Crash the Future

God’s been smackin’ me around recently about the state of affairs in the world around us right now and my role in that. In particular He’s been reminding me, through a variety of avenues, that this world is not my home. If I’m comfortable, there’s something wrong. And I need to be about the business of bringing others to freedom in Christ. Part of how God has been reminding me of this is through reading. (He’s also been doing it through some circumstances, events, and conversations.) Anyway, I thought I’d share a couple of the quotes that have grabbed my attention yet again as I’ve re-read them here recently. They capture the heart of what I am praying will be my continual outlook on life.

“Invisible kingdoms are at war for the hearts and lives of every human being who walks on the face of this earth. And times of war require barbarians who are willing to risk life itself for the freedom of others.” –Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way

“No reserves. No retreats. No regrets.” –William Borden – By the way, if you’re wondering who this is… He was the multi-million dollar heir of the Borden family (the ones who owned Borden Dairy back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s). He was a Yale and Princeton graduate, multi-millionaire… and he walked away from it all to pursue sharing Christ with a dying world. During college, when he decided to become a missionary, one of his close friends pointed out that it was crazy to walk away from millions of dollars to live the poor life of a missionary. In response Borden wrote, “No reserves,” in the back of his Bible. When he graduated from Yale and Princeton he was offered several premier positions in the corporate world if he would simply not go overseas. In response he wrote in his Bible, “No retreats.” When he died as a missionary in Egypt at the age of 25, the third line “No regrets,” was found written in the back of his Bible. May that be a simple six word summary of my life when all is said and done… that I came sliding into home with no reserves, no retreats, and no regrets. (The headlines announcing Borden's unusual decision and a portrait of him in college are shown below.)












I actually have gone ahead and printed out these two quotes from McManus and Borden, and placed them on the wall in front of my desk at work. That way I’m regularly reminded of this truth with which God is challenging me. Additionally I went ahead and put up the following passages,

“For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. Rather, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. …For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.” (2Cor. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:12)

I am praying that I never forget this world is not my home. Followers of Christ are aliens in a foreign land. God desires for us to be heavenly paratroopers whom He’s dropped behind enemy lines to carry out His rescue mission. (After all, Christians aren’t just “born again,” we’re “born from above”… but that’s another blog... ooh… maybe that will be my next one.) May we not forget this and become too attached to this world and the temporary pleasures it has to offer.