San Francisco, CA 2007: There is nowhere to go to escape God’s favor. Even at the highest point of windy and chilly San Francisco, it's all laughs for Trent Ling and daughter, Arianna.
From Trent Ling:
A disciple of Jesus heeds Jesus’ call to “give up everything he has.” Luke 14:33. Disciples view themselves as being at God’s disposal for God’s purposes and God’s uses. Those who are not disciples of Jesus but for whatever reason still want some religion in their lives, view God as being at their disposal for their purposes and their uses. Therein lies the great root system difference between disciples of Jesus and everyone else.
Jesus served. Luke 22:27. Disciples serve. That’s what we do. Beyond that, our food, like Jesus’ food, is to do the will of God. John 4:34. We receive our nourishment, satisfaction, and health from doing what God tells us to do, though ironically, we seek after none of those benefits. The bible specifies God’s call; our petitions to God can move Him to enable us; and our gatherings as disciples provide training in serving God acceptably and powerfully. We are set apart by heeding a heavenly call and daring to undertake a seeming mismatch of impossible tasks and selfless goals.
Conversely, it remains a chaotic free-for-all for the lives of non-disciples. Selfishness underpins everything and all is ultimately geared toward self-service. God, the bible, Jesus on a cross, and the gatherings attended, are orchestrated to self-serve and self-satisfy. According to the Scriptures, this either marks the most pitiful of human existences (1 Corinthians 15:19), or lays the groundwork for the rudest of eternal rejections (Matthew 7:21-23). It’s one or the other in that “small k” kingdom.
Most, and seemingly all, will be galled and at least lulled into bitterness by our call to serve God and God alone. Submission to such a simple yet self-sacrificing call is rarely even momentarily witnessed, let alone tested and sustained. Generally, our humble call for all to serve God meets only resistance, offense, rebellion, faultfinding, and exodus. Such rejecters throw off restraint and refuse sound doctrine because restraint and sound doctrine hardly satisfy terrestrial itchiness. Proverbs 29:18 and 2 Timothy 4:3.
We take our lashes for refusing to turn the cart around and approve of religion where God serves man. Such end-swapping notions not only fail to pique our interest, but only provide reminiscences of our own self-seeking pre-Christ days. Thanks, but we’ve already starred in and rolled memory film of enough of those ghastly basement performances. 1 Peter 4:3.
We serve God and it is our heart to do so. We would do it for nothing. It is our calling, our pleasure, our honor, and our privilege. For those whose hearts are not right before the living God (Acts 8:21), this distasteful gig hardly appeals, which is proven by lives where the intended earthly beneficiaries are embarrassingly obvious.
We are either out of our minds or you are missing out.
Hint, hint: it’s both!
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