CrossPoint Community News 08/26/2022

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

       This final update for August is going to highlight some truths that affected me deeply when I was a college student. In the book, “The Call”, by Os Guinness, he writes a chapter called “Patches of Godlight” which is a reference to a quote from C.S. Lewis’ work, “The Weight of Glory.” Throughout the summer, the Empower group has been talking about calling, and listening to the call of God – which is so decisive “that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out in response to his summons and service” (p. 29).
       So, in the chapter titled “Patches of Godlight”, Guinness explains that “calling transforms life so that the commonplace and menial are invested with the splendor of the ordinary” (p. 196). We normally act in our day for instrumental reasons – considering if it is valuable to us. But because we’ve been called by God, we can do things for their intrinsic importance – considering that it the action is valuable in itself because God has called us to do it. So drudgery is lifted and changed. That’s why Hudson Taylor could teach: “A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is a big thing.” (p. 197). As Christians, we understand that there is no work too hard or too homely (humbling) for the follower of Christ because we understand that no work can be too humbling if we do it for God.
       This reality of calling, that it invests things with the splendor of the ordinary, is also seen in that calling transforms things by focusing our attention, under God, on things as they are. Many religions are world denying. But Christians have a dual vision – where we understand the world was made good, inalienably so, even if it has been marred by sin. So, our work is transformed: “Work shall be such as a man may do with his whole heart, and that he shall do it for the very work’s sake.” (p. 200). The Christian view of things comes back to the rootedness and intrinsic worth of things as they are – having been created by God.
       Finally, understanding that calling transforms the ordinary, we are reminded that drudgery is part of the cost of discipleship. The disciples may have seen miracle after miracle when walking with Jesus, but they spent most of their time walking with Jesus mile after mile. For whatever reason, we have this sense that we have to do exceptional things for God. I notice that tendency in my own heart. But Oswald Chambers provides a corrective: “We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in the mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.” Guinness concludes “Before the eventual ‘well done,’ our task today is to do well – by loving people, things, and work for their sake and [Gods]” (p. 202).
       Understanding this truth of calling is like a philosopher’s stone which turns everything it touches into gold. When we see things for their intrinsic worth, we can do that thing, even if we aren’t the best at it. When we persist in drudgery for the glory of God, we do so gladly because we do so for our great and gracious God – whose beauty, goodness, and power shine forth in his creation, even if it is marred by sin. We can pursue excellence in the ordinary, and faithfulness in the little things, so that one day we will hear the words “Well done.”

       Please continue to pray for the nation of Ukraine. Here is a suggested list of prayers if you are at a loss for words in how to pray: https://send.org/story/hh_pray_for_ukraine. Thank you for kneeling on behalf of the people of Ukraine and Russia, and taking a stand (or a knee in prayer) against the forces of darkness in this present age.