There is a \u201cbigger is better\u201d complex created within the church where we believe obedience to the calling we deem larger is to be celebrated with greater fanfare than the smaller obedience of our lives. We begin to classify these levels of obedience as examples of oceans being crossed or life risks being taken. Yet, throughout Scripture we witness God\u2019s call upon people\u2019s lives to be obedient to His call and not our comparison of what is bigger or better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Acts 8, we witness the transformational ministry of Philip in Samaria. He, along with other believers were scattered during a great wave of persecution after Stephen was stoned to death. Philip\u2019s proclamation in Samaria brought about transformed lives including Simon the Sorcerer. During this great time of transformation and new life, an angel of the Lord came to Philip and called him to \u201cGo south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza\u201d (8:26). The Greek word translated \u201cgo south\u201d can also be understood as \u201cat noon.\u201d The Lord called Philip to leave Samaria where ministry was going well to travel to a desert road at noon\u2014the hottest part of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philip could easily have put up an argument with God about the rationality of going to the desert road where few, if any, people would be traveling. Philip did not challenge the Lord\u2019s calling and he went. When he arrived, he saw an Ethiopian Eunuch in a chariot. The Spirit once again called Philip to obedience when He said, \u201cGo over and walk along beside the carriage\u201d (8:29). When Philip got near the chariot, he heard Isaiah 53 being read and Philip asked, \u201cDo you understand what you are reading?\u201d (8:30). It is with this question and the conversation that occurred that the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. It is believed the eunuch returned to the \u201cends of the earth\u201d in Ethiopia as a great evangelist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though it might seem as though Philip\u2019s gift and time were being wasted with his going to where few people would be, the Holy Spirit used the calling to transform the Ethiopian\u2019s life in a way that carried the Gospel to new people. Philip\u2019s obedience was not limited to his convenience, but his obedience was open to wherever the Spirit would lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are we available to go where we are called to go and to speak to whom God places in front of us? Do we fall into the habit of seeking the larger obedience or waiting for God to call us to something bigger, when God may be inviting us to speak life into someone who can then take the Gospel to people we may never be able to reach? Philip\u2019s life is a witness to us of obedience without hesitation.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prayer: Lord, you call us to obedience to a variety of opportunities in our adventure of following Jesus. Forgive us when we compare our calling with someone else or when we doubt whether our gifts or time could be better used somewhere else. We trust you to call us where you will use us to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. In Jesus\u2019 name we pray. Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is a \u201cbigger is better\u201d complex created within the church where we believe obedience to the calling we deem larger is to be celebrated with greater fanfare than the smaller obedience of our lives. We begin to classify these<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/livingtheadventure.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Blank1-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C4&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}