Preach The Gospel, Die And Be Forgotten.
Are you willing to follow me into obscurity?
This has been God’s question, rebuke and call to me over the past month. The interaction between God and myself has reminded me of Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler.
The rich young ruler was willing to give up everything to go after Jesus except for his money. He couldn’t pry his fingers from it and it cost him Jesus. It cost him everything.
But my response to his loving question has troubled me. I want to be known, recognized and remembered, but Jesus loves me too much to let that be my end.
I have been begging God to change me, to grant me a heart that chooses him over fame because I am struggling to let go of my name. The reality of being a pastor in America is that one can exalt Jesus and be known. But what God is showing me is that for a movement to happen I must be forgotten.
No one can remember our church. It has to be bigger than that. There has to be so many hands, so many leaders and so many disciples trained for the worship of Jesus to consume Austin and the world.
If I have to be apart of everything and known by everyone, a movement will not happen. All I will have are moments of power, moments where I saw what God could have done. I must fade into the background as new leaders are raised to start new works and expand the gospel to people who will never know me.
So the question remains, “am I willing to follow him into obscurity?” I am begging God for the grace to say yes so that I don’t lose everything for small moments and small recognition.
It is going to cost my name, but I want Jesus.
I want to see what I have only read and dreamed about
September 13, 2010 at 6:19 PM
Is it time to revisit the title of this blog?
September 13, 2010 at 9:25 PM
You are too kind. How pumped are you about China?
September 13, 2010 at 6:48 PM
You aren’t alone in that thought man. Being forgotten is something I constantly deal with. It is scary to realize that if my motive is for fame or to be recognized that I’m still lukewarm. I deal with the money issue too…really I deal with a lot. There are so many things that I dream of having because I was trained and have also perfected the art of “living a better life later.”
The real question is, where do I go from here? Where do we all go from here? I have prayed for God to remove myself and for me to love Him completely, and started trying to get more people involved in ministry so that I can serve in other areas.
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt (MUST) love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
September 13, 2010 at 6:49 PM
” I am begging God for the grace to say yes so that I don’t lose everything for small moments and small recognition.”
Good reminder bro and great example… specifically it gets me thinking of the 2.7 billion people who have no access to the gospel; that has to mean way more to Jesus than my name, yet it usually means the opposite to me. Keep posting good (brief) stuff.