And thus it begins.
Finally.
27 August 2007
26 August 2007
Out of one, many
I don't really have some catchy way to start this post so I'll jump right into the meat of it. God has been teaching me a ton this summer. One of the overarching themes has been learning to abide in Him and find total fulfillment and satisfaction only in Jesus Christ and His will for my life. According to Webster's, abide means to "remain stable" and to "endure without yielding".
One of the biggest struggles for me is when we talk about love. In the past, it has been very hard for me to love someone without taking my eyes off Jesus; to cease abiding in Him as I put my attention on someone else. The point I'm making applies to every kind of love you can have (familial, platonic, romantic...) but for now I'm specifically talking about the romantic type.
In the past, when I've allowed myself to care for someone, things started to revolve around them. They became the object of far too much time and attention. Focus was lost and too much emphasis was placed on them. This is not the way that things should be. I have learned, through a bunch of scripture and some old epiphanies / revelations in the past week or so, that I've had it all mixed up in the past.
We are supposed to love Jesus Christ first and foremost. All other loves flow from our love for Him. He is the fountain in which all other affections find their source. I've been seeking God's will wholeheartedly for a while now. I'd even venture to say that I've been devoted to Him (I hesitate to use such a strong word because I fully know the limitations and faults of my selfish heart). But even in all the days I spent at Pine Cove and since then back in Nac, I couldn't truthfully say that I allowed Jesus to be source of all my love.
I'm at a point in life now where one of the biggest, most likely the biggest, things I'm working on is preparing to be a Godly man and, much more so, a Godly husband. Paul set the bar extremely high for the husband who wants to love as he should, "...love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her..." - Eph. 5:25. It would be a daunting and virtually impossible task if we were to somehow produce a genuinely Christ-like love in and of ourselves. But, if we place all our attention on Jesus and allow Him to work in our lives, we will soon find that love residing in our hearts.
It is not our primary responsibility to worry about loving our wife the right way. However, it's definitely our primary responsibility to love Jesus with all that we have and devote ourselves to His service and plan for our lives. If we are fully submitted to Him, the love that we are called to show will flow naturally from the pure love and spiritual union we enjoy with Jesus.
The same can be said for taking the love we have for Jesus and spreading it out into a lost and dying world. That will be the topic of a post coming soon to a theater (or blog) near you.
I take great peace in knowing that the love I want to show to my future wife, the love that she will crave (a 1 Cor. 13 kind of love), will come straight from Jesus Himself. I will merely be a conduit of Christ's pure and holy love straight into the heart of my wife. Notice, I said a conduit, not the conduit. I am definitely not saying that "husband" replaces "Savior and Almighty God". This is surely not the answer and it was never meant to be. Moving on...
Once again, the answer is Jesus. He is all we need. Devote yourself wholeheartedly to knowing Him more deeply and loving Him more passionately. You'll see a difference in the way you love people. I spoke about romantic love in this post but the same goes for the friends and family in your life. As long as Jesus stays #1 in your heart, you'll be able to see things from a proper perspective. You'll be able to bless, encourage and strengthen those around you like never before.
"After all this...3 things remain. Faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love." - 1 Cor. 13:13
One of the biggest struggles for me is when we talk about love. In the past, it has been very hard for me to love someone without taking my eyes off Jesus; to cease abiding in Him as I put my attention on someone else. The point I'm making applies to every kind of love you can have (familial, platonic, romantic...) but for now I'm specifically talking about the romantic type.
In the past, when I've allowed myself to care for someone, things started to revolve around them. They became the object of far too much time and attention. Focus was lost and too much emphasis was placed on them. This is not the way that things should be. I have learned, through a bunch of scripture and some old epiphanies / revelations in the past week or so, that I've had it all mixed up in the past.
We are supposed to love Jesus Christ first and foremost. All other loves flow from our love for Him. He is the fountain in which all other affections find their source. I've been seeking God's will wholeheartedly for a while now. I'd even venture to say that I've been devoted to Him (I hesitate to use such a strong word because I fully know the limitations and faults of my selfish heart). But even in all the days I spent at Pine Cove and since then back in Nac, I couldn't truthfully say that I allowed Jesus to be source of all my love.
