Monday Morning Musings ...

Yesterday had some great moments. It was wasn't in the attendance, that was down, it wasn't in the weather that was dreary, it wasn't in the physical response to the message but it was in some one on one conversations and some great fellowship after our evening groups.

The congregation wasn't very engaged during our music yesterday. It could have been the weather, the attendance, or the fact that 80% of them were late arriving. Some weeks just work that way it seems.

The message was finishing last week's look at loving the people of our city/area. Matthew 5:13-16 and 25:37-46 were the scriptures and this week's focus was that "loving people must involve meeting people's needs as God directs". We need to be concerned for people's souls and burdened for their salvation, but we must also be aware of anything that may be interfering with them accepting Christ. We must be aware of, and work to meet the needs of the people around us.

In following Christ we must be compassionate as he was compassionate. We cannot show compassion unless we come alongside people in their needs. This is the real thrill in life. It is difficult at times, it is not always safe, it requires getting out of our comfort zones and it is exactly what Jesus did and what he called us to do.

A college professor told his class "All around you will be people tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely." How true and how sad, to think that people are living just to get to death as safely as possible. The professor went on and told his class, "But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip or dance, just don't tiptoe."

Shane Claiborne in his book "The Irresistible Revolution" wrote, "God forgive us for all those we have lost because we made the gospel boring."

How are you living? Are you just playing it safe? Are you touching people with the love of Christ? Is God still God where you are? So, what will you do now?