As believers in Jesus, we are in the world, yet we are not to be of it. (John 17:16) We are planted in the midst of, but we are supposed to come out and be separate. (2 Corinthians 6:17) This world may be our surroundings, but the age to come is our reality. We are a people that belong to the future, yet God has hung our lives on the timeline of history to fulfill His purposes. (2 Corinthians 5:4) We are beautiful and peculiar all at the same time. Oh, what a wonderful tension we live in; the joy to belong and yet be a sort of vagabond simultaneously! (Hebrews 11:13)
With all of that being said, it begs the question, “What does it look like to live for Jesus in these days?” The world is becoming a very interesting place. We are realizing very quickly (and very slowly for others) that the world that we once knew years, and maybe even decades, ago is probably not returning. Our hopes of just resurrecting our idea of “normal” are day by day being drawn further and further from our grasp of possibility. Yet, in the here and now, and the normal that we are all experiencing and adjusting to day by day, we must seek an answer to this question in our own hearts and for our own lives as we walk faithfully with Jesus.
The day is placing a demand on a people that will be willing to faithfully live for Jesus. I know that this may sound simple to you, but the implications of this as it is fleshed out in real life day by day do not actually make things very simple. Living for Jesus in these days, especially in America, is becoming more difficult. There is a fierce line of division that is being drawn throughout our land and the sides are all being determined at a rapid pace. Each category seems to have its own “code of conduct,” and if you aren’t willing to align to the ideals of the crowd then you are quickly and violently “cancelled” from consideration. And then you are fought against and considered to be an enemy of the cause. Things have heated up. There is an escalation of evil, corruption, and hostility that seems to be embraced and celebrated. The end is bringing justification to the means. Yet, does anyone really know what the end looks like? Has anyone actually communicated what a suitable “end” or “solution” sounds like?
Jesus is raising up a people for Himself that will be willing to live for Him and die for Him if it calls for it. This is the only solution. This has always been His remedy. In the midst of darkness, raise up bright lights that will shine forth and show the way, offer a hopeful solution of repentance and faith in the gospel, and if need be, be willing to die for where the allegiance of their heart and life has called them. A people broken from the love of their own lives and the love of this world. This will be the catalyst for awakening and revival in our day.
Tertullian, considered as one of the church fathers, is quoted as saying, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” What is he saying? He is saying that whatever has captured our hearts is where our allegiance will lie. We can communicate whatever we like, and most do, but when the rubber hits the road, as they say, it will only be those who have been deeply penetrated by seeing Him, and actually deeply walking with Him, that will be willing to lose their own lives for Him.
You see, most say that they would be willing to die for Him, and I am not discrediting that our doubting that whatsoever. God alone actually knows what is actually in our hearts, and how much of that is really true. BUT, for most, it would be much easier to pay the one-time price of dying for Him than it would be to get up and pay the price countless times a day every day to live for Him.
Herein again is the point, the Lord is raising up a people that will live for Him. The Lord is establishing a people in the earth that will glorify Him by life or by death. (Philippians 1:20)
America seems to be rapidly changing, however God’s ways have not. He is committed to His plan, and that plan involves a “way” that it gets executed. Committing our hearts and lives to God’s plan involves not just being fond of the overall idea, but deeply giving ourselves, by His grace powerfully working within us by His Holy Spirit, to the “way” that it actually gets lived out.
May God give us great grace in these days to live faithfully for His Son, and may our lives bring Him glory, by life or by death. Selah.
