What IF He REALLY Meant It?

I recently shared that this month our pastor started a new sermon series about living our lives as Red Letter Radicals and that the timing could not have been more perfect because we were going to be spending part of our vacation visiting a place where people actually believe and live like this is possible. Since the day we arrived in Philadelphia, I've been ready to return, but I do not feel called to live in Philadelphia...I know the calling is to live out the lifestyle here. So for the last week, I've been asking the same question that I expressed in my post regarding The Simple Way:  How did Jesus do it...and what's stopping me from doing that now?

Whether I live in Hebron or Covington, Kentucky...South Carolina, South America or South Africa...how do I live out the life Jesus has called me to and His Spirit enables me to live? I've been grappling with this a lot since we arrived in Philly. When poverty is everywhere it seems obvious what needs to be done...every thing, in fact. But when you live among people that may not be experiencing as much financial poverty as they are a deep poverty of the soul...how do I speak into their lives with the Love of Jesus?

Yesterday, His Spirit challenged me to follow the advice of my pastor, Shane Claiborne's book, Irresistible Revolution and also one I hope to read soon that he wrote with Tony Campolo, Red Letter Revolution...I should start by reading precisely what Jesus said...and simply live it out.

I don't want this to become a legalistic checklist that somehow makes me feel more spiritual or superior. But if I want to get to the heart of the Man that has asserted Himself as Lord of my life...His teachings are the perfect place to start.

Last night, I started doing just that. Here's what I learned in just the third and fourth chapters of Matthew where Jesus only speaks a mere six lines of dialogue. And while I've heard a multitude of sermons about the baptism of Jesus and his temptations from the devil and how He overcame them...I'm not certain I've ever heard anyone share what struck me as so peculiar in Chapter 4:

• When Jesus called Simon (aka Peter) and his brother Andrew to follow Him, He told these fishermen that they would fish for men from now on...and they dropped everything and went.
• James and John (also brothers) were sitting with their dad, Zebedee, heard the call from Jesus...stopped mending their nets and walked away.
• Imagine just for a moment the bewildered look on Zebedee's face. Or did he too, realize the Messiah of Israel had just called his sons? Verse 22 specifically says, "And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him."

In awe of their instant obedience, I wrote in my journal last night these notes:

• no prayer for discernment
• no committee to run it by
• Peter was married and didn't even go tell his wife he was leaving.
• What if...we all lived in such breathless anticipation of the Spirit that when he spoke, we would just pick up and do what He asked?

Funny enough, for the last two days as I pondered our trip to Philadelphia and what God might be teaching me, I had this recurring thought before I had ever even read this passage in Matthew: There have been too many times to count that I have been "gung ho" about diving into a ministry, a service opportunity, a new adventure and what if...all of those times instead of pulling back and thinking, "Oh that must have just been my wild imagination" that was actually God's Spirit calling...beckoning me...to instantly obey? What if when I've thought about it later and convinced myself or listened to someone else tell me that "God wouldn't ask you to do that without giving you more guidance or confirmation from another source"...What if every time I've allowed the excitement to wane and I've believed that I must have heard Him wrong...it really was Him saying, "I'm running and I want you to run with Me!" What if I could have been flying with/following Him all of this time and have deceived myself into thinking that it has just been my rampantly wild imagination?

Honestly...it scares me more than a little that I may have been rationalizing away the Life God's had for me all along. Yes, I believe He gives us discernment so that we can be certain we are in His Will. But Beth Moore's Bible study, Living Beyond Yourself, is all about living filled with the guidance of the Spirit so we can know in the moment exactly what He wants of us.

My prayer is that as I search the red-lettered words of Christ I will begin to reflect His character, goodness and Love as He calls...instantly!