“For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps.”
— 1 Peter 2:21
Why has God called us into His eternal kingdom in the first place? Why did Jesus call His disciples when He walked the Earth two millennia ago? Could He not have just done it all alone?
Jesus called his disciples to follow in His footsteps so that they could faithfully represent Him long after He had returned to heaven — and that meant that his followers were called to place Jesus at the center of everything they did. It’s the same for believers today.
What do you suppose would have happened if Jesus’ first disciples had just gone their own way after being called, pursuing their personal plans and squeezing a little time in for Christ, meeting up occasionally on Sundays, but staying focused on their own individual goals and purposes?
Would they have turned the then-known world upside down? Hardly.
As for me, I’d like to be more like those first believers who physically shadowed Jesus and make a bigger difference in the lives of those around me for Christ. Wouldn’t you?
So, what’s holding us back? Each one of us needs to reflect on that question for themselves.
My Greatest Hindrance
One of my greatest weaknesses is allowing the accusing voice of my past to haunt my present and worse, darken my view of a better future.
Trouble is, I’ve given that accusing voice lots of material to work with. For half my life I was a spiritual “demolition derby” making horrible decisions, addictions, self-absorption and living totally for myself.
The damage to me was enormous, but worse — far worse — the collateral damage to others was incalculable.
In the second half of my life, even after Christ got hold of me, I’ve occasionally been drawn back into some of those old ways, with disastrous consequences.
I knew better, but like a moth drawn to the flame, I thought this time would be different. Foolish!
In spiritual matters you can’t “have your cake and eat it, too.” It is critical to make a clean break with the past and invest 100% in a future following our Lord and Master.
So, I offer you my 2022 Spiritual Strategic Plan based on a wonderful scripture verse — Isaiah 43:18-19 — that was originally addressed to God’s habitually disobedient people in the Old Testament, but which is equally applicable to believers of all ages:
“Do not call to mind the former things or consider things of the past. Behold, I am going to do something new, now it will spring up; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
The Jews had made a hash of it with God … like I did with the first half of my life. They were terrified of the consequences that were rapidly piling up on them.
And worse, they were terrified that God had given up on them, never again considering them His chosen people … just like I had feared many times after failing God.
Sound familiar?
But consistent with God’s loving, merciful, compassionate nature, He had a plan for His people — something new, something miraculous, but they needed to put the past where it belongs, behind them, and get onto God’s “spiritual roadway in the wilderness.”
The same promises apply to believers today even though all they can see with their naked eyes is the wilderness left by their sinful wanderings.
The Plan
Close your ears to Satan’s blaring accusations about your past failures. Then, pick yourself up, confess and forsake your past sins, claim the blood of Jesus over your life, take your medicine (temporal consequences) and move forward in obedience and faith in the goodness of God.
Don’t wallow in self-pity.
Get in step with Christ’s unhurried ways and follow Him. He IS our roadway in the wilderness, as told in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Jesus is still in the business of redeeming the lost and empowering His followers to become more like Him through the Holy Spirit.
How About You?
Here is a spiritual litmus test for you: What kind of person are you becoming? More Christlike or less so?
There is nothing in the middle — it is one or the other. Coasting is a downhill process. He waits to live HIS life in you.
“… the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints … the mystery that is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
— Colossians 1:26-28
— D.C. Collier is a Bible teacher, discipleship mentor and writer focused on Christian apologetics. A mechanical engineer and internet entrepreneur, he is the author of My Origin, My Destiny, a book focused on Christianity’s basic “value proposition.” Click here for more information, or contact him at don@peervalue.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.