Day 3235 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Ezekiel 2:6 NIV

No matter our plans nor the preferences they inspire to pursue, truth is we're only here because we've a job to do.

And with each day's normal shifting made today seemingly miniscule as mundane uncertainties are now held against an entire calendar of difference, there may well revive inside a rampant uncertainty as to whether or not we're able to accomplish all this new calendar might demand. It's natural to stare down the barrel of a freshly loaded 12-month road still entirely infant and see only a fog of chaos staring back, but perhaps that uncertainty ought to be the first casualty of this 2024.

Because despite best intentions aiming obviously to ensure otherwise, with each new day comes a new dream or plan that only exists as one of such inspirations from yesterday didn't make it. And while we again are rather accustomed to that brand of loss as found within each and every day not being our version of perfect, if only we could embrace the reality that this life was never ours to perfect anyway, we just might find a new resolve to press ahead without all the fear that's normally there.

Alas, so much of life as we've come to mistakenly live it is made of this entitlement that endlessly assumes for us a rather significant portion of the glory should we hold fast to our insistence upon the unfolding of this story. Indeed, we're all altogether certain that we can somehow make our hopes and dreams realized, and that within doing so lies a prize in which we can and should and honestly feel as if we've every right to take pride.

And yet, what we'll find most inevitably is that our time here is only spent among an equally self-diluted people who likewise see this life through only their eyes. Thus the need for the sort of surrender shown by and seen in our Savior. Because this world has plenty of folks entirely faithful unto themselves, which makes it entirely easy to see why God calls us instead to strive for humility.

Because in this land of the lost all losing their forever in exchange for a further measure of whatever in which is found selfish pleasure, our being adamant to daily die unto ourselves is going to be noticed. What does then strike as somewhat odd is that everyone all around seems to live as if they need this endless amount of attention in order for them to believe their lives are worth living.

And yet far too few live so differently that the rest of society can't help but see.

This is where we come in with this job that He came down to call us to shoulder. A cross taken up because in a world where the 99 leave them lay, any single one who might dare die the death that displays daily a different desire is the one with the biggest chance to make a difference. And simply put, as time runs thin for all, different is needed more now than it was even yesterday.

Because if none of us do anything new to help us leave behind our old, then sin is all we'll have won and in the end we'll lose it all.

Problem is that we've all become so afraid to lose that all we do is sit around and plan out ways to win. We daydream of these situations in which we play the savior who saves the day and gets the crown of glory that we want so selfishly for our version of the story to be changed from the pasts that have proven us only insufficient. Indeed, if we can simply do half of what we plan to, we will have accomplished a basis for our belief that we're deserving of something.

That's one of my personal issues with all these resolutions that are likely already unraveling. Yet the road to nowhere is paved with plenty of plans that seek to avoid that humiliating outcome. You might have heard that put another way as well in that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Why? Because it's wonderful to intend upon something. It's great to make plans to accomplish something.

We should all awake each day with an awareness that yesterday is now an enemy against whom we should seek to wage war so that our old complacencies don't dare encroach upon today's new opportunities.

But sadly we so often get stopped at making plans because, and unironically, our plans never really take into account the worst case reality. And I say 'worst case reality' because reality will always end up surprising us with problems we didn't want to imagine having to face. Yes, this life will always give us more than we can handle, and I don't really care what anyone else may say or think, God does just that.

He gives far more than we can handle, because He knows best of all that we won't learn to let Him handle the lead unless we're made well aware that we can’t find our own way through the wars that we’d otherwise plan to avoid.

And this is seen quite clearly within this universal calling to which each of us are expected. To go fishing. To wet a line in this land of the lost and see who we can lead to the shore that is their Savior. To go into all the nations and proclaim the Gospel to all of mankind. Even those who aren't going to be quite so kind in response. That's where our subconscious fears begin to invite these ideas of good enough.

We know this world won't like very much what we have to say, as we ourselves still sometimes struggle with the severity of our own sins. And stepping into a world lost in lies with a truth that pretty much cuts like a knife from the very start will indeed find us largely lacking the warm welcome we'd otherwise seek to find. No, this job doesn't offer us that sort of peace up front as our peace is promised only later on, after our time in this world and our work here within have been finished.

Until then though, for us to assume peace is to invite forfeit when it doesn't come. And it won't come. Not here. Not now. No matter how meekly we walk this line, this line is simply drawn counter to this culture, and thus promises chaos. Hatred. Misunderstanding. Loss of welcome. Loss of friendship. Even loss of fellowship with the plans we had once made for ourselves.

Simply put, what we want and what we expect do not factor into this road we're walking. Because while our plans are perfect in our opinion and the paths we intend to follow toward all the victories we've envisioned ourselves winning are likewise amazing, there comes a time when we've to stop setting ourselves up for fear falling into our failure to follow this narrow.

Because as Mike Tyson so eloquently put it, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." And well, that's exactly what happens so many times when we approach these perfectly laid plans that we've spent so much time ensuring would work out perfectly. We end up finding out real fast just how little we expected to be awaiting us just beyond those best intentions that we assumed would suffice.

