16. What Will You Do?
chapter sixteen
What Will You Do?
As I travel around North America, speaking in churches and home groups, I have learned that it is valuable to close my message with a time of questions and answers. Not only does my audience have a chance to ask questions or share what is on their hearts, but I am provided with a wealth of information on the state of the Church at large.
On one such occasion in California, a young man stood up to ask a question. He was a university student searching for answers.
“I just finished reading your book The Road to Reality,” he said. “You say some hard things in that book. What I want to know is, how can I live out these principles that you talk about? I find it pretty hard to walk away from the comfortable life I am so accustomed to living. Can you help me?”
As he spoke, I was already praying, Lord, give me some way to answer this young man.
“Your questions tell me something about you,” I told him. “You are troubled. You want desperately to do the right thing. You don’t know what to do with this message or how to apply it. You know Jesus is asking you to sell out for Him, but you’re looking for some emotional confirmation, some happiness to support your thinking. But you aren’t finding any, are you?”
There was absolute silence in the auditorium. I realized this young student was really the spokesperson that day for many others facing the same struggle.
You may be facing this struggle, too. How will you apply the guidelines we have talked about?
Walking Away from the World
The stories of Abraham and Moses offer practical help as we consider paring down our lifestyles.
Longing for a Better Country
I was browsing through a book on ancient culture recently with some fascinating insights into the city where Abraham came from. Sir Leonard Woolley, a British archaeologist, traveled to Mesopotamia in the 1920s and studied the ancient city of Ur. Through many excavations Woolley and his colleagues learned that Ur was a very affluent society, a bustling port city through which many luxury goods traded hands, including precious stones, gold, timber and ivory.
Abram (as his name was then) lived in the midst of this affluence, surrounded by his family and relatives. Ur was his hometown. His life was secure and comfortable. Yet he was different from those around him in one significant way. Everyone else was involved in heathen worship, while Abram had a relationship with the living God.
One day God appeared to him and said, “Abram, I want you to leave your father, mother, brothers, sisters, relatives, land—everything.”
Imagine what it must have been like for Abram to hear that!
“Then what, God? Where do You want me to go?” “I’ll show you.”
Leave everything? Even my parents? Abram’s thoughts whirled in his mind. How can my family even begin to understand something like this? First of all, I worship a God who talks to me. They’ll think my mind is gone. Besides, family ties here are deeply ingrained. They’ll think I have no respect for them.
Abram spent days wrestling with the call of God. What the Almighty had asked him to do was not easy. It went against everything Abram had been taught to value from childhood. It went against the very fiber of the community and culture.
We have the advantage of knowing the rest of the story, of course, while Abram and those around him had no idea what was going to happen. There was no story in Genesis in which to discover the happy ending.
One evening at dinner Abram was unusually subdued. His face, pale and drawn, showed the strains of his inner struggle. It did not go unnoticed.
“What’s wrong, Abe?” asked his father, Terah. “You haven’t been yourself tonight—or lately, for that matter. Something’s on your mind.”
Abram swallowed. His mind was made up. It was time to tell them.
“Father, I’m leaving.”
The words hung in the air and seemed to echo again and again in the heavy silence that followed.
Finally Terah spoke. “You’re—leaving? Where are you going?”
All eyes were on Abram as they waited for his reply.
“I’m sorry, Father—I just can’t tell you. You wouldn’t understand. All I know is that the God I worship has called me to leave everything here and follow Him. Would you please excuse me?”
Abram rose and walked out into the night air, glad for some relief from the intense atmosphere.
His relatives and friends discussed Abram’s announcement late into the night.
“The man has no respect for his parents, I’ll tell you that much!” steamed one.
“Abe is no dummy,” said another. “I think he must’ve found a better place than Ur where he can strike it rich. That’s why he won’t tell us!”
“No, something is troubling him—you can see that plainly,” a third responded. “And he mentioned this God—which one does he mean? And have you heard that this God talks? Abram says so. It makes me wonder if he isn’t plagued with hallucinations.”
