Have you ever stopped to think about what God expects of His Followers? As a Christian, I have always known that God expects us to love Him, to trust Him, to live in obedience to Him, and to serve Him., But are we living up to God’s expectations and how are we are we serving Him? Recently, my perspective of God’s expectations of Christians changed after reading “The Hole In Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns. If you haven’t read this book, you definitely need to, as it gives you a whole new insight into God’s expectations of Christians. The concept of the Hole in the Gospel is that being a Christian or follower of Jesus Christ requires much more than just having a personal relationship with God. It also requires a public and transforming relationship with the world. God not only wants our heart but He also wants our hand and our feet. It’s not just about our talk, its also about our walk.
Whereas most of us are absorbed with our own existence and are pursuing the American dream of health, wealth, and happiness, there are some in the world that are demonstrating true faith by changing the world just as the Twelve Disciples changed their world two thousand years ago. A great example of that is Michael & Dorris Fortson (retired couple in their 70’s) from Temple, Texas. A few years ago, the Fortsons visited Tanzania on a family vacation and became aware of the fact that newborn infants were being thrown away like trash and there were no facilities in Arusha, Tanzania that would accept abandoned and orphaned infants as they were too high risk and extremely expensive to care for. Rather than ask God why He didn’t “Do Something” (name of song by Mathew West), Fortsons decided that they would do something. They decided to give up their comfortable life in Temple to save the lives of babies in Tanzania and in the last two years, have saved over 64 babies. To learn more about their ministry, go to the Neema House Arusha website, www.tanzaniaorphanhelp.com
For most of us, the world’s problems just seem too big and too hard so we retreat rather than take them on. Or we might tell God that we do not have the right skills and aren’t equipped to do His work. But God doesn’t call the equipped; He equips the called. Think about Joni Eareckson Tada who became an ambassador for Christ after a diving accident which paralyzed her or Nick Vujicic who was born without limbs and went from no limbs to no limits. Watch Nick on You Tube and you will be amazed at what he has accomplished and your pity party will disappear. So what is our excuse?
Since a New Year has started, this is a wonderful time to ask God what He expects of you this year. I strongly recommend that you read “The Hole In Our Gospel” and then ask yourself, “Does my gospel have a hole in it?” God Bless