Ever heard of one of those? Or perhaps – “All hands on deck” – meaning “this message is to everyone”. We filter messages out so fast in our modern world and who can blame us? We get thousands a day (literally thousands). Verbal, non verbal, facial expressions, texts, memes, emails, social media, marketing, “news”, TV.
Studies show average screen time per day is 5-6 hours and before you think too highly of yourself, no that isn’t teenagers – THAT’S ADULTS! (Teenagers are 7-9 hours a day. You are welcome for your daily dose of humility!) So many messages you filter and forget and overlook and process and believe and not believe and respond to and agree with and disagree with and and and… it becomes natural to miss some, ignore others, assume you understood and overlook.
When’s the last time you had an “all call”? The last time someone said, “HEY EVERYBODY! We need ALL of you here for this!” Guessing the first thing you thought was, “Do they really?” followed with, “Let me check my schedule (sure hope I’m busy so I can say no)” and perhaps finally “This better be good, these things are always lame”. I get it – I just came from a company meeting that honestly I do not need to go to but it’s an “All Call”. It’s an “All hands on deck”
Sadly this attitude we have has the potential to filter down through to everything. What’s that saying, “How you do A thing is how you do EVERYthing” and I truly believe that is one of the largest challenges when it comes to grasping the story of Jesus. Many of us have “already heard it” and so our minds tend to nod off or write off. They filter out the “WIIFM” (What’s In It For Me” content and “swipe” us right to the next bit of data we find useful or good or desirable (aka lust). Instead of desiring Truth we desire OUR truth, instead of being after God’s heart we’re after our own, instead of a healthy fear and reverence for God that calls us to listen to every word He says with anticipation, we move on…
We are called to so much more. For centuries there’s been an ALL CALL that has gone out to anyone who would hear inviting us into the adventure of becoming our best, most authentic self through the freedom found in salvation through Jesus Christ so that we could “be His witnesses”. We see Paul in Acts go on missionary journey after missionary journey telling of this ALL CALL and some would believe, others would not. Some would join in the mission and some would not. I bet some would believe but they would not follow. Perhaps they missed the memo – they missed the ALL CALL.
Where are you on this ALL CALL? Deciding to believe in Jesus is merely the first step that puts you into relationship. After that is a lifetime of followship – getting to know Him, becoming more like Him and doing the things He did.
It’s an ALL CALL for life, to live a life with Jesus – not just a call to meet Him. He has crafted you into an original, one off version with gifts specifically for the mission at hand of letting others know about this way of life and (hear me) if you are merely sitting and listening – oh man, there is so much more to this adventure!
Consider yourself called. Part of moving this story forward, not just listening to it over and over again.
Jared