It is 12,000 feet in the sky, surrounded by Andean peaks.
It's a city of 400,000 people, but as quiet as country.
It's a city of 400,000 people, but as quiet as country.
The month is July, but it's cold like winter.
The sky is light, but the sun is still hidden by mountains.
This is Cusco, Peru: the city that conquistadores spent months and sweat blood to conquer, the city that I visited with ten doctors and seventeen medical students from Auburn VCOM in July of 2019. It's comprised by a mass of humanity, both Hispanic and Quechua, from all classes, including the poorest of the poor. We held five clinics on five days to address their physical needs and share the Gospel.
This is Cusco, Peru: the city that conquistadores spent months and sweat blood to conquer, the city that I visited with ten doctors and seventeen medical students from Auburn VCOM in July of 2019. It's comprised by a mass of humanity, both Hispanic and Quechua, from all classes, including the poorest of the poor. We held five clinics on five days to address their physical needs and share the Gospel.
I sat on the cold stone of the hotel balcony, leaning against the wall with my Bible pages fluttering in the wind and coffee steaming. I heard roosters, a few shouts in Castillano, and the distant rumbling of a motor car. I had prayed for this moment and I was breathing it in. I had wanted to go back to South America and ask God how to prepare for a life there (or elsewhere if He called). Waking up early to circle the compound in the dark, praying on the balcony and watching the sunrise was a part of that process. But, I was quickly overwhelmed - by Christ and His goodness the Gospel, by the vastness of need in the world, but even more by the details of a new schedule, cross-cultural work and translation. I was trying to fit into that role, for just a few days. Already I felt so ill-prepared and small. I believe this is where my purpose on the trip got eclipsed by God's for me:
Trust Me.
Rely on Me.
Depend on Me.
This is all about Me.
P.S. Are you relying on Me at home?
P.P.S. Who do you say that I am?
These thoughts about the all-sufficient power of Christ intensified as I poured over the Great Commission, God's call to the prophets of the Old Testament, His explanation of history in the book of Hebrews and His words through the Apostles. In no place was man's desire, performance or feelings the driving force of obedience and service. The character of God was always central. Knowing Him inspired men to boldness. In Him, weakness was made strong. Assurance of the promise empowered them to "conquer kingdoms, enforce justice...stop the mouths of lions...put foreign armies to flight [see Heb. 11:32-38]". Faith ("the receiving gift" of God [Murray]) left them banking their lives on God's passion for His own glory, His compassion for the world and His commands. Personal feelings and abilities literally had nothing to do with God's call.
For example, Moses was a man who stuttered and God asked, "Who has made man's mouth [Exodus 4:11]?" When the people had failed, and Moses was ready to give up, his last cry for God's favor was based on God's promise and glory: "Is it not in Your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and Your people, from every other people on the face of the earth [Exodus 33:16]?"
Further, when the prophet Jeremiah responded to God's call by saying, "I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth [Jer. 1:6]", he was infused with backbone by this promise: "I am with you to deliver you [vs. 8]."
Think of David. He slung rocks at the Philistine "so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel [1 Sam. 17:46]." The shepherd boy didn't stop there. He preached about who God is: "The Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lords, and He will give you into our hand [vs. 47]." We know how the story ended, and we get a glimpse on why David entered it. He truly believed there was a God in Israel who did not tolerate blasphemy.
In John 11:25, Jesus Christ said to my namesake, Martha: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believe in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" Martha answers, "Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." Then, just before a dead man comes walking out of a tomb at the word of Christ, he turns to Martha and says, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God [vs. 40]?"
Christ is calling Martha - calling me and calling you - to believe in Who He is. This is the only way we can get on board with what He does. This is how He is glorified by Gospel advance in the world. It begins with Him, it is reflected by our belief and dependence, and dry bones come alive because of His prerogative [Ezekiel 17] - not ours.
Even the parable of the Good Samaritan - a fine example of Christian service - collides with the fact that those forgiven much, love much [Luke 7:47]. Our service says nothing about ourselves; it is a reflection of God's grace.