“We’ll have more time with him tomorrow,” Terah broke in. “Let’s all get some sleep tonight.”
Obviously to obey the call of God would have serious ramifications.
How could Abram walk away from Ur, from wealth and security and comfort, from his family and friends and home and wealth? For the rest of his life, we are told, he lived in tents in a strange country—a pilgrim on the face of the earth.
We find the answer in Hebrews 11:10: “He was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
A little later in his life, when Abraham parted ways with his nephew, he allowed Lot to choose the most fertile pastureland to settle in. I am sure Lot and his wife danced for joy at the sight of all they now owned. And I wonder what Abraham was thinking as he walked away.
Later the Lord came to him and said, “Abraham, look up into the night sky. Do you see the stars there? I said just one word and they all came into being. So shall your descendants be, Abraham. I am your reward.”
Did Abraham know that Ur, the city of wealth and prosperity that he willingly left behind, would one day crumble into dust and be buried under the shifting desert sands? Did he know that thousands of years later some British archaeologist would bring his shovel and rediscover Ur with all of its gold and silver?
Obviously Abraham knew nothing of what was to come. But he knew one thing: There was a much better place on which he set his sights. He, along with the other men and women of faith,
... were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. ... For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Hebrews 11:16; 13:14
Seeing Him Who Is Invisible
Then there is Moses and the life of luxury he willingly left behind in Egypt. Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s courts as a prince. He had education, influence, power and wealth at his disposal. Yet he chose to walk away from it all.
Moses would have been more justified than the rest of the Hebrews in wanting the good things of Egypt—the tasty food, the comforts and the securities—for he had experienced them all to the fullest. When you think about his decision from a logical frame of reference, it makes no sense. I am sure those around him felt the same way. Perhaps some of the Hebrew slaves said to him, “What are you doing, Moses? Don’t you realize you could be the key to our freedom? Just lie low. Don’t rock the boat. Stay in the palace and someday soon we’ll overthrow all these Egyptians.”
But Moses walked away from the luxury and privileges and chose to become a shepherd.
How could he give up all he had? Again we find the answer in Hebrews: “[Moses] saw him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27).
Years later as Moses led the people of Israel through the desert and endured years of hardship along the journey, what kept him going? He could say, “I have seen Him who is invisible.” He remained faithful, following the cloud by day and the fire by night. He lived a life that looked beyond the pleasures of his day and focused on the eternal I AM.
The reason Abraham and Moses could walk away from this world and all its enticements was that they saw something that others could not. Eternity was stamped upon their eyes.
“You’ve Been a Long Time Coming”
One evening not too long ago, I sat alone in a hotel room. The next day I would be speaking in a missions conference about living with the reality of a lost world. It was late and I was tired. But instead of praying about the next day or going to bed as I should have, I switched on the television. An episode of “Star Trek” was just beginning.
Now, I must explain to you that I have always been fascinated by the futuristic gadgets this show portrays! So I sat back and watched it from beginning to end.
As I turned off the TV, I looked at my watch. It was 11:30 and I was exhausted.
I can’t believe I did that! I said to myself. I have to get up early and speak tomorrow.
I had wasted a precious hour that I should have used either praying or sleeping. Jesus stayed up all night, but He was praying! My body is not made of steel and I wear out if I try to go on just a few hours’ sleep each night. I was disappointed in myself.
Then I realized the devil was using my mistake to waste even more of my time as I sat and wallowed in guilt and frustration.
I knelt quickly beside my bed, buried my head in the pillow and said, “Jesus, I know Your blood is sufficient to forgive me and cleanse me from my wrongdoing. Will You please do it?”
The accusing voice of the enemy whispered into my mind, Are you stupid? How many times have you said that before?
But I knew in my heart I had been forgiven.
“One more time,” I said. “Jesus said He would do it.”
I went to bed with peace of mind and heart. I fell asleep quickly and woke the next morning feeling fresh and grateful for a brand-new day that Jesus and I would go through together.
