A Personal Challenge

I've been wanting to post about some things that have been on my mind lately in regards to religion.  Our church is in the middle of a new series called "Making room for Life."  You can check out our church's website at www.vpm.org.  They do have sermon mp3's online if you want to listen.  Kennedy used to have her picture in the slideshow on the mainpage, but I didn't see it there today.  It was quite possibly the cutest pic on the website.  Not that I have any biases towards her or anything.  {wink*wink}
 

Not too long ago our leadership team spent lots of time in study and prayer in order to re-define what we believe God's mission is for our church.  Here is what they came up with: "To make followers of Christ who are committed to a lifelong pursuit of loving God and loving people."  I find this to be a simple but profound statement of what our goal is at Victory Point Ministries.  And of course, when a new mission statement is developed, it shows up in almost every sermon.  This past Sunday's teaching was no different than most of our sermons, it kinda hit home.  It wasn't necessarily about the mission statement, but the mission statement was mentioned often, and it really got me thinking about it and trying to understand it better.  In order to understand it better, I have to break it down into smaller sections.  The first section is about making followers of Christ.  Our main goal as Christian's is to spread the good news - work hard at making sure that ALL people hear the amazing story of Jesus.  The second part is about making follower of Jesus who are COMMITTED. It is important to be committed to our relationship with God.  We can't just make followers of Christ and then leave 'em hangin' without further instruction and help.  We need to encourage one another and help each other grow closer to God and each other. 

The last part could be broken down into 3 parts, but I first want to look at it as a whole, "with a lifelong pursuit of loving God and loving people".  That's what the Christian faith/journey is supposed to be about.  A never-ending journey, a lifelong pursuit.  That statement says to me that I will never fully reach complete maturity or ever finish the race until I die.  What a relief that is to me - I don't have to worry so much about being the perfect Christian or about doing all the right things.  All I have to do is keep running the race and working on becoming more like Jesus Christ.  God is well aware of my imperfections and flaws and everything else and He understands that I am trying to become more like His Son, but that I will never get there until He fully redeems me in eternity.  I serve a loving, caring and understanding God who knows me better than I know myself.  He knows when I can do better and when I have given it my all.  How awesome is that?!  The next part describes what our job is as a follower of Christ.  Jesus is the perfect example of this.  He demonstrated perfectly what it means to love God and love people.  If we look to his life as an example, we should clearly see what God expects of us.  This past Sunday, our pastor focused on how "loving God and loving people" is all about relationships.  First, we love God, which is a personal relationship with Him.  That personal relationship looks different for everyone.  I love how our pastor said that "relationships can sometimes be messy", why would our relationship with God be any different than our human relationships?  Not everyone is going to look the same - God didn't intend for us to look the same and to have the same relationship.  His entire purpose for creating us is so that He can have a relationship with us.  He doesn't care if it's neat or messy - He just wants to be in relationship with us.  Second to creating us for His own pleasure and to be in relationship, He also created other humans for us to be in relationship as well.  Our pastor mentioned that in the story of creation (Genesis 1-2), it is clear that after God saw all that He had created in the Heavens and on the Earth, it was all good and He was pleased.  However, after God created man, He said that something was NOT good.  He saw that Adam would need a helper or companion to be in relationship with, so he created a woman.  He said that it was not good for man to be alone.  He created man to be in relationship with Him and saw that it was important for man to be in relationship with others as well.  That's where the loving people comes in.  God created us to be in relationship with one another and He sent Jesus to show us what that love relationship is supposed to look like.  The Bible is filled with stories about how Jesus loved other people.  And not just the chosen people of God, but every person.  In fact, I don't know the Bible inside and out, but I am pretty confident that there is not even ONE person that Jesus didn't or wouldn't love.  He loved and was in relationship with some of the biggest outcasts in society.  His followers were constantly shocked by the types of people He would be in relationship with.  Jesus loved and reached out to tax-collectors, prostitutes, the sick, you name it, He hung out with 'em.  That is what we as Christians are to do as well.  We are called to be in relationship with one another, go thru life together, get down & dirty with one another, however you want to say it, we are meant to be together and encourage one another. 

This is where my challenge comes in.  I personally don't hang out with the so-called social outcasts.  One of the areas that I have been challenged in is to hang out with and be in relationship with people I wouldn't normally hang out with.  I can't say that I have done that yet.  Another area I have been challenged in is to be in relationship with other Christians.  Other believers can help us along our journey.  They are supposed to be a safety net or a place where we can share openly & honestly and learn more about God and our relationship with Him.  I must admit that since my last group went different directions, I haven't been real diligent in finding another group to be involved with.  My biggest challenge right now is working on the relationships that I am currently involved in.  I don't know what that means or even what that looks like, but I know that it is something I need to work on.  I keep searching for what God is asking me to do in my relationships.  How can I be a better wife, mom, daughter, sister, employee, etc...?  What does it mean to love the people that I am currently in relationship with?  Right now I feel like a lot of my relationships are messy and not always all that loving (hopefully that will change).  I know that God is a gracious God and that He understands where I am at and what I am going thru.  I also know that the closer I get to Him, the more love I can receive from Him and as a result I will have more love to dish out.  God doesn't fill us up for us to keep it to ourselves, He fills us up so that His love will overflow into the lives of  those around us. 

Well, that got much longer than I anticipated.  It's probably a good thing God never called me to be a pastor or a speaker.  I can get a little long winded.  :)  In fact, I even had more stuff I wanted to blog about, but now this one has gotten way too long.  If you are still reading, thanks for listening to what God has been laying on my heart.  Maybe tomorrow I can post some more light-hearted stuff that I've been thinking about.   

Comments

[MandaKay]

I think the new mission your church took on is a great one. A challenging one! We should feel challenged as christians! Everyday is a challenge to me - what to do, what not to do, etc... God helps us thru these things. I am doing the bible study BSF this year and it is on the book of Matthew which is one of the best books in the bible in relation to looking at Jesus' life so I anticipate learning a LOT from it!

[Shawn]

Kay, as I was reading through this I was thinking you missed your calling in life so I find it ironic that you finish by saying it's a good thing you're not a pastor or speaker. I miss living close enough to go to your church more often. I think I'll listen to a sermon or 2 this weekend online. :)