The Point of No Return
Are you uncomfortable in your comfortable Christianity? If so, you are probably
being called to the point of no return.
This involves, I believe, being willing to face your deepest fears in a way that
gives you no way back into your comfort zone. It’s going to the point of no return
knowing there is no way you can return.
Why do this? Because being comfortable has become too uncomfortable to be of any
use. It’s knowing that the comfort of sitting in a pew, singing a few hymns, attending
social functions and knowing you are
saved is just not “cutting it” for some reason. It’s not enough any more to just
live the safe Christian life. It’s knowing from the Word that there is a deeper
calling. It’s a spiritual edginess that causes a stirring in your heart that follows
the agitation in your mind. But it’s scary!
It is nothing but a “nudge” by the Holy Spirit that removes comfort from your “life
as usual.”
Why did the 3 men go to the fiery furnace, saying, “whether we live or die”? Now,
don’t tell me they had no fear. That’s not in the Bible. Daniel must have felt this
“nudge” which led him to the point of no return... lion’s den. Sure, try to tell me
he saw those hungry faces and his knees didn’t knock. They were human, just as you
and I. But they couldn’t accept what life would be like had they not gone.
It’s Getaneh, an African Christian not willing to live the good life here in the United States after
“doing his torture time” in Ethiopia. Yet, he continues to go and tell and build
the church in Ethiopia. Why isn’t he willing, having passed the “test” to enjoy
his life, his wife, and drink in the good life? I think it’s the “nudge” of the
Master that has made him uncomfortable in the comfortable “world.”
Yes, we can ignore the Holy Spirit nudging us to go to the point of no return.
Its okay I guess. You’re saved. But I believe all Christians are called to that place
of being uncomfortable, to die more to themselves and become leaders to change their spot in the world. It’s
scary. It’s not fair after finally getting to a place of being “happy” and “comfortable”
in this world. But I see no place in the Bible where we are to be happy and comfortable.
Joyful and contented, yes, but I usually see those words describing the ones who
undergo persecution, and even today these are the ones who are changing the world.....in
their own lion’s dens and fiery furnaces.
What is this un-worldly feeling that leads to an empty and frustratingly uncomfortable
existence while surrounded by blessings? Isn’t it the nudge from the Master, seeking
to see if we will go to the point of no return? It’s not for the strong. It’s for
the weak. It’s for those who are not strong enough to do anything in their own strength.
It’s for those who are called to go to the point of no return. Yes, knees knocking
and all. They are willing to attend their own funeral, just as Paul did on the road
to Damascus.
It’s a call to those who are too uncomfortable in their comfort to stay
there. So they go, fears and all. Courage, it has been said, is not the absence of
fear. It’s doing something in spite of the fears.
- Micki
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