Standing In The Gap…

“I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one”, the bible records in Ezekiel 22:30. Norm, culture and generation have been used as excuses to fit in. Conformity has surpassed cowardice as the greatest drawback of men and women in fulfilling God’s purpose in their lives. “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Someone wondered. Now God expects each and every one of us to be a mirror and reflection of his desires. We are all assumed to be living our lives for Christ. Nevertheless, this has not been. The world around us has been elevated above the Christ within us.
For one I believe that Christ never called us to be homogenous in our service to him. God tailored us and put us in the different capacities we hold so that we can use them to glorify Him. What God expects of us in this is to shine in everything, everywhere. This done, while not letting the world corrupt us, builds a story of success in the journey towards God’s kingdom. We Christians today are guilty in sitting in our comfort zones. We have become selfish in our salvation. Before He ascended, he sent all of us to go and preach his word to nations. What he didn’t say is us sticking together and celebrating our deliverance without extending the favor and word to others.
Each one of us has fallen short of the glory but by the grace of God He bridged the gap through the cross, stained with Jesus’ blood. He took away all the shame and broke all the chains! We no longer remain captives of sin. In addition God gave each one us a gift and a talent. He expects us to minister through this talents. It has been said that, ‘A good Christian cobbler does not show his/her Christianity by drawing little crosses on the shoes but by making good shoes.” This has been a blessing to me. There has been a false sense of security in the name of Jesus. Mediocrity has been far associated with His name. Brethren perform dismally in areas of life, be it education or work place and blame it or tie it to ‘ministry’. God uses us to shine his light on the world. In a stale world, he uses us as salt to give the world it much needed taste.

Caleb, unlike the other spies sent to Canaan, affirmed that with God’s help they are well and able to conquer the Promised Land. If Nehemiah had no trusted in God and reached out to King Artaxerxes of Persia, Jerusalem would have remained in ruins and the Jews in exile. John the Baptist called people to repentance at the expense of Imprisonment. How many of us Christians are willing to take such risks? When Persia, driven by power, pleasure and possessions, condemned nine million Jews to death, Esther, who was a Jew herself, reached out to King Xerxes who eventually changed his mind. How about Barnabas who believed in Paul’s conversion and look beyond Paul’s persecution of Christians in his early life? Where are the Calebs and Esthers of this time?

In this race marked out for us, we need to empty ourselves and as cleansed vessels, we be used to carry and deliver God’s words. We should pray that He may give us the heart of children. The heart of innocence, that of hunger, one that yearns for transformation and victory. We should make our hearts blank and let God write on us. We can’t shine and be salt of the world if we are not connected with God. Our spirit should be tuned with God so that our souls could decode that which is within the spirit. Eventually our bodies should translate this spirit, after all He had bought us at a price. And as John Piper would say, “Our deeds are not the basis of our salvation, there are the evidence of our salvation. They are not foundation, they are demonstrations.”