The Call Worth Following… Worthy Alone

The song by Bachman Turner Overdrive, Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet (1974), is synonymous for how I feel it means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ; in bringing us to radical abundance, and a life filled with the Holy Spirit… as he calls us to a life where we might, through our actions, say ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet,’ to the glory of God.

I sometimes wonder what brand of Jesus we’re peddling to the world. ‘What brand of Jesus?’ you might say, bemused… ‘Isn’t there only one brand?’ might be the prevailing thought. Technically, yes, but practically Jesus is relevant to all of us, but in world of different ways.

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Jesus doesn’t change and isn’t different, per se, but we need it differently, and just as we ourselves are radically different from even our own brothers, mum’s and sons, he creates a unique perspective for each of us. And this uniqueness means we’re piqued to his call differently.

But, there’s some commonality in our evangelistic approach. Things like love, peace, joy, faith, hope, trust, respect (read ‘tolerance’), and wisdom never change, and neither should our approach with these.

I find personally, the called person is separated by the driven person in a welling up of the soul where God’s love overflows from within us in (hopefully) controlled, guarded, prudent action. I get some days when my imagination and creativity burst out from deep inside of me onto my unsuspecting mind and heart and I can barely take captive these thoughts--writing them down. Yet that is what God requires of me: to listen, and write, and hence learn, and then preach. And I thrive on the work.

I feel so charged and impelled forward during these days that I wonder how it will end, and whether the end (to my physical state) will be good (or otherwise) for me, personally. I am so drawn in by God that I feel beyond personal control as I faithfully surrender and follow him, capturing ideas as they flow into my head, then onto paper with the furious movement of my pen. And when I’m not capturing these thoughts i.e. when they dry up for several days, he impels me to develop further those older ideas, and to edit and do further ‘transactional’ work, for him.

Other Christian servants act practically in both similar and other ways, with people face to face, or in the world--in a myriad of ways. They’re called to follow someone who’s entirely worth following. He beckons them to take his lead, and though it’s far from the most comfortable thing to do, they cannot help but follow fervently, urgently and provide servant leadership to the glory of God.

The Call is a life of absolute surrender to the One who calls; and it isn’t a choice, it’s a pulsatingly, irresistible mandate from the Most High, and he alone is the great Persuader. It is a gently jolting journey toward extending territories and our very personal impact in and on the world in the name of God, the only worthy One.[1]

Copyright © 2009, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

[1] Many people have followed so-called ‘gurus’ and masters of spirituality. The persuasive component of their follow-ship is probably no different to that of following the Lord Jesus Christ; but it’s a philosophical and theological fact that Jesus is the only way (John 14:6).