I wanted to write this note last night when I got home from the church's annual business meeting, but a few minutes after I sat down on the coach and I was gone. It was a good kind of exhaustion though, like the tired that you feel after a good workout, both sore and content.
It seems like we got a mountain of work down yesterday. The evening began with my presenting a "state of the church" celebrating our successes and identifying our challenges for 2010. From there we marched through the business of the church which included approving next year's budget, our church's first ever Statement of Faith, adding Mark Staples (a great guy!) to our deacon board, and approving a project to renovate the church's basement.
When I sit down and reflect on what God has done over the past year I can truly say that it was all Him, because we could never have accomplished this much on our own. I can't wait for 2010!
- Aaron
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Living like the Church
I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about the best way to relate to people outside the church. Within the last couple of decades there have been all kinds of different strategies of how to get people into our churches. On the one hand that's a good thing because hopefully they will hear the Gospel, accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, and grow as a Christian. On the other hand I think we have to ask the question, what sacrifices did we make to get people to come into the church?
Recently I heard a pastor remark (unfortunately I can't remember which pastor) that Christians have had no trouble convincing the world that we can live like them. What we struggle with is showing them that we can live differently.
Christian merchandizing has created a Christian knockoff of almost everything secular. One of the things that I have learned over the years in dieting is that when you eat a no-fat, no-calorie candy bar, not only does it not taste very good, it makes you crave a real candy bar. Sometimes it's just better to learn to live without candy bars.
Food for thought... It may be time for the church to start worrying more about how to live like the church than how to live like the world.
- Aaron
Recently I heard a pastor remark (unfortunately I can't remember which pastor) that Christians have had no trouble convincing the world that we can live like them. What we struggle with is showing them that we can live differently.
Christian merchandizing has created a Christian knockoff of almost everything secular. One of the things that I have learned over the years in dieting is that when you eat a no-fat, no-calorie candy bar, not only does it not taste very good, it makes you crave a real candy bar. Sometimes it's just better to learn to live without candy bars.
Food for thought... It may be time for the church to start worrying more about how to live like the church than how to live like the world.
- Aaron
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Faith/Life Balance
The last few weeks have pushed my ability to remain balanced. With the planning for the Community Picnic, the actual picnic, the preparations for the church's annual meeting, thesis deadlines approaching, and my strong desire to spend quality time with the family; I have thought a lot about balance.
Most of these things relate more to time management skills with a bit of overcommittment thrown in. There's another kind of balance that I am seeking in my life, the faith/life balance. By 'life' I mean the way that I live my life.
On the one hand I know for certain that God loves me and that because of my faith in Jesus Christ my sins are forgiven (Eph 2:8-9). On the other hand there is this business of how I am supposed to be living my life (Eph 2:10). How do I keep these two in balance?
To do this I think we need to maintain another balance, a proper understanding of the love of God and His righteous judgement. We need to be careful not to compartmentalize God into the loving God who forgives and the angry God who judges. God's judgement is not an emotional response to His anger about the way we live, it is what He must do, because He is holy. He continues to love while He mourns for those who will not love Him back.
I have found that the better I understand God the more I am drawn to love Him. This causes a chain reaction in the way I live my life as well. Instead of trying to live obediently, out of a sense of obligation, I truly want to live differently out of a place of love. When you acheive this kind of faith/life balance I think you'll find clarity in other areas of your life as well.
- Aaron
Most of these things relate more to time management skills with a bit of overcommittment thrown in. There's another kind of balance that I am seeking in my life, the faith/life balance. By 'life' I mean the way that I live my life.
On the one hand I know for certain that God loves me and that because of my faith in Jesus Christ my sins are forgiven (Eph 2:8-9). On the other hand there is this business of how I am supposed to be living my life (Eph 2:10). How do I keep these two in balance?
To do this I think we need to maintain another balance, a proper understanding of the love of God and His righteous judgement. We need to be careful not to compartmentalize God into the loving God who forgives and the angry God who judges. God's judgement is not an emotional response to His anger about the way we live, it is what He must do, because He is holy. He continues to love while He mourns for those who will not love Him back.
I have found that the better I understand God the more I am drawn to love Him. This causes a chain reaction in the way I live my life as well. Instead of trying to live obediently, out of a sense of obligation, I truly want to live differently out of a place of love. When you acheive this kind of faith/life balance I think you'll find clarity in other areas of your life as well.
- Aaron
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