Not Called to Be Average

The past two days I've had the privilege of subbing for a Summer Cooking Class for 5 to 12 year olds. We spent three hours measuring, stirring, listening to Big Band music (mostly Glenn Miller), and chatting about different things that interest us. Over the course of today's class, the subject of missionaries and their kids came up. Most of the kids didn't know what a missionary was so I had to take some time to explain what a missionary was. I also had to explain what a third world country was. You should have seen their little faces when they found out that the average child doesn't even know what a slushie is. "You mean they don't have T.V.?" "What about ice cream? Candy Bars? And when we told them that the average kid doesn't make it to adulthood without having a life threatening disease, or the average teenage girl doesn't get to choose who she marries or when, they just couldn't believe it.

How ignorant are we making our children of today's issues at hand? How ignorant are we of today's issues at hand? How ignorant are we of the ultimate answer to those issues? In true modern American fashion, we like to sweep the less beautiful aspects of our fallen world behind the curtain of our technological high with our little iDoohickies. Over our last year out here in the great land of entitlement, Tim and I have come to the conclusion that The Gospel is severely under shared and under represented, regardless of where we are. We realized that there is a major drought of fellowship, and it has been an epidemic for hundreds if not thousands of years. Tim reads to me from books like Foxe's Book of Martyrs while I'm practicing last dollar gourmet meals, and the accounts of hours long communion, prayer, worship and good ole' fashioned fellowship. I don't know how many times my jaw has hit the floor after hearing these accounts.

It was only a few years ago myself that I was ignorant of The Gospel. In fact I was ignorant of God. I was saved by grace on the edge of a pond where I was going to take my life. Because I was ignorant of God, the Trinity and of The Father and Son's respective roles. Raised in the Two by Two Church, I was taught an errant Gospel. But PRAISE GOD! I was taught something about The Holy Spirit. It wasn't extensive, but I did know that He is here to lead us and that's about it.

Back to the missionaries, they do an important job, so do the evangelists. They share the gospel in places that haven't ever heard it, and in the places that have heard. They do a difficult, dangerous, painful, painstaking job. Which leads me to my point, we should be ashamed of ourselves for our lack luster enthusiasm for Christ and His creation. Each and every one of us should be out telling people the BEST NEWS! And yet, we prefer to let others be ignorant, we prefer to be accepting and tolerant of sin. Knowing full well that we weren't saved because God was tolerant of our sin. He isn't tolerant of their sin either. We prefer to be hypocrites, which is sad. Pitifully sad.

Our neighbors currently serving in South Africa!

Our missionaries for Grace Community Church are coming home this month for a furlough, and I certainly look forward to getting to know the sweet missionary family that's borrowing our neighbors place for the next few weeks, because they have answered the call to not be average. And I thank the Lord for our neighbors who so willingly went to their Church plant in South Africa to help our missionaries out! So my question is this. Why do we settle for average?

Christ certainly wasn't average, Peter and Paul weren't average, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, John Piper, John MacArthur, Paul Washer, and all the other great men who have stood stalwart for The Gospel, for Truth aren't average. I cannot say to what extent these men have suffered for Truth. I do have head knowledge of  Christ's suffering and its purpose, I have historical and personal accounts of the rest of these men's suffering, although  I'm sure I wont ever know the extent. I have no idea to what extent Tim and I will suffer in our lives. But I have certainly been convicted after today's little lesson on life that I no longer want to be average. I want to trade average for outstanding and evangelize as enthusiastically as possible, because lives certainly do depend on it.