A Convergence of Life and Faith...

As I’ve been reading, praying, and wrestling with life and ministry, I keep coming back to the same and simple conclusion… Love God the most and follow Him always.  I know that this sounds simple.  Maybe it even sounds trite. But, it has been significantly impacting me.

In life and in ministry people have said, “you should enjoy what you do.”  ”If your not enjoying what you do or finding energy, excitement, and/or fulfillment in what your doing then maybe you’re in the wrong place.”  This sounded good to me.  This even sounded right.  But when I think about loving God the most and following Him always, I don’t always think it’s to a place of enjoyment.  I think of Jonah who did not enjoy God’s call up until the very end when an entire nation of his enemies repented before God.  God’s call to Jonah was to go to his enemy and, in mercy,  proclaim repentance before God.  I do not see the joy or enjoyment of that.  Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all of his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor.  There was so little enjoyment in it that he chose to not do it and walk away.

When we love God the most, we are finding our deepest sense of joy, enjoyment, and fulfillment in Him.  When we are completely satisfied in Christ, we can courageously go where He calls us to go and serve where He calls us to serve when we don’t feel like it or even when it is painful.

Let Christ be our first love!  Let Christ be our satisfaction!  Let Christ be our joy!

As this becomes more and more the reality of our lives, I believe the church will engage with people and go to places that it never considered or imagined…  

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. - Philippians 1: 20-21