Mercy

I've previously had a hard time figuring out the place of mercy ministry in evangelism.  I always leaned more towards the actual act of sharing the gospel being more important than taking part in mercy ministry.  Though I still have a lot more to learn about the place of mercy ministry, I've realized a few reasons as to why Christians need to participate in mercy ministry:

• Oftentimes we need to meet people's felt needs before they will be more receptive to delving into their core needs, including their need to draw near to Christ.  Felt needs are "the door to core needs."  While sharing the gospel is the most important in terms of eternal significance, that does not necessarily mean that it must always come first. 
• We perform good deeds to show how the results of sin can be transformed by the gospel.  Sin brought alienation from ourselves, from others, and from God.  As we transcend this alienation, we move towards the world God originally created.
• If people have limited exposure or conception of even what conditional love is, then seeking to understand what God's unconditional love is downright impossible.  When we love others through acts of mercy, it provides them with a tangible glimpse into what God's love is like.

[A lot of these thoughts developed as I worked through a Bible study based on Timothy Keller's Ministries of Mercy:  The Call of the Jericho Road.]

Glorify

John 17:15--My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect him from the evil one.

Whenever I face difficulties, my prayer is almost always that God would take me home so that I wouldn't have to continue to face the struggle. What a selfish request that is! Why should my temporal sufferings be more important than the potential impending eternal suffering of people around me? I must endure here on earth so that more can know Jesus. Afterall, that is the reason I am here on earth, not to feel good, but to glorify God.

Surrender

"...the gift of grace involves the gift of a new heart.  New desires.  New longings.  For the first time, we want God.  We see our need for him, and we love him.  We seek after him, and we find him, and we discover that he is indeed the great reward of our salvation.  We realize that we are saved not just to be forgiven of our sins or to be assured of our eternity in heaven, but we are saved to know God.  So we yearn for him.  We want him so much that we abandon everything else to experience him.  This is the only proper response to the revelation of God in the gospel."  --David Platt (Radical, p. 39)

In his book, Radical, David Platt challenges Christians to extricate our faith from the American Dream.  As I read through the second chapter today, I couldn't help but think about how I've been settling for mediocrity and this life over radical faith and abandonment for the gospel; I've become too comfortable.  As I noticed more recently, my dreams and hopes have become more about what I want rather than what is best for the Kingdom.  In short, I need to surrender.

As I think further about surrender, I can't help but think that if I truly desired to live fully for God's Kingdom, why wouldn't I pursue vocational ministry?  Why wouldn't I pour all my time and efforts into reaching the lost every second of the day?  And yet, I know that God needs people in all sectors of society, as businessmen and women, as teachers, as doctors, as lawyers.  To surrender means to yield my thoughts and dreams, even my ideas of what would be best for the Kingdom and instead, to trust in God's wisdom.  I might think that my best contribution to furthering God's Kingdom is by pursuing full-time vocational ministry, but God, in His infinite wisdom, has called me (I think) to be a missionary in my workplace as a teacher, at least for the time being.  Surrender means being ready to go wherever God is calling me to do whatever God is calling me, whenever God is calling me.  It is saying, "Here am I, send me."

Questions for myself:  Am I fully surrendered to God?  How can I do more?  How can I give more?