Lord of the Loose Ends

When we say, "I am at loose ends" we are really saying that our life is not in control. Insecurities, being anxious, generally drives us tighten our grip. That is a dangerous spot. The Lord never intended for us to be in control. The more we give away control of our time, talent and treasure, the more the Lord can multiply the impact of our lives. Jesus is our example. He had the margin to be interrupted by anyone. He owned nothing for Himself.

It is the Lord alone that has the authority to take charge of our lives. We are not our own. We are bought with a price. It is a power struggle. We want to exercise our will and manipulate God to achieve our goals and control people and organize circumstances for our convenience. The Lord does not engage us at that level.

Instead, He asks us to do something that we cannot do without the power of the Holy Spirit by faith. For without faith, without risking something for God, it is impossible to please Him. It is a risky business not to please Him. It is a risky business not to risk something for God.

Prayerfully engage God in something big. Something you cannot do on your own. See if he is not good to multiply your efforts, 30, 60, 100X, maybe by 5000. For indeed we have a big God.

Oh, one more thing ...

After Jesus had completed the plan of salvation by ushering in the New Covenant, He made a number of post-resurrection appearances. These creator-visits were very pointed in purpose. He did not come back to make small talk or chit-chat about old times. For example, John adds a post script to his gospel by adding what is designated as Chapter 21. It seems that John puts the pen down, then after thoughtful contemplation says, "Oh, one more thing..."

Here the dialogue is principally with Peter. Peter and other young disciples decide to go back to fishing as a career. The hint to what is going on is that the crew caught a large amount of fish and the nets did not break. This is a clue that they bought all new equipment. Jesus asks, do you love me more than these [fish]? After denying Jesus a short while before, Peter was stuck. He had to submit to Christ and he did. Although Peter was regarded by contemporaries as ordinary and uneducated, he with the others and, of course, the Holy Spirit, turned the world upside down. It may be that in the midst of your career, the Lord asks the same question. "Do you love me more than life as you know it?"

We often load ourselves up with so many good things, that we have no margin to take on an assignment from God.

As a generation we are more equipped to disciple the nations than at any other time in history. We are not specifically called to evangelize the nations. That may be a part of discipleship, but after 150 years of modern missions, evangelism has, for the most part, not worked to produce generations of people in "receiving" countries that are prepared to equip others.

Nations of the world are not asking westerners to do evangelism, church planting, church growth, education, business, government, healthcare; they are asking us to help them to do it. Will you be part of the movement to disciple the nations? For you see, at the end of His time on earth, Jesus is quoted as saying, "Now therefore go and make disciples of the nations" [Matthew 28:19]. The sense we get from scripture then, is that the first thing Jesus may ask us in glory is, "What did you do with my last request?" What is your life-response?