Meet with Me- Paul Baloche
Glory to God- Steve Fee
Hallelujah What A Savior
You Are Able- Christy Nockels
Came to my Rescue- Hillsong United
I recently read through the book of Jonah in the Bible, and I came across several interesting things. Here is the first one:
7 Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. 8 “Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?” 9 Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”
Jonah 1:7-9
This is a scene that is going on before Jonah famously gets swallowed up by a giant fish. You know, no big deal.
I love the question the sailors ask, which is one that still gets asked today when we first meet someone: “What do you do?,” or as the Scripture above says “Who are you? What is your line of work?” In our culture, what we do defines who we are. We make assessments and judgements about someone based on their line of work.
This question is always a little tricky for those in ministry. I don’t want people to discount who I am because I’m in the ministry, but I also don’t want to be ashamed of it and feel I have to dance around their question. I heard one pastor describe his profession as “a motivational speaker who holds weekend seminars”.
But Jonah responds, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven…” Jonah didn’t rattle off a profession, a trade, or even lie to continue his attempt to run from God. This must have been an extremely scary and defining moment for Jonah. The chase was over. His bluff had been called. When the moment of truth arrived, he confessed here is where I’m from and this is what my life is all about. Then, Jonah’s life gets crazy from there.
This few verses in the first chapter of Jonah is a snapshot of a bigger, crazy story. But, these 3 verses really struck a chord with me because I don’t want to be just identified as a career or line of work. I want to be identified with something bigger. Even in the midst of turmoil and storms. I want my life to make a difference. I want my life to be all about “worshiping the Lord, God of heaven…”
If that’s true, the followup question is, “Am I willing to accept and surrender to what that truly means?” Jonah’s story gives us clarity to that question.
Carlos Whittaker is the director of Service Programming at Buckhead Church which is one of the three North Point Community Church campuses. He recently released an EP that has a song called, “We Will Worship You”. As Carlos (loswhit) was filming a video for the song, he was encountered by Danny, a homeless man in Atlanta. Here is what happened:
Loswhit writes this on his blog:
If you listen carefully at the end you hear me saying this to Danny.
“Keep trying to make it man.”
He looked me square in the eye…cocked his head sideways with a confused look on his face…and said,
“Trying to make it? No man. I ain’t trying to make it…I’m making it. Jah puts His soldiers everywhere. Jah says, Yea though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death… So He places some of us, in that valley.”
I’ve had Erwin McManus’ “The Barbarian Way” on my shelf forever, but I’m just getting around to reading it. Here is a quote from the book that defines the Barbarian way:
You cannot meet the Creator of the universe and remain the same. If the God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present comes to dwell within your soul, you would expect at least some minor disruption. I think there’s a problem when people talk about meeting God or knowing God and yet remain unchanged by God. When the Creator chooses to dwell within His creation, there is transformation. If Jesus has come to dwell within you, you are no longer suited for a normal life.
Somewhere along the way, our faith and devotion to Christ is determined by the things we don’t do instead of our relationship with the Creator of the universe. To this, McManus writes:
The entire focus of our faith has been the elimination of sin, which is important but inadequate, rather than the unleashing of a unique, original, extraordinary, wonderfully untamed faith.
Do you feel like your relationship with Christ is characterized by what you don’t or shouldn’t do? Or, are you living the barbarian way?
Glory to God Forever- Steve Fee
Hosanna- Paul Baloche
From the Inside Out- Hillsong United
Mighty to Save- Hillsong United
