Day 3013 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Psalm 119:139 NIV

It's a truly strange existence to care so deeply about something in a place that has little care of anything.

To look at the cross and respond with anything less than an urgent desire to help others know what’s been done and what hangs in the balance of their choice as to whether or not to accept it is an utter failure to understand the importance of salvation and to show reverence for the One who made it possible. That cross should refuse us the consideration of taking our faith too seriously. There is no limit to gravity of salvation, no matter what the world so obviously believes.

Just the fact that He is still ignored and denied so vehemently should speak to the legitimacy of His calling.

But instead, that truth seems to fall upon deaf ears and disinterested hearts easily enough. I guess it’s all too easy to ignore the severity of Scripture whilst in a place that denies it altogether. And sadly, that reality is spawning a lazy disinterest in contending for our faith with the fervor it fully deserves. Many may think that we freaks take this too seriously. But to that I respond by asking how we can look at the condition of the world and into the eyes of countless hurting souls lost within it and not be utterly destroyed by the heaviness of sin’s aftermath?

If it doesn’t wear us out, this good fight, then are we really fighting it at all?

You know, I never thought that by the time I reached my mid-thirties that I'd have a rather lengthy and growing list of Scriptural verses that were so personally impactful that I'd begin realizing that I hadn't enough time in a day to think of them all, to share them all, to contemplate them all. But yet, here we are! Every day is a stark new realization of just how tragic a vastly differing perspective can be.

There's a weight in all of this that is both incredibly moving and also incredibly daunting. It's this impossible mix of a fervency to try and make known the only hope we have before we haven't time left to find Him blended with a shattering realization that this work is too big for me. It's too big for any of us. Too big for all of us. This calling to go into all the world seems impossible, but it only seems as such because we think it's on us to win.

And looking at the world and this steady rise of wickedness only points to what seems perfect evidence that we're losing. And it's that painful potential that demands we stand up every day with a freshened resolve to just keep trying anyway. Not because it seems like anything we do is making a difference, but because our faith proves that it is. And that is something that each of us will tangle with at some point, or at many points along this path through this place.

Because this path doesn't fit in this place. And our faith refuses to allow them to blend anymore.

Instead, our eyes are being continually shown reminders of both what's happening as well as what's at stake should we dare forget. And I don't think that people are forgetting, I think many are just growing tired. Tired of the filth. Tired of the foolishness. Tired of striving so desperately to shove the world in a better direction only to watch it all just keep rolling downhill. Just tired of watching the world choose to burn even though we're doing all we can to pour the water of life out for all around us.

But that's why this is referred to as the Good Fight. It's a battle. It's a war. It's a daily determination to remain entirely invested in something over which we have little if any control. It's watching evil win day after day and still refusing to turn away from the line that we've been called to stand. And I don't care who you are or how long you've been a believer or how zealous your faith may be, it's hard. It's hard. It's as if we're witnessing a train wreck while trying to grab the caboose to keep it from happening.

Again, it's a truly strange mix of emotions, and they always seem to blend together into this tear-filled anger that refuses to let us rest.

That's why many of these posts are likely taken as a bit overdone. They're probably seen as somewhat extreme, insensitive, maybe even judgmental. But as I saw someone refer to it last evening, there's a difference between standing in judgement and unmaking the devil. And friends, in this good fight, we cannot possibly contend for the light if we refuse to recognize the dark.

So yeah, these posts are sometimes angry. I'm sometimes angry. I think we're all angry from time to time, and watching what's unraveling around us, how could we not be? That's the question that I've been sort of dancing toward for the past couple of days. How can we not be angry? How can we watch wickedness win day after day and simply be okay with it? How can we allow it to infiltrate our churches, our schools, our lives, our families, our faith?

How can we not be worn out from being so angry that the devil just keeps poking and prodding and pocketing the souls that we know Christ died for? When did we agree to adopt an approach to our calling in this faith that seems to discount the fact that He did die? Again, take that however you need, but the point is the point. The downplaying of sin and the delightful overlooking of the hard parts of God's truth and the utter failure to uphold the morality He deserves is disgusting.

We're called to be the light of this earth. But somewhere along the line that got mistranslated into meaning nothing more than to be the entertainment of this earth. The comforters of this earth. The weak of this earth. The scared, the fearful, the hesitant, the bashful and the ashamed and the defeated.