I'm at a point in life now where one of the biggest, most likely the biggest, things I'm working on is preparing to be a Godly man and, much more so, a Godly husband. Paul set the bar extremely high for the husband who wants to love as he should, "...love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her..." - Eph. 5:25. It would be a daunting and virtually impossible task if we were to somehow produce a genuinely Christ-like love in and of ourselves. But, if we place all our attention on Jesus and allow Him to work in our lives, we will soon find that love residing in our hearts.
It is not our primary responsibility to worry about loving our wife the right way. However, it's definitely our primary responsibility to love Jesus with all that we have and devote ourselves to His service and plan for our lives. If we are fully submitted to Him, the love that we are called to show will flow naturally from the pure love and spiritual union we enjoy with Jesus.
The same can be said for taking the love we have for Jesus and spreading it out into a lost and dying world. That will be the topic of a post coming soon to a theater (or blog) near you.
I take great peace in knowing that the love I want to show to my future wife, the love that she will crave (a 1 Cor. 13 kind of love), will come straight from Jesus Himself. I will merely be a conduit of Christ's pure and holy love straight into the heart of my wife. Notice, I said a conduit, not the conduit. I am definitely not saying that "husband" replaces "Savior and Almighty God". This is surely not the answer and it was never meant to be. Moving on...
Once again, the answer is Jesus. He is all we need. Devote yourself wholeheartedly to knowing Him more deeply and loving Him more passionately. You'll see a difference in the way you love people. I spoke about romantic love in this post but the same goes for the friends and family in your life. As long as Jesus stays #1 in your heart, you'll be able to see things from a proper perspective. You'll be able to bless, encourage and strengthen those around you like never before.
"After all this...3 things remain. Faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love." - 1 Cor. 13:13
24 August 2007
Poetic Expression: Round 3
This entry was written in November of 2006.
No Words Necessary
by: James B. Jenkins
In the sweetest simplicity of sight and of sound
A joyous tranquility there can be found
My eye in her eye; my hand in her hand
That moment holds power no word can command
The hands of the clock seem to quietly cease
As if waiting so patiently for the release
Of a message too grand for a tongue to bestow
Of a touch far too passionate for skin to know
In the stillness of night all else passes away
Where the black and the white all become shades of gray
And as face turns to face with eyes burning like fire
The heart yet returns to a calling much higher
22 August 2007
........
It's 1:26am.
Most everyone I know is sound asleep right now.
I can't sleep as usual.
I turned to the stars for some peaceful contemplation.
I found a mighty God staring down at me.
I was humbled by the weight of His presence.
It was sweet.
It's good to be reminded who's in charge.
I'm not.
Big surprise.
God is good.
Word.
Most everyone I know is sound asleep right now.
I can't sleep as usual.
I turned to the stars for some peaceful contemplation.
I found a mighty God staring down at me.
I was humbled by the weight of His presence.
It was sweet.
It's good to be reminded who's in charge.
I'm not.
Big surprise.
God is good.
Word.
20 August 2007
The guy in the mirror
There is a problem I face every morning when my feet leave the bed and touch the floor. There's a mirror in my bathroom (big surprise, right?) and I tend to stand in front of it while I do the morning routine. What's the purpose of a mirror? To reflect your appearance, right? For much of my growing up years, I was equally scared of both mirrors and cameras. The adolescent insecurities in my physical self were always present and sometimes completely overwhelming. I can remember early in my teenage years being afraid to play football with the guys because they would usually go shirtless and I was disgusted with the lack of "manly" features I saw in the mirror each morning. However, as time passed, the insecurities took on a new face.
It's human nature to be your own worst critic. I haven't figured out why it is that, before this summer, I had such a hard time thinking anything good about myself. Is anyone else the same way? On the surface, I came across as an overconfident, cocky young man who thought and acted like he was bigger and better than everyone else. However, as is usually the case with arrogant people, it was all one big cover-up. Inside, I desperately wanted to be accepted, liked, respected, etc. My problem was that I was listening to the wrong voice. I've spent the first two paragraphs covering the problem...now for the solution.
We all have the quiet voices in our heads. The intuitions, the assessments, the conscience, the evaluators and the decision-maker all have their seat on the jury of our minds. All of these voices come together at times to form our identity. Not our identity to the world, but the identity we see in ourselves. It's the identity that waits for us when our eyes meet themselves in a mirror. You have heard the voices countless times in your life. They tell you who you are.
My friends, the real question is: From where do you draw your identity? Whose voice do you listen to? For most of my life to this point, the message I've received is "failure". "You're not good enough and you never will be". I have fought the dragon of self-loathing for as long as I can remember. This summer at Pine Cove, I read the Psalms and Proverbs in their entirety. I rediscovered the affection that our Creator has for us. For me, the most powerful Psalm, when attempting to fix an identity crisis, was Psalm 139. Read and be blessed, my friends...
Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
We as humans are always fighting 3 enemies: satan, the world and our own sin nature. All 3 of them love to lie to us. The Bible refers to satan as the "father of lies"- John 8:44. The world is full of people who don't know Christ and are searching desperately for something to fill the hole that only He can fill. Someone who doesn't know Christ or accept the truth of His word, The Bible, should never be looked to as a source of identity. They are missing many pieces to the puzzle they've spent their life attempting to assemble. You should never look to them for validation or to help you figure out who you are. Even the face in the mirror can't be trusted whole-heartedly. We have to remember that our human nature is fallen; it's broken beyond repair. It is desperately selfish and self-serving and will do whatever it takes to feed its own desires.
If you give satan the chance to tell you who you are, you'll get an answer that isn't the truth and definitely not what you want to hear. The Bible says that satan has only come to "steal, kill and destroy" - John 10:10. I surely don't want the enemy of my soul to have any opportunity to speak lies into my heart.
The world is desperately insecure and we all know that misery loves company. I love how 1 Peter 4 puts it, "For you have spent enough time doing what godless people enjoy...they think it's strange that you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do." The world wants you to draw your identity from what you do, your title, your job, the amounts of toys you possess, how big your house is, how beautiful your wife is (or handsome your husband is), where you vacation, etc. The world can't be trusted because they've completely lost sight of all things eternal, all things truly significant.
The face in the mirror can't be trusted because, in the end, it only serves one master: itself. Self is a black hole of loneliness and despair that can never be satisfied. Self is the corrupt leftover of the perfect and righteous being we were created to be. Let's face it folks, if we look inside the depths of our own minds it won't take long to realize that our humanity is a truly dreadful thing. Our identity cannot come from such a tainted source.
It's time for the answer. Care to take a guess? The answer is the same no matter how the question is asked: Jesus Christ. Who better to tell us who we are and define for us a life purpose than the One who made us with His bare hands, knit us together inside our mother's womb? When we begin to understand that the only identity we need is that of a child of Almighty God, all else falls in line behind that title. We are called to be ministers of His grace, teachers of His truth, mentors to the younger and inexperienced, protectors of the precious, delicate, weak or innocent. We as men are called to be husband and father; ladies as wife and mother. We are called to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, business owners, teachers, construction workers, public servants, musicians, politicians, you name it. But before any of that, we are called to righteousness. We are called to be sons and daughters of the Almighty. We are called to play a part in the biggest adventure ever known to mankind.
There's your identity, my friends. If you ever find yourself with a lack of confidence or self-worth, look in the mirror and tell the old self to shut his pie hole. Satan has nothing but lies and destruction to share with you. The world wants nothing more than to force you to conform, so it can write you off and ignore the truth you bring to the table. Remember your identity, my friends. Remember who you really are.
We know the voice of our Shepherd (John 10:14). We know whose words can be trusted. The Lord's toolbox has grace, peace, confidence, mercy, assurance, abundant life, love, patience, temperance and many other tools sitting inside.
Ask Him today to help you recognize His voice. Ask Him to help you find your identity only in Him. Be blessed...
It's human nature to be your own worst critic. I haven't figured out why it is that, before this summer, I had such a hard time thinking anything good about myself. Is anyone else the same way? On the surface, I came across as an overconfident, cocky young man who thought and acted like he was bigger and better than everyone else. However, as is usually the case with arrogant people, it was all one big cover-up. Inside, I desperately wanted to be accepted, liked, respected, etc. My problem was that I was listening to the wrong voice. I've spent the first two paragraphs covering the problem...now for the solution.
We all have the quiet voices in our heads. The intuitions, the assessments, the conscience, the evaluators and the decision-maker all have their seat on the jury of our minds. All of these voices come together at times to form our identity. Not our identity to the world, but the identity we see in ourselves. It's the identity that waits for us when our eyes meet themselves in a mirror. You have heard the voices countless times in your life. They tell you who you are.
