Challenge Accepted

A character from a television show I watch frequently has a habit. He will come up with outlandish ideas, and ask if anyone will dare or challenge him to do it. They almost never do, but he still responds with “Challenge accepted!” and try to accomplish whatever feat it is that day.  Now, hold on to that thought and go with me back to a morning in early September when I opened my daily devotional email.

            “<Jesus> never hurried. He never panicked. He was never driven by the tyranny of the urgent. If I were in his sandals, I probably would have been wringing my hands with all I had to accomplish in three and a half years. I can hear myself now: “I’ve got three and a half years to make a difference. How can I cram all the miracles and teaching into this short amount of time?”

Three and a half years translates into 1,278 days. If you go back and count the days recorded in the four gospels, you’d come up considerably short. So what was Jesus doing on the days that were not mentioned by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? He lived His life. He worked. He ate. He washed. He partied. He prayed. He studied. He meditated. He listened. The Sacred lived in the midst of the secular.

          Paul wrote: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,” (1 Corinthians 10:31 NASB). Whatever you do…’ ” (Sharon Jaynes)

 
          The point of the devotional was that we can live in and for God no matter what we are doing. We can do laundry for the glory of God, grocery shop for the glory of God, etc. Even now as I am writing this, the Newsboys are singing “It’s my joy to honor you. In all I do, to honor you” on my Pandora. Not a coincidence.  God wants me to do everything in my busy life with the purpose of bringing honor and glory to Him. 
 

But there was one part of the devotional that especially got me to thinking: I can hear myself now: “I’ve got three and a half years to make a difference. How can I cram all the miracles and teaching into this short amount of time?” And it occurred to me: (It is generally accepted that) Jesus began his ministry at 30. He did all that between the ages of 30 and 33 ½. Wow! 30 always seemed so old when thinking of Jesus and his ministry, but it really isn’t old at all. I will be 30 in just a few months (as my father, sister, and a family friend are happy to remind me regularly). What if, instead of constantly lamenting that I am almost 30 and very single (the one thing I never wanted), I focused on making a difference and living as Jesus did? So, for three and a half years, beginning on my 30^th birthday in February, I am going to do whatever God tells me to, go where He sends me, strive to constantly grow closer to Him, and tell everyone I can how awesome He is. I am certain it will not be the easiest mission I’ve ever taken on. And I very well may fail. But, nonetheless: Challenge accepted.