So, our commitments mark us as a disciple . . . or not. And the core of those commitments is the type of unconditional submission that Jesus demanded in Luke 10:57-62.
But Jesus isn’t here today, walking the earth, compelling us to literally drop everything to join Him as He treks around Israel. So, what might this kind of commitment look like in our lives?
Honestly, although we may not recognize it, we regularly encounter situations that test our commitment to Jesus’ agenda over our own.
Consider the experience of Tim, a good friend of mine. He is a Lieutenant who leads the Tactical and Gang Units in the Houston Police Department’s West Side Station. The Tactical Unit devotes most of its attention to tackling crime hot-spots on Houston’s West Side.
Earlier this summer, Tim and his team were doing surveillance on a drug case, when they noticed some individuals, totally unrelated to the case, handling a gun in the trunk of a car parked nearby. Soon, these guys were joined by others, and all of them got in the car and left. Sensing something wasn’t right, Tim and his team followed. Before they could get their vehicles into position to box-in and stop the suspicious vehicle the suspects spotted them and took off. The chase looked like something out of a TV Crime Drama, with the bad guys driving into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of divided streets, forcing drivers to swerve to avoid a collision.
The car chase ended when the suspects crashed into a police car and then fled on foot. One of them tried to get lost in a neighborhood. A resident pointed Tim in the direction he had gone, allowing Tim to circle around and head him off as he came over a fence.
Turns out, the suspects had shot and killed a an individual on the north side of Houston the night before and were on their way to kill again. Four guns were found in their possession. They were subsequently charged with murder.
While this type of incident doesn’t happen every day, there is enough action to keep Tim’s job interesting and exciting. Consider the accomplishments of the Tactical Unit for 2010:
- 487 suspects jailed, 405 on felony charges
- 439 suspects jailed on misdemeanors
- 39 weapons seized
- $83,245 in money seized
- 5 vehicles seized
- $390,142 in property recovered
- 33.33 pounds of marijuana seized
- 16 pounds of cocaine seized
- 13 pounds of other drugs seized
- 99 significant arrests, including four murder suspects, 49 for robbery, 38 for burglary and eight for burglaries of motor vehicles.
More than once, I have heard Tim say that he can’t believe he gets paid for doing this job, he loves it so much.
Which made a decision he faced recently particularly difficult.
Tim is part of a group I meet with every week. A couple of months ago, just before we gathered for lunch, he got a call from the Internal Affairs Division. He was to be at a certain Internal Affairs Captain’s office in one hour. Fortunately, he was not under investigation, but it was something almost worse – he was being drafted for a 2 year assignment in Internal Affairs. Of all the roles in the police department, including jailer and dispatch, this was the most miserable job he could imagine. It would involve day after day of reading and summarizing reports. A far cry from the excitement and sense of impact he experienced in his current position.
He faced a decision. He could:
- Fight the re-assignment, arguing that he would have a much greater impact over the Tactical and Gang Units.
- Engage in behind the scene political maneuvering to thwart the re-assignment.
- Retire and leave the police force all together.
- Accept the re-assignment, believing God was directing his life, and trusting that His decision was best, even when Tim didn’t understand it.
We need to pause here to acknowledge a temptation to assign an absolute right or wrong to a decision like this. A strong biblical case can be made for submitting to every decision of our bosses. We can appeal to Ephesians 6:5-8, which tells slaves, a first century category of employee, to be subject to their masters, serving them as if they were serving Christ, “doing the will of God from the heart.” 1 Peter 2:18-20 exhorts household servants to submit even to the unreasonable demands of their masters. Our patient endurance in these situations finds favor with God.
Indeed, these passages do teach principles that are relevant. Yet, an employee today is not exactly equivalent to the slave addressed in Ephesians, or the household servant of 1 Peter whose master had complete authority and control over him. An employee enjoys an option that the first-century slave or household servant did not – he can quit. Biblical principles require that, as long as he is an employee, he submit, even to the unreasonable demands of his boss. But quitting is an option. In this respect, the hired laborer (Matthew 20:1-11) who was free to negotiate the terms of their service, is a better biblical model for the modern day employee.
