Living Strategically for the Glory of God-Part One: Living on Purpose

"First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.”
--
Romans 1:8

I think it is safe to say that we have all at some point in our lives made the excuse that, “Sometimes life just happens!” Time seems to speed up, our schedules seem to fill up, and before you know it all we can do is hold on as our busy lives seem to unfold like a giant, roller coaster ride. I find that this happens to me quite often, in that I get so busy with life that I do not truly live life to the full. I believe in Jesus Christ that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin, rose from the grave, and now is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for me; but is my life truly being transformed by what I believe or is it just another thing that I add to my already busy life? How am I acting out my faith, and how do I glorify God by the way I live? I do not glorify God when I am not living for Him and pointing to Him, and it is just as true that I do not glorify God when I just “let my life happen.”

Everything is not always so cut and dry, this I know for a fact; but even amid life’s business, we should never let it determine how we live and who we live for. Sometimes life can be busy, and I have felt the pressure of a busy life. The past couple months have seemed extremely busy for me, between mess cooking for two weeks---which entailed 14 hour days, 7 days a week, plus two hours of class, and homework every week day---and three weeks of double watches---which entailed 8 hours of watch a day, anywhere from 2-6 hours of regular work a day, my classes, and homework. Life can get busy, and we have two choices we can make: We can either get dragged along with our busy schedules and watch our lives pass us by as life happens, or we can begin the discipline of “living on purpose”. Our choice will not necessarily change what our schedules look like all the time, but it will change the way we look and act as we carry out our schedules.

Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome and told them that he thanked God that their faith was being told all over the world. This does not just happen on accident; such a testimony is only established when we live our lives purposefully for the glory of God. I am greatly burdened for the Christians in my generation, because I meet a great deal of “Christians” but I do not see how their faith has impacted the way they live their lives. We are selfish Christians, captivated by the “American Dream”, mastered by our lusts, slaves to our wallets, exhausted from the fake Christianity we profess, and quite satisfied with making Christ a part of our lives so that we can have the assurance that we will not go to hell when we die. We are Christians who have fallen in love with comfort, embraced security, surrendered to the reality of this world,  renounced any sort of risk taking for the Kingdom of God (especially if it will hurt our bank accounts or cut into our “me“ time), and settled for an “American Christianity”. We would rather be spectators in the crowds of this world rather than join the “extreme Christians”---the Jesus’ Freaks---in the arena who fight the battle of faith to the death. We have become Christless Christians---perhaps we are not Christians at all for to be a Christian is to be a follower of Christ and if we are not following Christ than surely we are not Christians. We are in the hands of an angry God who hates us with a righteous and holy hatred (I am sure your Sunday school teacher never told you that one!). Yes, He does offer mercy and grace to those who believe in Him that Jesus is Redeemer and Lord, and that those who are true lovers of Christ are held by Grace. However those who only know the truth but do nothing about it have no such assurance, for even Satan knows and believes that Jesus is God and came to earth as the Savior of the world, and he revolts in anger.

Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission, once said, “There is a needs-be for us to give ourselves for the life of the world. An easy, non-self-denying life will never be one of power. Fruit-bearing involves cross-bearing. There are not two Christs---an easy-going one for easy-going Christians, and a suffering, toiling one for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are you willing to abide in Him, and thus to bear much fruit.” This is the cross-roads of life that we all come to where we must chose whom we will serve. We cannot chose Christ while refusing to take up our crosses and follow after Him---you cannot have one without the other.

Oh what I write, I am not just writing to others, but it is a message so dear and fresh in my own heart for it is a message that God continues to challenge me with as I live out my life. My heart stings from conviction as I think over these truths I now wish to share. So I lift up my voice and I take a stand to challenge Christians to live strategically for the glory of God. Strategy should not just be used by the missionary in a foreign land, a military commander on the battle field, or a corporate executive in the business world; but in order for us to live out each day for God’s glory, we must be living purposefully, planning carefully, strategizing effectively, praying fervently, and living momentarily in the shadow of the cross of Christ. Life will just happen if we let it, that is why we must decide right now to live on purpose for the glory of God.


To the Cross I Cling
Living on purpose for the glory of God is definitely not an easy thing to do, which is why I think it is good to remind ourselves of the verses from Hebrews 12:1-3: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.” From these verses we can conclude that if we are not fixing our hearts and minds upon Christ and what He endured for us at the cross, we will become discouraged, worn out Christians. If we are to live our lives strategically for the glory of God, we must first be fixed upon the cross of Christ. We must be rooted in the Gospel, which is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16); a message that must not just be preached to unbelievers, but to believers too!

