Luke 18:18-22
John 21:22
Philippians 3:12-14
Happy New Year. This New Year, I challenge you to journey with Jesus. For you and me, walking with Jesus means that fear is never justified, His plan will fit us just right, and faith is always required.
Christ’s call to walk with Him is a call to follow where He leads us. All too often, my response is one of fear.
“Where are You going, Jesus?”
But Jesus reminds me that my fear is never justified if I trust Him. When God called Beth and me to leave everything to follow Jesus from Jackson, Kentucky to Jackson, Mississippi, it was one of the most exhilarating and frightening experiences of our lives. We faced geographic changes, changes in relational networks that had been cultivated over a lifetime, along with cultural changes in moving from Appalachia to the deep South.
But fear is never justified when we are walking with Jesus.
You see, I was afraid of leaving where I was comfortable. I was afraid of leaving behind the miraculous provisions of the past. I was afraid of the daunting challenges to raise the financial resources to lead a significant nonprofit ministry. I have been able to trust God for my own provision, but at Wesley Biblical Seminary, I have to work hard and trust God to provide for a dozen families.
But when I am walking with Jesus, fear is never justified, if I remain faithful to follow Him in the journey. Jesus Christ calls us past our fears to follow Him into His plan that is tailor-made to fit.
Throughout the last few years before coming to WBS, there were some professional and interpersonal things in my professional relationships that chafed me. During that time, I honestly thought that these sore spots pointed out problems, perhaps even sins, in my character. However, once I heard and obeyed the call of Christ to leave everything and follow Him, I began to realize that the very things I thought were wrong with me would be sanctified by God in my journey to walk with Jesus. I learned that God had been shaping some values in my mind and heart about leadership.
In the past, when my values about leadership ran counter to those of my community culture and my leaders, I found myself chafed. When I obeyed God’s call to follow Him, I realized that the very things that caused me to chafe, were the very things that God was birthing in me for His glory and service in a new sphere of leadership. Jesus was calling me to walk with Him. I must follow. When I did, I found myself in a role that I felt like God had been preparing me for all of my life.
Christ calls us past our fears to follow Him on a journey into His plan that fits just right. If you and I are walking with Him into His plan, faith in the Christ of the journey is always justified.
- Faith births hope.
- Faith allows God to perform miracles.
- Faith invites others to join a place and ministry in which God is moving.
- Faith invites the Holy Spirit’s Presence.
- Faith births and brightens our future.
- Faith in the miracle working power of God is always justified!
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