So, do you quit, or do you submit? The answer is not always cut-and-dried. In situations like this, the key is a clear sense of His leading. Not a clear sense of what we can rationalize, but a clear sense of what God wants us to do in this specific situation. Knowledge of biblical truth is critical. Input from believers who know you well enough to speak into your situation can be very important. Prayer is essential.
Now, let’s return to Tim’s decision. The four of us spent the next 20-30 minutes discussing his options, and how God might be leading Him.
Was this God’s way of showing him it was time to leave the police department?
Or, perhaps, in the position with Internal Affairs, Tim would have the opportunity to be a significant impact in someone’s life.
Or, maybe God was protecting him from some unknown threat that lay ahead in his current position.
Or, it could be that this was all about the decision and his willingness to trust God. Would he accept this most undesirable assignment or take matters into his own hands?
When it was time to head downtown, Tim asked us to be praying that he would glorify God in his response.
The Captain was very straightforward. He knew Tim did not want the position. But Tim would have to choose how he was going to respond. He could fight it, he could accept it, or he could resign, but if he stayed with the department, this was a done deal. The Captain had already gotten all the necessary approvals. This was going to happen.
In the course of the conversation, the Captain said some things to make Tim believe he might be a Christian, so Tim replied, “Captain, if you have prayed about this, and you believe God wants me in this position, then, I’m your man, and I will do you a good job.”
“Then, sign your transfer papers.”
With the signing of those papers, the deal was sealed. Tim had passed the point of no return. He longer led the Tactical and Gang Units. He was now a Lieutenant with Internal Affairs. As much as he hated the thought of all this, he was at peace. He had chosen to pursue God’s agenda over his own and was willing to wait and see what God had in store for him.
Each of us face decisions like this regularly. They may not always seem so obvious. They may show up in an employment issue, or a business deal; a disagreement with our spouse, or a crisis centered around our kids at school; in ongoing tension with our neighbors, or in connection with our church. The right answer may be to relent, or it may be to stand firm. But it will always flow out of a heart oriented toward God, sensitive to His leading. And it will require us to renounce certain false assumptions about what will bring us life; that we let go of striving and rest completely in Him.
There is a part of me that doesn’t want to tell you about the post-script to this story, because God does not always provide a happy ending so quickly. But, alas, I must let go of my agenda, and trust that God will use this in your life for His purpose.
When Tim finished his meeting with the Captain, Mike and I were still at Starbucks, so Tim rejoined us. He needed the company of a band of brothers to process his sense of loss and disappointment. As we discussed what the future might hold for him, I was reminded of a similar situation in my own life, where God had used an undesirable work situation to bring me to the point where I was willing to submit to him and remain in the situation until He told me to move on. Mike was reminded of that same situation at almost the same time. Just as I started to mention it, Tim’s phone rang. It was the Captain. He simply said, “Your prayers have been answered. You’re not coming to Internal Affairs.” As airtight as things had seemed an hour before, somewhere, one of the powers-that-be had changed their mind.
Tim’s experience brings to mind Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22). As Abraham raised the knife, so Tim signed the transfer papers. Each man proved their willingness to let go of something very dear to them – something that could compete with God for their affection. And in each case, once the man’s commitment to God was validated beyond question, each was allowed to keep the thing so dear to them.
God does not always work this way. The later part of Hebrews 11 records, on the one hand, women who received their dead back by resurrection, and on the other, men who were tortured and killed for their faith. But the point is always the same – the proving of our faith (1 Peter 1:3-8). Will we sacrifice those things most dear to us in order to pursue life according to God’s agenda, or will we chose these other things over God?
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:6–10 NAS95)
Where do you find yourself feeling like you need to take matters into your own hands to make sure they turn out “right”?
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