Manic Drive- Obvious

I thought this song was really interesting as I was playing one of my (several) Pandora stations today. Mainly because I feel that it's how a lot of people are today. Big, bold talk with no actions to back it up when it comes down to doing what you said you would do. As the cliche goes, it's not enough to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk as well. Put your money where your mouth is on this one, or don't speak up in the first place.

One of my classes here at Cedarville, Contemporary World Missions, has been particularly challenging for me in this way. How many missions conferences have you gone to where they put on a happy outlook on the missions field, make it seem exciting and look like an adventure? Sure, living a missionary's life can be an adventure, but not in the way that we might always think. Back between fifty to a hundred years ago, four out of of every five missionaries that went out to places like Africa and Asia were killed in service. What would you do if they told you that in a missions conference rather than the sugar-coated version of what it's like? Would you still be excited or interested in that lifestyle? This is where the rubber meets the road.

Rather than shy away in fear at the reality of this life, the church's response should be that for every one that is killed for His name, one will step up to take his or her place. This is the kind of reaction that attracts people in this self-centered world. One that puts the Kingdom of God ahead of our own plans. Even if we're not called to be missionaries, we can still find the same sorts of challenges in everyday life. So when you find these challenges, will you live your life in faith as God calls you? Or is it just another game?