Recently, I feel that God has been asking me this question, "Do you believe it?"  Do I believe the words of Scripture in such a way that they truly influence my life and the way that I live?  And the question has been posed to me through several different avenues, such as Bible study, Imago Dei (the discipleship and outreach team that I help lead), reading biographies about men and women of the faith (YWAM Publishers has an amazing set of thirty-four of them that are super easy to read, I highly recommend them to you), and through various blogs that I’ve looked into and perused.  And everywhere I look, I am asked that question, "Do you believe it?"  In fact, I listened to a sermon by David Platt on a talk that he gave during the Campus Crusade for Christ conference in Atlanta, GA this past New Year’s, and not even twenty seconds into the talk, he asked that very question, "Do you believe the words of this book (Scripture)?"  And I have to ask myself, if I truly, deep down really did, how would that change the way I am ordering my life right now?

According to recent statistics, there are 147 million plus orphans in the world today.  There are a little over 6 billion people in the world, and approximately 4 billion of them profess Christ as Lord and Savior.  If that truly is the case, that there are 4 billion Christians, why are there 147 million children without anyone to care for them?  God’s Word clearly states in James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God our father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being unstained by the world." NASB  There are many instances in God’s Word that state His heart for fatherless children.  In the book of Deuteronomy alone, a book that indicates how His chosen people, the Jews, are to live, He references orphans eleven times.  The Bible also tells us in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus Christ (God) is the same yesterday, today, and forever, therefore we can rightly assume that His heart does not change either.  God’s heart is for His people to stand up for the rights of and care for those who are the weakest and most down trodden.  If I believe God’s Word is true, then how is this command changing the way that I pursue the work of CTM?  Am I willing to put everything I have into it, in order to fulfill my King’s desires?

But It goes beyond just what we do, because Christianity is not something that we do, it’s a way of life, it’s who we are.  The word "Christian" itself literally means "Christ follower", but if we turn Christianity into a series of disconnected events in our lives, we are only Christ followers sometimes.  What does God say about those who only want to follow Him sometimes?  "I know your works: that you are neither cold nor hot.  Would that you either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, i will spit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:15-16 ESV.  And I know that is is not new information, for those who attend church regularly and do Bible studies, you’ve heard this before, but I’m asking, do you believe it?  Read that verse again, and think about how your life would look different if you truly did believe it with your heart.  God is telling us that He wants us to either be on fire for Him one hundred percent or to reject Him completely, none of this fence-riding, "i’ll follow you sometimes, in some areas of my life" mindset.  And if I believe that, am I living it out?  Is my life one of whole-hearted passionate devotion to my God, or a lukewarm, lackluster belief in something that I think is probably true?

And that brings me to the real crux of the matter because this is what I’ve been wrestling with the most: what stops us from truly abandoning everything for God’s work (which takes several forms, I know that you lead a life of devotion here in the States as well as anywhere else because I’ve seen it)?  What keeps us from giving everything to Him?  And I think that there are two very serious reasons.  One, we wonder, deep down, if perhaps this life on this earth really is all that we get.  That maybe Christianity is not entirely true, and if that’s the case, we want to hold onto something so that we don’t lose out completely when we die.  And secondly, there is the fear that maybe God won’t provide, that we will jump out for Him to catch us and He will let us fall (which He absolutely won’t, His Word promises us that, but for the sake of argument, what if He did?) and we fall flat on our face.  Now please understand that I am asking these questions of myself, these are the questions that I’ve been wrestling with on my own for the past month or so.  But the crux of the matter is in the most memorized of all verses, John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life." NIV  If that is true, and you truly believe it with your heart, then you are saved the Bible says, and that proof of your salvation will begin to grow in your life.  But I want to ask you how much that sacrifice is worth.  Is it enough that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, granting you a place in His eternal kingdom giving glory to Him with all the saints and angels forever, that you would give everything back to Him even if you never received another blessing from Him?  Is His sacrifice for your sins of great enough value that if it was all you got out of giving Him everything, you would still do it?  Do I place that kind of value on it?

As I’ve wrestled with that thought, and prayed over it, I can honestly say "Yes, it is."  Christ’s sacrifice is valuable enough to me that if it was all I got, I would still give Him everything I am.  But I have His great and precious promises that it isn’t all that I get, now that I am one of His children, He will never fail to provide for me and care for me, and that is something worth trusting in.  My prayer is that you begin to look at Scripture with a fresh perspective, asking yourself these questions, "Do I believe it?  If I do, how is that belief shaping and changing my life?"  and "How much do I value Christ’s sacrifice on the cross?"  because I guarantee that if you ask questions like this every time you read the Bible and pray over the answers, God will radically transform your heart and mind.

~Eli