Becoming engaged

US Civil War General George McClellan was an intelligent man, an engineer known for his outstanding organizational skills.  For all his talent, however, McClellan had relatively little to show for it on the battle field because of his extreme reluctance to engage the enemy.  Not the right time, not the right place; need more troops, need more supplies.  His relentless excuses finally exhausted even the patience of President Abraham Lincoln who wrote, “If General McClellan does not want to use the Army, I would like to borrow it for a time.” 

It is a principle often seen in Scripture as well:  God equips us not merely so that we would be equipped, but that we would go and do as we are called to go and do.  We are built up not just to admire ourselves in the spiritual mirror, but to go out and confront our spiritual enemy.

So what does this look like?

Having received, we give.  Regarding spiritual preparedness, Jesus warned his disciples, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48).  To whom are you being called to give in some way? 

Freely forgiven, we freely love.  When Jesus attended dinner at the house of Simon the Pharisee, a woman there anointed Jesus’ feet with oil, wet them with her tears and dried them with her hair.  To the indignant ones there, Jesus observed, “her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much.  But he who has been forgiven little loves little” (Matthew 7:47).  For what sin do you need to accept the forgiveness that is already there for you?  And who in your life is in need of the selfless love of a forgiven you? 

Receving mercy, we extend mercy.  Jesus once told a story about a servant who owed his king a debt so large he could not pay it.  When the king forgave him, the servant went out and imprisoned a man who owed him a very small debt.  Upon hearing this, the king was very angry with the servant, saying, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”  (Matthew 18:33).  Whom is it who, however undeserving, needs from you the same mercy you received from God? 

Knowing God, we serve others.  Hours before his execution, Jesus used an object lesson to teach his disciples humility: the king of all creation stooped down and washed their dusty, dirty feet.  Upon finishing, he said, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you and example that you should do as I have done for you.... Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:13-17).  Whom are you being called to serve, even if it means greatly humbling yourself to do so? 

The truth of the matter is we all love to receive forgiveness and gifts and mercy and knowledge.  We bask in them, actually, because our sin nature is all about us.  But Jesus calls us to arise from our comfort and, in him, serve others just as he has equipped us to do. 

For his battles are won when his people engage.

“... it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”  Philippians 2:13

[Click here to see the daily reading in John 13:12-17, 31-35.]