Here is one of the great benefits of no longer actively working and essentially working for yourself. You see, a true believer understands they do not ever retire as God created us for meaningful enterprise. Please remember “work” is not a consequence of the Fall. God always intended for man, the pinnacle of His creation, to pursue industrious activities.
I had full intention of blogging today about Christian Race Theory (CRT), but I awoke from my Sunday afternoon Church nap and promptly decided I wanted to change the subject to share my thoughts about this new chapter of my life. Although what I do does not technically have an official moniker, I prefer the term “social influencer.”
In the same way, I attempt to influence people by writing this blog to advance the name of Jesus Christ. I now produce YouTube Videos with the same goal as my chief pursuit. It is both ironic and providential, our Church just voted to call a new Senior Adult Pastor today, and as he spoke, he reminded the Church and me that believers are always on Mission as a Christian.
I am now fifty-seven, and males have a life expectancy of about seventy-seven. That gives me about twenty years of ground to plow, so I want to use this time continuing to make much of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Of course, I am speaking about statistical lifespan, and I could very well keel over tomorrow, so I am fully aware God is not guaranteeing anything to any of us.
Still, humans, especially Evangelicals, are to make plans for the future. Even though life is extremely fragile, God still expects His creations to be good stewards of time. In fact, there is a Biblical passage that admonishes Evangelicals when the Apostle Paul writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Redeeming the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16).
So, I will pursue fidelity with this passage by continuing to blog and producing YouTube Videos. The name of my channel is Thinking Critically from an Evangelical Worldview. I purposely chose this name because it is readily apparent many in the professing Evangelical community are not displaying Critical Thinking regarding many of the issues that arise in our increasingly secular culture.
I have no idea how successful my endeavor will be in human terms, but I cannot and will not allow the output to have any real bearing on my input. I know we use many Christian expressions, but I truly live and serve for an Audience of One. Although I am writing for the benefit of my fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I will always write to use my gifts and talents to advance the name and majesty of Jesus Christ.
So whether my remaining days are twenty years, twenty days, or twenty hours my pursuit will never change. I want to use my seminary training; I want to use my accumulation of experience to do the very thing God commands His follower to do when Paul writes again in 2 Corinthians 10:5
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ
I began my new vocation in earnest in early June, and as expected, my maiden voyage was sketchy at best. I was so disappointed with the first video I have since deleted. I quickly understood I needed to invest in the proper equipment. A challenge all the more daunting since I am no longer drawing a salary, but I realized it was going to be a matter of “Was I going to bet on me or not?”
Anyone who knows me understands the answer to that question would be a resounding YES. There is no guarantee my determination will translate into commercial success, but I am going to do the same thing my father demanded of me and I demanded of my children (I use the term demand in the most relaxed manner possible).
Evangelicals are accountable for their labor. Sometimes, that labor will result in a great bounty. Sometimes, that labor will result in an average bounty, and sometimes that labor will result in a minuscule bounty. I submit all three honors God, so whatever bounty transpires, I will give my best efforts.
I will produce my YouTube Videos very much like I write blogs. I will take contemporary issues and attempt to filter them through an unapologetic Judeo-Christian Evangelical worldview. As an African American, doing so will put me at odds with the vast majority of African Americans. One should not be especially alarmed at such a reality. One should be extremely bothered when the animus extends to Evangelicals who are African Americans.
We read the same Bible, yet we come to polar opposites on so many pressing issues.
· The Bible is explicitly clear about life and the sacredness of life from conception to natural death.
· The Bible is explicitly clear about the institution of marriage. Marriage is not a social construct that humans have the freedom to modify or alter
· The Bible is explicitly clear about the binary nature of gender. God confided gender to males and females, period, full-stop, end of story.
I am bewildered how so many African American Evangelicals display a wanton disregard for the things of God. There is no way it is Biblically permissible for Evangelicals to align themselves with the ideology found in CRT or BLM. Yet, most African American Evangelicals enthusiastically support these rank pagan organizations.
I do not believe these matters are of the sort which is Biblically permissible to “agree to disagree.” These are first-order issues I submit that collectively reveal whether one is saved or not saved. I do not find a path to salvation for people who supports the slaughter of life in the womb, who supports the deconstruction of Biblical marriage, who supports the rejection of God’s creative freedom to create them Male and Female as He sovereignly sees fit.
One thing I will never do is take positions based on what will make me palatable or popular. If it means I lose influence and status, then I will lose influence and status. If it means my own people will ridicule and scorn me, then they have underestimated my resolve and commitment to my faith.
I am not looking for a fight, but I will never run from one as well. I am looking to finish my fourth quarter bringing glory to the name of Jesus Christ by using my meager gifts and talents. I will do so with the hopes I will reach many, some coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Others, coming to grow in grace and still others, bringing judgment because they will either refuse to hear or arrogantly reject what they do hear.
To the degree that happens, I will leave to God, but you best believe I am going to work as hard as I know-how. I ask you, the reader, to pray for me. I ask you, the reader, to subscribe to my channel and then tell your friends about me. If you believe my blogs have value and bring majesty to Jesus Christ, I seek to do the same thing with my YouTube Videos.
I am attaching the link to my latest video for your review. I exhort you, young or old or somewhere in between, to endeavor to accomplish the same task. I implore you to use your gifts and talents to advance the name of Jesus Christ. I encourage you never to retire.
You may stop punching a nine-to-five, but God expects Evangelicals to bring honor and glory to Him until we take our last breath. By God’s Grace, if we accomplish this noble task, we can have confidence Jesus Christ will greet us with “Well Done.”
I will spend my remaining days working diligently to hear Jesus Christ say, “Well done, Ricky, Well Done! As always, until then, keep your hands to the plow and seek to serve for an Audience of One.