MCSC

Usually we have a guest preacher come in and fill the pulpit when I am gone, but yesterday was the first Sunday in almost a year that I was at WestK and I didn’t preach.  The reason was I spent this past week at Michiana Christian Service Camp with a handful of our students and another 60+ high school students.  As part of the faculty for this week of camp, my roles included: leading a small group, teach a spiritual formation class, take part of all the activities, facilitating discussions, listening to students, giving spiritual guidance, and participating in all three of the daily worship services.  We also spent multiple hours in quiet time which included a devotional guide and journaling.  Basically, this week was very much physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausting. 

With all the activities and things that faculty do during this week, by far my favorite part was spending time speaking God’s word into the lives of the students.  I had multiple conversations covering a large variety of topics with students in which they shared their story and were looking for guidance.  It is in those times that I love to take students to the scriptures and point out what principles or promises that Jesus has given us.  One conversation I had on Friday was with a girl that had just graduated and she was struggling with a couple of decisions that she knew she needed to make.  I asked her if she knew what the bible had to say about her situation and she did.  She was even able to tell me where the references were in the New Testament, but she was still struggling with what to do.  I told her she had 4 choices: obedience, delayed obedience, partial obedience, or disobedience. 

Before I asked her which choice she was making and what choice she needed to make, I also told her that only one of the four was full obedience.  See, Jesus only calls us to full obedience.  He never calls us to partial obedience.  Nor does he call us to delayed obedience.  When the Spirit of God prompts us to act, it is time to act.  Another way to put it, partial and delayed obedience is disobedience.  Look at Matthew 18 when Peter approached Jesus to ask how many times he should forgive.  Peter asks if he should forgive up to seven times.  His request seems fairly impressive, but Jesus responds in verse 22 that he should forgive seventy times seven.  Jesus’ point is that we are to completely forgive because that is how the Father has forgiven those of us who are “in Christ.”  When Jesus calls the rich young ruler in Mark 10 to sell all that he owns and give to the poor and then to come follow him, what he was saying is that when we choose to follow Christ, we follow him completely.  Also, in Luke 9:57-62 we see another question about following Jesus.  In this section of scripture someone tells Jesus that he wants to follow him but he needs to take care of something (read it if you want to know what he wanted to do).  Jesus basically tells him that the time to follow is now.  Delayed obedience is not complete obedience.

So how are you responding to Jesus today?  What is he calling you to do or be?  Are you obeying him, or has your responses been delayed or less than complete?  Only in full obedience do we experience the fullness of life that Jesus has called us to.