For most of us in the church, there once was a time when we were madly in love with God. It might have been a long time ago. It might have been yesterday. It might be now. It might be tomorrow. It might be any combination of these times.
Think of what that time was like or is like. What was happening in the world around you? What were you doing? What were others doing? What did you perceive that God was doing?
If you are not feeling that passionate love for God now, what has changed? What are you doing differently? What are others doing or not doing? What do you perceive that God is or isn't doing?
When you are at a place where you don't feel that passion, you are also at a place where that "absence" is visible to other people. One way we describe that passion is "the power of resurrection." Without that power, we have nothing; no personal energy, no corporate energy, no congregational energy, no missional energy.
If we desire others to join us on this journey, we will have to recapture that power; not a disingenuous power, or a facsimile, or a power driven by emotion or intellect or anything else that we possess. I am talking about the kind of resurrection power that emanates from a life that is wholly surrendered to God, a life that is guided by the Holy Spirit. We have to move beyond examining what is different, to asking what ELSE needs to be different.
Stop asking what’s popular, what we’ve always done, what will make the most people happy, or the important people happy, and start asking what will please God. Stop asking what we need to do to maintain the status quo, and start asking what new things toward which God is calling us. Put God in charge of where we go, what we do, when we do it, and for how long we do it (individually, in our families and in our congregation), and we will find ourselves overflowing with resurrection power and transfigured by God’s grace. Then we will find that we don't have to beg or cajole others to join us. They will be beating the door down to get on that train.
Are you ready to depart from the station?
Think of what that time was like or is like. What was happening in the world around you? What were you doing? What were others doing? What did you perceive that God was doing?
If you are not feeling that passionate love for God now, what has changed? What are you doing differently? What are others doing or not doing? What do you perceive that God is or isn't doing?
When you are at a place where you don't feel that passion, you are also at a place where that "absence" is visible to other people. One way we describe that passion is "the power of resurrection." Without that power, we have nothing; no personal energy, no corporate energy, no congregational energy, no missional energy.
If we desire others to join us on this journey, we will have to recapture that power; not a disingenuous power, or a facsimile, or a power driven by emotion or intellect or anything else that we possess. I am talking about the kind of resurrection power that emanates from a life that is wholly surrendered to God, a life that is guided by the Holy Spirit. We have to move beyond examining what is different, to asking what ELSE needs to be different.
Stop asking what’s popular, what we’ve always done, what will make the most people happy, or the important people happy, and start asking what will please God. Stop asking what we need to do to maintain the status quo, and start asking what new things toward which God is calling us. Put God in charge of where we go, what we do, when we do it, and for how long we do it (individually, in our families and in our congregation), and we will find ourselves overflowing with resurrection power and transfigured by God’s grace. Then we will find that we don't have to beg or cajole others to join us. They will be beating the door down to get on that train.
Are you ready to depart from the station?
© 2011 Todd Jenkins
Great stuff...shared it on FB.
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