Tuesday, August 16, 2011

{ call out }

Hello! This past week me and my cousins, Megan and Maddi (who, if you cannot tell already, are extremely close) went to this thing called 'Shake the Lake'. Its pretty much just another summer festival which i had fairly low expectations for - but i knew i would have fun because i was with meg and maddi :). After driving around for almost an hour trying to find a parking spot, we finally got to Shake the Lake. The first thing that drew me in was the live music which i heard from down the street. As we approached the stage, I noticed a very cute guy preforming on stage. Me and Megan both shared a liking for his music and his boyishly good looks haha. His voice just gave me a happy feeling in my heart. "..and if its really true, that your the one that makes all things new" is a line that stood out to me. i realized he was defs a Christian. Unfortunately, we only got to hear one song of his, but, drawn by his cuteness, we visited his booth that was set up. After two trips to his booth i learned he was from Edmonton :), his name was Joshua Kellert and me & meg both bought his CD. On the way home we listened to it, and i love the 'unplugged' sound of his album. But,tack number 10 rattled me to the core and possibly changed my life forever. Now, its not really a song, just him speaking whats on his mind. It's a 'call out'. Me and Megan sat in silence in the car; listening intently to every word he spoke. I was defiantly on the verge of tears, shaken by the simple truth that i needed to hear. This is what he said...

"This has been heavy on my heart for a long time...when are we going to realize the cost of following God. Everybody's a 'Christian' now a days. Everybody has on their FaceBook status in religion, something under there. Everybody says they are a 'God-follower', but how many people are genuinely, legitimately following God. Now I've got news for you, God is NOT your hobby. God is not your household pet that you spend time with when you find time in your schedule. God has to be your life. We've made an absolute mockery of what it is to follow God. A mockery of the cost of walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. What is the cost? Where can you find what the cost is? Where's the price tag on that? Look in Matthew 19, where Jesus clearly explains to a rich young man the costs of following Him and getting into heaven. The cost is EVERYTHING you have. And we don't see that. Or we see it, but we ignore it. But there's a disconnect somewhere. There's a disconnect from what we want in this world and what God has for us in eternity...and we are not seeing it. I don't care who you are. I don't care what you do. But if you truly believe that God gave His son to die on the cross for you.. if you truly believe the words that are written in the Bible..I'm telling you now, they would become more than just words to your heart. There are children dying all over the world because they are hungry. We have raped teenage girls putting themselves on the corner to help support the kid that they didn't ask for. And we're sitting here in North America complaining because we don't have the newest car...because our car can't park itself...because we can't go on enough vacations. Tell me thats ok. tell me thats the heart of God for our lives. Tell me that you, yourselves, are doing enough. Tell me when it stops. If you haven't realized by now, this is a call out. This is a call out because enough is enough. And doing your 9 to 5 Christianity DOESN'T cut it. It never has, it never will. And its time for you to step up and realize that God DESIRES more, God WANTS more out of the investment He made in your life...because he is not getting enough in return. God as called us to not a higher standard, but the highest standard - which means any compromise is irrelevant to what He has for us. We are called to live a life of ZERO compromise. We are called to live a Christ-like life and you will not find compromise in any of the gospels. I don't care where you are...you are called to further the kingdom of God. Some of us will plant seeds and some of us will harvest. But ALL f us are called to further the kingdom. Don't get offended. This message is not to offend you, but to spur you on- to wake up your spirit. We need to wake up. Where ever we are, we need to wake up!"

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