for an opportunity to share Him with others. Test Him on this, and be ready. Go to war and build the kingdom in your corner of the world.
You can read the final installment of this series here.
Who can fault him really when we often do the same? Christianity is so comfy in our hemisphere that we call graffiti persecution. We tend to insulate ourselves from the unbelieving world rather than find strategic places in it to be kingdom people. Or we get so busy managing a church building that we forget to be light in dark places, hope in hopeless places, healers in broken places. We really are ALL of those things... but we drift. We forget we have God's favor, God's calling and God's Kingdom forces with us.
I'm not sure the exact preventative measure to keep us from drifting, but a couple of things come to mind. Stay close to the Father's heart - the lost are prominently positioned there. His Son's primary mission was to seek and save those who were lost, and He did so at great expense. Secondly, simply pray to be what my old-school-roots would call "soul conscious" - aware of the eternal state of those you encounter. You don't need a sermon. Just be ready to tell your story. God loves answering the prayer asking for an opportunity to share Him with others. Test Him on this, and be ready. Go to war and build the kingdom in your corner of the world.
You can read the final installment of this series here.