Called.

Mediocre: of moderate or low quality, value, ability, performance; ordinary, so-so

I heard it [mediocrity] once described as this:

"Mediocrity says relax, hang out, enjoy yourself while you're young and do something meaningful later in life. It cautions all that will listen-not to go too far, not to jump in too fast, not to climb too high, or not to risk too much. It wants you to stay and settle."

Why do people insist on being mediocre when we are called to be great? 

We are:

A chosen generation

A royal priesthood 

An holy nation

A peculiar people

We've been "called out of darkness into his marvelous light." Imagine being called to nothing-to do nothing and to be nothing. What a meaningless life! But God willingly has called you and me to do amazing things for Him.

With God's calling comes God's enabling. He may call us to something we are completely incapable of. Although we may be incapable, God is more than capable. He is our strength and our shield, a very present help.

We haven't been called to mediocrity. We haven't been called to nothing. We've been called to be soldiers in His army! 

Impossible to me is Possible with God

When Jesus asks what we want Him to do for us about an incredible problem that confronts us, remember that He doesn’t work in commonsense ways, but only in supernatural ways. If God worked in ways that we clearly understood, He wouldn't be GOD. 

But the most impossible thing for you is to be so closely identified with the Lord that there is literally nothing of your old life remaining. God will do it if you will ask Him. We have to come to the point of believing Him to be almighty. We find faith by not only believing what Jesus says, but, even more, by trusting Jesus Himself. If we only look at what He says, we will never believe.

 

Once we see Jesus, the impossible things He does in our lives become as natural as breathing. The agony we suffer is only the result of the deliberate shallowness of our own heart. We won’t believe; we won’t let go by severing the line that secures the boat to the shore—we prefer to worry.

Standing in the Gap

Been reading in my devotions in Ezekiel. What Ezekiel did or what I think that he tried to do in the Bible was to keep sin as little as possible and to help build up the faith of his beloved people. 

This week I read from Ezekiel 13:5 which says “Ye have not gone up into the gaps neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of Lord” 

That's kind of a sad statement. Ezekiel is saying:

You haven’t made a wall. You haven’t built a boundary or a line, a wall of some sort in order to keep sin out and keep God’s laws in the heart of His people. 

He’s telling the people that they haven’t done everything they could in order to keep sin out of their lives and then truly live for Him.

And then I decided to look up the word “gap” just because i was curious. I knew there was one other place where the Bible said this word "gap". I came to Ezekiel 22:30 which says “And i sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but i found none."

It sounds a lot like the first verse! You haven’t gone into the gaps; you haven’t made up the hedge. Ezekiel is saying: Hey! You haven’t done everything in your power; you haven’t done everything you could do to build a wall. You haven’t built a "gap" to separate yourself from sin!

He sought earnestly and diligently for someone to stop this sin problem and turn to God. The verse ends with four more words. Four sad words. Four discouraging and disappointing words.

 “But i found none”

He didn’t find anyone willing to separate from sin! 

There's three things I recognize from these verses.

1. God doesn’t need me. He doesn’t need me as a Christian to make the world a better place. He doesn’t need me in order to make good things happen. He doesn’t need me at all. Yet....
2. He wants me. He desires me because He loves me. There are many things in life that we don't need but we want. No God doesn’t need me….but He wants me.
3. He created the gap. Yes i said it! God created this gap that so many Christians don’t want to fill or fix. He created this gap to see who loves Him and desires Him more than anything this world has to offer! 

If God can’t count on Christians to stand in the gap, then who can He count on?