Are You Willing? (part 2)
Our team in Catania has a daily practice we simply call abide. This is our effort to abide daily with Jesus through His Word. We follow a very simple process in our daily reading so that we don’t simply read and walk away. It gives us an opportunity to reflect and respond as well. You can check out a more detailed description here: https://searchparty.org/abiding-in-christ/. For my purposes, I will simply breakdown our process using the acronym S.O.A.P.S.
Scripture – Write out the verse or passage of Scripture that the Holy Spirit has shown you for that day, including the reference.
Observation – Look at the surrounding context of the verse you selected and write down any observations. Try to explain the passage in your own words.
Application – Ask how this verse might apply to your life. What is God calling you to do or to remember as a result? What is your next step and how can you be obedient?
Prayer – Write out a closing prayer. Use this final section to speak back to God a request or commitment.
Share – Look for opportunities throughout the day or week to share with others how God spoke to you through this passage.
Several days ago we came to 1 Corinthians 9 in our reading plan. If you read my last post, you know the question the Holy Spirit presses into me on a regular basis. That question was being pressed deeply into my spirit again as I read the words of Paul.
Are you willing?
Read the words of Paul from 1 Corinthians 9:19-27:
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
There is a lot we could unpack there. But this is the line that hit me the most:
Paul became ALL things to ALL people so that by ALL means he might save SOME.
This was where I heard the Spirit say to me, “Are you willing?” It was the same voice I heard before (not audibly, but at the spirit level). Except it was more direct. Here is the note in the margin of my Bible next to this passage:
“Eric, are you willing to sacrifice much so that others might experience Me even just a little bit?”
What if all my efforts, all my sacrifice, results in only a small handful of people being saved? What if only one person comes into a saving relationship with Jesus? Is all my sacrifice worth just one person?
I sacrificed a lot to be where I am. But He calls me deeper still. There is more to sacrifice. I join Paul in doing it all for the sake of the gospel.
Are you willing?