My friends, the real question is: From where do you draw your identity? Whose voice do you listen to? For most of my life to this point, the message I've received is "failure". "You're not good enough and you never will be". I have fought the dragon of self-loathing for as long as I can remember. This summer at Pine Cove, I read the Psalms and Proverbs in their entirety. I rediscovered the affection that our Creator has for us. For me, the most powerful Psalm, when attempting to fix an identity crisis, was Psalm 139. Read and be blessed, my friends...
Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
.....
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
(verses 19-22 talk about slaying the wicked and hatred for the unrighteous...not exactly on our topic)
We as humans are always fighting 3 enemies: satan, the world and our own sin nature. All 3 of them love to lie to us. The Bible refers to satan as the "father of lies"- John 8:44. The world is full of people who don't know Christ and are searching desperately for something to fill the hole that only He can fill. Someone who doesn't know Christ or accept the truth of His word, The Bible, should never be looked to as a source of identity. They are missing many pieces to the puzzle they've spent their life attempting to assemble. You should never look to them for validation or to help you figure out who you are. Even the face in the mirror can't be trusted whole-heartedly. We have to remember that our human nature is fallen; it's broken beyond repair. It is desperately selfish and self-serving and will do whatever it takes to feed its own desires.
If you give satan the chance to tell you who you are, you'll get an answer that isn't the truth and definitely not what you want to hear. The Bible says that satan has only come to "steal, kill and destroy" - John 10:10. I surely don't want the enemy of my soul to have any opportunity to speak lies into my heart.
The world is desperately insecure and we all know that misery loves company. I love how 1 Peter 4 puts it, "For you have spent enough time doing what godless people enjoy...they think it's strange that you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do." The world wants you to draw your identity from what you do, your title, your job, the amounts of toys you possess, how big your house is, how beautiful your wife is (or handsome your husband is), where you vacation, etc. The world can't be trusted because they've completely lost sight of all things eternal, all things truly significant.
The face in the mirror can't be trusted because, in the end, it only serves one master: itself. Self is a black hole of loneliness and despair that can never be satisfied. Self is the corrupt leftover of the perfect and righteous being we were created to be. Let's face it folks, if we look inside the depths of our own minds it won't take long to realize that our humanity is a truly dreadful thing. Our identity cannot come from such a tainted source.
It's time for the answer. Care to take a guess? The answer is the same no matter how the question is asked: Jesus Christ. Who better to tell us who we are and define for us a life purpose than the One who made us with His bare hands, knit us together inside our mother's womb? When we begin to understand that the only identity we need is that of a child of Almighty God, all else falls in line behind that title. We are called to be ministers of His grace, teachers of His truth, mentors to the younger and inexperienced, protectors of the precious, delicate, weak or innocent. We as men are called to be husband and father; ladies as wife and mother. We are called to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, business owners, teachers, construction workers, public servants, musicians, politicians, you name it. But before any of that, we are called to righteousness. We are called to be sons and daughters of the Almighty. We are called to play a part in the biggest adventure ever known to mankind.
There's your identity, my friends. If you ever find yourself with a lack of confidence or self-worth, look in the mirror and tell the old self to shut his pie hole. Satan has nothing but lies and destruction to share with you. The world wants nothing more than to force you to conform, so it can write you off and ignore the truth you bring to the table. Remember your identity, my friends. Remember who you really are.
We know the voice of our Shepherd (John 10:14). We know whose words can be trusted. The Lord's toolbox has grace, peace, confidence, mercy, assurance, abundant life, love, patience, temperance and many other tools sitting inside.
Ask Him today to help you recognize His voice. Ask Him to help you find your identity only in Him. Be blessed...
19 August 2007
Simple? Ha!
So, I've figured out the whole dating thing. I have been enlightened as to the reason for my existence. My education is rolling along nicely, taking me down the tracks to the destination (my career and professional success). My relationship with my Creator and Savior is better than ever before. My fraternity is set to draw the largest pledge class in years and my college ministry at church is growing steadily and actively seeking Jesus Christ like never before. I am healthy (barring an annoying knee) and my family is as well. I am blessed beyond belief. Jesus is more than faithful, He is omnipresent. So why am I so unsettled?
The answer is simple...I'm a problem-solver with no problems to solve. I'm a man who loves a good challenge who has realized that the only challenge is to leave life in God's capable hands and follow His will on a daily basis.