I think what we need to come to terms with is that our ability to be sufficient unto this calling following this road narrower than we'd ever want to imagine is that for us to suffice isn't the point. For us to plan out some perfect way to accomplish all we feel the need to complete isn't the calling. It isn't our job to ensure success along this faith in this life.

We're just called to follow the One who died in this world, and well, it's best to understand that such might well be the same reception we too receive from a world that has been planning on making wonderful changes for centuries but has yet to find a way to become more loving or kind or humble or open-minded.

No, this world today is still much the same as the one that inspired the kind of hatred that killed not only Jesus but also those who carried on His message after He'd left them to do as He called them to. He's still not popular. His message isn't suddenly more palatable to this people just because it's a new year and everyone's riding high on last night's celebration.

His Word is every bit as offensive today as it was when He walked among them who killed Him. And yes, His Word will be as offensive tomorrow as it is today. Them's the facts, we're the ones who can't afford to let them stop us, slow us down, make us scared or inspire us to quit. We have a job to do, and my whole point is that it's not one that we should waste our time trying to plan out going perfectly.

It won't.

But here's the beauty of His honesty: He told us. Warned us. Went so far as to show us. Yes, the way He lived defined the way He died, a humble courage that did what He was here to do with as much kindness and compassion as possible, but done understanding that very few had that same kind of love within their own understandings. And so too, He knew that He would die, the very purpose for which He came.

And now too, He calls us to do the same.

That's my direction in this new year, in every year, in every day. Time doesn't matter anymore. I sometimes laugh when someone else asks me the date because most of the time I don't really know. Same thing happens whenever I'm asked of my plans for today or what I've got scheduled for tomorrow. Don't know. Don't see the point in worrying about it. Because, "Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." Also Matthew 6:34

"Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

All I know for today is that the truth we're here to speak hasn't changed nor has the perspective of it as seen through eyes still blinded by the sinful proclivities that defined yesterday. Such is the reality among which we walk! Perhaps all this planning to make everything all better is only missing the moments in which we could actually make a difference?

The fact of the matter is, and my point for today agrees, that this road isn't going to be easy. All of our best intentions and most perfect plans will unravel because we simply don't really know how to account for what's still ahead. We don't have any idea.

All we've heard is that, "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. " 2 Timothy 3:1-5

And also, just to share the full passage there, "Have nothing to do with such people."

We can't dive into this new day, the first of a new year with this expectation of some sort of miraculous alteration to the misunderstandings among whom we're walking. Well, we can, and I assume many have, but we shouldn't. Not because I feel like harshing this high that everyone's on after this change from 2023 to 2024. It's just that there's a severe realness to this road we're asked to walk, and simply put, we can't afford to walk it assuming anything else.

Because if we do, we'll flee when it all falls apart. And that's just not acceptable in any way whatsoever. Because He told us what to expect for a reason, and to assume that those promises would change because of a change in season or in year or in expectation is only failing to accept the reality into which we're wading.

Friends, we can't set ourselves up for as much surprise as we tend to invite. Sure, it would be wonderful if everyone we met wanted to hear what we needed to say. It would be amazing if every comment section looked like a hospital filled with everyone trying to help everyone with nothing but love and mercy in mind. It would be awesome if this world would calm down and hear us out as they just might hear salvation in this message we share.

But that kind of change isn't on anyone’s list of resolutions. Nobody has resolved to be more kind, and even if they have, expect such to your own disappointment. We unfortunately have to embrace that reality as we know it hasn't changed and that it won't until He comes back to do just that. No, we're in a war and since this war has us fighting for freedom for souls locked in bondage, we shouldn't expect ease nor should we insist upon days off.

This is go time. This is a new day. This is a new year. But there's nothing about our duty that has changed or lessened, nor has the response that we'll receive from those to whom we'll go because neither has changed the hatred which drives such division. But here's the thing: It doesn't matter. If our plans fall apart, it wasn't on us to make this work anyway. If our expectations are met with shocking misunderstanding and rejection, we shouldn't have really expected otherwise.

Because that's not what we see in Christ. And honestly, if we are following Him, our only expectation should be to experience at least a taste of what He went through. But all the while, what He went through was a part of His plan. And it's still His plans that we're here to serve. Not ours. Not our preferences. Not our expectations. Not our hopes of perfection or perfect successes. No, we're here to serve Him by sharing the message He gave to us to appreciate in the only way we can: By giving it now to those who still need to hear it.

Let us do this without fear or hesitation, not even slowing down long enough to try and figure out a way to make it less painless or more profitable. All of that is His job. We're just the messengers carrying a message into a world that doesn't have a history of thinking very highly of the truth this message is built upon.

So don't waste your time building plans that seek perfection along this road. He didn't ask us to do this according to our understanding of perfection or peace. He promised perfect peace if we'll simply follow the path He already paved that will accomplish every plan He's already made.

Let nothing get in the way of our doing what He has us here to do. It's just too important to allow anything to possibly derail our chance to make a difference in a world that needs to see it before they'll ever consider believing it.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold