Service and Celebration- Evan Hillis

Ah! Sorry I'm so far behind guys! Here are my posts for the last two weeks:

Service- what a lovely thing. Being a servant though? Even better. If only everyone was a humble and righteous servant!

The first sentence really hits the nail on the head when it says, "I should like to bring the routine of my daily life before you, O Lord, to discuss the long days and tedious hours that are filled with everything else but you."

It's so true that almost our entire days we usually spend dwelling on things other that God, despite the fact that those things usually point to Him and our need for Him, whether it be a magnificent day, a stressful situation, or a passion of ours. I can't think of a single thing that really wouldn't point to God or how much we need Him, yet so often I'm too busy with this or that to stop and mediate on how He fits into this picture. Or rather, how He painted these pictures.

The most striking part of the whole reading for me was the question, "How will I feel at the hour of my death?" Woah. That's a pretty heavy question to ask. Sure, I don't know when or where this hour will be, who I'll be with, or what I'll have done before that hour. Can you imagine what it would be like to look back at your life during your dying hour, and feel that you could have done more? That you could have been a walking example of Christ more?  I pray that the Lord gives us all the direction and strength in our life to be able to look back on my life and see His love reflected in the way we chose to live.

Something else I found quite interesting was when it was discussing John 12:23-27. It told of how Jesus gave us the greatest invitation we could ever receive. Greater than a birthday invitation, an acceptance letter, a wedding invitation, even greater than a proposal. What could such a great invitation be, that it would be better than to spend the rest of your life with someone you love?... Slavery!!!....what?

That's right, slavery! Now, from a worldly perspective, nobody would agree with this statement, especially with an American perspective. Who wants to be a slave?! Why would you ever consider that? We live in a country which is based on the principles of freedom and we are all fortunate to live in a place where we can enjoy that freedom. However, Jesus calls us to be like Him, the slave to all of mankind! He's given us this freedom, but He wants us to choose to be slaves and servants because that is what he was, a slave and servant.

When Peter asked the Lord why He would submit himself to being a slave when He's is our Lord and Savior, it's kind of a silly question when you think about it. If He was simply our Lord, it might be somewhat arguable that He shouldn't be serving us, but since He's also our Savior, it only makes sense. For Him to be our Savior, it would mean that we needed saving. However, just because we needed saving doesn't wouldn't  mean that He would have to save us, especially for the gravity of our sins and how great He is compared to us. Despite this great disparity, He chose to save us anyway, and to fully do this, He had to lay down His life. He submitted Himself as payment for our debts. He became a slave so we could be free of the charges against us. And now, He calls us into slavery with Him...hallelujah!

To finish, I just wanted to bring back that question, "How will I feel at the hour of my death?" I encourage us all to reread that question many times and apply it to every decision we make. How will doing this make me feel at the hour of my death? Will this honor God?

I'll be praying for us all to bypass the route of service and instead choose to become servants and slaves. 


...and now, we celebrate!

This devotional has had just about the most impeccable timing I've ever seen! Not only was it one of my best friend's birthdays this past weekend, but it was also Mother's Day! (Happy Belated Mother's to all your momma's from me!) Also, since I'll be graduation from high school very soon and Sonshine is just around the corner, how could I not want to celebrate!

My favorite example of who "works it" from the beginning was "a camper's confession," which I marked by underlining it a bajillion times (yeah, that's right, exactly one bajillion). It brought to mind the Wednesday night programs that I love, which I anticipate to be my favorite part of the experience. I can't wait to be sitting on that lawn, waiting for the campers to come up and talk with me. I'm only super excited for it. No big deal... just kidding, it's pretty much everything!

Another interesting part I found was where the two lines started off the same and ended with two different phrases: "When you bleed sacrificial, self-surrendered service, you A) give birth to Christ in you and B) are also being re-born. These two ideas are so intertwined that there's no way that one couldn't happen without the other. When you give birth to Christ in you, you have been reborn in Christ. You're no longer Evan, but Evan in Christ. Similarly, when you are reborn, Christ is born in you because He is the only one who can bring us new life. Wow!

With that, I wish you all a fantastic week and I can't wait to see y'all out on the Delta!