Life is too short to live a mediocre Christian life

  

In the late 1600's, Brother Lawrence worked faithfully for more than three decades washing dirty dishes by hand and repairing old battered shoes in a monastery, not dwelling about what he could or should be doing, but embracing the work that God had given him.  We know nothing of his superiors or those who held significant positions at that time and place, but only the faithfulness of Brother Lawrence in whatever God placed before him. God used him to impact his world.  God is still using him in incredible ways to show us what faithfulness looks like.  Practicing the Presence of God, a book compiled of his thoughts and writings after his death, is still being published more than 325 years later.

In a friend's Christmas letter one year was written an encouragement to live fully for God.  "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body.  But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, "Woo Hoo, what a ride!"

I recently came across a quotation from Lorry Kilinski Lutz, a missionary in South Africa for more than twenty years:
"Now at 80. will I resist the temptation to stop taking risks?
...God has never yet directed me to take a risk that He did not reward."

Because in God's sight, risk does not mean taking chances.  It means trusting Him.

And what for each of us?  Because even in what appears to be the most ordinary of days, God's adventure is embedded, and the smallest details are each profound.

Mediocre is not an option.  God never intended life to be that way.  Because with God, nothing is ordinary and commonplace.

How do I respond to what God has laid before me today?

In the book of Genesis, Joseph was found faithful to God in every day tasks, in impossible situations, before kings, and in the deepest adversity.  How did he do that?  Why did he do that?  Because Joseph knew that God was at work.  Yes, even in this.

Joseph answered Pharoah, "It is not in me, but God..." (Genesis 41.16)

In the dictionary, adventure is defined as the attitude toward what is to come, a daring feat, a bold undertaking, an exciting or extraordinary experience, a risk-taking.

From cover to cover, the Bible defines adventure as "Follow Me."  And that alone encompasses all of the above.  How you see life, how you see God, how you see others, what you see and how you respond to anything and everything will never be the same.

Live like that.

I have been crucified with Christ;
it is no longer I who live,
     but Christ who lives in me;
and the life I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me
     and gave Himself for me.

                      Galatians 2.20