Go Anyway

“Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭16‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I've always been a dreamer. God has gifted me with unusual optimism and faith that aid in my ability to steward the visions He places in me. I've seen God do some phenomenal things. I can tell you stories for days about the ways God has caught me after leaps of faith, and many of you are the same way. There are things God has placed on your mind that you can't seem to shake. There are desires God has placed in your heart that are prominent, no matter what common expectation says. People don't understand, but you like Gideon, still feel called to fight when the numbers don't line up. You may not even fully understand, but like Abraham, you feel like you have no choice but to confidently walk to the places God will show you. Like Joseph, even though you're hated for it, you can't seem to shake it. Maybe even like with Jesus, your church and family don't even understand that what God has given you is meant to liberate them. You’re misunderstood, but you will carry out your mission regardless.

There are some things from this passage that encouraged me, and I want to share them with you so that you can boldly walk out the vision God has given you. 

These women feel called to do something for the kingdom, and it's a lonely road. The rest of the disciples have either denied and betrayed Jesus or scattered and hidden by now. But these women feel this calling so strongly that they don't care who sees them on this mission to serve Jesus. They feel called to serve their Lord and Savior, but they know that their own strength and ability won't be enough to accomplish their goal. They need someone else to roll the stone away for them. You can probably relate. You feel called to specific lanes of service and ministry, but have no idea how it's possible on your own. You don’t have the power or position. You don't know where the funds, time, personnel, or energy will come from, but you know you're called. You don't know how what you feel led to do is feasible. You don't know how it will work out, but you can't help but move forward. 

These women understand that, so even though they don’t understand how it will work out, they go anyway. They move forward in faith even though they don’t have it all figured out. Can I pause parenthetically to share something else I love about this text? This story also reminds us that God is a God of community. While all the other disciples didn’t understand their call and journey, they had each other to walk with. While you may feel alone on this journey, there are always a few others who feel just as you do. God will assemble just the right team for you. Elijah thought he was the only prophet left, but God reminded him that he wasn't alone. These visionaries separate from the pack of doubting disciples to form their own community of the called. And I'm a witness that God seems to always bring others to walk this out with you. 

These ladies embark on their mission of ministry, but still have no idea how they will be able to accomplish this goal with a stone in the way. They have no idea if what they feel led to do is even feasible, but there are three things that I want you to emulate from this passage as you walk out your call. 

Be Committed

The first thing we notice is that they are bought in and committed. This is probably one of the hardest parts of living out our God-given callings. God wants to use you more than you want to be used. God wants to do more through you than you can imagine, but if you want God to do something through you that you’ve never seen before, you have to open yourself up in ways you’ve never allowed before. There has to be intentionality. The Bible says that as soon as the sun came up, they were on their way. They got on it early so that they’d be ready to dedicate their entire day to this mission if needed. That’s the type of buy-in we need. But it wasn't just about time, it was about treasure too.  

These ladies, who probably didn't have jobs themselves, paid money for the burial spices they wanted to use on Jesus before they were sure they’d even be able to. We know from the story of Mary Magdalene anointing Jesus’ feet that some of these oils and spices could be worth a year's wages. They’re investing major money into a vision they could easily not be sure about. They put their money where their mouth was. They weren’t just talking about it, they were being about it. Maybe the reason God hasn’t done what you need is because you don’t believe Him enough to invest your own money and time into it. Maybe you need to be the first to donate? Maybe you need to invest more of your time and effort into what God has called you to. Maybe you also need to speak up and ask for help. 

There's a story in the Bible where a widow is in debt and her sons are on the verge of being called into slavery. She calls the prophet Elisha, and he tells her to call her friends and get all the jars she can. She is instructed to pour the oil she has into those jars. She may not think that the little she has is much of anything, but all she has is all she needs.  She does this, and as she pours, the oil never runs out, and she is able to sell all the jars of oil to pay her debt and live on the rest. 

Let’s think about this. She did well. She asked for help and did her job. I imagine it was a lot of work to collect all those jars. There's an effort to call your friends and ask them to borrow stuff when they don’t understand. It is an effort to boldly stand on an instruction that may not make sense to others. It takes effort and work to drag all these jars home and to pour into them for hours. It's an effort to then take those jars and sell them. But say this situation happened again and she knew that her level of blessing was tied to her level of commitment, do you think she'd get the same amount of jars as last time? No, she would pour even more of herself into this operation.  She would go to more doors and ask more friends. If she knew that God would honor her investment, would she be stingy about how much of herself she poured into this? 

This is the tension in the text. If you really believe that God will come through, why aren't you investing? A lot of people come to me to tell me about their ministry ideas and visions for service, and while they may be God-ordained, I can often tell pretty quickly that they won't go that far. Why? Because they aren't pouring themselves into it. They aren't investing. They aren’t willing to sacrifice. They aren't putting their all into it like they actually believe, and that points to a lack of true faith. If you actually believe that God called you to it and His Word cannot fail, act like it. 

