The Train

Do I ever evaluate all I do?  I mean, I have my hands in ministries and use to at times spread myself thin in doing so, but do I ever just take a step back and think about what I and many like me really do?  When I teach, what am I really doing?  I'm sure I convince myself that I am edifying the Biblical minds of my peers and disciples by showing the word of God through theological application, but was I just squeezing my voice box until sounds came out that just happened to form sentences?  Were my words of so great importance that God was impressed, or even Satan impressed?  When I play music, do I strike tones that form chords and rhythms to empty words and phrases that may have even touched emotion but in the end have done nothing?  What have I done at the end of the day? 

I can get so much from the few simple words from the apostle Paul when he says.

“Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and the most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of Selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.  What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.  Yes, and I will rejoice.”

The preachers of the gospel even with false motives are praised by Paul as advancing the gospel.  WOW!  The ever so selfish, narcissistic, hedonistic motives of people all around us are in one swoop swatted aside by the train of the gospel message.  What does this mean?  It means that the God we serve and the message he gives is far greater than our words, actions, and motives.  It will get done with or without us, the mission is too big to begin or end with us!  So as this train moves I cannot help but ask myself......

AM I ABOARD THIS TRAIN, OR DO I MERELY STAND NEXT TO IT TRYING TO PUSH AT A MESSAGE THAT MOVES FASTER THAN I COULD EVER GO?   The train is moving and will continue, but where am I in this process?   Do we realize what we have been charged with telling?  Sometimes I question whether or not I fully understand this metaphoric train of salvation.  Are we on this train with God as he uses us to travel as separate directions in which he is still in control?  Do we attempt to push or shout encouraging words at a movement that won't even notice us?  Or do we stand in the tracks and try to hold back this love message that will undoubtedly run over us as if we never existed?

The gospel is no without movement, it rushes throughout history and advances at a rate that is unparalleled.  It is beyond human grasp, or even human obstruction.  It is the work of the supreme God, it is the workmanship of Christ, it is the death of immorality, it is the end of religiosity.  I look at Genesis twelve where God spoke to Abraham and told him that his descendents would be a blessing to the world, are we really surprised that God did just that?  We are caught up in this beautiful meta-narrative, a message that whether accepted or rejected works in its hearers.  We are amidst the greatest demonstration of power and sovereignty, how then shall we live?

A fellow train passenger