What Does God Expect Of Christians???
By Sue Hamby, PhD
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
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