These past couple months I've honestly been feeling frustrated and "alone." (I'll explain what I mean by "alone" later.)
I've been feeling frustrated because it seems like the Church is missing out on what God's been calling us to do. Like the fact that we were supposed to be the Church long before walking through the doors of a building that we all call church. But the Church is not a building, it's what Christians do outside of that building. It's what we're doing the other 575 hours every week when we're not in that building that matters.
I guess my frustration has been coming from getting sick 'n tired of seeing Christians get together in a church building and just wait around for the lost to come to them. Jesus didn't say for us to sit around, build buildings, and run programs. What He did tell us to do is to "GO!"
Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 are the two accounts in the Bible of Jesus' last words before ascending into Heaven.
Matt. 28:18-20: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in Heaven and on Earth have been given to me. Therefore GO and MAKE DISCIPLES of ALL NATIONS baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And teaching them to obey EVERYTHING I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Acts 1:8: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
This is what THE Cause of Christ is, and it's the very cause that every single Christian is called to. This is exactly what we need to be doing; sharing this message with everyone that we can. I know that telling others about Jesus isn't easy, and if I'm being honest here, it freaks me out. It's scary and awkward. But I believe there's a payoff of seeing the God of the universe working in and through us to change this world around for His glory. We as Christians, have been given an undeserved gift; not only have we been saved from death by the death and resurrection of Jesus, but we have been given a message that can save others as well, and God has chosen us to be His messengers.
We have one primary responsibility as Christians, and that is to share this message with those who need to hear that there is hope and that no matter what they've done, God still loves them like crazy and isn't mad at them and is more willing and ready to forgive them than they may think.
This message of Jesus is so overwhelmingly powerful and beautiful that we cannot sit around and just keep it to ourselves. It's so true and transformational that we need to be doing everything we can to take this message to a lost, broken and needy world that badly needs to hear it.
And for me, it gets really tough because I feel like I'm "alone." Only in the sense that I don't have or know of anyone in Kansas City who has the same - if not more - passion and love for God as I do. I've just been feeling that as Christians, God didn't call us to do life alone. Yes, I know that God's always there but that's not what I mean here right now. But no matter how tough or stressed out I get, I'm not giving up for anything. . . ever.
I love Jesus and I love what He's been doing in and through me to change the world around me. I know that I can do all things through Him because He's the one who gives me the strength to do so.
- - - I started writing this in my notebook last night while I was feeling frustrated and "alone". Hope someone got something from it. I know I haven't gone to college for this writing thing yet, but I don't need a degree to be used by God.
