A couple of days ago I listened to a podcast by Francis
Chan. In the podcast Chan The Man was talking about his families recent
decision to pack up and move to China. Thought : Woah, I just recently paced up
and moved to Rwanda. This could apply. *Listens more closely*.
He talked about how people were shocked/impressed by what he
was doing but if you look at it biblically what Francis did, what I did, what
hundreds of others have done, isn’t that radical, it’s actually normal, plain,
tame in comparison.
Just one example, Acts 14: Paul told a crippled man to stand because he saw that the man had faith. Guess what happened next? The man jumped up and began to walk! Than things got a little rough and Paul was stoned, dragged from the city and left for dead
only to rise and go back into the city when the disciples gathered around him.
Imagine after reading that; “And than there was Elise. So moved to Rwanda to
work in an orphanage.” I’m assuming after reading about Paul your thoughts are
not along the lines of, “Wow, Elise just blew my mind! I mean that’s radical.”
I don’t want to live my life based on the “normal” our
society has created. I don’t want to live my life radically based on our societies
standards. I want to live my life according to scripture and never settle for
anything less. I want to be radical like Paul, like Mary, like Christ. Christ
came to the earth as an example to all His followers on how to walk. He wasn’t
too compassionate, He wasn’t too loving, He wasn’t too merciful, He wasn’t too generous, He was perfect. The perfect example that we are still supposed
to follow. He never said, “Oh in 200+ years living like me wont be necessary,
it’ll be considered too extreme. So take what I did, take it down a few notches
and that should be good enough.”
Living according to our societies “normal”, living to please
others isn’t something I’m interested in. I’m interested in living for Christ
and Christ alone. Living a life that reflects Christ’s. Living a life worthy of
the gospel.
Sometimes that might mean I do "crazy" things. Sometimes that might mean people look at me funny. Sometimes that might mean I wont fit in. Always it will mean I am seeking God's approval and His alone.
“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or
am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men I would not be
a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10
Aw, Elise this is beautiful. I so admire you for your courage and faith. And those sweet pictures absolutely melted my heart. I love your blog! Thanks so much for sharing with everyone your amazing personality and experience.
ReplyDeleteIt is incredible how much our lives change (for the better!) when we start living for Christ's approval! There is so much freedom in that. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteFrancis Chan speaks in a way that is so inspiring, but also easy to realize that each of us are only using a tiny part of our potential. Thanks for the reminder. I very much admire what you're doing! Thank you for sharing your world with us.
ReplyDeleteWow. I don't know you, and I randomly found your blog, but I NEEDED this today. Thank you. It's such a great reminder to take out the perceptions and judgments of society and streamline your efforts and desires with Christ only. Otherwise, I feel misunderstood, used, judged, etc. But through Christ, I feel like He understands me perfectly, and I am an important individual to Him. Ha, maybe I'll write a blog post about these thoughts now. Thank you, Elise! Thanks for the lift today.
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