My dear friend, we must make new decisions every day with the knowledge that this is a new day. We cannot mourn yesterday’s losses or stand on yesterday’s triumphs. Jesus told us that if we want to follow Him, we must take up our cross daily. As we continue to focus on eternity, we must allow ourselves to be crucified every day. As we do, we will see our human nature in its true state and see the need around us.
I heard a story someplace from the pre–Civil War days of the South, when sanitary conditions in certain places were poor. A plague came to one city and brought havoc. The city’s death toll climbed; hardly a home did not have sorrow or a vacant room.
In one poor home, the disease came and did fast work. Each family member was carried out shrouded in a sheet, one after the other, until only the mother and her 5-year-old son remained. He crept up into his mother’s lap, his eyes serious.
“Mother,” he said, “Father is dead. My brothers and sisters are dead. What if you die? What will I do?”
With that little face so close to hers, what could she say? She must be brave. She answered as quietly and calmly as she could, “My boy, if I should die, the Lord Jesus will come and take care of you.”
That was quite satisfactory to him. The boy had been trained from his earliest years to know and love the Savior. He went back to playing on the floor.
It’s all taken care of, he thought. If Mother should die, Jesus will come, and that will be all right.
His question proved prophetic. The disease reached his mother, and soon she was carried away as well. He followed and saw where she was buried, then came back to the house. In the midst of the hustle and bustle he was forgotten, left alone in the humble home.
He tried to sleep that night but could not, so he got up and dressed himself as best he could. He found his way to the cemetery where they had laid his mother. Finding the spot, he threw himself upon the fresh earth. Sleep came quickly.
Early the next morning a Christian gentleman was coming down the road from some errand of mercy that had kept him out all night. As he passed the graveyard he saw the boy, quickly imagining a heartbreaking story.
“My boy,” he called out, “what are you doing here?”
The boy raised himself and rubbed his eyes. “Well, my father is dead. My brothers and sisters are dead. And now my mother is dead. But she said that if she died, Jesus would come for me. And He hasn’t come. I’m tired of waiting.”
The man swallowed hard and then said quickly, as he tried to control his voice, “Well, my boy, I have come for you.”
The boy looked up at the gentleman with wide eyes and said, “You’ve been a long time coming.”
As I write these words, there comes before my eyes a vision. This vision is with me day and night. It never goes away, and I do not want it to. The vision is of a great sea of faces from Africa, Turkey, Iran, the Middle East, Bhutan, Myanmar, Japan, China, India. In this great cloud of faces, eyes are searching and sad and cry out, “You’ve been a long time coming.”
The fulfillment of this vision through world evangelization cannot be done by illusion or manipulating others to perform spiritual-looking tricks. World evangelization can be accomplished only by those who have abandoned their lives, obeying what Jesus said: “Forsake all and follow Me.” It begins with an attitude of the heart.
Life is short. There is no sense investing our time, energy and finances in things that will soon burn up and be gone. Each morning as we awake, let’s take a hard look at our lives in the light of eternity. We must ask ourselves, What are the essentials that I can live with?
Time is running out. Hell is real. Heaven is real. Soon it will be too late; we must reach our generation with the Gospel of Christ. World evangelism will be carried out by rational, sober-minded, immovable soldiers of the cross. We are called to follow the example of Jesus, who fixed His eyes on the cross that was before Him and never turned to the right or to the left. Jesus’ reason for living was reaping the harvest of souls.
The decision to live with the cross on a daily basis is a choice you must make. We read our newspapers, listen to the radio, watch TV and see every day before our eyes the poor, the unknown, the unheard millions who are dying. We respond in one of two ways. Either we choose to ignore what we see and know, or we take up our cross and follow Jesus.
My question to you is, How will you respond? It is your decision; no one can make it for you.
What Will You Do?
I heard Billy Graham say once that the hardest thing for a person to do is to give away his money. When I first heard that, I thought, That statement makes no sense. How can that be? But he went on to say that a person’s money represents his ambitions, dreams, toil, priorities, time, activities, motives—everything. And it is hard for someone to give away his money without expecting a return here and now.
