From government to McDonald’s
Peter, born-again Christian and minister with the government is called by God
God: Peter, I want you to quit your job at the ministry and look for a job with McDonald’s. Of course your salary will only be a quarter of what you earn at the moment, but if you move to a smaller house you can make ends meet.
Peter: Lord, what are you saying? What about my education, I will be bored out of my mind.
God: Well, Pete, I know you are overqualified, but I will make sure they hire you and you will be the best burgerflipper in the whole company. But what I really want you to do is to be My witness, because there are absolutely no Christians in this company.
Peter: Lord, that sounds great. I may not be earning that much, but I can be Your witness and a lot of people will turn to You. Now I get it!
God: Actually… you will be My witness, but no-one will listen to you and not one person will turn to Me. Maybe you will get fired sometime, but I will make sure you can get a job in another branch.

Does this sound improbable?
God would never do that, right? He wouldn’t ask that from us, right? God would want us to lead a good life, right?

Those were my thoughts, until we started reading about the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Jeremiah was taught to be a priest and would be practicing one of the most well-respected ‘jobs’ in Jerusalem, but he was called by God to be prophet and preach His word to kings and kingdoms.
In his calling the Lord warns Jeremiah that he will have to bear much adversity, but He also says that He will be with him to save him again and again (Jer 1:10,19). Subsequently, Jeremiah serves the Lord for 50 years in which his family renounces him, God won’t let him marry, the king locks him in prison and has him tortured. Humiliation upon humiliation, torture upon torture, Jeremiah perseveres and keeps serving God, which makes him ‘very successful’ in God’s eyes, but there is NOT ONE person in all of those 50 years who listens to Jeremiah and turns to God.

Then you have Ezekiel, another priest called to be a prophet. God says no-one will listen to him, but he is to obey anyway (Ez. 3:7). He has to lie on the street on his one side for a year and a month, then he has lie another 40 days on his other side. People think he is pretty crazy, buy Ezekiel perseveres. He doesn’t understand why he must do what God asks of him, but he is completely obedient. Even as he doesn’t see any change. God is very pleased with him.

‘To be successful’ in the eyes of God is different from being rich and famous (worldview of success) or having brought people to the Lord (faith-view of success) or to lead an easy life.
I’ve learned from these prophets that they were successful through being obedient to God.
Even if we don’t understand why God asks us something, even if we don’t see the point, even if it doesn’t seem to yield results, we have to be obedient. That can be painful, hard and maybe we will lose things like money, security and status, but look at how peaceful these prophets were in their relationship with God. They lived for Him and kept their eyes on Him. They could endure brutal situations, because God gave them the strength. He kept His word at all times and did not abandon them.
I was challenged by this to ask myself: How obedient am I? and To what extent do I want to be obedient? Naturally, not everyone has a life like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, but God asks us to be obedient in small things as well as big things. If our hearts are focused on Him, if we long to follow Him, we should act like it. For example: If I want to lead someone to the Lord, I will have to explain the gospel and that means addressing someone and putting away my shame (what if he doesn’t want to listen?)

Jackson said the following: I’ve learned that it’s about the simple, small steps of daily obedience to God and my willingness to lay down my life for His glory, even if I don’t feel like it. These steps will lead to His will, the purpose of my life and this generation. I believe that this summarises the Christian life. That we are willing to say YES to God.

Aks yourself:

– Did God give me a certain path for my life? What was my reaction to that?
– Do I cling to stuff (personality, security, money) so that I don’t want to know if I am obedient (in large and small things)?
– Do I have a dream for this generation and am I prepared to lay down my life for it?

To be obedient, to follow Him in small and large things whatever they are, how strange it may seem, by doing those things, we are the Kingdom of God on earth and by doing those things we show people who Jesus is. That is really successful, don’t you think?

God bless you,

Jackson & Anneke Ndecheck