For some reason, my mind seems to enjoy working on about 13 things at once, 24/7. This is why I rarely sleep, and even more rarely sleep well. Does anyone else have this problem? I feel like all of life is going exceptionally well, but at the same time it's not moving at all. I am done with my degree plan at SFA, all I'm here for are a few classes that most medical schools require. My personal life has been put on pause by the Almighty and I've been told that it will be a long time before He allows me to move from this spot. This summer God grew me up...big time. For the first time ever, I feel like I'm finally beginning to look like the man I'm supposed to be. God has pounded the "be humble and teachable, practice servant leadership" mantra into my brain countless times.
So what is a passionate man who loves Jesus and His people with all his heart supposed to do in the meantime? Live life. Practice ministry. "Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God" - Micah 6:8. Every single second is an opportunity to bless and minister. Now I'm repeating myself; I know I've said that in previous blogs but it's important enough to say more than once. Significance isn't some you obtain, it's something you maintain. You never reach the end of the road to significance; it's an eternal journey.
So, when you think you've arrived...take a look around. I guarantee there is someone in need of encouragement or a helping hand, or a listening ear or available shoulder to lean on. Maybe some random person needs a ride somewhere, or a meal to quench their physical hunger. Everywhere you go, you can be Jesus to someone.
It's easy to turn to God when the going is tough. He has all the answers. The hard part is when everything seems to be great. Will you stay submitted? Will you stay on the path He has called you to when personal success, self and temporary satisfaction lie elsewhere? Will you? Or will you put your eternal perspective on and listen to that still, small voice? The choice is yours.
(I have faith in you)...
The answer is simple...I'm a problem-solver with no problems to solve. I'm a man who loves a good challenge who has realized that the only challenge is to leave life in God's capable hands and follow His will on a daily basis.
For some reason, my mind seems to enjoy working on about 13 things at once, 24/7. This is why I rarely sleep, and even more rarely sleep well. Does anyone else have this problem? I feel like all of life is going exceptionally well, but at the same time it's not moving at all. I am done with my degree plan at SFA, all I'm here for are a few classes that most medical schools require. My personal life has been put on pause by the Almighty and I've been told that it will be a long time before He allows me to move from this spot. This summer God grew me up...big time. For the first time ever, I feel like I'm finally beginning to look like the man I'm supposed to be. God has pounded the "be humble and teachable, practice servant leadership" mantra into my brain countless times.
So what is a passionate man who loves Jesus and His people with all his heart supposed to do in the meantime? Live life. Practice ministry. "Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God" - Micah 6:8. Every single second is an opportunity to bless and minister. Now I'm repeating myself; I know I've said that in previous blogs but it's important enough to say more than once. Significance isn't some you obtain, it's something you maintain. You never reach the end of the road to significance; it's an eternal journey.
So, when you think you've arrived...take a look around. I guarantee there is someone in need of encouragement or a helping hand, or a listening ear or available shoulder to lean on. Maybe some random person needs a ride somewhere, or a meal to quench their physical hunger. Everywhere you go, you can be Jesus to someone.
It's easy to turn to God when the going is tough. He has all the answers. The hard part is when everything seems to be great. Will you stay submitted? Will you stay on the path He has called you to when personal success, self and temporary satisfaction lie elsewhere? Will you? Or will you put your eternal perspective on and listen to that still, small voice? The choice is yours.
(I have faith in you)...
keep your eyes on the prize
"...The upward call of Christ Jesus..." What the heck does that mean?
In Philippians 3, Paul likens the Christian faith, and life in general, to a race that we're all running. He says that the prize waiting for us at the end is the "upward call of Christ Jesus". Paul's words ring true in our society today just the same as they did in 35 A.D. Life runs at a breakneck pace with very little down time and no room for laziness.
The "upward call" that Paul is referring to, is the revelation of our life purpose. I believe that it is our job to actively seek out where and how God would have us administer His will to the world. He is not going to walk up and plop our life purpose in our lap as we sit munching popcorn and watching the evening sportscenter. We must put in the time on our knees and find out where He wants us.