It is easy to justify our own needs and comforts. For that we seldom seek the counsel of the Lord. But when it comes to sacrificing and giving to extend God’s kingdom, we have to pray about it. What a contrast with the apostle Paul! When he gave his life to the Lord, one of the first questions out of his mouth was, “What shall I do, Lord?” (See Acts 9:6 KJV). This is the question we, too, must ask.
What went through your mind when you read Gisela’s story back in chapter 4—the 14-year-old renouncing a comfortable life for the kingdom? Perhaps it sounded extreme to you. Perhaps you had a hard time relating to her situation.
But giving your life to the Lord is a daily choice, a daily taking up of the cross. Every day we must say to Jesus, “Lord, today I am Yours. Body, soul, spirit, wealth, children, spouse—all that I have, all that I am, is Yours. What do You want me to do today? How do You want me to live?” Allow the Holy Spirit to take the Word of God and weave it into the very fiber of your being. Allow Him to guide you as you step out.
Perhaps you have had your eye on a new pair of shoes or a suit or maybe a new recliner for the living room. Can you say, “Lord, this money is Yours and my time is Yours. What do You want me to do?”
Then be still. Let the Lord speak to you.
Many years ago I went to a barber who cut my hair for $12, including the tip. That was a good sum of money at the time to spend on a haircut, but he always did a nice job. I knew of another place that did it for $3, but I always had the feeling they would butcher my hair.
At that time the Lord was teaching me this principle: If one hair on your head that falls off is so important to Me, you should know that I am concerned about everything in your life. Is it too much for you to ask Me what you should do with even one dollar or one hour?
I began to understand that bringing my life before the Lord was not an unbearable burden but a privilege. So I took some time and prayed to the Lord about my haircut.
“Lord,” I prayed, “I have always made this decision with my rational mind. What do You want me to do?”
I considered my options; basically they boiled down to $12 or $3. God was giving me a choice to make in the light of eternity.
I decided to go to the butcher. (He was not, as it turned out, a butcher at all!)
It was simpler than I expected. God did not holler in my ear, “Go to this one!” But I did not have to hear an audible voice. Through the Holy Spirit, God speaks to us as clearly as He did in the days of the New Testament— not through beating us on the head but through giving us a choice. All we have to do is ask Him daily, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”
The Practical Application
Sometimes sincere people go forward in meetings, repent of their sins and surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. But when they walk away, nothing changes. Why not? There is no practical application.
I am asking that we begin to think in these terms: “My life, and all that I am, belongs to You, Lord.” We need to take what we know is true and apply it to every area of our lives. The Lord is concerned about every decision we make.
It is my sincere prayer that as you come away from reading this book, the devil will not take these thoughts and “immunize” you so that your heart is hardened to change. Everything I write will mean nothing after you close this book unless you do something practical about it. The choices and decisions you make will affect the course of your life forever.
Some of you will sell your large house in order to purchase a smaller one and begin to live more simply. Some of you will sell your diamond rings and jewelry and give that money for missions.
Some of you will take the money you are saving for the future and say, “I will live by faith. There is nothing worse than death, and my life is not mine anyway—it’s His.”
Some of you will look at your job in a new light. It will no longer be the most important thing in your life but a means to help you do what you can, as you walk through this life, to extend God’s kingdom. One doctor tells me often, “The reason I’m a surgeon is simply that I know I can help support missionaries who are winning thousands to Jesus.” A carpenter tells me, “The only reason I work so hard at my job is so I can support the work of the Lord.”
Some of you will go to the mission field yourselves in obedience to the call of the Lord. You will choose to give up the comforts and conveniences that others enjoy, choosing to live in another culture so that others can hear the Gospel.
Perhaps God has spoken to your heart to begin to support one of these needy brothers or sisters. Or perhaps He is asking you to give up your job, your dream of a comfortable lifestyle, that girlfriend or boyfriend, and go to the mission field yourself, investing a significant portion of your life for those who have never heard the Gospel.
Send a trained missionary to share the love of Christ in Asia.
