Bold Obedience | Crosstraining 9.16.14

Joshua 6:1-5 When I am exercising or trying to eat healthy, I like to have people to talk to about it. It helps me to stay on track. Because of this, I also try to convince other people to do the things that I do. Just a few weeks ago, one of my friends showed me a joke that came across his twitter feed that was quoting a satirical article from the Onion claiming that runners have passed Christians as the most annoying evangelizers. When people try to talk others into exercising or something similar, they often reply “I’m too busy. I just don’t think I can do it. I’m just not ready.” The excuses we use to not take care of ourselves the way we should are the same ones we often use to get out of taking risks in service to God. “I’m too busy to do that. I just don’t think I can step up and do this specific thing. It’s just too much. I’m just not ready to do what God has asked me to do.” We make these excuses because we don’t want to face the opposition we know is coming, but, at the same time, we still want God to work in and through our life. But, in God’s view, if we are ready for opposition, we aren’t ready to be used by Him. The Bible is full of stories of people who went up against great opposition in pursuit of serving God. Just like someone has to be ready to workout to succeed, we are only ready to be used by God when we are willing to face the opposition that comes along with it. We can’t avoid opposition and expect God to do great things in our life. We can’t have it both ways. God will move when we are willing to step up and take risks for Him.]]>