The "upward call" also refers to our actual salvation and the rapture of our physical bodies to Heaven. A champion runner never lets up, never slows down until he crosses the finish line. As a follower of Christ, we don't have a paper number pinned to our shirt. We don't have some kind of uniform we can just take off when we're tired of living the right way. Christianity has no off-time. A follower of Christ is always a follower of Christ, like it or not. There is never a time when you can just decide to not be a Christian for a while. You have either submitted your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, or you haven't. There is no test version or "no risk in-home trial" of the Christian walk. Attempting to follow this dead-end path can bring real destruction to your life. Keeping our eyes on the prize means living our days with respect for the fact that the end of this game is approaching. We only have a certain amount of time to complete the mission that God gave us. That's why "Carpe Diem" and striving to live eternally significant lives is so important. Unfortunately, many people are content to live their lives blissfully ignorant of their eternal destiny and calling.
So many of my friends went off to college and left their faith back at mom and dad's house. They went buck wild and forgot their heritage completely. Now, most would charge that they were never saved to begin with, but I will leave that argument alone for now. It breaks my heart to see so many "Christians" who have completely lost sight of the prize, the "upward call". They are wandering around, wallowing in insignificant lives, wondering why life seems so empty and void of real purpose.
The answer is a paradox; simple and yet horribly complex at the same time. Keep your eyes on the prize. Stay focused on that upward call, keep your head in the game (sorry for all the sports analogies, but it's easier than talking about knitting). Remember your reason for getting out of bed in the morning. Each person has their own reason, their own set of gifts and talents created to maximize God's glory received from their life. It's near impossible to get it right consistently, but God loves working with "impossible" things. That way He gets all the glory when everything works out alright.
If your life seems to be missing something, missing that "upward call" mentality...ask Christ to restore that mindset to your everyday life. All it takes is some good prayer time and reading life's instruction manual (B.I.B.L.E. - basic instructions before leaving Earth).
Leave the rest in Jesus Christ's capable hands. Be blessed...
In Philippians 3, Paul likens the Christian faith, and life in general, to a race that we're all running. He says that the prize waiting for us at the end is the "upward call of Christ Jesus". Paul's words ring true in our society today just the same as they did in 35 A.D. Life runs at a breakneck pace with very little down time and no room for laziness.
The "upward call" that Paul is referring to, is the revelation of our life purpose. I believe that it is our job to actively seek out where and how God would have us administer His will to the world. He is not going to walk up and plop our life purpose in our lap as we sit munching popcorn and watching the evening sportscenter. We must put in the time on our knees and find out where He wants us.
The "upward call" also refers to our actual salvation and the rapture of our physical bodies to Heaven. A champion runner never lets up, never slows down until he crosses the finish line. As a follower of Christ, we don't have a paper number pinned to our shirt. We don't have some kind of uniform we can just take off when we're tired of living the right way. Christianity has no off-time. A follower of Christ is always a follower of Christ, like it or not. There is never a time when you can just decide to not be a Christian for a while. You have either submitted your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, or you haven't. There is no test version or "no risk in-home trial" of the Christian walk. Attempting to follow this dead-end path can bring real destruction to your life. Keeping our eyes on the prize means living our days with respect for the fact that the end of this game is approaching. We only have a certain amount of time to complete the mission that God gave us. That's why "Carpe Diem" and striving to live eternally significant lives is so important. Unfortunately, many people are content to live their lives blissfully ignorant of their eternal destiny and calling.
So many of my friends went off to college and left their faith back at mom and dad's house. They went buck wild and forgot their heritage completely. Now, most would charge that they were never saved to begin with, but I will leave that argument alone for now. It breaks my heart to see so many "Christians" who have completely lost sight of the prize, the "upward call". They are wandering around, wallowing in insignificant lives, wondering why life seems so empty and void of real purpose.
The answer is a paradox; simple and yet horribly complex at the same time. Keep your eyes on the prize. Stay focused on that upward call, keep your head in the game (sorry for all the sports analogies, but it's easier than talking about knitting). Remember your reason for getting out of bed in the morning. Each person has their own reason, their own set of gifts and talents created to maximize God's glory received from their life. It's near impossible to get it right consistently, but God loves working with "impossible" things. That way He gets all the glory when everything works out alright.
If your life seems to be missing something, missing that "upward call" mentality...ask Christ to restore that mindset to your everyday life. All it takes is some good prayer time and reading life's instruction manual (B.I.B.L.E. - basic instructions before leaving Earth).
Leave the rest in Jesus Christ's capable hands. Be blessed...
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