Learn more at www.gfa.org/sponsor
The opportunities to bring in the harvest are plenty. Right now millions in unreached lands are waiting to hear the Gospel, and thousands of missionaries are willing and ready to go. I do not know which decisions you will make. There are many to be made. You must begin where you are with your eyes on Jesus. Sit back and consider what you have read. Take time to be quiet before the Lord and listen to His voice. The decisions you make must be rational and soberminded.
Then begin to implement God’s call on your life now. Cut back on those unnecessary things in your life—the gum, the extra ice cream, the plans for buying another car. No, it does not feel good, but you are beginning to pick up the cross. You are answering the call of eternity. And the consequences of a decision like this will last forever.
You will not regret it, I guarantee you.
I cannot challenge you to do anything I have not done myself. When I began to make choices to live in the light of eternity, the Lord came to me with a sharp knife and said, “Son, here’s the knife. You have to do the surgery on yourself. I can’t do it for you.”
You will struggle with uncertainty, self-pity and sorrow. You will face criticism and misunderstanding from others. We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, just as Abraham and Moses were. But I know one thing: My eyes are fixed on eternity and the thousands of souls I want to bring with me. I do not compare my life with someone else’s. I compare my life with Jesus’ command: “Forsake all and follow Me.” Jesus has never asked me to do something that He did not do. I will follow Him.
May the Holy Spirit give you the ability to see the vision of the faces of people crying out for life. May He give you His burden for souls who are perishing. Only He can tell you what you must do with your life, your time and your resources. All I can give you are examples and illustrations.
I pray that each day you will make time to get to know Him better and share His heart.
Recently I received two special letters from John and Sara.
“My mom and dad support some missionaries, so my sister and I decided to support a missionary,” wrote John.
Sara added, “I am glad you have started this work. Please send us a missionary to pray for and support.”
It blessed me to read their letters and know that these children are already beginning to invest their lives in eternity.
In my mind’s eye, I look forward to that day when we will all see Jesus face to face. As believers from all times and places are united before His throne, we will offer Him the praise He is worthy to receive. John and Sara will be there. So will their mom and dad, and multitudes of others who laid down their lives for the sake of the kingdom, whether by praying and sending others or by going themselves.
As we worship our Lord, others will join us, too—men and women from every tongue and tribe and nation, those for whom others prayed and gave and lived and even died. As we gather around God’s throne, we will know beyond any doubt that no price was too high to pay to serve Jesus. It was worth it all.
In this final hour let us choose the cross and not turn back.
My Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You that in Your grace and mercy You forgive and cleanse us, that You pick us up and motivate us to continue on our journey with You.
Lord, we realize that we are not living in a neutral zone. We are living in the enemy’s territory. The Bible tells us that the whole world lies in the lap of the wicked one. We are so aware, O Lord, that the god of this world is our enemy. We know that the more we seek to please You, the more we seek to do Your will, the more we pray, the more we reach out to the lost world, the more we accept the cross, the more we will be faced with the fiery darts of the evil one.
And Lord, it seems so often that the battleground is in our minds. How often—even daily—we face discouragement, questions, doubts, concerns, agonies, misunderstandings, self-pity. How often we find ourselves wanting to get out of the battle, to run off and hide somewhere! How often we find our hearts getting cold. We know it is part of the struggle we’re in. We are soldiers who sometimes get wounded and hurt and have to lie low when the bullets come straight toward us.
Yet Lord, we know that whether we stand or fall, we are still in Your hands. Today we surrender our lives to You completely once again. We ask You to take absolute control of our hearts.
Thank You, Lord, for encouraging and motivating us. Thank You for Your love that fills our hearts. Thank You for giving us every weapon we need to continue in this warfare. Thank You for encouraging us and giving us peace. Thank You for filling our hearts with joy and giving us strength. Thank You for Your great salvation.
In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
If this booklet has been a blessing to you, I would really like to hear from you. You may write to
Gospel for Asia
1116 St. Thomas Way
Wills Point, TX 75169
Or send an email to [email protected].