A good question to ask ourselves is, do we preach the gospel? Do we ever share our faith; and the reason for the hope we have? I find myself getting discouraged when I realize how little I share the gospel with others, but then I realize that I hardly ever share the gospel with myself! How can I preach a message I hardly know, and how can I hardly know a message that has completely turned the world upside down? The first step to living on purpose and glorifying God in every area of our lives is to preach the gospel to ourselves. Think about Christ’s great sacrifice for you that He would die and bear the Father’s wrath for your sin, know His love which is better than life, rejoice that now you have peace with God because of the Lord Jesus Christ. This should be a daily discipline of joy that we eagerly carry out in our lives. We must cling to the cross of Christ---we must live each day centered on the cross---or we will give up and quit. Why do we linger so far from the cross? Why do we hesitate to preach the gospel to ourselves? We are in a spiritual battle, and our enemy is strong, but the One whom we serve is stronger. The Lord Jesus Christ is our stronghold and He is our deliverer. When we are weak and weary He is strong, when we cannot stand He causes us to stand, when we are afraid He is by our side, in Him we are more than conquerors. So cling to the cross---live life on purpose by knowing God’s great love for you that He sent His Son to die in your place.

A Daily Battle
As you cling to the cross and begin the discipline of “Living on Purpose” also keep in mind that it is a battle you must fight daily. Even as I write this, I find the struggle to live purposefully for God’s glory more fierce than ever, which causes me to turn to God, begging Him for help and mercy. I do not want to waste my life, but rather I want to be spent completely and fully for God that He might be glorified in me.

Remember that you will grow weary and lose heart if you do not consider Jesus Christ and the great work He has accomplished on our behalf. He died that we might live, He took our punishment that we might share in His glory, He was raised from the dead that we might be made right with God, and He lives that we might also live. We must fix our gaze on Him so that we do not give up when the way is hard and the road is tough. We must rely on His strength to persevere through the difficulties that lay ahead that He gives us to exercise our spiritual muscles. Press on as you daily battle sin and choose to live purposefully for God.

#11 GOFAST~ Midgett Adventures #3

September 1, 2010

This morning began, well not so bright, but definitely early as the Bridge (You could call the Bridge the center of operations where we steer and run the boat) piped the boat lowering detail to the starboard side boat deck at 0400. We all know what that means---GOFAST. Now so you keep up on speed with me as I tell you all that happened today, let me give you the run down on what a gofast is. Gofast is our term for a boat that appears to be suspicious of illegal drug trafficking. So needless to say all of us on boat lowering detail jumped out of our racks and hurriedly got dressed. I pulled on my coveralls and boots, grabbed my hard hat and took off only to turn around once I climbed the ladder to the mess deck because I forgot my PFD (life jacket). So I got that and made my way to the starboard side main deck. Some other seaman had already made it out and soon we were manned and ready. I was on the sea painter, but once they piped to set Law Enforcement Phase I, I had to go back to my berthing and get in my uniform because once they set phase II, I am billeted on the Bridge where I keep logs, work the Engine Order Telegraph, or whatever else needs to be done.

As it turned out, nothing much came from our early morning wake up call---just another fishing vessel. We were all disappointed to say the least. However as always we received new intel of another suspicious vessel 76 nautical miles away. So we went on turbines and sped across the Pacific. About 1430, As I was sitting in my rack studying, the GOFAST alarm goes off. It is a loud pitched flat line sound, “GOFAST, GOFAST. A GOFAST has been reported 10 miles (give or take) from Midgett. All hands man your GOFAST billets.” So once again I jumped out of my rack and quickly made my way up to the Bridge. The Bridge was hectic with officers at every turn. The Commanding Officer and Executive Officer analyzed the situation at hand. Boarding teams were manning up on the boat decks and the boats were beginning to be lowered. MID I was away to Starboard first and raring to go, but MID II was having radio difficulties. It took several minutes to fix the problem and lower the boat into the water. Things did not seem to be going very well…just to many little mistakes and too many mechanical problems. Even though MID II had a late start they were making it to the location of the GOFAST before MID I because MID I had steered a wrong course due to a gps failure. So we had MID II stopped two miles in front of us waiting on MID I which was way off our port quarter. So finally we had both boats together, we finally spotted the GOFAST and the GOFAST spotted us and bolted. But it appeared that it did not see the small boats because of the size of the wakes. So here it was running from us but running right into our small boats!

Spirits on the Bridge were soaring for once we might actually have something. As our small boats were in hot pursuit they could see that the GOFAST through overboard two bags, which we recovered. Finally after getting permission we boarded the vessel and found drugs.

So as it stands we have three detainees on board for an indefinite amount of time until we receive further orders on what to do with them. At the present the vessel is being thoroughly searched and so far we have found at least a hundred huge blocks of cocaine, and we still may find more. So all in all it has been a very successful and rewarding day. We found bad guys, got to go really, really fast, and we may even be able to shoot some guns and sink this boat…we’ll see. Our Captain says any day is a good day if you have a combo like that.