I've had individuals, churches, institutions and conferences ask how they can put something together like this devotional ministry, but not many of them have the same dedication it took for a jobless college students to put in the time of writing devotionals on top of school work while paying out of pocket for a website, editor, and text software. College students have asked to take over the ministries and organizations I was blessed to be a part of in college, like Closer, Without Walls, and Redemption, or to get involved with ROAR, and I'd love for them to go on. But they aren't down with pouring themselves into the vision like Nathan, Gine, Summer, and Erin. They aren't spending their summer holding meetings and building a team for the vision like Dori did. They aren't saying no to every speaking engagement for a year while working nights as a security guard, on top of school, like Que did, so that he could see his visions come to pass. They aren't pouring thousands of their own dollars into something bigger than them or passing on paid gigs like Salima, Zora, Derrick, Bryce, Ohimai, and the worship, prayer, hospitality, media, creative, and PR teams, and so many others did with ROAR. If you wanna see a big dividend, you have to make a big investment. You have to give of yourself. 

I want to make myself clear, though. While you are called to give your all, don't act like the blessing is dependent on you and not God. You are called to be faithful and faith-filled as you pour yourself into the mission God has given you. You may water the plant, but it’s God who ultimately brings the harvest. This is important because while these ladies were intentional and committed, they still weren’t strong enough to move the stone on their own. They still were dependent on the move of God. They could not accomplish what they were called to do on their own. This takes faith and that is why the first sentence in our passage is so important. 

Be Dependent

These women didn’t just put their all into this; they placed their faith in God, knowing that He really would be the ultimate decision maker. Their faith led them to give their all while placing their complete dependence in Jesus as the only answer. Some of us are good at working, like it depends on us, but we aren’t good at resting, like it depends on God. We are good at giving our all, but run into issues when we forget that no matter how gifted we are and how many sacrifices we make, God is really the final decision maker, and it’s only by His grace that the call on your life can come to fruition. The women in this story acknowledge the fact that while they should give their all, the final outcome was in God's hands. How do we see this? The Bible says, “Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended,” they began their journey. Now, I don't know how you grew up, but many view the sabbath as a legalistic, boring, and taxing religious mandate instead of a refueling reminder. I don't believe the women waited to work until after the sabbath in order to earn some extra credit with God. Jesus Himself said it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Jesus was commonly found healing, preaching, teaching, serving, and doing ministry on the Sabbath. There's nothing wrong with serving on the Sabbath. 

But I believe these women waited as a symbol of their belief in the fact that this was God’s problem and not theirs. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder of your dependence. It reminds you that God is God and you aren't. Your sustainability isn't dependent on your work; it's dependent on His. The first Sabbath was like God telling Adam, I gave you everything you need, now rest with me. God did all the work and invited Adam to rest with Him. Sabbath is a reminder that our provision, problems, and peace are fruit from Jesus’ work and not our own. The women knew it was God's problem at the end of the day. There's a pastor who was in the hospital with cancer and kidney issues, and his son told the story of him looking up to the sky, throwing his hands up, and saying, “Well, God, it seems like you have a big problem on your hands.” Sabbath is a reminder that God is the worker in this family. He is the provider. He is the doer. Not you. If you are going to see the desire God placed on your heart come to pass, you need a sabbath mentality. Sabbath is the antithesis of a works-based theology. Sabbath is me saying that I can rest because my success isn't dependent on me at the end of the day. The Sabbath is a declaration of dependence. 

We need a theological balance. Some of us are workaholics, thinking that if we just go harder, things will work out. While work is mandated, there are some stones you just can’t roll by yourself. You need to slow down and abide with Jesus in order to bear fruit. Others of us are spiritually lazy. Yes, it's God doing the heavy lifting, but if you don't do the work of walking out your faith and bringing Him the jars of water, He will have nothing to turn into wine. The giant isn’t going to just randomly fall on its own. You have to do the work of being where you're supposed to be, getting stones, doing research, talking to the king, and then ultimately walking into battle and fighting. 

So these women have this balance. They commit, they pour, and they submit to God’s process. They get up early with a mission in mind, and as they walk in faith and approach the tomb, they recognize that God has already handled what was too heavy for them (that's where you should shout). But here’s the even better news. 

Their prayer was answered with an even greater testimony. The stone wasn't just rolled away; Jesus had defeated the grave. Because of their intention and faith, these women were the first to witness the resurrection. They were the first evangelists. And this will be true with you, too, if you walk in faith. God wants to do things that have never been done before, and you can have a front-row seat to history if you commit and submit. Give your all, and while knowing it’s in God's hands. 

You may not know who will pay for it, who will show up, or who will be impacted. You may not know who will roll the stone away. But that's not your job to know. God wants to do exceedingly and abundantly above what you can even imagine. Do you want a front-row seat? Go anyway. Commit to the call and submit to the God who called you to it. 

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