The rubber really hits the road in Matthew 28. We often approach this passage thinking about ourselves and what we're supposed to do. But the passage itself begins with disciples who "worshiped Him, but some doubted [vs. 17]". And the Great Commission itself is sandwiched by two declarations of who God is: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me...Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." This is the rock-solid context of God's command to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."
When the sun came over the mountains, it was time to head out for clinic. And eventually, home. I don't forget faces and moments down there. But I gleaned a greater vision of God, His grace and His purpose in the world. What I learned doesn't just apply in Peru. It means something for right here.
Who do you say that I am?
Will you see My glory?
Do you know my purpose?
What will you do about it?
And if in the future, all "goes south", where did you cast your anchor?
Friends: find out who Jesus is, believe in Him, search the Scripture to know His desires, ask that yours be conformed to His, and cast your anchor now in Jesus Christ.
Trust Me.
Rely on Me.
Depend on Me.
This is all about Me.
P.S. Are you relying on Me at home?
P.P.S. Who do you say that I am?
These thoughts about the all-sufficient power of Christ intensified as I poured over the Great Commission, God's call to the prophets of the Old Testament, His explanation of history in the book of Hebrews and His words through the Apostles. In no place was man's desire, performance or feelings the driving force of obedience and service. The character of God was always central. Knowing Him inspired men to boldness. In Him, weakness was made strong. Assurance of the promise empowered them to "conquer kingdoms, enforce justice...stop the mouths of lions...put foreign armies to flight [see Heb. 11:32-38]". Faith ("the receiving gift" of God [Murray]) left them banking their lives on God's passion for His own glory, His compassion for the world and His commands. Personal feelings and abilities literally had nothing to do with God's call.
For example, Moses was a man who stuttered and God asked, "Who has made man's mouth [Exodus 4:11]?" When the people had failed, and Moses was ready to give up, his last cry for God's favor was based on God's promise and glory: "Is it not in Your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and Your people, from every other people on the face of the earth [Exodus 33:16]?"
Further, when the prophet Jeremiah responded to God's call by saying, "I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth [Jer. 1:6]", he was infused with backbone by this promise: "I am with you to deliver you [vs. 8]."
Think of David. He slung rocks at the Philistine "so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel [1 Sam. 17:46]." The shepherd boy didn't stop there. He preached about who God is: "The Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lords, and He will give you into our hand [vs. 47]." We know how the story ended, and we get a glimpse on why David entered it. He truly believed there was a God in Israel who did not tolerate blasphemy.
In John 11:25, Jesus Christ said to my namesake, Martha: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believe in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" Martha answers, "Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." Then, just before a dead man comes walking out of a tomb at the word of Christ, he turns to Martha and says, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God [vs. 40]?"
Christ is calling Martha - calling me and calling you - to believe in Who He is. This is the only way we can get on board with what He does. This is how He is glorified by Gospel advance in the world. It begins with Him, it is reflected by our belief and dependence, and dry bones come alive because of His prerogative [Ezekiel 17] - not ours.
Even the parable of the Good Samaritan - a fine example of Christian service - collides with the fact that those forgiven much, love much [Luke 7:47]. Our service says nothing about ourselves; it is a reflection of God's grace.
The rubber really hits the road in Matthew 28. We often approach this passage thinking about ourselves and what we're supposed to do. But the passage itself begins with disciples who "worshiped Him, but some doubted [vs. 17]". And the Great Commission itself is sandwiched by two declarations of who God is: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me...Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." This is the rock-solid context of God's command to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."
When the sun came over the mountains, it was time to head out for clinic. And eventually, home. I don't forget faces and moments down there. But I gleaned a greater vision of God, His grace and His purpose in the world. What I learned doesn't just apply in Peru. It means something for right here.
Who do you say that I am?
Will you see My glory?
Do you know my purpose?
What will you do about it?
And if in the future, all "goes south", where did you cast your anchor?
Friends: find out who Jesus is, believe in Him, search the Scripture to know His desires, ask that yours be conformed to His, and cast your anchor now in Jesus Christ.
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