Participate!

Back during spring break, the group that I usually worship with on Sunday mornings didn’t meet because it’s with a bunch of college students and it was spring break so not many college students were anticipated to stay in town. So, I took the opportunity to join some of my friends who lead a house church for worship. It was great seeing them again, and singing songs and talking and drinking deeply of The Word.

One idea that we came to in our discussion was that of participating in church and not just sitting on the sidelines and watching others do lead and serve. Well, I was struck with a thought that has been with me since my days in Colorado that God is about relationships and He is constantly in relationship with the Son and Holy Spirit and when we become one of His children we are invited into that relationship, to share the intimacy, to be in Christ, and He in us (John 17:22-23).

I think one of the big reasons we see passive Christianity is because we think that once we are “saved” there’s nothing else. We have the fire insurance, Jesus is my savior, but we don’t treat Him as Lord. We fail to recognize what Jesus also said in his mighty prayer recorded for us in the book of John, chapter 17: “this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”
The Father invites us to relationship…

That reminds me of another passage, more troubling in nature:
Mathew 7:21–23.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers!”

How else do you learn the Father’s will than by sitting at His feet and learning from Him; by reading His words to us? I just finished reading another blog post. The person’s goal for the summer is to rest in the Lord and seek Him. And there is no higher cause, but there is also no greater target for the enemy, who would rather we spend our time and love on other less worthy objects.

So (to bring this plane in for a landing) my encouragement is to seek first the kingdom, and to learn more about the Father and then seek to serve Him from a heart of love. But there is a world that will remind you of every other thing that you have to do. Be strong. Participate in the relationship to which you are called. You can’t get to know Someone without ever spending time with Him.