The greatest tragedy of life is not that it ends. The greater tragedy is a life which fails to live up to its God-given gifts, talents, call, and purpose. Life is a one-way street. Once we pass certain points, we cannot return. The question becomes what have we done with the life and opportunities the Lord has provided? Jesus warned us about this very issue in the parable of the talents. We are called to “do business” with the resources God provides until He returns.

C.S. Lewis reminds us: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” By nature, most of us waste our lives. It is only when we are shaken and troubled that we take the time to reevaluate. There is nothing like cold hospital sheets, the smell of alcohol, and a bad report to wake you up! It is better to be awakened with God’s megaphone than forfeit the reason God placed you here.

 
Knowing all this… When God creates a prophet, leader, man or woman of destiny, He shakes things up in their life before they are born so that they know their purpose, even at birth. In the previous blogs (How to Receive an Answer from God), we saw how the Lord took numerous steps to ready John the Baptist’s home so he would be nurtured properly and know his calling and purpose.

 
In order for the Lord to change/capture a new generation, He has to get His hands on someone before they are touched, influenced, and corrupted by the filth of their own generation. We are corrupted automatically unless we purposefully choose differently. God knows our tendencies and how easily our hearts and minds become secularized. The Bible calls it eating from the “tree of knowledge of good and evil.” There are a lot of things the Lord doesn’t want us to involve ourselves in or even know. Unless we purposely choose to eat of the “tree of life”, we will automatically eat from the “tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Some were called by God before birth like Samson, Samuel, David, John the Baptist, and of course Jesus. Now the Lord doesn’t always call His servants before birth. Most of the time the call to serve comes later in life. When this happens, the Lord has to spend some time “uncorking” us from our generation and the effects of “tree of knowledge of good and evil” upon our life. We all should be uncorked from the world as Romans 12:1-2 suggests. But, when God calls out a man or woman… this uncorking MUST happen.

Whether you feel a strong call from the Lord or simply want to be the best child of God you can be … the road we all should travel is toward the tree of life and away from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

 
Blessings,

 
Pastor