Embracing Inconvenience for the Sake of Others

Jesus says to the crowd, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way. Take up your cross daily and follow me. Then he goes on to say, why? Because if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Reach, I wonder how many lives God would use us to impact if we stopped trying to hang on to our own way of living and our way of being and we really lived into the reality of sacrificing for the sake of someone else. [00:48:53] (38 seconds)  #takeUpYourCrossDaily

Imagine this, Jesus had to die for people who didn't even love him. Yet we struggle to serve those we say we love. Jesus had to die for people that did not love him, but we struggled day in and day out to serve those that we claim that we love. But first John four and twenty makes it very clear. It says, if someone says, I love God, but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar. [01:11:47] (27 seconds)  #loveLikeJesusLoved

Christ never called us to abandon nor neglect our personal needs, but to have faith that as we lean into the Holy Spirit to serve others, that God will make sure our needs are met as well. To have enough faith to believe that if I'm willing to put pause, press pause on what I'm dealing with at the expense of loving and serving someone else, that God will make sure what I need comes to find me as well. [01:19:18] (33 seconds)  #GodsPromisesStand

And we must be willing to do the same, and that prompts this additional question for us to consider this afternoon. When met with inconvenience, are we moved to frustration or are we moved to compassion? That when inconvenience knocks on the door of our heart, are we embracing compassion? Are we embracing this as another opportunity to show forth the love of Christ or are we quick to get in our feelings? [00:50:42] (29 seconds)  #compassionOverFrustration

The last and final question I wanna ask you to consider is when inconvenience approaches at the doorstep of your heart, are you looking to serve or are you looking to swerve? What do I mean by that? Do we see opportunities and then kinda sidestep them because we ain't ready to embrace that level of inconvenience? Do we see a need that has to be met, but we swerve it to see if somebody else gonna address it first? [01:16:41] (35 seconds)  #serveDontSwerve

Reach, what would happen if the next time inconvenience presented itself, you neglected your needs momentarily in order to serve the need of someone else? In order for God's glory to be revealed? What impact would that have on your family? What impact would that have on your spouse, on your children, on your coworkers, on a teammate if the next time inconvenience presented itself, you put what you needed on pause just for a moment to show love and compassion for someone else. [01:18:42] (36 seconds)  #pauseToServe

See, reach, Jesus never called us to a life of convenience. He called us to a life of service and sacrifice. Jesus did not call us to be comfortable, but he called us to go against what society deems to be acceptable at the expense of showing others what true Christ like service looks like. And that leads me to my first point. Point number one, that if we are going to be Christ followers, we must be willing to deny ourselves. [00:48:05] (29 seconds)  #denyYourselfForChrist

Because here's what I know to be true, Reach, fleshly pursuits will always result in counterfeit fulfillment. That what your flesh craves and what it desires will never produce the level of fulfillment that can only come through relationship with Jesus Christ. It is only when you get serious about doing God's work that you experience a sense of accomplishment and peace that only Jesus can provide. [00:59:31] (26 seconds)  #fulfillmentInChristWork