Jim Lovell: Gentlemen, what are your intentions?
[Jack Swigert and Fred Haise turn around and stare at Lovell]
Jim Lovell: I’d like to go home.— Aboard Apollo 13, orbiting the backside of the Moon.
“For does not my house stand so with God?
For He has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and secure.
For will He not cause to prosper
all my help and my desire?
But worthless men are all like thorns that are thrown away,
for they cannot be taken with the hand;
but the man who touches them
arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear,
and they are utterly consumed with fire.”
— 2 Samuel 23:5-7
So, beloved, the question stands. What are our intentions?
We give lip-service to the claims of the Gospel. A wink and a nod to the Fruit of the Spirit working in our lives… A little pat on the back when one of us wild-eyed mystics talks about absolute surrender. But, when the foo hits the fan?
What are our intentions? What if uncontrollable circumstances ruin the job you just got? Of course you are innocent, but is that the point? Oh, by the way, so was Oswald Chambers similarly innocent, but they sent him packing to Egypt, where he died. He with ears to hear, let him hear.
Truly, the sky in the life of a Bondservant is a different shade of blue. Are we willing? Do we yet clearly see the end game?
- Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
— Hebrews 12:1-6
— Hebrews 12:1-6
Make no mistake, dear reader, all this trial and discipline in our lives has a purpose. Surely it is G_d’s glory AND our good. Eternity will spill away under the reign of the servant-kings He is making us to be. He has a purpose beyond our wildest dreams.
All we gotta do is trust and obey for a few days. He will take care of the rest.
He has given us everything…
His grace is not fractionated or transactionalized by unit. He has imbued us with His very Spirit for His purpose and glory. We already have everything required to fulfill His will for our lives.
Everything, because we have Him.
The world may come down around our ears.
Irrelevant.
We stand in Christ alone.
We do His will.
We give Him the glory He is most gloriously due.
It is not about us.
It is – most definitely – ALL about Him.
