by Donte Lazarus
Over the span of my walk with God I’ve noticed an interesting contrast between the prophets of the bible and the “prophets” of today: Where the bible prophets often warned of difficult days ahead and challenged their listeners to do better; today’s prophets constantly declare great things in store for any and all who are present. Every year seems to be a season of breakthrough…a season of overflow…a season of abundance. But when the ecclesiastical writer reflected he cautioned us to be acutely aware that while there is in fact a time to laugh, there is also a time to cry.
To that end I was considering the familiar passage of scripture, where Joshua admonishes the people of Israel to “choose this day” who they will serve. He then declares that he and his household will serve the Lord. There’s a portion of the feminist movement that would take issue with Joshua speaking for himself AND his wife and children, as though she has no voice or choice in the matter, but I’ll set that argument aside for another day. What interested me this time considering this text were the two words “this day”.
Every time I’d read this passage before my focus was on the fact that Joshua set before the people two choices. But the urgency of the matter never stood out to me as much as it now does. He didn’t say pray about it for a while and take time for careful deliberations. Instead, Joshua said in essence that It’s decision making time. There may be other times and seasons in life that you can simply FLOW (follow the leading of the wind as I’ve heard it described). But there are times when lines must be drawn in the sand, and you have to make a choice about which side of that line you’re standing on.
You’d be hard pressed to look at our society today and not believe this is such a time. Each day lines are drawn more and more clearly. And each day sides are chosen with greater disdain for those on the other side. The disheartening thing is that in all of this the church remains eerily silent, or loudly declaring it is another season altogether. While we are busy amusing ourselves with Christian clichés and encouraging one another in carnality, the world is crumbling around us. The barbarians are at the gate as we eat, drink and make all manner of merriment.
There was a season in my life that running away from what God has called me to do was….well…never okay, but less problematic than it has now become. And as the run slowed to a walk, then a mere standstill, time marched on and seasons continued to change. But I now am, and believe many now are, entering a season where deliberate action to proclaim and practice the truth of the kingdom is upon us, lest we lose a generation that was not only winnable but in many cases searching for that very truth. I’ve never been one to deny people the right to curse the darkness. But in this season, I will be lighting a match and inviting you to come add your light to mine. Our encouragement is to know from John’s gospel that the darkness could not ultimately overcome the light.
Stay tuned for more information on how we can come together to have our lights shine more brightly.