It's not even merely the enemy who is wearing us out. It's those who bear the Name but won't bear the fruit. It's those who have an image of godliness but deny its power. It's those who cherry pick through the truth so they can feel as though they're doing His work while still pleasing the population. It's those who refuse to be worn out, to be angry, to be fed up of being fully invested while watching so many others who aren't.

Yes, that's mean. It's rude. It's even judgmental if you wish to see it that way. But at what point do we realize the danger in failing the parts of Scripture that aren't taught as they're not as popular or pleasing? Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Because you can't keep fighting if you won't try to recognize your enemies. Friends, we'll have enemies. Problem is that we're trying so hard to avoid that fact that we're missing the chance to make a difference.

I'm not saying any of this out of vanity or pride or arrogance, because believe you me, I know I've nothing to boast about. As Paul says in Galatians 6:14, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." I say it as a person who is trying to do something good in a place that needs it. And I say it in the way I've said it because it's infuriating to watch so many try so hard to do as little as possible.

I don't claim to have this all figured out. Don't claim to be upon a pedestal from which I can look down or judge anyone. This isn't that point. My point is that our faith should be so crucial to us, and the sharing of it should be of such importance, and our passion for knowing Him and making Him known should be so relentless that we cannot bear to see it treated like a game, a hobby, an idea presented from hearts only half interested in it being heard.

Friends, we owe Him everything. And knowing what He's offered to each of us, how can we not want that promise for everyone? And if we do want that promise for everyone, how can we not attack the sin that is keeping them from it? And if we know that sin can and will keep people from His promise, His hope, His peace, His prize, how can we avoid fighting it? How can we downplay it? How can pretend that it isn't harmful, dangerous, deadly when we claim to believe that our sins cost Him His life?

It's miserable, and it should be. There should be this sadness in our hearts every moment as we realize that people around us are living without Jesus in their hearts. There should be a horror as we watch the world keep running away from Him. There should be an exhaustion every day that we refuse to allow to stop us from continuing to try and change those facts. It should wear us out, and if it isn't, where did we miss it?

How did we miss it?

As I've said at some point in the past couple of days, it's okay to be serious about this. It's okay to be zealous for our faith. It's okay to stand so boldly upon His Word that the entire world hates you for it. It's okay to give this path, this faith, this opportunity everything we know it deserves. That may not be the common approach. It may never be the common approach. And it may make absolutely no sense to anyone else as to why we're so invested in this that we choose to wear ourselves out trying to do a little bit more a little bit better.

But it's for Him. It's all for Him. We do it for Him as our only possible response for all He's done for us.

In the end, we're each responsible for determining just how important our faith and the opportunities it holds are to us. I just don't want to reach the end of this journey and wish I'd have done more, tried harder, spoken louder, fought more ferociously. I want to, I hope to, I beg to have the chance to live my life in the kind of service that refuses to leave any opportunity left on the table. I don't see how we can take this too seriously.

It's literally life or death, and people are falling into the hands of the Living God every single day, and if they find themselves suddenly in His presence having always lived as His enemies, I can promise that there's no laughing, no enjoyment, no excitement. There's only a kind of regret so deep that they'll spend the rest of eternity wishing they'd have taken it more seriously, and that maybe someone else would have had the courage to do so as well so that they could have found the encouragement to realize this isn't the game so many think it to be.

"Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them. 141 Though I am lowly and despised, I do not forget your precepts. 142 Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true. 143 Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight. 144 Your statutes are always righteous; give me understanding that I may live."

This road shouldn’t be easy, shouldn’t be comfortable, shouldn’t allow for the idea of going easy or calming down. It should wear us out. It should take all we have. It should demand more than we can give. It should wake us up every day with a freshened resolve to fight harder against the darkness that is infecting and inflicting so many all around us. It’s just not worth going at this opportunity so lightly that we wake up one day and realize all the chances we missed to make the difference we were here to make.

Whatever the cost, however hard it may be, however painful it may become, whatever we may lose and whoever may disagree or debate or discontinue their interest in hearing what we have to say, it's worth it. It's worth living a life worn and weary from trying to do good in a place that's going down hard. We may not find many victories along the way to the ultimate victory we've been promised. And the road there may take everything we have and demand a whole lot beyond it.

But in the end, as we kneel before Him hoping we somehow did something that had some meaning that brought Him honor and glory and praise, even should we have failed to change the world, at least we'll know that we tried to

#LeaveNoSoulUntold