So I end this night thanking God for how He works and gives us exciting times like this---opportunities where we can make a difference in other peoples lives by stopping something bad like this from going on. It is a good reminder that we do have a purpose being out here in the middle of no where surrounded by  a whole lot of water! We do have a mission to accomplish and it is within our reach.

#11 JESUS LOVES ME~ Midgett Adventures#3

August 28, 2010

Sometimes I feel very overwhelmed by life, and loneliness and homesickness overwhelm me, threatening to conqueror my heart with fear. Just like a boat tossed and thrown about by the waves, I also feel tossed and thrown about by the challenges and fears I face. The great many miles that separate me from home, from my loved ones, and being unable to reach them, my heart grows faint and my soul weary. I suppose it is easy to start out any race strong, but it is once you are passed the starting line, passed the crowds of people cheering you on, passed everything that was familiar---that is when endurance and perseverance are tested. And now I feel my own endurance being tested and I find myself lacking---an utter failure. But I do  not give up because I find encouragement from the verses in Romans 8:37-39. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us…nothing, absolutely nothing in the whole wide world, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus loved me…this is the reason I can keep running when my legs and muscles burn with pain. Jesus loves me…this is why I do not give up when I am overwhelmed by fear and failure. Jesus will always love me…this is the reason I rejoice in my suffering, in my struggles, in the challenges I face because I am held in the hands of a God who has shown me mercy---who loves me because of who He is and not because of who I am. I am loved and I must live as one who is loved by God. So I rejoice though I am sorrowful, I sing for joy even when I am sad, I press on when the way is tough, because Jesus is with me and He loves me.

#10 Golfito~ Midgett Adventure#3

August 28, 2010

We are back underway from Golfito, Costa Rica. It was nice to be on dry land again, but it is just not the same as being back in Seattle where I can go relax at one of my coffee shops and recharge my batteries. I am reminded once again though that it is through God that I shall do valiantly. He is the one who sustains and upholds me each step of the way as I continue journeying heavenward. I did enjoy skyping for a few minutes with my family even though it was only for a little bit. Our internet connection lasted only a short while but it was wonderful to see their faces. Costa Rica was definitely a beautiful spot with the rain forest surrounding us and exotic birds flying overhead.

This morning is an all-hands field day so I will be concentrating on cleaning my berthing and making sure everything is squared away. Life has been busy and classes keep me super busy it seems. Sometimes I don’t know how I ma going to juggle it all, but the Lord is so good to me and sustains me. He gives me the strength I need when I need it (not always when I want it (-:

#9 Sanctuary ~ Midgett Adventure#3

August 18, 2010

Yesterday I enjoyed some time playing my guitar up on the mess deck. I am always so nervous and hesitant about playing and singing my songs up there because of what others will think…maybe say. I hold back and shy away from singing songs to the Lord. But God is working and stretching me in this and continues to give me courage to declare and sing His truth.

So as I was struggling with this, it struck me that whether the others who heard me singing liked it or not I was singing the truth and they need to hear it. And not only that, but I was struck that the mess deck---where we live a lot of our down time underway---and at times can be a discouraging place because of the darkness of these people who do not love Christ was transformed into a sanctuary of praise to God.

#8 Clouds~ Midgett Adventures#3

August 14, 2010

I watched the sunset this evening. The clouds glistened and shimmered as the last rays of the sun reflected off them. The sky came alive with shimmering silver-pink clouds, vibrant orange ones, purple and blue ones. By themselves the clouds are but vapors in the wind, vanishing into the air almost as quickly as they appear. Yet during a sunset, they are arrayed in the beauty of another. They are simply reflecting forth the beauty of the sun as it sets below the horizon.

As I was thinking about this, it made me think of how this should also be the way Believer’s live. We are but vapors in the wind and our lives disappear in the wind, but we should be reflecting the beauty of Christ---“the Son”---we are clothed in His righteousness, His beauty, and we should live our lives reflecting His beauty to the world. I want to live my life in such a way that Christ is glorified in all I say and do and think so that when others look at me they would not be seeing me but the beauty of Jesus reflected in me. Glory be to the Lord Jesus Christ!!!!

#7 Update~ Midgett Adventure #3

August 14, 2010

Today was an incredible Saturday. I had late sleepers (since I had mid watch last night---midnight to 0400) so I did not get up until 1000. After getting up and getting dressed, I headed off to the Navigation brief in the Wardroom. After Quarters, I took my BMOW board and passed---super exciting! Now I am a qualified BMOW, and no more double watches! Right after my board, we had swim call. Most everyone on board enjoyed jumping off the flight deck nets into the salty, pacific ocean below. It was a perfect day for a swim call---the sun was shining and the water was so calm and beautiful. I jumped off the flight deck nets about four times and enjoyed swimming for a good while. What a wonderful change in pace. I feel very refreshed and just had a fun time. Now I am doing laundry and so tired from my day of fun. Tomorrow we pull into port again for a little while. Fun times all around!!